How Organized Are You?

Took this quiz on Facebook just for fun and here’s the result…haha! I really can’t stand clutter, it freaks me out.  What, you mean OC?

You are very organized. You are the poster child for control and order, some people may even refer to you as a neat freak but remember, its the organized person that gets things done.

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Goodbye J.D. Salinger…..

“Among other things, you’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You’re by no means alone on that score, you’ll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You’ll learn from them—if you want to. Just as some day, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It’s a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn’t education. It’s history. It’s poetry.”- J.D. Salinger

Thank you for giving us Catcher in the Rye.

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Thoughts and Ramblings

It  was just a speck. I was fascinated.   It’s not yet summer, and I wasn’t expecting to see this small boy of around 10 freely enjoying the soft afternoon breeze with his dark kite flying in the sky.  This is my favorite spot, a place to watch the  fluffy and cotton candy clouds  on the horizon.  It’s behind our house, an undeveloped phase in our area where most people take their morning stroll and  exercise their dogs early in the morning.  And it set me thinking,  this laid back life that I am having now must be such a boring thing to most people.  I seem to float through life without the usual enthusiasm, without so much perk and socializing has become text messages and occasional calls on my cellphone,  moving in and out of this thingy called Facebook, adding and chatting with long lost friends in the process,  and yes, writing my thoughts here  in WordPress and updating my photoblogs at Multiply.  Don’t get me wrong, I cannot abide spending much of my time doing nothing productive.

Six months ago, it was easier to plan  everything that I wanted to do.  I am one of those who live by some lists on what to buy, where to go, whom to see, what to read, what to cook  for dinner  or where to spend special occasions for the family.  But six months ago, everything changed.  Life could be cruel at times when you are not prepared to face what it throws your way.   Sometimes, I look back at my life and wonder, what have I to show  after all these years?

I was reading a blog by one of my friends regarding the support group called Carewell Community (Cancer Resource and Wellness Community), a non-profit foundation that provides support and hope to persons with cancer by helping them to become more positive and engaged in their fight  for recovery.  One of these days, I may find the courage to make a visit  and share my own plight with fellow cancer patients.  The pain might be bearable but the journey is quite difficult.  You will never know how to completely empathize with a person who has cancer unless you have experienced the same thing.

I am just a cog in the ocean of life but one thing I learned while undergoing treatment was that,  every suffering has its own reward and mine was this – I am stronger now to face challenges, never being afraid of what the outcome of my treatment would be in the future.   And I am truly grateful for this experience because after everything that my family and I have been through, it has changed our lives for the better – more loving, more caring and becoming closer together.

“I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey…
I asked for health, that I might do great things.
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things…
I asked for riches, that I might be happy.
I was given poverty, that I might be wise…
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men.
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God…
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.
I was given life, that I may enjoy all things…
I got nothing I asked for-but everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am among men, most richly blessed!” ¹²

– An Unknown Confederate Soldier,
A Creed for Those Who Have Suffered

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Clouds

The shot really is nothing exceptional.  No sense of focus, nary a good subject. It probably would not even merit an amateur photographer’s eye.  But it made me think  of what life is all about – wonders of creation, freedom, lightness of being depicted by this lone bird which was captured  on screen. And these clouds no less remind us of our own mortality, that nothing is really permanent, that we are just passing through. I just remembered that I took this shot right after the partial solar eclipse last January 15, 2010.

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Just a Mound of Earth

We’ve finally started  our garden project.  There is really nothing yet but just a mound of earth but I am documenting every phase until it is done.

I wonder how long it would take before I could see something green again here.  Some of my old ornamental plants have to be replaced .  I am saving a few of them for propagation.  Rocks and garden ornaments cost sky high, more so with ornamental plants.  This would probably be our last big project this year.

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Excited

Hmm…I think I won’t be able to sleep well tonight. Just thinking of a lot of things makes me feel so much alive. Though my eyes are getting blurred staring too long at the screen of my computer, my mind is wide, very much wide awake.  Or maybe it’s just the excitement of knowing that finally tomorrow, we’ll be starting on a new project – the rehabilitation of our garden. And I’m excited that a landscape designer will do the job.  We’ll finally build a grotto for Mama Mary complete with a pond.  I’d like to have a Japanese zen look  in one corner.  I wonder if some of my remaining plants will be used though.  No matter, I’m just plain happy waiting in eager anticipation of what it would be like for I am sure it would be a little different from our existing one.

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Huh???

It’s such a shame that the mother of a suspected killer calls her detractors mangmang (dumb).  She calls herself a genius and her intelligence is above most people, that’s why they don’t understand her.  Then why can’t she see truth when it is staring at her in the face?

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Unexpected

What do you think of this?  I accidentally bumped my camera while trying to take a shot of some fine prints infront of my PC.  And this is the result. I decided to save it because I like the play of colors shown here. The brown shade is definitely beautiful, at least through my eyes, (wink, wink).

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A Future Chef…..

Cooking Blog : Me and EJ on The Martha Show | emerils.com

EJ is so cute! and Emeril looks so proud!

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And I Love This Too!

You might think, I am obsessed with planners and journals but the truth is,  I love writing my thoughts in them. And I have several notebooks in all sizes courtesy of my daughter, Nissa.  I received this one last night, what a surprise.  It looks more like a photo journal than a planner actually because every page is full of scenery and tourist attractions in far away Netherlands.

 

Malou inserted this note in the fly leaf.  Thank you so much for the prayers Malou.

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Nice picture of a windmill , isn’t it?  This is a windmill of Polder Buitenweg in Oud Zuilen, Utrecht.   Looking at all the albums she posted at her site, I feel as if I’ve been there too.

Sailing on the Frisian lakes

Zeeuws Museum at Middelburg, Zeeland

Castle Ammersoyen at Ammerzoden, Gelderland

Townhall of Leiden, Zuid-Holland

Windmill’t Vliegend at Brielle, Zuid-Holland

St. Catherine’s Church in Brielle, Zuid-Holland

View at Dortecht, Zuid-Holland

The “Chimes Tower” with houses in Edam, Noord-Holland

Weighing House in Alkmaar, Noord-Holland

Summer landscape with cows, Friesland

 

Former townhall in Vught, Noord-Brabant

Church in Westhem, Friesland

“Het Binnenhof” in The Hague, Zuid-Holland

 

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