Lizards, frogs, and curtain rods

Saturday, October 18, 2025

W's joining two long pieces shade cloth. What a lot of work. I help him spread it out but that's the extent of my involvement. He wants it spaced precisely and I'm no perfectionist.

Black window clips arrive so I try out a few. The tablecloths from USA Ross ($6.99 clearance) look good as curtains.

They match the seafoam-colored cabinets being repaired in the project kitchen.

As we head toward the gate, a large piece of silvered glass catches my eye, tucked against a fence. Ooooh - wouldn't that look cool over a painting ... add a touch of mystery?

Sunday

Sun's up after 5 AM. Titik the flower genius is away this weekend so I work with what's left of her beautiful bouquet from last week. When the structure is this good, a refresh is simple.

The roses are mostly gone so I pull them out and insert two kinds of pinks that are blooming in the garden. Her work is always formal and considered. Mine is messy and wild. Both can be good.

We take our usual photo of volunteers and prayer partners before the Gathering.

Bandung is muggy. "So hot the last few weeks!" someone moans. "After 10 minutes of walking, my skin is wet." Even the dogs are drooping when we come back home.

We don't go out to eat: too tired. It rains shortly after we get home. "Good decision," W says about staying in.

It takes about 10 minutes to cook noodles, sausage, and green beans. I learned to make quick suppers while teaching music as the kids were growing up. Sometimes there were only 15-30 minutes between lessons. Cook. Eat. Back to work while the kids clean up.

Monday

We take the first (used-)sheet-curtains to the hall. W mounts them to the conduit "rod" he's put up in his office. Voila, professional-looking, neutral window treatments for about $5 - on a 13' X8' window. W specifically requests that the hem is above the floor for easy cleaning, storing things under the window, or putting his feet under a desk without getting the fabric dirty.

Meetings start. I catch Mom on a call; she's excited to have our daughter visiting. A few more calls and then Della drops in for a chat before lunch. (I love that gal!) W does his group study on the Porch while we sit upstairs.

Modesty is highly valued here. The work crew worried about us swimming without privacy from the neighbors who overlook the yard. W finishes clipping the shade cloth. The cover goes on loosely at first. It's conveniently high overhead because the pool is be 4 meters/12' deep.

No worries; you can't see a thing from above the shade cover. It's far from elegant but what an effective solution for catching leaves, offering privacy, and passively heating the water.

Masses of frogs' eggs are plastered around the waterline. A little vole has fallen into the empty shallow end and is teased back up onto dry ground.

The architect added every little thing the original homeowners desired. There are quirks in many corners of the project. Those have decayed and need repair, just like the main building. We decide on what to leave alone and what will be useful in the future.

This morning I flipped though project photos from 2 1/2 months ago in early August. Wow, the builders have made good progress! The crew fixes a gazebo in the far corner. Light comes through the polycarbonate but we leave the middle shaded by original shingles that were in decent shape.

We talk over details with the foreman as usual. "Make it nice for the most reasonable effort," is our mantra.

Veronica sends up two hands of bananas for tomorrow's baking marathon. We trade with a banana bread baked last week.

Lew arrives from Jakarta a few hours before dinner. He's stayed here a few times before so knows the lay of the land. We have dinner together at #WarungEthnic.

I go through cabinets to sort items as well as rediscover what we have. What on earth is this?

Google tells me it's a rose thorn stripper. Every household needs one. (?!)

Tuesday

It's back and forth. We've walked 8000 steps between project to home by lunchtime and 11,000 by supper. Construction has resumed; the electrical is being finished, the kitchen rebuilt, and curtains going up. Which finials to use? W holds them up so I choose.

Dina drops by for tea and to pray for God's blessings at the project, especially in the kids space where she hopes to tutor in English.

Gum picks up more bananas from Veronica and the helpers bake 8 loaves of banana bread. Two are split between workers, one is for the team meeting in the afternoon, one is for breakfast, another is shared by the workers at the project, and the rest goes into the fridge for an upcoming movie night.

