Paint the town - or the flat

Sunday, October 15, 2023

We're on the road to Sumner by 8:30 a.m. with some of Kim's scones from yesterday tucked away in our stomachs. Nice not to have to cook. When dishes are washed, W hauls Indonesian items to the car for the display table, and I tidy up. I like to leave the house clean so there's no work when we get back.

Autumn is a favored season for many. I'm happy that the planters and flower beds are filled with grasses and fall flowers to extend the growing season. Most things die off in winter. The 3-tier plantings that are normal here are becoming more common in Indonesia as well: ground cover, mid-height, and a shrub or tree.

We speak at a church an hour south, pastored by one of W's former students. Mike and his wife Kim remember his classes - that's affirming since it's been 10 years since W left the university. Other people who studied at NU in the 90s come up and say hi.

After service, a lady hands us a big bag of Washington apples. Her husband is a trucker who has befriended an apple farmer. He is given 2 crates of apples each trip; he shares one crate at work and one at church. Nice guy! These apples are a perfect blend of crisp and sweet.

The Sumner connection is a couple dear to us for over 30 years: Harry and Thora Jean Bulger. Harry worked in the NU Maintenance department and prays for our daughter every day. Thora Jean started the alumni department that I inherited (with 2 staffers between our terms). She continues to network and make people feel welcome, even in retirement. What an amazing pair.

They invite us and 7 others for lunch, making a full table of 11. We hear heartwarming stories of their life together. TJ says the china dishes we are using were purchased on their honeymoon! They've been married over 60 years.

Around the table, each one shares what stirs our hearts. I am endlessly curious about how and where God is at work. A few guests leave before the rest take a quick picture. Hugs and prayers end the visit.

On the way back to Kenmore, W picks up his new teaching computer and cables. Then he's hungry for a Dick's burger. "Might be our only chance," he muses.

This classic drive-in is a holdover from a half-century ago. You park the car, walk to the window to order and pick up your food, and eat it in the car. The taste is the same. We share fries and he finishes off my burger when he's done with his. We take the chocolate milkshake home: too full.

It's late night when we get home, weary but happy.

Monday

We wake early, scheduling the week ahead. Breakfast? The last pumpkin and orange-cranberry scones. I steam-mop the floors, clean kitchen canisters and counters, walls, and windows - the nice thing about having white from floors to ceilings is that you can see when  it's clean. I lift a swarm of black ants off the kitchen counter and drown them in hot water.

Meanwhile, W paints the bathroom. Our friend LeRoy painted the basement for us 10 years ago. The flat paint isn't scrubbable and it's time for a refresh. I thought of doing it but W wisely keeps the paint and brushes away from me and does it himself. His dad was a professional house painter so he knows what to do.

Today is kids' sleepover day. Their parents head out on a date while the kids join us for some grandparent-ing fun. 

They head outside with new nature journals to find leaves and sticks for a scavenger hunt.

The kids like to read the familiar books on our shelves and reacquaint themselves with the toys that have accumulated in kid-baskets. They read stories from a new BLUE kids Bible storybook, and pull out a new version of UNO to keep them hopping between rounds of Skipbo.

Levi chooses the readings for later in the day.

Tea is a standard treat but none of us is impressed with the Kowalski version of Turkish tea. We try halvah, and Turkish delight. We sip tea in curvy teacups and saucers and we agree that the next teatime will be the usual German-British tea with their favorite teapot and teacups.

Melissa, who gleans nearby, has thoughtfully provided the basics for a supper she knows they like. Whew - you never know when the Indonesia/Canada/USA tastes of grandparents will clash with the preferences of 4 grands.

Before we know it, it's bedtime. This year the grandkids are too big physically to share their usual sofa bed. The boys stretch out on one bed in the main room, with girls on the other. W and I disappear into the next-room office to sleep on still another Beddinge sofa bed.

We sure had a lot of those modern IKEA sleepers back in the big house. Was it 7? that we used as sofas in living room and office, as beds in our guest rooms, etc. I acquired over a dozen slipcovers in various colors to make switching moods easy. For a restless decorator, it saved us a lot of money because we never "needed" new furniture for a new look. 

