Sunday, June 25, 2006

A house, a dog, snow



Sometimes it's hard to believe I was living in this little house in the New Hampshire mountains, with this borrowed dog and this snow, less than two years ago. Sometimes it's hard to believe snow exists at all. Jakarta starts to seem like some post-global-
warming dystopia, where the air is unfriendly to the human lung and the ruling class goes around in machines with artificial atmospheres (in this case, taxis and Toyota Kijang SUVs).

I think we need to get out of the city for a couple of days! To someplace that's not an earthquake or a volcano. We're working on an escape plan, actually. There are supposed to be green, quiet places not too far from Jakarta. In the meantime, I guess I'll walk around the local sports park. If you kind of squint at the clumps of trees, they almost look like a forest.

(And lest I over-romanticize, I should point out that my little town in the mountains had a giant paper mill, so the air there was, uh, less than pristine too.)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you sure that's a dog? It looks like a Bear! xxoo

Anonymous said...

ah yes, i recall those lovely visits to tinytown NH in the winter... i may never have been so cold in my life. but it WAS really beautiful. and bear was a good napping companion, even if he did hog the whole bed.

Unknown said...

pelabuhan ratu or puncak. we're planning our escape this week. Yiippy!!!

Cazzie!!! said...

What an awesom picture!! My kids loved seeing that and the baby was worried that your dog may be frozen ,LOL

Trish said...

Isn't it amazing how Labs can just romp in the snow all day without any boots on? BearDog loves snow. After the first storm of the winter he would just go nuts, jumping into snowbanks and rolling around and barking. He would hike in the snow all day, especially if I broke trail for him. (Well, he was 11 years old, which would make him almost twice my age, so it was only fair.)

The Editor said...

A picnic in the huge Bogor Botanical Gardens (the biggest such garden in Asia) is a nice way to find some fresh air and minimal population density. Just an hour's drive up the Jagorawi tollroad.

Trish said...

Congratulations on your upcoming escape, Treespotter! Report back on wherever you go ... we could use some firsthand travel tips!

mr_john said...

I'd recommend Pelabuhan Ratu. I'm a big fan.

I can give you some tips on places to stay while you're there too if you wanted. Dieter at Any's Tavern always knows the good places though.