Time To Say Goodbye July

Gosh, where did July go?

And it is slowly melting into the month of August. July….the  uneventful days, the days meeting new friends,  cloudy, stormy and rainy and sunshine in between.  Yes I know, another 31 days to go before the  start  of  the BER months. Not really looking forward to  August since I am pretty sure it’ll be  another stormy month for us. But there is something nice about the changing leaves in the calendar. You wish that dream you had would finally come true. You wish that your health would finally go back to normal. And you wish that everything falls into place. Does it ever though?

Saying goodbye to July and saying hello to August.  My monthly ritual of a blog. Something that would summarize the days and the month about to end and  maybe something more of a surprise in the coming days of August.

I am almost at the finish line of my Goodreads challenge for this year. I just viewed my profile at Goodreads and it says I have about  923 ratings (3.74 average), 289 reviews, # 56 top reviewers and around 1,023 books read since joining, back in 2011.  A well-traveled journey in reading so to speak. I tend to favor historical fiction and memoirs. I love learning about other people’s lives. History has that appeal that contemporary books don’t have.  My most read authors are Robin Cook and James Patterson with 28 books each followed by Luanne  Rice and Richard Paul Evans with 22 and 21 books successively. Kristin Hannah and Rosamunde Pilcher come next with  16 books each.  I didn’t even know that Goodreads has these features, a total number of all books you’ve read through the years. I only follow the reading challenge each year. I follow 19 authors and I have 58 friends but not all of them are readers. some are just there with  updated profiles but no list of books read.

When I talk about books, I can’t seem to stop. Happy August month everyone!

 

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Let Them Grow

I uprooted the sweet potato vines early this morning.  We locally call it “camote”. We  usually use the young leaves for our sinigang or just  steam them for a few minutes and make them into a salad.  I replanted a few healthy stems  and maybe in a month, they’ll  give fresh young leaves again.

I also planted the Roselle seeds that a friend gave me together with the other seeds from his farm. I am not really familiar with how Roselle looks like. It belongs to the family of hibiscus and the flowers are lovely.  And it is edible.  Wow! All I have left for planting now are the burgundy okra seeds.  Maybe when the others have grown, I will think of where to put the latter. The blue ternatea  are slowly climbing the steel matting we put on top of our  concrete perimeter fence.  I planted the white ones two days ago along with the blue ones. I  could now imagine when they’ll bear those lovely blue and white flowers.  Lovely 🙂

Got plenty of gardening gloves but every time I visit the garden and plant those seeds, I’d rather have my hands bare. Digging the earth  with my garden trowel with bare hands, feeling the soft soil and wishing those seeds to grow well, such a lovely wish for a small-time gardener like me. Just taking advantage of the sunny days before another weather disturbance touches  our shores.  Maybe by the end of the year, I’ll have more blooms and fresh veggies in my garden. The carabao grass needs to be trimmed again and yesterday, I harvested more calamansi fruits and gave some to my two neighbors.

The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul. – Alfred Austin

 

 

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Bangon Na

This might be a little late for this topic. As much as possible though, I don’t want to make another political blog.

What do you know? La Gloria is back.  And that  infamous “hello Garci”  is circulating again in social media. For those of you who aren’t aware of it, Wiki has this to say: “The scandal involved former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who allegedly rigged the 2004 national election in her favor. The official results of that election gave Arroyo and Noli de Castro the presidency and vice-presidency, respectively. Hundreds of national and local positions were also contested during this election. The scandal and crisis began in June 2005 when audio recordings of a phone call conversation between President Arroyo and then Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, allegedly talking about the rigging of the 2004 national election results, were released to the public”

And now after  majority votes in the house, she was  appointed as House Speaker replacing Alvarez who has become quite arrogant and acted like his lord and protector.  And those we call “balimbing” politicians are rapidly jumping ship. Filipinos never learn from the lessons of the past.  Those politicians are only after their own welfare. The higher-ups  continue to recycle every crook in the government. Committing plunder, rampant corruption  and yet they only get to be transferred in another post. This is really so sad and frustrating. When will this end?

And then there is this event where La Gloria visited one of the flooded provinces in Luzon.  And there was this politician who was so grateful to  her for visiting the place and giving relief goods. Haha, I laughed. As if it is the initiative of the former to do it. Those goods are from DSWD and it’s the people’s money. Why don’t you give tribute where it is due? One doesn’t have to make  “sipsip” to help.

The Philippines is already at the lowest of the low, economy is getting worse every day and still rampant killings are being done.

My poor country, BANGON NA.  Wake up people. It’s time to make a stand.

