Art Work by Cody

Pulau Putri

Easter weekend marks the first weekend of spring break 2008. To celebrate we took a family trip to Pulau Seribu (Thousand Islands). This is a chain of small islands just north of Jakarta. There aren't really one thousand islands, but there are whole bunch.


We went to Pulau Putri (pulau=island) one of the northernmost islands. Which means one of the farthest away from Jakarta's ever present pollution. We all had a great time. The water was astoundingly clear. There was a walk though underwater tunnel, a sunset cruise around nearby islands, and a glass bottom boat ride. We could (and did) rent a paddle boat and paddle out over the reef. One of the best things is it's so close to home. Thirty minutes to the marina, about an hour in the boat, and we were there.

Of course, for our family the chance for the boys to channel their inner Corwin is always a priority. There was lots of wildlife to see above and below the water. Colin and Alonzo had lots of fun paddling about near shore looking at fish with their swim goggles. They are already planning where to go diving when they get scuba certified (in about a decade). There was a penned area that had a several sting rays, small sharks, and schools of small fish. Grayson spent a lot of time pointing and yelling "Sting Ray! Sting Ray!" I think it is his new favorite fish. Cody, having freshly passed his scuba test and being one dive short of full certification, paddled for a short time with the boys and then retired to the pool, as anything less than actually diving is suddenly beneath him. And of course the tunnel aquarium was a hit with everyone.

Above the water Cody spotted a Prevost's squirrel, one of the prettiest squirrels anywhere. Sadly I have only seen one at the San Antonio zoo, I never managed to catch sight of a squirrel on the island. We saw huge monitor lizards. These were monsters, well over 5 feet, large enough that Colin refused to walk to the pool by himself for fear of getting eaten, hmm...maybe I shouldn't have let him watch that show about Komodo dragons. They are so well fed, hanging out behind the kitchen for scraps, that there was no real danger, but it was startling to come across something like that unawares. However I think the coolest animal was the flying fox. Stellaluna has long been a favorite bedtime story at our house and to see a real live Stellaluna made the kid's day. I can't wait until we take them to the botanical gardens later this week and they can really get a good look at a flying fox colony.


It was a great two day trip. The sailing club remains my favorite escape from Jakarta, but this was a wonderful opportunity to see a little something different, closer to home. I am glad we went.

Indo Dave and the Lost Temples of Java

Tres Leche Cake

On our first anniversary we both took the day off from work and went to Austin.  On the recommendation of a friend we dined at Chuy's Hula Hut.   I forget what we had for dinner that year but for dessert we had Tres Leche Cake. YUM!  It became a tradition, for the next 6 years we drove up to Austin and enjoyed a great meal and of course Tres Leche cake for dessert. Now that 75 minute drive to Austin is more like 3 days travel, so no Hula Hut.  Last year I tried to make my own cake, but the texture was wrong, too soft and too mushy.  This year I found this recipe.  Success!  It was good, really good.  In fact Colin took one bite of cake and said, "This is the best thing I have ever tasted!"  

Oh, if you make it to Austin and the Hula Hut, I strongly recommend the Mexonesian Shrimp Flautas. That's the next recipe I start trying duplicate.

Jakata Bloggers Meet Up At The Ball

JenJen in Jakarta and myself all dressed up at the Irish Ball.  What a fun night and thank goodness my dress and a little makeup (a lot of makeup, a whole lot!) hid the worst of the sunburn! 

I'm A Red Neck Girl!

Word to the wise, if you are going to spend your 9th wedding anniversary checking out ancient temples and ruins under the hot tropical Javanese sun, WEAR SUNSCREEN!

Wordless Wednesday- Giant Chalkboard

Backyard Habitat

This sign is one of my treasures. It originally hung in the window of my old house (since the Home Owners Association (HOA) wouldn't let me put it up in my yard, don't get me started about HOAs!) This sign indicated that my yard was a registered Backyard Habitat. It was a safe zone for wildlife and provided the 4 basics: food, water, shelter and a place to raise young.



I earned this sign by making my yard wildlife friendly. It doesn't have to be a major project like on the Backyard Habitat TV show. It doesn't have to cost a fortune. You don't have to own a huge piece of land. People have certified balcony and rooftop gardens in the heart of the city. Every little bit helps.

