Monday Musings

Finally, finally. Our guava tree which I nurtured for many years is now bearing fruits, they are almost the same in sizes. I didn’t even see flowers bloom. Silly me but I counted them all. There are fourteen of them🙂

It’s my unica hija’s birthday tomorrow. She’s turning 39. I guess Nate would be their only child. I would have wanted another grandchild, a girl if possible…hehe! It’ll be a second pandemic birthday for her and the last time we saw each other was last January 29 on Obet’s birthday although Obet and Nate stayed here with us last March when she was at the hospital because of Covid.

This pandemic changed everything even family reunions during special occasions. We just have to rely on Messenger to see each other. Nissa works from home and supervises Nate in his online classes. She is busy even during weekends because they no longer have a househelp.

If not for my books and e-books I’ll probably get bored staying at home. They are my constant companions.

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On Death And Dying

I don’t know what is happening. Everyday on my newsfeed on Facebook, I see death all around. Today, it was the former secretary of DSWD (Department of Social Wefare and Development). The other day, a professor from UST died, a few days ago, a student and a nurse died too. I wonder if all of these were caused by Covid because sometimes, the news does not mention it.

I was listening to Fr. Aly’s homily this morning. He told the parishioners about the importance of these Covid vaccines. Not everyone is sure that the pandemic won’t catch up even if we are fully jabbed. I remember my exchange of thoughts with my friend from Canada who told me the news of Fr.Eli’s death a week ago. She said that if the former was vaccinated, it could have triggered his death. He was operated on a few years ago and had a pacemaker. Then she sent those articles that vaccines are not safe. I got confused so I asked if she and her husband were vaccinated. She said at the end of our conversation that it is not polite to ask that question. She told me it is a private choice. More confused.

Going back to Fr. Aly’s homily, he said that one doesn’t know if she/he would be affected. A strong immunity is very important. I agree. Mostly, those hospitalized haven’t been vaccinated yet. There are people who are found positive of Covid even if they are fully vaccinated. Where do we go from here? How long will we have to endure before this pandemic is out of our lives for good?

Morbid you say? I guess it’s not.

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This Lazada Thing

I am loving it. Didn’t I tell you that they have 9-9 sale until tomorrow?

Jovy taught me how to open a Lazada wallet which means that I can pay the items in advance. So it was a direct transfer from my bank account. No splurging, only necessities for the house (cheaper than supermarket prices) and a couple of gifts for Nissa and Nate’s birthdays.

Two items arrived today. I bought a gallon of dishwashing liquid so we won’t have to buy those 1-liter pack every now and then. Bought Nate a Whiz Kid Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs for his birthday in November. Aside from his Lego sets, he has lots of plastic dinosaur toys, he can even memorize their names. I make it a point to buy a book for him every year that he can enjoy reading while growing up.

Next month, on 10-10, there would another sale and I am looking forward to it. It is a big help to choose items you want without even having to mingle with the crowd in malls.

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So Sad

Covid is busy catching lives. One of my friends from Canada just informed me that one of our priest friends during our younger years died of Covid. He was 70.

Almost every month, I see some familiar names of priests, some I’ve known when I was still in UST, some I met through their online masses. I watched Fr. Eli’s homily last August 14 on YouTube. I guess that was his last.

It is sad to know that old friends whom you haven’t seen for a long time suddenly leave the scene.

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Thursday Blues

WordPress says I should blog today but I deliverately postponed it because I got so engrossed reading.

I started a biography of Barack Obama by David Maraniss. Two years ago, I read Michelle Obama’s memoir entitled Becoming and I enjoyed it. I wonder if The Making of the Man is just as good. The book started with his family tree. Since it is pure narrative at the start, I read some short stories in between.

It’s been more than three months now since we had Covid and everything is back to normal if normal means you can now stay in front of the stove, prepare meals for the family, garden and sweep the yard, clean the house and read of course. There is nothing normal yet in my sense of hearing. Group discussions, listening to music and watching movies are still so noisy for my ears. But I could well understand a voice and calls over the phone now.

Life is definitely silent. Last night, I ordered online items from Lazada. You have to pay a minimal forty pesos for each item when you are ordering from different vendors. I’ve come to appreciate some Korean items. Lazada was on sale last August 8 and some items are still on sale until now. They deliver the goods after a day or two. You can even buy appliances through Lazada.

It’s Thursday night and I usually read until 12am most of the time. I don’t wake up early anymore. Josef and Jovy are still working from home, I think since March last year. JP Morgan hasn’t scheduled their vaccination yet.

I laughed when Josef opened our screen door and our two doggies Oreo and Cookie were excited to go out. Oreo was circling the garage but when Josef opened the door of the car, both of them climbed in. They had their check-up today.

