Villa Pantai, it's Been a Pleasure!

What a pleasant day this has been, as we wrap up our time in Bali. I'm not sure how it happened, but we managed to get sunburned today, our last day. I thought we were home free. The afternoon sun didn't feel as intense as it has, and maybe the repeated swims in the pools took care of every last drop of sunscreen. Aloe Vera is gel is very nice. We're fine. Nothing serious. Dinner tonight was delicious and festive. Even in our short amount of time here we have made friends, and they gave us a nice send-off. No one is a stranger here. Even with the send-off, we are all meeting for breakfast. And we won't have to rush, because we made sure we don't have an early flight. This vacation has been pure fantasy. No, I mean it---really. It's been a dream. As hard as it will be to leave this all behind, we are looking forward to getting back and to catch up with Cool and j so all four of us can share stories about our big trips. Wow, what are the odds that all four of us would be gone on exciting vacations at the same time?

Tomorrow: Bali Bye!

Playing Tourist in Tabanan

This has been a good day to explore. We had a list of places we wanted to see, and we found a delightful taxi driver who got us exactly where we wanted to go. I said it before, the international feel of Bali is highly palpable. Our taxi driver, for instance, speaks Japanese with an Australian accent but clearly understands our English. We are back at Villa Pantai now with plenty of daylight hours left to fully enjoy the pool and catch a few rays because this is going to be it as far as getting a tan is concerned. Tomorrow morning we will pack after breakfast and begin the journey home, saying goodbye to this beautiful island we don't ever want to forget. All too soon, though, it will seem like we have never been to Bali. Imagine.

A Tale of Two Beaches

The top picture is of the beach in Sanur, where we spent the first half of our stay here in Bali. The lower picture is of the beach here in Tabanan where we are now until we leave to go home. Sanur is definitely a place for tourists, but Tabanan, not so much. There is still plenty to do. After our time at the Day Spa here at Villa Pantai---massages, thanks to their expert team of Balinese Massage Therapists---we went out and toured the Pura Tanah Lot Temple and even had time to browse a local museum before dinner this evening. We love how international Bali feels. Where else can you find a single menu with at least five different cuisines (all of them delicious)? And since this is a fantasy trip, let me just say that tonight we dined on sushi.

A Home Away From Home---And Then Some!

This is my room. Elletu's is the same except for the colors and artwork. Our rooms are on either side of the lush courtyard you can see right outside my door. We spent the morning by the pool, and this afternoon, what else? Off to the spa after lunch! We leave for home day after tomorrow, and we need to soak up as much of this luxury as we can while we can. Blessed Bali.....this trip has been so good for our tired bodies and brains. Elletu tells me I look ten years younger. I reminded her that I am $10,000 poorer.

Hello Tabanan!

Goodbye villa at Fairmont Sanur Beach, hello Villa Pantai at Ketapang Estate in Tabanan! Look what greeted us when we arrived at this idyllic place on Bali's southwestern coast. Locals call it 'Bali's best-kept secret,' and for good reason: It's not easy to find. Accessible by tiny roads that cut through rice paddies and cross rickety wooden bridges, the remote hotel, made up of eight villas, is surrounded by lush jungle and a very private beach. Rooms start at $570. Do you think we reserved the least expensive villa? No way! On our way to check in now. Restful day ahead. This pool looks like fun. Darn, we have to share it with others!!!

We're Going to Graduate!

This is where we have taken our cooking classes and where dinner will be tonight. I thought we would sleep in this morning, but instead we woke up early, took a morning dip in the pool, and then off to the spa for massages, hair and make-up. We are well-groomed for our final cooking class. We leave in a few minutes, after having enjoyed a light lunch of a small rice bowl and fresh fruit delivered to us by Wayan and served in our open-air cabana. The air is fresh and fragrant today...and so are we! Wayan brought us each a gorgeous fresh flower lei to wear today! From what we understand, this is a custom for the final cooking class, and tonight our teacher/chef is preparing a sumptuous meal just for his students. This should be a delightful afternoon and evening, and Elletu and I are primed for it. We leave our villa tomorrow for another hotel and more adventures. We just wish we could take Wayan with us! He has been super-attentive but not hovering, always anxious to please but not overbearing.

