Another Award For Our Baby

via Another Award For Our Baby

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Here We Go Again (More Of My Two Cents)

Would you believe, we are now at the end  of November. It seems like it was just yesterday that 2018 has come to our doorstep and yet, there is one more month to go before 2018 leaves us  and  we have to welcome another year. I wonder what 2019 would bring us. Not really looking forward to it. The political climate here in our country is not doing quite well and 2019 would be another election year for half of the senators, our congressmen and  our local officials. This early, politicking and early campaigning is what we see every day in social media.

I have no more faith in the political system here. Unless most voters wake up to reality and vote for those with integrity and genuine love for the people and the country, nothing changes. The president has just appointed another lackey in the Supreme Court. When he appointed the retired SC justice who served for just more than forty days a few months ago, he said it is based on seniority but that is only applied to his obsequious followers or what we locally know as his “alipores”. The president is consistent on being inconsistent. What a sad world we live in.

Here comes the next appointment  and I was rallying for Justice Carpio who is the most senior, the most qualified and  was one of the negotiators in the  Hague ruling on the West Philippine Sea  and we won. An honest, dedicated, honorable justice of the land. But he chose to appoint  someone who had made those unpalatable decisions in the past.  The guy is responsible for the declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao and its extension, he allowed Marcos to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani despite public protests that he was not a hero, he was responsible for the arrest order of Sen. Leila de Lima who is now languishing in jail even if she is innocent of the accusations on her, he allowed Sen. Enrile to be out on bail supposedly for health reasons but look at  Enrile now, he would run again for senator at the age of 94.  He was also responsible of Chief Justice Sereno’s ouster just because like Sen. de Lima, she is not lined up with the present administration.

Clearly, the president has the judiciary, executive and legislative branches of the land in his hands.  He creates diversionary tactics  so  people would not talk about the true issue which is his connivance with China. Would it be right to say that he sold us to China?  He keeps on maligning the Catholic Church even to the point of blaspheming God and accusing one of our bishops that he is into drugs.  He is clearly not concerned about those tons of drugs from China that enters the country. Maybe it is true, this is just a fake war on drugs. All those big time drug lords are scot-free and some are even his friends.  He deported a nun  back to Australia who had been staying here serving the poor for so many years but is so defensive about the Chinese illegal immigrants who are working here illegally too. Suffice to say, he loves China but not the Filipino people he promised to served. A subservient to the Chinese president.

I am wondering, is this the norm now in Philippine politics? Such a crazy world and yes, some die-hard believers of the president like this brand of leadership. I don’t.

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I’m Counting, Are You?

Santa says:

Right now, there are 
27 days
until Christmas 2018!

Really, how time flies and before we know it  Christmas is here. There is one thing that I’ve noticed though, Around this time in the years past, our subdivision and its environs were full of  Christmas decor and the houses  were brightly lit at night. This time around, most of the Christmas decorations that you see can be found inside large malls and those traditional places that they choose to erect huge Christmas trees  and those ostentatious decorations in their  areas.  Although our street has Christmas lights and lanterns lit at night, gone are those parols and decor that I see in each house that I pass. Signs of the times? Or is it too early yet  to put up those decor?

If you are an ordinary working employee earning just much nowadays, you’ll probably set aside buying decoration and spend your money on more needed grocery items and food. Gosh, everything has gone up from the lowly Christmas balls on the sidewalks to the more expensive trimmings in the malls. Groceries have gone up by as much as 20% and I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next twenty or so days, they would jack up the prices more. Such is the reality we have now.

Oh, they still have those weekend sales but then some unscrupulous and well-known department stores change  their price tags to higher ones then  put a 10% or 20% off on the item. If you are not clever enough to see it, you’ll be doped into buying higher than the original tagged price. They do it all the time and the unsuspecting buyer thinks he or she has gotten a bargain in the process. Sad, isn’t it?

I need to wrap a few more gifts that I bought earlier. I bought an additional one for mom. I bet she’ll be spending not just Christmas with us  but for a long time yet.

I’m counting, are you?

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Reading Children’s Books, Why Not?

A while ago, I  covered  my new books with plastic including the book I bought for Nate as an additional gift for his 6th birthday. I can’t help but read a few chapters of Stuart Little. I remembered the movie adaptation I’ve seen with my kids years back. Stuart Little is E.B. White’s first book for children.  I laughed at Stuart’s adventures. I hope Nate would love to read this too when he reach that age that he can grasp and understand every sentence in a story.

