Friday, August 13, 2021
And yet more change. Another expat is leaving the city, shedding bookshelves, kitchen items, exercise equipment, and a car. His Kallax shelf makes a good room divider.
It settles in by nightfall. I've been eyeing a plant at the back of the yard. Its leaves unfurl to 4'-5' long but there's finally a "small" leaf on it, a mere meter (1') wide and long. Perfect. Needs a tall vase, like the 80cm (30") cylinder.
The table is so damaged it looks terrible. How can we lose? It's already a wreck, with its chipped leg and watermarked surfaces. I smear mayonnaise over it from top to bottom.
"Why did you use my expensive mayonnaise?" W asks as he walks by. "Cheap stuff would have worked just as well. Or you could have used vegetable oil or my furniture polish." Oh well, mayo is less expensive than his good oil and mayo was recommended.
When I lift the greasey mayo off with a rag after a half hour, it's like magic. The surface glows and the water rings have disappeared. The table is now a perfect spot for our little angklung.
At last there's more than a tea box on the cart! The black box of tea samples is a relic from 10 years ago when W wholesale-d tea. At a tea exhibition, a vendor offloaded the box on us at the end of the day.
Pak Danny sends a text: could we pass along vegetables to needy families? They have extras from their organic aquaponic farm. Surely! They're freshly picked and bagged. Danny's worker drops off 24 packages of greens, beets, and peanuts in the early afternoon.
Monday
"Make sure they're distributed to people who cook. Who will actually eat vegetables," we caution those handing them out. There's no sense in giving the gift to people who will let it spoil.
"We will," they smile and quickly send the food into the neighborhoods. What a lovely treat from our friend. In general, people in Bandung eat few vegetables. Salad is virtually unheard of except among expats and Indonesians who have lived abroad. We have a weekly subscription for tilapia fish and vegetables - any kind is good and we love trying new varieties from Tanikota Farm.
Our days have shifted so much. We often read for a few hours in the middle of the night. By 5:30 or 6:00, it's light and feels like high time to get moving. That's when we walk and pray over the neighborhoods and the people who pass through them. God knows what every one of us needs so we ask for his mercy and favor.
Saturday
It's been windy all day with clouds scudding by. The sun's out, the dogs are tired from a few morning walks, and there's probably a storm coming this afternoon. The birds are restless, chirping and cackling in the morning light. Sky the rehomed budgie ignores her carrot and toy ladder. She's strictly a perch-to-perch flier and a picky eater. (Except for the taste of her mate, whom she cannabalized early on, according to her first owners.) She's wild and pretty.
From the porch where I work, I can see the lemon tree at all stages - from its fragrant flowers and budding stubs of fruit to the greening lemons.
There must have been at least 150 lemons from that tree so far and it shows no signs of stopping. If anyone knows anything about citrus trees, the leaves have recently gotten white powder on them and the fruit peel grows calloused. Help! What to do?
There are big bees here. They're up to 2" long. One gets inside the house and buzzes up and down the window.
The staghorn ferns thrive on the green wall that separates the neighbor's yard from ours.
When we first started to explore the garden, we also found stubs of bird-nest ferns under the back trees, discarded on foam mounts. We wired the foam onto the wall. The fronds grow up to 3' (1 meter) long, capturing rain and funneling it into the fern's heart. Magnificent.
The coleus is stunning beside my balcony desk. A friend of a friend sent shoots over a few months ago and they've grown into beautiful plants.
Tomorrow is the Indonesian Independence Day or Hari Merdeka. In our neighborhood, flags and banners are up in the lane and main thoroughfares. Nearly every house has a flag up as well. The red and white flutters proudly.
I have to stop for a photo of this cluster of flowers on the neighbor's gate.
The dogs don't care about any beauty but their own. After they're groomed, they run around and pose for us. Cocoa gives us a happy grin, ready to go for a walk anytime.
As we walk out fo the lane, we see new footings that haven't been pressed down to the base. There's exposed rebar in the recent pour for a new house. In light of the condo collapse in Florida, we hope the builders cover the metal withs solid concrete before the next rainy season.
7 years ago today we moved to Bandung. How is that possible? Yet in that short time, it feels like home. We'd choose to come here again. Would you pray with us for the peace and prosperity of Indonesia during this special week of celebration? Thanks.
Bailey gets so excited about being groomed that he runs circles around the living room. I snap a photo when he stops between circuits. His clean hair is as soft as the softest lambswool.
Read more:
*Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight. Proverbs 9:6
*Job answered the Lord: “See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.” Job 40:3-4
*[Paul writes:] I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am. 1 Corinthians 15:9-10
Moravian Prayer: Holy One, we are but the work of your voice: a unique whisper amid your vast creation. May we find strength to return to you, our source, that we could amplify your word throughout the world. Amen.
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