Tales Of A Housesitter: Endless Paddy Fields ✨ Relaxing Story for Sleep

[00:00:10] Good evening, friends, and welcome back to Sleep Wave. I'm your host, Carissa, and I am delighted to have you here tonight. Your day is done. Take a moment to just let go of anything that came before this moment. Anything that your mind or body still wants to carry. Worries, anxieties, a conversation, a concern, a discomfort, and just let it go.

[00:00:40] For now, let's just sink into a relaxing story that will help us gently glide into sleep. This is our weekly free episode. If you've been enjoying the show, I'd like to invite you to become a subscriber. Subscribers get two bonus episodes a month in totally ad-free listening. Details down below your podcast player.

[00:01:03] Back to storytime. In tonight's story, it's time for house sitter, Penny, to find a new life to slip into for a month or two. Hawaii has treated her well and she decides it might be right to find another tropical paradise and another dog or two to fall in love with all over again. Before we begin, our only ad break, which helps make this show possible. To listen ad-free, follow the link in the show notes.

[00:01:34] Tonight's episode of Sleep Wave is sponsored by Vinted. Every so often, I open my wardrobe and realize how many clothes are taking up space without being worn. You know the ones. You think their moment will come, but somehow it never does. Vinted offers a practical way to clear some of that space. It's a secondhand marketplace app where everyday people can sell pre-loved fashion and earn some extra money.

[00:01:59] I like the idea that clothes I bought for special occasions can now have their own story with somebody else rather than sitting forgotten at the back of a wardrobe. Listing items on Vinted is quick and simple and there are no seller fees, so you keep everything you earn. Once something sells, Vinted also creates the prepaid shipping label for you. So if your wardrobe is feeling crowded, Vinted could help you make some space and be less wasteful at the same time.

[00:02:26] Ready to clean out your closet and make some extra money? Download the Vinted app for free and start listing. With no seller fees, you keep every dollar you earn and for a limited time enjoy free shipping in the U.S. on Vinted. There's something quietly remarkable about the stories people carry with them. The moments that changed everything, the situations nobody could have planned for. What was that like is a podcast built entirely around those moments.

[00:02:54] Each episode, a guest sits down and recounts a real experience. An unusual job, an unexpected encounter, a life turned briefly sideways. True stories told by the people who lived them, verified so even the most extraordinary ones you can trust.

[00:03:13] Episodes like Elena was friends with Mickey and Scott was an undercover FBI agent give you a gentle window into lives lived very differently from your own. So if you find yourself drawn to real human stories, the kind that make you wonder what you would have done, I'd invite you to spend some time with What Was That Like? Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening right now.

[00:03:43] Take another slow, deep breath. Let's get cozy. Here we... Penny had spent almost her entire life in New York. She had made brief forays to other places, usually for conferences if truth be told,

[00:04:12] but on the whole had confined herself to New York in general and Manhattan in particular. But then, one serendipitous day, she had visited a cafe and found a book about great adventurers, and in a matter of moments had decided to leave everything she knew behind and head off on her own great adventure.

[00:04:37] She'd spent three months in Hawaii with Max, the golden retriever, learning how to pick a pineapple at exactly the right time, and feeling as if she'd almost befriended some of the colorful fish that she swam with every day in the sea. As the three months of her first ever house sit were drawing to a close, Penny felt a small nod of anxiety begin to grow in her stomach.

[00:05:06] She couldn't go back home, as she'd rented out her apartment. Although, the idea of New York as a home felt as though it now belonged to someone else entirely, and would need to find somewhere else to stay. She'd debated with Max, who had held her gaze with that steady way he had, somehow assuring her that everything would be alright. She would find another dog to look after.

[00:05:36] She would find another way of life to adopt. She would meet new people and find new freedoms. Penny spent a while trying to decide what it was about living on Hawaii that had been so perfect. It wasn't only the gentle rhythm of life. Her mornings dictated by the sunrise pouring in through her bedroom window,

[00:06:02] and her evenings started as the cicadas reached their loudest tunes. It wasn't only the daily runs in the little red jeep, heading to the markets to drink glass after glass of deep red hibiscus juice. Nor was it lying floating in the warm seas, keeping an eye out for passing turtles. These were all wonderful,

[00:06:31] but the sanctuary she had found was more than that. She decided in the end that it was being on an island that had been the magic. There was something very safe about knowing where all the edges were, and being contained by a beautiful drifting jungle, and the jungle bustling with life. Of course, Manhattan was an island too,

