It's been a while.......it's been a lot.

 

I'm back!

Here we are in front of The Conscious Closet—such a fab name for our shop, don’t you think? I really hope the link below works… I’ve spent ages trying to master this widget! 😝 If not, just head over to our Instagram and check it out there.

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Hello there, lovely people!

It’s been ages since we last connected, and I apologise for that. The past few months have been a bit choppy, but I’m happy to say I’m now on much calmer waters.

Well, here’s a turn-up for the books—I’m now a paid employee at my volunteer job with Fitted for Work! This incredible not-for-profit organisation in Melbourne helps women, gender-diverse, and non-binary job seekers find employment. We provide job readiness services, practical skills, knowledge, confidence, and connections—and to top it all off, we kit people out with a fabulous work outfit, accessories, makeup, toiletries, and shoes. And the best part? It’s all completely free! Everything we have has been generously donated, either by wonderful companies in Melbourne or by individuals dropping off their pre-loved treasures.

I now work in The Conscious Closet, our fashion store just up from the main office. So far this month, our team has received and processed over 3000 kilos of clothing and accessory donations ready for sale—an incredible effort! If you’re ever in the area, pop in and have a look. I guarantee you’ll find something perfect at the best price in Melbourne. Even better, come by on a Tuesday and say hi!

Book of the month

The Let Them Theory. Mel Robbins   

If you need help in your relationships—both with yourself and others—can I recommend a book that’s truly life-changing? The Let Them Theory is an easy read and a step-by-step guide on how to stop letting other people’s opinions, drama, and judgment impact your life. It has helped me so much. Like many of us, I’ve spent far too much time worrying about what others think of me. But now, I feel liberated and free. Of course, these thoughts will come up again, but I now have a powerful tool to handle them—saving me so much time, pain, and energy. Why wouldn't you want to read it?

My new website is almost finished! It’s been a creative journey that I’ve truly loved, and if you ever need to build a website yourself, I’d highly recommend it—it’s a great confidence booster (especially when it comes to all that tech stuff!).

On my site, you’ll find my guided meditations, daily affirmations, and thought-provoking articles on creating a positive, rewarding life. With the cost of living rising and Life Coaching/Self-Help Therapy becoming increasingly out of reach for many, I thought—why not offer 40-minute sessions for $99? Short, focused, and affordable, these sessions will help us get straight to the point, create a plan for positive change, and achieve fantastic outcomes.

You’ll soon be able to book and pay for your sessions directly on the website—easy peasy! I’ll share the details in my next blog.

Looking forward with love and excitement to this new chapter!

It’s with a very heavy heart that I share this…

The reason I’ve been away from blogging for a while is that my beautiful Dad has left the planet.

It’s so true—we have no real idea what an ‘experience’ is like until we go through it ourselves. I was incredibly lucky to have my Dad for 62 years, and I think of him and talk to him every day. My Mum takes it a step further—she keeps his ashes on the pillow of his bed, saying good morning and goodnight to him everyday. She even reads him the news about Hawthorn Football Club and gives him the match scores. 

Funny thing is, she was never interested in football when he was alive… go figure! She keeps him updated on everything—who’s doing what, how her day is going—and I have no doubt he loves it. After 63 years together, they certainly drove each other crazy at times, but their love and loyalty were unshakable.

Over the past 12 months, I’ve been travelling back and forth to Adelaide to be with my parents, my brother, and my nephews. It’s been intense. It’s been beautiful. The whole experience from Doctors/Nurses hospitals and nursing homes to the final moments of life itself, it’s been an experience I will never forget. Being there as a loved one takes their last breath is both a privilege and an honour. What makes it so powerful is the overwhelming love—the kind that has no barriers, no distractions. Just pure love, filling the space, undeniable and all-encompassing.

And now, though life moves forward, I know one thing for sure—Dad is always with me. Whenever I think of him, he’s there in an instant, loving me and reassuring me, just like he always did. Isn't that right, Dad?

On another note, my ‘elder’ brother in Adelaide was an unexpected gift. In my early 30s, out of the blue, he contacted our mother, and we’ve been growing as a family ever since. What a blessing.

And as for Adelaide—I have to say, I’m developing a real appreciation for Adelaide of the Eighties (dare I say that?). Maybe it’s the slower pace, but I can tell you this—I think Adelaide has the friendliest, most helpful people in all of Australia.

Okay, that’s enough for now—too many tears. I’ll drop you a line in a couple of weeks.

Much love, as always.

J

It's been a while.

Hello there lovely people, it's been a long time between postings. 💖

I can't believe it but here I am nearly 10 years on from my last Blog, 'Pigs Kids and Gecko's Life in a Ubud Village'.