I started by simply replacing the petunias, pansies and snapdragons that couldn't take the Texas heat with native flowers which thrived in the heat and dryness of the south. The bonus came when these needed much less water, almost never needed to be sprayed for pests, and began attracting butterflies and birds to my gardens. Oh, and most of these natives were either perennials (plants that survive from year to year) or self seeders so I didn't have to keep buying the same plants every spring! Money saver!

Next I added in a couple of birdbaths that I made by taking old clay pots with saucers and putting the pot upside down in the garden then putting the saucer on top and filling with water. Speaking of water, summer is the dry season for south Texas. Instead of watering with a sprinkler I would wait until my kids were done playing in the wading pool give them buckets and have them empty the swimming pool one bucket at a time by scooping the water and pouring it on the plants. Double duty, kids stayed cool and the plants got watered.

I added some color and diversity to the mix by rescuing plants from neighboring lots that were scheduled to be cleared for building (remember to check with the builder before you do this). I was able to get 2 Texas Redbuds, a Hop Tree, and a Texas Buckeye this way. The only thing it cost me was sweat and time. I also traded plants, clippings, bulbs, and seeds with neighbors and friends, improving all of our yards.

We slowly cut back the amount of yard that was covered in lawn, converting it to a small grove of native trees and plants. Less to mow, YAY! and it provided privacy and coolness by shading the front porch. The trees provided shelter, food, and a place for birds to nest. Even in winter the trees provided food like this soapberry tree feeding cedar waxwings.

So what kind of animals did we see? Mostly birds, butterflies/caterpillars, and squirrels. We had lizards and toads but they learned to be wary of a house full of boys and weren't often spotted out in the open. We did get temporary visitors like rabbits and possums that wandered in from a nearby flood plain. These usually stayed a night or two and wandered off again.

This is the front view of my old house. You can see the stand of trees to the side of the house. Neatly mowed lawns and clean flower beds helped keep the HOA off our backs about the thicket of trees. The flower beds were heavily mulched to keep out weeds and retain water.

This is the side view, the large trees to the right of the picture are the back side of the thicket. It took us about 4 years to change the yard from new home blah to nature habitat. We were lucky the builder had left many of the trees that eventually formed the thicket. We added in native shrubs and trees to fill in blank spots.


NWF has tip sheets to help you attract wildlife to your yard or balcony. The Canadian Wildlife Federation has a similar program as does Australia. Check with your local nursery, parks and wildlife department, or follow the links above for help in picking out native plants for your area. Have fun gardening, and enjoy nature!

Country Road

David found this show while channel surfing tonight. For some reason I find a room full Indonesians all dressed for the rodeo and singing country music utterly hilarious. Actually the music was pretty good, and of course I am a country music junkie, so I was happy. The show was broadcast in a mixture of Bahasa Indonesia and English so I was able to follow along.

Wordless Wednesday-Kamoro Wood Carvers

Strange Tropical Fruit #2- Jackfruit

As I said in my post about rambutan, this is fruit that is weird to me. This fruit is not commonly imported to the United States, or at least not available in Texas at my local HEB. It is eaten by many, many people in tropical areas of Asia.

Jackfruit is one of Colin's favorite fruits. I think this is mostly because there is a jackfruit tree in our compound. He is enamored of growing and picking his own food. Strangely I think he misses my gardens back in Texas more than I do.

So what does jackfruit taste like? It is very sweet, has a sort of squishy texture and to me smells a bit like Juicy Fruit bubble gum. My tropical fruit book described it as a pineapple flavor mixed with melon. Mostly I just thought it was sweet and sticky, but not so as juicy as pineapple and melon. It is very large fruit covered in bumps, sort of small spikes. Inside the fruit there is a lot of pulpy stuff and bunches of bright yellow sections each containing a seed. It is these sections that are eaten. The seeds can be eaten as well. The immature fruit can be eaten as a savory cooked dish. I haven't tried either of these specialties. An interesting note, the unopened ripe jackfruit smells nasty, really nasty, sort of like a rotting onion even though inside is fine.


