Tuesday Blessings

It took me just a few minutes to see my internist so he could interpret the results of my laboratory tests. His expression is always “panis”  and  I laughed when he said it this morning. He was so happy to see that my glucose result is pretty normal. However, I have UTI again. He said women are more prone to UTI than men. I agree. Been having UTI now and then since I gave birth to Nissa. At least now, I don’t have to undergo urine culture to see where I am sensitive or resistant to antibiotics. The medicine that I am sensitive to is way cheaper than my previous medications before the urine culture.

I am so glad that my blood sugar is still normal from the last time I had it checked last year. I heaved a sigh of relief that it is controlled. What a blessing.

Health is wealth. I often hear these words from fellow health warriors who are undergoing different ailments. A friend just messaged me to pray for his brother who is presently confined at the UST Hospital. He is scheduled to undergo endoscopy to stop the bleeding in his stomach.  I remember one particular morning when I had the same procedure several years ago, a most unpleasant one.

Please help me pray for those who are presently sick, confined in the hospitals or in their own homes. May they find comfort and strength. May they find peace and quiet. May they get well soon.

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And It’s Monday, Time To Relax A Bit

I  told you earlier, I have more time to blog this morning and read blogs too.

A friend once said, “You’re not getting old”. I just laughed and told  her everyone gets old every day. Maybe it is not just manifested in the looks you share with the world. Or she might have meant, my face still looks young for my age but beyond the face, my bones are getting brittle. I was diagnosed with osteoporosis even before I had my first major surgical operation, hysterectomy back in the year 2000. Then I underwent sigmoid surgery in July 2009, kidney bypass a year after. But that’s jumping the gun, we are talking about age, right?

Sometimes I feel all of the 62 years of my life. I try not to catch a cold since when I do, it takes a long time to heal. Sometimes it  is unfortunate that your doctor discover something else while you are being treated with another ailment. That happened to me when I had kidney bypass due to an acute UTI. MY urologist discovered that I had kidney stones too but they were not the invasive kind. I was on treatment for over a year and a regular urinalysis since then.

My finger is finally on its way to being healed. The swelling is gone but it is a little still painful. Maybe in a few days, I could go back to gardening again.

My pastime now is passive. You get it right….reading! I don’t go out as much as I used too except when going to the market twice a month, doing groceries every week and attending mass every Sunday. Dull existence you said? But that is all in the mind, right?

I get some visits from friends once in a while and regula regular (there goes this letter “r” again) visits from Nissa’s family, going out at least once a month for lunch or dinner. But I’m happy. Oreo is a nice companion. He is so appreciative of all the attention he gets from us. Sometimes, he sleeps at the foot of the bed but every night he would guard our front  door waiting for the arrival of the car and at the sound of our garage gate  being opened. He keeps jumping until you pick him up to meet Josef.  He  knows when he is not included in a trip or when  they visit Jovy’s grandmother in another place.

culled from the net

Don’t you just love this quote? I do 🙂

 

 

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Starting Monday With A Smile

The other night, when Josef  came home, he gave me this little box and said, “it’s time to change the old one”.

Yeay, I was overjoyed when I unwrapped it and saw this tiny and compact keyboard probably fit for a laptop. It’s all of a foot in length and around five inches in height. So I enjoyed typing with it then I discovered that that small letter “r” on the left side does not appea appear unless you press it a little harder. I have to go back and correct more words that don’t have the letter “r”.  But it is okay, I am learning. At least the other letters need not be pressed harder.

Woke up at an ungodly hour of 3:30am. Much I wanted to go back to sleep, I can’t so I swept outside and watered the plants early.  It’s nice to feel  that you have done something earlier than usual. Now I have lots of time to read blog posts and make my own.

A blessed and joyful week ahead friends 🙂

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What Happiness Means

You’re lucky when you find a friend who celebrates with you at your best and be there for you at your worst.

Happy Monday morning friends.

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The Magic Of Ordinary Days

Late lunch. Just one of those you buy in the supermarket then just cook for a while then presto….lunch is served.

Had to undergo  routinary laboratory tests for UTI and and FBS. The latter needs fasting for at least eight hours. I’ll go back to my doctor once I get the results of my lab tests. Just bought  medicines for a whole month supply for maintenance and such.  I bought a topical ointment for my blistered fingers because one of them is sore and swollen. I was surprised by the price, a 5-gram tube is so expensive. I couldn’t garden because I could not wear a glove on my right hand since I cannot fold one of my fingers.  So inconvenient really!

I guess it’s time to sit back and relax for a while, catch on my reading and maybe find new titles online to buy later.  The other night, I watched a lovely movie on YouTube.  Har, har, why couldn’t I remember the title now? These senior moments are sometimes quite annoying.  Or maybe listen to good old music on my transistor radio while trying to take an afternoon nap.

Wow, I remember now, it’s a Hallmark  Hall of Fame  production.called The Magic of  Ordinary Days, an adaptation from a book of the same title.  Though I am not that enthusiastic about watching television programs and movie features, I visit YouTube once in a while and watch their free movies.  And once in a while,  I do find movies worth-watching.

