Catching Up and Slowing Down

     Quite a bit of time has passed (almost exactly two years) since I posted here.  I believe life is about to slow down a little and I will again have time to share the gardening experience, as well as whatever adventures we may stumble into along the way.
     The last few years have been a very wild ride.  I was able to secure another teaching job, (quite a feat, I think, at 60 years old.)  It is a beautiful private school with a huge population, which means very large classes and a workload that sometimes feels endless.  The best part, however, is my outdoor classroom - about 50 acres of wetlands, forest and meadow.  I say "my" because when I arrived, no one had used it for several years.  I still can't get over that.  It is a breathtaking place and the kids love spending time there.
      Shortly after the new school year began, I had to take a brief leave of absence for Polly and Max's wedding in Bali, Indonesia.  That was a pretty extraordinary affair.  All of Max's extended family was there and all of us except Rory and Kati.  Rory was playing the Monster in the National Tour of Young Frankenstein and Kati was in school in San Diego.  We came back just in time for Tim to perform in and me to stage manage the bi-annual Bar Association musical - an event that always defies description.  The rest of the year was just filled with lots of school work and activities, but they seemed to fill more hours that I had every day.  I coached the Science Olympiad team and we took 8th in the state - a huge accomplishment!

     The summer was spent primarily at our family home in Holgate, Long Beach Island. My mother normally lives there all summer and sees to the upkeep, but she was quite sick this summer and was only able to make one last visit.  My Bob spend a great deal of time tending to the house, maintaining the dunes and building a sea wall.  I had a feeling of foreboding all summer I couldn't shake.  However, a bright surprise this June was Kati and Rory's announcement that they were expecting in February.  Our first grandchild on the way!
     In late October, Sandy struck and we were hit hard.  We lost the entire bottom portion of the house.  All of Bob's hard work disappeared in a matter of hours.  Two weeks after Sandy hit, my mother passed away.  On her birthday, a week before she died, we were able to show her  aerial photographs of her beloved beach house still standing.  She died not knowing how extensive the damage had been. Months later it still stands precariously - waiting for the restoration to begin.  We are one of thousands affected, so we will be patient.
    Tim finally retired in October,  Polly and I spend a week in Provence and Paris,

Polly visited in both November and December,  Rory made his Broadway debut as the cover for the lead in Elf on Broadway,  and Kati gave birth to a beautiful boy, August, on February 23rd.  Rory and Kati decided that NYC is no place to raise a child, so they are going to give Wilmington a try for the next six months - in a house just around the corner!  I am over-the-moon delighted with this arrangement.  Rory will be on the road quite a bit, but with family so close, (Kati's family is about 45 minutes south and Bob is just up the road in Philly)  Kati and August will be well taken care of.  If this works out -it may become their permanent home - which would not be a bad thing at all.

     Recently I surveyed all the ups and downs of the last few years and realized that I wanted to slow down a little and give myself time to appreciate the joys of family, gardening, travel, theater, and all the creative pursuits that I love.  Teaching has been the center of my life for more than 2/3 of my years and after much soul-searching, I decided it was time let other things take my spotlight.  So in a few short weeks, I will be retired.  It actually hurts to say those words aloud, which is why I haven't shared this with many people.  I love teaching and I love my students.  I'm not sure who I will be when I am no longer a teacher, but I am sure that it is time to find out.
    

And So We Begin Again

I have been away from this for quite a while.  A busy winter, filled with important family events and an intense school year, supplanted my best intentions.  Rory and Kati were married on December 28th, Rory finished his degree at the University of the Arts the week before.  Bob received his masters in Medical Science and became a Physician's Assistant the week before that.  That was just two weeks in December (on either side of Christmas) !  It feels like the last six months have all been like that.  Rory is commuting now between San Diego (where Kati is in school) Philadelphia and New York (and technically living here.)  We are planning two weddings for Polly and Max - one on Long Beach Island in early July and the other on Bali in Indonesia later.  My school is closing permanently in June and I am waiting to see where (or if) I will be teaching in the fall.  So the next six months look a lot like the last.
However, Spring is upon us, although it certainly doesn't feel like spring.  Nevertheless, it is time for the garden.  We have been discussing and planning all winter.  The front garden seemed a little worn last summer.  We think it's time for a major overhaul.  The side garden was a a bit like a jungle last year, and needs some thought.  And there are always the vegetables.  Lots to think about.
We have begun.  Our heirloom tomatoes for this year are babies under the grow lights in the basement.  Yesterday we purchased a large used rain barrel to keep our side yard fern garden moist.
I have no pictures to post - but I will get some soon.  I am aching to get my hands in the soil and experience the peace that only this kind of activity brings.  Soon, very soon.

