Sunday Is For Blogging

Did I just say that?

Yes I know, Sunday is for relaxing. For the first time in so many weeks, I attended an anticipated mass last night after doing the laundry late in the afternoon. So  Sunday is free, apart from the usual task of watering the plants (it’s still like summer here), doing a little cleaning here and there and preparing breakfast for Mom and me. Mom attends  mass on television because she can’t walk that far when the car isn’t here.

Yesterday was another family day for us. Nissa, Obet and Nate came over  to join us for lunch, late celebration of Josef’s birthday the other day.  We just had food delivered and I bought two kilos of ready to fry chicken mix at SM Ortigas City. I went earlier to Medical City to get the result of my lab for Vitamin D deficiency and to visit my doctor.  Thank God, everything is normal. Even my blood pressure is in the normal range. Still have to go back maybe in two weeks to have labs again, re: fasting blood sugar and urinalysis.

Nate got tired of his old toys here so he re-arranged his books and read some of them. I am pretty amazed, he could read now. He and his dad played frisbee together in the garden then later on picked calamansi for them to bring home. Nate was so happy they gathered more than a kilo of it.

Bonding time with family is priceless no matter how you spend it together. What is important is the presence of each other. It is nice to be updated on what is happening in their jobs, how hard it is sometimes to cope with so much work.

Oh, I remember, I’ll be going out in a few hours to redeem my  free  boxes of pizza and mojos from Shakey’s. A  P3,000+ spend in one purchase entitles you to one redemption certificate which you will just have to show at the food chain. It’s courtesy of Bank of PI. I am entitled to three redemption for the three purchases I made earlier  between March 22, 2019 and June 22, 2019. Hooray!

Have a blessed and fruitful  Sunday everyone. Happy week ahead.

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Of Blog Posts, Stats And Followers

For the past six years or so, I’ve been monitoring my stats, at least every three years. Back in 2013, I only had a total of 205,005. Then in 2016, it almost doubled to 410,003. It has somehow reduced though for the past three years, it just registered a total of 579,451.

I understand the somehow downward trend, I haven’t been that active and some of the contents are not that good. Or maybe, people got tired of visiting and reading my posts. Blogging for ten years, I have almost covered all subjects worth-blogging at least for me – my family, the books I read, book reviews, daily happenings in my life, friends, fellow bloggers, being a gardener, being a grandma to Nate, my health, occasional road trips, my thoughts on various subjects that I can think of.

I do write short, short poems sometime when I am in the mood. What I have neglected is to update my photography blog. I haven’t bought a camera yet, so lazy to find a new one. One of my cellphones though which Nissa gave me  packs a 16-megapixel camera with an f/2.2 aperture and a pixel size of 1.12-micron. Good enough for those spur of the moment shots that I love to do. It’s easier to take photos when you are just holding a small gadget. You won’t need to adjust anything, just point and shoot.

I don’t mind much about followers, most of them just follow but do not engage. Many are asking to follow them back even if they just click one post in your blog. I love my regular commenters and likers though. When I see them here, it feels like I am sharing something worthwhile.

How’s your blogging journey?

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Thirty Five Years After

Another year, another celebration. Yes, he has just turned 35 a few hours ago.

Persuaded the birthday boy to have his photo taken today…for prosperity. He was in a hurry to leave for work but I just have to take his picture, haha 🙂

I always feel nostalgic when it comes to my kids’ birthdays. I remember those days when they were still cuddly little kids who were sometimes so inquisitive. Now they have grown and I am getting old. The memories we have will always remain forever etched in my heart.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALVIN JOSEF. Love you to the moon and back.

 

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Before Summer Ends

 

An eye-catching, double-petaled Bougainvillea. Bougainvillea blooms always remind me of summer, those lazy days when staying in the garden early in the morning is a reward in itself.  And seeing this lovely fusion of fuchsia colors makes me smile.

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Catching Up

For the past days, I finished two books, one is actually a Christmas story that happened a century ago. I wonder why, sometimes I am hooked with those stories of survival, of family, of friendship and love. When a horse and a buggy were the only means of land transportation, when winter was the most harsh climate you could ever encounter, when people depended  on their own lands to make both ends meet….love those!

I recently found this engaging book set in New York back in the sixties. It’s entitled Park Avenue Summer by Renee Rosen.

I just love it. I didn’t know that it was  based on Helen Gurley Brown’s life as seen from the perspective of her secretary who is fictional in character. Helen Gurley Brown was an American author, businesswoman and publisher. She was the editor -in-chief of the Cosmopolitan magazine for 32 years.  It’s nice to be able to see in pictures the actual characters in a story. It adds to the appeal of the book. This is actually my first book of Renee Rosen. I’ll try to look for some of her other books. It also reminds me of the book The Devil Wears Prada which I have read and watched a few years ago. When you find something nice to read, you are inspired to read more.

