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.