Ants again

From my vantage point at the pool ladder, watched red ants climbing and descending the bare slim trunk of a tropical plant - perfectly placed to the left side so their bodies were in relief against a green background. Glad they're there and not on our porch with the blacks - as the blacks don't bite and the reds do. As with all the ants I know, they stop briefly to greet each other in passing. What perfect social beings they are.  

Kissing in Public

You shouldn't kiss in public here really. It's not good manners but it's not against the law like in India.
I read a year ago or so that a judge in India dismissed a case against a married couple who kissed in public, indicating a change there. Remember the kiss near the end of Slumdog Millionaire? I took that as a tiny statement relating to the ban on kissing in movies - though there seems to be some now. Read this from 2009. Back to Bali. hen Katrinka's son climed Mt. Agung here, an all night affair, his guide at the top said he had a question about Westerners which I supposed would include Aussies. "Why do they kiss in public?" He was baffled. 

Universal Advice for Meditation

"Be still and know that I am God..."

Psalm 46:10

Father Steve Frost sent that in an email announcing his paintings in the Pastoral Center of Christ Cathedral, Garden Grove, California- Diocese of Orange. More on this at this website, White Light Missals

Nothing Sunday

Decided to institute a Sunday off policy with a few exceptions, this post being one of them. As ever - DC

Walter Van Oel

Katrinka and I visited with artist Walter Van Oel and his wife Léonie yesterday at their home in Sanur. Link to page image came from.

His art is amazing - the colors - ah! There are many links to images of Walter's art and videos on YouTube.

Here is a brief video interview with Walter with some of his art and a snippet of Desmond Tutu visiting there.

I don't think I've ever been in a more impressive home. He designed it in a matter of minutes. We entered onto a vast open space with a floor of fine white gravel, almost sand. 23 meters across (meter is 3.3ft), maybe half that wide - the peak of the ceiling is 13 meters, the lower height 7 - with a large but less large space to the left. His art on the walls - large, vibrant colors.


A maybe 5 meter square of mottled volcanic rocks about a foot in diameter in the center. Three massive chandeliers made by local craftspeople hang. Four beige reclining chairs in the less large part with its 4 meter high ceiling above which is Walter's studio which opens to this area below. We listened to Bach and Gyuto Monks on a monstrous sound system. The wall the reclining chairs face is open with a jungle obscuring the wall behind, an infinity pool half in, half out. A traditional wooden Bali thatch roofed structure to the left held three meters above the garden growth by posts with a ladder to reach the seating area overlooking the ponds and pool. To the left and right of the pool giant lily pads floating in water full of red and black carp. Across is another sitting area and kitchen with a peaked traditional bamboo support roof, a seated Buddha in an ornate enclosure - museum quality. There's a cold pool maybe 4 meters square and sculpted tub for hot water in the chilled bath room. I cannot find any photos of the home on the Internet.

Walter's Dutch. He and his wife have been in Bali for sixteen years and married for twenty-three. She says she first saw him when she was seven and he, a schoolteacher, visiting her sister in the hospital with roses - he'd collided with her on a bicycle ride. She says she looked at him and "I knew he belonged to me." She served us lychee juice with soda water.

We had a wonderful time visiting. Most interesting conversation. Relaxed. Good vibes. - DC

Hot

It's hot today. It's been hot since Nyepi and the Bali Hindu Saka New Year which started last Sunday. Not too too hot and nicely drier and it hasn't been getting hotter than usual like many parts of the world. Guess we're out of rainy season - I think - there was some distant thunder yesterday. Nyepi is supposed to be the end of the rainy season so it looks like the weather is following orders. 

RIP Lee Kuan Yew - Father of Singapore

Lee Kuan Yew, the father of Singapore has died and Asia News is non stop no ads about him and this. He is to many the great figure of modern Asian non commie history.
Lee was 92. He was very popular. A local told m he'd go walking and shopping with his family with no bodyguard. Sure there are negative things one could say (as with drug and punishment policy) but I'll avoid that angle now. He planted trees, at least one a year on national tree planting day. He insisted on quality, hated sloppiness. Made prostitution legal and regulated. He made Singapore the least corrupt, safest, cleanest, greenest, richest with most equitable distribution of wealth, most racially and religiously harmonious country in Asia.   - also too expensive for us. I stayed there twelve years ago for five dollars a night on a curtained cot in a hall of a centrally located Chinese hotel that's gone now. Katrinka and I spent a thousand dollars on hotels in six days before escaping to Bali. Singapore is a great place to go for a week.   - Written a couple of days ago by DC.