Front Door Melcowe Mat

We've been in our new home a year now. Here's a photo of  a mat similar to the mat for the front door. I could have taken a photo of the actual mat, but it's dark out. Bought it at a local hardware and home store, an old place run by a woman and her lovely daughters. It's called Cangkir (pronounced changkir) which means cup which I thought was appropriate because they sell cups. But that's also the owners name, the woman who's usually at the cash register. I forgot to ask Cangkir what the mysterious word on the mat means or what language it's in - not Indonesian or Balinese, but there are 200 or 400 or 600 or 800 languages on these islands (depending on how they're counted) so I guess it's one of them. Their letters are almost the same as ours. We call it the Melcowe mat, pronouncing the letter that looks like an upside down L as an L and the C as ch as they do here.

Tooth Story (not false)

Because of the shifting nature of my dental geography, I have to floss after eating anything, not just a meal - at least between upper right molars #3 and 4. Think that's counting right. I still have my wisdom teeth so including it. Only had to do this starting earlier this year. My teeth remind me of  slowly moving glaciers, calving glacier chunks falling into the sea. There have been bits broken off  here and there through the years - the largest and dumbest one the result of a habit of opening beer bottles with my teeth. At this particular spot, the lost bit created a hollow where tidbits inevitably nestle and bother me so I need to attend to them.

Eerie bird ringings

There's a flock of pigeons (I believe) tended by a man near our Sanur home. We always know when he lets them out and they're up and above swirling around in eerie tinkling sound that rises and falls depending on their proximity - for they have rings around a foot. I hear this sound at times before we lived here and wondered what it was. I thought it was maybe some electrical transformer.  Then one day room cleaner Ketut at our last residence explained it. I can't find anything on the Internet to explain it. Must ask around. To some it's a slightly disturbing sound - like a 1950s sci-fi movie flying saucer sound.

Images on Instagram

It's so easy for me to put photos I take here in Bali on Instagram. I don't do it every day. But I did so today - a colorful snail on the ceiling of the front porch away from Bandita, our dogette,who likes to chew them to pieces. It's a muted red and yellow. Yesterday - a shot of a flower arrangement in a little vase for Katrinka from a local flower shop. I prefer to choose them myself but wasn't out so Nyoman, our usual driver, choose it. Katrinka was most please. My Instagram moniker, as it says up top, is David Reich Chadwick.

A nifty quote from my dad

My father used to say to my mother, "Let's get ready early so we can sit around and crack jokes."

Welcome to nonZense

Decided to split off the non Zen posts I feel compelled to share from the Cuke What's New blog. We're moving over here the past nonZense posts such as found in the Saunters and DC Misc. This way Cuke What's New blog can remain pristine and pure, devoted to Shunryu Suzuki lecture excerpts and Cuke Archives. This nonZense blog can grovel in lower realms. Thanks to Peter Ford for getting this new blog up and running - and for everything else he does for Cuke Archives. - DC

Elizabeth Baker singing in Berkeley

I would like to invite you to a semi-staged performance of Handel’s Serse (Xerxes) in Berkeley on April 15th presented by the Handel Opera Project. I will sing Serse — the lovestruck and entitled King of Persia — along with an ensemble of fine singers and instrumentalists. As you may know, the opera features the aria 'Ombra mai fu,' one of Handel’s most beloved melodies.

Here are the details:

Handel’s Serse
Sunday, April 15, 7:00 p.m.
Christian Science Organization, 2601 Durant Ave., Berkeley
Chamber Ensemble conducted by William G. Ludtke
Seating is limited

To purchase tickets, go to:Brown Paper Tickets - Serse by George Frideric Handel

Read a rave review of a past performance of Elizabeth's