Walking, walking

How about a lot of pictures and a few words? Explanation, then pic. Here we go:

A washing station at a "nice" restaurant - a sink, hose, and tap. See the barbed wire barrier? That's typical for nicer homes and businesses to keep thieves away at night. Most will also have a security guard snoozing nearby.

Beautiful chickens met on our walk. This guy was a poser.

To keep myself from redecorating a room last week, I bought new floor tiles to replace the white ones on the countertops. Done - something artsy, something quick. Something inexpensive. (I just watched the before and after of a friend's kitchen. This is faster - and cheaper. Smiles.)

 The neighbor's banana tree is full. Here are a few 10" bananas from that tree - out of hundreds ripening!

 And a team meeting, talking about transition. This happened to a spread in the art journal.

 In the garden, there are 31 limes left, ripening on a little tree.

 On the walk, a 10 meter (30') tree is awash with 5" blossoms. Staggering beauty.

 And the neighbor has this done to his gorgeous 10 meter Norfolk Island pine - hope it comes back!

I quilt during another zoom meeting, working on the border. Too bad I used a dozen threaded needles this morning. Good progress but I have only 3 needles of thread left. When those are used up, I'll put it away until Chelly brings back the thread from the USA in July.

 This Sawyer mosquito repellent is saving my life.

I'm trying something new (of course) - minimal journaling. In 1.2", I record the highlight of my day, things I want to track, and which day of my life I'm on. (Find which day you're on by clicking here.) I'm on #23470. That's a lot of days ... You can track whatever you want - but the habits of life become clear very quickly!

 W and I get to go on a walk in the beautiful hills above Bandung.

There are rest stops along the way. We walk the neighborhood with the dogs, so we're in good shape. Others get 2/3 of the way and stop to wait while we get to the waterfall. Heat exhaustion in the unshaded rice fields can be a thing.

The rice is being harvested, weeded and planted all along the way. We walk on stones (flat or not) so you need strong ankles.

An ingenious device is putting a hollow bamboo stem in the stream, tied to string that criss-crosses the rice paddies. The water jerks on the bamboo, which in turn makes the strings dance above the rice so the birds can't get at it.

The bridges across the streams are interesting. This one is woven bamboo. The dogs run across with us.

 The scenery is spectacular.

 When we're almost at the falls, we have to wind between little tourist restaurants. Most are closed.

 Beautiful though, right?

Here's the support for the handrail of one bridge. Someone has stuck a forked bamboo into the bank opposite the drop-off to keep the long bamboo railing (several long pieces of bamboo tied together) from plopping into the water below.

You learn not to lean on such rails. You use them only for a reference for balance - and test the bamboo you're walking on while you're at it. You don't want to hit the soggy one where you'll plug through, and you don't want to get stuck in a crack. Cocoa (our standard poodle) gets her hind leg stuck a few times before she figures out the bridges.

 No problem.

 The fields are terraced in the valleys and up the hills.

When we come down from the waterfall and have stepped through narrow paths between rice paddies, we're on the final dirt track to the village where we've parked our cars. Parking fee: 25c. We came just in time - when we get down, there are 30-40 motorcycles and police vehicles parked all along the road.

 Oh, so those were young policemen/women hiking without masks? We pull our masks up when they pass but they call a cheerful greeting. We pull the dogs aside whenever someone meets us on the trail.

One of the walkers is afraid of catching Covid-19 from dogs. Sigh. There are so many exaggerated risks and so much fake news out there. I look it up: cats are much more likely to pass the virus around. And we pass a dozen or more cats when we walk around the neighborhood. No one minds the cats.

We are told not to bring the dogs into the hills with us until further notice. That's irritating - and sad. One person's caution controls everyone's permissions. Walking the dogs is one of the big reasons we do these long steep hikes. Our dogs have energy to burn and nowhere to run but in the hills. Oh well, we go along for harmony's sake. Hopefully those fears will be laid to rest as the virus is tracked by science. If it's true, we're appropriately cautious.

The flowers are beautiful along the trail. W and I leave behind the group as they are buying food and relaxing before the last hill. We hike to the waterfall with the dogs and back out about an hour before the others; we wave "see you next week," and march out at a quick pace. I have to teach in the evening.

Here are some leftover water conduits from Dutch occupation. Much of the irrigation and the canals are from colonized Indonesia. The systems were well-built and lasted 60 years and more ... they're still in use.

 The trail suddenly detours around the rock that's still planted across it.

 A typical village.

On the way home, we marvel at the little pickup carrying sacks of rice husks. We watch it lean dangerously through the slow corners. One stiff breeze would topple it.

 We enjoy a chicken schnitzel and then I have a quick nap before the 3-hr evening class starts.