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Lato

We had our usual twice a month marketing early this morning at the Cainta Public Market. While we were buying fish, I saw this fresh seaweed which we locally know as lato.  It was selling at P200.00 a kilo. I bought just one-fourth and later made it into a fresh seaweed salad.  Paired with the left-over fried chicken we had last night, it was so yummy. One-fourth kilo is good enough for a plateful. All you need to do is add fresh white onion, fresh ginger, two pieces of tomatoes and a little salt. Presto, you have a yummy dish.

Since I forgot to take a photo, I googled it online and found this.

Lato is also called sea grapes because of its shape.  It  contains a high amount of minerals, balanced amino acid  and is also rich in iodine. And you won’t need to cook it.

If you are resourceful enough, there is always something you can find that you haven’t tasted for a while and this is one  of them.

 

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A Few Seconds And A Minute More

LET GO! How many of us are willing to take the plunge and just let circumstances and events take charge for a change?  Most of us are afraid of the untrodden path, we stick to things familiar.   True, familiarity gives us a sense of well-being, but when we let it rule our lives, it stagnates, and the comfortable feeling turns into unease that only change can alleviate.

I used to be one of those people who cannot survive the day without everything planned.  I used to worry a lot when I get sidetracked. Giving in to the “what if” won’t always be a choice and has no reason to be.  And knowing  that there are certain things which are beyond our control, makes us a little accepting.  One finally learns that life is not always to our liking and the set of rules which we allow ourselves to follow  won’t  always be acceptable to a few.  How are we to enjoy life if we won’t learn to let go?    Let go of the angst, it makes you miserable. Let go of the hatred so you will learn to love.  Let go of the anger, don’t let it consume you.  Let go of fear, for God is always here.

When I think of the times that I went through battling with cancer, I could not imagine a life without pain.  It is easy to shed a tear or two but it is more difficult to pretend that nothing is wrong.  Chances are, you seem to forget when you are surrounded by your family and friends but when you are alone, everything is magnified.  The pain is a tight knot surrounding your heart.

I learned to let go and let Him be the central force and figure in my life.  I learned to smile despite the tears.  I learned to share my plight with others despite the fear.  I learned to embrace pain and let it a constant reminder that I am not alone in this battle.  It may take a while, it may take sometime, it may take several or more visits to the doctor or it may take forever, but I am looking forward to the days when I’ll be truly and completely well again, without these nagging thoughts of being too insecure and too vulnerable.

Faith is such a personal thing. And when nothing is left, your faith will carry you through.

Let go!

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A Notorious Reader

Maybe “notorious” is not really the right word, more like a voracious reader. Insatiable, greedy, always excited about new books.  As I have always said, I love the smell and texture of new books. The anticipation is there and so is the excitement  to read. I always put plastic covers on my books and I usually use book marks since I don’t want the pages folded. I neatly arrange them in the shelves by authors and title of the books but my best books are usually placed in the highest shelf. Weird isn’t it?

Life of a bookworm, always holding a book in hand or enlarging the prints of the e-books and changing the background.

I normally read at night or before I take a thirty-minute siesta at noon. Most of the time, my books are left  on my chest and go to sleep still wearing  my reading glass. Oreo loves to play with the latter when he sometimes jumps atop the bed and see it. I caught him this afternoon with his mouth on the frame. Naughty, naughty Oreo.

I am trying to find more classic books that I haven’t read yet. Would you believe, I started reading Anna Karenina last year I think but I only finished half of it. It’s too long and my eyes couldn’t take  the small prints. I already read about a third of Goodreads’ list of 100 books you have to read before you die.  Yes, they have those books too and they based their survey on readers’ choices. I have a copy of Dracula by  Bram Stoker. It’s been in our shelf  for so many years now but I haven’t attempted reading it. And it is included in those 100 list of books. I used to have a complete list of the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon but some of them were destroyed by the flood.  Hopefully, when I am done with the challenge I’ll be able to find extra copies of those books.

I still have so many books on my wish list:

1. Witness to Hope by George Weigel (A Biography of Saint Pope John Paul II)
2. Anne Frank Beyond the Diary: A Photo Remembrance
3. The Bell  Jar by Sylvia Plath
4. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
5. Happy All The Time by Laurie Colwin
6. I Am David by  Anne Holm
7. Caught In the Quiet by Rod McKuen
8. With Love by Rod McKuen
9. In The Dark Before Dawn by Thomas Merton
10. The Honorary Consul by Graham Greene

Those are just ten, right? But there are many more.

Here’s a lovely quote I found on Brainy Quote.

