Thank God It’s Friday

Hey friends, I am back after almost a week of not even visiting WordPress until now.

It is summer here now and it is so hot. We are due for some house repairs and supposed repainting but then again I am so lazy to contact a carpenter to do the job.

Alden is in the hospital at the moment. He had colonoscopy yesterday and ultrasound this morning. They will probably go home this afternoon. They are renting a room for my niece who serves as their runner when they need something from outside the hospital. He is in a three-bed ward so only one companion is allowed. He had to have another blood transfusion before his scheduled colonoscopy. I am praying he could recover soon. Please pray for him. Thank you so much.

I don’t think this is funny. VP LENI was interviewed a few days ago and they asked her about her favorite book. She said To Kill A MockingBird then went on to explain why. She was influenced by it on becoming a lawyer. Those detractors who don’t even know the title of the book bashed her again saying that she didn’t answer the question. She did but knowing how they seem to be all-knowing, they probably thought that To Kill A Mockingbird is not the title. It is just so annoying that these pretenders don’t even know a good book. If you are a reader, you remember the story and the title of the book which is your favorite, right? Which reminds, I like to reread that book one of these days. I don’t know where my copy got to.

Talking of being lazy, I finished three books by David Baldacci lately, The Fix, The Fallen and Long Road to Mercy. They are all so captivating. Enjoyed the read. I am doing some spiritual readings too for Lent. Watched a new episode of the Fourteen Stations of the Cross at the Hundred Islands in our province in Pangasinan.

By the way, today is April Fools Day and I am again reminded of the song The April Fools.

In an April dream
Once you came to me
When you smiled I looked into your eyes
And I knew I’d be loving you
And then you touched my hand
And I learned April dreams can come true

Are we just April fools
Who can’t see all the danger around us
If we’re just April fools
I don’t care, true love has found us nowLittle did we know
Where the road would lead
Here we are a million miles away from the past
Travelin’ so fast now
There’s no turning back
If our sweet April dream doesn’t last

Are we just April fools
Who can’t see all the danger around us
If we’re just April fools
I don’t care, we’ll find our way somehow
No need to be afraid
True love has found us now

There you go. HAPPY APRIL 😘🌷💐🛻🌞

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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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Saturday, Saturday

It’s almost a week now since my last post here. I have to submit to SSS several copies of mom’s photo holding a current newspaper before they were satisfied. Finally yesterday, I received an e-mail that they processed the renewal of Mom’s pension. She is a survivor pensioner so we have to renew it every year just to let them know that she is alive and kicking. She complains about being nervous when she wakes up and this morning she said that her one eye could not see. Otherwise, she is still healthy for her age of 92 going 93 by April. She complains that she could not go out. It’s been three years since she arrived back here. Alden could not fetch her because he is sick. My other brother who lives close by cannot drive yet because he had brain operation a few months ago. I am the only one who could take care of her.

I joined the 2022 Goodreads Reading challenge and committed myself to read 150 books this year. I am done with four. I am never in a hurry though. I choose those new authors and discover what they have to offer. Last year I was able to finish 144 books, an eclectic mix of historical, contemporary, memoirs, one YA book and a couple or three love stories. Here are the books I have rated ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.

A Winter Beneath The Stars – Jo Thomas

Evergreen – Belva Plain

Redeeming Love – Francine Rivers

What The Wind Knows – Amy Harmon

Knight in Shining Suit – Jerilee Kaye

Long Walk To Freedom – Nelson Mandela ( a memoir)

Cold Mountain – Charles Frazier

The Orphans Of Race Point – Paltry Francis

These are just some of the few titles I enjoyed reading last year.

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It Was A Busy Tuesday

For the fourth time since this pandemic I have to go out again yesterday to get an additional form for mom’s renewal of her Social Security survivor’s pension since it is nearing January 16 which is the date of Dad’s birth.

I was able to contact SSS Cainta branch manager via e-mail. According to him, their branch is already closed since November last year. I have to go to another branch to get the non-remarriage/no co-habitation form, an additional requirement. Mom could no longer write her name so I bought a stampad ink months ago for her thumb marks.

I e-mailed everything, such gargantuan requirements. SSS just want to make sure that the pensioner is still alive.

