Lazy

I lost my muse.

As in, I could not think of a blog content  to write about. Having that almost five thousand blog posts was not an easy feat. Almost fifteen years of blogging. I formally customized this blog on May 9, 2009 after a year of procrastinating to transfer here at WordPress. All I had was one entry of a poem for about a year. I feel like I have written about anything under the sun, shared my life here as a cancer patient and survivor, talked about my health issues over the years, my family, my faith and love of books and my small garden. Ventured into macro photography a few years later. I have another blog I call Colors. (https://arleneariston.wordpress.com)

Occasionally, I would reflect and meditate on life and the journeys I am presently going through. I love collecting quotes from some books I’ve read over the years. I have three notebooks of them.

In this heat, I can’t think of doing something worthwhile. Would you believe, here in our  town in Cainta, heat index reached 44°C yesterday around noon. Classes in some schools are allowed online. Good thing, Nate has finished the school year. I read a lot now and do my numbers painting a bit at a time. Even the latter doesn’t hold that much interest.

The Cider House Rules (1985)  was written by American writer John Irving. It was adapted later into a 1999 film and stage play. It tells of a young man who grew up in an orphanage under the guidance of an obstetrician and abortion provider. It consists of 560 pages but I am only in chapter six.

I noticed the very low engagements on my blog posts lately, a few comments,  an average of 20 likes and about seventy to a hundred views. Maybe because I am not blogging regularly now and does not even visit WordPress.

Consider this my month-ender blog.  Tomorrow we’ll begin another month. Welcome May, I hope you’ll be colder than April.

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Losing Myself In Books

The past few days, I’ve been trying to forget the ‘would be’ outcome of my JAK 2 mutation assay.  Not  inspired to blog for several days but just lost myself reading.

Found three books that I rated five⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ each.

The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer was inspired by the real-life  heroin who saved thousands of Jewish children during WWII. Read that book and wrote a review a long time ago. Irena’s Children: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Saved 2,500 Children from the  Warsaw Ghetto by Tillar J. Mazzeo.

Hurt and hope, loss and love along with anger and forgiveness, such speaks The Warsaw Orphan.  If you are a historical fiction fan, this is an absolute must-read. It speaks of the power of hope, love and survival during one of the darkest times in history.

I also love Kelly Rimmer in The Things We Cannot Say giving it another  five ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. It is a moving,compelling and heartwarming story that covers so many topics such as war, love, loss and friendship. A coming of age story that speaks of love amidst the dangers of war-torn Poland. It speaks of a family’s desire to know its roots.

I haven’t read David Baldacci in a while. He is brilliant in A Calamity of  Souls, another five ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for me. A white lawyer defending a black man. Taking up the fight against racism, the subject is nothing  new but this was written well. The author explained that it took him a decade to write this book. I just love courtroom scenes.

Done with 37 books out of 75 I promised myself to read this year.

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And There Are More Books

When I was in college working as a student librarian at the UST Main Library, I was more into reading Psychology, Philosophy, Ethics and English literature. From time to time, I would delve into those classics that the Humanities Section have lots of. I learned to appreciate Sylvia Plath and Ayn Rand. I share the same birthday with S. Plath.

I was transferred to the Asian Section for a year before I left the library. There I met and read the works of Kahlil Gibran, some Japanese poets  and World History. I was fascinated by what happened during WWII when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and it occupied the Philippines. The only stories I heard before about the war were from my grandmother and my mom who was still in her teens that time.

My love for historical fiction started then. I can’t count the number of books I read about WWII. I  still read them until now. There is something that gets you  engrossed reading about the 20th century too, how life was back then although they were written in fiction. One of my favorite books that chronicled how life was in a concentration camp during WWII was Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. He was a prisoner of war. I love Leon Uris’ books too. There was a time I collected his books but most of them got flooded in 2009. Mila 18 and QB VII were favorites. Just finished German Wife by Kelly Rimmer, in the middle of reading The Things We Cannot Say by the same author and will start The Warsaw Orphan soon. They are all about what happened during WWII.

I would never get tired of reading historical fiction books but insert some thrillers from time to time.

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These Uplifting Quotes

I recently read a book by Matt Haig called A Comfort Book. It makes you think about life and as the title suggests, very comforting to read. It’s a manual of reflections for an increasingly stressful world. Although he has many books published, this is my first time to read one. Jotted some quotes to share with you. It reminds me of Sarah Ban Breathnach’s book Simple Abundance, A Daybook of Comfort and Joy. Here goes:

One Beautiful Thing

“Experience one beautiful thing a day. However small. However trivial. Read a poem. Play a favorite song. Laugh with a friend. Gaze at the sky just before the sun’s final tumble toward night. Watch a classic movie. Eat a slice of lemon drizzle cake. Whatever. Just give yourself one simple reminder that the world is full of wonders. Even if we are at a point in life where we can’t appreciate things, it sometimes helps to remember there are things in this world to enjoy, when we are ready.”

“It is a strange paradox, that many of the clearest, most comforting life lessons are learnt while we are at our lowest.”

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It’s Done

So I went back to my endocrinologist after three months. My blood sugar is normal although my platelet count is still high and my creatinine is a bit elevated. She advised me to observe three more months if I want to go back to Kaibigan sa Kalusugan. I texted the assistant of the naturopath practioner and she said it is up to me if I would continue the food supplements or not. My endo said, I am spending a lot on medication  and she believes with proper care my diabetes would be controlled.

