Box away

Boxing Day Tuesday, December 26, 2023

We have 6 guests staying over, including a most-beautiful baby girl, Eleanora. We connected with these young adults through movie night over the years.

We have breakfast together at Ethnic Resto. Our guests leave for home before noon and the house is quiet.

We talk to our families many miles away, including the moms and my brothers. Keeping the time zones straight takes some thinking. My mom had a wonderful time with the brother living in her town (Canada).

At our oldest brother's house in Switzerland, our niece's family and my youngest brother are celebrating Christmas. My youngest brother's children live in Kenya and Vancouver. We talk to our kids in the USA as well. We're a global family.

While W wanders 11 km to town and back, I clean up and put things away. The delivery guy comes by with a tube that contains enough translucent film to cover 4 windows - $4.50 including shipping.

Wednesday

W and I make a trip downtown for next year's Christmas ornaments. We eat lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. On the way home, we stop to see a friend in hospital. She's had surgery - and her two sweet daughters are at her bedside. It's wonderful to see how families rally around each other during time of need.

We're looking for a replacement oven - we need more heat at least in one oven. The last repair didn't bring the oven temperatures above 400o (200C).

At the building supply, we find 60cm (24") tiles @$1.50 each. Periodically we replace the tiles that get chipped on top of old table frames. The tiles atop the upper balcony's IKEA slatted tables create a clean workspace for guests. An old window found in a shed sits on 2 marble-look tiles on the Porch = upcycling at its most basic.

The helpers wash Christmas dishes and the floors today after their absence yesterday. One had a family funeral; the other didn't want to tackle the house alone. Yesterday, the robot vacuum did two rounds around the spaces so the dust and dirt doesn't just land in the stone tile cracks and get mopped around. By the time the women and yardman leave, all is in place.

Thursday

Instead of hiking with W and the others, I head out the door at 6:00 a.m. to loop three times around the neighborhood. It's not quite equivalent of a hike. I climb 13 flights instead of the usual 20-30, 5 km/3+ miles worth of asphalt instead of 5-8 km of rough rock and forest trails. So it's not as healthy for the feet. It takes the hikers almost 2 hours to drive back from the mountains in holiday traffic. Veronica, Troy, and I join them at Nara for a convivial lunch.

Look at the crew stringing electricity to new home. See the bamboo ladder? See the guy uncoiling the wire from the spool by the truck parked under the electrical box? See his coworker pulling the wire down the street to measure the length?

On the next round, the 3 men string the loosely-measured wire from pole to pole through the tree branches. The guy up in the tree is almost hidden - he's wearing flip flops as he climbs the bamboo ladder. He perches on a branch as he guides the wire.

Another neighbor's plot and his 8' high fence are disappearing. Leave a property to itself for a month or two and the leaves and vines take over.

I call the rest of my family to wish them Merry Christmas before starting the bread maker on a yogurt cycle - it's done by afternoon.

Just off our porch, the rustling of branches indicates a creature nearby. Can you spot the chameleon at the base of the picture? They're shy lizards. We only see its 12" (30cm) body and 24" tail when it moves. (Head pointed up, lower right of the main trunk.)

Friday

When I wake up and check the time, it says 2:30 a.m. We had an early night so I think "that's enough sleep" and get to work. Except ... the battery has fallen out the back of the alarm clock so it's still on yesterday afternoon's time. Oh well, I fall back asleep after an hour or two.

We head to town once more. W's researched a new oven with a slightly bigger capacity and hopefully more heat. At the third store, we find one for half price on a floor model with a rotisserie (does anyone use that?) and a heating element bottom and top! inside the oven. (Yeah, that's not common except in expensive models.) W installs it and pulls out the old oven.

We buy the rest of our ornaments for giveaways next Christmas. At 70-90% off, we don't mind storing them for a year. Since we were at ACE on Wednesday, half of the racks of decorations are emptied. We're not the only ones bargain-hunting.

I print out the "Promise Verses" for the end-of-year gathering at IES Bandung (Sunday) and read through the talk with W. The house is tidy, the lights are low and the sliding doors closed. Tomorrow is the last weekend of 2023. How did that happen?

Read more:

*But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from those who persecute me. Make Your face shine upon Your servant; Save me for Your mercies’ sake. Psalm 31:14-16

*You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth. Psalm 104:14

*Give thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20

Moravian Prayer: Creator of all things, as the world changes and seasons come and go, we reflect on your artistry in all of creation. We give thanks for the blessings of this beautiful, complex world. Amen.