Early morning light

From a balcony somewhere in Ubud…

Fire Regeneration

Some months ago not far from where I live, there was a bushfire that went through  a large conservation park called Cox’s Scrub. Its now six months since the fire. A friend and I took a leisurely stroll along one of the trails  and this is a taste of what we saw.

Everlasting daisies…..

Isopogons regenerating

New  elegant grasses dancing  in the breeze

?..blue with 5 petals

Tufted lobelia

Slender boronia

Flowers blooming………………native primrose

Yaccas flowering ….

A clump of yaccas  growing back together : )

For many plants fire is essential for their continued survival. Some plants only grow after a fire.  
For sure there is so much to see besides blackened stumps…..

Bali indah sekali!

Early morning in ubud the view from my verandah

Walking before breakfast…fresh after an early morning
Rain shower

Walking after breakfast….thru the laneways and up into the ricefields

A snake being ‘rescued’ from the sawah right before
My eyes….mau?

Verdant green sawah

A small warung next to the path
And its resident kucing

One of my favourite places Lombok

Before my memories have paled into insignificance under the weight of my everyday life back in oz I have still some adventures and beauty to share. This one is about west lombok in and around Mataram and Mangsit.

This is Mangsit beach….the volcano is gunung agung on the east side of bali. The sunsets are always different, sometimes spectacular and always a meditation. Its quiet and peaceful and the locals friendly and hospitable.

Yes these cidomos (c is pronounced ch) are a regular form of transport in  and around ampenan and mataram. They are particularly busy around the main market. Another form of transport , the bemo is a common sight…its an openbacked van which is happy to transport most things

And on one of my journeys I traveled with a pan of fish, a large bundle of coconuts and had an interesting conversation with the owner of this hat which he had plaited out of coconut fronds..it was magnificent and extremely useful as this person was a fisherman.

A beautiful park to the west of mataram called narmada. Its famous for its fresh spring water and the fact that it used to be the rajah’s home. Its very beautiful and has numerous pools and places  to hangout under the trees and picnic.

My friends and I had a wonderful picnic under a large tree overlooking one of the lakes and right next to a warung  which sold lontong (rice steamed/ cooked in coconut leaves) and delicious spicey chicken and beef sates with an even more delicious  spicey peanut sauce. Not only did we have that for lunch,  but we also had brought along some nasi bungkis ( smallish packets wrapped I n banana leaves with rice , green veg, sambal,  corn fritters, jackfruit stew). Really it was a veritable feast and my mouth is watering even now as I type and recall how wonderful that day was…..thanks to ibu febi, pak hermann and their beautiful son athaya. : )) for taking me there.

Beautiful bougainvillea

And the first time I had really seen a mangosteen tree. If you look really carefully you can see the young green fruit. It is o e of my favorite  fruits  and has a dark purple skin when its ripe. Mmm.

I always leave a small piece of my heart in lombok …. ♡

Kopi manis..Pangkalan bun kalimantan cont

During our very long day at the beach we discovered how the locals made their very delicious coffee. We were privileged to be invited into ibu’s house and were able to watch the whole process. Bu Arfa and Cathy chatting on the floor of the kitchen while the kopi was being roasted a short distance away. Im getting ahead of myself…..here are the key ingredients..

Coffee beans, cinammon sticks, ginger
Kacang kopi     , kayu manis,          jahe

And  rice uncooked
           beras

All these ingredients were then placed in a wok and stirred vigorously for quite a long time… over a hot fire. This is where most of the family’s cooking would be done.

After all the ingredients have been roasted…..they are placed in a large mortar. You can see Bu Arfa is getting ready to pound away!

Note the colour of the beans…..

There was definitely an art to the pounding. We all had a go and beans were jumping out left,  right and centre. We left it to the experts! The ground kopi was then sieved to make sure it was fine enough.  I was truly amazed because if you look closely at the the photo of the beans going into the mortar they look like they have been burnt to a crisp and yet when you look at the final product it is a rich chocolate brown Asyik! Amazing!

The white powder on ibu’s face is a beauty product( nearly everything has a whitening agent in it). She wasn’t expecting visitors!

Hanging out in the backyard afterwards…. the aroma of the kopi was redolent of/with ginger and cinammon. Enak sekali!!