Warning

Edgar Lorilla, please stop following my blog using different emails WHICH I THINK ARE NOT EVEN LEGIT. YOU ARE ANNOYING. BASTOS 🤧🤮😡

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Here Comes November

October is about to end and November is coming.

These are those days where we think of family gatherings, clan reunions, office parties and even Kris Kringle this early. It’s that kind of activity where we exchange names, give gifts to the name we got and every day there is a motif until the reveal. It is always a joyful activity in the office.

These are those days where we start buying gifts for family and close friends. I did mine two weeks ago except for a gift for a godchild who is now in her teens. Not sure what to buy yet for her. Department stores start decorating and playing Christmas carols non-stop.

These are those days where we start thinking of what to prepare for Noche Buena and Media Noche. We do the grocery shopping early to buy those ingredients that appear like magic during the Christmas season. Fruits imported from other countries abound.

I wonder though how Christmas celebration would be like in another pandemic year. Positive cases of Covid are slowly moving downwards according to reports. They even predict that there would just be around 1,000 positive cases in a day. Are we finally winning over the enemy? We must not be complacent. There is no 50% yet of the population who were vaccinated. Others don’t trust the vaccines while other places don’t have enough of it.

Here we go, we have exactly 57 days to go before Christmas. There is this Christmas decor permanently fixed at Josef’s bedroom door. It’s been there for years and we let it stay there all year round…haha. However and whatever we feel about the season, let the Christmas spirit be in our hearts.

Nice touch Josef.

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These…..

A friend, a former classmate in high school just sent me a lovely pic collage and beautiful words of greeting. Amazing🙂 Thanks Bechay.

I agree that the more we face life’s challenges, the more we become stronger. Birthdays are not just the number of years beside your name, they speak of experience. We don’t only grow older, we become wiser through the years. And sometimes you wish it is your birthday every day, an opportunity to read those inspiring and wonderful words of greeting. The beauty of reaching out even without face-to-face contact.

And Facebook seems to be your online diary. I limit it to about 400 plus friends and I don’t post publicly. And there are limits to sharing your world with them, I don’t publicly complain of life’s struggles but I have chosen friends who understand and empathize. Isn’t that great? I don’t always see them personally though. I have a friend who’s been one for almost five decades now. He migrated along with his family to the US several years ago. We keep in touch from time to time and celebrate new beginnings and triumphs. Lovely to be remembered.

Fr. Lovell sent me a lovely message via text. Inspiring words. He is busy with his ministry and graduate studies. When you see these words like, keep safe, ingat, more blessings, God bless, doesn’t your heart jumps with joy?

These….

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It Was A Happy One

Since I cannot accommodate all the photos Nissa and I took yesterday, I am posting only four here.

My 65th pink birthday pic.

We had lots of food. We even forgot the array of sweet desserts from one of the best stores of kakanin here in Cainta.

My wish? Good health always for the family.

One of the best gifts I received yesterday. Nate’s homemade greeting card. The front is full of cut-out paper flowers.

I was surprised, Nissa and Obet came by to greet me and we had lunch together. They went on leave from work for a day for my birthday. Sad though that Nate was left at home but we had a one-minute chat via Messenger.

Got hundreds of greetings from my friends and relatives on Facebook. Oh, they are still coming and all I did yesterday afternoon until late last night was to answer them all.

It was a lovely celebration. Thank God for all the blessings.

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Amihan

So we are now in the amihan season. Amihan refers to the season which is dominated by trade winds, cold northeast winds! A weather pattern which begins usually sometime in November or December until the month of May or June. It’s early now though being just October. The coldest months are January and February. Longer and colder nights, heaven.

I love the amihan more than the habagat or rainy season. I can garden better during the cold months. The former signals that Advent season is near, a prelude to Christmas.

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It’s Just Another New Year’s Eve

Gosh, I am having an LSS and it goes like this.

“We’re not alone, we’ve got the world you know
And it won’t let us down
And we’ll grow old, but think how wise we’ll grow
There’s more you know,
It’s only New Year’s eve”.

Yes, since a friend greeted me once happy new year instead of happy birthday, I always consider the succeeding birthdays as new years in my life.

My goodness, this is another pandemic birthday. Tomorrow I will be turning 65. How did the year go? It was quiet, so quiet but I am not complaining because I was able to catch up on my gardening, reading (another favorite pastime), updating our Catholic page and two groups here on FB, updating my blogs (yes, I have several of them) and attending daily masses online despite the limitations of not being able to go out. I don’t experiment in the kitchen anymore because most of the time, I feel so lazy to cook so we order food online. Besides, I am afraid to go out because of the low immunity I have due to cancer eleven years ago. For the past years, face masks were always a part of my get-up every time I went out.

