#464 Saturday 24 December

I fitted the remaining two wall safes yesterday .... And discovered that the wall in BR3 is very wet .... possible broken pipe ... maybe insurance.

Today it was the usual breakfast followed by "beach" ....









(this is the resident hound ... putih anjing ... at Gardenia) ... while I escaped with Made to go hardware shopping. We need a step-ladder to reach the top storage cupboards .. and we need white paint and drop sheets so I can repair the water damage in the garage.

Afternoon swimming plus trip out .... this truck had made the mistake of driving fully laden over a particular drain .... which collapsed. The guys had to empty the truck by shovel ... extricate the truck .... then shovel the load back into the truck. It was at a corner near home so we watched stages of the process during the day.



Unusual ways to be a passenger


(seen driving along the by-pass!)

#463 Friday 23 December

The fuses tripped at 3am .... so the problem isn't fixed yet.

After breakfast at Gardenia Kaylia had pool time .... Then it was off to Pizza Hut
The day has been normal Kaylia routine. She has us well trained! We try to fit in round her requirements .... often we don't get to do what we want to. Today I bought a cheap guitar to keep in the villa. When we got home Kaylia was very happy .... we had a long singing session!

While we were out we saw a large playground .... it's not open yet .... Jan 3. It will be a great spot for Kaylia.

Back at the villa I succumbed to the "sleepy wog" and snoozed for a couple of hours while Kaylia swam. Then evening was Alfred's Italian and the Hardys for DVDs and ice cream.

Tonight the fireworks are going well .... our back door neighbor likes pretty ones so we often get a good display right over us. The good thing is that they're not upsetting Kaylia. The start of this blog was New Year in Ubud when Kaylia was terribly upset by all the fireworks .... yet now she hardly bats an eyelid!

#462 Thursday 22 December

Yay .... Mummy is here!  It was a delight to see Kaylia's reaction this morning when she woke to find Mummy in bed beside her.

Today it was a late sleep in to recover from the late flight.  It was amazing to arrive at the airport last night and see the changes that have occurred since I arrived on the 13th.  The parking area for meeting arrivals is now a l.o.o.o.n.n.g.g  walk under a covered walkway from the actual terminal.  Far enough that they have a restaurant half way!  I shudder to think of how elderly people will cope.

After breakfast at Gardenia, Kaylia and Naomi went to the beach while I went hardware shopping .... small plumbing parts that need to be replaced etc.

Then it was pool time followed by Big-H.  Then home for more pool time.  Tonight we'll try "Alfreds" ... an Italian restaurant in the next street - Danau Poso.

During the trip to Big-H, the Lovan top-up was needed.  It works well and the anxiety was soon under control again.

7:30pm  .... no Alfreds  ... lil miss dictated Macdonalds for tea ... sheesh.
Still ... it's been a good day.  Lanang came and did step one of the water supply re-vamp.  We now have a automatic pump control on the top tank ... so it will turn off when the tank is full.  The water pressure from gravity feed is not sufficient so I have bought a second pump which is to be plumbed into the tank and will boost the pressure for showers etc.  It means that we have a water supply even if the power is off.

I have also finished the waterproof coating on the roof of the garage (where it had been leaking).  Now I can await the next rain to make sure it works!

#461 Wednesday 21 December

Naomi arrives tonight!

Kaylia slept well .... so wore herself out yesterday so she should have slept well!!

Up at 7am for 'hot shower' .... then play while she nibbles at breakfast.

Midday:  The telephone guys have come and we have found the problem!  When the house was built, they never connected the cables from BR1&2 to the Living room!  So of course it could never work.  It is all connected now and working OK.

I've just been out with Made to find water-proofing paint for the roof of the garage.  The concrete roof needs to be sealed so that the electrical connections don't get wet.  This has been the cause of the fuses tripping out.

I have also arranged for a piece of timber to be carved to make a good looking brace for the garage door.  This will fix the sagging door problem.

Lately Kaylia has been really engaging with us .... climbing on my back in the pool .... many attention seeking behaviours! Wow! She has been actually trying to get our interest and response. Things are certainly changing with our little girl.

                                           A strange caterpillar .....








We went to Ubud this afternoon .... it's a lovely place.

 Apparently the locals think so too  ... going by this sign seen in the middle of a rice padi, they get tired of people trying to buy the land!

... and then you get the 'traffic policemen' .... statues like this at intersections .....

Don't try it .... you're being watched!



