A Bit Of Pampering

When I was done with my check-up yesterday,(that’s waiting for a few hours to be seen by the ENT for five minutes), I dropped by David’s Salon to have my hair trimmed.

I let my hair grow for a few months and it went wild this way and that. My health is my priority. Going to the doctor at least twice a week and having those lab tests every two weeks taxed my strength. So yesterday, I went to David’s. I was the hair stylist’s first client. Hair trim has gone up. The latter suggested if I want my hair colored so the gray infront of my head won’t show. I told her I don’t because I am waiting for it to grow all white but it is taking so long. I have very fine strands and somehow have become thin over the years.

Do you know, it is quite liberating (if that is the right word) not putting on make-up when I go out, it’s just a touch of lipstick and pressed powder anyway. Most of my face is always covered by face masks. My brother brought home several sets of ten face masks each when he and his wife came home for vacation.

I’ll be free for more than two weeks, that is without scheduled visits to my doctors. My ENT agreed that I’ll just visit her when I get the result of my FBS. Hooray🫠😀🥰

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For Auld Lang Syne

Yes, I am having an LSS singing this song in my head. I used to watch those films about Christmas and New Year and this is always sung in groups, parties and gatherings.

“Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And the days of auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne
We’ll drink a cup of kindness yet
For the sake of auld lang syne

And surely you will buy your cup
And surely I’ll buy mine!
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet
For the sake of auld lang syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And the days of auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne
We’ll drink a cup of kindness yet
For the sake of auld lang syne

And surely you will buy your cup
And surely I’ll buy mine!
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet
For the sake of auld lang syne”.

A few more hours to go and we’ll be meeting another year. Hopefully it would be better than this year. Although some days and months passed quietly, one major thing that happened was the death of my younger brother Alden last May. Went home twice and stayed for two weeks with mom after the funeral.

I started seeing an opthalmologist last June to know if my right eye is ready for cataract operation. I’m done with Biometry and my left eye which was operated on four years back needs laser treatment. My lab tests pre-op were not good so I consulted my internist at Medical City and more lab tests showed that I have a high blood sugar level. He told me that I won’t be given a schedule until my glucose is normalized, I am going back to him first week of January next year. Almost two months ago, my right ear was very painful so I visited an ENT. She said there was water inside and it was infected. She took a sample and had it cultured, it turned out it is a bacterial infection so I continued my ear drops. Last time I had a check-up, she was wondering why it hasn ‘t healed yet so she suggested that I undergo CT Scan. Josef promised to accompany me next Tuesday.

It’s hard to be upbeat sometimes when one is not feeling well. The family were blessed though with my youngest brother and sis-in-law’s presence last November for two weeks. At mom’s age now she hardly recognized Noel and I didn’t see the enthusiasm she used to display when us kids are around. That’s the bane of probably getting old. She sleeps most of the time nowadays.

I am trying to be strong so I could take better care of her. Sometimes though, I’m a little downhearted. I asked one of my doctors if my previous cancer treatment still has a bearing on my low immunity, she said yes. As I have always mentioned in my previous posts, Covid 19 brought my hearing loss.

After all these life’s challenges, I still feel the enthusiasm to meet the coming year head on. I know GOD TRULY CARES😘❤🙏⚘⛪🌅🎊

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Looking Forward To 2023

Yeay, I went out in the garden to sweep the yard and water the plants. It’s cold outside and the past mornings and late afternoons were kind of windy. I started pruning our Fukien tea plants but didn’t finish them yesterday. I was kind of lazy and sleepy too.

It’s nice to stay in bed a little late sometime. And with a hot mug of coffee, it’s wonderful. I always use Stevia nowadays. Trying to avoid sugar because of my abnormal blood glucose.

Do you keep new year resolutions? I used to but not anymore. It is never followed anyway. Unfulfilled dreams, things going haywire, health problems, political unrest etc. etc. Year 2022 was not favorable to us as a family although we were happy that my youngest brother and his wife visited us last November and stayed for two weeks. Mom could no longer recognize him. She thought he was my son Josef. We lost a younger brother last May 15 to colon cancer, the same ailment that my oldest brother and I had several years. He was a bit too young to die at 61.

When you think of the past days and months rapidly melting into 2023, you can’t help but think. How come that despite your efforts to stay healthy, you still have problems with your health? Unfulfilled dreams for the future are a little stressful but I am not dwelling on them that long. Prayers always help. They are my stronghold when I am happy or feeling so low.