Read more:
*Happy are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance. Psalm 89:15

*I keep my eyes always on the Lord. Psalm 16:8

*No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke 9:62

Moravian Prayer: Source of joy, we sing praises and thanksgiving for all your blessings. Help us to be faithful in our service according to your divine command to follow you. Thank you for your love and faithfulness. In your holy name, we pray. Amen, Amen, Amen.

So much. 2 happy birthdays and 8 observations

So much

• News
• Fake news
• online connection
• missing people ...
• celebrating. Cheering on my brother and his daughter, who had their birthdays yesterday and today.

I'm sitting on the porch. The birds are chirping. I can hear a few cars on the hills across the valley.  The neighbor is making something - he's an inventor and environmentalist. He makes some cool stuff.

Me? Just relaxing with a breakfast mug-cake (banana) and old-style Earl Grey Tea. I'm working through the last box of this 3-year-old Trader Joe tea. The shop revamped the formula and I miss the original fragrance and caffeine.

I'll sure miss it when this box is empty. The new tea tastes weak and less flavorful and the leaf quality is different, To let you know how much I value my husband, I offered him a fresh cuppa made with one of those teabags this morning - and though he was grumbly about accepting, he took it.

He's gone off into the hills with our driver: they're testing an Innova minivan that came from a repatriated family and another island. If it works - that is if it can climb the hills of Lembang while the air-con is on - we'll return our 10-yr-old Innova loaner and get the newer one instead. We qualify for a new vehicle from our non-profit but prefer to reuse what's here when possible.

Tuesday and beyond

Our team meets online. I have a few other meetings as well. Being in the office by myself is a treat. I stay late a few days this week, walking home and back for lunch. To the office, it is literally uphill all the way. There may be 50 meters (added up) that are flat. So going home is easy. At the end of the day, the hill pulls me home as the sun starts to slant through the office window. It's dark before 6pm.

People are starting to venture out. I have in-person meetings in the office a few days this week. We sit across from each other and leave on our masks until we start to drink tea. 

Friday

The morning mastermind meeting is life-giving. Five out of a group of six discuss life, work, theology, and family - they are my lifeline to clear thinking and setting my priorities. We only meet once a month, led by Kim in Seattle. But we're spread across the world and across timezones. It's Thursday night for some of them. We don't miss unless we absolutely have to.

It's great to call my brother and his daughter in the evening. Their birthdays are a day and a few years apart. Adelina plays her own Beethoven-style version of Happy Birthday.  Good styling!

I remember being her age when improvised music effortlessly and thoughtlessly poured out of my body. Any emotion or event could be expressed by sitting at the keyboard for processing. I finished a piano performance degree when I was 23 (and pregnant with our first child). And then played piano and keyboards for another 30 years.

I hardly play any more. Painting and drawing is more satisfying. Mostly, I find a keyboard isn't very responsive; it doesn't pull the music out of me like a piano does. (We do have a good keyboard here. It's just not a piano.)

8 Random Observations:

1. Every day, the streets and courtyards are littered with falling sticks, moss, and leaves. Someone has to sweep them up or the wind blows them into piles. Here's what the court looks like below the office walkway, just a few hours after the security guy swept it. He'll sweep the lawn and pavement 2-3X every day.

It's a pretty view across to the hills, isn't it? There's a deep valley gouged between us and the Dago hill. W and I traversed down and up often the first two years we lived here.

2. We keep few flower arrangements scattered around the house. The yardman has clear-cut the emerging flowers so we're back to artificial color, not arrangements from bursting flowerbeds.

I do chop a 4' tall flower from the garden hedge and wind a purple vine around its stem. Which reminds me, W needs to put the heavy chair back in place. Did he move it when we recorded a video earlier in the week? Too heavy for me ... but facing sideways from that comfy reading spot would be awkward.

3. I'm out of quilting thread! Ugh, I'll have to wait to work on the quilt. We order some from USA Amazon and a gracious friend says she's willing to tuck two spools into her suitcase when she comes. 

4. The little motorcycle pickup is parked beside the neighborhood government office. Wonder what they delivered. Gas? Drinking water? 

Every month, supplies are delivered for families who bring their preschoolers for checkups and free snacks. One of our helpers volunteers at such a neighborhood post once a month.

On the rooftop, a few men are sweeping leaves into the yard and surveying the scene below them.

5. Some of the neighborhood restaurants are now open. The Miss Bee (#missbeeprovidore) servers are behind face shields and wear gloves. The guy behind the bar is bare-handed as he's making our drinks though.

6. Everywhere we walk,  there's a feast for the eyes. These golden seeds remind me of maple "propeller" seeds that land on our Seattle rooftop and driveway. These are bigger and heavier, almost 3" long.

