Year of the Ox

Joyful Chinese New Year! It is the year of the Ox. Strong, conservative, patient, hard working, loyal.

We are in the middle of a total solar eclipse. 0606 GMT to 0952 GMT. It is traversing the Indian ocean toward Mindanao where it will open its light shade.

Birds sing dusk twilight songs. Bored children in a green field play yo-yo. They need solitude. Nature. They have 532 "friends" on a social network website. They feel strangely alone. They are alone. Authentic. Restless. Their televisions tell them to seek short attention spans.

They are Slumdog Millionaires. See it. Rotten Tomatoes more...

The sun spans the moon. Lotus leaves dance in piano winds. Rolling thunder.

Speak in silence. More...

Metta.

Water's heartbeat

Well now, such an elegant universe. Bamboo wind. A drop of memory carried by a pure and simple recall, shadowed reality of sand, coral, diffused surface light, edges of black glistening diamond sand, palms and dirt trails.

The water droplet reflected everything it dreamed, imagined and bird songs escaping from a single throated sound. Yes, this water sustained a yellow leaf on it's gently rising energy, feeding the green veins with harmonic flowing surge. Pulsating.

Metta.

Open palm forest

Greetings,

Fresh air behind you in open palm forest. Aquamarine blue sea. Distant Lombok is-land and Rinjani volcanic dome edges blue sky as white clouds fly north.

Tribal wind music, wandering dirt paths through an Air village. A group of kids build a new fence using live branches from a tree. A boy high above hacks them off, they sail south, grounded. A girl lays out a branch and cuts away unnecessary stems. They hollow out earth bordering other branches along a field green with grass, filled with palms.

A living fence.

Star filled sky light. Pulsating waves.

See colors and hear music. Hear sounds, see colors.

Metta.

One Air day

Someone else is writing this.

Now it is dark and I am sitting in a small private zone at Coconut. It is a raised platform with large comfortable pillows, a square table with a red and orange cotton runner. The hand carved flower vase holds two white frangipani flowers , hibiscus and bougainvillea.

The platform has a thatched roof and wooden railings on the sides. It is typical of Balinese - Lombok style. Perfect for snoozing, eating, reading. Delightful, clean simple and elegant in its simplicity.

Today's island walk was clean and peaceful. No motor vehicles, no merchants on scooters selling bread while playing a scratchy recording at ear splitting levels. No young "cowboys" hustling their 125 cc passive aggressive tendencies, such as you find on Lombok and Bali.

The day passed sitting, watching dive boats ply aquamarine blue, arching toward Lombok Strait depths. Lombok is across the way, beaches, palms, rising smoke from field burning, foothills and the rising dark blue clouds shading Mt. Rinjani and the volcano. Blue sky.

So it feels good to be sitting here in the garden. This is the University of the Garden. This blooming forth. Fragrance taken deep into lungs. A mask on the wall. Solemn eyes down, drifting. Yes, this bamboo wood-wind chime. Across the sea all blue calm, singing. 

White coral bones. A dreamcatcher. Feathers.

Swimming sand castles. Blue heaven light. Reflections and strong current desires dance the water.

Wind whistles through high wavering coconut palms.  

Metta.

 

Gili Air

I am beginning to upload images from the recent adventure to Gili Air is-land and Lombok. Word and image editing continues...

In summary: I sat down on Gili Air for eight days and then moved around Lombok for two. About 600-1,000 people live on Air. We should all live on air.

Meno, the next island over is quieter and Trawangan is the party island. Gili means "small island" in Sasak, the local language. 

Indonesia has 13,000 islands and 1,000 languages.

Men farm, build new bungalows, fish, commute to Lombok or work in the island tourist industry. Besides rentals - maybe 350 tourists at the max with small restaurants, the water business - diving, glass bottom boat tours and snorkeling provides income.

Women work in cafe kitchens. Some sell carved coconut bracelets, necklaces and fresh mangos, papayas and pineapples on the beach. Mellow hustle.  

I sat down every day near the sea. I walked around the island in 1.5 hours. Hot sun, clear blue water, strong southern coastal winds. No people. No motor vehicles. No engines. Only the music of water and sun mixed with the occasional bells from a passing horse cart.

Beaches are filled with tons of bleached out white coral. The men used to fish with dynamite killing the fish and coral. 

The distant volcano at Mt. Rinjani on Lombok played inside white and gray clouds.

Every day I sat near the sea, enjoying thick Lombok coffee, reading, writing in the trusty Moleskine, made images, swam inside a clear blue water aquarium, and snorkeled with large turtles. Hello.

It was stressful. Doing my work.

If I had more time I'd make it shorter.

Metta.