Month: July 2012

Life in Indonesia, Part 1 – Guest Blog

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Today we are taking a look at what it’s like to live somewhere besides Florida, Maine, California, and Hawaii. Chrisie, with Yan’s help, has put together a guest blog for us. The photo below was taken at TJ’s Mexican Restaurant in Bali, the day before their wedding in 2010.

 

 

Chrisie sent the following:

I looked up the word ‘traffic’ in the dictionary and the definition is moving or movement of vehicles, ships, or people. It’s funny that it mentions that traffic is the action of moving. Indonesians here in Java often use the word ‘traffic.’ The problem is that it is always used when motorcycles, push carts, pedicabs, goats, horsedrawn carriages, and little old ladies with baskets on their heads, are at a dead stop. There is no movement or moving of vehicles or people. You can put your car into park and enjoy your rice cakes, because you won’t be moving for atleast 20 minutes!

 

This pic is just the crazy situation of southeast asia and the reason I don’t ride a motorcycle unless absolutely necessary.

 

 

This is a pedicab being followed by a truck with some guys on top on the road I pass every morning. Road is pretty small.

 

This is a washing machine on the back of a motorcycle.

 

 

There are good things that come with ‘traffic’ here in Java. You can always be late. Those of you that take a while to get out of the house in the mornings; traffic can be your new excuse. If you forget your presentation at the office and need to go back to pick it up; traffic can be your excuse. I think I would like to write the Webster people and ask if we can add a defintion to the word ‘traffic.’ I would say that ‘traffic is the art of being completely still without falling asleep; being stuck somewhere, as you can’t back up or move forward, or go around. Traffic could be the new meditation. We could put it on all the billboards: Need peace, need tranquility, try traffic in Java!

 

Thank you Chrisie and Yan for an update on life in Indonesia. If we’re lucky, maybe next time they’ll share some food pics!

Where’s the Dog?

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It seems we have been preoccupied with things other than the dog – amazing, I know. We’ll get to the dog in a minute. We have another exciting guest blog in the wings, but I’m having some technical difficulties today, so will post that in a day or two.

 

Yesterday, was laundry day. It’s always an exciting time. I live for Laundry Day.

The morning started out with a drive through downtown Camden – only 9am and the street was already jammed – it looks like this when you haven’t had enough morning coffee:

 

 

 

The first stop was at my favorite invention. The Drop It, Leave It, Come Back Later Laundry Store. Timing was good, Lou only has two undies left, and we can pick up the nicely folded laundry on Monday.

 

 

Next, another exciting stop. Dropping Natasha off for some Doggie Laudering. I tried to leave her at the Clean Bee, since they would have to keep her until Monday, but no luck. They said they are only a laundry and tanning salon – not a Doggie Spa.

So we headed on down the road to the Yankee Clipper – a first for Natasha since she’ll have to be away from us for 4 hours! That could be tough for Velcro Dog.

 

 

Picked up the dog later in the day. She wasn’t folded, but she was clean and dry. When asked how she did, the response was, “Oh fine, she’s a puppy you know.” Uh, yeah – we know she’s a puppy. I didn’t want to ask any more questions, but they did say they would welcome her back, so guess she wasn’t too bad.

Once back on the boat, we settled down to enjoy the afternoon breeze. Lou was playing his game doing important stuff on his iPhone, and I was reading my People Magazine.

Natasha was goofing off. Here she is, showing off her new look. Hoping the puppy fuzz grows back soon! And let’s lose the Fifi bow. I’m pretty sure that line she’s chewing on is not the one holding the boat to the dock.

 

 

 

A few more photos of the princess:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doesn’t look like the dog was impressed with my choice of reading material:

 

Fireworks – Finally!

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We had a nice night for fireworks, just a bit cloudy, but nice and warm.  You may recall I haven’t had the best of luck taking photographs of fireworks.  Something always goes wrong – not enough time to set up, I mess something up on the camera, and last year the mosquitoes tried to carry me away.

