August Ends

It  pains me that August would end on a sad note.  Even if you have accepted that we  would all grow old and eventually will leave this world, it is always sad to learn of someone dear to you pass on.  I just received a message that one of my aunts (Mom’s oldest sister) died last night. She was 96.  She was bedridden for so long that it surely is a blessing for her to rest at last with the Lord.  I will always remember those days when she would bring their farm’s produce when I go home for vacation.  I will always remember those days when she would allow us (her nieces and nephews) to  get what we like in her small sari-sari store when we were kids.  The memories linger and I feel sad that she passed on. It is always sad and touching to hear and see a loved one die.

Tomorrow starts the BER months which most of us Filipinos always look forward to. No matter how hard life is, there is that inner thrill that Christmas would not be far behind.  It’s my favorite season of the year. Do I hear Christmas songs in the air? I have a friend who said that for her, every day is Christmas. Every day is something she looks forward to. Every day is a day of giving, not necessarily materials things but of time and yourself to others. Just listening to a friend, talking to your kids about anything under the sun, helping other people in your own simple way is a way of giving.

August has been a quiet month but with all those thunderstorms almost every day. Except for that time my high school friends surprised me with a visit, it was just the family and me together.  September is inching its way  and I hope it would be a lovely and productive month for us all.

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Tuesday Thoughts

Son has called me twice already since they left this morning for the airport going to Boracay. It’ll be his second time to take a short break there.  He called me up again  less than an hour ago, they are now  at their hotel in Station One.  We just had heavy rains here due to thunderstorms but Boracay is sunny, the weather there is perfect for all the activities they plan to do. Five days of bliss  and exploration.

Got this photo from Wikipedia.

I think I need to trim our carabao grass again.  It is growing by leaps and bounds because of the rain. I just  feel lazy  because I am trying to finish a historical novel set during WWI and two years after WWII.  I always visit the garden though since our small vacant pond is always inundated with rain water.  We’ve lost the Koi fish years ago when it got flooded and it overflowed.

I chanced upon this insect  atop my pink-striped lily that I could not identify. Do you know what it is?

I haven’t harvested calamansi since  my daughter’s family came over for a visit two weeks ago. Some are ready for picking.  I don’t store them in the ref, I just pick some when I need to marinate something or use them as juice  instead of  drinking soda.   That’s  the  good thing about having some fruits and veggies in the garden aside from the ornamental plants  that I have. I noticed some Jutes growing side by side with our chilli peppers.  Perfect.

May you have the nicest week ever.

 

 

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Things To Remember

I just saw this on my news feed at Facebook. People make mistakes in using some of these words. I always notice the wrong use of the word “your” when I am reading shout outs and blog posts. They always say “your welcome” when it should be “you’re welcome”.

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Proud Nonna

Last week, they were at the mall to have Nate’s hair cut. A talent scout approached them  and asked how old Nate was. The following day, Nate had this VTR  along with other kids.

Even if  he won’t be chosen,  I am  so happy for  our little guy.   But they are requesting him to attend a workshop and submit  requirements for a working permit.Nice audition Nate. Proud Nonna here.

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Old Friends

I’d like to think we are not that old yet. Most of us have just reached the ripe age of 60 and we call that being  senior citizens  here.

Tuesday afternoon was another day so memorable to me. A small group of high school batch mates came over for a visit.  The batch is having a grand reunion come January 2018 and the core group is busy contacting classmates and batch mates to attend. If I am not mistaken, this will be the 7th grand reunion since 2003.  We left the portals of  the University of Santo Tomas Education High School almost forty-five years ago.  I attended three  reunions in the past and some small get-together in between.  It is always nice to get in touch, renewing friendship and old ties.

Willie took some shots in his cellphone.

 

Of course, the smiles would always be there.

I remember our days in high school.  Coming from the province, it was hard for me to adjust during the first few months of my high school days. I was a shy kid, not really that friendly.  Imagine, immersing your student days in a big university with new  classmates, teachers, environment and all.

Life in high school.

There was a separate entrance for boys and girls. We were in the morning session while the boys were scheduled in the afternoon.  We only get to mingle together during school activities like the different programs, Sunday masses, Christmas celebrations and the like.  Some of my classmates though managed to meet the boys and became boyfriends/girlfriends.  The excitement of youth…haha  🙂

No stress.

We always emphasize that we would just enjoy the camaraderie when we see each other which is not often.  But always, always, there will be laughter. Most of us have our families now, some of us with grown kids and grandchildren.  We enjoy reminiscing about high school days, keeping up to date with news  about other classmates who  have gone ahead of us.

Food.

No get-together would be a success without food, right? I prepared a simple pasta dish for them  and ensaymada.  They brought me a big box of ensaymada too of a different brand. No matter how simple the fare is, what is important  is being together.

Hopefully, we will see each other again one of these days. Elsa, who came alone  ahead of the group said, ” Now that I know your place, I would surely come over to visit you again”.

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Crazy Cancer

Gosh, I lost another friend.

This is a sad day. Early this morning I learned of the devastating news that another friend is gone. I met her online through Multiply seven years ago. It was one of those online meetings through common friends. She wrote poetry and migrated to the US more than three years ago. In between exchanging news and comments later at Facebook, we finally met personally together with her two grandchildren. It was a lovely  meeting, talking about  family, friends, social media and books.  Met her again when she was completing her requirements for an interview at the US Embassy about six or five years ago. I gave her a rosary and she gave me a set of Hallmark stationery and several gardening mags.  She found out she had cancer  when she was already in the US.