The fruit grows from the trunks and branches of the jackfruit tree. Although it can grow down low on the trunk, like in this picture from Bali, it also grows very high up in the branches as well. Large fruits can grow to a whopping 110 pounds (50 kg). Imagine walking under a tree with bumpy, spikey, giant watermelon sized fruit hanging over your head. Makes me a bit nervous. Good thing that Newton was sitting under a apple tree, not a jackfruit tree.

I have a funny story involving Colin, jackfruit and the gardener: Colin has attached himself to one of the compound gardeners. He follows this poor guy around all afternoon whenever he can't find a friend to play with. I have repeatedly told Colin to leave the gardener alone but the gardener just looks at me and says, "No problem Bu." Bu (boo) is short for Ibu (EE-boo) which is a polite way to address a woman, like ma'am. Colin calls the gardener Anaconda, his name is Uding (hope I spelled that right). Colin decided his name was Anaconda when Uding called Colin anak anak (bahasa Indonesia for child or children) said quickly it does sound a bit like Anaconda. So anyway Colin follows Anaconda around for hours, babbling at him in English while Anaconda answers back in Indonesian. Who knows if they understand anything the other says. He will give Colin bugs and snails, trimmings from plants or seeds to plant. Most of the time they both seem satisfied with their arrangement.

One day however the boss gardener was around so Anaconda had no time for Colin, but Colin wouldn't be discouraged. Finally the gardener went to the back and picked a small jackfruit, broke it open and gave it to Colin. This didn't stop Colin from following him around but it did keep him out the way. He sat watching Anaconda work and stuffing his face with jackfruit.
Colin ate so much jackfruit that he didn't touch his dinner.

Wordless Wednesday-White Sands

More About Me

Tagged by Jae! (Thanks you saved us all from a rambling post about pilates, guess I will save it for later!)

Things You Possibly Didn't Know About Me (or maybe you did, but I'm telling ya anyway ;))

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now?
3 car seats, some kids books to give the kids something to do in the car (like hit each other with the books), jumper cables, a couple of diapers just in case, and my driver's bottle of water

2. When was the last time you threw up?
Shortly after moving to Jakarta, about the same time I learned the phrase "Jakarta Belly."

3. What's your favorite curse word?
Can't say because I don't use profanity here, some of my kids friends read this blog, so it will have to remain a mystery!

4. Name three people who made you smile today.
Today – easy!! Alonzo, Colin, Grayson, David, and Cody

5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
Getting dressed for pilates!

6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Eating lunch

7. What will you be doing 3 hours from now?
Taking my 6 and 7 year old to tennis lessons, IF it ever stops raining!

8. Have you ever been to a strip club?
Nope, but I did have a stripper at a bachelorette party, does that count?

9. What is the last thing you said aloud?
"It's OK Mommy's right here." It is thundering right now, the scary, hateful, cracky thunder that Grayson is most scared of.

10. What is the best ice cream flavor?
Ben and Jerry's Phish Food or Ben and Jerry's One Sweet Whirled (or anything Ben and Jerry containing any combo of chocolate, coffee, and caramel (marshmallow and nuts optional)

11. What was the last thing you had to drink?
Black Cherry Tea - hot

12. What are you wearing right now?
Hot pink cotton top and ancient denim skorts, no shoes in the house.

13. What was the last thing you ate?
Pasta with homemade red sauce, leftovers for lunch

14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
Nope. Not this month either!

15. When was the last time you ran?
Last time one of the boys came up to me holding some gross creepy crawly! My poor pembantu Ibu Dwi was right behind me!

16. What's the last sporting event you watched?
Does David playing badminton with Alonzo count as a sporting event?

17. Who is the last person you emailed?
David

18. Ever go camping?
Yep but not in countries that have cobras or monkeys! Already shopping for camping gear for Germany!

19. Do you have a tan?
I live in the tropics and swim several times a week, so yeah, but I wear rash guard so my tan line is a little weird.

Don’t know where 20 – thru 23 went …

24. Do you drink your soda from a straw?
Yep, when ever I go to a restaurant in Jakarta that I have not been to before I avoid ice and order bottled soda and a straw. (see #2 for explanation)

25. What did your last IM say?
I haven’t IM’d in forever. My last SMS was about going shopping for exercise clothes

26. Are you some one's best friend?
Hope so but probably not since we live overseas and move so often.

27. What are you doing tomorrow?
9:15 will find me helping out in my son's second grade writing class, just like every Wednesday morning.

