Sharp spines and long vines

Thursday, September 26, 2024

There's no one working at the house today - only guests upstairs and the dogs in the yard. The helpers are at a family graduation and a sickbed. PakG is on election training: they have to take a day off to be given instructions for collecting and counting votes (Nov. election) and checked for medical fitness. 

Why medical fitness? Working an election is strenuous and many people have died on duty in the past. Election workers are on call for 24 hours - or longer if they don't get the count done and sent off. On election duty (8:00am-8:00 the next day), they are accompanied by a guard even when they use the restrooms. That helps prevent vote rigging or influencing; there's supposed to be no sharing of trends with incoming voters.

We set off on the city walk without the dogs. We walk down to the river with Daniel, a new hiker, meeting Veronica at the trail head. There's a stunning 7" (15cm) lotus blooming on the water.

W and Daniel talk theology most of the way. Look at this "bridge" made of 3 bamboo stalks over the runoff creek below!

And someone has found a parking spot for their motorcycle, a ledge with a 20' (6m) drop-off below, before the cliff down to the river). Um - it's accessible from the main thoroughfare via a steep ramp to their cliffside house. There's some skill required to get down and back.

This bus drive has serious skills as well. He makes a "3-point" turn into parking with 6'/2m behind him and 9'/3m in front of his bus. We give him a thumbs up and he grins back, turning his wheel back and forth.

We cross the busy street, past repairs to the main bridge, partly taken out by a landslide a few weeks ago. 

A new metal structure sits under the cables and wires - it should be interesting to see how those are elevated off the main roadway.

A tree has broken off and is being trimmed from the steep slope above the street.

A man with a bamboo pole pushes the trunk off the telephone wires and cables.

And finally, the tree is felled and ready to be hauled away. The workers pause traffic and quickly drag the foliage to the side.

We walk the university's Treetop Walk (1 km loop). It loops around and up and down. There are school kids, employees on a stroll, and many other walkers.

"Can we take a picture with you?" Of course.

There's abandoned art at the gallery below the trail.

There's a continual shedding of leaves and needles. They collect on rooftops, on the ground, and

and the intersections of branches and tree trunks. This deadly sharp-edged plant soars 8 meters (25') high beside the walkway.

The vines drape from nearby tees.

Some trees have exotic flowers.

Bamboo grows overhead as tall as trees.

It's a beautiful stroll in tunnels of green.

We stop for brunch on the way back at Dalaros, a Sundanese buffet. There's a lineup for people picking up catering orders.

We return along the riverside, but take a shortcut through the graveyard.

Then it's up the hill past UNPAR (university) and through their food courts. We wind up the gang in the neighborhoods. The narrow paths make 90o turns when houses are in the way. They are inaccessible by car and barely passable via motorcycle. Imagine taking those ladder steps to your house ... or negotiating your motorbike through the narrow and winding lanes - probably with your spouse, baby, toddler, and maybe another kid on it.

Can you can see the little minibus (city transportation) that has backed into the lane? I keep walking, squeezing by in the 50cm (25") clearance as it reverses into the gang. I plan to leap forward and out of harms way if the driver turns so the angkot touches me. By the time it gets to the sloped wall, there's no clearance so the guys wait for it to stop and ease around it.

All in all, it's 5 miles (8kms) and 21 storeys up - just about perfect in length with a climb down and up. = A home to home loop - with good company. I indulge in tea and chocolate banana bread after a shower. It's the perfect companion to grading.

Friday

We spot a flipping worm on the road on our walk. Oh wait, our clumsy Labradoodle has stepped on a lizard. The critter runs into the grass, sans tail. Can you spot the pale white creature?

A neighbor's house is making progress from a single-storey ruin to a huge structure.

The 3X-a-year lilies are blooming in roadside planters.

And this? I can only speculate - it no longer bites because I think they ran over a toad during paving.

There's a full day of meetings (a dean, a prayer group for SE Asia, and a book club discussion on the next hill). I make breakfast with leftovers and a scrambled egg thrown into the pan. Then I call Mom. She encourages me with her dream last night, listening to my grandmother's prayers.

A dissertation project comes in from a student. There's a sermon to write for Sunday. And tomorrow our guests come = a full weekend ahead.

Saturday

I stay in bed as long as I can. And I don't walk. I set things up for Laurel's farewell this afternoon, make treats for the party, and write some reviews. 

I'm hardly ever in charge of events. I'm' the backup who reminds the planner what s/he needs to make their event a success. WAs and emails fly back and forth as people ask for things for the event. 

• "Can I come early to set up?" (Of course. I may not be helping but I'll be on call.) 
• "May I cook in your kitchen?" (Sure, as long as you clean up.)
• "Do you have serving dishes? How about knives?" (Of course. How many do you need? - and they'll probably want a cutting board or two.)

W is off to Jakarta to pick up our month-long guests at their airport hotel. We're excited to hand over IES Bandung to them for October, while we work in the USA and Canada. 

"Have a nice holiday," some of our friends have said, thinking of our upcoming month. When they see the packed itinerary, they usually change their greeting. 

They may blink a few times and say, "Hope you have a profitable time and get back home safely so you can rest [in Indonesia.]" haha

Traffic is light so W is home early with the Townsends. Laurel's at the house before 11:00 while I'm sending off the grades for Gail and my recent class.

Read more: 

*Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord, to him who rides across the highest heavens, the ancient heavens, who thunders with mighty voice.

Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the heavens. You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God! Psalm 68:32-35

*For as the earth brings forth its shoots and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations. Isaiah 61:11

*The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches. Luke 13:18-19

Moravian Prayer: God, we, like your gardens, constantly grow in our love and faith. Please continue to nurture us so that our small-seed faith may grow into a tree of love for the world. Amen.