1. Be flexible. Try new things. I spray-paint dry nangka leaves from the yard.
I push them through the metal screen behind the dining table. Looks festive for Chinese New Year. We send cookies and other goodies around the city, topped with 7 gold leaves.
I have a good look at the guava bark outside the window. With a contractor's 2" brush, I add some texture to the mural in the nook. Last year, I used markers to outline the leaves and colored it with a household sponge and acrylic paints. The plaster wall sucks up the paint. I squeeze a tube across the trunks for contrasting vines.
It needs a focal point. I find a leaf photo online to anchor the foreground. Next time I'm in the mood, I'll paint it onto the existing outline. With a stiff acrylic brush, of course.
The shelf will hide most of the mural, which is a good reason not to spend too much time on it. Until now, we propped paintings on the ledge to hide the work-in-progress.
Everything doesn't have to be great art, just as not every piece of furniture has to be expensive. Mix and match produces a harmonious and interesting backdrop for people to live in.
When I watch a movie or wait at my desk, I'll pull out 2" squares of paper and draw. Every series of Inchies has a theme or is restricted by some parameters. This set of shapes uses only 4 markers: dark and medium blue, orange, and green. As a whole, they make more sense than as individual pieces. Eventually l'll mount and frame them. There's room somewhere in the house - unless someone likes it and takes it home.
2. Appreciate what others share with you.
Early in the week, Pauline gifts us with 2 kinds of Pempek Palembang (fish cakes and sauce from Sulawesi).
We share a watch party on our porch Sunday. The takeaways are good and we take time to pray together.
Afterward, during lunch at
Ethnic Resto, a 1.5' (.5 meter) chameleon suns itself in the garden beside our table.
I order beef stroganoff - which doesn't look or taste like what I'm expecting. But it's DELICIOUS on flavored rice.
Monday is the eve of Lunar/Chinese New Year (called Imlek in Indonesia). Josie send food cooked by her mom. Usually there's a crowd in and out of their house for Lunar New Year. This year they choose to bless everyone by sending feasts across the city.
"Are you home?" Josie asks. We're expecting a small container of their family's treats.
Instead, her mom - who loves to cook - sends paper-thin crepes, seafood, meats, noodles, vegetables, soup, garnishes, and sauces. Oh my! We open it still warm, and have a wonderful lunch. We miss your faces, family of Josie, but we love your food, too. The common way to say "Happy Lunar New Year is "Gong xi fat chai"
(恭喜发财), which means "wishing you happiness and prosperity."
In the evening, we're invited to the beautiful home of Dr Hanna and Alice. The koi in their inner courtyard have grown another few inches since we were here.
Bandung florist Ibu Grandy is a sculptor. She makes wonderful arrangements for BIC - and look at what she did for New Year. She asked DrH, "Would you like some pussy willows as well?" and this is what she created. Oh wow.
The back garden is a restful place to read or relax.
Inside, all is festive, reds and golds -
A more traditional arrangement from the flower market sits on a table.
It's a delight to enjoy traditional Chinese-Indonesian specialties in the courtyard with our friends.
3. Enjoy what others enjoy. If you don't, you'll never know what you missed.
We've eaten foods we didn't grow up with during this week, enjoying local Chinese adaptations of traditional foods.
Dr Hanna explains: "Every area has its own specialty. This is partly because most Chinese Indonesians come from 6-7 Chinese provinces and partly it's because we adapt the food available around us."
Different parts of Java (the most populated Indonesian island) have their own versions at the feast, never mind what is eaten on other islands.
This stewing beef, tripe, shrimp, mushroom, bamboo shoot, and sauce dish is their traditional family "must-have" for Lunar New Year. Alice took over the cooking 2 years ago with a recipe passed from her grandmother's kitchen to her mother's. Now she scoops the ingredients into an enormous wok.
It's a lot of work. The magic happens in the kitchen, as is usual around the world.
There's SO MUCH food, which will be shared with family and friends over two weeks of festivities.
Meanwhile, around the world the men stay out of the way and relax, waiting to eat. W enjoys the beautiful setting.
Our hosts are special friends who welcomed us to Bandung when we arrived in their neighborhood.
We finish dinner with a "peach gum" desert of sea mushrooms and healthy fruits in a sweet syrup. It's just the right touch after a big meal.
One more thing - embrace the unexpected. It will bless you more than it benefits anyone else.
We welcome Eki and his sisters for tea on the porch Monday, shortly before we leave the house. What fun to welcome him and the two beautiful young women, new to us (beyond a quick hello another time.)
I have almost nothing they can eat in the house, and they sure don't want me to make rice! Melvi helps out with IndoMie and nasi goreng. They're easy guests who don't complain. For us, it's a treat to meet them as a family of 3.
They stay the night. We have beds ready for travelers who need a safe warm place. One sister is starting in-person university classes this week. Eki and his other sister get her settled in but will head home on the bus in the morning.
Tuesday, we have a simple breakfast of French Toast before they head out. W and I go to the office to record next week's BIC-talk.
God knows each name. We am overcome with grateful worship each time we see God's cares for others and for us. We get to share his goodness with those around us. What a blessing is that! Safe travels, you two. And we pray for a great year ahead in uni ...
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*You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. Psalm 139:1-10
I will save them from all the apostasies into which they have fallen, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be my people. Ezekiel 37:23
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16
Moravian Prayer: Merciful God, our sins are many. We turn from you and follow our own way, especially when life’s burdens weigh us down. Yet, you continue to live within us. You continue to call us by your grace to happiness. Let us ever be grateful. Amen.
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