50's not so bad!

So I was pretty bummed when I realized I was turning 50 with no old friends nearby. No girlfriends to take me to lunch and make me feel special :( I really wanted to have a big bang up party and invite everyone Peter and I ever knew to celebrate both our 50th birthdays! 30 and 40 did not seem like a big deal BUT 50 - good grief that's half a century and I still FEEL good! Peter came through with flying colors - he and the kids at my request took me to the National Orchid Garden Saturday evening. Peter really wanted to go and take pictures of the orchids - oh my gosh they had an incredible variety and they were all beautiful. We went to our favorite Indian restaurant and had yummy butter chicken.

On the morning of the 7th (the big 50) Peter and I caught a ferry to Bintan, Indonesia. On the ferry I got to open my present - a very cool new point and shoot camera. We arrived well before check in time so we took the Mangrove tour. Very cool, it was low tide so we saw lots of neat roots. As far as animal life we saw Monitor lizards, a Mangrove snake, a colorful Kingfisher and a monkey peeped out at us. Next I was treated to a 2 hour and 15 minute spa treatment, we did it as a couple so Peter got treated special, too. Sea Salt scrub, full body massage and foot reflexology - heavenly! After that we went to the resort and spent the rest of our time eating and relaxing by the pool or on the beach.

After 2 weeks of unpacking, organizing and setting up the house it was a wonderful treat to be able to relax. We both really enjoyed our time at Bintan. It is pretty amazing to live somewhere where you can travel 45 minutes and be at a tropical island paradise!

Now a little fiber talk. I found out yesterday that Rene Derewetzky (Tall Pines guild member) is living in Jakarta. Jakarta is an hour and 15 minutes plane ride from Singapore. One of my goals while living in this region is to learn more about the indigenous textiles. I've seen Laotian and Cambodian silks and the beautiful batiks and ikats of Indonesia. But I want to see them being made and learn more about the process. After talking with Rene this afternoon we have worked out a deal. She has spent 2 1/2 years in Jakarta and has seen many different local dyers and weavers in action. She knows where to go!!!! If I will go to Jakarta and help warp her loom she will take me around Jakarta and give me an Indonesian textile primer. Then she will tell me where I can go to see the actual weaver and dyers!! I am so excited! That means in the future I will have something exciting to share ....

Off to work on organizing the files, yuk!

Tracy

At long last our ship arrived!

So, it's been a whole week since the movers came and unloaded our container. I actually took pictures that day to post. Ha! I thought I'd be blogging about the move right away....

I got a call Friday of the week prior that our ship was due to dock Sunday the 22nd and our shipment would be delivered on Wednesday the 24th at 9am. I waited till I got confirmation Monday that the ship did in fact arrive to schedule our leased furniture to be picked up and to cancel the two lectures I was scheduled to attend on Wednesday. Of course that's how it works - I wanted our stuff here now - but I really wanted to attend the lecture on Thai Textiles. The first textile thing I'd found in Singapore and I missed it! Such is life...

8:45 am Wednesday I am strolling down on our street with Jack, returning from our walk and I hear a noise behind me. Yes, it is a truck with our container sitting on top!! Jack and I rush home to get ready and to get Eric up to help. Odd, the truck didn't come and didn't come. I walk out and look up the street and there it still is. Now I need to explain that our street is a dead end (kinda like a long, curved at the top cul de sac) but it is narrow. Imagine 2 narrow lanes with cars parked on both sides and we live almost at the end. The biggest downside to our location is the narrowness of the street. So, the truck could not make it past the curve at the top of the street! An hour and half later the movers pull up in a small truck, they had parked the large truck with the container on it on another street and brought in a small truck and off loaded bit by bit on to the smaller truck. Whatever works is okay by me at this point, just give me my stuff.

The moving crew was entirely Malay, it was fun listening to them speak in Bahasa Melayu. Being Malay they were also Muslim and they don't mix with dogs. This meant Jack had to be locked up all day, which he of course did not like! The movers were hard working and did not eat the whole time they were here. They took smoke and water breaks. Once the entire truck was unloaded they went room by room setting up beds, and unpacking every box. I really did not want every box unpacked. I was able to convince them to leave a few that I knew would be disastrous to open. But basically I had piles of stuff laying around to find a place for.