I am looking forward to 2023. I hope it would be a good year for the whole family and the whole world. Are you looking forward to it too?

Happy New Year in advance✨️🎈🎉

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Looking Forward To 2023

Yeay, I went out in the garden to sweep the yard and water the plants. It’s cold outside and the past mornings and late afternoons were kind of windy. I started pruning our Fukien tea plants but didn’t finish them yesterday. I was kind of lazy and sleepy too.

It’s nice to stay in bed a little late sometime. And with a hot mug of coffee, it’s wonderful. I always use Stevia nowadays. Trying to avoid sugar because of my abnormal blood glucose.

Do you keep new year resolutions? I used to but not anymore. It is never followed anyway. Unfulfilled dreams, things going haywire, health problems, political unrest etc. etc. Year 2022 was not favorable to us as a family although we were happy that my youngest brother and his wife visited us last November and stayed for two weeks. Mom could no longer recognize him. She thought he was my son Josef. We lost a younger brother last May 15 to colon cancer, the same ailment that my oldest brother and I had several years ago. He was a bit too young to die at 61.

When you think of the past days and months rapidly melting into 2023, you can’t help but think. How come that despite your efforts to stay healthy, you still have problems with your health? Unfulfilled dreams for the future are a little stressful but I am not dwelling on them that long. Prayers always help. They are my stronghold when I am happy or feeling so low.

I am looking forward to 2023. I hope it would be a good year for the whole family and the whole world. Are you looking forward to it too?

Happy New Year in advance✨️🎈🎉

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Blogging Still

Just like on Facebook in which I cleared my list of friends lately, I’ve done the same thing to those blogs I follow online. As I have said before, it is not the number of followers that counts or the number of blogs you follow, I’m more appreciative of the content.

On Facebook when I posted that I narrowed down my list of friends, most of them asked, Am I still in? The mere fact that you could see my updates means you are in the loop…still.

I understand that some bloggers may not always have the time to compose a post, they might just be busy with life itself. But when it takes years that they are not blogging, they might have abandoned their blogs.

I visit DISCOVER from time to time looking for blogs quite similar to mine and believe me, there are hundreds. I do relate with some – blogging about life in general, family life in particular, those who love gardening, reading and those whose blogs describe the places where they are blogging from (I learn that way). I also love cooking segments and how well presented their recipes are. Photography is one thing so interesting in a blog, the way a blogger shows a particular place or object arresting to my eyes. Never mind if it is just a long empty road but speaks volumes to the reader. Poems too, yes! Although I don’t indulge in it more often, I love reading poems too. Dogs, I love those who share the lives of their lovable dogs. We have six doggies outside, a Shih Tzu and a Shih Poo inside the house. The last two share a room with Jovy and Josef, an air conditioned room at that.

Are you still active in the blogging world?

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A Windy Afternoon

The sun is shining bright but the weather is windy, those moments that you enjoy the breeze touching your face and making your hair dance. Perfect time for gardening. Since our house is fronting northeast, the sun shines on the southwest. I uprooted stubborn weeds and pruned and removed the dried leaves of our ferns. The six doggies were busy gallivanting around in the garden. Sadie who is so close to me, watched me while gardening.

My Calatheas are blooming nicely together with my ferns and Crossandra plants.

Tonight will be the second night of Simbang Gabi, nine nights novena before Christmas day. Since I could not hear the mass clearly while inside the church, I opted to watch online mass last night. My sense of hearing is clearer when there are no noise obstructions. One can choose which church to visit online because most of them simultaneously start at 7 :30 pm. Dawn masses are held at 4:30am.

Amazing, my left ear hadn’t hurt since I left my ENT’S clinic yesterday, thank God. I hope this would be the start of the healing of my left ear.

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Blogging For Real

It’s those moments when they just click follow but they don’t engage – no likes, no comments. I have a mind to say maybe some bloggers think that you’ll follow them back which is not always the case.

I love seeing “likes” on my posts. It means either they actually read your post or just scanned it for a few seconds. A friend once told me on FB that when she click “like” on my wall about something I wrote, she is saying that she has read it or telling me that she is there. Normally, she would come back and comment later.