Speaking of booster shots, I am in a quandary whether to get one. According to a friend whose son lives in Saudi Arabia, they are on their second booster there. Would this be endless meantime that it is in experimental stage? We had about more than 5,000 positive cases yesterday and according to our health department, there are already 7 cases of the Omicron variant. Sometimes, their reports are no longer believable.

Right now, I am on my third book. I joined the 2022 Godreads Reading Challenge. Yeay for 150 books.

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Another Five Stars

WordPress says it is time to blog again. Yes, I set up a schedule twice a week though sometimes I don’t even follow.

I found this lovely site on Play Store where you can download books, put up an online library and choose what to read. Although I’ve already read most of them, there are still lovely ones out there. Authors are alphabetically arranged so you can find your favorites among them.

I recently discovered Jo Thomas. I love her writing style – talk about reindeer, lovable dogs, rainforests, silence, the Northern lights, meals cooked in woodfire, reinder hides as seat warmer and of course Denmark and into Jo’s snow-filled world. A Winter Beneath The Stars is a heartwarming hug of a story. Beautiful setting.

I am giving another ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to this one.

‘

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New Post

Just updated my gardening blog, Gardens and Empty Spaces located in my blog links here.

Evergreen. It’s been so long that this book was in my shelf. It was published in 1978, first book of Belva Plain. I wonder why I ignored reading it for so long. It is my first book of the author, a wonderful saga of an American-Jew family. A richly written and finely detailed story about the family’s struggle in American soil. This is the second time I am giving ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to a novel. Have you read it?

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Redeeming Love

This is my 126th read on the Goodreads Reading Challenge this year.

One of the best I’ve read so far and I am giving it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. I am in a quandary to review this book though because it could be classified as inspirational religious fiction or a romantic adventure. There are so many biblical quotes in every chapter. They are not preachy though.

REDEEMING LOVE by Francine Rivers. A long time ago, I read two of her books, I could not even remember their titles now. Those horrible and gut-wrenching scenes that make you stop for a while, wipe a tear or two then turn the pages. I’ve read it overnight.

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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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Missing The Numbers

I did a draft of this yesterday because for two days, we didn’t have internet connection. Maintenance again.

I feel so lazy to update my account here. It’s not like before. I saw my stats lately and it has dropped tremendously. Some of my blogger friends probably lost interest in reading my blog. Maybe my content is no longer that interesting.

Anyway, this pandemic gave me an opportunity to read, read and read like crazy. Since I’ve finished my Goodreads’ Reading Challenge for 2021, I’ve chosen some light reading from my e-book collection. I’ve forgotten how good romance books are sometimes. For the first time in years, I cried over a book. Think the like of movie adaptation of The Fault in our Stars by John Green, The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks and several books by Richard Paul Evans made into films. This year, I am done with memoirs, cookbooks, thrillers and historical novels. I am presently reading a paranormal story. Trying another genre has that “kilig” factor. I am on my 108th read. So far, so good.

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Relaxing Wednesday

Finally, I could relax. We were done trimming the carabao grass yesterday afternoon. Gardening is hard of course but it is a fulfilling job. So lovely to see a clean garden from weeds and unwanted growth of grass. Now I can concentrate on replanting and sowing some seeds I bought earlier.

It seems I’ll be able to finish my Goodreads’ reading challenge for this year afterall. I was not able to read when we had Covid last May. It was almost two months before I started again. I’ve said before that I committed myself to read a hundred books this year. I am on my 86th book now. I found this lovely book online entitled No Promises In The Wind by Irene Hunt.

Here’s a brief summary of the book culled from Goodreads:

It’s a tale of a brave young man’s struggle to find his own strength during the Clutch Plague. In 1932, American’s dreams were simple: a job, food to eat, a place to sleep, and shoes without holes. But for millions of people these simple needs were nothing more than dreams. When he was just fifteen years old, Josh had to make his own way through a country of angry and frightened people. This is the story of his struggle to find a life for himself during those turbulent times.

It is actually a short novel which you could probably finish in one day. I slept late last night just to finish half of it. I am beginning to discover some unknown authors whose works are equally absorbing.

Today is the Feast Day of St. John Mary Vianney, the patron saint of Catholic priests. St. John Mary Vianney, pray for us as we continue to beg God for more priests who shine with holy and human virtues. HAPPY FEAST DAY👏🙏⛪

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