8:00pm  Now she is fast asleep .... she crashed at 7pm after a big day.  I'm waiting till the 10:30pm trip to the airport to collect Naomi.

#460 Tuesday 20 December

Five days to Christmas ..... Two days till Naomi comes. Yay!

It's 6:00am and Kaylia has been awake for an hour! She's been listening to music and she's now playing with toys.

8:45  We've showered and I cooked her breakfast .... same as at Gardenia .... but she spurned it!  She ate half the meat and tasted the toast.  Obviously I'm not up to Gardenia standards!

Now it's play time.  I'll go and re-hang the curtains in BR4.

9:30  She's in the pool.   BR4 is complete.  I have tried out my theory about the two sagging doors.  I've put a simple timber brace on the back of the storeroom door .... and Hey Presto!  Fixed!

Now the garage door can be fixed with some decoratively carved braces.

What did the rest of the day bring???  Lunch at Macdonalds .... then a tour down to Nusa Dua and Ungasan .... the views are something.










After that it was back to the villa for pool time.  I had a big sleep .... I'm finding that I get spells of sleepiness where it is very difficult to stay awake.

Tea at Gardenias and back for play time and bed.

#459 Monday 19 December

There were no fireworks last night .... It was raining too much! We went to sleep with distant lightning flashing and thunder crashing.  It rained solidly all night.


4:00pm. We've had a morning of waiting for Bali type appointments ... 10am appointments that turn up at 2:30! We went out for lunch up near Hardys ... andKaylee had a little attack of Bali Belly!  We raced home and she spent the next hour or so racing to the loo and being miserable.  After a while I worked out the best medicine for her and she settled. 

Today I was able to repair the door in bedroom 4 .... a big job because the pelmet had been nailed in place rather than screwed.  Doors are a big issue here.  Either the timber is green so that the doors shrink ... or the design is faulty so that the doors cannot remain square.  There are two doors which are sagging and need a diagonal brace if they are to be usable doors!  I'm mulling over methods of bracing which will be aesthetically acceptable.

This trip with Kaylia has been a huge change from the last one.  This is the first trip in a long time where she hasn't been racked by anxiety attacks.  She is very happy at present and she is easy to manage (compared with previous trips).  It helps that her speech is becoming functional ... she is finding it much easier to get us to understand what she wants.  The biggest single change is the medication .... now that we are aware of what is happening, we can see the signs that a Lovan top up is needed .... and within a short time her anxiety drops and she is happy again.

#458 Sunday 18 December

(5 days till Naomi comes)


On Friday night at around 12:30 a large fireworks was exploded right outside our garage.  I went outside at the time and the night watchman was walking round and knew nothing.
Tonight (Saturday) there have been two separate series of fireworks outside our house .... both were 5 to 10 small bangs but I could clearly see the light of the explosion from my bedroom.  The flashes appeared to be very close and reflected off the walls inside the villa.
Again I went out to ask what the night watchman he had seen.  He says the explosions were far away.  (???) This is quite unbelievable and I know they were not far away because I could see the light through the garage wall slats. For that to happen they had to be just outside the garage.

I have to wonder if the night watchman is lighting the fireworks himself!  When I go outside he is the only person there ... and he never sees anything!

Another series of fireworks has just gone off ... It looks as though it is in front of Jasmine!


9:20am It's a wet, wet day.  Kaylia doesn't want to do anything again ... same as yesterday.  I think she is reacting to the dark & dismal sky outside.

Today we will wait and see if she wants a car trip ..... we need to do some shopping but it's not urgent.

2:50pm  At around 11:30 I noticed that Naomi was online and opened Skype  ..... Mistake!!  Kaylia's routine is already entrenched that we talk to Mummy just before bedtime .... so straight away it was "Nightie!"




We managed to divert her with a trip to Macdonalds for lunch ... followed by a drive out to Kewetel.  We stopped at a beach ... the surf had Kaylia wanting to swim. 




The black sand is fascinating.  Then it was a drive to Sanur via the 'Grand Bali Beach' where Anne & I stayed in 1984.  Then on to Hardys for shopping and DVDs.  When we arrived back at the villa she was immediately into 'nightie mode' ....




4:30pm. She's just decided to bring out all her balls and dump them in the pool!





After pool time it was off to Gardenia for the standard tea .... then home for Skype with Mummy.  On the way home we were met by the locals ... we're becoming well known and people love to see Kaylia.