BELIEVE IT OR NOT

Believe it or not - this is about 20 minutes from my house. Nice isn't it? Balikpapan does have some special spots.

Busy time in Balikpapan. All kinds of stuff going on. Of course Halloween this weekend. And for a place that doesn't actually even acknowledge this, you'd hardly even know it. And it's not just the kids that are having fun either. I should point out - there are no Halloween treats (candy), store bought costumes or BIG orange Pumpkins here. You pretty much have to improvise for almost all of it.

Tuesday coming up is the Melbourne Cup. (Aussie horse race) And that's a big deal (*hat) day too. And next weekend is the BIWA Christmas Bazaar. (hard to believe we're at that point already) Not hard to be busy around here.

*hat - I'll explain the hat part come Tuesday.

YESTERDAY: Lunched with the girls. It has been a long time since we did that. A very long time in fact. And it was really nice. Really enjoyed that.

TODAY: Clean-up time in the office. What a mess! Sheesh. A Birthday Cake gathering this afternoon. Some things I should have done yesterday and a Halloween Party at Yuli's tonight.

I'M HERE

Are these not the coolest flowers? Ever? I have no idea what these are - but they are so cool. ..... and definitely not in Balikpapan.

I'm still doing the all over the map sort-of thing, but for the moment - I'm here.

TODAY: Whew! Been a busy one. And, pretty much done.

ALL OVER THE MAP

Couldn't decide what pic I wanted to use today. Day or night? Day or night? Oh, what the heck ........ why not just use both? Right?

By the way - it's not raining in the day-time pic. It's called smog. Jakarta Smog. And it really isn't even that bad. (least not for Jakarta, anyway) And just so you know, in Balikpapan if it's not raining - the sky is blue. There's definitely a lot to be said for a small place.

Ok, so about the all over the map bit. Well, here's the deal. I am going to be all over the map for the next couple of weeks. Doing all kinds of stuff. So ............ the Blog as you will soon see, is going to take a backseat to all the rest. That doesn't mean I'm calling it quits or anything like that. It just means I might not be very consistent over the next little bit. (just trying to give you a little heads-up about that)

Question of the day? What's the heck is up with Garuda these days? Why are all their planes late? Hours and hours late in fact! Nothing like sitting in and waiting in the airport.

TODAY: Drink lots of green tea in between all the other stuff I need to do.

Ok, Good to Go!

AWAY

TODAY: I'm not actually here today. Still away with the other Me.

Have a great day!

Good to Go!

SMILE

Whew! We had a great day yesterday. And a very big thank you to everyone that came along and helped us with the festivities. It was a good day. We had fun. Now if we can just figure out how to get the *Bocce Ball (jack) off the roof of our house. (and replace a flowerpot)

*Bocce Ball: Never did manage to find or get some made here. These we brought back from North American with us.

TODAY: Big sunshine day around here today.

And I'm tagging along with the other Me today. Going to the big city.

Good to Go!

SWEET & GREEN

SWEET: Some really good friends I have here and some very special gifts they gave me yesterday. One of which is now hanging at the front door. And another one, on my wrist. Sweet! You guys rock! (least last night you sure did [new band playing at Yuli's Pizza House] along with a whole lot of other folks too)

GREEN: My second attempt at home grown lettuce here. The first try was a wash. The garden flooded out in the rain and I suspect all those little seeds ended up down the got (sewer) and washed out to sea. So far so good this time round - this time we're trying it in a flowerpot. Time will tell I guess. We'll see.

CURIOSITY: NASA - shooting the moon. (?) More like messing with the moon perhaps. (?) What do the rest of you think about that?

TODAY: Organize. Track down a few items I need for some festivities we're having tomorrow. Make pie. (2) Put on long sleeves. I know I can't believe it either - it's raining and it's 25°. (It's cold today) That's about 10 degrees less than what we're normally used to.

......... and just because it's the weekend. Here's some items off the YOU KNOW YOU'VE BEEN IN ASIA TOO LONG IF list, that showed up in my In Box this week.

:: You own a rice cooker.

:: You find it saves time to stand and retrieve your cabin baggage while the plane is on final approach.

:: A bathroom with four attendants is so disgustingly filthy that you wouldn't step into it back home ........ and one of those attendants sole job is to hand you flimsy, single-ply toilet paper to dry your hands with.

:: You're willing to pay to use a toilet you wouldn't go to within a kilometer of at home.

:: The footprints on the toilet seat are your own.

:: You can shake your hands almost perfectly dry before wiping them on your pants.

Good to Go!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

IT'S FRIDAY! ......... and the day is almost done and I'm now, just getting around to doing today's post. It has been a busy one. As is quite often the case on a Friday.

Today's photo - just a little street scene I happened to get a photo of yesterday. We actually pulled over just so we could a good pic of these guys going by. (the driver, I'm sure, thinks I'm a little bit nuts. But that's Ok, by now I think, he's pretty much gotten used to me) They were running - out getting some exercise. I'm not entirely sure what BRIMOB stands for. (?) Police? Military? Or perhaps, something in between. Maybe one of you guys out there knows?

TODAY: No rain today. A full day of sun. That's a bit of treat.

Ok, that's it, have a great weekend everyone.

Good to Go!