Tomorrow: Villa Aloha!

We're Going to School!

We're going to school---cooking school, that is. We signed up for two days of classes, and today was our first class. This was my creation, and the teacher praised me for my colorful arrangement. I will be honest: I would be more interested if we were in Italy, as Italian food is so yummy and something I would love to fix at home. But we learned much today and met some other tourists from around the world, so that was fun. We enjoyed each other's company so much, we all decided to go out to dinner together this evening and our teacher came along. After dinner Elletu and I came back to our villa and luxuriated in our own private pool. It is so warm tonight, and with the lights on in the pool the scene was just so amazingly beautiful, magical really. We both went to our rooms, I showered but she bathed, and I think sleep is going to feel so good. It was a full day, and I'm tired. We are sleeping in tomorrow as long as we want. Our cooking class isn't until 1 P.M. While it is great to go off and do things, we appreciate any amount of time we have just hanging around our villa, and Wayan brings us anything we want. I loved the wine he delivered to us while we were swimming tonight, red for me, white for Elletu. And the chocolates he leaves on our pillows each night are melt-in-your-mouth treats beyond belief. I pretend they are five calories each. Fat chance!!!!

We hear Cool and her husband are home from Tahiti. I hope they had as wonderful a time there as we are having here. And j should return about the time we do. I hope so, because her birthday is just days away and we need to CELEBRATE. She sent me a picture of her on Route 66 during this long trip she and her husband have taken. In April she and I both leave Route 66. I wonder if there is a Route 67?

Well, it is 1 A.M. No wonder I'm tired. Sweet dreams from Bali!

Shopping Day, and Back to the Beach to Play

This morning we visited the island's most compelling indie boutiques in Seminyak and Ubud. We were intrigued by all of the locally designed caftans and swimsuits, the vibrant ikat sarongs, and one-of-a-kind art, jewelry and handmade accessories. We each picked up some delicate handmade lace tops and dresses at Uluwatu. We enjoyed Magali Pascal for its sophisticated resort-chic clothing. We did more looking than buying in Jeng-gala, famous for their handcrafted ceramics and teak trays. We stopped by Hardy's Sanur, the island's version of a department store, to pick up souvenirs to bring back for friends and family, including sarongs, silver jewelry and woven bags. We ended our shopping trip at The Pantry. We picked up a few baguettes, specialty cheeses and wine to enjoy later back at our villa. And we did. That was our lunch today. Yum!

Here in Bali it is essential that you be able to go from the beach to a restaurant or shop with minimal effort. Our go-to look here, then, is a sun hat, sandals, and an easy dress or tunic that can be thrown over a swimsuit. I've posted a picture of my favorite buys of today. Too bad they will be so out of place when I go home, but this is what I plan to wear to dinner tonight.

We debated whether to take a swim in our pool this afternoon or to head back to Finn's Beach Club. The latter won out. While Bali is famous for its radical surf breaks (especially in Elewatu), we swam and snorkeled in the calmer, reef-filled waters at Finn's yesterday and loved it, so that seemed the perfect place to go this afternoon as well. This is in the town of Ungasan, which has all the trappings of a beachside spot on Mykonos--bar service, chaise lounges, music--without the over-the-top vibe and insane crowds. The open-air funicular you take to get down to the beach is particularly cool.

Now we're starting to think about dinner. Last night we had a fantastic time at La Lucciola, on the beach in Seminyak. It is a favorite see-and-be-seen spot. The sunset was electric, and the Italian food was spectacular. We both ordered the linguine with sun-dried tomatoes, basil and garlic. Their fresh-baked bread was a real treat in this land of rice.

Tonight we will try Café Marzano in Ubud, although we hear it is very hard to find. We have been told their thin-crust pizza is the best, and there are serene views of rice fields. Serene appeals to us.

Life is good in Bali.

