Last dance

With a heavy heart we spend our last night here in Ubud. We've become contented here. Made friends. Felt like we became a tiny bit of the community. It will be hard to leave this small sweet neighborhood. We've embraced a few of the Balinese customs and made them ours. Like having more patience, and not being so fast to place blame or judgement. They have a graceful way of gliding through life and taking things as they come, good and bad. Women and men are always holding babies, ecstatic in their embrace. And the babies hardly ever cry, so loved and cared for that they don't need to. A flower placed on your doorstep, a quiet offering. The driver who takes you home and understands your jokes. An old woman who walks with dignity and grace while carrying a heavy load of bricks on her head. These people take my breath away. I have much to be thankful for. A wonderfully loving traveling companion, enlightened old friends, generous new friends we've met along the way. Charming little places to stay reminiscent of years ago when things were simpler and easier. The opportunity to wander and experience something new each day. It's not all easy. The romance sometimes grinds to a halt when you don't feel well, can't sleep for the rock hard mattress and the bulky neck wrenching pillows, musty smells, mosquitos, ants, loud music, and exhaust fumes that are so heavy you feel dizzy. These are normal in your world. You can't control everything around you. You have to concede ownership to any place even though you like to think the table you eat at each day is "yours", it's not. You take what is placed before you and make the best of it because that is what you do. I want to thank my friend Robert Sommers, master blogger, who generously helped me conceive and design this blog. He came to our house before we left, sat at our computer and worked through my thousand and one questions and we got Rice is Sacred started. He has been my administrator and has enlarged every photo and spell checked each blog. He encouraged me to write every few days and told me not to embarrass myself starting something and not following through. Here is an example of an email I sent him one especially difficult night: Hi Robert.  Another blog, be it ever so frustrating... I am besides myself when I make a fatal error.  It takes so long to do anything on the iPad.  I tried to delete a word in the title of a photo and the photo was gone from the blog in a matter of seconds, not to be retrieved.  I was cussing up a storm.  Ron braves my wrath and takes a levelheaded approach to fixing it and works his way through the puzzle.  I meanwhile am fuming and freaking....  So you can dress up the photos.  I guess I could have cropped out the blue plastic cloth in the second photo, but I didn't... Thanks for your attention to detail.  Lena xoxo This has been a very fun and enjoyable experience for me. I used to write postcards and letters to my friends but this is a million times more creative. Photos really help, and comments from friends thrill me. Looking at the live feed and seeing who has read the blog is exciting. Having this iPad has changed everything. It is the single most wonderful new toy I have experienced. So much fun to lay in bed and write, google news, read letters, play solitaire. I love it. Tomorrow is hurry and wait day. Morning with friends. Last breakfast, final goodbyes. Driver at noon, return to Denpasar and the airport. Check in, pay departure tax, wait several hours, then it's off to Taipei and then LA. The party is over... Until next time.