I need to consult a hematologist though and since they don’t have one at the clinic, I have to go to the main hospital, The Medical City to look for one. My next check-up would be in July but my medical insurance will expire at the end of June. I hope  Nissa and Josef would renew it again for another year. Can ‘t afford the too expensive laboratory tests on my own. I told them both and Nissa said it’s a ‘no issue’ for her. Since Josef’s work insurance is under Intellicare, he would take care of it. Thank God for loving kids. They take care of me.🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

I just finished reading a lovely book entitled The Music of Bees, a unique story about beehives, honeybees, drones, worker bees and their mother, the queen bee. So nice to encounter a book that speaks of people in an Oregon town, one is a beekeeper, a teenage paraplegic and a young man who was a felon. It speaks of the power of friendship, the courage it took the people  to defend their farms against a pesticide company that would destroy everything even the rivers and nature itself. I rated it four stars. Beautifully uplifting, warm and moving. It was a debut novel by Eileen Garvin.

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My Dream Garden

Got so lazy the past two days to blog. I’ve concentrated on attending online masses instead, different churches and mass presiders. And I got engrossed reading again. Fancy having read five⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ books lately. Just glad I went back reading.

Three vials of blood, ten kinds of laboratory tests. I went back to TheMedical City Clinic yesterday to have everything  done. I’ll come back Saturday morning to get the results  and to see my  endocrinologist. If there is enough time, I have to consult the naturapath practitioner since he had basically the same requirements for lab testing. Their clinic is only open during Saturdays. Besides, I need to ask him if I still have to continue my food supplements. It’s been two months since I started.

Whew! I just can’t resist. I waited for a few minutes for National Bookstore to open at the mall so I could take a look of more designs of Paint by Numbers. They have plenty but most of them are rolled without frame. And they have very good designs. I was tempted but I don’t know where to buy a frame and assemble one. They don’t sell them. I chose another framed designed instead and it cost me a little expensive because I also bought a magnifying glass to see those tiny, tiny flowers, what color they are. There are thirty acrylic paints in all. This seems to be the most difficult design that I will do. Wish me luck please.😘 I’ll call it My Dream Garden.

It is really summer here now, in other areas, it reached a high 41°C. Some Asian countries are having heatwaves. Although we are conserving on water, I have to water some of my plants twice because they easily dry up. Our LGU has released some advice on how to combat the heat. For one thing, you should not drink very cold water when you come from outside. It might cause your veins to collapse.  Wait for a few  minutes for your body to adjust from the heat.

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The Frozen River

I just finished this book. The author is quite unknown to me, Ariel Lawhon. At the end of the book, she explained how she came to write about Martha Ballard. It’s fiction but was inspired by the true-to-life story of Martha Ballard. I gave it four ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Here is a more complete synopsis of the story culled from Goodreads. It’s my 24th book of 75 I promised myself to read this year. Been participating with Goodreads Reading Challenge since 2014.

“A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history.

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.”

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The Joys Of Reading

What activities do you lose yourself in?

I’ve blogged about something like this several times in the past. Books and reading are in the forefront. Discovering new authors, liking their creativity in writing, enjoying everything especially when I find the book worth-reading.

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Thank God It’s Friday

I purposedly didn’t write a post yesterday. I went out to buy maintenance medicines and  some sore throat lozenges that function like antibiotics so they are costly. I’ve got colds again sometimes accompanied by coughs. The weather is stifling. Almost every day, you can’t see clouds in the sky. I also bought some groceries.

Done reading another book by  Tessa Afshar called Pearl In The Sand. Rahab, the main  character in the book was, according to the book of Joshua, a Gentile woman who lived in Jericho. She was a prostitute, a harlot who helped two spies escaped Jericho and because of her faith, she and her family were saved when the walls of Jericho were destroyed. A glimpse of God’s love is shown in almost every page.

In the New Testament, Rahab is lauded both as an example of a saint who lived by faith in God. I want to find Afshar’s other book entitled Land of Silence.

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We Were There

We were there.

That is the last sentence you would read in the The Women by Kristin Hannah. She is one of those authors I follow on Goodreads. This is a story of a war veteran nurse who served in Vietnam for two years during the Vietnam war back in the seventies.

A fellow blogger and an online friend wrote about her own review of the book. I was in the middle of reading it when she posted it.

I was already in college  (1973 ) when I learned of the Vietnam War with the US but according to my research, it started in 1959 up to 1975. And like the rest of world happenings, you just didn’t concern yourself with it as long as you are not directly affected. It was on the news alright  but it was just that, a part of the news reel that you see on television. It was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on April 30,1975.

Hannah’s book was based on the real happenings in Vietnam. According to her, it took her a year to write it based on real life stories of people who have been there. I can just imagine the atrocities done to the US war veterans who went home either in coffins, lost of limbs, suffering from the effects of war, struggling with tragedies, PTSD and the like. Vietnamese civilians and especially children were victims too.

The Women gave me a glimpse of how life was back then. When these women came home, they were looked down with disdain and some people even said that there were no American women involved in the Vietnam War. Most of them were nurses. They found it hard to start a normal life again after coming home.

It took the US government a decade to dedicate a memorial to all those war veterans. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is located on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The memorial consists of three parts: the Vietnamese Vetersns Memorial Wall, the Three Servicemen Statue and Flagpole and the Vietnam Women’s Memorial.

I know I  listed the books I want to read from my TBR list on a previous blog post but when I saw the nice and not so good reviews of the book on the Historical Fiction page on Facebook, I just have to get hold of it. It took me almost a week to read it in between painting my new project.  Next on my list is Still Life by Sarah Winman, a new author for me.

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