Finn's Beach Club

Here's a picture of Elletu, post-swim, climbing the stairs up from Finn's Beach Club, where we had our first Bali beach experience. We could not have asked for a more relaxing day, from the beach in the morning to the spa all afternoon. We didn't leave the spa until almost 5:30 P.M., but we didn't have much to do back at the villa before the limo picked us up to go out on the town for dinner and partying, not that we are party girls. Actually, we just watched other people partying and did some wine tasting.

After a good night's rest and breakfast by the pool this morning, we are heading out to do some shopping this morning. It occurs to us that Cool returns from Tahiti and her cruise of French Polynesia today. She doesn't even know we are in Bali!

You just never know where the BVGs might be...

Good Morning Bali!

Jetlag is a bummer. I had a hard time waking up this morning.

Elletu was up before I was and snapped this photo of our private pool--or I should say pools--in our villa here in Bali. The one in the foreground is just for soaking. Wayan delivered our breakfast to us this morning in the cabana on the left. Loved watching him squeeze the oranges for our fresh juice. We appreciate the luxury of open-air dining. I read online that it is cold and rainy back in Port Orchard today, and while it will be 67 and sunny there tomorrow, people won't be eating breakfast outside. We are looking at daytime temperatures being in the high 80's here the whole time we are in Bali. That's more like it.

This morning we are heading for Finn's Beach Club for our morning beach swim. I'm anxious to do some shopping, but Elletu's right, we need an afternoon at the spa to get fully relaxed and pampered for our evening out. Over breakfast we filled out our appointment form for the spa. We're both going for everything, in this order: Massage, body wrap, facial, foot massage, pedicure, hand massage, manicure, and then what they refer to as the 'massage to end all massages.' After that last massage, which is done in a private outdoor alcove looking out on the ocean, we will be allowed to drift off to sleep for 45-minute afternoon naps! When we wake up refreshed we will go to the salon for our hair appointments and to get our make-up applied, and then it's back to the villa to get dressed in time to be picked up by the limo for our night out on the town.

I suspect all of this will take care of my jetlag quite nicely.

We made it to Bali!

The travel time was exhausting and we will have to adjust to the 89 degree heat, but Elletu and I made it to our dream destination, the island of Bali. We won't need cucumber slices for our photos because I'm sure we will be in sunglasses all week. Who will recognize us? (Elletu is wearing green today--I'm in red. For the sake of balance in our photo, I let her carry my purse.) Personally, I think we never looked better.

We checked into our hotel first thing and then took a walk to stretch our legs after our long flight. We have rented a modern villa at the waterfront Fairmont Sanur Beach, on the southeast side of the island. It's amazing! We have our own pool, two gorgeous bedrooms, and a kitchen fit for a TV chef. This hotel is off the town's bustling main road and is peacefully away from the fray. It is, however, within walking distance of shops and restaurants. Rooms start at $260. We're paying more of course, but it's worth it. Our personal valet, Wayan, took this photo of us outside our villa just before our walk through the town. Wayan will be at our service during our stay here.

The sun has set and we are more than ready to luxuriate in our deep soaking tubs. I say 'tubs' because we each have a large private bath in our room with a generous marble tub in which we can actually float. We already had a dip in our private pool, and Elletu asked Wayan to mix up Mai Tais and deliver them to us poolside. Such luxury! He is gone for the night, so we are on our own until he returns in the morning. I'm sure a good night's sleep awaits us both. We plan to hit the beach in the morning, and then Elletu booked us massages and spa treatments in the afternoon.

Night-night from magical Bali!

LaToya and Allison, 1983

Looking back, remembering Cool's LaToya and my Allison. The girls were inseparable. Funny, it looks like they are in front of the house we live in now, but that's impossible. Thank you, Elletu, for this picture and also for the coordinated outfits you gave them. Such sweethearts they were!

Remembering John Fuller

**Our dear friend John Fuller passed away on Sunday, January 25, 2015. John was like a brother to my husband for 54 years, ever since they met early in the seventh grade when my husband moved from rural Idaho to Tacoma. His wife Laurie asked us to speak at John's memorial on January 31. Because John was also a friend of the BVGs, I reprint here what I said at his 'Celebration of Life':

My life definitely took a turn for the better when I met John Fuller. Forty years later it took a turn for the worse when he was in the hospital and we learned he was going to leave us.

