Handicrafts © 1997-2003 Nin/SoWhat/
Kucing Yogya/Art Soto

THIS IS AN ACTUAL DEN OF MINE IN THE FACTUAL TOWN OF YOGYA, ITSELF A VERIFIED OLD KINGDOM IN THE CONFIRMED ISLAND OF JAVA, OF THE REGISTERED REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA.

NOT THAT I'M ALWAYS THERE, BUT, WHEREVER I MIGHT BE, I WANT TO SHOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO LIVE IN INDONESIA AS AN IMPERFECTLY ORDINARY, QUESTIONABLY NORMAL CITIZEN WHO HAS NONETHELESS NEVER BEEN TO LIBYA.

WELL, YOU ARE
TEMPORARILY WELCOME!

6'5" shelves of my fetish [Translation: click here.]. Some are senselessly homemade, others are subjects of airport taxes -- like the old kokeshi, traditional Japanese doll, a gift from Asada Kanae's mom --which is among my most doted-on snatchables.

Dining room. [Sometimes there is an actual dinner there.] On the walls are what Tonny Volunteero calls my 'chumbawambas' -- some dizzying paper collages; my homemade wooden handicrafts and some that are gotten by cabs and bikes and planes; some sorry bunch of listenables; coffee-serving apparatus; a mirror (I have 18 to date, around this house) and an ancient contraption that somehow is a fridge.

To all whose names are scattered on this page:

Table of beloved undescribables.

[Far left: Japanese balsawood reconstruction of Takuan Soho -- the wandering Zen master who once got involved in some spiritual bashing of Miyamoto Musashi. Middle: traditional Banyumas ashtray, Central Java, sculpted from a block of palmtree's trunk. Far right: White House bookmarks and other excess baggage from wherever, for which I forever thank Betty Grubbs, Barbara Newman, Takeyama Fujiko, Nomura Keiko, Anneke van der Hoeven, Dede Priyambodo, Fritz Stahl, Mary Crace, Michelle Campbell, Chris Chapman, Bunga Jeruk, S. Teddy D., Günther Dau, Wakabayashi Hiroshi, Maria Reno, Asada Kanae, Sonny Eko Suharsono, Bob 'Sick' Yudhita, Edwin Rahardjo, and many others.]

Backporch seats for sweaty purposes. [Translation: involving a handsaw and an electric drill.] The hazy objects on the left side of the pic are specimens of traditional Yogyanese export: terracotta seats from the Kasongan village.

Living room: the shrine of trivia; the denizens of which include paintings thrusted on me by the painters themselves, pics of 7 generations of fursome destroyers (my cats got that impressive genealogy), some chaotic jungle of knickknacks, and Himawan's teak cherishables -- he and the Penuh Jaya [anglicized: 'Fulsome Glory'] workshop, Yogya, Indonesia, created most of my furniture.

Attempt at looking gardeny. In this venture I've been considerably helped by Sari Tukino, my assistant in gardening, whose invaluable input is, among others, that I should have given up.

[I adore green plants. So do caterpillars, locusts, snails, and small hyper-energetic destructive furballs that, alas, happen to be my cats.]

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