This blog has a new title for a new life here in Melbourne .... 'Accidental Oldie'

Yes, I am still trying to get my head around it, but here I am 10 years later and in my sixties!!! WTF happened and yes it is an accident that I'm here, as I never planned on having aches, pains, reflux, memory prolapses er Ulcerative Colitis, floppy boobs and all the lovely 'things' that go along with ageing, again I say WTF????

Yes, I always wanted to live forever, but somehow I ridiculously, subconsciously, thought that I would stay the same, with a scattter of wrinkles and lovely white hair. Well, I'm getting wrinkles in places I never expected and my natural hair is a dirty grey. I tried going natural for the first 2 years but I'm pleased to say I finally took my daughter's advice and went back to good old blonde, and I don't care if I'm setting a bad example for young women because I feel way better when I look better!

Yes, that's one of the bonuses of hitting sixty, you start to give less of a toss what people think about you... and that is something that I have been working on for most of my life FOPO Fear of Other Peoples Opinions.

Oh my, a lot has happened in 10 years, where do I start ???

Well, we left our dream home and village life in the rice fields of Ubud and moved closer to Ubud central, still amongst the rice fields but somewhere more private and 3 minutes from the cafe strip. During that time our gorgeous friend Pamela decided to make a life change and at 90 years of age, she left her family home in Perth, Western Australia and moved up into a Villa right next door to us. She was so brave and so inspiring we had 2 wonderful years together.

Then that proverbial 'shit hit the fan' Covid hit and my darling Pammie died. It was a very sad and stressful time, dealing with death as a foreigner in Indonesia was a toughie. Police investigations and everything blown out/over-dramatised by the arrival of Covid. With the help of our wonderful Balinese friends Tiwi and Yusa we were able to have Pammie's ashes and could book a ticket home to Australia.

Due to the COVID panic and inexperience in dealing with a pandemic, our flights were cancelled several times. When we finally had a flight to Melbourne confirmed we were told that the plane had to go via Jakarta, and once we landed in Jakarta we were told that Melbourne was closing its borders and that our flight would now land in Sydney. Then we would be driven straight to an undisclosed hotel to stay in Quarantine for two weeks.....AND that our flight was the last flight that the Australian government would pay for the cost of accommodation! Thank you, Jesus! The whole trip was so eerie the airports were deserted, everybody was masked nothing was open you couldn't get a coffee or something to eat anywhere. There were just the 40 of us walking through this massive empty airport to the lounge with not a soul in sight.

My gorgeous fairy godmother Pamela Gertrude on her 91st birthday! 😍

Ok so here I am in Melbourne, yes We and Us, has now changed to, I and My, another tough and sad part of this road I'm travelling on. It was a mutual and very loving agreement and I find myself now living alone in one of the most vibrant and happy eclectic cities in the world! It has not been easy, to stand by the choices one makes especially when family and feelings are involved. I am so grateful to have spent the last 15 years with my best friend, we are now on different paths that will continue to cross. I am blessed.

The gardens and parks here are spectacular, and the cafes and restaurants are full of buzz, with cuisines from every country around the world. You will hear more in upcoming Blogs.

I have my favourites but am always happy to try something new, every Sunday morning I go to Mammoth Cafe in Armadale (THE best suburb south of the Yarra) And enjoy a piping hot bowl of the best almond milk porridge with stewed apple, topped with a buttery, crumbly pecan topping, a dollop of crème fraîche, and a drizzle of maple syrup. Absolutely divine! After breakfast, Leonard and I stroll through Toorak, admiring the heritage mansions on sprawling grounds, surrounded by manicured gardens. We also see some less appealing replicas of European homes, alongside amazing modern architectural designs. I have a deep appreciation for beauty in all forms—whether it’s a flower, a bird, music, or jewellery. I’m all about beauty, precision, and detail—definitely a Libran through and through. I love this place!

Yum!

Me and my best buddie Archie Peter!

So much to tell you 10 years of stuff actually, but I need to run out the door to go to a Collaborate and Conquer Day luncheon with my new volunteer place of work 'Fitted For Work'. I will fill you in on all of that next Blog BUT the bestest most fabulous thing about being in my sixties is, that I have two adorable gorgeous, yummy Grand Babies, Archie and Iris 😍 2 divine little miracles. You will get to hear all about them very soon and yes they are truly 2 little miracles.

Oh and, I forgot to tell you they call me Yay Yay, well Archie does Iris just squeals! 

Yay Yay is Archie's pronunciation of Jay Jay.

It's time to go, I love being back on board and I hope you enjoy what I have to say. I love feedback so please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions or questions. 

Sending you all big Hugs and Love. J xxoo    

I'm Back.

Photo

Hi guy's........
 what happened you may ask five months and nothing, where did she go?

Well your not going to believe this but I go a bit fed up with Social media, yeah thats the truth

 I think some of you will actually agree with me.