I was more prepared this year – slathered on the OFF, took my chair and tripod down to the edge of the harbor, and didn’t mess up my camera.  Lou and Tasha walked down to join me – Lou said the pup was ok with the fireworks as long as he held her.

So here we go – this year’s efforts at capturing the fireworks show over Camden Harbor:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have lots more – I think you get the picture.

4th of July Celebration & More Hawaii

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Yesterday was a great day for a Celebration, but not in Maine. We were totally fogged in, and fireworks were postponed until this evening. Lou did grill some delicious burgers, which we ate in the fog while listening to the band in the park – they were also in a fog, but not sure it was weather-induced.

 

Fortunately, our guest bloggers have saved the day. This time, Olivia has shared some pics from a day in Hawaii. Thanks for saving the day, Olivia!

 

 

Hi, I’m Olivia and I’m on vacation in Kauai, Hawaii. A nice bowl of white rice for breakfast while looking out over the ocean.

 

 

This is the view from our condo. It’s almost like a painting. A view of the ocean framed by palm trees

 

 

These orchids are just growing in the dirt near the parking lot! That’s a perfect example of Kauai’s tropical climate.

 

 

We had to go somewhere today so we dragged sick little Victoria to Bubba’s Burgers. We got there just in time because a super long line formed after we ate.

 

 

Our lunch at Bubba’s. The onion rings look good, but they are really pretty average and you can buy 5 rings for the price of 2 corn dogs. The overall meal was average for a fast food place. (Editor’s note – it’s nice to see Olivia appreciates the importance of food pics and a restaurant review!)

 

 

Eating shave ice next to Bubba’s. This place is called Uncle’s shave ice and our family agreed that this is the best shave ice on the island! The ice is shaved perfectly (which doesn’t seem like a big deal but makes a huge difference) and there are so many flavors you can choose from, like Piña Colada and Tiger’s Blood.

 

 

 

 

We’re in Hawaii – Guest Blog

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We have another exciting entry for Guest Blog Wednesday. And, there are some more coming, so look forward to different views around the world. Natasha will just have to wait her turn for her next entry!

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The DeHayes/Holmes clan is taking over the Maine/Dog/Florida/Dog/DisneyDream /Dog/Food/Dog Blog for a day or two while we are on vacation in Kauai, Hawaii!

Vacationing is such hard work, sometimes you need a vacation from your vacation…as the retired DeHayes relations can attest to.


We took a night off from our Poipu Beach vacation to stay at the
Hyatt for a night to enjoy a slight change in scenery (and their water slide!)


Checking in at 7:45 am gets us a great room upgrade from garden to oceanfront view. Have I mentioned that we are all still firmly on California time? I’ve never seen so many sunrises..

 

 

The girls check out the wildlife in the lobby while we run down to the pool to reserve lounges near the waterside exit. The girls jump on the slides right away to practice for the “races” to be held at noon.

 

 

Ahhhhhhh…I really need to figure out how to get one of these in my office…

 

Dinner at the Seaview Terrace – kid’s meals and pupus make for the cheapest dinner with the best view on the island! Sorry, Sharon for the lack of food pictures – we didn’t have our favorite food blogger with us to memorialize each meal. (Note from the editor – do I detect a bit of sarcasm directed at my food blogging attempts? 🙂 )

Before heading back to the room, the girls talk with the resident black swans “Bully” and “Princess.” Sorry guys, no pupus for you!

 

Thanks to Cath for a view into vacationing in Hawaii. If we’re lucky, we’ll see some more from their trip!

 

We Have Babies !!!

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Don’t get excited. Of course I’m talking about ducks. We’ve seen plenty of ducks, but no tiny babies until today. Here they are – Mama Duck and 6 babies. It was low tide, and the Mother Duck was on the bank, trying to take a nap with the babies tucked under her.