I have close to 5,000 followers but I only get 15 to 30 likes on the average. I am lucky if at least ten of them would make a comment on a post. Back in my early years blogging when I participated once in WordPress’ challenge of blogging every day, there were so many comments and likes. Maybe I have exhausted thinking about contents that are still worth- reading. I have around 4,000 posts more or less because I keep five blogs. I have one for photography loving the macro shots I did, I have started one too when my grandson Nate was born in 2012, a gardening blog which I update now and then and a new one I started three years ago but I don ‘t know what happened, I could not access it anymore although I can still see those earlier posts I made with photos in every post when I am not logged in to it. And of course, this main blog, Dreams and Escapes. I am almost at the end of this free theme and platform. You could all find the links when you visit my blog. A lot of us do get updated on our reader feed without going to the blog itself.

I follow close to a hundred bloggers but most of them are no longer active and I miss their posts. Maybe they got tired of blogging?

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Those Days

Yesterday, I wrote about what life is like these days and some of you who are my faithful followers had those uplifting and inspiring comments, thank you.

You had glimpses and snapshots of the things I wrote since I started posting back in July 2009. That’s how long I’ve been writing here though not regularly now. I started with Friendster, blogged about a few posts and when it closed, I opened an account at Multiply and I tremendously enjoyed sharing with about a hundred close friends. I posted my collection of CDs, poems I wrote when I was in college, lots and lots of photos and blogs too. My youngest brother shouldered my premium account until it also closed years ago. A friend invited me to Facebook and I am still there, a co-admin of a Catholic page and two Catholic groups.

The reason why I opened an account here upon the recommendation of a friend was that I wanted to share my plight as a cancer patient and survivor. I had sigmoid surgery back in July 2009 and I painstakingly posted almost every day after I went back from the hospital. Had six cycles of chemotherapy after a month of my operation. Know what encouraged me to write further? It’s the people I met here who had the same ailment like me. They asked how the treatment was done, they asked about my oncologists and where they could find them. The thing was, they came back thanking me and shared their own experiences. What a beautiful journey! Some of them even wrote longer messages than my blog posts. Met two doctors who shared their plight as cancer survivors too.

Whew! I got lost here somewhere, I planned of blogging about my childhood in the province but I got diverted again, maybe on my next post.

I found a book about Tibet and East Timor. Want to know what life is like in those places. Excited! The weather has improved. The typhoon is out of the country now. No more heavy rains but public school classes and public offices are suspended today.🌦☔

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He Is Home

Thank God for your prayers. Josef came home last Wednesday night. Jovy fetched him from the hospital. He is on sick leave until Monday. Now, I am so careful when I go out in the garden, have to put OFF lotion first before going out. It is rainy season here and mosquitoes are everywhere especially at night.

Nissa had rashes two days ago. She also had fever because of tonsillo-pharyngitis. After two hospital visits, the rashes have subsided and she could eat properly now. She told me early this morning that she and Obet have their annual executive check-up today. It is a privilege provided by the bank for managers and up.

I always get nervous now every time there is someone sick in the family. It started with Alden when he was ill due to cancer. If there is one thing I pray everyday for, it is good health for all family members, relatives and friends. There is nothing better than being in God’s grace and mercy.

A big thank you for reaching thirteen years now of being cancer-free. It is a big blessing but I am always grateful for everyday blessings.

Have a happy week ahead.

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When Monday Comes

Let me see, it’s been almost a week since my last post. Nothing new, just sometimes so lazy to write. I didn’t even visit my reader feed. Sorry about that online friends. I hope you are all doing good.

The weather here is like summer now. It’s hot during the day and still a little cold at night. I have to water the garden twice. The soil gets dry easily. Anyway, there is always joy pointing the water hose on my face and feet in between watering the plants. Our three pups like frolicking in the garden when I am there. There is one more to go this week to another friend and officemate of Jovy. Saddie and Max are all we are keeping, the litters of Lassie. They were the last two to be born.

This is Saddie, a female. Look at her nose, eyes and ears, they are light brown. Could not take a shot of Max, he keeps running.

Another blessing. Got my share of cash dividend from Union Bank credited to my account last week. Good enough for three or four months of grocery, yeay! The wonder of having small investment in blue chips. It is nice to hold it long-term.

I am on my 31st read this year, a true story about child abuse. Third book I read about parents abusing their children, so hard to read actually but I am learning so many kinds of abuses.

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