Home sweet home again

Monday-Tuesday, July 15-16, 2026
We lose a day during westward travel, so might as well put the days together. After laundry, cleaning, and supper with T, M, and their kids, it's time to close the suitcases. I keep forgetting what I want to bring along, so this time, I snap photos of what's in cabinets and cupboards. We didn't have time for a grandkids' sleepover or tea this working trip.

Most art and hospitality things stay behind.

"What are you looking forward to?" someone asked us on the cusp of 32 hours of travel.

"Being home," was our reply. We are thoroughly homesick. T drops us off at the airport at 9PM. The first flight leaves shortly after midnight.

Air travel has devolved into an ordeal. It's not the adventure we remember from airline service of 20-30 years ago. China Airlines, like most Asian global carriers, still offers attentive flight attendants, decent food and snacks, and a wide variety of international movies to pass the time. 

I turn my hoodie around once I'm seated. I prop a hand-lettered "Please let me sleep" and a sleep emoji across the food tray. Pulling the hood over my face, with AirPods in my ears, I'm set for a quiet check-out. The first flight (to Taipei) is under 12 hours. My seatmate and I have an empty seat between us and alternate using it to stretch out a bit. He's leaning Buddhist as an expat living in Thailand. We chat about what it means to love God and love others by caring for them. He's a clothing designer, living frugally and using his profits to build solar-powered irrigation for rice farmers up north.

Our luggage is check through, so W and I spend 4 hours between flights in the beautiful lounge (W's flight miles and credit card = bonus). The stone-flanked hallway to the lounge is topped by mirrors, creating a feeling of space and timelessness.

The food is varied and plentiful. 

Wednesday
The last flight to Jakarta is only 5.5 hours. We breeze through immigration and customs, meeting PakG in the parking garage. An enormous digital screen shows ocean, jungle, and farm scenes over the luggage carousels. 

A green wall of plants and branches lines the other side. It's a soothing wait for suitcases. After the luggage is collected, the terror begins.

The toll road to Bandung involves 3+ hours of yoyo speeds (slamming the brakes for avoid hitting trucks that swerve into your lane, and 20-80mph with a driver and car accustomed to 15-20mph city driving). Traffic weaving between lanes and shoulders.

Near home, we stop at the grocer for eggs, oil, rice, vegetables, and meat. It's a relief to haul things into the house, though W sends PakG home immediately and unpacks the car himself. I put away groceries and remove food, household items, and a few clothes from my suitcases. The frozen goods go into the freezer. The nuts and snacks belong in the fridge, where ants and roaches can't access them.

This trip, I crammed in pillows and another IKEA Beddinge sofa slipcover, too. They're perfect antidotes to endless summer, whenever I need a "seasonal" change.

We lay out gifts for friends and helpers and run the robo-vacuum across 1 1/2 months of dust in the bedroom and bathroom. W was here an extra month after I left. He epoxied the main bathroom floor, which has cured.

A year ago, before the Project was renovated, the room looked like this. (Yes, there were side-by-side thrones.) It took a lot of scrubbing to lift the grime after 10 years of abandonment and vagrants.

We removed the extra toilet but kept everything we could, including wall and floor tiles and the pedestal sink. This is today. The clean white floor makes me smile. What a transformation.

Thursday
After a restless night, W takes the dogs on a loop while I'm deciding when the day starts. I make breakfast on the Porch before walking over to Alice's to say hi and catch up. The tropical flowers along the street are as beautiful as ever.

W and I hand out gifts as the helpers arrive in the morning. The house and yard are clean and generally in good order. There's excessive termite damage around the conference room windows. You must constantly check wooden frames in the tropics. I haven't been around for two-and-a-half months so the bugs are chomping through the wood. W sprays ants that have begun a nest in my office, removing a 3" length of frass.

Lunch, our first Indonesian meal, is chicken and rice, of course. It is good with acar (vinegarette and vegetables).

By early afternoon, everything's found its place. The big lab cabinet has been emptied, moved over an inch to accommodate a freezer door lock, and refilled. Rooms are dusted and vacuumed. It feels like we never left, except for ! warm memories ! and pages of notes from conferences and presentations.

PakG takes a cage of birds up the hill to replace a budgie that escaped last week. Apparently, Anton the poodle jumped up, knocked over the cage PakG was cleaning, and the door swung open. One of the birds flew off. We wish it well and hope it can find seed. 

The bird man with a shop nearby sells PakG 2 females for $11.  Adding a single bird to a flock is tricky, he says. Why females? The exising male may fight to establish dominance. Who knew bird societies were complicated?

A quick swap in the living room refreshes the sofa slipcover and pillows. The springy vibe was a light-colored cover.

The new cover is a mid-toned velvet. The velvet side pillows in the dining room match. What are the chances? (Yup, an IKEA bargain long ago.) 

Maybe next time I'll haul a fuchsia pink slipcover this way. We probably have 20 choices, between Seattle and here, purchased over two decades on sale in IKEA As-Is. The Beddinge sofa was discontinued years ago, so no more bargains! 

Years after it disappeared in the USA, we moved to Indonesia. Someone offered to get us a sofa. We had no furniture since we had just moved to Bandung. Lo and behold - her admin found a new Beddinge in Jakarta's IKEA and it made the trip here on the company truck.

Friday

It's another short night due to jet lag. W and I make 2 loops around the neighborhood with the 3 big dogs. Since we were in Montana at a similar elevation for a few weeks, we don't have the normal altitude adjustment. Orange flowers and 12" pods hang from vines on the big shade trees.

Neighbors offer a warm welcome with hellos and smiles. It's one of the things we miss when we travel: the open friendliness of the Sundanese in Bandung to strangers and friends alike. "It's been a long time since we've seen you," some ladies say. True.

After breakfast, IbuSiti comes by to work out our travel kinks with a traditional massage. She is proactive health care after long trips. The day is mild with breezes moving the chimes as I work and make calls on the Porch. It's overcast with the promise of rain later in the day.

The dogs roam the yard. Do they know how lucky they are to live at the Project, with its trees and places to explore? Half the yard is still forest much like our Seattle yard. We're not planning to change the "campground" area into a civilized yard. It's been dry so weeds and rampant growth of plants has slowed.

Ants crawl up my legs as I write - I'd almost forgotten how many creatures thrive here.

I find an Indonesian movie on YouTube and start back at learning vocabulary. We've purchased a mattress for a bedframe we already have. Instead, a complete bed arrives with headboard, boxspring, and mattress - still in its original packaging. She throws in a new king-size set of sheets/pillowcases, which I pass on. We have enough linens.

Typical generosity of God = an overflow. She also offers me a free chocolate mini-poodle. W and I agree: 5 dogs is too much with the busy second half of the year ahead of us. I tell her I'd take a dog in January after the holiday season. I pass the information to a friend, who then mentions that she's been thinking about getting a dog. Who knows, is it another God-match of abundance at the Project?

We meet Alice for supper at the new Indonesian restaurant that's opened across the street from the Project. She's our interpreter for the menu.

The options are delicious. 

W and I take a photo for some partners. It's been a while since we did this.

We now have 3 eateries directly across the street. It's perfect for visitors and those needing a retreat at the Project. If guests want a longer walk, there are at least a dozen other places within a few blocks.

Read more:
* My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst. Hosea 11:8,9

* For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. John 3:16

* Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Moravian Prayer: Almighty God, at times the power of your voice can seem overwhelming, even intimidating. Yet, through the love of your son walking with us, we are reassured of your comfort and protection. Thank you for your love. Amen.