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.
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