28. Where is your mom right now?
I hope she is at home asleep in her bed, it's the middle of the night in Texas.

29. Look to your left, what do you see?
Cat tree, a VERY fat orange cat, and my knitting basket with the scarf I am knitting for Alonzo.

30. What color is your watch?
I don't have a watch, maybe David and the boys will buy me one for Mother's Day. HINT HINT!!

31. What do you think of when you think of Australia?
beaches, Uluru, clean air, and big lizards

32. Would you consider plastic surgery?
YES! Anyone know a good surgeon? Sign me up.

33. What is your birthstone?
Topaz, it's yellow UGH!

34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru?
Neither- McDonald's and KFC deliver. ;)

35.How many kids do you want?
I have 4 boys I don't think my sanity would survive another kid

36. Do you have a dog?
No, just 2 fat lazy cats. I want a dog but it just doesn't work with this lifestyle.

37. Last person you talked to on the phone?
David

38. Have you met anyone famous?
I don't know, are ambassadors considered famous? If so, then yes, otherwise no not really.

39. Any plans today?
Pilates this morning and tennis this afternoon but it is still raining.

40. How many states have you lived in?
States: Texas and Virginia
Countries:USA and Indonesia and soon to add Germany

41. Ever go to college?
Yes Even got my BS from SWT in '94

42. Where are you right now?
Sitting on couch in living room

43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now?
Getting ready to pack out without knowing our housing assignment at the next post. How big is it? How many closets? How big is the oven and will my cookie sheets fit or should I just send them to storage? How many bedrooms? .......I hate moving!

44. Last song listened to?
We Are the Dinosaurs Marching by Laurie Berkner (thanks Jamie, ow that sounded sarcastic, really I mean thanks, Grayson loves his music!)

46. Are you allergic to anything?
I used to get really sick after eating shrimp but I don't seem to have a problem with it anymore.

47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?
My clogs by Dansko I wear them with jeans they are so comfortable.

48. Are you jealous of anyone?
Anyone who doesn't have to move in the next 5 months

50. Is anyone jealous of you?
Yes but only because I have a maid

51. What time is it?
1:43pm Jakarta time

52. Do any of your friends have children?
Yes, most of them!

53. Do you eat healthy?
Most of the time

54. What do you usually do during the day?
Enjoy the kids, stay out of Dwi's way, practice guitar, try and learn German (at least enough to ask "where's the bathroom") with Rosetta Stone, sort through the endless amount of junk we have and try to decide keep donate or storage, shuttle my kids to various lessons and school activities, volunteer at school, cook dinner, blog

55. Do you hate anyone right now?
No not really I don't think hate is healthy but there are people I try to limit the amount of time I spend with them for my own mental health

56. Do you use the word 'hello' daily?
Yes, also Selamat Pagi (siang, sore, or malam depending on the time of day)

58. How old will you be turning on your next birthday?
41

59. Have you ever been to Six Flags?
Once, my dear friend Cynthia (who will never read this) took us last summer. So much fun!

60. How did you get one of your scars?
When I was a kid I was playing with our bulldog Major, I was running he was chasing. He jumped on me and knocked me into a barbed wire fence leaving a big scar on my thigh.

Corwin Wanna Be(s)

We went to the Sailing Club at Tanjung Lesung for the Chinese New Year holiday. One of the things my family loves best about the sailing club is how it allows them to channel their inner Corwin. All the men in my family, from the youngest to the oldest, seem to be suffering from the illusion that they are really wildlife show hosts and should (frequently) catch innocent wildlife to keep their skills up. I swear if you listen closely you can hear the collective wildlife scream as we drive up, "OH NO! NOT THEM! NOT AGAIN!"

Here is a gallery of their latest victims:

The first of many, many toads to be caught, terrorized, and released.

Crabs are the most plentiful wildlife and and so crabs are the most frequently caught wildlife at the sailing club. We transport our beach toys to the club in a large blue plastic tub. The tub doubles as a crab cage. Colin and Alonzo will catch dozens of small sand crabs and dump them in the tub. They will add sand and watch them frantically dig holes to try to hides. They will add shells to decorate the crab house. Then they will dig up all the holes just to see them do it all over again. We have to watch Colin though because he will suddenly decide the whole crab thing is boring and go dig up a really big crab to put in with all the little crabs. Colin is a bit bloodthirsty and really likes to watch the big crab eat his fill of baby crab sushi.

