The best kinds of work

Sunday, September 20, 2021

Hurrah - it's time for our annual trip to N. America. We catch a van into Jakarta, the only international airport operating nearby. I'm in the front passenger seat as the driver swaps out favorite MP3s on his player and boldly conducts and sings oldies to his captive audience. He reads messages, texts, and talks on the phone when he's not singing.

If you've ever driven a Javanese highway, you know what an ordeal it is even when the driver is paying attention. Switch lanes. Get cut off. Suddenly there's a 20-mph truck in front of you with everyone swerving around it. Cars and trucks whizz by between lanes and drive on the shoulder (more swerving if there's an obstacle or parked car on the side!) I'm ready to disembark, that's for sure. The stretch from Bandung to Jakarta is the most dangerous part of every overseas voyage.

We overnight at an airport hotel and fly out Monday morning. 3 planes later, it's Monday night and we arrive in Seattle. (30-ish hours, including a 14-hr time change.) Tuesday morning, we get a booster shot of Johnson&Johnson. The pharmacy fridge has lost power overnight, so they send us to another branch in south Seattle. We fly out to Austin that afternoon.

Sunday, we go to church in person for the first time in 18 months. It's disconcerting to have people singing around us, unmasked and not socially distanced. This may take some getting used to! The community welcomes us warmly - and lunch is delicious, too.

Austin proper is experiencing a surge of COVID and its hospitals are overflowing. This Leander community is on the outskirts. It does our hearts good to worship in person. We're masked - as is one other senior.

All week, Kirsten directs us as we 'finish' her house together. W and I don't do it all: K has most furniture in place. We get to help with the fun stuff: wall art, shelves, and minor relocations. W fixes the latch on her fence and makes a few other repairs.

It's the best kind of break I can imagine. Between, we enjoy a few food trucks and restaurants. A common Austin bird, the grackle (a relative to the crow) joins us at one table.

This taco truck serves good food. The barbecue places - for which Austin is known - are fantastic.

At K's, I cook all kinds of breakfasts and occasional suppers with easy-to-find ingredients that I'd have to hunt for in Indonesia (if I could find them.) It's a bit overwhelming to cruise the aisles at the local grocer - so many options. Access to the best foods from around the world is taken for granted in the USA and Canada.

We make a few trips to the building store.

In a week, the bathroom goes from spare to flair. 

The builder kitchen becomes the center of the house with minor upgrades.

W removes some upper cabinet doors and hangs a magnetic knife strip. K chooses pictures that make her smile.

She's assembled amusing and useful items over the years.

W builds two display shelves at the end of the kitchen counter for more collectibles.

The living-dining room was drab when she moved in a few months ago. With K's spark, it becomes fab. 

She dreams up a chandelier from wool roving and a tumbleweed she found on the street (4 apartments ago.) We jettison the 3 opaque glass lampshades; I pull the wool around the spiny branches to cover the bare bulbs. After we tease the wool into thin puffs, it glows like a cloud.

W hangs the light and spray-paints the chain a neutral cream color to match the ceiling.

The dining room becomes an inviting place where we eat our meals.

The plain open living area

becomes comfy and harmonious.

Kirsten customized the top of her coffee table with gold and black washi tape before we came. It matches her other decor.

The big hallway (with a centrally-placed thermostat and AC filter) becomes a room of its own.

How about an art update, just for fun? K has already added black contrasts to a painting gifted by a friend. Could it use a little something-something more? I scratch my head and think on it for a few days.

Before a nap, I find a pack of Sharpies and flick in grass, reshape the horizon, and overwrite the top figure.

The shadowed couple holding balloons on the lower left -

turns into a boy looking down ... with the addition of short lines for a neck and nose, an elbow, and shadows to create his legs.

Later in the day, I raid an art kit for paints that are so old they have separated. The watery surge of white fixes the tree on the right and highlights a few shapes. A splash of brown contours the meadow and fills gaps in the distant Sharpie trees. Enough for now.

Wednesday, I focus on one final cleaning and packing up. Ugh, when we head to the airport, I leave my shoes on the rack by the front door. Standing in the security line, I glance at my feet: I'm still wearing K's house shoes. At least they're comfy!

By the time we reach our airport gate, K has boxed my shoes and mailed them from the post office. She's quick and efficient, that's for sure.

Read more:

*The Lord has sent me to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God. Isaiah 61:1-2

*The angel said to Mary, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” Luke 1:30

**For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me. Philippians 2:21-26

Moravian Prayer: Holy are you, Lord, and worthy of our praise. We delight in your boundless favor and declare it for all to hear. The assurance of your love dispels our fears. Merciful Lord, preserve us, we pray, from the day of vengeance. Amen.