[00:06:59] but it never felt like it. A short rattle in a subway car, and you were whisked to other boroughs, and that made it feel nothing like an island at all. The website she had used to find the house set in Hawaii showed that she could travel to the islands of Nova Scotia, and for a brief moment, she considered that. But she quickly shivered,

[00:07:27] imagining the difference after her time in the eternal sunshine, and turned her attention to other options. Her high school geography was called upon for the first time in decades, and she ended up bringing the globe from the living room out onto the lanai to really study where these places actually were. It was an impossible decision,

[00:07:54] and ultimately, she decided to take a leaf out of Mary's book. Mary was the homeowner in Hawaii who had opened up her house and her world to Penny. Mary was the person who had disappeared to the other side of the world for the last three months. Mary, based on everything in the house and everything Penny had felt, made solid life decisions.

[00:08:23] Which is how Penny found herself sending in an application to look after a couple of dogs on the island of Bali in Indonesia. If Mary thought it was good enough for three months, then it must be the right sort of place to go. Penny exchanged messages back and forth with a lady called Susan, a British woman who had moved to Bali over a decade before

[00:08:51] after falling in love with the place during a vacation. There was one deal-breaker, Susan said, asking Penny if she could ride a scooter. Oh, absolutely, Penny smiled, amazed by how easily the lie fell out. I mean, she told herself, how hard could it be? Her flight to Bali landed early afternoon,

[00:09:20] on a day when, as with many other days, the heat was being broken by a quick, heavy, self-indulgent shower of rain. Penny looked out at a runway that glistened and danced with high bouncing raindrops. And as she stepped from the plane, the warm air rushed over her. She breathed it in deeply,

[00:09:48] happy to have escaped the sealed air conditioning of the flight and to be able to stretch her legs once more. As she waited by the baggage carousel for her small backpack that held as many books as it did clothing, she took a moment to really stretch her body. Penny stood up on her tiptoes,

[00:10:16] working each muscle in her legs, and then slowly, gently relaxing them. She stretched her arms out to her sides and turned her neck from the left to the right, easing the aches away. Each finger she pointed individually, curling, then stretching them as far as they could reach,

[00:10:46] then relaxing them. By the time her bag arrived, the flight was forgotten, and she was ready for the next adventure. There would be no meeting at the airport this time, and instead she had instructions to find a taxi. She'd written the address on a piece of paper ready to hand over, only knowing that it would take

[00:11:14] an hour, maybe two, depending on the traffic, and not really having any idea what would be at the end of the journey. The photos on the website had all been awkwardly angled, and a finger was half over the lens most of the time. Whatever Susan may be, she certainly wasn't a photographer. It was busy outside,

[00:11:43] and Penny pushed her way through the crowds, following the instructions she'd been given to find the best taxis. She finally found a young man who promised to take her to the address for a good price, and, relieved, she climbed into the back of his car. As they left the airport, the downpour stopped,

[00:12:12] and the sun shone bright, turning the pavements into gently steaming strips of tarmac. They soon left the main city, and drove along quieter roads, although these were still lined with colorful shops, and throngs of people walking slowly between the stores. Apart from the cars

[00:12:42] and scooters that raced along, and Penny wondered for a moment how she would dare to ride a scooter the way these people did, everything was slow and peaceful. There was no urgency in the way people walked. Women in sarongs and crisp white shirts walked with woven baskets on their heads,

[00:13:11] gliding among the crowds. Every now and then, Penny caught a glimpse of what she assumed must be temples, all beautiful stone carvings dressed with bright green moss. Bright red hibiscus flowers and delicate white and yellow frangipani flowers and sunshine orange marigolds sat cheekily

[00:13:40] on many of the stone statues, tucked behind their ears or perched on their heads. And then, the stores stopped and the spaces between houses grew and the taxi was heading toward the greenest hills Penny had ever known. Terrace after terrace of bright green rice paddies

[00:14:08] flowed into the valleys, edged with palms that hung heavy with yellow coconuts. The taxi disappeared into the scene, leading Penny along winding roads that climbed past yet more temples. And then, they were heading along a driveway and there was the house, barely recognizable

[00:14:37] from the sideways half-a-finger photo that Penny had seen. The thatched roof was curved upwards at either end, a giant sweep of straw that reached towards the sky. It sat in a glade surrounded by palms and banana trees, the leaves of which seemed almost to be

[00:15:06] rustling with anticipation of her arrival. It was two stories of bamboo structure beneath that curving sweep of thatch, where long white curtains fluttered at the windows. the taxi came to a halt beside a swimming pool, a bright flash of turquoise against the green

[00:15:35] of the tropical plants. there was silence, there was silence, broken only by the rustling of the leaves. And then, two dogs ran barking down the steps of the house and towards Penny were neither large nor small, of indeterminate breed,

[00:16:04] although one looked like a blonde husky who had shrunk in the wash. The other was the same size but with short fur, the same buttery color, and a wrinkled forehead that Penny would come to find was always there and gave him a permanently worried expression. The duo rushed up to her, barking excitedly, and then Susan

[00:16:34] appeared, calling the dogs back to her. Sandy and Bilbo, Penny learned. Sandy and Bilbo were their names. Susan came forwards, all apologies and friendliness, tall and willowy with a wide smile and bright eyes. A red scarf was wrapped roughly around her head.

