i can be crafty.

i'm easing back into the craftiness with a little spot of knitting. i've bought a mess of blue sky alpacas sport weight yarn that is light, bouncy, softy soft with just a touch of scratchiness. the colours are tropical, i suppose, but i think i'd like to introduce a little more of this warm texture into my home. antoi is still the main craftswoman in these parts, check out her mainlandia blog.

Saipan, Uncle A'be's house

Saipan, A'be's house - porch, originally uploaded by *caramimi*.

My Uncle A'be, lives a fairly natural life on his beautifully tended property. Although he has one of the last tin & wood houses on our family compound, his tidy house and garden is the charming ideal of tropic life.

I spent a few afternoons at my uncle's house having lunch. After a filling meal of tuna and rice (cooked on the wood-fueled stove), I took some pics of the inside and outside kitchens, and the surrounding property. The carnival of plant life and color, was almost too vibrant -- a feast for the senses. I especially loved the Asian touches Aunt Amy accented throughout their home.

petta (door)

kusina (inside kitchen)

All the cooking is done in the outside kitchen. Most families have gas-burning stoves, but Uncle A'be still prefers cooking with firewood -- even rice, despite the fact he owns a rice cooker.

The poured concrete sink in the outside kitchen. Utilitarian, yet beautiful design.

A tree runs through the outside kitchen, conveniently used to hold the cutting board.

aga yan chotda (ripe & unripe bananas)

Every home, I visited, had bunches of bananas hanging to ripen. I'm not certain of these varieties, but the small bunch in the back are the tiny thin-skinned bananas with sweet, firm, almost tart flesh, usually found in Asian or Latin markets.

The huge tree with tire swing was perfection.

Uncle A'be was particularly proud of this bunch of coconut trees, he made sure I photographed it.

multi-petaled hibiscus

acalypha hispida aka "Mother-in-law's tongue!"

garden fireworks

wonderwall.

i wanted to take advantage of the nearly three full walls of windows in my living room and make the most of the sunlight that pours in all day. i painted the walls white, but didn't want to get bored with it so i mixed pearlescent mica flakes (available at a well-stocked art supply shop like dick blick) into the paint. depending on the time of day/reflection of the sun, the walls change colour. here is what it looks like in the morning and through most of the day (you can just make out a silvery purple blue reflection); during sunset hours, however, the room takes on a lovely golden sheen like the beach below.

Saipan - willy nilly

Ai yi yi.... Old habits die hard. In the span of 3 months, my textile-collector-bug kicked in and I find myself with blue prints and a red bed. Chaotic bliss....

Saipan - Roger's abode

Saipan - Roger's abode, originally uploaded by *caramimi*.

Roger is a farmer who lives in a little shack behind my uncle's house. He helps tend to the big garden and banana trees, and will often accompany my uncle on his nightly hunts. Roger's one of the many folks who have stayed on the family compound for many years he's become an extension of our huge brood.

I took this during a visit to my uncle to gather the silk/cotton-like fibers from the kapok tree, known as Ceiba pentandra, or algidon in Chamorro, for use as stuffing for a plush animal project with my nieces. The kapok fibers are sometimes used as a "green" resource for stuffing. A pic of our kapok fiber harvest below.

Saipan - Crusty x sustainable design

Saipan - Crusty x sustainable design, originally uploaded by *caramimi*.

I heard about a little land crab on our property, that uses a baby jar for a home. By sheer coincidence I found him hanging around the discarded coconuts last night. Apparently they hold nightly meetings between the trash can and coconuts. Funny huh?

This is an umang or hermit crab. Usually they occupy discarded snail shells to protect their soft lower bodies, but looks like this one decided to modernize. Very resourceful!