 Social Media can take up a huge chunk of your day I found myself spending too much time on facebook everyday. I would read people's posts and then post "stuff" myself (which doesn't sound like much) but I found myself sometimes spending two hours a day just on reading peoples posts and waiting for their videos to download.

 Then there was Instagram which my daughter thought I should be on "Why" I asked myself but gave it a go and then soon got tired of looking for quirky interesting things to photo and one liners to write :( does that sound terrible and am I becoming an old fart???

Gorgeous Keona the dancer.

Well actually I think that I might have got caught up in something that a friend of mine told me about FOMO "fear of missing out" or maybe more for me "a need to know" like when I woke up one morning a couple of months ago the first thing I reached for was my I Pad to see what the new Princess's name was.....and why????????? WTF? I have a full rich juicy life why the need to focus on other peoples I asked myself?
Because with the Royal Family it's part of the fairytale the little girl in me just loves that escape.

Remember this gorgeous lady?

There are lots more wonderful things I want to do than but sit with my I Pad and read mundane stuff, but a couple of months ago I was hooked almost addicted so I gave up FB and Instagram cold turkey it was'nt hard I just did it.
 But hey these outlets are a wonderful connection to the outside world and our love ones and I do use my internet daily (when it's connected).

You see the internet is so SLOW over here, no jokes sometimes you even go days without a connection (would drive the younger generation crazy) and last year the whole of Ubud had to go without the Internet for a week as there was a Royal cremation and all of the phone lines had to be cut down so that the towering procession could walk thru town, can you believe that? Hell yes!!

Anything can happen here it takes a lot for me to raise an eyebrow these days.
So if I find all this "stuff" so time consuming why am I back? Well simple I woke up the other night thinking that I need to write a blog and thats it plain and simple. I live my life by what messages are sent to me, it might sound a little weird but after the things I've experienced in this life if something powerful talks to me in my head I listen.

So what have we been doing??? OHMG where do I begin well we have had so many visitors from Oz and Vietnam it's been fab, not only catching up with wonderful people and hearing their stories but also sharing this beautiful place.

My new friend Ehme from Taiwan.

We have a new gardener Komang who has set us up with our Organic Vegie patch, Komang Is Wayan (our Yoga teacher's brother) a gorgeous man who is a wood carver by trade and muscian, a Flautist, guitarist, drummer and singer he spends most of his time at an Ashram in JungJungan.

He is also the great improviser do you like his protective gear whilst wippersnipping the weeds?


Sib popped up the other week whirlwind that she is we spent 5 days together and we spent two consecutive days rescuing puppies that had been dumped on the edge of a busy road on the side of a hill.
 First Maud the blondie who was being eaten alive by ticks and fleas which took 3 of us 2 hours to get them all out. Ken holding her in the bath me holding a spotlight and Sibaunne with the tweezers.
The next day were driving down the same hill when I heard terrible animal screams, Sibaunne scrambled down the hill with the traffic flying past to find little Billie trying to drag himself up the edge with a fractured pelvis.

So thats it our family is completed 4 cats 3 birds 25 Koi fish and two dogs......ahh not quite but I will share that news with you next time.

Until then love to each and everyone of you gorgeous people life is wonderful enjoy it, have a look at this message I saw the other day.

WELCOME TO THE KARMA CAFE.
THERE ARE NO MENUS. YOU WILL GET SERVED WHAT YOU DESERVE.

J

I love Kuching but........

Can you believe that it's March 2015!!

I don't know if it's been since I hit the big 50, but time for me has sped up and my days are full and gone before I know it there's so much I want to do, shit it's almost like times running out.
I really have to pull myself together and relax. I'm not dying but I want to do so much living that it can do my head in!

Do you ever feel like this? Most of the time I have to take a deep breath and bring myself back to what I'm doing right now and just let the other stuff go....... I'm working on it. 

Oscar's first bath.

Yes I love our Kuching (cats) but "boy oh boy" they drive us crazy sometimes. 

As you know we went to Villa Kitty the rescue centre for cats here in Ubud to get a kitten and found two little beauties who were dumped in a bag on the side of the road in Uluwatu.

 Pamela and George were doing quite nicely as our only children.......(indulged I would say) until the new kids arrived, whilst visiting a neighbour (who broke her hip in a fall then got up and walked to her bed, not to rise again for 6 months as it was too painful and who now walks with a lopsided gait) I found myself sitting on her verandah when the naughty Linoo and Ario dropped two pox ridden barely breathing 5 week old kittens Oscar and Ted in my lap.

 Of course I had to bring them home and give them their first meal and of course Ken fell in love with them, cleaned up their mange and before we knew it they were shacked up with Pamela and George and we now had a family of four cats 5 birds and a heap of Koi fish. 

All four of them after what Pamela has under the bag!

Yes Yannik it's another snake!

