Life has been very busy here in sunny Singapore. We hosted a 4th of July party at our place on, what else, the 4th of July! A bunch of Americans showed up late in the afternoon and we christened my new anniversary gift - a bar-b-que pit. They are quite expensive over here - not sure why - but that's what I wanted because I think with our back terrace, we'll definitely get our money's worth out of it. The funniest thing to all of us over here was that we were all talking about phone calls made back home that morning to people in the States. Most mentioned they were attending a 4th party that was to be complete with burgers, corn on the cob, potato salad and lots of good old Southern iced tea. Everyone laughed because in comparing phone calls the one thing everyone back in the States asked was: will you be able to see the fireworks. The answer was no. They will do fireworks here in Singapore on their Independence Day (August 9th) or National Day, as they call it. They celebrate all sorts of things here, but our 4th of July is not one of them! So we had an excellent afternonn and evening, but no fireworks.
For those of you who have been concerned about Basil's health and welfare due to all the chocolate brown - let me assure you - he is fine. I have even managed to decorate quite nicely around his brown ideas. In the master bedroom, in addition to his chocolate brown headboard, we have put up chocolate brown floor to ceiling black out drapes for all the times he must sleep duriing the day to fly at night - which is not happening much as it turns out. I couldn't find some artwork that I really liked to go above the bed, so I put another floor to ceiling drape there in a deep burgundy made out of this really crinkly textured material. It was so funny to hear me and the drapery guy who came out to measure - he had made our black out drapes, too. "You want curtain here?" "Yes, out of this material" "But there is no window there." "Yes, I know, but this is what I want and this is where I want it." "But there is no window there." "Yes, I know, but......." You get the idea. 30 minutes later, he shrugs and decides to humor the crazy American lady. One week later, here comes my beautiful drape. This time he has a helper to help hang the rod and then the drape. The helper looks at where he is supposed to hang the rod, looks at the ddrapery man and says, "There is no window here." "Yes, but this is where she wants it." "But there is no window there." Deja vu! I had to leave the room to laugh. When I went back in the drape was hung beautifully!
We have found and hung several beautiful abstract paintings with a variety of colors, so brown is not the overriding color any longer. We also purchased two persian carpets. One was made in Iran 35 years ago, before the revolution. Evidently this is very good because the Shah of Iran was very particular about what was exported. The revolution that they refer to is when the Shah was overthrown. Time for the Iranians is marked tremendously by this event. I had not realized that. It has beautiful colors and tones in it. It is called a Tabriz, fish eye pattern. It is made of wool and silk, and is known as a city rug. The dominant colors are a rust color and navy blue, although when you study it, in the designs you can pick out almost every color in the rainbow.
In the dining room we put down another city rug, made all of wool. It is in shades of brown, both dark and light with a geometric design. It has the look of what I have learned to know as a tribal rug, but is actually not. This one was made in Afghanistan about 10 years ago. We asked the man who sold them to us, he is also the one who taught the class we went to, about how to care for them and what to do, especially with the one in the dining area, if something gets spilled on it. Said blot it with white soft cloth and use dishwashing liquid bubbles only to then go over it in the same direction as the pile of the rug. Good thing we asked - during the first hour of the 4th of July party a glass of red wine was spilled on it. We did what he told us and in 20 minutes there was not a sight of the stain!
Still working on the VoIP phone for those of you who have asked. The equipment they sent doesn't recognize the converter I have to have for the power - US is 110, here it is 220 - have to have a converter. They are sending me a different piece of equipment that others have had better luck with overseas. I promise to let everyone know the minute it is up and running and will be so happy to get phone calls - I'll even take the ones that come in my middle of the night!!!!
I am going to attempt to put some pictures on here. I'll see if I can manage it! Hopefully I'll have more success with this than the phone!
Shari, Doug and Abby - I miss so much talking to you while you were gone. I love those early morning (for me) calls before Abby goes to bed. Waking up to that sweet little voice saying "Wake up Mei, Mei and turn on the puter so you can see me" is just the best sound ever!!!
