Category: Mission Journal

Slowly, slowly…

I’m slowly accumulating the things I need for living in Nazareth Home and Louisville. Some items are major, like an e-bike for getting around. Others are more utilitarian like a toilet brush. Today I got a wooden executive-type filing cabinet. I was going to get the usual metal two- or four-drawer file cabinet but my sister saw the wooden unit above in a consignment shop and took me to see it. The price in such a shop drops regularly according to how long it stays in the shop. The nice wooden cabinet had been marked at $100 but was in the bargain room when I saw it, and I was able to get it for $20. My sister Mary and her husband Mike picked it up today and brought it to me. Thanks! Now all the papers on the couch can be filed away!

My Hong Kong flag

Last week my sister Jane surprised me with a framed flag of Hong Kong from the colonial era. I was living in Hong Kong in 1997 when Britain ceded control of their Hong Kong colony to China. Remembering what had happened at Tiananmen Square, thousands and thousands of Hong Kongers were fleeing to any place that would take them. The bishop asked those of us from the missionary groups to stay, to try to provide an element of stability and reassurance to a frightened people. On one of my trips home, I brought this flag and Jane had it in her basement and decided my return to Kentucky was the time to return the flag to me.

Visit to Cincy

The last sister I hadn’t seen after my return is Martha in Cincinnati so yesterday two other sisters, Mary and Jane, and Jane’s daughter Emily, drove to Cincy to see Martha. It was a great reunion for me and a wonderful visit for us all.

The four siblings, Jane and Charlie (front), and Mary and Martha.
Enjoying the porch after a wonderful lunch together.

Bicycle Surprise

Today I got the surprise of my life! Because of macular degeneration in my eyes, I am not going to drive any more and was looking for an e-bike to get me around Louisville. I had borrowed my cousin Julie’s bike and today she asked if I could bring it back. I rode it over to her house and when I got there she announced that my cousins had collaborated to buy me a new e-bike! I was stunned–and most appreciative of their caring and generosity!

Nazareth Home Clifton

Office/Living Room
At Nazareth Home Clifton, this is my office and living room. I posted an earlier photo and it looked much neater but that was because I hadn’t unpacked anything. Now a lot of things, especially papers, are waiting to be sorted and a place found for them. One addition in this picture is the large monitor connected to my laptop. Previously I used two monitors but this one is wide enough to accommodate two pages side by side so I can still copy and paste.
This is a view from the window toward the door that leads to the hallway. The white folding doors on the left are a large walk-in closet. There is a similar closet in my bedroom so I have plenty of hanging space and some shelves in them.

Nazareth Home Clifton

Kitchen
This is a little common kitchen for the twelve priest rooms on the first floor of Nazareth Home Clifton. We eat meals in a larger dining room for those of us in the independent living section but this kitchen gets used for breakfasts and pick-up food.
It’s a quite small room but is perfect for us. I always eat breakfast here–we eat breakfast at different times–and occasionally grab a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a Coke Zero.

Now, tasks at home….

Now that I am at Nazareth Home Clifton, my permanent home, i am starting on my list of things to do. One immediate task was to provide some transportation for myself and I borrowed my cousin’s e-bike to get around the neighborhood. Fr. Roy Stiles rides a bike almost every day. That’s his bike in the rear.
My borrowed e-bike is an assisted e-bike, i.e., the motor only kicks in if your are pedaling. That is great because I can still get some exercise while I am also able to increase the distance I travel and lessen the travel time. Roy and I keep our bikes inside our residence, in an unoccupied room.

The final push….

The owner of the apartment that I am borrowing asked me for some photos of it to see if he needs to make changes. When taking pictures of the living room, I noticed the difference in color in the chair on the left and its matching sofa on the right. I had the chair cleaned when my backpack leaked on it and that may have lightened the color. Now I think I’ll need to clean the sofa to see what that does.

Start of the final push

When I moved to my present room, it was a rush and instead of sorting and throwing away a lot of stuff, I brought it with me. Now as I face leaving Cambodia on August 11, I had to do something with all that I brought with me from the old house. Sorting through it all takes a lot of time and Maria Montello, a former Maryknoll Lay Missioner, came today to help me open boxes and dig through them.

I think my room is going to look like the aftermath of an earthquake for the next two weeks because we just had a start today. Maria estimates we processed 20% of the task. I hope it was that much!