April Is About To End

I’ve missed so many comments which didn’t show on my tab the past days. That’s one of the things I don’t like about using my tab to check my posts. Unless I open my computer to check everything, I miss a lot. I told you, life has become lazy days too.

April is almost gone. Tomorrow we’ll start another month.

One thing that I am always reminded of every time the month of May sets in is the song by The Bee Gees, First of May. And I silently sing it in my head. Aside from December, May is one of my favorite months – the month of flowers and the month of Mama Mary.

♫♫♪when I was small, and Christmas trees were tall♫♪

April seemed to take a little too long, what with this pandemic, lockdown and all.  Sometimes all you think is what to have and what to cook in your next meal. There are lots of idle times and you have lots to do but you can’t start.  It’s like the days pass by and you just go with the flow. You think, when will this ends? When will we have normal lives again? When will this stop? And you feel helpless, do a lot of prayers and cling to your faith.

I talk to Nissa every day now asking how they are coping. Yesterday, her brother-in-law brought home the remains of their Papa in a sealed urn. It is supposed to stay in a columbarium but the lockdown hinders one to move normally. They take their temperature every day even if they know he didn’t die of Covid.  It’s been more than three weeks now since he got sick and died a week ago. His doctor siblings said it was bacterial and his kidneys were not functioning well. Such is life, surprises (even not good ones) are lurking nearby.

For the last three mornings, I woke up early to tend the garden. I am finally done trimming the carabao grass. The garden hose is new, we had to call the plumber who did the installation of the aircon three days ago to fix it.  My Pandakaki plants and Tagaytay cherry plants need pruning too. That has to wait until this afternoon when it is not too hot. Gardening is really a great way of  de-stressing, a therapeutic activity that does not need too much  expertise but just the love of the soil and all its environs.  It’s more of  experiments really because they say that there are no gardening mistakes, everything that you plant becomes a part of the garden.

I planted some squash seeds at the back garden and they have sprouted. What a joy to see new shoots.

Let’s just hope the month of May will flatten the curve worldwide.

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When October Comes To A Close

What happened? Got at least ten spam comments on my folder. Good thing Akismet is always there. Thank you WordPress.

I like it that some bloggers who don’t subscribe to my blog are reading my old posts. I guess most of my older ones are way, way better than those I am posting nowadays.  They have more “meat” because I was sharing my plight as a cancer patient and survivor. When I think of those days and months that I was indisposed, I often wondered  how I survived them – frequent lab tests, hospital visits every three weeks and chemotherapy which saps one’s strength. But God is good. He let me have that faith that I get well in the process.  When you pray fervently for your heart’s desires, your prayers are answered in one way or another.

I had an hour of gardening so early this morning. The weather was just fine with an early promise of a lovely day. Looking for more pots where I could transfer my Impatiens plants. It is so nice to see new shoots of Zinnia once again.

I am reading some books about winter and Christmas but I haven’t done any Christmas decoration yet. Years back, we used to put up decor come November 1. I don’t know why, I don’t feel so much inclined to do it this early. Maybe  I am getting really old,  no longer excited to put up Christmas decorations. I have lots of TBR books that I want to finish before the end of the year.

October is about to close, have a lovely and blessed November.

 

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September Is Almost Gone

And October is fast showing its face by the door. Where did September go? I guess it is the fastest month of the year. It’s when the BER months  begin and the long celebration of Christmas is just around the corner.

Oh yes, as I have blogged time and time again, we have the longest Christmas celebration ever.  Some start it as early as September and  it ends as late as February. I usually put up Christmas decorations  by end of November. I listen to Christmas songs on YouTube. The Tagalog songs of old are still the best. The happy tunes, the way we celebrate it, the nitty-gritty of  all the preparations.

I love October. More than just being my birth month, I love the season, a little cold in the morning, longer nights, less rains and typhoons.

We don’t have autumn here but I admire every post about it. There is something magical about falling leaves and gentle breezes that accompany it. There is something to look forward too once fall comes.

What could be more exciting than an October day? What could be more  lovelier than waiting for a birthday?

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Hello August

Trite  at it may sound, I am  greeting you again with this old familiar greeting, “hello August, welcome”.

I really can’t believe July is gone and August is here again. Happy new month everyone. I used to blog about month endings and beginnings but for so long now, I haven’t done it. Sometimes I forget when I am busy.

Apart from some friends  who visited me early in July and  the monthly visit from my daughter’s family, July has been a little too uneventful. The quiet days spent in the garden, moments of reflection and the endless tasks of  everyday things at home that make life a little comfortable. I had a lot of time to read though, some from e-books that I have on my tab and older copies of books I bought a few years ago.  My Goodreads book challenge for 2017  is almost done. From the 150 books I committed myself to read this year, I have finished reading  a total of  139 books, a mix of memoirs, fiction, psychology and YA books. I have found several classic books in between like The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Zafon,  Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco  and The Godfather by Mario Puzo to name  a few. I also discovered several authors, new ones who are really good at their craft. Nadia Hashimi comes close to one of my fave authors Khaled Hosseini when it comes to Asian literature.  They wrote about life in Afghanistan and I was mesmerized by  their words. Imagine life in a war-torn country with all the problems it entails.

My garden is doing just fine but maybe in a week’s time, I have to trim the carabao grass again. They have grown in the last two weeks since I did the trimming. I am thinking of replanting some bulbs while the sun is shining.

Hello  August, be kind!

