From plain to good - options, options.

I'm working on a few big projects. The week fills with normal virtual meetings, a wonderful week-end homemade-pizza party (social distancing on the porch with Dr H and Alice), and a trail of checkmarks on my to-do lists.

I'm needing to jazz up something in my space. I try a few options but put it all away again.

Then I remember the little lanterns we brought to Indonesia from the USA ... 5 years ago. Most of the clappers are worn off the bamboo wind chimes on the teras. Air flow is constant on our hillside, whether it's a breeze or a stiff wind. I replace the missing and broken clappers with ribbon and hang the colored spheres from them.

When we moved here the porch was long but dreary.

Now it's the perfect place for studies, pizza parties, and movie night.

During their visit, Laura Bunda mentioned an easy focal point for the yard: "Why not paint the swing red." She was right. It helps that we moved the satellite dish and planted a flowerbed along the wall, too.

My office is the former side entry to the house so there's no separation: if someone comes in the door, they're at my desk. W mounts a curtain rod to the ceiling and I find the curtains from my Seattle office among the fabrics on the shelf. Perfect - it pretty much disappears until I draw the curtain when I don't want to be disturbed.

Thursday

Veronica texts, do we want to walk? YES please! I take the dogs, put two others in my car, and Veronica takes another in hers. We're hiking to the "mountain of the stars," a popular tourist destination. most people drive up and walk a couple of hills to the metal stars.

Not we! we hike through coffee plantations - gloriously green, red, and gold berries everywhere.

Lembang is famous for vegetables and flowers, exported to nearby mega centers and internationally. The mountains are cleared and terraced in broad strips of crops. These, seen across the valley today, are probably 40-60 feet (14-20 meters) wide or wider. The air is hazy so the city far below is almost hidden.

It feels wonderful to be out. W stubbed his toe on a bench earlier this week, taped it up, untaped it and walked on it, taped it up again, and is limping with a very sore foot. He stays home. Smart man. It's a challenging walk.

We see "USA-houseplants" (that we try to grow indoors) flourishing in wild abundance along the jungle trails.

You have to duck sometimes, and climb over fallen trees at other times.

We pause for a breather. The trail winds along a steep drop-off. We have to be very careful where we put our feet. Sitting down is a good thing occasionally.

Our two dogs race around. They love trotting the path ahead of us but come when I whistle. They chase a few monkeys and take alternate paths, too. But they always find us again. Getting out is good for them as well as for us!

Much of the trail is completely overgrown. That's not the best thing when a misstep could send you down the bank 10-30 feet (3-10 meters). The walking sticks sure help.

One of the coffee harvesters warns us the trail has washed away with a landslide. In a few places, we help each other across a break in the trail.

The coffee plantations are being harvested under tall pines, planted by the Dutch before they were ousted in the mid-1900s.

It's shady and cool. Once we're away from the mini-trail, we walk well-worn paths in the hills of coffee. Sacks of harvested beans rest against the pine trunks.

We walk for almost 3 hours, starting in morning coolness at 9. We beat back the shrubs across the trail, trying this path and that. Finally, Veronica decides that we are completely lost. However, I've never met anyone like her for homing in on where we are.

Wonder of wonders, going down the second or third steep hillside (of course, we've gone up up up for the privilege of going down), voila!

"Oh look, we're back at the car!" says Judy. We think she's joking but she's gone around a corner we can't see. Sure enough. Surprise! from woodland path to clearing, we've come out exactly where we started. The drivers have the cars airing with trunks and doors open. It's very warm at noon. Everyone is happy to see each other.

 And I'm happy for lunch at home. Ibu A has cooked chicken and rice.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
The yard is full of flowers again. I bring a few inside for a 4'-tall arrangement.

It's a cooking and food-sharing kind of weekend. IbuS makes bread that we send here and there.

W fires up his pizza oven for the final Saturday meal and we enjoy a visit from friends. Alice brings fermented cassava rounds with coconut sugar. "Eat it with condensed milk," she advises. We put it in the fridge; too much pizza! and a few cookies made by Ibu A.

Sunday is the Gathering online. It's wonderful to hear Josh's talk on a spiritual discipline. (Check it out at the link if you like.)

I journal during the calls. The scribbles depend on whatever is at hand and what people are talking about.

This week I take fat Sharpies to outline the 5'X7' mural on the blank wall in the nook. I'll fill in colors in the next weeks.

Sunday lunch is leftovers and a steak that looks freezer-burned. I run cool water over it, marinade it with this-and-that from the cabinet. Betting it tastes fine.

W grills the steak in the pizza oven. It's his first try and turns out delicious. It may be black and crispy on the outside but it's luscious inside. We're not used to so much meat; a 2-person steak will last us a few more meals. The table is full. There are

• spaetzle that I froze weeks ago, refried with butter and vegan "bacon" (marinated potatoes)
• Asian-style sesame noodles
• chopped cauliflower
• dessert is Alice's cassava (SOOO good)

DrW texts that there's a potato pie on the way. Oh oh. We try it anyway. Her food is always yummy! We put the rest in the fridge for tomorrow.

We get a warning text from a friend: "IbuS is working in her weekend market shop, exchanging money and goods with millions of people." (Well, maybe hundreds buy at her stationary shop?) "Do you feel safe having her over?" I appreciate the care and caution in the message.

The helpers mask and sanitize their hands as they come in the door. They wash their hands many times during the day. They no long cook for us every lunchtime. They need the income but our floors, walls, and porches also need constant cleaning. (Alternatively, I could spend 6 hours daily removing lizard poop, upside-down roaches, farm dust that blows over, birdseed, and garden leaves - hmmmm. Nope.)

Our doctor neighbor suggest that we give IbuS plastic gloves for the first days after the weekend. "The gloves are cheap and any food handling or touching your things should be with gloves on, please." Ok, we'll add that to the precautions.

I clip my hair in the back before crawling into bed. So easy when you cut your own!

It's been a good weekend.

Monday
Starting the week, we're working on the porch. The paper lanterns move in the breeze to make the bamboo chimes clatter. The dogs nap at our feet and the lovebirds squawk. Our internet is improved from last month. The mornings are cold at 65ºF (16C) so we wrap in blankets and work from 7 onward.

The people at the Monday study are happy. All in all, it's a satisfying and productive life in Bandung.

BUT how are you doing? And where are you doing it from? I'd love to see your view, too.

Read more:
*God, turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your custom toward those who love your name. Psalm 119:132

extras—OT 1 Kings 3:5-12; Psalm 119:129-136
NT Romans 8:26-39; Matthew 13:31-33,44-52

*Whoever is kind to the needy honors God. Proverbs 14:31 NIV

*Jesus said, “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Matthew 25:40

Moravian Prayer: Benevolent God, help us share our possessions with those in need, blessing them by sharing our blessings. Help us see ourselves in the eyes of the needy, so that we may truly be generous with our lives and our wealth. Amen.