Tuesday, August 17, 2021
What a beautiful country. I pluck a stem from the frangipani tree near the porch. The fragrance fills the back hall.
Today is Indonesia's annual celebration of Independence Day. Selamat Hari Merdeka, everyone. Flags are flying and banners are waving in yards and neighborhoods. Traditional celebrations with food and games, including the famed "greased-pole climbing competition" are subdued. Most people are stying home. Watch one version of Panjat Pinang here.
It's usually a fun day out for most neighborhoods, with resorts and community centers hosting the festivities. However, PPKM (lockdown) has been extended for another week. The house is quiet because everyone has a vacation day.
Might as well enjoy red and white as I sip tea. It's nice that the Canadian flag and maple leaves share Indonesian colors.
Without any work obligations, I tackle a semi-annual chore, sorting hospitality items. Why does it feel easier and more fun to do something when you don't have to do it?
The cabinets under the stairs and in the home office brim with napkins, vases, candles, washable plastic cups and cutlery and serving trays. Over months, we've returned and stacked washed items on the shelves, What a jumble. It's like too many cooks in one kitchen: eventually you lose track of what's in there.
So I pull it all out. I run the Roomba robot vac around the shelves and drawers. It doesn't fall off the ledge so it does about 20 passes. Clean!
When all is sorted and returned, I sigh with relief. The new IKEA boxes are full. The cabinet doors shut easily. Woo hoo - we're ready for the next socially-distanced guests.
Until the happy day Covid is done, we only host small groups. Can you imagine how we look forward to cramming 70 people in again for a monthly dinner-and-a-movie gathering? We sure miss the crowds of students and young professionals; they become friends and family who mean so much to us.
I check email first thing but there is nothing urgent. At 11:00, when I'm done cleaning, I find a 8:00 link for a meeting "in a few minutes." Missed that one - it was rescheduled from last week when the other person jammed out last-minute. I need more notice for offset appointments, even those important to me. I'm not tied to my calendar in the same way during the pandemic, are you?
I'm doing "Inchies" for the next 2 weeks, 2" squares to be filled with a daily prompt.
Day 1: Bundle
Day 2: Egg
Day 3: Mend
Day 4: Yellow
How many of these are there? 10? 14? Oh well, each is a few minutes of fun when I sit down to read after lunch. (If you want the series of prompts from MindfulArts, I'll forward it to you.)
Wednesday
At office before 7:00, the day starts with a call with a valued co-mentor. Later, when I catch up on FB, one friend has died of Covid. Another, an American public speaker, writes that he hopes he is recovering from Covid in hospital - they almost lost him a few days ago. He's 40-something, still on high oxygen. (He tried Ivermectin and other things that are touted as miracle-workers. Didn't work.)
His post has hundred of comments, including: "I had it. Just awful." "Hang in there, buddy; it's bad but we're praying." "No one believes it's real until they get it. Been there." "Praying for you." Over and over, the same notes. I skim through the first 100 comments and click out.
Yeah, been there, too, last year. It's a thing. Even if no one else believes you when you tell them. Or believes the long-term effects. Some people told me, "You should get over it, already," and, "That's not why you feel that way. It's because ..."
It knocked the wind out of me for 5 months last year. Done with that, though my lung capacity is not back to pre-Covid. And all day long, I'm bombarded with covid updates: "My son works with 12 people. 6 are vaccinated and negative. 6 are not vaccinated and positive." On and on it goes.
While researching for the months ahead, I have to read a lot. Between books, I loosen up with doodles in my art journal. I'm not adverse to a mess; I'm about halfway done with this page. From a distance, it looks like things are growing. Green is a hopeful color, I think.
I work from home after lunch. One of the canaries has died - it lies feet up where it fell off the perch. It's young (3 or 4 yrs old) and I don't know why it died. It is light, a soft bunch of yellow feathers. I take it from the cage and leave it in the jungle next to our property. Our dogs run to see where it has landed, but there's a closed gate in their way. A cat will recycle it. There are cats everywhere here.
It rains nearly every afternoon and today's no exception. The house is empty of people by 15:30.
In late afternoon, I start to get hungry. Is it time to try that new hummus recipe on the kitchen counter? I think so. (It's easy - and yummy.)
And wasn't there some defrosted avocado in the fridge? Yes! (I froze a bunch, gifted by friend Veronica a few months ago.) Hey, why not make guacamole, too?
I drain the avocados in the freezer bag, pour in Costco no-salt seasoning, cumin, tomato sauce, lime juice, and salt/pepper. Squeeze it until mixed. It's finished with minimal mess.
W samples the guacamole on a handful of pseudo-Ritz crackers. "Good," he says. Supper plan: toast the aging home-baked bread and put the 2 spreads on top.
Thursday - Happy Birthday, Kirsten
It's our dear daughter Kirsten's birthday. She scanned hundreds of family pictures last month while visiting her grandma. (My mom was dubbed "gramma-ratzi" because she took so many pictures. Now we're glad.)
It's so much fun to see Kirsten's wild hair, creative fashions, and her growing up year by year from childhood through her teens into adulthood. What a wonderful young woman she's become. We wish you a wonderful day and a blessed year ahead.
This month, I'm reading a book on prayer. It's so rich that I have to pause to reflect multiple times in every chapter. That is rare - and the sign of a thoughtfully written work. I recommend it.
2 big jobs need attention today: thinking through the 2021 BIC Advent packages and reading through a donation proposal. I can do one but not the other. I get an eye migraine that has my vision winking and pulsing. Sleep - it's the fastest way to get rid of being sick. Gone in 2 hours. Yay.
Read more:
*Do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth. Psalm 119:43
*[One of my absolute favorite memorized verses:] This is what the Lord says: “Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me.” Jeremiah 9:23-24
*What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Luke 9:25
*For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. 2 Timothy 4:3,4
Moravian Prayers: Holy God, drive us toward the peace of your reign. Prevent us from seeking comfort at the cost of any individual of your creation, that we all would learn to live in liberty together with you forever.
Lead us to your truth, gracious Teacher, that we may see beyond our singular experience. Show to us the expanse of your eternity, that we may live together with the diversity of your kingdom. Amen.
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