I kind of inherited John and Laurie when I fell in love with my husband. The first time I met them, I felt like I had known them my whole life. Even before my husband and I got married, the four of us got together to celebrate New Year's Eve 1975 at my house. It was the beginning of a tradition that lasted for years and only ended in 1998 when our family moved to Hawaii due to my husband's job transfer. For 23 years we ended and began every year with John and Laurie.

When we got married in May of 1976, John and Laurie were our best man and matron-of-honor. Right from the beginning were had so much fun doing life together. Just hours before I went in to labor with our daughter, our first child, John and Laurie were leaving our house around 11 P.M. on a Saturday night. Their son Mark, who was three months old, was sound asleep in his car seat. As he was going out the door, John turned around, hesitated slightly, and thenspoke words of wisdom to my husband: "Enjoy the quiet---it won't last!" For years we quoted John over and over and over again.

Within a few years we added two sons to our family, and our New Year's Eve celebrations, which always included the kids and became overnight slumber parties, were anything but quiet. Our children made up plays and put on loud music to mimic being a band. Sometimes we had snow. Other times we went on outings up to the mountains on New Year's Day so the kids could go sledding in the snow. We have pictures of us all bundled up and roasting hot dogs over a fire for our dinner. Those were great times.

As our children grew, so did our circle of friends. We started hosting game nights and themed parties. We played Pictionary and Trivial Pursuit, and we went all out for Murder Mystery Parties, including parties leading up to our Murder Mystery Parties. We celebrated birthdays and holidays together. One year there were nine of us turning 39, and we decided to have a Jack Benny Party. (If you are too young to know who Jack Benny was, you can do a Google search.) John came to that party wearing a blue shirt with this slogan: "The older the violin, the sweeter the music." Twenty-seven years later he wore the very same T-shirt to my husband's Route 66-themed 66th birthday party. We had no way of knowing that would be the last time we would all be together as a group. Life is like that.

In 1998 our family moved to Hawaii due to my husband's job transfer, and after nine years there we were transferred again, this time to Virginia. It was so hard to say goodbye to our friends and family when we moved. John and Laurie came to visit us both in Hawaii and Virginia, so we added more fun adventures to our friendship. I wish you have seen him the day the four of us spent at Waimea Bay on Oahu's North Shore. While that area is known for its big waves. that day the water was flat and as clear as glass. For what seemed like hours John was out by himself, floating on his back, his hands behind his head. You know, a lot of people refer to Hawaii as paradise with a small 'p.' I like to think that John is doing the same thing today in Paradise with a capital 'P.'

In the spring of 2009 we were thrilled to be able to move back home to Washington due to another job transfer. We moved into our new house on May 1, which happened to be our 33rd wedding anniversary, and here came our best man and matron-of-honor with lunch to help us celebrate together. We sat out on our deck in the sunshine for hours that day, and we were thanking God for bringing us back with all the friends who meant the world to us. Before long we got the old gang back together again for game nights and themed parties and even a new Murder Mystery Party. John was at the center of all of it. His enthusiasm was infectious.

You might know that John wasn't much of a football fan, especially pro football. We would get together on Super Bowl Sunday for our own Souper---that's S-O-U-P-E-R--Bowl party. We would eat soup, and the only game going on that day for us was pinochle. This suited my husband just fine, because he didn't care about pro football either. But then I convinced him to watch the play-off game with the 49ers, and lo and behold, he became a fan. So much so that we carefully approached John and told him that since the Seahawks were going to the Super Bowl, we really needed to watch the game. We would still eat soup, but we needed to watch the game. To our surprise, he readily agreed, and so we got everybody together for soup and football. I wish you could have seen him cheering on the hometown team that day. We made a '12' out of him, and we had every intention of doing that all over again this year. We will still be getting our friends together tomorrow for soup and the Super Bowl, but John will be sorely missed. He now has as good a seat for watching the game as does Russell Wilson's dad.

