Mimi got to Bali before Dick did, with a small group led by John Senduk, former UPI man who was then head of the Indonesian Tourist Promotion Board in San Francisco. On that trip, she was first exposed to the work of the late Ida Bagus Tilem, whose carvings were considered the standard by which the work of other woodcarvers should be measured. His work was shown in galleries throughout the world—and in his own gallery in Mas, named for his father, a woodcarver before him.

On subsequent visits, we actually met Tilem and came to consider him a friend. And he allowed us the rare privilege of photographing his gallery, something not usually permitted. He spent a lot of time with us, telling us of his work and the philosophy behind it, of the spirit he was trying to instill in his apprentices, and of his life.

Tilem was an eloquent man, and in the time we spent with him we received an education about Balinese art that we could never otherwise have gotten.

A few days afterward, he telephoned us and asked if he could take us to lunch. Of course we agreed, and we told the people at the hotel desk that Tilem was coming for us. "Oh, you want to go to Tilem's gallery?" one of them asked. "We'll get you a car."

"No, no, Tilem is coming for us,"  we responded.

They exchanged looks: Tilem is coming for you. Yeah, right.

But he came, and one of them came scurrying to where we were waiting in the garden. In hushed tones, and with great respect, he said, "Tilem is here!"  Brownie points!

Tilem took us to lunch at a hotel he had built on the outskirts of Ubud, Ulun Ubud, a marvelous place cascading down the side of a mountain, filled with carvings and his collection of antique Chinese tiles. It was beyond a doubt the most beautiful small hotel we had ever seen. Tilem had sent his younger brother to hotel school in Switzerland so he could manage it. It was a totally magical place, and our one regret is that we didn't get back to Bali to stay there before Tilem's death.

Some of the carvings from Tilem's gallery: