Sweet times and itching to learn

Monday, October 14, 2024

We have a mandatory trip to Springfield for security training that bites a chunk off our annual month of itineration. We hopped a plane yesterday after speaking at a morning service and lunch with a pastor.  Mt Rainier does not disappoint as we leave SeaTac.

We try to see our kids every year when we come back from Indonesia, especially our daughter in Texas. We see the lights of Austin below as we approach. We arrive at midnight after an uneventful flight. That's the best kind!

A lamp from Grandma's sheds light in the guest room. Year by year, Kirsten is making her home more beautiful and personal. It's a delight to see the memories she collects.

W has only a half-day with Kirsten before he's off to the theology commission in Springfield so he crams in as many repairs or upgrades as he can. She drops him off at the airport after a barbecue lunch YUM and his handyman specials.

Tuesday

Our goal is to find a bathroom rug, change outdated art in K's frames, and spend time together. Kirsten and I hang some pictures. Then we hit the discount stores: at DD's Hispanic discount store I find a Christmas tablecloth for $5.99 (well, a shower curtain with a cute fringe), At Ross' we load up on rug options.

Kirsten tests the rugs out in her bathroom and makes a final selection. There's no return policy in Indonesia. Get the wrong size? Wrong color? Appliance doesn't work? (They usually test it at the store because ...) There's no returns permitted.

Wednesday

We pull up crabgrass and seed the yard until after 11 a.m. We can't figure out what these little seed balls are. Or are they bug incubators? Anyone know?

When we eat at a Mexican restaurant, we're the only non-Hispanics. That's a good indicator of classic Mexican food at reasonable prices.

We return the unwanted rugs for K's bathroom to the Ross discounter.

We stop at TJ Maxx for an electric toothbrush and a few things for the house. It's odd to see that the social distancing introduced by COVID is alive and well in the checkout line.

We find the fabric K is looking for at JoAnn - a cute print of bees and another of the woodland animals that frequent K's yard. 

K's a wonderful cook so we're not losing weight, that's for sure. We take our time eating together.

Keelee's up for a call in the late evening, too. I miss the interactions with friends, often online. Sometimes they're busy; sometime we're not available. When we connect, it's a blessing.

Thursday

Kirsten makes tea sandwiches and scones for breakfast and we finish another round of watering in the seeded yard. 

It's a pleasure to spend time together. We agree that each visit gets sweeter. We laugh when we say the exact responses in unison - how can that be when we've lived apart for most of her life? Like daughter, like mother.

We replace old art in existing frames with new fabrics. I trim and hem a large tablecloth to fit K's tea table. K makes spicy noodles before we collapse onto the sofa to watch a fun renovation episode on Plex.

She drops me at the airport with time to spare. Austin has its own look in shops and the airport: "Modern Cowboy."

Both flights are very cold - it feels like 65o inside the planes and the Dallas lounge. People wear coats or drape themselves in blankets. 

W picks me up from the Springfield airport after midnight. We catch up on his week. He had satisfying meetings with the theology commission and got an incentive to write his book on women in ministry.

Friday

For the week, W has found a fancy Toyota Tacoma for a fraction of the price of car rental. The moon is on the wane but still huge as we open the curtains to a cold morning (43oF/6oC). Brrr. I don't have warm clothes along beyond a jacket and long-sleeved top. When I checked weather last week, it was in the 90s (33o) during the day. Today it may hit 70o (19o).

It's our one day off. We wake at 7:00. I'm feeling a little hungover from a short night. The mattresses are comfortable even in a cheaper hotel. The breakfast options are not appetizing: sugary cereals, white bread, and a slow-cooker full of chalk-grey gravy. The OJ is a tang-like mix. W researches breakfast places before we head out the door.

We end up at Gailey's, a downtown eatery, where meals are so big that we take half to our hotel for tomorrow.

We spot this sign, walking back to the truck. I thought Christians were quoting Jesus, not Gandalf. How odd.

This guy has an old man's chopper well in hand, sans helmet. That's legal in Missouri.

We buy some clothes at my once-a-year stop Half of Half Price. We stop at Aldi for chocolate and German breakfast fixings (bread, sausage, cheese).

Neither of us is hungry when we pause for a mid-afternoon lunch at Corner 21, the best Chinese food in Springfield. But when the food comes, our appetites revive. It's so good! We stash half of that in our hotel fridge, too. Portions in the USA are family-sized.

The ant bites (from working in K's yard) are swollen and irritated. W offers Orajel to soothe the itch.

The room has a bathtub which is a rare luxury. W naps while I soak. When the sun sets at 7:00 p.m., we're almost ready to rest for the hard week ahead.

Read more:

*Better is a dinner of vegetables where love is than a fatted ox and hatred with it. Proverbs 15:17

*Jesus also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them, for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:2-4

Moravian Prayer: Holy Spirit, draw us closer to one another. Heaven is a place full of love and healing. It is up to us to bring Heaven to Earth, flooding our spaces with a deep love. Help us in this task. Amen.

Sharp spines and long vines

Thursday, September 26, 2024

There's no one working at the house today - only guests upstairs and the dogs in the yard. The helpers are at a family graduation and a sickbed. PakG is on election training: they have to take a day off to be given instructions for collecting and counting votes (Nov. election) and checked for medical fitness. 