Well Pamela is the only girl and her passion is snakes and as you know she regularly brings young Pythons into the house an average of around one a week and Ken has to patch it up and take it back out to the rice field.

Baby Ted with the mange.

Ted is the adreniln junkie and has fallen off tall buildings ....twice and survived!!! 

Oscar is the whinger and big fat Georgie boy suffers from PTSD and sucks your T shirt whenever he gets the chance.

Well the other day Ken and I were sitting watching the TV when Ted flew down the stairs and ran under the coffee table, thank god Ken noticed he had something yellow in his mouth.....our canary.
Well I jumped up and started carrying on (I don't do dead things very well) and Ken took Ted out of the room, Yannik the Bird Lady flew down the stairs and the next thing I knew she was up in the spare room with doors and curtains drawn sitting on the floor and we were out of bounds.
 What transpired from all of this was that Yannik had been feeding the birds and she put the canary's cage on the floor and reached for the bird seed when in a flash Ted had opened the door to the cage reached in grabbed the bird and taken off!!!!!!!

Ken told me to prepare for the worst as he was pretty sure that the canary's lung would be punctured.

We stayed away from the room until the next morning when I said to Ken " you go and look to see if he's still here" next thing Ken is hanging up the cage once again with the canary very much alive and well.

Yannik told us that it would probably take a month for him to sing again and Ken thought that he might never sing again. When there we were 10 minutes later sitting down to breakfast when we here this glorious sound Koming the canary was singing his little heart out, can you believe it???? I don't know what that Yannik did but she's a miracle worker.What is it with these birds here?

Oh yeah and remember Uncle Wayan's green bird well he's run away from home and Yannik saw him in her back yard of course she tried to catch him but didn't quite make it.....watch this space!

Ted got into the neighbours kitchen last week where he scored himself some Ikan (fish), it came at a cost though he was covered in stinky old cooking oil!

Just quickly, on the weekend it was Cahaya's 6 month old ceremony, she is now allowed to go into the temple with her family. What a chubby happy baby she is, except for when she's with Ken and I, she still gets a shock when she sees us like most babies in the village they can't believe what they're seeing 2 white people with white hair! They either scream or burst into tears it's so reassuring hahahaha.

As you can see she has me by the neck and is not too happy, remember when she was tiny?

Sorry it's been a while since you've heard from me, and thank you everybody for your positive feedback hence this lengthy Blog :)

 Looking forward to catching up again soon
love J.


Here's something random......

Just chillin' with the locals and tourists on Seminyak beach where you don't want for anything, bintang, lunch, dinner, sunglasses, massage, shopping, dog walking for the ex pats everything! 

Black Magic.

Not long after Ken and I arrived in Pejeng I remember having a chat in the kitchen with Ketut and Wayan about eachothers scars, you know how you do... "wow you think thats big look at this" yaddah yaddah.

Well I remember being so shocked at the traumas these guys have been through and that they were lucky to survive, with very basic medical help.

 When Ketut was 7 years old a large branch from a tree tree fell on his head and knocked him unconscious he was in a coma for 7 days and when he woke up he had amnesia for one month and a left leg that would'nt move it took him one and a half years to recover and then his mother died. Another story that I will get back to later..

The happy couple Yannik and Ketut.

After Ketut had finished his story he turned to Wayan and said show Mum your back, Wayan would only reveal a tiny glimpse of his back to me and I was shocked at the scarring that I saw I tried not to gasp and he didn't want to talk about it.

 I couldn't believe it when Ketut later told me that when Wayan was one and a half years old he pulled a pan of boiling hot oil from the stove on to his back. He was in hospital for two months and lucky to be alive, the first month was touch and go.
He never takes his shirt off or goes in the pool, only once ever has he had a swim, when we had a party for his daughter Putu's 4th birthday. I was so shocked when Wayan turned up in a wet suit!!!! Now I know why.

Mr Cool....The Big W.

Now if you think those stories are tough get a load of this....
Tartik the village English teacher, was eight months old and crawling when she stuck her thumb in an electric socket and blew her top digit right off!!! Her parents never took her to the Drs and and she told me that people would complain about the horrible smell whenever they were around her!
WT-!!!! Can you believe it?

Thats not all, I could go on and on about this amazing woman I'll just share another quickie, whilst working with her I found her pronunciation of some English words just terrible, and one day she turned around and said to me "very difficult Mum tongue problem" well shit she poked her tongue out and I could'nt believe it, what should of been a nice pink tongue looking at me was nothing but a little beige stump! When her teeth came thru as a young child she would chew on her tongue and as she got older it became a habit and in the end she just chewed off half of her tongue!!!!

Tartik
Not a good photo of her thumb but I just love the way Kadek is looking at her crazy mother.

