Would you eat an octopus?

Tuesday, September 3, 2024 - 47 years of marriage

After a morning meeting, we celebrate by eating out and spending the day away. It's rare (like almost never) that we have a whole day together.

We get a late start and end up with brunch at #NaraPark. On the way there, we ask to see an empty house in the neighborhood; expats are always looking for safe and clean places to rent. This one has 4 bedrooms, an office, a few public spaces, a laundry roof, and 2 kitchens ... plus a separate building for the helpers to stay. They won't tell us how much they want for rent, but there were locals in it before so it shouldn't be as expensive as if a foreigner lived there.

Some of our favorite menu items aren't available at Nara until 10:00. Today we're late enough to treat ourselves to bruschetta before a main course.

We enjoy eating brunch in this park-like eatery. It's quiet and has good service.

We drive downtown behind a motorcyclist delivering a flower-board. The letters say it's in honor of a man who has died, from a friend or colleague to the bereaved family. Such deliveries are strapped to the cyclist, who boldly turns a sharp corner down a steep hill. Ah, the balance you learn as a local motorcyclist.

We're looking for scarves that W's mom want to gift to friends. We stroll through the main marketplace, a 5- or 6-storey warren of tiny shops. Sales include clothing, food, accessories, cooking and household supplies, hardware, religious items ... you name it.

We walk a few blocks, share an ice-cream cone (55c), and bargain for a cute kid toy for our grandkids. W hands over the money. We ask for another to give a young girl on the street, so the seller goes to a neighborhood store for it. He comes back asking double the price for each. No thanks. He hands our money back and we return the toy.

We walk back to the Pasar Baru to find PakG and and car. We're not hungry, maybe because it's hot and the air is thick with pollution from cars and swarms of people. It's late afternoon by the time we choose "Turkish food, if we could eat anything right now." Al Jezeerah is a Quatar-based Arab restaurant. We start with bread and dip.

W orders something that looks like quesadillas, while I have the lamb chop ($12). A splurge for us, for sure. It is the right taste - though W has to help me finish.

Overhead, we recognize the Turkish-style mosaic chandelier.

We're happy to come home. Evening falls as the nightlights glow on the autumn-ish pumpkins, which will end up as pumpkin pies when IbuA works on Thursday.

Wednesday

On our walk, there's a dog on the gate but a cat inside. Typical. Can you spot the kitten?

At 7:30, we meet PakK at a project site. Passersby have thrown bags of garbage over the hedge, so PakK's helper picks them up and disposes of them.

On the street, this frog has dried, crossing the road. (Pun intended.) I like creatures - and am always tempted to bring them home. It's fun to see guests surprised by what they see in the flowers or on the shelf. Since I'm trying to fit into W's world today, I leave it behind. haha

After an hour's online meeting with a Penang contact, it's girls-day-out. Haven't had one of those in ages, maybe not in years in Bandung.

Lisa and I head to Mom's Bakery for Western-style sandwiches. There are few places that serve good bread, but Anna (a fellow hiker) owns this shop. She went to university in San Francisco and knows tastes and combinations that are popular. Her shop is full of locals and expats.

We've decided to go to IKEA. Lisa is from New Zealand, where there are no IKEAs - so we slowly stroll through the store. I don't find much and she buys a few items. She wants to get a bookend but I tell her we have a few she can borrow from the library "dump" - she only wants one. Ok.

What's most fun is that we feel no pressure to hurry through. We discuss the staging and touch whatever we want. hehe It's a wonderful day together. (Our husbands aren't along.)

Thursday

Oh oh. My #Salomon hiking shoes are deteriorating. We paid a lot for them 3 years ago and I wore them 10-15 times, if that. That's terrible quality. I usually like the brand.

We drive into the hills to hike, taking Veronica and Kiki with us. Along the parking lot is a deep purple mass of plants with yellow flower spires.

Once we hit the trail, something like a coil of black plastic catches my eye. I bend over, move the grass, and take a closer look. It's a 3" beetle exoskeleton. I turn it over to its chocolate underside but leave it - and regret that later. Very beautiful.

Assorted wildflowers line the trails.

Some flowers look like dried seed heads.

Others have delicate colors.

Some have symmetrical shapes, groups of petals, or other special features.

There's a hot red poinsettia bush, too.

Locals cut ridges in the pines and catch the sap in coconut shell halves or - more recently - in plastic cups.

In the cuts, grass and ferns sprout. "Everything grows" here.

The grass-cutters are also busy. The women will carry 20 kg (45 lb) on their backs and the men double that. This guy has one bundle on his motorcycle and comes toward us with another.

We lose sight of him as he hefts the weight over his head up up onto the first bundle. He'll sell it to livestock farmers or use it for his goats.

The vistas are layered, one mountain behind the other.

The dogs love the run and stir up dust on the dry paths.

We look across the fields in the valley to the city on the other side.

After we leave the forest, we're in vegetable fields. The crops grow in terraces on steep hillsides, which we have to descend. Thank God for healthy knees and good balance.

Companion planting is common (cabbage and peppers, below.) We each buy a few heads of lettuce. A farmer offers us free tomatoes - they are falling off the vines. Why pick when the food markets are saturated with them? He disappears and reappears with a full bag of tomatoes. W offers him "coffee money" which he refuses, but eventually accepts.

Overhead, there's occasional shade from trees that dot the fields. 

We emerge to our pickup point after a narrow trail in a corn field. That's odd. Usually something else is planted there - the corn is almost ripe.

Lunch is at #MandarinResto in the city above ours. W eats the octopus without any competition from the rest of us. 

W and I eat leftovers for supper - the moussaka is ok; the roasted baby potatoes are good.

Friday

No helper today; her family member has died. Since Muslims bury their dead within 24 hours, it's all hands to work - rituals, food, cleaning ... burial.

When we walk the dogs, we start by making them sit. That gets their attention to stay next to us on a walk and not pull at the leash.

One of these creatures is not like the others. Little Bailey sits but he wants to know where I am. The others are ready to head to the street.

We have a grocery list for the weekend and movie night. I haven't eaten yet so we grab an early saté lunch at a corner booth on the grocer's second floor. In the afternoon, W and I read and edit Sunday's talk, catch up on messages, and prepare for a full weekend and the crammed week ahead.

It's not often that our calendar is so full: promoting a book; interviewing a university dean to recruit volunteers; cooking and prep for movie night. Two eagerly anticipated guests will stay on different nights ... it's going to be good.

In anticipation of movie night - when most of the furniture is cleared in the main room - I shift books from my little "library" area into the empty shelves of the nook. The chairs barely fit. We'll swap them for little stools on movie night.

"No more appointments," says W. "That's enough for the coming week." Agreed.

Read more:

*The Lord heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3

*You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Psalm 139:5

*Paul said to the Areopagus: “Indeed God is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’” Acts 17:27-28

*May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13

*By his wounds you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24

Moravian Prayer: Gracious Father, as we move along our daily lives, you are not far. May we feel your everlasting presence in all that we do, so that we know we are not alone. 

When we turn to you with our pain, O God, you heal our wounds. May we remember and be thankful for this healing and praise you for making us whole. We pray for your Presence with us, in your holy name. Amen.