Do you watch YouTube movies? It’s where I found some movie adaptations of the books of my favorite author Richard  Paul Evans.

 

 

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Let’s Look At The Other Side

Ah, sometimes I can’t help but post my own views with what is happening in our country at the moment. Of course you are probably aware on what happened last May 13 during election day here. Not one opposition candidate for senators made it to the top twelve considering that they are more experienced than some of those who won on the government’s side. There was a seven-hour glitch in transmitting the results. It is not yet resolved until now and our Commision on Elections is so quiet. Sad story.

But let’s look at the outcome of the local elections last May. Most of those who won belong to the opposition. It speaks for how the people voted. Maybe it’s true that the senatorial election was rigged from the very start.

Three people that stand out and whom I  really admire are our very own Mayor Atty. Kit Nieto, Isko Moreno and Vico Sotto. This is Mayor Kit’s third and last term as mayor of our town. Mayor Isko Moreno of  Manila  defeated the former president and mayor Joseph Estrada. He is doing really well, on his 5th day, there is a big improvement in the city. He wants to preserve our heritage sites which are mostly located in his turf. He will not allow those high-rise, photo-bomber buildings to be constructed near those lovely heritage sites.  Third is a bagito former councilor from Pasig City who defeated a more than two decades of only one name in the city, relatives, brothers, father etc. He is Vico Sotto, a son of a former television actress, television host and producer. He is only thirty years old but his vision is so very different from other local mayors in other cities and towns. He is a great admirer of the late Jessie Robredo, who was the husband of our present Vice-President  Leni Robredo. I watched his inaugural speech. He is so good.  On his first day, he has suspended the odd-even scheme of the former mayor where you can’t even pass through major streets to reach other towns and cities in the metropolis. In his speech at the flag raising ceremony last Sunday, he said that this scheme needs further study.

Would you believe, I am following the three of them in social media.  In one of my visits to Vico’s site, I saw this photo with our own Mayor Nieto. I stole it 🙂 The former visited the latter some months ago.

Mayor Vico is the one in a black jacket while the one in white t-shirt is Mayor Kit.

Mayor Isko of Manila

Admirable people. I hope they would stay true to their sworn statements and plans for their own cities and municipality.

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Tupig And Other Stories

I was boiling water for afternoon tea, contemplating on what life is all about and looking at the robust orange bulb plants I planted in pots outside  our grill door. when two airplanes passed by. One was going north and the other one was going south to where our airports are located. Our place is on the east side of  Metro Manila so their path is always this way. It made me think of those people inside those two planes. The one going north made me ask myself, “where are they going? Are they leaving their families behind seeking greener pastures abroad? Are they tourists out to discover new places?” And  I can’t help thinking too, the family of those going to the airport must be so happy that they’ll be seeing their kins again or maybe they come from other places and would love to visit the Philippines.

I was busy this morning catching up with my two brothers and sis-in-law online and through calls and texts. My brother next to me has been sick for almost two weeks now, on and off fever, acute UTI and raised blood sugar. I was alarmed.  They’ve been to the doctor thrice with labs and medications. My youngest brother whose family lives in Tulsa called me up through Viber and we had a long chat about life, our family, my other brother’s illness and life here in the Philippines compared to the US where they have been living for more than twenty years now.

He bragged about making Tupig, our favorite kakanin  (sweet delicacies) back in the province.  He said he hasn’t tasted one for so many years now so he made his own. I borrowed the photos he posted earlier.

We call this tupig in our dialect.

It’s made of sticky rice powder, coconut cream, fresh grated young coconut or what we call buko locally, a little sugar and margarine to wipe the banana leaves before wrapping the mixture so it won’t stick when it’s cooked.

Then you have to grill them until they are cooked.

 

There, it is nicely done and he said it tasted better than the commercial ones we used to buy when we go back home to the province. I have never attempted preparing this but I will try it one of these days.

My brother is a great cook. He also experiments on other desserts native to our country. Maybe he misses  his land of birth. It’s another afternoon of reminiscing.

 

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When Gardening Becomes A Chore

Finally, I’m done weeding outside  but I have two blistered fingers  despite wearing gloves. Some weeds are so hard to uproot but I have to do it. My snake plants can’t grow well because of these stubborn weeds. At least half of the job is done. There is still the carabao grass to trim and the Fukien Tea plants and Pandakaki too.

My Pandakaki blooms. There are several but they are so tiny.

Carabao grass

I hate trimming the carabao grass. We have to use a manual grass cutter because there are lots of  concrete stepping stones in between. Hopefully by the weekend, Josef can help me with it. We also need to trim the Santan plants in front of our concrete fence. They are the dwarf variety but they are growing tall.

my front garden

Side yard with my two Calamansi trees

Ornamental pineapple and my bulb plant. The latter is a pink lily.

Sometimes, gardening becomes a chore that you can’t avoid.

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When Rain Lilies Bloom

Quite a surprise but it is nothing new. When the rain comes, my rain lilies are happy and they produce such lovely tiny  flowers that make the garden so nice  to look at.

rain lilies….

I have them as ground covers in one area of the garden.

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Good Morning July

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