When Nissa  and Josef were at Nate’s age, I used to buy them books too and exercise pamphlets that would aid them in their studies. I started Nissa with a small journal with lock and key and every year during her birthday  and on some other occasions, I would  buy children’s books that she could share with Josef.  Those Dell books for kids  were certainly a big help to them to appreciate books and reading. We lost all of them when our place got flooded back in 2009.

It’s a thrill to read children’s books  once in a while. You remember the growing up years. You remember the days when you were just learning how to appreciate the written words.

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I Am David

To tell you the truth, I’ve long wanted to read this book. This has been on my wish list  for quite some time. I just could not find a copy of the book. I tried reading the summary online and it was only a few days ago that I learned there is a movie adaptation on YouTube which is free through another blogger friend here  on WordPress.

The author is Anne Holm and it is a story of a twelve-year old boy who spent his life in prison in a concentration camp right after  WWII. He was given a chance to escape and when he did, all he had  were a compass, a few crusts of bread, his two aching feet, and some vague advice to seek refuge in Denmark.

His story will teach you how to value freedom and what freedom is, how to trust again and relearn life outside of prison.

Last night, I found the movie adaptation in YouTube,
it was not the English version though but I watched it. Later, I saw the English version of the movie and I wanted to watch it again.   I read the recap of the book  and some reviews that were both uplifting and negative, the more I’m inclined to read it.

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One Remembers

Gosh, I had a LSS since early this morning while I was watering the plants in the garden. I was thinking of my dad whose death anniversary is coming near. It was eleven years ago since he left us, barely a month before Christmas.

This song made an impact on me when he died. They played it at the funeral while we had that procession going to the cemetery after a Holy Mass was held for him. These are just a few lines.

♫♪♫And He will raise you up on eagle’s wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of His Hand.
You need not fear the terror of the night,
Nor the arrow that flies by day,
Though thousands fall about you,
Near you it shall not come. ♪♪♫

Faith, hope and love manifested in a song.

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Changing Profile?

Whoa, I just changed my profile photo here. This was taken during my birthday last October 27, one of my latest pictures I think. I am not so much into selfie. Nissa took this while we were having lunch and laughing.

I tried one of the apps on FB and this was the result. I guess most of it is true. The weak point is dieting, well, I don’t diet but I try to avoid food that is not good for my health.

 

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Take A Look, Our Lady Of Light

Our Lady of Light Parish is sporting a new look. The altar and retablo were recently renovated in time for the Canonical Coronation of Our Lady of Light, the patroness of Cainta and the solemn declaration of the Parish Church as Diocesan Shrine come December 01, 2018.

Even the tiles at the main entrance going to the altar were changed. I love its new look.

December 01 is our town fiesta.  And the town is awashed with vendors selling different merchandise from sweets to shoes, dresses  and what have you.

(all photos were taken from the FB page of Our Lady Of Light  Parish).

 

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Reading Still

It’s been a while since I read something written by Stephen King. Think twenty years ago with the book  The Shining. I’ve watched some film adaptations though including Pet Sematary and The Dark Tower. 

I found a copy of his book, The Outsider which I am reading at the moment. It is all of 561 pages published last May 2018. It is now included in the final round of  Best Mystery and Thriller at  the 10th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards. I make it a point to read some of their nominated books, chosen by readers themselves. I always wanted to know if what I think is beautifully written has the same impact on other readers.  This is quite long though. I wonder when I’ll be able to get done with it.

At night before going to sleep, I read a few poems by Mary Oliver. Now that I have a copy of her latest book Devotions  which is a thick collection of her earlier and latest works, I can choose which to read randomly and I always get that high when I encounter her words.

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do 
with your one wild and precious life?” 

I have always quoted these lines, ask myself about life. It behooves me to go on no matter what.

“Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.”

Yes, when we encounter those unavoidable circumstances that sap our strength, we think of how to move on and fight, never losing hope that everything would be okay in the end.

“Instructions for living a life. 
Pay attention. 
Be astonished. 
Tell about it.” 

Don’t you just love these lines? I do. Think positive. Dream. Discover.

“When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. 

When it is over, I don’t want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument. 

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”

Maybe it is hard to be always amazed by what we experience and see but at the end of it all, don’t we want to be remembered  that we left an indelible mark  in others?

“Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields…Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.”

I could go on and on but these words touch my every day. These words uplift my soul.

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This Is Just Too Lovely

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