Street Photography

Eight years ago, I tried taking shots of the denizens of Antipolo Cathedral after attending an afternoon mass.  This  was my first time to try street photography, something that tells a lot about ordinary  and everyday life of our “kababayans”.   The whole album resurfaced today on my Memories page at Facebook. I have chosen four of them here to share with you.

The various images of Sto. Nino (baby Jesus)

A guy selling whisk broom made of Tambo.

Hello Manang. I signaled to her that I will take a shot and she obliged.

Selling Sampaguita garlands. So common in front of Catholic churches here. She is probably counting how many more she has to sell before going home.

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Online Transactions

A friend and a fellow blogger wrote about learning to wait. I am afraid I am one of those seemingly impatient persons when it comes to waiting.  Be it in a traffic (I guess this is inevitable),  drugstores, mall payment counters, doctors’ offices and the like.

It is a good thing, there are  now “senior citizens” lane  when paying for one’s purchases. It rather cuts the time waiting  for a few minutes.  I usually buy my maintenance medicines at Mercury Drug Store. There is this branch close to our place  that serves their clients oh so slow.  There are more senior citizen buyers than  regular customers.  Now, I remember, the  municipal hospital is also close by so the customers are always in line.

When I left the bank where I used to work back in the year 2000, I enrolled all our utilities for online payments.  Paying online is easier than waiting for your number to be serviced by a bank teller. As long as you have a wi-fi and your app is updated, you’re good to go.  Online transactions too  are now  in place for those merchants selling clothes, gadgets, even grocery items. Most of them deliver the items free (I guess the delivery charge is  already included in the cost). Some are paid in cash as soon as you get the items. Food  merchants  have delivery charges when you order online but you’d be assured that the items you ordered would be delivered in  less than 30 minutes. If you are quite lazy to go out because of the traffic and  and the not so friendly smog  in your area, it is still the best option. You just have to wait for a while.

The internet has surely gone a long way to help us in our daily lives.  You don’t have to buy a newspaper every day to get updated with  news.  Just read online and that’s it.  For those trolls online, it is also the easiest access to publish fake news. So beware.

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It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

What a mouthful for a blog title! Some would probably say it is too early yet. It’s the anticipation and the countdown though that make Christmas something to look forward to  every year.  It’s 76 days to go before Christmas, better yet make that 75 since October 10 is about to end.

Our street is the role model for the others when it comes to decorating. Christmas season or not, we have a color motif all year round. Since we adopted the idea of lighting our own street (that means every house has a light post in front) without relying on the subdivision fund to pay for our street light consumption, it has become even better. Our street coordinators maintain them and we have uniform potted plants lining the street as well.  I saw them fixed the parols this afternoon, those small Christmas lanterns that light our street every year. I got excited watching them decorate each light post.

Violet St. at night….

This was how it looked last year. I wonder what they’ll add  to make it look more festive this time. I think it’s time to clean and bring out my favorite Christmas decor again although I don’t get to hang them until November 30 of each year.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Do I hear Christmas carols too?

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Life In Our Neighborhood (Fourth In A Series)

It’s not complete if you could not hear the sound of school buses, tricycles, motorcycles and some impatient drivers beeping their horns in  an otherwise still sleepy neighborhood. Or your  suki  vegetable vendor shouting that he has fresh fiddlehead  fern or  saging na saba. That’s our place so early in the morning and when you hear them  penetrating your subconscious, it’s time to wake up and sweep the dead and fallen leaves in the yard.  Occasionally though, some of our neighbors who own farms in nearby provinces sell their produce at a lower price than the one you see in the wet market.

Two weeks ago, one of our neighbors who just harvested their calamansi sold them for only P12.00 pesos a kilo so even if we have our own two calamansi trees (Philippine lime), we bought four kilo to make into juice. My son loves it.

Afterall, it is healthier than soda drinks and served chilled, it’s refreshing. You just have to add sugar to the freshly squeezed juice to preserve it for at least a week. Once in a while, when I chance upon the buko vendor who goes around the streets in our place, I buy at least two and have them separated from the  green husk. It is another healthy alternative to drinking commercially produced fruit drinks .

Yesterday, I saw the open gate of our neighbor and when I took a look, there were crates of Rambutan waiting to be sold. Every year, they harvest them from their farm in Laguna and sell them to the nearby houses.

I prefer Rambutan over Lanzones (which is also in season now) because the former is juicier and sweeter, and besides, it is also cheaper. I bought three kilo with extra  pieces on the side. Rambutan is best eaten just a bit chilled while it is still fresh. Aside from being a good source of vitamin C and calcium, it also provides niacin, iron, protein and fiber.

That’s life in our neighborhood.  Sometimes, it’s a thrill discovering new produce from ambulant vendors  selling their wares early in the morning. Added to that of course is the smell of freshly baked  pan de sal.  Ah, it’s heaven with a hot cup of coffee and your favorite sandwich spread, be it as simple as scrambled  eggs, matamis na bao, peanut butter or slivers of cheese.

 

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Let’s Color The Day Yellow (Life In The Neighborhood)

I think this is  my  third  blog  in a series of shots that I took giving colors to the day. At first it was orange, then white, let’s have it in yellow today.  Life in our neighborhood is a quiet life, it’s the noise of the vehicles, tricycles and motorcycles that shatter the peace and quiet. All our streets were named after flowers. One such stretch that I love is the street perpendicular to ours which is called Aster. Our two village gardeners have planted annuals lining the sidewalk and it is a sight  to see the yellow colors of blooms facing the sun.

And I was wondering why they didn’t plant Aster flowers to fit the name of the street  instead of these lovely Cosmos blooms only to find out that  the latter are also called Mexican Aster 🙂  They are eye-catching and when the wind blows, they sway in the gentle breeze. They don’t need much  maintenance.

Cannas are always a delight to look at. They stand majestic along the sidewalk and come in varied colors of orange, red and yellow.

And these Golden Candles are also a sight to behold. Do you know that the flowers are the white tips and not the yellow ones?

Don’t you just love this yellow lamp-post? It blends well with the Canna and Cosmos flowers.

I don’t exactly know the name of this tree but it is similar to a flame tree, the flowers just come in yellow colors.

It’s a yellow morning, at least in my part of the world! And do you know that yellow symbolizes wisdom? Yellow  also means joy and happiness. Be happy!

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