Thursday, November 6, 2025
We pass on the hike since K is here, but in the early morning, we walk the dogs for the same number of steps in our neighborhood. No one is as strict as I am with the dogs so they've become lax in obeying basics like "sit" or "come." When they cooperate before the walk, I take a photo. The big guys walk on a single leash, which prevents Anton from bolting after every cat we pass.
Breakfast is on the Porch while cleanup is underway after movie night. We try to stay out of the way. The helpers restore the house by afternoon.
The robot vacuum we brought years ago from the States is still chugging along. While we do errands at home, it runs in the project. Whew, it's full of dust when we pick it up after a few hours. It comes home to charge up for the next round.
Then it's off to the Adventist grocer for some basics. Lunch is nearby @MikePizza.asia, without a doubt the best wood-fired pizza in the city. We eat under a canopy of grapevines that remind me of my dad's vines in our hometown.
The decor is a bit over the top but the abundance of plants tones it down.
Back home, the sky is overcast and the rooms are dark. Tea and a comfort cookie with a scripture label offer a spot of self-indulgence. Thanks, Keelee! at
#QuietWatersBakery. It reminds me of how grateful we are for time at this current place = 11 years of sharing our home with travelers, new arrivals, those who serve, and friends.
Friday
After a walk, W puts up more rods and I add curtains as he goes. Mom's 1970s twin sheets come in handy and look fresh and current.
The rose apple tree is blooming and fruiting on our street.
Our jackfruit tree by the driveway is on its second round of fruit.
Masseuse Ibu Siti comes to unkink us one more time before Kirsten goes home next week. Our relaxing lunch on the Porch is fishcakes wrapped in banana leaves. Miki and F are foodies who attend movie night -
they brought "favorites" for us to sample; there is enough for the whole household plus some left for tomorrow. Yum.
W's speaking elsewhere so I'm on my own on Sunday. Time to review the PPT and the talk, which is about ravaging lions, resistance and courage, and the
story of a man named Daniel.
Later, I sit in the big library chair and consider how much I will miss this home, a gift from God. No staging needed - it's always ready for drop-ins.
Saturday
The walk is cool and refreshing in the shade of the old trees. Remember the muddy gutter in front of the project?
This week, it's been cleared of rocks, garbage, and mud. A new concrete swill was poured, and the hole replaced with a hinged gate - which has rusted overnight! W sends a note to the contractor about a product that changes rust into primer for paint.
By mid-morning, the workers have paved in the grate and are starting to paint.
We pop in to see if I still like the curtain at the end of the hall. The first attempt was 8" short, beige-y, and looked silly. This is better.
What about the orange bedroom? Weren't those 70s sheets pink? The retro orange wallpaper brings out the orange in the colorway. We run the robot vacuum in the bedrooms and continue the walk.
The dogs have settled down after running around the big yard. Exercisers, workers (see the man balancing snacks on his shoulders?), and tourists walk the loop today.
Breakfast is an old favorite from childhood = how Mom used up leftover spaghetti: bacon, spaghetti, an egg cracked on top, a tablespoon of water. It cooks with the lid on until the egg is ready. No additional spices needed.
Creativity is low but Sunday is coming. Flower Wiz Titik is seriously gifted. Since she's gone this weekend, I flip the spent gladiolas and one dried-out mum from last week's gorgeous bouquet.
In the ruins of our garden, I find a few false-bird-of-paradise flowers and ferns. There are few blooms left in the yard. Most have been transplanted to the new place. We go from this -
to this
to this. Good enough. PakG takes it to the hall.
I walk a second time to the project to get measurements and lose a key. Halfway home, I feel my pocket for it but it's gone. I walk back and check each space I've visited but ... nada. W walks over to see if he can find it but has no luck. We figure out it probably adhered to the magnet holder on the phone - and sure enough, we search the grass near where I pulled out my phone and there it is.
Lunch is at Homeground, one of Kirsten's new favorites. The spicy flavors of Szechwan hit the spot.
Atop the renovation at the neighbor, the workers perch on the roof, knock through the brick, and run a pipe. Typically for repairs, they do their work in an hour or two, slathering on a coat of mortar and painting the patch to match. When I check, the hole has already disappeared.
Read more:* Let us test and examine our ways and return to the Lord. Lamentations 3:40
* Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8
* This is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what really matters, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless. Philippians 1:9-10
Moravian Prayer: Merciful God, you have always made us feel worthy, even when we examine ourselves and know that we do not measure up to your expectations. We pray for knowledge of what truly matters in our lives so that we may release the trivial. Amen.
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