French And Italian Bloggers

I am quite fascinated by books I read about life in Italy and in France. I love Peter  Mayle’s account about life in Provence, France in his three memoirs that I’ve read before. I was thrilled reading Frances Mayes’ Under the Tuscan Sun and the movie adaptation too.

I decided to find French and Italian bloggers or those who blog about life in France and Italy. I particularly like the rural scene, the countrysides of both and the way they live.  Found around four bloggers and I am excited to explore their sites.

Hooray 🙂

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A Thousand Mornings (Part 6)

For those who don’t read my favorite poet  Mary Oliver, this is a borrowed title from one of her lovely works. A Thousand Mornings is a book of poems, a small volume with a silky cover. Just love rereading it.

The last time I wrote about the same title was at the end of August 2018, almost a year now. So what’s it’s all about? It is a month-ender blog. I usually summarize what happened the past month and what I expect the following month. This time though, June was a bit too silent for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love silence and I love the quiet that each day brings. Just sometimes I think I am becoming a recluse. I am still active though on social media, aware of what is happening around, disappointed, dispirited and discouraged by what is happening in our country. I won’t delve on that though, it is too early to whine.

Except for visits to the doctor and labs, family day the other week for Josef’s birthday, the usual twice a month marketing and weekly grocery shopping, everything was quiet.

A year ago, I wrote these lines on my wall at Facebook and I just saw it on memories:

Time flies too soon and June is rapidly coming to a close. It’s been a lovely month spent reading a lot and gardening despite the heat. I hope the month of July would be kind to my weary bones and aching joints.

Got same wishes for this month  of July, maybe more time to read and complete my Goodread’s Reading Challenge. I’ve been cleaning my e-reader lately, deleting those titles that I have already read. I saved those titles that I want to reread.

I am trying to avoid eating sweets but the other day, Jovy made coffee jelly, mango float and mango panna cotta. Just had a few bites. Yesterday, it was a home-made Fudge brownie for our afternoon snack. I am due for blood-sugar testing anytime soon.  I am just too lazy to go back for more lab tests. Maybe when it stops raining, I will. I am feeling good, thank God.

All night my heart makes its way
however it can over the rough ground
of uncertainties, but only until night
meets and then is overwhelmed by
morning, the light deepening, the
wind easing and just waiting, as I
too wait (and when have I ever been
disappointed?) for redbird to sing” 
― Mary Oliver, A  Thousand Mornings

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Can You Imagine Life Without Books?

I am not really fond of reblogs. Derrick, one of my online friends here shared a link to his post about his library so I am sharing mine too. This was written more than seven years ago and I have accumulated more and so did Nissa. Sometimes, when I like a particular author, I tend to collect all his books. My most loved books are hidden in a cabinet so they won’t get dirty. They are hardbound and trade paperback copies which are gifts from friends.

Dreams And Escapes

I CAN’T!   And that’s written in big bold letters. This ongoing love affair knows no bounds, an insatiable thirst for more, loving the feel and smell of new pages, waiting to discover something that would either make you cry, laugh, think and smile. I need more space for more books. If my brother could hear me now, he would say, get a Kindle. He offered to buy me one but I am in a quandary whether I will enjoy reading without holding the book in my hands.  I took some shots of some of the books we have now after I lost most of my collection more than two years ago. Someday, I’m going to replace them one by one because I want to read some of them all over again and get lost in the magic of words.

I need one more like this, a wooden cabinet where…

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The Scent And Sound Of The Morning

That gentle kiss on your cheeks brought by the early morning breeze, what a wonderful feeling.

Our weather bureau said we’ll be having monsoon rains until Sunday. There’s a drizzle, that kind that stays too long and you won’t see the sun because the dark clouds are obscuring it.

Faintly, I heard the croak of the frogs last night. I read somewhere that only male frogs can croak. Maybe it is their way of telling the female ones that it’s time to play among the empty fields filled with rain water.  Early this morning, a little sparrow sang from my open window. How nice to wake up and listen to the sweet melody.

You know what I always love about the morning after a heavy rain? It’s the raindrops. They cling to the leaves of the plants, they look like silver jewels hanging on our clothes line.  I am always enamored taking shots of raindrops.

They’re like clear mirrors that reflect the nearby plants and leaves in the garden.

I love the gentle patter of rain outside. May it just stay that way, no flooding, no thunderstorms, just enough to wet the grass and the plants in the garden.

I planted some Adenium seeds early this morning. Finally, one of the seed pods that I was waiting for from my lone Adenium pot fell to the ground. I had it tied loosely before so the seeds won’t scatter. I hope, they would grow, fingers crossed.

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Getting Your Hands Dirty….A Lovely Exercise

There is a typhoon, and as reported by our weather bureau, the fourth one this year. And there are two more low pressure areas reported. I thought there would be an early morning rain since they said we will be having “habagat” rains until the weekend. Thankfully, the sun is shining bright. It gave me the chance to garden for an hour before it showed its face.  I still probably need the morning sun even if my vitamin D deficiency is now at its normal level.

Fulling weeds, deadheading some plants, removing dried leaves – such a tedious process but it needs to be done. And to think we need to trim the carabao grass again. It’s growing by leaps and bounds now that the rains are here. The grass looks greener though, everything looks so fresh. And the dried Zinnia flowers that I scattered a few days ago are showing their lovely blooms.

There is always a surprise in a garden. Sometimes you discover something which you haven’t planted but it’s growing there. Thanks to the wind and birds that sometimes scatter those seeds. Last December, I bought some Japanese Persimmon and tried planting some of the seeds. Surprisingly, it grew to a young plant.