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Thursday Musings

For the first time in more than a week, I was able to do a little gardening. Just planted the kadyos seeds  which was sent by a fellow member  of our Gardener’s Tambayan. I have lots more to plant. Maybe tomorrow I could garden some more. The calamansi fruits are ready for harvest, some of them have already ripened and they don’t produce so much juice when they are ripe.

Done going to the doctor, no change sad to say. Another round of medications for two weeks more.  I have to go the the hospital for a few hours so they could observe if I become allergic to the new medicine my doctor gave me. Thank God it is okay. Stubborn infection 😦

I saw Carla on duty again this morning. I told her I blogged about her and she said thank you.  She embraced me  with that wide smile on her face.  That feeling of finding a new friend…super happy. As they say, there is always a room in the heart for one more friend.

 

 

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Healthy Eats (2)

This is my last day of a five-day  antibiotic injections. Hallelujah! I just hope everything is okay  when I’ll have my lab test tomorrow.

I try to buy buko juice  (a young immature green coconut)  every day now and save the  young meat  to be eaten fresh too.  Avocado is in season too at a P100 pesos a kilo. I tried mixing slices of one avocado, buko,  half-size of small onion  and one tomato with left-over luncheon meat.   You won’t really need to add salt, just a pinch of ground white pepper  will do since the luncheon meat has enough to flavor the salad. It turned out so good I had it for lunch.

Dinner would probably be steamed deboned chicken breast without the skin of course.  Trying to eat healthy and using lauric oil for cooking.  I gave up on coffee almost a year ago and try natural tea from dried guyabano  (soursop) leaves although it is not every day that I drink tea.  Guyabano helps in draining toxic waste from the body.

As you grow older, you feel the aches and pains  slowly invading your body  and it does not help when you have no restraints in eating food which are not so healthy. As I’m trying to avoid sugar, I no longer bake cookies and muffins.

Some say that health is not about the weight you lose but the life you gain.

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Goodreads’ Reading Challenge 2018 (An Update)

I am getting addicted with  Sydney Bauer’s books. I found three of hers, the first one which I blogged about a few days ago  was published much, much later than the one I have just finished and the third book I am reading at the moment. It seems to be a series but stand alone stories involving a criminal lawyer defending those who are accused of crimes they didn’t commit. The courtroom scenes and the way they gather evidences are so interesting. I have always loved “courtrooms” since I first encountered Lean Uris’ book called QBVII.  Conspiracy, racial bigotry, fast-paced  action scenes. Move over John Grisham, she’s it for now.

 Alibi  is my 94th read and I’m done with about a third of the book. Suspense thrillers, how lovely!

Yeay, six more books to go and I’m done. Plenty  months more to add those classics which I have yet to find.

 

 

 

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When You’re Touched By Kindness

We were blessed and lucky, we were not much affected by the floods that hit some parts of Metro Manila and the surrounding provinces.   But my brother and his family together with  my cousin  were trapped in some  parts of Luzon while going home to our town after they brought Mom here again  yesterday because she was not feeling so well.  A normal five-hour trip turned to twenty-four hours agony on the road. Good thing they brought a van instead of the  small car my brother owns.  They spent last night in a motel. My gosh, you can’t see the road, they were under water.  Typhoon Josie definitely  brought so much amount of rainfall.

It’s my third day of having a daily antibiotics injection.  I don’t know why the medicine was not covered by my health insurance. The Medical  City satellite clinic has a different rule from other  outpatient facilities covered by Intellicare.  Bought the medicine with closed eyes, it is that expensive.

I met this very friendly nurse yesterday. She was the one who administered my injection.  In the course of our conversation, she mentioned that one of her relatives died of cancer six months ago and when she learned that I am a survivor, she kept saying “ang galing niyo ma’am, you endured all that. We talked of so many things while she was preparing and mixing the solution.  I told her I blog and she does too but in a different platform. This morning she was again on duty. Exchanging ideas, talking of our pets, talking about books we read. I say we are kindred spirits.  Carla was so accommodating, we even exchanged our blog sites addresses. When we parted, she said, “can I hug you ma’am?” I was touched. We hugged each other. We were both teary-eyed.

When you meet people who are kind enough to know what you are going through, you are simply touched by the gestures. Even those small words of saying “sorry po”  while she was injecting a one gram ampoule made the difference.  I admire those health workers who reach out to make a patient feel welcome.  Being shown compassion is one sure way  of gaining that much-needed confidence to face your ailment.

Doing your little bit of good to others, showing kindness, these make for a wonderful attitude towards your fellow human beings.

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