Why medical fitness? Working an election is strenuous and many people have died on duty in the past. Election workers are on call for 24 hours - or longer if they don't get the count done and sent off. On election duty (8:00am-8:00 the next day), they are accompanied by a guard even when they use the restrooms. That helps prevent vote rigging or influencing; there's supposed to be no sharing of trends with incoming voters.

We set off on the city walk without the dogs. We walk down to the river with Daniel, a new hiker, meeting Veronica at the trail head. There's a stunning 7" (15cm) lotus blooming on the water.

W and Daniel talk theology most of the way. Look at this "bridge" made of 3 bamboo stalks over the runoff creek below!

And someone has found a parking spot for their motorcycle, a ledge with a 20' (6m) drop-off below, before the cliff down to the river). Um - it's accessible from the main thoroughfare via a steep ramp to their cliffside house. There's some skill required to get down and back.

This bus drive has serious skills as well. He makes a "3-point" turn into parking with 6'/2m behind him and 9'/3m in front of his bus. We give him a thumbs up and he grins back, turning his wheel back and forth.

We cross the busy street, past repairs to the main bridge, partly taken out by a landslide a few weeks ago. 

A new metal structure sits under the cables and wires - it should be interesting to see how those are elevated off the main roadway.

A tree has broken off and is being trimmed from the steep slope above the street.

A man with a bamboo pole pushes the trunk off the telephone wires and cables.

And finally, the tree is felled and ready to be hauled away. The workers pause traffic and quickly drag the foliage to the side.

We walk the university's Treetop Walk (1 km loop). It loops around and up and down. There are school kids, employees on a stroll, and many other walkers.

"Can we take a picture with you?" Of course.

There's abandoned art at the gallery below the trail.

There's a continual shedding of leaves and needles. They collect on rooftops, on the ground, and

and the intersections of branches and tree trunks. This deadly sharp-edged plant soars 8 meters (25') high beside the walkway.

The vines drape from nearby tees.

Some trees have exotic flowers.

Bamboo grows overhead as tall as trees.

It's a beautiful stroll in tunnels of green.

We stop for brunch on the way back at Dalaros, a Sundanese buffet. There's a lineup for people picking up catering orders.

We return along the riverside, but take a shortcut through the graveyard.

Then it's up the hill past UNPAR (university) and through their food courts. We wind up the gang in the neighborhoods. The narrow paths make 90o turns when houses are in the way. They are inaccessible by car and barely passable via motorcycle. Imagine taking those ladder steps to your house ... or negotiating your motorbike through the narrow and winding lanes - probably with your spouse, baby, toddler, and maybe another kid on it.

Can you can see the little minibus (city transportation) that has backed into the lane? I keep walking, squeezing by in the 50cm (25") clearance as it reverses into the gang. I plan to leap forward and out of harms way if the driver turns so the angkot touches me. By the time it gets to the sloped wall, there's no clearance so the guys wait for it to stop and ease around it.

All in all, it's 5 miles (8kms) and 21 storeys up - just about perfect in length with a climb down and up. = A home to home loop - with good company. I indulge in tea and chocolate banana bread after a shower. It's the perfect companion to grading.

Friday

We spot a flipping worm on the road on our walk. Oh wait, our clumsy Labradoodle has stepped on a lizard. The critter runs into the grass, sans tail. Can you spot the pale white creature?

A neighbor's house is making progress from a single-storey ruin to a huge structure.

The 3X-a-year lilies are blooming in roadside planters.

And this? I can only speculate - it no longer bites because I think they ran over a toad during paving.

There's a full day of meetings (a dean, a prayer group for SE Asia, and a book club discussion on the next hill). I make breakfast with leftovers and a scrambled egg thrown into the pan. Then I call Mom. She encourages me with her dream last night, listening to my grandmother's prayers.

A dissertation project comes in from a student. There's a sermon to write for Sunday. And tomorrow our guests come = a full weekend ahead.

Saturday

I stay in bed as long as I can. And I don't walk. I set things up for Laurel's farewell this afternoon, make treats for the party, and write some reviews. 

I'm hardly ever in charge of events. I'm' the backup who reminds the planner what s/he needs to make their event a success. WAs and emails fly back and forth as people ask for things for the event. 

• "Can I come early to set up?" (Of course. I may not be helping but I'll be on call.) 
• "May I cook in your kitchen?" (Sure, as long as you clean up.)
• "Do you have serving dishes? How about knives?" (Of course. How many do you need? - and they'll probably want a cutting board or two.)

W is off to Jakarta to pick up our month-long guests at their airport hotel. We're excited to hand over IES Bandung to them for October, while we work in the USA and Canada. 

"Have a nice holiday," some of our friends have said, thinking of our upcoming month. When they see the packed itinerary, they usually change their greeting. 

They may blink a few times and say, "Hope you have a profitable time and get back home safely so you can rest [in Indonesia.]" haha

Traffic is light so W is home early with the Townsends. Laurel's at the house before 11:00 while I'm sending off the grades for Gail and my recent class.

Read more: 

*Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord, to him who rides across the highest heavens, the ancient heavens, who thunders with mighty voice.

Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the heavens. You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God! Psalm 68:32-35

*For as the earth brings forth its shoots and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations. Isaiah 61:11

*The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches. Luke 13:18-19

Moravian Prayer: God, we, like your gardens, constantly grow in our love and faith. Please continue to nurture us so that our small-seed faith may grow into a tree of love for the world. Amen.