This will be my “prison” for the next few weeks in September. Nice view, huh? It’s 400m elevation, the owner says. Nice and cool compared to the coast.

Today we drove up to the villa (shown above) where the owner needs a cat-sitter for a few weeks. I’ve realised that this is the place where my friend sent me a web advertisement a couple of months ago. It’s been sold but the new owner won’t be arriving for another few weeks, so the present owner wants to go back to Qld in the meantime. Hence his need for a villa and cat sitter.

It’s a bit isolated but there’s a car in the garage and I can have a driver on call. Should be OK. As long as the cat-nappers don’t try to steal the cat again.

(Damn, I’d written a big par about this, but my PC just flashed and hiccupped and it’s gone. Grrrr.)

So it’s back to Sanur for a few days from tomorrow, back to Perth on Thursday, a weekend to check that things are OK at home, doctor on Monday, pick up new med supplies, then back here the next Tuesday.

This has been a complete surprise change of plans, but it’s the spice of life, ain’t it?

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This was taken at the nudist resort last week. I was wearing a gate. No, I’m not gay, wash your mouth out! This was the gate to the beach. No nudity allowed beyond that point.

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I picked this up off the road today. It’s the fruit and nut of a cashew tree. I’ve never seen this before, although I’ve read about it. The soft fruit is edible and smells beautiful. It’s very juicy but a bit fibrous. You can eat it, but it would be better just juiced.

The nut, however, is in that hard shell and the kernel has to be extracted, then roasted to get rid of its poisonous oils. I was told that opening the shell needs to be done with care because the oils irritate the skin.

We sucked the fruit dry today but I’ve got the nut with me. I’d like to take it home for curiosity value, but I think Customs might have something to say about that.

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I’ve been working hard today, writing an essay on bullying for the daughter of a friend. This daughter has just started first year uni in Singaraja and they set a punishing work pace. Lectures start at 6am and Brenda is working until late at night on assignments, then has to leave home at 5am to be at the uni.

She’s been set two essays due in on Monday – both to be written in English, both of about four legal sized (8.5″ x 14″) pages. One is on bullying, and the other is to be entitled “Your Life”. Because she’s snowed under, she’s asked me to write them.

Ouch. I’ve done the bullying one, by a lot of copying and pasting from Doctor Internet, changing as much text as I can to avoid plagiarism charges.

But it’s now 10.30pm and we’re leaving here tomorrow. I doubt I’ll be able to do the Life one. I think I might have to just list some headings in a framework for her to fill in. Besides, it’s very hard for me to write about her future life!  If I knew that …

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This is where I am now. Taken this morning, in the misty coolness. Nice, huh?

Heading out for some fishing at 8am.