Thursday Blues

It seems like it is not a rainy season in our place. The sun is shining brightly and it’s hot. Angat Dam where our  water distributor Manila Water gets its supply  has further declined. The past rains in the metropolis barely added up to the water level in Angat. Water is still under scheduled distribution. It’s a good thing it is during night time that they shut it off.

I checked my stats a while ago and I was surprised to find viewers from Congo – Kinshasa, Russia and Poland. They are not regular visitors to my blog. When I blogged about the results of my laboratory, there were several spam comments on some antibiotics. I am glad there is always Akismet to filter all these spam comments.

I am still trying to find new bloggers to follow and I found some who have similar contents like I have. It feels like you have found a treasure when they talk about the things you like, topics that you are interested in and yes, book reviews.

I am also discovering some book recommendations from Goodreads which I like to find one of these days. So much to read. I have all kinds of books on several topics, YA books, fiction, adventures, some romance books, memoirs, and historical fiction. I love a bit of history in a book.

May I ask a favor from all of you? I talked to my brother, cousins and sis-in-law this morning. My brother is not yet well. I told them to come over so we could take him to the hospital here. WE NEED PRAYERS for his healing. Could you please include him in your prayers too? His name is Alden. Thank you, thank you so very much.

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Finding A Korean Book At Last

The last two or three years of my reading challenges, I was  enamored with a few books I’ve found featuring Asian authors. Since I met Nadia Hashimi, Khaled Hosseini, Amy Tan and Lisa See to name a few, I keep looking for others. Then I finally found this seemingly lovely book of  a Korean-American author.

Pachinko, is an epic historical novel following characters from Korea who eventually migrate to Japan. It is the first novel written for an adult, English-speaking audience about Japanese Korean culture. Wikipedia says that Pachinko is a type of mechanical game originating in Japan and is used as both a form of recreational arcade game and much more frequently as a gambling device, filling a Japanese gambling niche comparable to that of the slot machine in Western gaming.

Pachinko

It is actually my first time to read about Korean culture. I didn’t even know that Korea was under Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. It is a lengthy book all of  496 pages and I’ve only finished 20% of it but I am loving the story. A deeply engrossing novel, a lovely historical fiction.  Looking forward to  reading the rest. It’s my 86th read this year and I have completed 71% of my Goodreads book challenge.

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Reading Lapse

Gosh, I don’t know what is happening!

I can’t even go beyond five pages of this book. When I start reading in the afternoon, it feels so hot. The time is not even conducive to read. When I start at night, I just feel so sleepy sometimes my eyeglass slips from my eyes, one of the reasons why I have to change my reading glass a few week ago was because it broke while I was sleeping. Now I am wearing a new one, a multi-coated lens to protect my eyes from the glare of the computer and my tab. It’s thrice more expensive than the previous one.

Going back to the book, it was set in Cornwall, it has a good story, three generations of women brought together again by life’s trials. Come to think of it, I still have to finish my tome,  Thomas Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain,  Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and Ruth Reichl’s My Gourmet Memoir.  Thomas Merton’s words are truly priceless, the kind of book that you really need to concentrate on to understand better but as I have said before, the prints are so fine they hurt my eyes. The Bell Jar is too deep and intensely emotional. I need a light read for a change. Although I have plenty on my TBR list, I couldn’t quite choose what to read first. I could always find some inspirational words from  Mary Oliver’s Devotion, which I read time and again. It is a collection of her previous and new poems.

Maybe I need something fast-paced  with all the suspense and excitement that a story brings. Maybe I need to discover a new author.

What books are you reading? Can you recommend some?

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Life In The Boomer Lane (Part 2)

Gosh, I only had an hour to spend in the garden before the sun is up. 7 am is already hot on one’s back so I have to start early. The Fukien Tea plants need trimming and I am finding it hard to trim it. I gave one of our jackfruits to our good neighbor. I don’t want them to ripen because sometimes there are thieves who just get what they see. It’s quite annoying.

Even 4 pm is still hot.  The rainy season hasn’t started yet. The thunderstorms which we experienced a few days ago are non-existent nowadays.  Maybe global warming has really something to do with the weather change. It is quite alarming.

