Saturday Musings

Been going back and forth to the doctor the past few days, that is  every Saturday.  He suggested that I undergo Urine Culture and Sensitivity Test. I have to buy a bottle of distilled water  so I could submit the required amount of urine for the laboratory. I mentioned earlier that I am also a  colon cancer survivor and he also included CEA marker testing in his request. I am nervous and at the same time confident that my CEA markers would be normal. Praying on it and for it.

A few more hours to go and  it’ll be another leaf in the calendar. Uneventful June if I may  say. I don’t know, lately I feel so lazy to go out and socialize. A friend invited me to a party this coming week but it is a night affair. I don’t go out at night (really) because of the hardship in commuting. Besides,  I don’t want Oreo to be left alone in the house for long. I usually leave him for a few minutes when I buy some lacking grocery items  in our pantry. The village grocery store is just outside our village’s gate, a five-minute walk from our place.

Some people might think the days are boring. I am busy most of the time to get bored and when I am not doing anything, I read. You are not alone when you read. Books are unique in the sense that they get you to places you have never been to, experience those heart-stopping moments of a chase, learn more crafts, increase your  awareness on the lives of people you only meet in  books. It’s one thing why I love reading memoirs too. I always remember Stephen King’s words when I read. He said and I quote “Books are uniquely portable magic”. I was lucky enough to find his lovely book called “On Writing:  A Memoir of the Craft” several years ago. I have read it thrice already. I thought at first it was an autobiography but it was all about some pointers in writing.  I say, write from the heart.

Hello July. Surprise me please.

 

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What’s Your BMI?

Got this from one of the articles at Good Housekeeping. If you want to know your body mass index, here’s how:

Multiply your weight in lbs. by 705. Divide this number by your height in inches twice. If your BMI is:

below 19 – you are underweight
19 to 25 – you have a healthy weight
26 to 29 – you are considered overweight and are most likely to have an excess of body weight
but not necessarily body fat
30 to 39 – you are obese and have an excessively high  proportion of body fat
over 40 – you are extremely obese which can increase your risk of death from any cause by 50% to 150%

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An Afternoon With Oreo And The Beatles

I’ve missed this kind of music. Oh yeah.

Listening to the early albums of  The Beatles on YouTube while I am having my tab charged for further reading. I placed the headset on Oreo’s ears a while ago and now he is watching me tapping my fingers near where he is. When you talk to him, his head goes this way and that and seems like he understands.  Maybe he does, who knows. His eyes look alert.

Having a puppy for company all day long, it  makes you a little inventive…haha! When he is not sleeping, he watches me and sometimes reaches out his two front paws and touches my hand while I am holding the mouse.  He is about four months old  now and in human years, (with his pedigree)  that is equivalent to a five-year old.  I have to do research on this because I am curious about his age.  He has lost three of his milk teeth.

Going back to The Beatles, I am playing their Greatest Hits Collection, more than an hour of  listening to their well-loved songs. I am reminded of my younger years when what you can hear on the radio are different groups and artists who belonged to the  first British Invasion, a cultural phenomenon of the mid-60’s. Who would not be reminded of the Dave Clark Five, the Rolling Stones, Herman’s Hermits, the Hollies, Chad and Jeremy? I love them all.

There was a time when my kids were small, we used to watch old films of The Beatles on a new music channel on television. Maybe, that’s why until now, Josef downloads some on his Bose SoundLink Mini and he let’s me listen to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hello Thursday!

The golden sun showed its face early and the rays made the  green leaves of the plants shiny and bright. Sun-lit grass, they’re like pearls scattered all around.  It rained a little last night, another day of saving precious water to maintain them.

I spent an hour at the garden before the sun was up, pruning, weeding and sweeping unwanted fallen leaves on the ground. I need not tell you how peaceful and quiet the early morning was. A really perfect time to commune with Nature.

Just done with my 79th read yesterday, 31 books ahead of schedule on my  Goodreads’ Reading Challenge. Through Rushing Water by Catherine Richmond  is a historical novel set in 1876 at the Ponca Indian Agency in Dakota Territory. It is a story of a tribe struggling with daily lives, trying to make do with the meager means they have and a missionary who taught the Indian kids  in such  a primitive place. It was inspired by true events  experienced by the Ponca Indians. This is the first time I encountered a story about the lives of Indians in early America and it was a riveting  and inspiring read.

When you find a good book that makes you learn events of the past, you’ll try to look for another book like it. Presently though, I’ve started on a thriller called Look  For Me, it’s my first read of Lisa Gardner.  I hope it does not disappoint.

Time flies, the June month is almost over. Happy Thursday everyone. Be someone’s sunshine today. May we all be blessed.

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Do It

There you go, another lovely quote to ponder upon.  I had this for quite sometime on my news feed  and seen it again today so why not blog about it?