Ever since I've been coming to Bali (and thats thirty years now), I have heard the locals talk about Black Magic, and it's quite common for people to have Black Magic put on someone they're not happy with, it's as natural and as common as attending ceremony but just a bit more discreet.
Anything that goes wrong here is either due to the Gods being not happy or Black Magic.

Now getting back to Ketut, when he was young his family had a falling out with another family over their rice fields and Ketut's mother became sick and eventually died when he was ten years old.
 Everybody in the village said that Black Magic had been put on Ketuts family.

Twenty years later a very successful Ketut took ill and every day became weaker and weaker, he developed black marks up and down his arms legs and went from Dr to Dr only to be told that they couldn't find anything wrong with him. Yannik was so stressed, she felt strongly that Ketut was dying as he had lost so much weight so she took him to a "paranormal Balian" (psychic witch doctor).
As soon as they walked into his room the paranormal began to feel sick, he said that the black magic around Ketut was so bad that he couldn't help him and they had to go to Nusa Dua to 'paranormal specialist" so off they went.

The specialist gave Ketut a healing and some herbal medicine and after the first two visits Ketut started to feel better, on the third visit the paranormal said that someone had planted a voodoo glass vial in Ketuts home and it had to be found and destroyed or he would never recover and someone else will become ill or die.

 Now here's the tricky part. This paranormal had never met Ketut before, he lived miles away, yet he told them exactly where the glass bottle was, he said it was approx 3ft in from the front door on the left hand side and buried very deep nearly one meter down and Ketut could not touch it or go anywhere near it. So that afternoon our Wayan was called upon to do some digging. Now Black Magic is not taken lightly here and Wayan was very scared but he knew he had to help his Uncle (Yeah everyone's related here its a bit like Tasmania) so many offerings were made.

Smoko whilst making offerings.

 Before he started to dig Wayan had to break up all of the concrete slab that Ketut had laid for an entry to his house, and sure enough after digging down very carefully Wayan found this tiny glass vial completely sealed about 3 inched long with no top and no bottom and inside was a 6 inch nail bent compeletly in half touching tip to tip!!!!!!!!! Frickin amazing how the hell did that happen??
With in a month Ketut was well again, all of their life savings gone ($700), paranormals don't come cheap.
The story doesn't end there, years later the Black Magic persecutor's son became sick and the Drs didn't know what was wrong with him and he too went to a paranormal but he could not be helped and he died at the age of 33....Karma?

Now the weird thing is Yannik only told me this story last week and she said "Mum know man do black magic?" I say "What?" She said "Mum take photo of man when she come to Bali I show you" and there in my photos is a picture of a happy smiling toothless Balinese man and when I looked closer I was surprised to see a large black shadow above his head I had'nt noticed this before, you know like an orb but black not white...go figure.
Yannik said to me "be careful Mum some Balinese smile on here pointing to her face but not in here pointing to her heart".

Can you believe I took this photo of a stranger, and Yannik knew all of the time and didn't say a word until last week and why last week?  I guess we are becoming closer and Yannik trusts me as I'm hearing more and more stories which I'm keeping for you...later. I'm sure you'll understand why I can't post the photo in this blog, but his photo is in blog post ...12.

So many stories to tell you but I would like some feedback, sometimes I hold back on stuff because I think maybe my blog is too long. If you think this story is too long please leave a comment I would really appreciate it as I want to encourage readers not discourage them and I need your honesty.

Much love to each and every one of you.
J

Cooking lesson Sunday was guacamole and chocolate cakes.

Happy New Year !

Happy New Year 2015!!!

Can you believe it is 2015?
 I can remember being in High School and being so scared of the future because our science teacher told us that in the future we were going to run out of food and land, and somewhere in the back of my mind I was waiting for someone to press that big button!

Well it's 2015 and I'm still here, yes millions of people have run out of food and yes China is a bit squeazy but hey no one has pushed that button yet and from my side of the fence humanity is much more kinder and more generous, people are bravely helping to feed the starving and educate the ignorant. We are a much more open and loving world now. When I was 15, people kept to themselves  and were appallingly judgmental.

I like who we have become as a human race and I choose not to live in fear anymore either about the big button or as it is nowadays "the muslim".

My wish for 2015 is forgiveness and understanding, knowledge is true power, so we need to think about things first, and get our facts before making big statements...a little something that I'm working on.

I wonder what these two girls think about?

Ok enough of the deep and meaningful, New Years Eve was crazy up here the Balinese are like cowboys with the fireworks. They started setting them off 5 days before NYE and last night 4 days later we still are hearing the occasional bang pop pop whirl bang!

 I wish I had a good camera so I could have taken photos for you (did you know that all photos for this blog are taken on my iphone and ipad, not bad eh?), midnight NYE was amazing we stood out on our balcony and the banging and popping was deafening there was a 180 degree panoramic view of colourful lights and explosions that just went on and on and by 2am we were over it and by 6am I had the ear plugs in and was oblivious. I couldn't believe it, the Sydney fireworks go for about 15 mins but here in poor third world Bali they go on for days and days.