Catching up on my reading finally. I found two books by Barbara Taylor Bradford. She used to be a favorite back in those days  when I was so enamored with reading. I love reading about England’s history, its participation during WWII, how its citizens survived during  those times. I love reading about England’s aristocracy, their families, their way of life and the way they deal with ordinary people on the streets. Bradford is a good writer. All her books are a bit too long, the subjects are never boring.

And this is the first time I’m juggling reading a historical novel and a memoir. Crazy isn’t it?

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More Books…On A Thursday Morning

It is cloudy but it is not raining. PAGASA says that the official rainy season will start in two weeks. I love the rain but I hate the flood. I think we are the most- prone country when it comes to typhoons. We get an average of 18-20 weather disturbances a year.

My gosh, every day I wake up earlier than usual. This morning I was awake at 2:30 am. Couldn’t sleep because of my throbbing knee. The pain is tolerable  but I can’t find the most comfortable way to sleep. It feels better when I sit or walk.  Imagine, loading the washing machine at 3 am. Done at 6 am. Such is the daily and weekly routine of a senior citizen like me.

I had time to read though. Done a reread on one of Danielle Steel’s books entitled Remembrance. I read it seven years ago but I could no longer  remember the story. Aren’t I lucky? Found another book, my second one of Ruth Reichl, another gourmet memoir entitled Save Me The Plums. I  am excited to start it soon. I am still looking for her other books. They were highly recommended by a friend.

I am still in the middle of Thomas Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain. The prints are so fine that sometimes I could not read them for long. But this kind of memoir really needs a longer time to digest  and peruse. There are still so many new books I haven’t read. Time is of the essence.

I have a  lone Adenium in a large pot. Lately I noticed two pods growing at the tips of the plant. I didn’t know this is where the seeds are. You just have to wait for the pods to mature. What a blessing.

Adenium seed pod

 

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What Monday Feels Like

Woke up to the sound of raindrops early this morning. Oh blessed, blessed rain, thank you.

Now I won’t have to water my plants. The ground was saturated enough because of the rain.

It’s a week to go before election day. And for those who are still in a quandary in who to vote for. Take a stand and please vote according to your conscience.  I am voting for straight Otso Diretso. They are the most qualified senatorial candidates this mid-term election.

 

Early this morning while I was browsing on Facebook, I saw this meme on the page I Love Reading. I just smile and shared on my wall. Sharing it here for those bookworm like I am.

It often happens.

I just smiled because it’s true. What have you been reading lately?  I am not yet done with the book I started three days ago. I am on the slow-reader mode at the moment. It is a detective story.

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Sunday Musings

We’ve changed venues (church) two months ago. We now attend our very own  Parish here in Midtown instead of going to the town to attend Sunday Masses. Sometimes, we walk.  It is just a ten-minute walk from our place. Sometimes, we ride on e-bikes to get there on time. We usually attend the 6 am mass, the first mass of the day.

Oreo is used now with us bringing him along on Sundays. Every time he sees me dressed for mass, he guards the door and keeps barking until we put the leash on him which is a signal that he could come along with us.  It is his weekly exercise too. He is  usually quiet in the middle of the service. This morning though, he saw another dog at the patio  of the church (on leash too). He can’t keep quiet and wanted to go down and mingle.   Jovy says he is so spoiled because sometimes we treat him as a baby here and  he loves it.

I haven’t done any reading for about two days now. I am half-way with Merton’s autobio and about to finish a book  about 20th century America. I have always loved reading historical books, be they are novels or not. There is something nice about knowing what happened in the past. Done with 60 books since January, half of what I set myself to read this year.

Watched the debate of the senatorial candidates last night on television held at my alma mater, University of Santo Tomas and was sponsored by CNN Philippines. Some people who belong to the administration said it was staged by the opposition, Otso Diretso candidates. May I just say that they are more prepared to debate on issues important to the country? They have platforms which the administration candidates don’t seem to have. Election day will be in two weeks and voters should have discerned enough on who to vote for to govern the country.

As I have always said, I don’t believe in surveys. Surveys represent a mere trickle of the total voting population. Some are there to mislead everyone who they should vote for. They are paid ads meant to condition the minds of those who haven’t chosen who to vote for. And they could be manipulated.

It is your right to choose the best man for the job but please be discerning enough that he knows the responsibilities and duties attached to it. Popularity is not a basis for choosing the best, having the best doable platform is.

The real survey happens on May 13.  Wish us luck guys and pray for us too that it would be a clean and honest election.

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