Where does time go?

Shari brought it to my attention that I have not blogged in a bit, so I'd better get back to it. Thank goodness she keeps track of me better than I do!

I got our VoIP line up and going, now it's back down and I'm switching companies. Takes a while for the router eqipment to get here, so I figure it will be another few weeks until I get the new one going. I'll let everyone know the new number as soon as I get going again. Good to talk to those of you who called.

All in all, I have to tell you life here is pretty fun and very pleasant. I've been out and about exploring more and more, learning more and more. Since the apartment is pretty much finished, I'm venturing out more for just me. Basil goes along when he's home or sometimes I go with one of the other wives here. Many times, I'm just out on my own wandering around.

Arab Street is really more than just one street - it's an area comprised of about 3 city blocks by 3 city blocks. It is an area known mostly for it's carpet stores and it's silk shops. They have silks in every color and texture imaginable, from every place in the world. It is amazing. You can walk along looking at all these shops and they just have bolts upon bolts of the most gorgeous colors and prints I have ever seen. I don't think I've ever seen the same material or colors from shop to shop. Then when you go in to look at some, you find there are several more rooms you can't even see from the storefront. If you can't find exactly what you are looking for,
then they will take you upstairs to even more rooms. We're not talking just one place - we're talking all of them! Anyone who wants me to bring back a couple of lengths of silk - let me know how much and a color. For anyone out there who is knowledgable about silk - which I wasn't but am gaining interest in every day - they have the Jim Thompson silks here very reasonable. If I am not mistaken in what I have learned, this is a very good Thai silk known worldwide. I'd love to have some pants or a pants suit made before I leave here - ok, ok - maybe several!

Of course everyone who has read this blog knows I've been learning all about the persian carpets. There are almost as many of those shops as there are silk shops. They are all so beautiful and feel so good to touch. Again, I have never seen the same carpet twice!

And the food down at the Arab Street area is incredible. You can get Turkish, Iranian, Mediterrean (which is a little of both Turkish and Greek), Morrocan, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian and some that are delicious that I haven't quite figured out what they are!

To give you an idea of how much I like this area, we met an American couple from Memphis the other day and took them down there for shopping and dinner. As we are walking along the sidewalk all these shopkeepers come out and greet me by name. Waiters and hostesses at 4 different restaurants greeted me by name. The couple were amazed, along with my husband. I was just a little embarassed to realize just how much I'm down there!

One of the restaurants I go to for lunch there quite a lot is owned by a family - mother, father, 18 yr old daughter. They are teaching me - trying to anyway - some Arabic words. I know how to say hello, goodbye, thank you and how are you. I just don't know how to write it for you!

Shari - love you, Doug and Abby.
Lynn- can't wait for court to be in session again.
Matt - kiss Jellybean for me.
Deb Mac - where are you?
Teri - how's the little monkey - you know it killed me to write that!
Bill and Betty - football, we need football details!
Rusty - sorry I keep missing you!
Heather - yes, still the future. Yes, he's still there!

More Pictures - The Apartment

Here are pictures I tried to take of the apartment. I have learned I am much better at outdoor and people photography than interior design pictures. Between the white wall, the marble floors - both of which reflect every bit of light possible - and my flash....... well, you'll see. How many brown objects can you find? Notice the walls are white, not one red wall in the whole place.

*****************************************************************************************************************

Below is a picture of our apartment building. We are over to the far right as you look at the picture, about four windows down from the top. There are 5 buildings in our complex, along with a separate building for a weight and workout room, a separate building for the squash court, 2 children's playgrounds, swimming pool, children's pool and tennis courts. The main building is behind us with the swimming pool in between. That building has the little sidewalk cafe for eating at or taking away, a convenience store, a place to get facials and massages done, a dry cleaners and a doctor's office that is open 7 days a week from 8:30 am to 8:30 pm with 3 doctors and you don't need an appointment. Here almost every doctor's office has the pharmacy as part of their office, so when they give you a prescription, you just go back to the waiting room and they will call your name to tell you your meds are ready. I've not counted for myself, but there is supposed to be 1,094 apartments in our whole complex.

