Time off

We've been back from Asia for well over a month now, and somehow, we already almost forgot that we have been on vacations at all. It feels like it was so long ago, and it has been so busy here since we got back that any rest we got just disappeared in a few days.
This is the first time I get back to the blog, and I just noticed that the pictures from the last post are not showing. I'll try to fix that later today, but before that, I wanted to close the loop on the trip. I'm sad I didn't keep writing as we travelled, but somehow, I just didn't find the time to do it. Maybe we just got too busy.

So here it is: After Kota Kinebalu, we went to Sandakan, where we quickly went to the Sepilok forest edge resort. Sepilok was an important part of our trip, because that's where the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre is, and not too far from there is also the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary, 2 places where we were looking forward to visit, especially that it is by promising my man that we would be going there that I managed to convince him to come along with me in Malaysia.

We were not disappointed. The resort was wonderful. We saw plenty of apes and monkey in the 2 days we spent on those 2 reserves. The Orangutan centre was in the rain forest, while the Proboscis one was in the mangrove, so we got to see 2 completely different environments. One of the highlights of these few days was to watch an orangutan eat a few doughnuts, clearly not enjoying the chocolate frosting on one of them. The doughnuts were left by an evil tourist (or maybe tour-guide, we think..) who wanted to attract the ape out of the forest so tourists could see them closer. It was so wrong, as the rehabilitation centre is making so much efforts to make them become independent, but it was still awesome to see.

We also spent a few hours on the Kinabatanagan river cruise, where we got to see more orangutans, proboscis and macaques in their natural environment. We also managed to see a very rare bird (I can't remember the name now, I'll come back to it when my man wakes up!)

Following those few wonderful days, we had a whole in our schedule, so we spent a few days in Sandakan. It was not really worth it, except for the visit of Agnes Keith's house, an American author who spent the 2nd world war in a Japanese camp near Sandakan and the visit of Sim Sim, a stilt village with an awesome seafood restaurant.

Following those few days, we left Borneo. But that will be part of another post, as that's already a little bit long, and I want to add pictures.

Orangutan!

Rain forest

doughnuts!

Curious baby

Proboscis monkeys

a very tired monkey

Hornbill

Another exhausted monkey

As fresh as seafood can get! 

Sim Sim

Agnes Keith's house

Drinks! 

Pot de chocolat with ice cream 

in the mangrove

Lazy, busy summer

Almost a month since I wrote last. I didn't have much to write about anything crafty, now that my blouse is done. I actually wore it for the first time yesterday, because we've had heatwaves that prevented me from wearing anything with sleeves before that. I'm still amazed that it fits so well, although I noticed it is a bit big on me...I don't think I lost any weight, I think the fabric stretches easily. oh well.

I've been busy in the past few weeks enjoying summer and going places.

Early July, I went to a family reunion, where I saw a few of my many, many cousins. My mother was the youngest of 10 kids, and they all had several kids themselves. My mum being over 70, it means that at 40, I'm one of the youngest of my cousins, and it also means that many of them are already grand-parents. There was a lot of people, at least 4 generations, if not more, at that family gathering. AND it was only a small portion of the entire family.

To be honest, I didn't recognize half of the people, but it was nice to meet them all once again! Some I had not seen in many, many years. And thanks to Facebook, I hope we will stay in touch this time.

We've also been enjoying summer by going out a lot.

Day at the farm with a lot of babies

Local concerts and festivals

And I've been enjoying rediscovering Montreal with some friends...

Montreal ice cream. I had lime-mint and Earl Grey ice creams. OMG. 

Montreal, cool city

 

All kinds of dips at Rumi's, Montreal

I've also had a little bit of time for sewing.

You may recall that I had started this skirt a few years ago:(http://genyin3r.blogspot.ca/2011/06/sewing.html) I had bought fabric and the pattern thinking I could figure it out. I cut the pieces (without measuring anything nor thinking that maybe, the sizes on patterns have nothing to do with the clothes sold in stores). Resulted a major panic and an almost depression, and everything went back in a bag and was almost forgotten until it was moved into the new house. I decided to take a look at it, wondering if my sewing courses could help save this catastrophe. Well...I had re-cut the belt, and had to buy extra fabric for the lining, but I think that it will be wearable once the hem is done. I will not show it to my sewing teacher, because I did not do things very well, but again, it will be wearable, which is a lot more than what I expected when I took it out of the bag a few weeks ago.

I also knitted a bit, although it doesn't show much. I actually frogged (rip-it, rip-it) what I had done for the front, and started it again, because there was a very visible mistake right at the beginning. It looks much better now, so I'm happy I did that. I'll be flying across America next week, so I'm hoping I can maybe finish it by the time I come back!

I am not able to weave right now, because I ran out of blue yarn, and that's where I'm at in the baby blanket. I ordered some more, but the place I buy it from is closed for a few weeks for vacations. Hopefully it means that I will have received it when I come back from my own vacations. That will leave me 5 days to finish it if I want to give it to Emöke, the baby it is intended for, on her baptism. I don't think that would be too difficult, except that I have to learn to cut it off from my warp, and learn to crochet to make a border. I really want to be positive, but I'm having doubts...the only thing that can save me is that the baptism is about 4 hours away from 3R, so if I get to learn on time, I'll have an extra few hours in the car for the borders. The smart thing to do would be to learn to crochet while I wait for the yarn to be delivered...hum, that could work...Since I'm not 100% sure of the final size of the blanket once it is going to be washed, I can't actually crochet the lase and hope to sew it later. But I still can learn. Pinterest, save me!!!

And despite the heavy rains, and crazy heatwave, we have a little bit of a garden:

Next week, I'm leaving for Santa Fe. I'll be there for a week. There is a big Indian market, and I'm going to meet my friend from Lillooet who I haven't seen in over a year. That's going to be fun! I don't have any plans, except for resting and shopping, so I should not be disappointed!

We also started to plan our big trip to Malaysia. It looks like we will stop for 3 days in Shanghai on our way there, and we will also probably spend much of our time in Borneo. It's starting to be really, really exciting!

Have a good week, I'll take a lot of pictures in Santa Fe! And hopefully, there will be lot of weaving happening!