Racing Through January

Ah, to think we are already in February but my WordPress calendar is still on January 31, 2019. Of course, we are advanced by a few hours from other countries.

I used to write about month endings and beginnings, lately though I’ve been quite lazy. Lazy to write a few words that is. January has been a quiet month for me. I’m just so happy that I have found new authors and new books to read. I have just finished my 20th this year, a story about the quirks and moods of an artist, his relationship with  his family particularly his son who idolizes him. A lovely story, carving your own space in the shadow of a master. And here is my short, short review at Goodreads:

“I am giving this five stars, my second book of five stars this year. What a gifted writer, truly impressive story. Yes,this is my first book of Tom Rachman. He is virtually an unknown author to me. 

I love the main characters of the story. Charles aka Pinch is such a lovely character. His whole life was overshadowed by his talented and gifted artist father. He struggled on his own learning the craft without the knowledge of his family and friends. He proved himself that he could excel just like his father.”

I haven’t admired the art of painting much except when I was introduced to it at Sip & Go, an afternoon spent with Nissa back in November where we indulged ourselves in an amateur painting.  She paid for it as a birthday gift to me.  Painting on acrylic…just great. When you are used to doing stick figures and flowers in crayons, you would truly appreciate something like this. Believe it , I’d like to go back one of these days to paint other subjects. Ambitious, ‘no? 🙂 I am re-posting one of our photos here with shall I say, the finished product.

At Sip & Gogh

It’s a lovely morning with the cold breeze and all.

Goodbye January. February, be kind.

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Oreo At The Garden

Took these shots a few minutes ago while Oreo was enjoying looking at the passing vehicles and motorcycles at our place. Marking his territory.

Our other dog Noki was barking like crazy when he saw us. He was confined at the dirty kitchen.

Look at that fur. He needs a trim but his vet has resigned from the pet shop  where we usually bring him. We’re still looking for a  pet shop nearby.

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Tuesday Musings

Seeing my friends shoveling snow in Chicago and Toronto just so they could pass and clean their driveways, I think we are lucky that we live in a tropical country although during summer, the heat at times is unbearable.

We are having a fairly lovely weather here. Our weather bureau PAGASA says the cold weather will stay  until February. Nights and  dawns are really cold and most of the time there is a cold breeze during the day. The sun is always late showing its face. And the nights are longer, right? Six am is still a little dark here.

I am at the end of the few chapters of a story about 19th century England.  Yes, it is a historical fiction again. I just love them. Hansoms were often mentioned as transits used during those times. According to  Mr. Wiki, “The hansom cab is a kind of horse-drawn carriage designed and patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, an architect from York.  The cab was introduced to other British Empire cities and to the United States during the late 19th century, being most commonly used in New York City”.

I remember our calesa.  When I was in grade school in our province, the chief means of transport for near destinations was the calesa.  Back then, motorcycles and tricycles were unheard of. Buses were usually for long distance trips. In those days, traffic was also unheard of. People walk mostly to go to the town proper. Even calesa ride was a kind of luxury. Goods in farms were transported by carabao-drawn carts.

A typical horse-drawn calesa at calle Crisologo in Ilocos. Photo culled from the net.

Nowadays, you can only see them plying the streets in Chinatown, the picturesque Intramuros and in Ilocos province. I am not sure about the southern parts of the archipelago if they still use it. Now we have all the modern means of transportation but they also create heavy traffic along the roads. Private cars are no longer a luxury but  are sorely needed if you want to reach your destination early. Public transports are so unreliable at times that you need to wake up early to catch a jeepney, GRAB or a bus to go to work.  Going to one’s office has become a battle you have to encounter every day.

Today, a friend is celebrating her birthday. We have been friends for almost forty five years since I started working as a student librarian at the university where I spent my high school and college years. She replied to my greetings with these lovely words: “Thank you, Arlene😊 You are one of God’s blessings in my life❤️”.  What a lovely way to start the day.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

 

 

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Where Are We Going?

In a few months we’ll have another national election and except for the presidential position, we’ll have to elect another set of twelve senators, congressmen, mayors etc.  Politics is dirty unless a political aspirant and winner is an honest man. Last year, many were victims of killings, some were incumbent local officials across the land.

Last year, three priests were killed in six months, one was injured. Yesterday, I was surprised to see the news on TV about the bombing of the Cathedral of Mount Carmel in Jolo, Sulu. The first went off inside the church at around 8:15 am when a mass was about to begin and the second explosion happened in the Cathedral’s parking area as troops from the 35th Infantry Battalion responded. As of yesterday, 27 mass goers were killed and more than 77 were injured.  Even those who responded to the scene were also injured.  Is this a terrorist attack?

Photo from inquirer.net

It is plain enough that Duterte  hates the Catholic church, he hates the priests and bishops. A few months ago he even told the people to kill bishops because he said they are rich.  He curses God and says he is a Moslem but he celebrates Christmas and has a crucifix in his room. He was seen in other photos kneeling down and praying in a Catholic church.  I wonder why he is so silent about the incident.  Those bombers must have been influenced by his hate speech. Every time he opens his mouth, either he curses or threatens those who don’t agree with his way of governing.