I wonder though if it will thrive into fruition later on. Does Persimmon grow in tropical countries like ours? This is just a trial, if it does well and good, I’ll be grateful.

My fingers are showing signs of ageing even if I use thick gardening gloves. There is something in gardening that makes you fulfilled. Remember that peaceful feeling while pulling weeds and dirt sticks into you hands? It really requires patience.

And I just love this quote from Alfred Austin:

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

 

 

 

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Stepping Stones

 

I have this booklet of meditations and prayers which I bought at a book sale some years  back. It’s called Stepping Stones  (Meditations in a Garden) by Lillian Marshall. Time and again I read it for inspirations.

Each day is a stepping stone into future days on the upward path. Enrich each day with gratitude and a time of quiet.

Rest in the peace of God’s presence and feel His love and wisdom and guidance directing you to increasing love, joy and accomplishment.

Today is the day that God has given. Rejoice and be joyful in it.

 

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Reading Lapse

Gosh, I don’t know what is happening!

I can’t even go beyond five pages of this book. When I start reading in the afternoon, it feels so hot. The time is not even conducive to read. When I start at night, I just feel so sleepy sometimes my eyeglass slips from my eyes, one of the reasons why I have to change my reading glass a few week ago was because it broke while I was sleeping. Now I am wearing a new one, a multi-coated lens to protect my eyes from the glare of the computer and my tab. It’s thrice more expensive than the previous one.

Going back to the book, it was set in Cornwall, it has a good story, three generations of women brought together again by life’s trials. Come to think of it, I still have to finish my tome,  Thomas Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain,  Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and Ruth Reichl’s My Gourmet Memoir.  Thomas Merton’s words are truly priceless, the kind of book that you really need to concentrate on to understand better but as I have said before, the prints are so fine they hurt my eyes. The Bell Jar is too deep and intensely emotional. I need a light read for a change. Although I have plenty on my TBR list, I couldn’t quite choose what to read first. I could always find some inspirational words from  Mary Oliver’s Devotion, which I read time and again. It is a collection of her previous and new poems.

Maybe I need something fast-paced  with all the suspense and excitement that a story brings. Maybe I need to discover a new author.

What books are you reading? Can you recommend some?

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Reminiscing

She remembers –

The feel of the wind on her face

The scent of the sea

Footsteps in the sand

Sea glass tempered  and smoothed

by time

Sea shells along the shore

The lap of water at her feet.

She remembers the happy times,

The smiles,

The laughter.

And sometimes the tears.

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Times Are Changing

Last night, I couldn’t sleep because of the heavy rain with matching thunder and lightning to boot. Thunderstorms are frequent  before the actual rainy season sets in. Maybe this is the start.  There is a low pressure area somewhere in the Visayas and it is somehow affecting Luzon too. The sun is afraid to show its face.

What I don’t like about the rainy season are the flash floods. When it rains hard, the streets on low-lying areas get flooded and traffic will be at its worse. When it rains even harder, it is a little frightening. I prefer the lovely months beginning October until March. By then the weather is just okay with little rain while April and May seem to be the hottest months of summer. This year, June is still so hot.

A friend from Cebu City and I started talking about climate change yesterday when she saw my post from CNN.

If we won’t do our share, then who will? Some people don’t care, some are not probably aware that this is a climate emergency that needs our attention. It is a global problem.

I’ve often blogged about those garbage that are haphazardly thrown at the sidewalks, on the streets and even in areas which are privately owned. I often see empty bottles of mineral water and plastic of soft drinks and straw atop my Santan blooms. Most people are undisciplined. Cigarette butts increase every day, some even reach our garage when it is windy.

I hate to say this but it seem we are in a water crisis. Water at Angat Dam where Maynilad and Manila Water  source our water supply (two concessionaires that supply our water needs)  is now below critical level. They shut down water distribution at night. Early this morning at 3am, I woke up only to find there is no flow even in our bypass faucet at the laundry area.  Enough water does not reach our overhead tank. The latter supplies our water needs inside the house.  Right now until probably around 8pm, we  don’t have water interruption but the flow is not as strong as before.

It’s a lovely Monday. The sun is finally shining….at last.

 

 

 

 

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One Saturday Afternoon

We were gathered atop the bed. The two were toying with their cellphones. Nissa was looking for sites and hotel, Obet  was updating the apps for his phone.

Nissa said, “I wonder if it is better to go to Hongkong’s Disneyland or to Malaysia’s Legoland on Nate’s birthday”.

I told her, “why don’t you ask your cousin who lives in Singapore”?

“It gives me an idea”, she said.

Eventually, she asked Nate what he prefers, Legoland or Disneyland. he readily answered he likes to go to Legoland. He is fond of Lego toys. He has several sets of them given as gifts. If they book a trip to Singapore, Malaysia’s Legoland is just an hour away and the fare is reasonable. I am pretty sure, Nate would enjoy the latter considering there are lots of amenities too where both adults and kids can enjoy.

Nissa is seriously planning a foreign trip for  Nate’s 7th birthday for November instead of giving a party. He is at that age where he remembers what he did in all the places they’ve been to lately. I guess, he has reached more places in his first six years than I have in the last ten years.

“I’am gonna have a blog”, he seriously said.

I laughed and asked him, “you mean a vlog?”

“The videos Nonna”. Nissa has lots of stored videos in her lovely phone. I told him they need a vlogging camera to take more. He just smiled at me and said, “okay”, as if that is already a given. Kids sometimes take everything for granted, haha 🙂

 

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