Are people judgmental? Some are but not everyone.  Some people  rely on truth and veracity of one’s statements, some are fooled by false promises. Many belong to the latter especially when they meet people with glib tongues echoed by wonderful  but empty words. Some who are wise enough couldn’t care less, they just raise their eyebrows with an unexpressed “unbelievable” word.

Last week, he did it again cursing the Catholic Church and calling God stupid. My God is not stupid, he probably is. Many people reacted not just Catholics but others of Christian faith. That’s clearly crossing the line of propriety and respect. We are all brief sojourners in this world but God is eternal.

Now Duterte would like to create a panel to dialogue with the Catholic clergy.  He had clearly touched  a very sensitive spot in the lives of majority of Filipinos. Too late, the damage is done and those ugly words about the Bible and God won’t be forgotten by many. Why make a dialogue with someone who doesn’t even know how to keep his words and tells more lies while he stays in office? He is there not to serve the people but to divide them. He says one thing today, tomorrow he refutes it. Do you still believe in this guy? I pity you if you still do.

There was a survey released lately. It implied that  he was a failure as president and that crimes are still on the rise. He kept saying that he will resign (for so many times) but why is he still there?  Do it now!

You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.

 

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Bloom

Way back when I was enamored with flowers  and blooms

Way back when a new bud is a promise of young life

Trying to capture the essence of life

in a flower.

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Saturday Delight

Yesterday was another  lovely family day. Played with Nate, gave him a bath and picked calamansi for them to bring home.

When  he got bored with his meager toys here, he suggested that we open the PC so he could play. He knows how to play Bejeweled and when he hits the target and see the word  Excellent, he claps his hands and points to the  scoreboard.  He asked me to open Warcraft and StarCraft but I told him those were not for little boys like him. It is only his Ninong Josef who play the games.  I showed many photos that I took previously and those which Nissa forwarded through messenger. He was happy.

He tinkered with my tab, finally finding the camera and took shots of Nissa sleeping on the bed. I erased most of them because they were not in focus and so blurry. Before they left, I took a few shots not being aware that  he set it to video. So we had so many one minute and fifty seconds video shots while he was making faces in front of the camera. Naughty, naughty Nate.  He ended saying “Do you like it Nonna”?

I asked him about school and his classmates. He said that he brings lunch to school because his class ends at 11:20 am.  When his classmates noticed it, they also brought their  own.  “Girls are not allowed“, he told me, meaning it is an all-boys class.

I promised to buy  him some marbles to play with next time he visits and toy soldiers too, he added. He brought with him a big transformer car but could not  make it  go because the batteries were not charged properly.  So we just converted it to a big robot.

The happiness of a child sometimes lie in simple things.  They don’t need really complicated toys to make them happy. It was another wonderful day, another day to cherish.

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Just For Fun

There are so many apps at Facebook but this is the only one that I’ve tried at the moment. I just want to know how well they know a person through her public profile by guessing (?) things that would make you smile or frown.  My FB status is for friends only. I don’t click like on those posts of friends who are updating their walls publicly.  For one thing, I never send  nor forward chain mails even if they are of religious kind, I just erase them. Neither do I  play online games, it is a waste of time for me.

I like this though.

And except that weak point which is being crazy about sweets, I am not. I choose sweets I wanna eat and only do so when I crave for it.  Neither do I smile when confronted with suffering, I just cry silently and pray. All the rest though are quite true. I really hate FAKE people but I love meeting new friends.

By the way, I’ve just erased another twenty spam comments with that annoying word “write”. Some even have  WordPress sites. If they are legit  WordPress users, how come  they’ve joined the bandwagon of spammers?

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It’s Healthy

Picked some mulberry leaves early this morning from a small mulberry cutting I planted about three months ago. It was given by our neighbor and luckily it survived. As it needs pruning to produce those spuds, I harvested the healthy leaves and made them into tea.

They say that mulberry tea leaves have many health benefits including the reduction of blood sugar. Mulberries are filled with nutrients that are important for our body, including iron,riboflavin, vitamin C, vitamin K, potassium, phosphorous, and calcium. Hopefully in a few more months  I would be able to see those tiny mulberry fruits.

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It’s Josef’s Birthday

It’s Josef”s 34th birthday today. He didn’t file a leave of absence  so probably we will just celebrate when he comes home this afternoon.

I recycled one his photos   from two years ago. Taken on the same day when he took a vacation leave so we could go out and celebrate.

Today is another blessing, another year of celebration of life. I remember when he was born. Compared to Nissa, it was a very easy birth. We arrived at the hospital at about 10 pm then at 11:15 pm, we touched faced.  He was a healthy 7.3 lbs. baby, low forceps.  We checked out the following day. He was named Alvin Josef. We call him Sef at home but his friends and office mates call him Alvin.

So really blessed and lucky to have a very responsible, loving and lovable kid. Way to go Josef. HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🙂

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