Lynn - I bought several bouganvillea bushes that have been shaped in to little tree like bushes and several colors grafted together - they are beautiful.
Patsy - thanks for the recipe and the forms. They'll be coming back to you soon.
Bill - thanks for the picture - absolutely adorable!
Pam - write and tell me how things are going!
Bobbi - are you up and going? Email me back!
Dinosaur - welcome to the computer age!
Heather - Yes - in the future still. Yes - he's still there!
For those of you who have been concerned about Basil's health and welfare due to all the chocolate brown - let me assure you - he is fine. I have even managed to decorate quite nicely around his brown ideas. In the master bedroom, in addition to his chocolate brown headboard, we have put up chocolate brown floor to ceiling black out drapes for all the times he must sleep duriing the day to fly at night - which is not happening much as it turns out. I couldn't find some artwork that I really liked to go above the bed, so I put another floor to ceiling drape there in a deep burgundy made out of this really crinkly textured material. It was so funny to hear me and the drapery guy who came out to measure - he had made our black out drapes, too. "You want curtain here?" "Yes, out of this material" "But there is no window there." "Yes, I know, but this is what I want and this is where I want it." "But there is no window there." "Yes, I know, but......." You get the idea. 30 minutes later, he shrugs and decides to humor the crazy American lady. One week later, here comes my beautiful drape. This time he has a helper to help hang the rod and then the drape. The helper looks at where he is supposed to hang the rod, looks at the ddrapery man and says, "There is no window here." "Yes, but this is where she wants it." "But there is no window there." Deja vu! I had to leave the room to laugh. When I went back in the drape was hung beautifully!
We have found and hung several beautiful abstract paintings with a variety of colors, so brown is not the overriding color any longer. We also purchased two persian carpets. One was made in Iran 35 years ago, before the revolution. Evidently this is very good because the Shah of Iran was very particular about what was exported. The revolution that they refer to is when the Shah was overthrown. Time for the Iranians is marked tremendously by this event. I had not realized that. It has beautiful colors and tones in it. It is called a Tabriz, fish eye pattern. It is made of wool and silk, and is known as a city rug. The dominant colors are a rust color and navy blue, although when you study it, in the designs you can pick out almost every color in the rainbow.
In the dining room we put down another city rug, made all of wool. It is in shades of brown, both dark and light with a geometric design. It has the look of what I have learned to know as a tribal rug, but is actually not. This one was made in Afghanistan about 10 years ago. We asked the man who sold them to us, he is also the one who taught the class we went to, about how to care for them and what to do, especially with the one in the dining area, if something gets spilled on it. Said blot it with white soft cloth and use dishwashing liquid bubbles only to then go over it in the same direction as the pile of the rug. Good thing we asked - during the first hour of the 4th of July party a glass of red wine was spilled on it. We did what he told us and in 20 minutes there was not a sight of the stain!
Still working on the VoIP phone for those of you who have asked. The equipment they sent doesn't recognize the converter I have to have for the power - US is 110, here it is 220 - have to have a converter. They are sending me a different piece of equipment that others have had better luck with overseas. I promise to let everyone know the minute it is up and running and will be so happy to get phone calls - I'll even take the ones that come in my middle of the night!!!!
I am going to attempt to put some pictures on here. I'll see if I can manage it! Hopefully I'll have more success with this than the phone!
Shari, Doug and Abby - I miss so much talking to you while you were gone. I love those early morning (for me) calls before Abby goes to bed. Waking up to that sweet little voice saying "Wake up Mei, Mei and turn on the puter so you can see me" is just the best sound ever!!!
Lynn - I bought several bouganvillea bushes that have been shaped in to little tree like bushes and several colors grafted together - they are beautiful.
Patsy - thanks for the recipe and the forms. They'll be coming back to you soon.
Bill - thanks for the picture - absolutely adorable!
Pam - write and tell me how things are going!
Bobbi - are you up and going? Email me back!
Dinosaur - welcome to the computer age!
Heather - Yes - in the future still. Yes - he's still there!