************************************************************************************************

Here's our door. We live on the end and there are only 3 other apartments on our floor. This is our "iron gate" as they call them here. It beautiful and it's strong and it's designed so you can have a locked door, but the air can come through when you don't have the air conditioner on and you want to leave your wooden door open. Kind of like an open pattern storm door. Basil picked out this design.

*************************************************************************************************

This is what you see when you walk through the front door. It is an open floor plan. Dining area is to the left , the living room on your right down steps and in between is sort of like our transition point, the entry area. Sorry about the white splotches around the dining table - shadows I can't seem to avoid!

************************************************************************************************

This is our dining area. I took a floral arranging class - note my homework on the table. The doorway towards the right just off center leads to a closet with louvered doors which hold suitcases, etc. Off both direction from there is where bedrooms and baths are. Again, sorry about the white halo affect - my flash just bounces off these white walls in the weirdest way!

*************************************************************************************************

If you have your back to the bookcase next to the dining area, this is what you see looking back towards the front door. It's kind of weird, but most of the apartments we looked at or that I have had the opportunity to visit is set up this way. It's so funny to have your "entryway" set up between your living and dining area, but it seems to work out ok. On the left side you can see two doorways. The one to the far left goes into the kitchen. The other goes into the "maid's area" or laundry area.
**********************************************************************************************

This is the area just opposite what you were looking at in the previous picture. This is with your back to the front door again. I "inherited " this chair from the owner, which means I cannot get rid of it. He won't move it, so I just fit it in. Making lemon chiffon cake out of lemons! The lamp next to it is stone, extremely heavy and in the brown area there has water running down it. It does it on all four sides. In the background on the right side of the picture is looking down into the living room. It is about 2 feet lower than the rest of the apartment.

*************************************************************************************************

Standing on the steps that lead down into the living room, you can see straight out the sliding door to the balcony. The sliding door is one that slides back in three pieces or opens from both ends at the same time. As you can see the front balcony is small, but large enough to hold 2 chairs and our little table. We spend a lot of time out here. I watch the ships and the air planes. I can see the planes, but don't get any noise - too far away.

*************************************************************************************************

This is what I see out my front living room windows. Also we have this view from the kitchen, the study and the guest room. I happen to snap it on a bright blue morning, but many days it is grey. The water is grey, the skies are grey. There is so much humidity in the air, many times it appears real hazy, but when the sun goes down and it cools just about 2 or 3 degrees, it's enough of a temp change that it clears and everything gets crystal clear. The water stays churned up from all the ships coming and going, so we don't always get to see it this pretty. I think on the previous blog entry I posted a picture of the grey! Those are just a few of the ships sitting out there. I can't get a picture to come out that even comes close to conveying how many ships there are. Actually there are about 300 every day and night. You see them, you go to bed, next morning there is just as many only they are different ones! Big ones, small ones, from all over the world. Just a little while back, we had one here that is one of the world's largest container ships. The clouds are sitting right on top of Indonesia, about 9 miles away. The trees in the bottom part of the picture - there is a park down there that runs for about 15 miles. Walking paths. Biking and rollerblading paths. Benches to sit on. Bar-b-que and picnic areas. Sidewalk cafes to get something to eat or drink. Nice.

*************************************************************************************************

Standing with the balcony on my right, this is that half of the living room. That window looks partly out on the water. The big carved pieces on the wall are hand carved teak. They have a look of lace. They are delicate-looking, but heavy as can be.

************************************************************************************************

With your back to the couch now and the balcony to the left, this is the other half to the living room. The tall speaker-looking piece on the far right is a fan. It moves and turns and does a good job. I've got a bunch of them to use. The lamp on the right side of the tv table matches the one with water, only this one doesn't have the water. Stone and very heavy though. In the case on the left is where I am keeping all my goodies Basil brings me from all his travels. This is the one I bought after I got rid of the one that swayed! The lacquer pieces on top were made in VietNam, but I purchased them here in Singapore from a shop on Arab St. At the very top of the picture is one of our air conditioning units. The living room has one, as does the dining area and each bedroom and the study. You must turn on each one individually, there is no main thermostat. Each is controlled by a remote and you set the temp, blower speed by this. Almost like a window unit in each room, but not in a window! They do not have central air units here! Oh, but for central air and an ice machine - which you will not find one of anywhere!