Time is a thief.

I thought she was doing okay already but she died last night. We planned of meeting again  when she comes home but death claimed her. She published a book of poems and she said she will give me a copy. So sad really that I won’t be able to see her again. She lives on through her words. She had a WordPress blog but never updated it after a few entries.

Rest in peace Ding. Keeping you in my prayers.

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Ah, Blogging

Sometimes  you  just feel that tiny apprehension that you  have covered all the subjects you want to blog about and there is nothing more you can explore.  Or maybe you have lost your muse in between and you don’t know how to start again.  Have I blogged about this before? You asked. Have I mentioned it in my previous posts?

One such subject that I do enjoy writing about is blogging.   How many times have I written about this topic?  It’s been there since  I started this blog.  Do you agree that the more you do something in the long run, it gets easier?

Blogging is a dream come true for me. I tried publishing a few posts at Friendster back in 2007  then a friend recommended a new platform called Multiply. Both closed their sites years ago.  I had about close to a hundred friends at the latter and I enjoyed exchanging ideas with them, talking about families, music and more on current events.  We posted photos, food recipes, songs from our  own collections, movies  that touched us at one time (copied of course from YouTube).  It was a social media platform where I met some friends personally.  It was a chat board. Then came Facebook.  I am still there even if sometimes I feel it is so noisy but it is quite easy to chat with friends from all walks of life. It is quite  easy to find old friends you haven’t seen in a decade.

Ah yes, blogging.

Sometimes I feel that reading interesting blog posts is like reading a lovely book in installment, you discover a page every day and you want to see what the next scene will be.

I miss my friends/fellow bloggers who have quietly left the scene because the chapters are not complete.  WordPress keeps on improving their site and sometimes it gets confusing to learn an added tool. I still use the old format until now. I find it easy to edit here than at  the more improved one.  I  unfollowed some blogs  in the process. Most of those bloggers who put their links  in the comments went to my spam folder. Thank you Akismet for that.  I follow a particular blog because I feel there is something there that I can relate to. I tell you, specially to the new bloggers out there,  it is not practical and nice to follow a blog you have just discovered and ask them to follow you back.  Follow it because of its own merits  and don’t expect anything in return.  I do get curious though and I visit their sites.  It takes me more time now  and more inspiring and interesting posts to follow a blog.

Blogging, sharing, meeting new friends in the blogosphere. I love it all.

 

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Meow, Meow

Chanced upon these two lovely kitties under our dining table. There used to be three of them but the other one just disappeared. Their mom likes to sleep on our dining table chairs most of the time.

They can open our screen door at the dirty kitchen but they are disciplined enough to go out of the dining room  when you  say “labas na”.

 

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Charlotte’s Web

I was suddenly reminded of this lovely children’s book while perusing my shelves on authors beginning with “W”. Pete, a friend here  on  WordPress has just ended his posts on alphabetical listings of books and authors.

Charlotte’s Web.

I was not really that familiar with the story until my kids were growing up and we stacked on children’s books to read every night before they went to sleep.

One is never too old to appreciate a good book.

E.B. White is the same author of the more familiar  Stuart Little  novel  which was adapted into a movie not too long ago. Charlotte’s Web is a story of Wilbur, a little pig and Charlotte,  a spider. It is a story of friendship, life, love and death. It’s full of lessons that we could all learn from.

There are several inspiring quotes from Charlotte’s Web, words of wisdom from a child’s book of fairy tales.

“Why did you do all this for me?’ he asked. ‘I don’t deserve it. I’ve never done anything for you.’ ‘You have been my friend,’ replied Charlotte. ‘That in itself is a tremendous thing.”

“I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die. A spider’s life can’t help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.”

“And then, just as Wilbur was settling down for his morning nap, he heard again the thin voice that had addressed him the night before.
“Salutations!” said the voice.
Wilbur jumped to his feet. “Salu-what?” he cried.
“Salutations!” repeated the voice.
“What are they, and where are you?” screamed Wilbur. “Please, please, tell me where you are. And what are salutations?”
“Salutations are greetings,” said the voice. “When I say ‘salutations,’ it’s just my fancy way of saying hello or good morning.”

“It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.”

This is just as good as another children’s book, The Velveteen Rabbit which my kids and I love.

 

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Finally…..Bow

Last night, I received this precious badge from Goodreads together with this lovely message:

“Congrats!
You have read 150 books of your goal of 150!”

Almost nine months and I am done. It was nice to discover new authors whose  books were just as lovely as those I have read before. It was nice to discover new places.  It was just lovely to add more books on my shelves and on my tab.  I was even on a quandary what book to read last but I finally settled on Palladian.  I was reminded of the book Jane Eyre at the outset.  Palladian was first published in 1946, more than ten years before I was born.  Much as there are negative reviews on the book, the positive ones far outweigh them. Such poetic prose,  a string of words that warms the heart.  Summaries and various reviews are posted on Goodreads,  that is, if you have time to visit the site.

Hoping I could find more lovely books to read, reread those books that inspired me over the years, discover more memoirs, poems and fiction in the process.

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