Saturday, October 2, 2021
Tonight, I'm perched in the middle of Washington state.
Earlier in the week:
We enjoy our granddaughter's floral arrangement - maple leaves and lemons. Beautiful.
The kids try on their Indonesian hats - we try for one gift a day for each ... if we lived closer, they'd get treats all year!
Of course we have a tea party. Opa takes a picture and then joins us.
We host their first sleepover. One smart cookie takes a look at his siblings piled on the sleeper bed and takes his sleeping bag to the floor. "I think I like it better here," he says. They all sleep in until 7am. Whew!
In the morning, we eat together: waffles with Grandmama's plum jam, Jimmy Dean sausage biscuits (W's contribution), and frozen mango slices. The kids remember the yoghurt and grains/dried fruit/chocolate chips/nuts they used to mix up. We see the kids only annually, so the healthy "additions" - hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, dried apricots, pineapples, and more - always spoil while we are away. That breakfast is history. Sadly.
We hit the road Saturday morning after W has coffee with a men's group. We plan for lunch in Leavenworth. This dying town was reinvented a few decades ago as a slice of Bavaria, within driving distance of Seattle = marketing genius, someone.
Once we're on the road again, W asks, "Would you like to stop at an orchard?" We have a regular stop where we used to buy autumn fruit. Apples and pears, plucked fresh from the tree, are always a winner.
The bins are heaped with fruit: a mix-and-match bag costs $8; a box is $20. There's a scale upon which the boxes are weighed. As we watch, tourists are piling their boxes to overflowing. "My husband ended up making a mark on the scale," says the owner, pointing to a weighing station. "Otherwise, people keep taking more and more." Sure enough - there's a group with 1/4 more apples "on top" of the box. They'll have to shed some, we suspect.
We fill our bag ... but not to overflowing. When we bite into an apple, it is crunchy and sweet.
"Washington Apples" are grown here. Orchards are planted as dark swatches on the hillsides. The climate and season is perfect for apples so good they are shipped around the world.
Further along the highway, wheat has been cut and harvested. There are huge silos for wheat.
There are big and small farmhouses scattered along the main road.
Enormous bales of hay and straw dry in the vast fields.
In some stretches, the road is a straight shot as far as the eye can see. There is hardly any traffic.
We pass through channels cut in mountains ranges. "Can you imagine the fun of cutting the rock, at least for someone who likes blowing things up? It would be a party! " (My note to W.)
We drive by still waters.
I find a lot of fun faces in the rock formations.
In the evening, it's time for the Sunday morning service in Bandung: they're 14 hours ahead of us. At 7pm here, it's already the next day in our hometown.
As we turn through one town, this Catholic church catches our eyes.
The lakes unfold between the hills.
Every turn brings a new discovery.
This guy is feeling so squished that his toes are pointed up nearby. Can you find them?
One cliff winks at us as we drive by.
How many faces do you see in the one below? I find at least 4. Oh, for the skill to paint this kind of mountain: it is full of surprises, the longer one looks at it.
In places, the rocks looks like abstract paintings, webbed and fissured on either side of the car.
Under the slate cliffs, the mountains are wearing away in sheets of gravel.
In the evening, we've settled in and W flips through the lake-house binder. Mexican food sounds good. We've forgotten the enormous portions in the USA. They'd feed a whole Indonesian family.
After we eat our fill, at least half goes into the refrigerator. "Tomorrow's breakfast?" W asks. Yes indeed. I sip a cup of Mexican hot chocolate as the shadows lengthen and the sun goes down.
Read more:
*God said, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:19
*Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth. Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity. Psalm 96:7-10
*Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you. I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins. Psalm 130
Christ Jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 2 Timothy 1:10
Moravian Prayers: Unchanging God, the good news of the gospel has been proclaimed through the ages, and has given us hope of life eternal. Empower us anew, we pray, to continue to spread this good news of the love of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
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