I admire the "secret garden" house again, which is a few steps from our office property.

7. So much beauty, even in the ground. The potatoes we planted look great - and we'll probably cut up a few pots to make it easier to harvest them on the next round. (The pic is a Pinterest repost)

8. We're in the middle of many decisions, torn between wanting to let people gather and protecting their health. Covid is just taking off, with over 1000 new reported cases daily in Indonesia. It's a big country but that's a lot of people confirmed to be infected in a place where hardly anyone gets tested.

Between meetings, online seminars, and prep for teaching a 3-week course that starts Monday, that's what's going on around here. What are you up to?

Read more:
*The Lord said, “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go.” Psalm 32:8

*Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31 NIV

*Understand what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:17

Moravian Prayer: God of wisdom and power, our prayers are lifted this day for your divine guidance to help those who make decisions concerning the welfare of our country. Magnify your divine light in our homes, and help us to love one another as you have loved us. Thy will be done. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Poison on the porch

Yesterday, a 4' green snake uncurls on the upper terrace, eating a toad a few yards away from where W usually sits. I'm glad W spots it before he sits down - and before it comes into the house.

Poor froggie.

The day before, our neighbor informed Waldemar that green snakes are poisonous. "Stomp your feet when you walk through grass," he cautions. "They try to get out of your way."

The poison part must be true: the snake was just getting its jaws around the toad but the toad was not moving away. Its hind legs were twitching but otherwise, it was still, being swallowed alive.

The snake isn't moving now, either. I boiled a big pot of water and put in some carbolic acid for good measure. W tossed it over the critters.

Poor froggy. We'll miss it chirping and catching insects in the flowerbeds. Poor snake. But we won't miss it at all. W tosses the dead creatures into the jungle behind the house.

I saw the long green snake (or its sibling) a few years ago, curled around the main trunks of the guava tree near our main porch. The tree had is often climbed by kids and adventurous adults. It had been climbed by our European nephews the day before they spotted the snake. They shouldn't have told their dad. (Says the grandma, tongue-in-cheek.)

My nephew-in-law, seeing the snake for himself, forbade his sons to go back into the tree. I felt bad about that, but the snake was already somewhere else.

We had not seen it since, though I looked for it often. Beautiful creature. I don't mind it outside. Today, it would have had to wind up the tree into its upper branches and across the roof  to the upper balcony. Gone.
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In other matters, Ibu Apong is filling up the cookie boxes almost as fast as I can empty them. I share some treats to neighbors and send others to birthday friends. Here's the latest, wrapped up and ready to go on a birthday plate.

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One of the things we miss after living in Seattle is great internet. We have had lousy on-and-off connections through Telkomsel, a local phone company. Their connectors are sometimes placed in open boxes that get shorted out by rain or wind. It's cheap though.

Hoping for change before I teach a remote 3-week course that starts next Monday. Looks like another company has received permission from the neighborhood council to bring in their fiber network.

The new company's employees have climbed the trees and poles in the neighborhood to string their wires. Today they're at our place. This is the high-tech way it happens. 2 young guys, an aluminum ladder, no fear of heights, and no protective gear except for an anti-CV-19 mask.

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Our non-profit teams are listening to podcasts by thinkers and trend-setters from the States. We have to contextualize, considering how their observations and advice might affect what is happening here. We brainstorm re-launching how we serve.

Today we got another notice from the government in Jakarta that it's expecting a spike in virus cases in August. Sigh. We were hoping we'd be able to reopen and meet people in the next month or so. Looks like it may be longer. We keep our ears and eyes open.

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I post art journal pages from 30 Zoom meetings in a separate blog. I try different things: the one below is done with my non-dominant hand, just because. Yes, I'm looking and waiting, even as I write my to-do lists.

During other online meetings, I finish quilting the center squares of a huge blanket. Whew (130?-some squares later...) I pieced the quilt more than a decade ago, and now it's finally time to quilt the border. 

But I'm running out of the quilting thread. There are maybe 20 needles more on that spool. And I can't buy it here. What to do? That's a wide checkered border.

Read more:

*You have given human beings dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet. Psalm 8:6

*The Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100:5

*Your dead shall live. Isaiah 26:19

*We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus.  2 Corinthians 4:14

*Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us. Ephesians 5:1-2

Moravian Prayers; Redeemer—source of love—you set us free to live abundantly; grant that we may be good stewards of the earth and kind neighbors to her peoples. Bigotry, hatred, and oppression threaten to overwhelm us; help us, O God, to stay strong and work towards peace. 

O Lord, we thank you for your resurrection power and your promise of eternal life. Our hearts rejoice in your majesty and we lift up our voices in praise, for you are worthy of honor and glory. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.