 I  have decided that there are two things that the Balinese find important enough to spend money on 1: gifts for the Gods at ceremony (below) and 2: Frickin fireworks for NYE. Go figure.

Today's English lesson is about the weather I'm all set up with an umbrella, watering can and the old song "It's raining it's pouring the old man is snoring...." remember?? The kids love singing they are such a happy mob and I'm still amazed at the joy teaching brings me sometimes I even break out in goosebumps. Speaking of weather, the Monsoon season is here and it's out of this world, so passionate and powerful, thunder and lightening goes on for hours and when it rains it's torrential. I've never seen anything like it, we have flooded twice already in the last couple of months and have been up to our knees in water at the top of the driveway. Our Villa is situated at the bottom of a raised road so all the run off comes down the street and into our property some of our backyard has just slid away. I don't know why but I love this weather I think it must be the excitement. The only downfall is the humidity when the sun comes out you are drenched in sweat as the humidity is over 90 per cent.

going,going...

gone.

Aren't these cherubs just gorgeous livin' in the moment!

God I love my life!! Take care everybody looking forward to more fab stories to tell in 2015, much love as ever
J.

PS: Ken and I topped off 2014 by getting married on the 20th of October!

TAKSU.

Ubud is situated north of Denpasar the capital city, and is home to the Artisans, we have painters, wood carvers, stone sculptors, music, dance anything creative you name it we have it here.
 Ubud is also the centre of natural health and well being, attracting many people from around the world who want to nuture their body. Yoga is number one on the list of things to do here and after your yoga lesson its off to a raw cafe for something green!!! This lifestyle is huge here there are so many "beautiful" individuals, floating around with their gorgeous bodies showing their various tattoos and peircings and all appearing to "feel the love". It makes me reminisce what I was like .....shit over 30 years ago (gees life goes so fast) do you ever look back at who you where then as to who you are now???

 I thought I'd share with you what a regular day is for us, first up we start the day with a 20 min meditation then it's off into town for Yoga or Wayan will come to our place. Then our favourite breakfast at the moment is at Alchemy in Penastanan and consists of a smorgasboard of fresh fruit, mueslis, coconut cream, spirilina, cacao cashews, almonds, berries, cacao buckweat crisps the list goes on and on. All of this for around $6 each we also collect our stamps and get a free breakfast every 10th time can you believe it???

After that we head off to the trendy cafe Seniman (artist) for a couple of flat whites and a chat to the local Boules (westerners who live here).

The rest of the day consists of computer work, gardening, teaching, knitting/crochet, reading and swimming and then "Bam" the day is over and we wonder where it went????? Sound familiar? Can you believe it's December? What happened???

The "crazy" Yogi from India...another story.

As I have told you many times before Bali is home to the Gods and everyone is touched by spirit (taksu) here in one form or another where it be a small offering or a smiling face and in Ubud the closer to the mountains you are the closer  to the Gods you will be.

There are a plethora of religions here, all moving along side by side quite happily, predominantly the Muslims and Hindus are first off the rank and then there are the Buddists, Ananda Margas and geez I even bumped into a couple of Catholic girls at the markets last week...

All of this on a tiny island in the middle of the Indian ocean, where everybody appears to be living in harmony, they all accept that their government has been corrupt and that Karma rules...and they just keep on smiling and have a great day.

I'll finish this blog off with one of Wayan's stories that he shared with us on the way home from the airport last week ..."my friend (everyone in Bali is Wayan's friend) he have bad motorbike accident and he dead they put him in cold room and wait for family, two days later family think good day for cremation they pick him up in car and drive home in car he wake up. I say to my friend where you go when in cold room?.. I go upstairs Wayan...Oh what it like upstairs?..Same same Wayan but everything white! I see family we all laugh and talk." Wow I say to Wayan how is your friend now? 'Oh little bit problem his brain he keep talking talking" and thats that, they accept their medical system and just get on with it.

Sending you all much love as always
J

Tiwi and Yusa.

A regular game of 7s with our buddies.

We arrived in Ubud on the 23rd of July 2013 with two suitcases and a bag full of trust. For ten days we looked for the perfect Villa to rent and one day in our search we stopped on the side of a road and rang a Real Estate agent, "Shanti" told us on the phone that she couldn't help us and I was about to hang up when she said "oh you could always rent my brother's house. I will get my other brother who lives next door to come and pick you up from your Hotel tomorrow morning and he will show you my brother's house". The next morning the most beautiful soulful/crazy character Yusa rocked up to take us on a wonderful journey that has lasted for over a year! We did not rent Yusa's brothers house (who just happens to be the world famous electric guitarist Balawan) but instead we packed up our stuff and moved into one of Yusa's villas. We stayed there for 3 weeks until our dream home became available.

Yusa and his wife Tiwi were Balinese Lawyers who met and fell in love at college, but their careers in law didn't last long as they found the bureaucracy and corruption too much to handle. They now run a complex of Villas on the outskirts of Ubud www.thecarikubudvilla.com. Tiwi is so talented she creates the most lovely Kebayas (a tradional Balinese blouse worn by women for ceremony) I'm gathering quite a collection as these pieces are so individual and specific ceremonies require you to wear specific colours (a good excuse for my collection) if you are interested in her creations just look her up on Tiwikebayasbali.weebly.com

 Tiwi and Yusa have three gorgeous kids GoGo, Ivy, and Keona. Keona is a gift from the Gods. Two years ago Yusa was sitting at a hospital in Denpassar waiting to visit his sister when out of the blue a nurse came up to him and asked if he would be interested in giving a baby girl a home. She had just been born and her parents could'nt look after her and nobody else would take her. Yusa said he'd go home and talk to his wife.....after their first son Gogo was born Tiwi became pregnant and unfortunately miscarried a baby girl at 5 months and now they both believed that the Gods had returned her to them in the gift of Keona. Says a lot about these beautiful people parents again at 45 trying to make a living to support two kids and without a blink they welcome with open arms a third. I just love these people Yusa has nursed his dying sister, bathed and cared for his aging mother who has a broken heart and has never spoken a word since her beloved husband died over 5 years ago.

So we catch up for our obligatory card game once a month , Tiwi brings out a plate of delicious Pisang Goreng (fried bananas) and Balinese Kopi (coffee) which is thick and black and surprisingly very good and we're off playing for hours chatting and laughing away....just another day here in paradise.
Love to you all.
J
PS: Look what Young Putri found in the pool yesterday morning, this little bat was flapping around trying to keep his head above water can you see he is missing some fingers poor thing. Well she scooped him out and as quick as a wink ba Pak Ken made him a bed and put him in the pool room (thats where the bats sleep during the day its under the house nice and dark) and this morning we happily found the bed empty....like I said just another day!

A sign from above.

Two little princesses Komang and Risma (tinkerbell).

Good morning, well I bet your surprised to hear from me so soon as maybe you think that Ken and I are sitting somewhere in paradise chanting the almighty Ommm. Thats why I thought I better post this blog we are not starting Virpassana today as something happened to change our minds....yeah another story!

Do you believe in messages from something more powerful than us?  I do especially since my brain tumour I am always picking up on day to day "signs" that come to me. I try not to over think them but if something happens that's really "out there" I know it's a message from above and I listen....

Last week when we told Wayan (yoga), that we were doing Virpassana in Kintamani he told us that the venue not only belonged to his friend but another "friend" a female teacher from his Yoga group had also booked in to do the retreat. Wayan invited us to his Yoga group on Sunday for meditation and to meet her but she said that she would like to meet us before Sunday and asked if she could come over for a chat on Saturday... sure we said.

Holy Shit! What do you think we thought on Saturday when a 6ft 3in Nun (from frickin Sweden) dressed from head to toes in an orange habit rocked up !!!!!

Didi who also plays the guitar is a lovely woman from Sweden who follows the beliefs of Ananda Marga, so much so that she became a nun who travels through Borneo and Indonesia helping locals. She has come to Bali to help build a centre for health education, Yoga and spiritual awareness. Before you guys freak out...  Ananda Marga is not a religious sect it just means path of spiritual bliss through meditation and Yoga oh and a bit of singing and dancing.
We talked about Virpassana and how Ken was having second thoughts, she too had second thoughts she said and had decided to cancel.
The next evening we went to a meditation and dinner with Didi and all the locals, it was lovely even the singing and dancing. I was so proud of Ken for having a go at it all, and no we're not turning into "mung beans" we just like being around like minded people plus all of the Yoga and meditation that we are doing is helping not only our bodies but I personally feel happier and more peaceful.
So after this amazing experience Ken and I started thinking maybe we don't need to do something as intense as Virpassana to connect with spirit and just maybe thats why "the Gods" sent this lovely woman to us.
Catch you later love J.

Our Yogi Wayan.

It was our dream when we first moved here 18mths ago that we would have private Yoga lessons in our Villa. I put it out to the universe that we wanted a Yoga teacher just like the laughing one we had in our stay at  a gorgeous resort 15 mins from Ubud.

I had decided to make it a reality so I booked us into a private session at the resort so I could ask him. I started to panic a little when we were guided to a pavillion in the middle of the gardens with curtains candles and cushions.....Holy shite how much is this going to cost us I thought. Well the session was great and at the end I worked up the courage to ask if he would come to our Villa a couple of times a week privately. He said sure so I asked him how much would he charge for the two of us to come 3 times a week? He answered it's up to you, "it's up to you" is a common answer when talking about money with the Balinese they don't like talkng about it but then they also don't want to be under valued, so it's never really "up to you" (unless you offer something out of this world) just good manners.

