Balinese Sunrise #5

Today ---I have decided that PATIENCE is something I need to work on.

This morning, the sun was showing me that I needed to slow down and wait and relish in the waiting, because it is worth it!

I followed my usual routine, and wound my way down to the beach to see no sunrise peaking out at all, just a huge bank of clouds, and lots of breeze.

I thought the breeze would simply blow the clouds away and allow me to see the sun, and I continued my walk down the beach.

Further and further, watching workers rake sand, sweep sidewalks, lay out towels and prepare for the days onslaught of tourists.

There were not many out on this cloudy morning…..and I wound my way past temples and shrines and fountains and statues – and miles of beach chairs toward my pagoda.

The lanterns in the trees seemed to wave good morning with the breeze. The sun? She is somewhere behind that bank of clouds. Come out, come out! I want to wish you good morning!

She has to be rising now, the sky is edged with pink..but that cloud bank is growing taller still, hiding her progress in the sky.

I decide to leave my pagoda to explore the others I see further down the beach….maybe the sun will come out if I occupy myself with other things? I loved seeing all these pagodas in a row…but those clouds look ominous, don’t they?

I lay on my back on the raised wooden platform and look up at the construction and pattern made by the underside of the pagoda roof. I see sun rays in the pattern of the wood.

Sun! Where are you? I look at my watch. 6:30am. Mawa is picking us up at 8! I better hurry my way back. I still need a shower and breakfast.

Did I mention how humid it is here? All the paper on my desktop feels damp. My sheets feel damp. it is HUMID. Don’t bother with hair or make up. Hair falls flat, make up slides off!

As I near my hotel along my walk, look who decides to make an appearance!

Good morning, Sun! It’s going to be another adventuresome day in Bali!

Tirtta Gangga Water Palace

Today was a day of long bus travel, but our eyes were glued to the goings on outside of our bus windows.

Kite flying is pretty much considered to be a Balinese Sport --- there are Kite Teams…and I’m not talking about small kites like we would fly on a beach – many of these kites are bigger than a mini van, and take a team of 8 to 10 to get them up into the sky to fly. Everywhere you look in the sky there are kites flying overhead, which lends a very much “festival” atmosphere to our days of driving.

Teams wear their colors proudly – Blue, Yellow, Red, and Black have been seen…..there will be a truck loaded with team members holding onto the kite mounted on the top rack of the truck to get it to its destination spot. The rest of the team members are all on motor bikes, a kind of kite entourage that demands attention when they pass by. I hope to post some picture of this…so far I’ve not been lucky, I’m either sitting on the wrong side of the bus, or by the time I get my camera out, they’ve passed us!

We watched for kite teams all of the way up to Tirtta Gangaa Water Palace where we toured the grounds. Mawa has made our history lessons very interesting, and told us about a devastating volcano eruption that happened in this area in 1963 and wiped out a good portion of the surrounding area. Many people lost lives, homes and loved ones because there was no advance warning of this mountain blowing its top ---

As to the water palace itself ---Tirta Gangga literally means “water from the Ganges” and it is a site of some reverence for the Hindu Balinese. The name refers to the water palace built here in 1946 by the King of Karangasem. It is though widely used to refer to the general area which includes the water palace and some particularly stunning rural areas around.

Here part of our group takes in the sights and snaps pictures of the unbelieveable beauty:

Flowers and bridges and fountains and giant koi fish. Pure enchantment!

Michael from Lincoln, NE poses amidst the statues!

Water burbles from countless fountains, some in animal shapes….some towering with many tiers.

Feeding the many koi quickly becomes an entertaining activity!

Mary draws the attention of a whole school of koi with a simple piece of bread ---

Storm clouds threaten, but they do no damage. We were back on the bus before sprinkles started to fall, and they were soon past. The temps in the higher elevations are pleasant and cooler than down by the shore where we are in Nusa Dua. I love the reflections in the water.

Locals and tourists enjoy a swim in the public swimming section. Seeing all the inner tubes floating around reminds me of summers swimming at the lake when I was growing up. Children’s squeals of delight are the same in EVERY language!

Mawa is on hand to explain to us the folklore of the statues….this one having two sets of human feet – two in the front…..

And two behind!

I loved the serenity of this place. I saw families picnicking, young lovers walking hand in hand. Families frolicking in the water. People wandering solo ---or reading a book on a bench under a flowering tree.

And when we were done, we loaded back up onto the bus and headed to our next destination ---

On the way to the bus I snapped this photo of a collection of bird cages, all with singing birds! The Balinese seem to be enamored with caged birds –they are everywhere in all sizes and shapes of cages.

More to write later – it’s time for bed for me! Tomorrow is another early day, we are meeting Mawa at 8 am to head to the Coffee and Clove plantation. Another long bus ride…with plenty of time for hexagons as we stare out the windows fascinated with the scenery.

And tomorrow at 7:30pm – a treat for myself! I’ve scheduled a Balinese Massage!

12 Days of Show & Share! Day 6!

I am so impressed with the beautiful quilts that you all have sent me ---and I especially love your own personal take on an old favorite!

Nancy P sent along her variation of Bricks & Stepping Stones along with a very special story.

She wrote:

Hi Bonnie,

Wanted to send you a picture of the Bricks and Stepping Stones (my variation of it) that will be auctioned off for our high school's college scholarship fund early February.
In honor of the fact that this is intended to be a "dorm" quilt, I am calling it Stepping Stones.

This is probably the 8th or 9th quilt of yours that I have done...Carolina Crossroads, Patches and Pinwheels, Christmas Lights, Sister Star, etc.
Like you I am kitchen sink scrappy, and have turned several of our guild members into Quiltville follower.