This time there were lots of baby frogs hopping around. They were in every mud puddle in the grassy field between the beach and the bungalows. If you look closely at the picture to the left you will see Colin holding one. Go ahead click on the picture to make it bigger. Did you see the frog? No? Ok, here is a better picture of the frog.

Cute little thing, isn't it? We originally thought it was a baby toad. We decided maybe it was a tree frog when Colin put a bunch of them in a bucket and they used their sticky little toes to climb right up the side and hop away.

The Great Frog Escape

Up, up....

And away!

David finally caught a monitor lizard. He has been trying to do this since we arrived in Indonesia. He has chased them at the sailing club, at the botanical gardens, and at a resort in Bali. This time he got lucky and was able to catch a baby monitor. It looks easy enough when Corwin does this on TV. David learned a few things: Monitors have very long sharp claws (in this picture the lizard has sunk them into the end of Dave's middle finger), monitors have sharp teeth and are eager to bite, monitors are grumpy, and a lot stronger than they look! He was bleeding from several wounds when he turned this little one loose.



And last, but not least, the ones who got away:

Actually the first thing to get away an almost three foot monitor that we ran across on road into the club. David saw this monster as we drove into the sailing club. He threw the van in park jumped out, and started running down the road after it, before I even knew what was going on. I kept waiting for him to yell, "By Crikey! What a little beaut!!" (OK so that would be Irwin, not Corwin...close enough, it even rhymes)The lizard took one look at Dave and made tracks into the nearest rice padi. After David caught the little monitor above he was REALLY glad this one got away!

This is not a lizard I would want to chase!

This is Dave watching another lizard get away!

Colin saw a SNAKE on this trip. (EEEKKK! THERE ARE FREAKING COBRAS IN INDONESIA.) Ok, so he didn't see a cobra. What ever he saw had stripes. Cobras don't have stripes. If they do have stripes, please don't tell me, just let me live in ignorance. Please! He swears it was a harmless flying snake. He knows because he saw a show about flying snakes on TV. Of course, he is an expert, whatever was I thinking??

I didn't see the snake, but I saw a TV show about kraits, they have stripes, they can kill you, and they live in Indonesia too. After I finished freaking out I treated Colin to yet another lecture about not touching snakes at all, ever, for any reason, seriously just don't do it!!! Lest you think I am one of those who hates snakes, all snakes, I would let my kids handle snakes back in Texas. Wait, maybe let is a strong word, it might be more accurate to say I didn't totally spaz out, mainly because I could accurately and from a distance of at least 4 feet identify all 4 species of venomous snakes native to Texas. I can't tell which species species here are bad news and which ones are (relatively) safe. Ok, I guess I could probably tell you it was a cobra AFTER someone pissed it off and it hooded up, but that would probably be too late to do any good, so my rule stands, NO SNAKES, NOT EVER!!! *** Important note: Colin swears he didn't try to catch the snake. For some weird reason I simply don't believe him, so I am putting it down as one that got away.

One of these will kill you, one is harmless. Can you tell which is which? Yeah, me neither! Actually my Mom would claim both are dangerous. One would poison her and one would give her a heart attack! Bad either way.

This critter didn't so much get away as refuse to come down where he could be caught. If you look closely you will see a large gecko in the middle of roof beams of our bungalow. This is a tokay gecko. It is considered good luck to have a tokay in the house. Perhaps because they eat bugs. Bugs are yuckier than lizards so I generally don't mind the tokay. Besides as lizards go they are sorta pretty, orangey with blueish spots. This one, however, was not a good house guest. At 2:00 each morning he began calling for a mate. It's mating call sounds something like a 3 year old child yelling TOE-KAY... TOE-KAY through a bull horn. At least now I know how they got their name.

I am sure there are other poor creatures that crossed paths with my men but I don't know about it, and I don't want to know about it. In some cases ignorance is bliss! I just hope the wildlife recovers before our next trip out to the sailing club.

**All animals were released back where they belong, traumatized, but mostly unharmed. We are a catch and release family.

Wordless Wednesday- How'd They Do That?

100th post!!