Chocolate, color, and enduring love

Sunday, August 8, 2021

Today's the first wedding anniversary for my mom without my dad. It would have been 68 years: when Dad passed away last December, they'd been together most of their lives. When they married, Dad was a few days shy of 21; Mom turned 18 earlier that week. Their relationship was the bedrock of the family, a model of falling in love and staying in love. Today we miss Dad all over again.

My mom's Canada china is on the coffee table. I curl up with a cup of tea and think of days ahead when we will see her and our friends freely. Sometimes it doesn't seem like it will ever be possible again. Surely a new day is coming ... 

The contrast in pruning catches my eye each time I work from my desk. That's an 8' ladder propped against the melinjo tree.  One tree (right) was pruned back to branches. By the time the other was chopped, it was late afternoon. The workers were hot and tired. They cut straight across. I'm curious to see how they'll grow back.

The frangipanis spread their fragrance across the yard and drop their blooms near the terrace. I pick one up and let the perfume drift toward me during the most difficult calls.

2 decades ago, I tore out a magazine picture of a room I loved and glued it in the notebook for my Family Therapy and Counseling class. It offered a quick visual retreat as needed. (Some things people go through are unimaginable.) Only God can help us survive trauma and grief. A diversion of senses provides a non-distracting balm for me.

I like to cook breakfast after we get back from a walk but today we have leftover casserole. Eggs, cream and milk, sausage, mystery greens, stirred with sautéed onions and mushrooms. I like it better each time I eat it. W sticks to his muesli and yogurt.

Dr W asked her daughter to send tea in her package from Malaysia. 3 months later, it arrived and it's still wonderful. Thank you! Boh Gold is my favorite regional tea. (Thanks, Randy Martin for introducing it to us.)

Later in the day, I heat milk and add some of Chacha's chocolate to it. Is it ever good!

The chocolate softens at room temperature. I leave one bag out of the fridge until it warms enough to spread on a cookie sheet. After putting walnuts on half, I stash the sheet in the fridge overnight to harden. Then I cut it into small bars.We can use them for making cookies or eating like fudge. (Will have to be quick so they don't melt! Maybe more tempering will help.)

The next day, I press hazelnuts into the other half. That further gets divided into two parts: one quarter sheet gets dried cranberries and the other gets chopped dates.

Which will taste better: hazelnuts with cranberries or dates? As I smell the chocolate, I'm thinking about combinations of tastes.

• Perhaps chili powder and apricots. Sweet and spicy.
• Apricots with sunflower seeds or pepitos? That would be mild and light.
• Maybe pumpkin seasoning with pipitos? Like a pumpkin pie.
• How about cinnamon and nutmeg with dates? Cookie-like sweetness.
• Black pepper, ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom? Chai flavor.

I'm sure it's all been tried before but that's what my nose wants mixed in right now. Tomorrow will ask for other flavors as soon as I breathe in the scent of chocolate

I cook by smell. "This goes with that." "This might enhance that." As long as it doesn't get too complicated, an impromptu by smell recipe always tastes good.

I have only one caution ringing in my ears. "An artist knows when s/he is finished," said my first painting teacher. That goes for cooking, music, writing, and the fine arts.

Monday and Tuesday

It's hard not to be able to be at memorials and events that severely limit attendees. As 60-somethings, there are further restrictions requested by government for "old people." Our driver got his second vaccination shot so is under the weather with predictable effects (fatigue, headache, and other aches) this week.

Should we leave the yard without them, the dogs try to stare us into compliance: "Take us along!" Doesn't work on mornings when we need to record though. Melvi and Gum walk them as well, so they're out 2-4 times every day. Any time we leave them at home, we get the stink-eye.

When we get to the office, we record the weekend video bumpers. Hard Merdeka is coming on August 17. So Sunday is BIC's annual International Day. We acknowledge our varied heritages as a faith community and celebrate Indonesia's Independence Day.

8 families from around the world have sent in videos. Hope it's a blessing to the international and local community who tune in each week. Here's the link if you want to join in sometime.

When we're done we put the camera away and open the door to the outside. That's where we hold most of our meetings.

An open door feels like endless possibilities, doesn't it? I hear rustling in the vines that cover the fence beside the table. 2 lizards - 12" long bodies with double-that-length tails are sunning themselves and chasing each other through the vines. Can you spot the one snoozing at the top center? (Look for his eye and you can find the body. Unless they move, they're hard to find.)

I spread out my art journal while I think through what's coming up. The spread doesn't have to be pretty - the process frees the mind to roam.

Wednesday to Thursday

I'm working from home. So many calls. So many concerns and heartbreaks this week. We trust God to provide and spread his lovingkindness over it all.

On a morning walk, it seems like everything is blooming at once. Some flowers are subtle, like this coleus.

The day lilies last one day. If you want them in an afternoon arrangement, you pick them early in the morning and put them in the refrigerator until just before you need them. Otherwise, they're lovely and GONE by evening. So much temporary extravagance, lavished on the world.

Some flowers are quirky: these bloom on zig-zagged stems in our garden.

Friday

Some restaurants are open on a limited basis so we go for a breakfast date. When we tried to eat at Pino on Tuesday, it was still closed. It's a lovely setting to drink tea and wait for food. Across the courtyard to the hill where the kids love to run and slide, I spot a flash of color. I have to see what it is ...

A group of shrubs is thriving along the Dutch-style pointed stone wall.

I go closer for a better view.

On the way back to our table, this grouping catches my eye. It looks like a path to somewhere quiet and private, maybe to a secret garden.

Breakfast at Pino Terrace in Nara Park is usually yummy. I order their bihun (thin noodle) special. W tries a beef and mayonnaise bread. He likes fatty sauces and spreads. (I typically scrape sauces off salads and sandwiches and hand that extra to him.) #pinoterrace #narapark

We try a new dish: shrimp fritters with hot sauce (sambal). It's hot, crisp, and tender at the same time, practically perfect. It's a nice variation of my favorite shrimp balls. "It's new on the menu, Ibu," says the server. "We've only had it for 4 days." Well, glad we tried it!

We walk back to the house through the village behind our neighborhood. Since covid restrictions and several break-ins, new gates have been installed to keep people from moving freely in and out during evening hours and at night. The gates, like most laws, are in response to lawbreakers.

Close to home, new fruits are forming. This one will be sweeter than honey and swarming with ants who skim off the dripping sugars when it grows a few more inches and is ready for the table. As long as there are no worms inside, we wash it off and enjoy it, too.

Our neighbor's fence is hidden under a spectacular flourish of fragrant purples and lilacs vines.

The red and purple plants below are popular in graveyards but also found in gardens. What's that? I can't remember seeing the blooms before.

At the heart of the new growth is a starfish bloom.

Another neighbor's poinsettia shrub is displaying its semi-annual red flags next to her door, just in time for Indonesian national day next week.

Amid the grief and pain, there is so much encouragement and beauty. But will you pause to see it, to take it in, to enjoy it?

Read more:

*You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. Psalm 63:1-4

*Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise. Isaiah 43:18-21

*May my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may he rescue me from all tribulation. 1 Samuel 26:24

*That night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Keep up your courage!”Acts 23:11

Moravian Prayer; God, you were with us before we existed. You blessed the meal and ate with us. Now you help us see as you see, and work as you work. Thank you. Share through us the presence of your love, always. Amen.