My husband bought the first two of your books for my Christmas present in 2011- and I have been crazy busy since then!

Thanks for sharing!

Here is Nancy’s quilt!

Nancy’s Stepping Stones in Blue!

She added an additional checkerboard border which really sets off the chains of 4 patches nicely!

Checkerboard border rocks!

I love monochromatic quilts! Wouldn’t this quilt be done in any other color family as well? Imagine greens! Or reds! What about pinks or…..ORANGE?! the black checks will just march so happily over whichever color you choose.

Judy from Santa Fe sent a photo of her Star Struck quilt in pinks and purples!

Do you see that bonus triangle border? Whoowhooo!

She writes:

Bonnie,
We had such a good time at the workshop! I thought you might like to see the finished quilt that I started then. It is a gift to Abby, my great niece.
Do come back some time!
Judy J

Santa Fe was SO fun – I would love to come back!

How about a little Crumb Love?

I received a picture of Sgt Robin P’s Love Shack quilt after teaching a workshop in Plano Texas last New Years! What a party that was ((And we will be doing it again this year for New Years! Watch out!))

Robin took the basics and RAN WITH THEM. The girl is a dynamo!

Her borders are SO DFUN!

She writes:

Bonnie,

I had to thank you again for a wonderful day of quilting! Both my mom and I had a wonderful time and the trip back home went so quickly with both of us gushing over what we learned and how much fun we had.

I've attached a picture of my "Love Shack" wall hanging on my design board. I was inspired by your comments in class to use orphan blocks for the second border and I used a piece of the "scrap" batik from Fabric Fanatics for the final border. I was going to build this into a lap-size quilt for a children's charity, but my husband said "I like that. We should hang it on the wall." He's NEVER said that...so I guess the crazier the better for him. I have the perfect empty wall space in our living room for it to live once it's quilted (I'm learning long-arming at my LQS so this is a great size project for that).

And my "Orca Bay" top is done, too! Those pictures are posting in the Yahoo groups folder.

Thank you again for all that you do. Your stash system and patterns have really changed the way I quilt over the past few years....definitely for the better. My mom is definitely a "matchy" quilter, but even she is stretching her boundaries with your ideas!

Robin

Come back tomorrow! The 12 days of Show & Share continues!

Balinese Sunrise #4

I am really loving this little self imposed ritual.

Alarm goes off at 6am. Quickly brush teeth, throw on clothes, tie up hair, grab earbuds, iphone and bottle of water, and out the door…quickly now, you don’t want to miss it!

Through the door I go…down the corridor and toward the lobby ---this hotel is bungalow style, which means that everything outside of your room is open air. There is a roof….but no walls…how wonderful to hear the birds singing their morning song as I make my way outside, across a foot bridge, over the path heading to the beach.

As I head farther along the walking trail, I see shapes in the sand. Curious, I head over to check it out ----

Sand Carvings!

the sand here is different than any I’ve felt in my life….it is nearly spongy and the closer you get to the water line, the deeper you sink into it.

It’s a gator! Or is it is croc? Maybe a komodo dragon? But look at that detail! I wish I had seen this “contest” going on..it would have been fun to watch!

Looks like one of these sand eggs is about to hatch!

How about a very detailed sand temple?

Looks like imaginations and creativity were running rampant!

The smiling whimsical star fish says “G’day Bonnie, have a great one!” I know it has an Aussie accent because the guy I spoke to said it was a group of Aussies here on holiday that had the sand carving contest!

Fish is Friends! Not Food!

A crumbling pyramid, Egyptian style!

But this one? It’s the coliseum!

And now I need to hurry…because I’m going to miss that sun coming up…I’ve got a ways to go to reach my pagoda ---hurry now, the sun is peeking through the clouds!

There it is….big and yellow, tingeing the clouds with pink.

Yep, it’s another glorious day in Bali!

Today’s itinerary includes palaces and temples. We will wear our sarongs to show respect and reverence. And Mawa will fill our minds with stories of life in Bali – of tradition, of folklore, of facts and humor.

It’s going to be a long day ---yesterday was also a long drive, and we had all the ladies sewing hexies from the kits I brought, while the gentlemen ((We have 3 hubbies along plus Mawa)) spoke of “man things’.

It’s time to pack it up and get going ….we leave in 10 minutes!

For the Bali Birds!

I find at the end of the day that I am so tired after the day’s doings here in Bali that I am headed to bed by 9pm. And I sleep soundly til 6am. I am just plum worn out with everything I have seen and done ---we all are!

I guess we are just not the party animals we used to be! LOL!

Before heading to bed I’m just going to plop some quick fun photos down here….We spent today at the bird park! And no, this is NOT our group, but I couldn’t seem to get them to move out of the way so that I could get a pic of the entrance without intruders ;c)

Yes, this is me with a bird on a stick. This takes lots of skill and attention!

I loved this peacock! He was so proud in displaying his feathers for us…..that is until MAWA sat down ---

And the peacock promptly turned his back on Mawa and mooned him, peacock style!

And since we are having so much fun, let’s just pose with a pair of hornbills! The one with the blue under beak is the female. The yellow is the male.

I’m not so sure how I feel about two big birds on my shoulders and hovering near my face at this point! One actually started to STEAL my glasses….someone else got that on their camera, so we’ll see about getting a copy of that.

We all got a chance to pose if we wanted..I love this photo! They do look like they are having a good time, don’t they? ((I’m talking about the birds, not the ladies! LOL!))

Ya’ll come back now, ya hear?!

((Yes there are more photos, I’m just too tired to edit them all, and I’m headed to bed!))