Congress is hell-bent in lowering the age limit of kids who commit crimes from 15 to 9 years old. Children are not criminals, they are rather influenced by people they mingle with. We’re supposed to protect them and give them a chance to reform and grow into responsible citizens. Arroyo (yes, she is that “pandak” ex-president)said it is the mandate of  Duterte.  It is so obvious that these people are not after the welfare of the Filipino people, they are self-serving.

Where are we going?

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When Do You Follow Other Blogs?

I just wrote my  2,525th post a while ago. From time to time, I visit my dashboard  and clean spam comments which are filtered by Akismet (just so blessed Akismet is here to classify those unwanted comments in our blogs).

How do you find bloggers that you follow aside from those who follow your blogs?  Some are followers of our blogger friends who probably read our exchange of comments and decided to visit and read a few lines. Some probably appeared at the bottom of your post because they had posted similar subject like you did. Anyway, no matter how you found them, aren’t you glad that you did? Lately, I visited and thanked those who followed my blog the past few days, reading some post and comments and liking those that are wonderfully written.  Sometimes, I return the favor and follow back.

Are you that kind of blogger who looks for seasoned writers with thousands of followers and statistics in their blogs?  Or do you take a chance on those blogs  with not even a hundred followers  but their writings are interesting and they have lovely contents? I am one of the latter I guess. Photo journals are lovely, blogging about farm life is interesting too but I love garden blogs. I love those flowers which normally don’t grow in tropical countries like ours. I love blogs about family and faith.  I am mesmerized by those photo blogs featuring countries like Italy, France and some exotic places in Asia.  I’ve found memoirs featuring these countries and read them with gusto.

Just received a comment from a blogger promoting a product.  And this was approved by WordPress because it was nicely worded. Sorry, I am not into it.

Blogging about blogging, anyone?

 

 

 

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A Rare Indulgence

It’s one those rare luxuries that I get to indulge in. The last time I went to a spa facility was about three years ago with Josef and Jovy somewhere in Quezon City.

They discovered  this spa place while they were walking  Oreo in our neighborhood.  The rates are quite reasonable so off we went there after dinner.  It’s just a few meters away from the house.

Whole body massage, just great. Loosening muscles and tendons that allow good blood circulation. An hour of this makes you sleepy considering the air-conditioned room and the soft music playing.And yes, I had a good sleep last night, waking up just in time to attend the 6 am mass.

We brought Oreo along and he played with the owner of the facility. He just kept quiet when he was able to kiss the cheeks of Ate.  He gets to walk with the two every night when they come home from work. It is impractical to bring him outside during the day because of the so many cars and motorcycles that pass by our place.

There is this newly opened gym in the next street from ours and Josef said they are offering reduced rates for a start.  Sometimes I wonder, it is hard enough for me to lift those dumbbells which Nissa left here when she got married. There is even this Orbitrek machine that we bought several years ago and is now relegated near our dirty kitchen, unused. I know, I know, we need to exercise. I guess gardening and doing those household chores are exercise enough. Don’t ask me, I am getting old. Sometimes even my left knee gives me a little pain and it is hard to walk.

Maybe one of these days, I’ll go back to the spa saloon  just for a back massage which is cheaper.

 

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For The 3rd Time Around

via For The 3rd Time Around

Proud Nonna here 🙂 🙂 🙂

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Apostrophe +S?

Ah, before you react, I want to emphasize that I am not a grammar police.  it’s just that for the past years, the past months and the past several days, I’ve seen this in my news feed on Facebook.

I don’t want to act like a “contrabida” and correct them because they are my friends. There are times though that even the tenses are so glaring, really quite annoying to read. Long before those trolls by the present administration have lorded it over Facebook and some of them were banned this year, I’ve seen these, not just wrong grammar but wrong choices of words. They could have written it in Tagalog better. Shall we say, it’s “nosebleed” reading it at all.

They usually add that apostrophe + S to regular plural nouns. Here’s the simple rule.

 A plural noun is a word that indicates that there is more than one person, animal place, thing, or idea. When you talk about more than one of anything, you’re using plural nouns. When you write about more than one of anything, you usually use the same word, simply adding an s, es, or ies to the end

Do not, I repeat, do not  use an apostrophe + s to make a regular noun plural. Nouns ending in -o can add either -s or -es in the plural, and some can be spelled either way.  With nouns that end in a consonant or a single vowel plus -f or -fe, change the -f or -fe to -ves:  For those ending in y, you change y to ies. 

I often see this: friend’s. They use it as plural form.  Even if English is just our second language, it is quite annoying to see it.

 

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Today’s Quote

Another lovely quote from Mary Oliver. Dream, be astonished, be surprised!

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Six Years Ago

I saw this on my news feed re: Memories on Facebook which I  made back in 2013, same day of course, the 24th of January. I actually blogged it at my other site for Nate six years ago.

The above photos were  taken thirty years apart. Mother and son. Two peas in a pod 🙂

 

And this was taken last January 13, 2019 at Ice Flower. What do you think?

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