THANK YOU LORD for all the blessings, for this beautiful life You gave me. Grateful for another new year in my life.

Yes, tomorrow, I’m turning 65.

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SUNDAY THOUGHTS

It’s been a while that it rains every afternoon preventing me from visiting the garden again. I’ve long wanted to repot the plants I bought a couple of months ago. Finally, the Cinamumu plants that my former boss at the bank gave me are bearing those tiny green buds which will turn into scented yellow blooms.

Cloudy skies at the most. Don’t get me wrong, clouds are one of my favorite subjects in photography but only when I could see the blue sky in the background. Sometimes on a clear day, they move so fast and you could see various figures up there.

I miss seeing the stars at night. They make me dream of distant places I have yet to traverse. Dreaming at least keep us grounded in our lives. I remember those nights wayback in the province when my brothers and some cousins would watch the starry night lying on the grass in front of the house while munching on boiled peanuts or sweet potato. We seldom had bread but we had rootcrops instead.

I was one of those with many childhood dreams. I dreamt of finishing a course in college in a big university, have a job in one of those prestigious banks in Ayala Avenue, have my own family and nice house in the suburb. Simple dreams you might say, but back in those days, for a provincial lass like me, those dreams were too big. One by one they came true. I graduated in the oldest Catholic university in Asia. University of Santo Tomas was founded in 1611. I earned a degree in Economics. I was employed in the oldest bank in the country, Bank of the Philippine Islands which opened its doors in 1851. I have two kids who I am so proud of. Nissa is a manager at Bank of the Philippine Island, Josef works at JP Morgan Chase Bank. They both graduated in UST too. So proud of my precious, smart and talented grandson. Gosh, I’ll be turning 65 in three days.

I remember this lovely quote from Langston Hughes that I have memorized during my college years.

Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is like a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.

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How Amazing!

Yes, today was not just a sea of pink, it was an ocean of pink.

This pink motorcade caravan has truly become a movement. Imagine, all over the country. It delivered a strong message to the powers-that-be. It is just like the Edsa people power back in 1986. This time, bikes, motor cycles, tricycles, jeepneys and cars are out on the streets of several places – towns and provinces all over. Even Boracay had their own pink morning.

I hope we could sustain this until the coming election in May. I’ve wished to upload photos but I am watching my free allowed spaces and photos eat a lot. I think next caravan is planned come November. The organizers said at least 10,000 vehicles in 50 towns and provinces participated.

I’ve finally found someone that I could order food from this Wednesday, a niece of one of my friends who has a restaurant here in our town. Delivery fee is minima. Lovely🍭🎂🍻

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TGIF

I went back reading medical thrillers, detective novels and crime fiction. I haven’t read Robin Cook in years. He is a doctor. Michael Connelly is another author that I admire. I have a collection of Robin Cook’s books and I read about twenty books of Connelly. Reading Host at the moment by Cook.

Have I told you that I started another journal? So exciting to see how the pen glides smoothly on the pages. I hope I could fill this up again soon. I started with copying cellphone/contact numbers from my CP.

Oh, that journal cover of a dog, it looks like our own Cookie.

Opps, Google Assistant keeps reminding me of my birthday, haha. It’s still a few days away.

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66 Days To Go

Allow me to count the days, yes, it’s 66 days to go before Christmas.

This is vastly different from the anticipated days of the season the previous years. Around this time every year you’ll hear Christmas carols in the air and malls have lovely Christmas decor all around. Or maybe I don’t listen to a radio anymore nor watch television. Since the pandemic last year, I have only gone out twice in a mall. We just buy basic necessities online and through the grocery store in our subdivision.

Although I have completed my Christmas gifts to family, I don’t even feel that Christmas is coming so close. Everyone on social media are busy with the coming election, me included. Duterte’s minions have troll farms posting fake news every day and those vulnerable enough, the D and E crowd who don’t have enough resources to research and know the truth believe everything they see on the news. Imagine a troll having hundreds of cellphones which he uses to post fake news. So frustrating. This was how duterte won last 2016.

I believe in the pink revolution. May we be delivered from this present ugly governance.

The first photo is my profile pic on Facebook. The second was sent by a friend.

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