My Happy Place and a 20th Anniversary

Before the moving mayhem, Owen and I took one final escape to Bali to celebrate our 20th Anniversary. Although our anniversary isn't actually until this October, we couldn't think of a place we'd rather celebrate than Bali. 

My happy place is Sari Organik, sipping a Pink Treat drink while looking out over the rice paddies.

As an added bonus, we met Owen's cousin, Katherine, and her husband, Bruno at my most favorite restaurant on the planet. So fun to be with family on the other side of the world.

My other happy place: a morning run along the rice paddies of Ubud. I did not have my camera with me, so my words will have to suffice.

We cross the suspended bridge over the river. Vines dangle from the trees like an immense green curtain. Following the narrow path through the rice fields we catch glimpses of mist stirring and settling along the plunging cliffs.

While running through the village, we pass a store where round woven baskets are strung together and look like a bunch of grapes. Violet flowers pour over the stone walls, surpassing any manmade color in vividness – luminescent and florescent in the morning sun.

A man plants his rice field, wading knee deep in black mud. A plastic bin floats behind him holding the seedlings.

Women do their washing in the canals, white suds on the dark soil.

Ducks bathe in a flooded rice paddy. They bristle, flap, plume, and chatter with each other in clearly a social event - the image brings to mind Romans in a bath house.

A woman bathes in the roadside canal, she keeps modest with a sarong. 

A banyan tree with woven tendrils. Some branches are as thick as a trunk, some as thin as strings, together they make a fibrous tapestry.

In another village, country flags for FIFA World Cup decorate the main road. One small boy – maybe six or seven- wears a Messi shirt. We exchange a thumbs up.

Muddy paths – I have to keep my eyes on the trail more than I would have liked.

And my favorite moment...we take a wrong turn that leads off the main road. We stumble upon a view of a cliff terraced with rice paddies – a hidden paradise. Natural fountains trickle water from pool to pool. It is almost too beautiful to behold. I breathe deeply, count my blessing, and continue running with Owen.