*************************************************************************************************

Here is a picture of my new carpet. It is 35 years old, city-made, silk and wool, handmade, double knotted, Tabriz, fish-eye pattern. This one is from Iran and was made prior to the revolution, which is how Iranians mark time. Pre-revolution means before the Shah was overthrown. This I did not know. The older they are, the more valuable they are considered to be. I couldn't afford older than this!!!! I have learned so much about these carpets. It looks a different color if you are looking at it from one end and a darker color looking at it the other way. In the background you can see the steps leading up to the entry area and dining area. Isn't this carpet just beautiful! Towards the lower middle, it looks like a dark spot on the rug - it is not. It's just the nap is ruffled right there and it shows the color differently. No spots anywhere. You'd never know it was 35 years old.

*************************************************************************************************

This is the carpet I bought for the dining area. It looks different also depending on which direction you are looking from. It is about 10 years old, city-made, wool, single knotted, handmade. This one is from Afghanistan. The design looks like that of a tribal rug, but it's not. I do love the tribal rugs and want one next for Basil's study. Notice there were no red walls, so I am going to buy him a red tribal rug. We'll all be happy then!

**************************************************************************************************

This is the master bedroom. Behind all the chocolate brown curtains are windows. Behind the burgundy is just wall. The door out to the terrace is off to the right side out of sight in this picture. Our wardrobe closets are across the room from the end of the bed and along the wall to the left of the bed. 8 drawer dressers are along each side of the room to the left and right out of the picture. Can you say "Lots of brown"?

*************************************************************************************************

This is on the terrace looking out over the city. We put teak patio furniture out there. I was worried about being 24 floors up and these blowing off. This is until I moved one. I had no idea teak is such a hard and heavy wood. That black thing in the middle of the picture is my 29th wedding anniversary present, all covered up. I asked for and received a bar-b-que. We love it and have already used it a great deal. Again, I snapped the picture on one of our clear blue days, although if you look closely you can see the humidity haze just starting to build along the horizon just above the buildings.

************************************************************************************************

This is the other half to the terrace. The building you see is the next building over. Not too close. The people that live in one of the other buildings down from us - the next apartment building is real close. Thank goodness we do not have that. All the leaves are all over because we had a storm last night and I haven't swept yet today. It's the maid's day off - just part time,not full time maid. When she comes, she not only sweeps the terrace, but she waters all the plants, then mops it. Out of the 5 buildings that comprise out complex, there are only 4 apartments total with a terrace. Most of the others have balconies, some don't. We were just plain old lucky to get this one. When the agent showed us the property, she didn't even realize it. We spend almost as much time out here as we do on the front balcony.

*************************************************************************************************

This is the guest room. No pictures up yet. They are bought and being framed. I bought 4 antique Chinese water colors that are painted on silk. They are beautiful and came from an antique store down on the outskirts of Chinatown. In the lower left corner, you'll see the edge of another 8-drawer dresser. To the right is the wardrobe. The windows are open and through them you can see the trees to the park and beyond that the water, but what you are also seeing is the reflection in the window tint of the building behind and to the side of us. It happens when the windows are open because of the angle. Looks kind of weird though when I walk into a rooom sometimes. When I get the pictures hung, I am pretty sure I will get a bedcover of blue or green to match the water colors in them. I did try to liven up the brown with a green pillow!

************************************************************************************************

This is one of the wardrobes. We have them in each bedroom, with the master having two sets. Since this was a British colony for 150 years, they do a lot of things British. Back then, in all the British colonies, as well as Great Britain and most of Eurpoe, part of their property tax was based on how many rooms you had. A closet was considered a room, so they used wardrobes or armoires. So even though that age has passed, but you will only find wardrobes here instead of closets, even in the really expensive, modern apartments and homes. It's what they even show in the decor magazines and on their equivilent of HGTV. They are freestanding, bolted to the wall, made of anything from plastic to wood to smoked glass. They have whole entire stores where all you can do is look at wardrobes! They go floor to ceiling, with the first two doors opening to where you hang clothes. The other door opens to shelves and three drawers. It doesn't leave much room for shoes! The upper cabinets you need a ladder to get to! Good thing about these wardrobes is that they seal up pretty tight when you close them, so not as much humidity in them. Closets are a mostly American thing. Can't wait for a walk-in closet again. Ok - let me rephrase that - I can't wait until Basil gets a walk-in closet again. He takes over any little space he can get to!