[00:17:04] and she wore a banana yellow bikini, which meant more apologies. But for that, explanations of, goodness, how hot it is today. The evening was spent learning Sandy and Bilbo's routine, which seemed to consist of wake up, bark at a few monkeys, and then potter around the garden, while occasionally

[00:17:33] pretending to chase away pigeons. Susan had rescued them after finding the pair curled up together beneath a bougainvillea, tiny scraps of puppies who didn't stand a chance. They never came in the house, Susan explained, but they were wonderful companions who would happily snuggle up on the porch when the sun had lowered in the sky,

[00:18:06] saved her first attempt on the scooter, until Susan had left the next morning, waiting for ten minutes after the taxi had gone, just to be sure she didn't come back and witness what was likely to be a disaster. she strapped the helmet firmly in place and pulled the little bike upright,

[00:18:36] pushing it off its kickstand. Where the key went was obvious, and it seemed there was a button, and then one of the handlebars could be turned, and suddenly Penny was launched toward a palm tree with a scream she couldn't stifle. The two dogs rushed towards her, barking a commentary, and Penny

[00:19:06] fortunately realized she could both break and stop turning the handle, and the scooter came to an unceremonious halt in a flower bed. She got off and pushed it backwards, back towards the safety of the more solid driveway, and tried again.

[00:19:35] It took a few goes before she found it easy enough to go back and forth towards the entrance, turning slowly and cautiously with hardly any hint of a wobble, and only thinking about putting her foot down for stability, but not actually doing it. It was enough for one day, and she decided

[00:20:05] to save exploring further until the next. Besides, there was a bathtub with her name on it in the house. Susan had shown her how to gather the paper thin pink leaves from the bougainvillea to pour by the handful into the bath. The bath itself was on the second floor,

[00:20:33] and alongside a wall made entirely of glass, the view looked out over the valley, the inn paddy fields broken into neat squares and terraces, and she luxuriated in that oversized

[00:21:03] bath as the pink leaves floated and drifted around her. The dogs promised her the next morning to keep an eye on the place, while she dared to go into the nearby town, and, bracing herself, she climbed back onto the scooter,

[00:21:32] relieved to find her self-taught lessons of the day before, had not been forgotten. At every turn, she wanted to stop and stare at the views, some of which even showed her glimpses of a bright blue sea in the far distance. There were

[00:22:01] hardly any cars on the roads, just the occasional scooter, some with whole families piled on. Ladies in neatly tied sarongs sat sideways on the backs of scooters, casually hanging on with a single hand placed lightly on the edge of the seat. Nearing the town,

[00:22:32] there were a few trucks, but they all gave her a wide berth. A few people turning to wave, and Penny wishing she could return the friendliness, but not daring to take her hands off the handlebars. She smiled as broadly as she could, but remained focused on the road,

[00:23:02] relieved when she could stop on the edge of town and walk the final part. A narrow path led her past yet more bright green fields of rice, but this time there were houses dotted around, red roofs, and elaborate, ornamental carvings around

[00:23:31] the doors and windows, and everywhere Penny saw small square packages of banana leaves, decorated with bright, and beautiful patterns. Despite the scooters and the dust, the air was filled with

[00:24:01] incense and frangipani flower. the town itself was a mass of people who bustled here and there. Mindless tourists were piled into the cafes and wandering through the market that was bright with colorful

[00:24:29] sarongs and paper fans and flowing dresses. people sat and sipped at whole coconuts through metal straws, or unpackaged banana leaves that were filled with steamed fish and rice. And everywhere, women sat

[00:24:58] on steps next to signs that offered Balinese massages, and finally one too many asked Penny to come inside. And so she did, following the tiny lady to the back room of a building that had massage tables separated by long, soothing music

[00:25:27] played in the background. And a stream of water was directed near the heads of the tables, so a constant gentle trickle moved by. As Penny arranged herself on the table, looking down through the hole, she realized that there for her to look at, on the floor directly beneath her,

[00:25:57] was a huge bowl of water. At the center, a bright puff of orange marigold, smiled, and concentric circles of white and pink and purple and blue covered the surface.