It's a Jungle Out There!

I wrote this on August 16th.  Somehow it never posted.

Turtle Heads

Isn't it amazing how much can change in the garden in two weeks!  When I left, there was order and predictability in our design.  The borders were smooth, the weeds contained and the Cherokee Purple about to explode.  In the time that I was gone - 60 Cherokee tomatoes ripened, and the plants settled into complacency, the turtle heads bloomed,  the hanging baskets went dormant and then began to happily flower again  The borders became memories, with only a hint of definition, the lilies disappeared under a riot of Trillium, and any place we gave up and let the morning glory grow, is now in impenetrable barrier.  Two weeks!

I was also happy to see that the Shasta Daisy was having another flowering, as was the coreopsis.  The beans are finally going into flower.  I was thinking we were going to have this hefty tee-pee of green vines and nothing to show for it.  However, these beans are all heirloom varieties, and I guess they just do their thing in their time.  I'm so looking forward to fresh beans!

My first action once I get the luggage in the door was to go to the garden and find the most perfect Japanese Black Trifele out there.   That variety is doing so well this year.  We have double or triple the output we expected, and the fruit is much larger than we have seen previously.   So, I brought in this still warm tomato and made a sandwich on oatmeal bread with some thin slices of feta.  Not very conventional, I know, but it was Heaven!  (It's a bad thing when one misses garden produce more than one's spouse. But he understands.)

We made a huge batch of pesto yesterday morning - our first attempt.  It turned out quite well.  We froze some of it.  We then added spinach to the mixture and used it on a Pasta, Pea, and Pine Nut Salad.  That was a Food Network, Ina Garten recipe -  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/pasta-pesto-and-peas-recipe2/index.html .  I would certainly recommend it.  If you don't like the flavor of pine nuts (I'm not a fan unless they are super-fresh) then leave them out - they really don't add much.  You also might want to assess how much garlic to use.  She calls for 9 cloves - we used two.  I'm not a great lover of garlic (unlike it rest of the world, it seems) and two was more than plenty.  This recipe makes enough to feed fifteen - so halving it might be a good idea. 
We took this to a neighborhood gathering and it disappeared pretty quickly.  Nothing like fresh basil in the hot summer.

It's good to be home.

Winding Down

My time here in Indonesia is about to end.  I will be on a plane headed for Hong Kong in less than 48 hours and then onto Vancouver and then New York.   I miss Tim, I miss the dog and the garden and I miss the boys (although Rory is still in San Diego for a few more weeks.)  But, even after a year, I still have trouble getting my head around the idea that Polly, who is central to my life the way only a daughter can be, is 13,000 miles away.  When I say goodbye, it is not for a few days or a week or a month, but for many months.  I am so grateful for email, and Skype and international cheap phone rates, but I can't pretend it is the same.  I love the time I have with her and I am sorry to see it end.  The next time I see her, it will be Christmas and Rory's wedding.  That will be quite a time!   Indonesia isn't forever and wherever she goes after that - well - it will be impossible to be farther away.  I've experienced a great deal because of her choices.  Not only have I done things I never would have imagined I could do, but I am far more confident because of it all.  I see possibilities I never would have considered.  All this is so positive.  But in the end, most of all, I just miss her.

Tim has been home while the rest of us have been globetrotting (Bob is in Sweden.)  He has been madly processing the tomatoes which have been coming in at an astounding rate.  The Cherokee Purples peaked last week, but now everything else is ready.  Something else I miss very much is the taste of fresh summer tomatoes.  Because I am only in Indonesia for a few weeks at a time, I make it a point never to eat fresh produce - too much risk of contamination and I have no antibodies to combat that.  But even if I wanted a tomato - the ones available here are mostly green and barely ripe when they get to the market.  They don't ripen them before they eat them here, so it really isn't the same experience at all.

This weekend, Polly and I traveled to Jogjakarta - a city Southeast of Jakarta.  It is more of a cultural center than Jakarta and we did see some remarkable things.  The picture of Polly above and the one below, were taken at the largest Buddhist temple in the world - Borobudur.   The temple was astounding in its beauty and construction, the views were remarkable, and the terraced gardens leading up to the summit were just lovely.  Despite there being hundreds of people there that evening, the atmosphere was one of quiet, respite and contemplation and it has been there for 1,300 years. 

An Education

It goes without saying that one should never go to a foreign country and expect to be accommodated in one's own language.  That is certainly true here in Indonesia.  I have been much more adventurous this trip, in terms of striking out on my own, but I have had a lot more trouble communicating as a result.  I've had some very long taxi rides because I was not able to make the driver understand where I needed to go.   As a matter of fact, I had one driver ask me to leave his cab (told me, actually) because he didn't want to bother trying to understand what I was trying to convey.  One is lured into a false sense of familiarity here because so many of the signs are in English.  At the mall, all the advertisements and directions are written in English - sometimes just English.  I think most people (at least those who read billboards and go to malls) can read "mall English" but that certainly doesn't mean they speak it.