I offered him an amount that I thought was pretty generous, well the laughing Yogi almost laughed me out of the pavilion, things were not working out as I'd planned and when we went to pay the bill we both almost did a downward dog on the spot (just had to throw that in) so that was the end of that.

About a month later we met a nice super friendly can't do enough for you kinda guy who whilst driving us around was teaching Ken how to meditate (yep whilst driving) he said  that he would love to come to our home and teach us Yoga 'Wow' I thought here we go our prayers have been answered. 

After some deep breathing, twisting actions and making me sit in the Bale Benong so he can meditate my headache away...he started talking about how poor his family was and that they needed money .Uh Oh here we go....and that was the end of that.

So after that I gave up, and  let the Yoga idea go. I handed it over to the Universe and thats when we started Yoga lessons at The Honeymoon Guesthouse, one of matriarch Janet De Neef's business ventures here. Janet from Melbourne came here 30 years ago and fell in love with Ketut, what she has brought to Ubud in the last 30 years is truly outstanding she is the founder of the World Class Ubud Writers Festival and her And Ketuts Honeymoon Band B was they're first venture. The Yoga is fantastic and only $7 a session you should come and try it.

There are two Yoga teachers Ketut the extrovert and Wayan the introvert, at the start I found Ketut's class much easier and friendlier always packed full of people. But some 6 months later I guess I was no longer the tourist and I needed something different...So I started with Wayan. I'm always amazed how life prepares you, guides you gently on your path, and as I'm getting older I'm wanting to be with people like Wayan.

Our angel.

What can I say Wayan is an angel full of love, so gentle kind and caring he sings to us during our Yoga
 I just love him. Although a bit of a wild child when he was young after a serious motorbike accident and a week in a coma he found Yoga and changed his life. He encourages us all thru the sessions with his eyes closed asking us for our "sweet sweet smile".

My girls Fitri and Minul trying there "sweet smile" as a selfie yep selfies are popular even over here.

After a couple of weeks I just had to get Ken into being a part of this wonderful spirit's life, and the three of us became friends now Wayan comes to our home twice a week for nearly two hour sessions. It took us a long discussion and lots of persuasion to just give him a donation as he didn't want payment just friendship. He keeps us humble and full of love, when our Wayan first met him he said to me "he full of white light Mum" and he sure is. On our first session it was getting dark and our birds were complaining (they always tell us when they want to go to bed) and we had to stop and bring them in when asked if he liked birds Wayan said yes when they are free.

Wow Ken and I just looked at each other......the following week at the end of our session Wayan said "did you hear that bird calling?" Apparently while we were resting an owl hooted three times Wayan then told us that someone was going to die as the bird was a messenger, Holy shit I thought we've just emptied the cemetery.

 The next day Ken and I awoke to find that one of our budgies Ketut had died during the night he had fallen from the nesting box and was trapped by the cage he suffocated.... then the  next day our Wayan's uncle was dead, dead on the toilet seat, during a you guessed it ceremony someone found him sitting there. How powerful is that???

I tell you this island is The home of the Gods we don't doubt anything. Ken and I have given away some of our birds and are now there are only three, and who knows how long they will be here, its hard we love them but feel guilty that they are in cages it's only a matter of time we are weaning ourselves.

Random Joy!

Something I've always wanted to do is the silent retreat Virpassana, but I never quite got around to it as I just don't know if I could do it as it lasts for 10 days and you cannot leave nor have any contact with the outside world or the people at the retreat including your partner. 

 Weeellll it looks like I'm going to get my err chance, whist Sib was here we went to our local cinema at The Earth Cafe where the movies are $5 and the $5 comes off the price of your food and drinks yeah fantastic right!
 The place is amazing with a huge screen, lounge chairs, air conditioned, waiters and of course good movies. That night we saw a documentary called The Dharma Brothers a story about a maximum security prison in the south of the USA (Gods country) and how they were having great success with their inmates by running Buddhist Virpassana retreats, very interesting. When we left the cinema I got on to my I Pad and first googled how the inmates were now doing ten years later and then I thought I'd see if there were any Virpassana retreats run in Bali......there sure are but most of them are booked out and the earliest ones you can do are in Java. I asked Ken if he was up for it and as usual he didn't want to miss out so I put our names 

down on the waiting list to do one in Bali and promtly forgot about it.......and Holy Shit guess what?? I got an email today to say that they have a place for both Ken and I up near the mountains close to our home and the retreat starts next Wednesday!! Wow things move fast here.

So my friends think of us over the next two weeks and I'll let you know all about it in the next edition.

Much love

J

Birthday flowers from my kids I love the vases don't you?