[00:26:28] The tiny lady eased her hands along Penny's back and shoulders, smoothing the way with oil that smelled of lemongrass and that eased its way into her aching muscles. She realized how tightly she had held herself for the flight, and again how tightly she had clung to the little scooter,

[00:26:57] and the tiny lady pushed her palms into the knots and aches, pushing slowly back and forth and forth. Penny realized as she lay there that the only sounds she could hear were the music and the trickling water. The bustling street was mere steps away,

[00:27:27] but it might have been in another world. It was something she would come to learn, that as soon as you stepped into the cool interior of homes and cafes, then the noise immediately ceased. Many were built around courtyards that provided green retreats in the heart of a home. Penny thought

[00:27:57] back to Manhattan, to her apartment, a sealed unit that was a few blocks from Central Park that she had to share with millions of others. One here seemed to have their own peace and space to breathe and to be. No wonder, she thought, that they move so slowly and steadily

[00:28:26] and ease their way through the days. There is a peace that only nature can offer, and everyone here seemed to carry that lesson as if it was a part of their soul. She stayed in a cafe while the afternoon downpour happened, hiding away with ginger tea and

[00:28:55] watching visitors dashing through the raindrops outside, taking exaggerated, awkward leaps in their flip-flops across the ever-growing puddles. The heaviness of the rain was calming too, as it beat against the bamboo roof and took some of the heat out of the day. Penny walked back to her

[00:29:25] scooter with a lightness in her step, happy to have visited the town, but ready to head back to her jungle retreat, where Sandy and Bilbo would be waiting for her. The road seemed friendly and familiar on her return, and this time, she dared to look up a little and see around her.

[00:29:58] She saw those same small squares flowers of woven banana leaves, filled with flowers, with red sticks of incense, sending wisps of white smoke into the early evening air. It was strange, she thought later, as she floated in the pool and looked at the stars. How easily

[00:30:27] she had slipped into the new place and new way of life. She had thought that she would miss Hawaii and Max and the home she had there, but already they seemed a distant past, something that would forever be a part of her, but didn't define her completely.

[00:30:54] that Susan had created here in the jungle was so peaceful and so open, where nature had guided its creation and now gently protected it from the outside world, that it was easy to adopt it as her own for the coming months. And that is exactly

[00:31:23] how life flowed for Penny for a while. Days were spent with books reading out passages to the dogs who lay and seemed almost as if they understood. Or she would head off on the little red scooter, exploring new corners and views, daring to go

[00:31:53] further afield each time. Sometimes she headed to the coast and its narrow strip of beach, watching the fishermen return in a mass of colorful boats as the sun started to rise. Sometimes she headed north to the lake, breathing in the cooler air of the

[00:32:22] mountains and watching the stretching shadows of volcano reach across the land. She hadn't walked up there for the sunrise yet, but maybe she will one day. Or maybe she will remain content with the temples and fields of golden marigolds and the eternal green of the

[00:32:52] rice paddies and take long for Penny to reach for her pen for the first time in many, many years. After a few weeks on the island, she felt the urge to write that she hadn't known since she had started lecturing at the university all those years ago. She wished she could

[00:33:21] paint, but any attempts had always resulted in either masses of lurid lines or unfortunate daubs of brown in various shades. Instead, she painted with her words, pouring her feelings into poems that soon filled the pages of her notebook. She captured everything she saw with a few gentle

[00:33:51] lines, taking the peace she felt and preserving it forever on the crisp white pages. Even the roosters that crowed in the early morning light came to mean home to her. She wrote of rustling banana leaves moving in the soft breezes. She wrote of the thatched roof of the

[00:34:21] home that curved and reached towards the sky. She wrote of floating alone in the turquoise pool and warm baths filled with handfuls of pink leaves and staring down at a perfect pattern of flowers and as she listened to water trickle and soft music play.

[00:34:51] She wrote of the ladies in their sarongs and crisp white shirts walking slowly and steadily upright and strong moving between their homes and the temples and prayers. horse. She wrote of Sandy and Bilbo and their quiet understanding and how their eyes

[00:35:20] closed when she stroked their soft necks and how they seemed to smile in their sleep. Had Penny been able to see herself, she would have known that she, too, seemed to smile as she slept alongside the long white curtains that moved softly in the night air, her only companions,

[00:35:49] the two dogs who waited for her outside, along with a sky that was filled with stars and the scent