Winter:

Spring (holidays through Valentines):

Summer:

Fall (except when we used the browns and beiges):

Tuesday

We wake, eat a breakfast of potatoes O'Brian, eggs, apples, and sausages. Then it's time for a walk. Oops - that was 3 miles, according to my tracker.

We take pictures of the autumn beauty. This leaf would seem a figment of imagination if painted.

There are seed pods.

The hydrangeas are in their last bloom.

Their reward is a trip to the Dollar Store, an annual tradition of exploring at low expense. "Oma, it should be the dollar-twenty-five store," the kids insist, noting the price of goods. They each choose 2 items which show us what their interests are that year.

We put the bathroom back together. Kinsey exclaims, "Oma it doesn't look like the same room!" when she sees the stark white walls and floor.

Ah, bring in rag rugs, a painting, a mirror, and texture (towels), and it's habitable.

The gleam of glossy white brightens up the windowless space.

The kids decide to make their own lunch, bringing their sandwiches downstairs to eat with us. It's fun to see their development and what they prefer to do for themselves.

We have supper with our youngest son. What a joy to have each child following Jesus. My dad used to say, "We are the richest people on earth because our children love God." That's true for us as well.

Wednesday

After breakfast, we meet Julia at 8:30 in the NU library, snagging a meeting room upstairs. Her English classes were ones our children looked forward to. Some monstrous mushrooms sit along the chapel pond.

We speak twice in short spots during the NU Chapel. A friend and online mentor Angela Craig is speaking. What a delight to run into her and hear her heart for God and the students.

After a lunch of leftovers, I meet Lydia and Terry for a hug and howdy. Lydia Harris has authored several books for grandparents that I can highly recommend.

W is repairing a picture frame and replacing the glass that fell and shattered last year. We stop by McLendon Hardware for parts and information. I'm staggered to see what would be an ordinary palm in Bandung being sold in the parking lot for $150 US.

The sky dazzles as we drive home.

Dinner is with a crew we used to work with at NU. It's great to catch up on where everyone has landed, 13 years later.

Thursday

I pick up an entry rug at TJMaxx and swing back to pick W up. We meet Kim and Joey Costello for lunch. The Tex-Mex meal is delicious! It's one of the tastes we miss in Indonesia. Joey customizes motorcycles that have won acclaim and awards. Look at this Harcati!

Dinner is with Paul and Laura and their kids. They were the first family to stay with us and explored Bandung, 7 or 8 years ago. They're become global travelers who know the world.

When we get home before 10:00, we're ready for sleep!

Friday

W and I finish the leftover Mexican food for breakfast. Then I'm out the door to drive to NU. I left my dad's cap on a chapel bench on Wednesday. The hat is comfy but has greater sentimental value. The roofing contractors let me in to retrieve it.

Back at the flat, we start packing to return to Indonesia. We won't have much time for that after we return from Austin next week. And the Austin suitcase needs sorting. The room is a mess of luggage.

Lunch with longtime friends and workmates, Don and Marilyn, is at Top Gun for dim sum. 

The food is not as good as we remember but the company is warm. 

While he runs errands, W drops me at Peet's Coffee in Redmond to meet Phyllis. We send a picture to our WPPR sisters (our accountability group) and call the gal who lives in Idaho.

I drop by my Persian friend Zahra's house to hug her neck. Since I haven't called ahead, she's not home.

We make it back just in time for supper with our kids and grandkids. Melissa has made Pacific salmon and deluxe accompaniments - what a colorful and delicious feast.

When we call in the evening, Mom tells me she's started reading my books and she's enjoying them. I appreciates that our family celebrates each other's hard work. W and I finish packing and are thankful for a warm bed to retire to.

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*His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 

For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 1 Peter 3:3-9

Prayer: Loving God, thank you for your kind invitation. Thank you for forgiving us, transforming our character, and making us whole. Our response is to praise and worship you, the One True God, who is forever praised in heaven and on earth. Amen.