The yardman is lifting plants from the garden for transplant.  Many are packed tightly together because I love the look of an English border. Oh those interwoven colors and leaf textures! The hydrangeas, lavender, and dill move today.

There's a dead lizard in the driveway (a doggie gift?) and frogs are spotted around the yard.

Lunch is a "leftovers" soup with Rawon flavor. Very good - we're going through the freezer and fridge to empty what we can. It makes for an interesting hunt each morning as I plan meals. Typically, the helpers cook lunch for themselves and us. We eat whatever we find the rest of the day.

The team meets mid-afternoon. We'd planned in person but it's raining in parts of the city so we do a hybrid meeting. Fresh banana bread! helps the tea slide down easy.

We have an early pizza supper at #NaraPark. 

It's raining when we finish so W walks home with a Nara umbrella and brings the car. He hands over the umbrella as we hop in for the short ride back.

Read more:

* I will not let you go, unless you bless me. Genesis 32:26

* What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the 

human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 

I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him. Ecclesiastes 3:9-14

* Then children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. Matthew 19:13

Moravian Prayer: Comforter and Sustainer, we fix our eyes on you. While we travel on life’s journey, may we feel the shelter of your care. Bring the power of your hands upon us; let us walk forth in the world clothed in your blessings. Amen.

The green green grass of home

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Morning meetings? Today's are particularly helpful. In planning the future, communication flies back and forth.

Did expats generations ago wait months for permission after they sent their work proposals "back home" (and waited the same amount of time for a reply?) Nah, I bet they acted and asked forgiveness later, hehe. Nowadays, texts offer us direction within hours or days.

We check out the beginnings of the garden that was planted yesterday. The structural outlines are in place, provided the transplants thrive. We'll move the rest over in the coming weeks.

The hardware store drops off electrical conduit pipes, which need a wipe-down to remove grease. They'll be cut to length as curtain rods.

I finally get a handle on 300 survey responses from earlier this year. I've been "saving paper" for months, trying to make sense of the digital files. My brain turns to fuzz scanning lines and columns online. So I haven't made any progress.

My friend urges me to bite the bullet and do whatever it takes to get the job done! Printing it out makes the information accessible to me. Even as I tape pages of printouts together, the clarity lacking in the Excel sheets appears. Woohoo!

The groomers come to spruce up the dogs.  They're scruffy after we've been away a month. 

In true poodle fashion, they prance around to be admired.

Thursday

Our sabbath rest = hiking in nature. 

I'm trying out new trail shoes.

Today, we are graced with our easiest hike: tea plantations and forests.

The tea fields buzz with the sound of electric clippers. Work crews are cutting and packaging the leaves to send to the factories for processing.

There are as many dogs as humans - 4 of each. The dogs depend on the free runs each week to keep healthy. One has turned 12 years old; another is 9. Of course the 20-month-old pup is bouncing around them wildly, tail up in the air.

The vistas are breathtaking.

Everywhere we look, there's a refreshing view. 

How we missed this lush greenness in the month we were away.

The streets - many of them main throroughfares for thousands of weekend tourists - are sometimes so narrow that a man stands at each end to alternate one-way traffic. Motorcycles squeeze between busses and cars as we head back.

Of course, food carts and horses are included in the flow on city streets.

We enjoy lunch at Mandarin, a good Indonesian-Chinese place on the way home.

In the afternoon, we meet the contractor to check the electricity, plumbing, and assorted other details. They've begun to repair the termite-infested kitchen. We're keeping all the drawers and doors but the frames (and some drawer bottoms) have been completely eaten away.

Speaking of termites, W tips the bench he sprayed against those critters a few weeks ago. They had eaten away a corner of the wooden frame and completely hollowed out a leg. The end collapsed when a friend sat down. Oh oh - another dump of frass falls out of the base, evidence that they are not yet vanquished. He sprays again.

Friday

Our steps equal those of yesterday, starting with 2 neighborhood loops with the dogs. Both they and we like to move in the morning.

