Garden gone crazy

Friday, November 16, 2024

We've had a full week with a family birthday ("Love you, Rebekah!"), grandkids visiting Grandma, and a mountain hike. There's been meaningful work, of course. Can't get better than that, right?

A friend has recommended a gardener to replace the yardman who quit. He comes by for an interview and tours the yard. He says it will take him and an assistant almost a week to clean out the mess. Plants grow quickly here. Gardens that are not weeded, hedges that aren't cut, and trees that aren't pruned are prime territory for snakes and other wildlife. The flowerbed grew knee-high weeds in the month we were away.

I make my fastest-ever (focused) run to the grocer before Jakarta weekend traffic arrives on the hill. I can choose - wait for lunch to be over and get stuck in traffic? Or make a run that will overlap few minutes into lunchtime.

I decide, "Go now." (My default mode: "Do it now, don't put it off.") PakG drives me there and back in a half hour - I know just what I need for my vegan weekend menu.

Eating mostly a plant-based menu means getting creative with cooking. Veronica got a recipe for "ham" sausage from a friend. She's a vegetarian and said it was delicious. She has some ingredients and I have the rest. We'll try making it together. 

The big accomplishment this week is getting our 5-year visa papers. We're one year in, so there are 4 years left on the documents. That's ok; it's something less to think about next year.

W and I finalize the weekend talk. One of my jobs is to get Advent moving. It starts in 2 weeks! so I delegate some parts, research others, and am content with the process. (2 weeks! For a 'plan ahead' person, we're down to the wire, eh?) 

Tiny ants run across my screen. I squish them instead of letting them go into the keyboard or ports to build their little communities.

Saturday

After a walk, I go into the garden to update Sunday's arrangement. We go from this (by Titik, last Sunday):

to this. I discard drooping sunflowers and wilted roses and tuck in additions from the garden and weeds from the street.

As always, Titik's beautiful sculpture turns into a wild thing. Red roses can last most of the week, unlike white and yellow ones that fade within days. There's all kinds of stuff in there. I like the back almost as much as the front.

I spend the morning writing weekly posts for our New Normal photo and paragraph. I ran out of posts in September ... now we're good through May 2025.

I still take photos of weird and wonderful things around us. These elicit not even a blink from locals but still seem strange to our former selves. For example, look at this moth - in her party dress?

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W heads down the hill for his $1 haircut. There are leftovers for lunch.

Sunday

Unusually for us, we're up early enough to walk a loop, eat breakfast, shower, and talk to our moms before 7:00. Then it's off to the hall for prayer and a wonderful morning with IES Bandung.

After a board meeting, we have lunch at Ethnic. Supper is at a new-to-us hole-in-the-wall Chinese place that's been going for decades. Our friends are foodies, so we always eat well when they choose an eatery.

Monday

It's rained and the flowers are dripping.

A huge stump will disappear in a few months, rotted by rain and eaten by ants and termites.

Overhead, the trumpet vines look fragile but they're toxic to pets.

The yard cleaners come to erase a month of unrestricted tropical growth in the garden. Whew. With movie night ahead, it's time to straighten up. The buzz of the weed-whacker is matched by the smell of mown grass and the swish of the broom that removes clippings from the lawn. The mosquitoes are so bad that they smoke the yard to get rid of them.

Read more:

*Heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it. Deuteronomy 10:14

[At the birth of Jesus, the angels said:] Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors! Luke 2:14

*John, [the disciple of Jesus writes] to the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

“Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:4-8

Moravian Prayer: Creator God, we praise you for your awesome creation; the heavens and the earth all belong to you. You have given us life and our lives belong to you. You have given us your peace and we pray for your peace upon this earth. All glory be to you, God. Amen.