Now: 6 packing days later. I am tired but it feels much more like home here. The house is big enough if you look strictly at the size of the rooms. It is sorely undersized when it comes to storage. You Americans imagine having 1 closet in your whole house! All of the bedrooms have a wardrobe - 6' per room of storage. The master bedroom has 2 - 6' wardrobes, each with a 3' hanging rod. I calculated that Peter and I each had about 12' of hanging in our closet in Katy. I have worked my way from the bottom floor up - the kitchen/dining room had to be done first and that took a full day. Our kitchen is basically the size of an efficiency kitchen, again very little storage. We have a 5th bedroom off the kitchen (called a mother-in-law bedroom), this has become a combination of storage, sewing and Jack's room. Eric is the family nester. His room is fully done - he's even got his posters hung. I am currently working on the 3rd floor, which consists of Eric's room, an open room with one loom (baby wolf) and a bedroom with all my weaving stuff and the Megado. Today I hope to work on the weaving stuff. So, progress is being made!

Once we have figured out where we want pictures on the wall the moving company will send someone over to hang things for us. Sounds odd? Well, the walls are concrete so you can't just hammer a nail in.

Imagine your house with no pantry, few kitchen cabinets, one under the stair closet (Christmas stuff, luggage fits), no medicine cabinets, no plugs in the bathroom, no built in shelves, no linen closet, one bath with a cabinet. Now take all that stuff out of those spots in your house (in your mind) and visualize the piles of "stuff" in your house. That's what I'm working with here :) And that doesn't even touch on the weaving stuff!

Two pictures - the Megado (computerized loom) and many of it's parts - a daunting task to put together. The second picture is my brand new baby wolf. It came in late October and was never unpacked. Jack would not move so there he is with the loom. I am so excited to get it put together and begin weaving .... soon I hope!

Back to unpacking and setting up!

Tracy

Good News and Happy Chinese New Year!

Between Chinese New Year and watching the Olympics I have ignored the Blog this week. So first I'll start with - Chinese New Year! I of course have known CNY existed and that it fell early in the year after our New Year, but that was really all I knew. Living in Singapore I have learned more about CNY and experienced it a little. The actual day was Sunday, February 14th. The eve of CNY is significant, it is the day when you visit family. Singapore is 70% Chinese and the country gives 2 consecutive days off to everyone - because CNY fell on a weekend the days off were Monday and Tuesday. The actual holiday is 2 weeks long, some Chinese take the whole time off, even some businesses. CNY is full of traditions all intended to help you have good luck in the new year - what to eat (sweet not savory), what to wear (why red of course), what numbers to use (no 4's that means death, even numbers especially 8 are lucky). Our street is approximately half Chinese and half expats. It's a nice mix - on Monday I heard drums so I followed the noise to the end of the street and there was a dragon dance. Having a dragon dance at your home or business gives you good luck! It was fun to watch. Later in the week Eric and I saw a dragon dance in the mall at Long John Silver's - guess they want good luck, too!

An added bonus for the CNY was a college friend from our SFA days, Rick Gregory came to visit with his wife Hanizah and their 10 year old son Jaren. Rick has been living in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia for the past 20 years. It was great to catch up with Rick, to get to know Hanizah better and to meet Jaren.

Okay my good news - the ship with our container on it is due in Singapore tomorrow!! Keep your fingers, toes, legs, etc.. crossed that it really arrives. The moving company has tentatively set our unpacking day for Wednesday the 24th. Please let it be so!

Happy New Year and may you all have much good luck in the year of the Tiger!

Tracy

year of the Rat :)

PS Since moving the blog to blogspot I've heard via e-mail from people they like they new blog - but no one has made a comment.

Doggie Play Group

A lot of people have asked me how Jack is doing. When we first left the house he was very nervous, he barked incessantly at our temporary apartment in Katy when we were all gone. I think having Loretta leave then moving really shook his world. He spent a week at Grandma and Grandpa's before he made the trip to Singapore and was happy there. Then he was in Quarantine for 10 days, we were able to visit him during that time. Once he arrived here he was anxious, but he has settled in quite well, quickly. He seems to know this is his home. The first time he was home alone he did bark quite a bit but he has stopped doing that. He is much mellower and much more demanding than he was before. We think he got so much attention from Loretta that he did not need as much from us.

Prior to our move we were told Singapore was not dog friendly. I did a lot of web surfing and found so many groomers and pet shops that I figured that was not the case. We do have to be careful when walking to watch the reaction of locals. Some of it cultural (Muslim Malays consider dogs and pigs dirty and do not want any contact with them) and some are just scared because he is big.