I don’t know if this lockdown would end on August 20 as planned. I don’t even know how the Dept. Of Health could readily classify this Delta variant, based on their daily reports, those affected are increasing daily.

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For My Friends Out There

Let us play a game to break the monotony of not being able to go out because of Covid.

Here’s how:

Describe Love in four words.

Enjoy!

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Welcome August

Took this shot yesterday of my Ruellia plant. I have three colors in the garden.

My gosh, time flies as always and before we know it, the BER months are here.

July has been too quiet except the time I had my second dose of Pfizer vaccine middle of the month and two trips to the grocery store across our village gate.

How often do I hear these words, follow your road. Life has been a little too quiet the past one and a half year since this Covid pandemic began. I learned that appreciating silence is so much better than going around town to see every one. Aside from being afraid of this Covid (I should know, coping with it was hard enough), I got lazy the past days so I usually read. Almost done with my Goodreads’ 2021 reading challenge with thirteen more books to go.

Gardening is another thing that I am focusing on. Except for trimming the carabao grass, I’m done pruning and weeding too. I enjoy shopping online, looking at cheaper items that I could buy. Delivery fees are cheaper at Lazada than going out. Fares have doubled since March last year.

Yesterday, I bought these button flowers which are commonly called Globe Amarant, nice mix with my other purple flowers.

I hope I will be able to propagate the seeds when this plant matures.

Follow your road. It maybe hard with all these problems our country is facing at the moment. Sometimes, it is also hard to just stay at home being quiet. This is the life we hve right now.

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Delta Variant…Scary!

WordPress reminded me again that I am supposed to write a blog today.

This Covid 19 Delta variant is quite scary. Although I am fully vaccinated with Pfizer, I am worried about this. Josef and Jovy haven’t been scheduled yet at JP Morgan. Nissa will have her second dose of Moderna on Monday. My son-in-law will have his first dose on August 13.

Research say that once you had the virus, your body builds an immunity for up to eight months and when you are vaccinated, your antibodies will work up to six months. What if in six to eight months, Covid is still active? These mutations like the Delta variant are formed the more people are infected. And once you have experienced Covid like I did, you’ll be wary of it.

We will be on enhanced comunity quarantine (ECQ) again from August 6 to August 20. Even everyday Catholic masses were suspended starting today until August 20 but you can attend online. Delta variant is now here in our country. I guess no matter how many CQs this government declares if some protocols are not met, Covid 19 is here to stay. No contact tracing, lack of vaccines and they blame the people when the number arises. Know what I think,they really don’t have concrete plans to address this pandemic.

I went grocery shopping yesterday, basic commodities that we need in the next three weeks. I also ordered food online that we could stock in the ref. Going out is limited during this lockdown.

When will this Covid 19 ends? We are still so far away from that herd immunity that they are talking about.

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Dreaming While Awake

Oh my! This is simply weird.

I had a very lovely dream last night but for the life of me, I could not remember a thing when I woke up. I didn’t want to open my eyes because that would mean I am awake. I needed to go to the bathroom and that was what woke me. I used to have these little notebook and pen on my night table to write what I remember about my dream but over the years I got lazy. Sometimes you dream myriad of subjects, people and friends you remember, your family, certain places that you’ve been to, places you want to go to, things that are scary or sometimes you dream of that thing you were thinking about before you went to sleep.

Three words.

Begonia.

Immunity.

Antibodies.

Would you believe that I keep forgetting all these three lately? That name of the plant I used to have in my garden, its name is always at the tip of my tongue, but I usually forget. Take the words immunity and antibodies. These words became familiar to me when I had Covid more than two months ago. Goodness gracious, why couldn’t I remember them at the spur of the moment. I have to write them down in my journal. Weird, isn’t it? Does it happen to you?

Whoa, I am really getting old😉😘🙂

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I Am Fully Vaccinated

It is an uneventful week except waiting for my second dose of Pfizer vaccine which was done this morning. The wait was even longer than the first dose but it was very organized. You go through another interview (consent by the patient), taking of blood pressure and pulse ( they’ll write on you papers if you could be vaccinated) then the vaccination area. You have to wait for another 20 to 30 minutes for them to take your blood pressure reading before you could leave. The nurse confirmed that it was Pfizer by showing the vial. Nice 🙂

Taking photos at the vaccination area is not allowed but I took a shot of the auditorium. Good thing even if it was a three-hour wait, the place is so convenient because it is so wide. There were ushers who took charge of the movement of the people.

The other day, March 13, I celebrated my 12th year in remission. Thank God for second chances at life.

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