I miss John. I miss his hearty laugh, his ready smile, the twinkle in his eyes, the hugs he had for everyone. John wasn't a materialistic man. He wasn't anything about his possessions. What mattered more to him was finding ways to help others. John didn't wear his faith on his sleeve, he just lived it. I miss sitting in church and worshiping with him and then going out to coffee afterwards with a group of our friends. Five months ago tomorrow was our last big group get-together, and John was happy and healthy and the life of the party. I remember looking around our living room that day and thinking, "Wow, we are all so blessed!" Only God knew that day that very soon Laurie would need our friendship, love, support and prayers in a new way.

Shortly after we were married, my husband and I got tickets for John and Laurie to accompany us to the Bill and Gloria Gaither concert at the Seattle Center. That night the Gaithers sang what was then one of their new songs, "Because He Lives." During the weeks and months that John was in the hospital, the words of that song kept coming back to Laurie as she found them comforting and inspiring. She has asked that we take some time now to listen to a recording of this song, and while we do, you can each reflect on your own special, unique memories of John. We don't all know each other, but we are joined together here today to remember and honor a man who was a part of each of our lives. John, we love you, and we will never forget you.

Where Have I Been?

It's been a long, cold winter. NOT. I think this was our warmest winter on record. When last I blogged it was autumn, and now we are two days in to spring. Although winter was the same number of months as usual, in retrospect it does seem like it was longer than usual.

There were things to celebrate, such as...

j's husband retired October 31, and
My husband retired December 3
Elletu's granddaughter Abby arrived safely in December 14, and
My granddaughter Clara was born February 20.
Cool's son came from California for the holidays.
Our whole family came for Thanksgiving (ten of us in this house),
And then we went to California for Christmas at our daughter's house.

There were setbacks and things to mourn...

The back door of our son's house was bashed in and he was robbed of all of his electronics the night  he flew from North Carolina to California to spend Christmas with our family.

My husband's best friend of 54 years, John Fuller, was in the hospital in November through January,
And then on January 25 he passed away. We will miss him forever. He was such a joyful part of our life and certainly our parties. He knew (and loved) the BVG's for almost as long as we have known each other, and Cool, j and I and our husbands were at his memorial on January 31.

And less than three months after the first break-in, my son again lost all of his electronics (the replacements--thank you, insurance company!) in another bash-the-back-door-in burglary which this time around included complete ransacking of his house. I'm not sure how his insurance company is taking this the second time around, but I know he has a $1,000 deductible clause in his policy. As hard as all of this has been, he is grateful they didn't steal his horns, which are his 'bread and butter'--he's a jazz musician and teacher.

And not to complain, but I came down with asthmatic bronchitis four weeks ago and it knocked my socks off for the first three weeks. Now I'm in slow recovery mode, way too slow for me. If one more person tells me, "Well, you know, at your age, you just don't bounce back the way you used to," I'm going to, well, not scream, because that takes too much energy and lung power, but I might be forced to tell them off. It's not like I'm old or something. I was so sick ("How sick were you?") that I actually had to cancel a planned BVG night at the Clubhouse at McCormick Woods. You know if I cancel with the BVG's, it's serious. Seriously, I've been sick. But I'm not complaining, just reporting.

It's going to take me some time, but I will get caught up with the blog, and none too soon because it is travel time for the BVGs! Cool is cruising Tahiti and French Polynesia, and j and her husband are cruising (in their brand new car) Arizona and Texas and parts unknown for as long they darn well please, because retirement is like that. Cool and her husband, the truly luxurious ones, are limited to just two weeks.

Elletu and I are not be outdone. We are going to Bali!!!!! Let the packing begin. Don't miss my reports, which will start coming in fairly soon. You'll want to know what we girls are up to. I've wanted to go to Bali since seeing "South Pacific" with its haunting song, "Bali Ha'i" with these lyrics:

If you try, you'll find me
Where the sky meets the sea
Here I am, your special island
Come to me, come to me

Bali Ha'i, Bali Ha'i, Bali Ha'i

We only have a week for our travels, but we will make the most of it, and I'll be making some blog posts of it. Elletu is out right now doing some last minute shopping--she still needs a few more sundresses and sandals--and tanning (in the salon, because it's raining here today). I need to get my pedicure and manicure.

If Bali doesn't bring me back to good health, nothing will. Bon Voyage!