The best news is I found a field that runs behind our neighborhood. There is a paved walk way to the field just behind our street so it's very convenient. I try to take Jack up every morning after school starts. The field is kind of an informal dog park. Almost every morning we meet up with other dogs. This morning we talked our next door neighbor in to bringing her dog, Nana (mastiff) to the field. Nana is so big (160 pounds) and not well socialized so they worry about getting her out. Well, Nana did just fine! Zoe, a mix of standard poodle and golden retriever (she's black) played well with both Jack and Nana. And of course while the dogs play the owners get to visit :)

Tracy

You'd never see this in Katy, Texas!

Notice anything different? Well, if you have visited this blog before you probably noticed the new look. The other blog was giving me difficulties. I couldn't upload images via the blog so I was having to add html code and that was giving me fits. The images were too big or too small. Anyway after looking at several blogs I noticed the blogs I really liked were using blogspot. A little investigating and 20 minutes later and a new blog was created. Daniel, ever handy web guy moved all of my previous posts over and the images. The only thing missing is the comments. So, please comment again it makes me feel a little less alone over here.... waiting for my stuff. I still sound pitiful, don't I?

So, I'm trying to get over my depression from not getting my stuff. A little grocery retail therapy, yes that means more chocolate. Now I think I've got a stomach ache from too much chocolate :) I've had a few distractions today, we got our auction outdoor furniture delivered today. Because we have not decided which set to keep and we have so little furniture in the house it's inside for now. We had the company we are renting furniture from come and take away two awful armchairs, now that we have our outdoor armchairs. We also got another bed delivered. This weekend is Chinese New Year, everyone has Monday and Tuesday off as a National Holiday - it is a big deal. An old college friend, Rick Gregory who has lived in Malaysia with his Malay wife for 20 years are coming to visit. We have not seen Rick and Hanizah for a very long time and we've never met their 10 year old son, Jaren. We knew we would have plenty of beds when our furniture got here, but you know the story. So now my future loom room has a nice Queen size bed for company! It does look less lonely this way.

The picture I've posted today is something you definitely would not see in Katy, Texas. Singapore is a super safe place, you rarely hear of crime because they are so tough on criminals. I mentioned to some neighbors that we had had not seen a police presence. They laughed and said wait till they patrol the neighborhood. Well, here they are. Walking down our suburban neighborhood with AK-47's! This is from my bedroom window. As I took the picture the officer must have seen me or the flash and his head snapped in my direction. I hid behind the curtains!

Back to my chocolate and a good book,

Tracy

Nooooooo, say it isn't so!!!

Today was the day our ship was to arrive in Singapore. I have tried not to get too excited and count on our shipment arriving this week, but I couldn't help myself. This morning I told Peter, just 2 more days and we get to sleep on our own mattress, cook with our pots, etc... I sent a note to the moving company here in Singapore and asked for an update on the shipment. The response was horrible - the ship's final destination was Korea not Singapore. Say what?? How do you make a mistake that big?? Seems to me big ships don't just randomly change their course. Anyway, they are now moving the container to another ship and it will be here (if we are lucky) on the 24th - then customs - then delivery. We are all sad - no looms for Tracy, no bike for Peter and no movies for Eric....

Katy left for Thailand this morning. They went straight from the airport in Phuket to a boat to scuba dive. It's a hard life - she'd never be scuba diving on a school trip in Katy, Texas. They will be staying on Phi Phi island (google it, it's gorgeous and the location for several movies). Peter has decided to get certified to scuba dive so that he and Katy can take advantage of the many great diving opportunities in this part of the world.

Today's photo is so that you can help me wallow in self pity. This is one of the two small rooms on the third floor where I will have my studio space. Right now Eric has the whole floor, he is already getting territorial about it. Notice how empty and lonely the room looks....

Hoping to weave in the future, Tracy

Dress Finished!

As you can see the dress is finished, just in time for the gala. It is not perfect, but it worked and was comfy. Not having all of my tools made sewing more difficult. The fabric was probably the most slippery I've ever worked with, which made sewing with it even more challenging. I sold my 20+ year old Bernina sewing machine prior to leaving Houston and purchased a new spiffy Bernina here in Singapore, the new machine is dual voltage so it will work in the states as well. This was my first project with the new machine, it sews like a dream!

The gala was a lot of fun. 80% of the women were wearing black, I was glad to have my colorful dress. The gala was a PTA fundraiser for the American School. There was a silent auction and a live auction. We picked up two sets of outdoor furniture, we only needed one and intended to get one, but now we have two! We also "won" a trip to a local island for 2, maybe a chance for a romantic weekend. The big auction items were Persian carpets, beautiful rugs that sold for mega bucks. They auctioned a fancy Harley Davidson motorcycle which sold for $36,000 Sing$ ($25,000 USD).

Tracy