 

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When Money Talks

For the past two days, I was trying to lose myself from all these “ugly” events happening in our country. Sometimes though, because you have a sense of patriotism and that nationalistic attitude towards your beloved country, you just can’t help but react.

This actually happened more than a week ago when 22 Filipino fishermen at the Red Bank was rammed by a chinese vessel. It took a week for Duterte to react by saying it was an  “an ordinary maritime incident”, instead of investigating what happened and protecting the rights of the 22 fishermen.  He would not dare punish china for intentionally sinking that fishing boat. Now it can be told, he loves china more than he loves his country and his countrymen who he promised to serve.

Let me quote an  opinion of a netizen Allan Bernabe how these people from the government  coerced the fishermen to doubt themselves and eventually retract their own statements:

It’s so tragic that Duterte had to parade excessive force, to cower Insigne into submission. The poor fisherman-captain was taken down by shock and awe.

Piñol was sent to boat owner’s home, in the guise of bringing relief goods. But the real purpose was to force Insigne and his companions to change their story and apologize to Duterte.

When Piñol met Insigne, there’s no doubt that Insigne showed defiance.

But Piñol was ready. Duterte had anticipate Insigne will stand for principle. So he had assigned a battalion of fully armed policemen to go with Piñol, to do nothing else but scare Insigne. Once Insigne resisted, Piñol signalled the troops to surround the house in full battle gear, threatening arrest of the fisherboat captain.

Insigne, who had already received arrest “feelers” prior, must have broken down in fear.

After losing his command of the rammed boat, losing his right to fish in Philippine territories, losing his dignity to Duterte’s lies and fierce fanatics trolling, and almost losing his life to Chinese militia, he cannot afford to lose his freedom.

Not knowing the threat of arrest was only a Duterte’s bluff, Insigne surrendered to Duterte’s propaganda.

The most powerful tyrant of the country crushing the heart and soul of the poor beaten victims of China’s aggression, using the full might of a country’s resources.

Such unspeakable cruelty only a Duterte mind can produce.

Injustice can’t even begin to describe this.

Pinol is the present Agriculture Secretary sent by duterte.He conducted a closed-door meeting with the seafarers. When it was done, they were singing a different tune. You can see from their faces how conflicted they were of what happened, even having their photos taken with that hateful  fist sign like a Nazi salute.

First Lorenzana changed his tune, then here comes the captain of the Philippine vessel who says he is no longer sure whether it was a chinese ship who rammed them or not. What’s happening Philippines? Ganito na lang ba kababa ang tingin nila sa atin?Yung iba diyan, ang daling bumaliktad, may nabibili, may nasusuhulan, may madaling himukin. Yung iba tinatakot at binabantaan ang buhay nila. Which is which people? I am confused  .  Or maybe to save your life and the lives of your family, you just follow blindfolded. We can’t really blame those poor fishermen.

(Lorenzana is the present Secretary of  National Defense).

 

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Those Moments

At bigay na bigay ang halik. Tight hugs and embrace.

via Those Moments

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Happy Father’s Day

via Happy Father’s Day

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Counting My Blessings

 

When you are touched by God’s graces more than you ever expect, your heart sings with joy and gratitude. They always say,“into each life, some rain must fall” and those are the moments that you realize that you are not alone, that God is always there for you, you just have to keep the faith and believe!

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Lazy Sunday Morning

Oh my, all I  did this morning was to cook breakfast and to hear mass. A Blessed Solemnity of Holy Trinity Sunday to all.

Josef and Jovy left early for their weekend visits to Jovy’s  grandma. I really feel so lazy. My computer was open since 6am but I was not even wont to check my posts.

We were not able to see Nate yesterday. They went to the doctor because he had fever and cough. We just talked over the phone. This weather makes everyone sick with  colds and flu. Josef had just had his flu vaccine the other day. He also had severe cough but is somehow okay now.

I ended up cooking chop suey for lunch instead of fried chicken and baked marble potatoes. I made  a pitcher of sago’t gulaman instead of having soft drinks which is full of sugar. Then we had this for appetizer, fresh ararosep from the market. Sometimes they call it sea grapes or lato in Tagalog.

In Pangasinan, we call this ararosep.

Mixed with fresh cut tomatoes, diced onion and diced fresh ginger, it’s perfect for appetizer.  I used to feature my regular seaweed finds in the market.

Have a pleasant week ahead guys.

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