I love the giant red shoe that provides the support for the escalator.

I am very pleased that I had one minor success.  I had purchased minutes for the cell phone that I use here.  When we got home, we realized that the minutes had not been loaded onto the phone.  I was able to go back by myself, find the store (in a MONSTER mall - see picture) and communicate that I had not received the minutes and needed a refund or minutes loaded to the phone.  It took a while, but all ended successfully.

Malls and Stalls - Both extremes are important
anchors of Jakarta economy.

I am impressed at how well Polly can get around and communicate.  She feels that her Bahasa Indonesian skills are lacking, but she speaks well enough that she gets attention.  People appreciate her efforts and go out of their way to help her express herself.  I will definitely learn some Indonesian before I come here again - it is only right.

I am being honest when I say that Jakarta is  a very ugly city.  I don't think there are many who would disagree.  One reason for the opulent, massive malls is that they provide a primary leisure escape for much of the population.   The air  here is awful most of the time and  much of the city is crumbling.  The sewer system is dreadful and runs under what used to be sidewalks, now just open pits with random slabs of off-kilter concrete.  There is frequently a lingering odor of sewage that, unfortunately, can also emanate from the drains inside homes and other buildings.  But there is great inner beauty that exists behind this unfortunate exterior - both in the people and in the place.  One just needs to be able to see beyond the surface.  It is not easy, and sometimes quite tricky, but I am learning.  The rewards are great.

A City of Contrasts

This is my second day in Jakarta, after spending Thursday in Singapore.  We have been on a number of excursions the last few days and my reaction is always the same.  I feel like one of the those cartoon characters with eyes the size of saucers and their head on a swivel.  This is one of the most Asian of the large Eastern cities and everything is very different from what I know.  In order to orient and begin to understand, one must adopt completely new vision.  When you let go of preconceptions, things start to slowly come together and make sense.  It's like beginning an intricate multi-colored jigsaw puzzle with no decipherable design and no picture to guide you.  It will be revealed - it just takes patience and determination.

Curb appeal is a rather foreign concept here.  The outward appearance of a many homes and businesses is of much less concern than what is hidden inside.  The contrast between the external and the internal can be profound.  The picture above is the street outside Polly's house.  Below is the view from her back door.

The View From Polly's Back Porch

I could write for days about the contrasts and surprises that I've encountered both on this trip and the one last spring, but I think I will just be content to post impressions as I go.

Jakarta Bound

Tomorrow I am leaving to visit my daughter, Polly, for two weeks in Indonesia.  I love spending time with Polly no matter where we are, but a trip to Indonesia is something quite special.  The plane ride is very long - about 24 hours total.  Nonstop to Hong Kong is 17 hours and then another its another 3 to Singapore.  I will be meeting Polly there and we will go on to Jakarta the next day.  Coming back is harder than going because the jet lag is much worse - but it is all an endurance event.  So it is good there is someone I love and miss waiting at the end.

Tim will not be going with me on this trip.  He doesn't like leaving our dog, Penny, and he doesn't like leaving his garden.  He will be on his own more than usual this time because our son, Rory is leaving on Friday for a cross-country driving adventure taking his fiance, Kati, to school in San Diego.  Our older son, Bob, who splits his time between here and Philadelphia, is also going to be away.  He is leaving on the 4th for a wedding in Sweden.  Not having anyone around but his buddy Penny, means Tim can keep his own schedule and do exactly as he likes.  He will also have to take over processing the tomatoes.  He has already had me purchase a food grinder so he can improve on my recipes.  I'm sure he will do a great job. Tim is not a real techno-wiz, but he has become very fond of Skype as a means of keeping up when family is away. Staying connected makes the coming a going so much easier.

The pictures above were taken when I was last in Indonesia in March.  Polly's eighth grade students at the Jakarta International School each are given a 4 x 4 garden plot to work with a partner.  They love this project and grow some great produce.  Gardening is not the popular past time in Indonesia that it is here.  Polly is beginning an all-school gardening initiative to introduce a number of students to eco-friendly practices such as composting, vermiculture and soil enhancement.  She is hoping the students will be able to sell their crops at a school produce stand, which will also promote healthy eating.  I find this whole project very exciting and look forward to seeing how it all progresses.

I will be posting from Jakarta, and where ever else we wander, in the next few weeks.  Jakarta itself is not especially attractive, but much of Indonesia is very beautiful and it is all fascinating.