*************************************************************************************************

Here is the kitchen. It's windows open out to look at the water also. It is a U-shaped area and not huge. Kitchens are not air conditioned at all. They are their own separate room with a door that closes when - sorry, if you cook. I don't much. There is a stove top that is gas. Electricity is very expensive here, so gas is used for a lot of things. There are no ovens. Sometimes in the decor magazines, you'll see an article about a remodel and they have put in a wall oven. Extremely hard to buy one here - mostly they buy them in Eurpoe and ship them over. I have not even seen at the stores any stoves with ovens in them. Of course, as those of you who know me well, knows this lack of an oven thing just breaks my heart! NOT! Notice also there is no dishwasher. Sometimes you can find one in an apartment or house that has been remodeled, but not very often. Again, they have to ship them in special. I asked a lady of Indian descent one time why they don't have them. She looked very surprised and told me that's what she has a maid for. In fact, she had two maids. In the middle of the picture over to the right is my microwave/convection oven. It came with one, but I made Basil go out and buy a new one. Why? All the buttons on the microwave were labeled in a language I could not read. Chinese. So was the book that came with it. So we got a new one!

Shari and Doug- miss you, love you! What do you want for your birthdays?

Abby - how's your swimming?

Lynn - can you stand any more rain there? Are you floating away? Your water bill by this time is out of sight trying to keep the yard green. Usually this time of year everything is brown! Not this year, huh?

MIllie - your email bounced back. I'll try again.

Stephanie - where are you?

Carol - nice to meet you. Hope all goes as planned at the party in Texas! Let me know.

Becky - how was the cruise and the birthday party?

Patsy - I need a margarita!

Dinosaur - where are you?

Heather - still the future, still there.

Pictures ----- Finally

Many thanks to my very patient daughter who helped me learn to post pictures. Also for those of you who let me know that this was hard to read, thanks again to Shari who taught me how to change the font and the size, so hopefully it is now easier to read.

Sunrise picture taken from my front balcony on the 24 th floor. Those are just some of the ships that are out there every day and night! Sunrise is between 6:45 and 7am every day of the year. It never varies more than 10 to 15 min all year long. No daylight savings time here! Unless it's raining, this is what it looks like every morning.

Sunset taken from my back terrace looking out over part of downtown Singapore. It is dark every evening every day of the year between 7:20 and 7:30pm. It never varies more than 10 to 15 minutes over the course of the year. Unless it's raining, this is what the sunset looks like every evening.

This is looking out from our back terrace during the day. We get a lot of gray skies many days, sometimes all day long. It looks almost hazy, but it's the humidity in the air - there's that much. It gets crystal clear usually at night - unless it's raining, of course - as soon as the sun goes down when the temps change a couple of degrees. Then we can look out the front balcony and see the lights of Indonesia that are about 9 miles away.

Looking out from my balcony as a storm is moving in. The storms come through from all directions and pop up quite frequently. Most are very intense, but don't usally last too long. It will be bright one minute and 5 minutes later be pouring down. They move through pretty quick most of the time, except during the monsoon season, when it rains pretty much non-stop for 3 months. Usually Nov, Dec and Jan.

This is the same storm as the picture above. It rains so hard, everything just begins to disappear and for a while we can't even see the ships. In the lower part of the picture to the left, you can see a water way that collects rain and leads it out to sea so we don't flood. Notice how full it is so quickly. If you go back to the previous picture, you don't see it. That's how much rain we get so fast. Also, Singapore is known as "The Lightening Capital of the World".

Here's one of our crystal clear days looking out on the ships in the bay. The clouds are a line of thunderstorms that are sitting right across the top of the Indonesian islands which are about 9 miles away. There are so many ships coming and going that they keep the waters churned up and cloudy. Very rarely do we get a day that the water is this blue.

More pictures coming! Next I'll try to post the ones of our apartment,
then after that pictures of around the island.

Shari - I did it! Thanks to all your very patient help!

Andrea - send me a note letting me know what's up!

Barbara - how are your parents doing?

Joyce - haven't heard from you in a while.

Christy and Beth - how's Ani? Pats to her!

Heather - yes, still the future. Yes, he is still there.

Still here - just been busy!

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!