IbuSiti the masseuse comes. Last week I was so sore that she's here again. (Still hurts but is so much better than last week!) I spend a good part of the morning calculating the drop needed to lengthen the window coverings. The plan is to cut long tablecloths in bands, adding them to the bottom of flat white sheets. When I have it figured out, I write the measurements into my project notebook.

We have a late lunch at #NaraPark; an $8 large pizza for me and $5 popcorn chicken for W. We take most of it home, suddenly not as hungry as we thought.

We spend the afternoon working at the project. There are frogs everywhere, even at the top of the posts that support the roof.

W is piecing together a shade cover with nifty clips = always inventive. A second chore is cutting the electrical conduit. The first one goes up above a window. It looks good enough that we may keep the same height everywhere - in which case no added lengths are needed. (Wouldn't that be amazing - saving hours of sewing.) When the curtain rings come, we'll clip window coverings onto the pipes and I'll know for sure.

The contractor has restored the old wooden windows that we thought were unsalvageable.

We've been awake since 3 AM so we feel weary when we get home at 5PM. W eats a piece of leftover pizza but I'm not hungry. He tempts me with a half-chocolate bar though. Our bodies are still jet-lagged from the change in time. Hopefully by next week, we'll have readjusted to our time zone. We're ready to sleep by 6 but stay awake as long as we can.

Saturday

Has it been 6 years? My dad died 5 years ago. "Ah, Pop, I still miss you a lot." As we walked along the slough in our hometown, he told me the soles of his feet were burning with pain. (Apparently his dad had the same thing, whatever that is.) He still walked with Mom and me, and that's a good memory from the year before he passed away.

W puts the 3 big dogs on a leash while the little one walks with me, out of the way of the trampling feet. They behave best in a pack, including "Monster" (Anton's nickname.)

We read tomorrow's talk on suffering that can be useful to our souls. Not the most cheerful of topics! I meet a young friend at the hall; he is consigned to do graphics for us. Can't wait to see his designs.

I can't attend the Book group as we've made plans to attend an art fair at ITB, the premier university in Bandung. They used to host art shows every 3-4 years, but this is the first one in 10 years. Last time it was a marvel.

Pak G drops us off on the busy street. The entry to the art studios nearby is steep, topped with moss on layers of paving and re-paving. Watch your step - it's slippery. Pedestrians cling to each other to keep from wiping out as they descend.

We've seen these leaping ladies on the Tree Top walk, a forest boardwalk above the university. Today the walk is closed for repairs but we make our way to the studios below. The statues are huge.

The art here is often very dark, reflecting the imagination and inner life of the artists.

They're planning a derby later in the day, with dozens of home-built cars entered.

At the university hall, one torn paper piece catches my eye among 30-40 installations. Apparently tomorrow's the big day for art, though the online announcement said nothing of that.

We walk back to our hill, bypassing the Saturday traffic choking the roads. The public sidewalk has no railings. Cars, motorcycles and busses zoom by on one side. On the other, terraces full of garbage and weeds step down to the park and river below. You'll only fall 6-8 feet per level, so no worries. ("Watch your feet. It's your own fault if you fall.")

At the river crossing, metal outlines of warriors sit atop the water pipes.

The entry to a neighborhood doesn't always look promising but if you turn in, there may be entire blocks of houses inside.

We lunch at an Arabic restaurant with good flavors. The lamb is underdone so I take it home to bake for another 2 hours on low heat.

W heads back to the project while I write and rest. I'm sorry to miss the Book Group but we can only be at one place at a time.

Read more: 

* O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek; you will strengthen their heart. Psalm 10:17

* When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So, he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. Luke 19:5-6 (Read the story of Jesus' encounter with a short rich man: Luke 19)

* For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. 

Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 

And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. 2 Timothy 1:6-12

Moravian Prayer: Compassionate Christ, through your life, you showed us how to walk among all of God’s children. May we keep our hearts, hands, and homes open to our neighbors in need. With all-encompassing love, we pray. Amen.