Shoring up boundaries

Sunday, October 4, 2026
This week, my feeds become choked with Christmas information, inspiration, and magazines. Really? Already? A friend counsels me to reduce the decorations and leave some Christmas ornaments in storage this year. I take her advice seriously and will consider it carefully. Hmmm, decor and design are great fun for me and not a burden. The Project staff gets the boxes, trees, and lights and returns them to storage. (Last year, moving in a few days before Christmas was the exception!)

The morning at IES Bandung is a pleasure, as always. Meeting Family, hearing the scriptures, and Shibli's encouraging talk provide a welcome beginning to the week.

Afterward, Tota and Joanita take a group, including us, for Japanese food. So good.

And Chandra drops off Titik's beautiful Sunday arrangement.

We plan a restful afternoon, while a group of young adults hangs out on the Porch. With the addition of Epsom salts, my bathwater turns a nasty green. I read my book in the tub anyway, showering off whatever was growing beside me.

Monday
What a pleasure to wake up to this on the serving counter.

I make lunch for the yard guys, who weed and clean up in the morning and shift heavy logs from the back to the front of the property in the afternoon.

Three guys can barely lift the heavy wood. They roll them across the yard instead. Even so, they're exhausted by the time the wood is in place.

W is doing financial reports. I'm so thankful I don't have to keep track of expenses and income. Then he and PakG pick up white secondhand shelves for the entry. IbuS dusts them off. I'm not convinced they belong there. We'll see if they make good shoe racks for movie night and other events.

While the guys are gone, I bake another loaf of bread. There's no measuring, no recipe, and the work is quick. W has eaten only half the breakfast porridge (seeds, oatmeal, and nuts) so I toss the rest into the dough. I do a few shake-and-folds as the bread rises. There's too much dough for the small breadpan so I pull off 4 pieces for breadbuns. By lunchtime, they're done, still hot as they accompany homemade soup.

Mud and leaves block the drains a street up from ours. This happens when they're not cleaned regularly, even in dry season. During the rainy season, garbage and detritus wash into every crevice.

The gap between the new concrete blocks at our place is worrying. "It takes 10 guys to lift the grate," W notes. The cleanup underneath won't be easy if they don't make a smooth channel.

Then a city crew shows up and spends the day digging, cementing, and sloping the drain.

We walk out to an early supper and get this "welcome home" at the gate.

Oh no - the hedge is leaning out further after mid-afternoon rains. It's as dark as dusk at 2PM and then sunny for an hour or two. The owner promises to send over his yardman; with every rain, the hedge leans out more. "I hope it doesn't fall before he comes," says PakG, avoiding walking under it.

Tuesday
What a beautiful sunny morning. The clatter of drills and picks from the front gutter echoes through the neighborhood. One by one, iron grates are set in place. The road is extended to their edges to provide a solid parking strip. 

Today's excitement at the Project? The stinky horse poop that was destined for the flowerbeds? Not going to happen.

"Give it 2 weeks to finish curing," said the stablehand. The 50 kg (120 lb) bags have already sat in the yard for 5 weeks. (Burning the plants with "hot" manure is not a good option.) Looks like they have 2 more weeks to go.

Instead, the guys are building a barrier to prevent Anton and Juno from destroying the flowerbeds. Those dogs have no regard for plants, tearing through the borders or digging for rodents. The yardman orders 4-meter (17') bamboo. W and I are curious how they'll make a fence from the long bamboo canes.

PakD cuts the bamboo into 1m (36") lengths and the uprights into 60cm (24") lengths. Then he splits the short lengths into 6 pieces and starts building the sections.

The border goes from open and trampled to getting the first support posts.

Either the men have done this before or they've seen someone do it! They ask if they can stain the fence to make it last longer. W happens to have fresh wood stain on hand, from a windowsill repair last week. 

The ladder that broke (with someone on it) chipped the windowsill. That was repaired. The impact - or the man's hard sweeping across the roof - also broke a tile. We find out when the ceiling in the bathroom spouts a water stain.

Someone else climbs a bigger ladder to replace the tile but his adjustment has water pouring down the wall during the next rain. More trial and error in the works... Meanwhile, the tall we-almost-chopped-it-down because-the-leaves-look-weedy shrub has burst into bloom for the second time this year. The flowers last one day. With many buds, it blooms abundantly for a few weeks.

I write some book reviews and read an upcoming collection of poems by Deborah Garrison: I was a First Alto in the 1980s. If you grew up then, you'll enjoy her poetic memories as much as I did.

The helpers start baking thousands of Christmas cookies. Many will be eaten long before then. I show them how to make bread buns, bake a dozen, make lunch, and cheer on W, who is working in the pool.

By evening, W and I have eaten a few of the chocolate chip cookies have been eaten and some has been given away. The rest are stowed in the freezer. I throw together vegetables, broth, and dried gnocchi that is 2 years beyond the expiry date. Not bad. We finish the homemade crackers, too.

The dogs show up at the back door for their own evening treat.

The battery-powered candles glow in the entry as night falls and the Project is put to bed. I negotiate the purchase of commercial shelving from someone who needs to sell it to someone who needs the sturdy storage. Everything is about connections.

Wednesday
When the sun comes out, the solar fountains in the old plant pots chortle at full capacity. I contact a dear friend. We chat until W calls me outside to check what the workers are doing. Men typically don't like instructions or questions from women, so I avoid such conversations whenever possible. In recovery, W often passes those interactions to me. But I know the guys don't like it.

The house and yard are full of life. Inside, someone is cooking lunch for the workers and doing laundry. A doctoral student is hard at work upstairs. The leaning hedge along the driveway is trimmed and pulled back to the wall by the owner's crew. Our yardman splits more bamboo for the garden border. Boundaries are set and repaired.

Read more:

* But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as never to forget the things that your eyes have seen. Deuteronomy 4:9

* If you seek him, he will be found by you. 2 Chronicles 15:2

* A person may think their own ways are right, but the Lord weighs the heart. To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Proverbs 21:2-3

* The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” John 4:25-26

* Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and she told them that he had said these things to her. John 20:18

Moravian Prayer: O God, you reveal yourself to all who seek you. Open our hearts to your presence, that we may recognize your voice and proclaim your truth. Fill us with your spirit, that we may follow the anointed one with faith and joy. 

Lord, we thank you for the wonders we have seen and the ways you’ve revealed yourself to us. Help us to always remember your faithfulness and proclaim the truth of your resurrection, sharing the joy of seeing the Lord with all we meet. Amen.