 

 

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Month Endings And Beginnings

I don’t know how many times I blogged about month endings and beginnings since I started this blog.  It’s some kind of a summary for the past month and a sort of welcome to a new month.

Today is a significant day in our country, it’s the changing of the guards so to speak.  It’s the inaugural of the incoming President Duterte and the new VP Leni Robredo. According to reports, it’s the first time that the two would not be sworn into office together because the former doesn’t want Robredo to be with him in Malacanang. VP Leni would take her oath separately in a different venue.  Personally I think, it is sending a wrong message to a lot of us ordinary citizens. There is division instead of unity.  I am not really looking forward to having a new president. We’ve been brainwashed by so many things the past days –  lots of promises, lots of swearing, killings of just “suspected” criminals. Lately, I am no longer appreciative of listening to news but I am giving him the benefit of the doubt and this starts today.  Outgoing President, Benigno Aquino is one of the best presidents we ever had.  The Philippines has become a tiger in Asia because of him, the Philippine economy at its best after his term. Thank you Pres. Aquino!

Ah July, the rainy month. I am not exactly looking forward to the rainy months because I am afraid of heavy rains and flooding. Although our local community is more active now in cleaning and desilting rivers and canals in preparation for the rainy season, we are never sure of the weather. PAGASA (our local weather bureau) says that we get an average of about twenty typhoons in a year. There is this fear of  La Niña too towards the end of the year.

Finally I was able to catch up on my reading challenge. Nine books in advance, that’s a feat for me. There are stories wherein you can totally relate to and it seems like the author is exactly describing how you feel deep inside. Sometimes no matter how painful  it is being reminded of what you went through, it is always a challenge to stay strong and to have that much-needed faith that you can carry on.  The little setbacks will always be there no matter what we do. Our attitude to any situation makes the difference.

Was June a happy month for you? Let us welcome July with a bang 🙂

 

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Uneventful July

July is getting to a close and it was so uneventful it was kind of boring month. I spent a big chunk of it taking care of Josef for a few days then I got sick too and it was kind of hard to get back to normal.  I don’t usually complain about the weather but it was also  weird that this month was like summer, so hot during the day and there is the usual thunderstorm in the afternoon or early evening.

My plants are probably getting confused although they enjoy the afternoon and early evening shower. A week ago, my lone gardenia shrub started blooming again after it showed its last bud second week of June. If there is one thing that gave me joy in this dull July month, it was the flowers blooming in my garden. My rain lilies are showing off and my Vinca/periwinkle plants are showing a lot of blooms too. One good reason to visit the garden. We haven’t trimmed the carabao grass for more than a month now. I get lazy just looking at it and keep postponing the hard job of weeding and trimming. I need a gardener to replant my peanut grass in front of the house.

My July blooms…

I had a lot of time to catch up on my reading. I am half-way through reading one of the classics Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy but in between I read contemporary and chick lit novels. I am finding it hard to pronounce all those confusing Russian names in my head. Last night, I opened the five-books set from Nissa, all by John Green. Except for The Fault In Our Stars (which I have watched  on Nissa’s phone) and made a short review here, I am not familiar with the other four although I heard that there is a new movie adaptation of Paper Towns, a coming of age story that belongs to the set. I’ve been looking for more books about cooking (not necessarily cook books) but novels about chefs will do. I found this intriguing title on Goodreads, Incidence of Coconut Cake. I can’t wait to finish the book and search for a recipe using coconut cream which we have plenty here. Who knows, I might be able to come up with my own bars and cookies using this ingredient.

How time flies!  July is ending and another month is coming near. I am praying the month of August would not bring too much rain and typhoons. I hope it would be a happy month. How was July for you?

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When September Comes To A Close

I just feel a bit weird just thinking, where has September gone? I used to say goodbye for each month that passes and greet the new month with so much hope and wonder. But when September comes to a close, I am excited that October would show its face again, for the simple reason that it’s my birth month. I am not exactly looking forward to another year of getting older,  it’s more like I am excited about our coming baby. I only have one wish this time, I am praying that baby Nate would have the same birthday as I have.  What a lovely celebration it would be if that happens.

September

I’ll always remember this month as the start of the Christmas season here in the Philippines. Through the years when September comes, you’ll always hear Christmas songs on the radio being played the whole month of September. And I was surprised when I saw Christmas trees on display at National Bookstore this early. And they are not in the traditional color  of green, they come in shocking shades of purple, silver and gold. I was wondering, what color of decor would you combine with a deep shade of violet? Would it match the beauty of the Christmas colors of red, green and gold? I think I’ll forego putting up the Christmas tree this time. I want to have a nativity crèche instead. I am inspired about the story of how the Christmas crèche came to be.

      The history of the Christmas crèche in art and literature is a story in of itself, but the real turning point was St. Francis of Assisi’s inspiration. For the Saint, Christmas had always been the Feast of Feasts, yet he did not think it had been celebrated as it could have been, The poverty of Christ had become lost in the extravagance of the Christmas festivities An idea occurred to him and while on a visit to Rome, he received permission from the Pontiff to put his idea to work.

       The story of how St. Francis of Assisi “invented” the crib is so delightful and inspiring that it might be told or read to the children every year. We give here the account in the very words of Brother Thomas de Celano, who was there when it happened and who wrote it down:

             Blessed Francis called a friend about two weeks before Christmas and said to him: ‘If you desire that we should celebrate this year’s Christmas together at Greccio, go quickly and prepare what I tell you; for I want to enact the memory of the Infant Who was born at Bethlehem, and how He was deprived of all the comforts babies enjoy; how He was bedded in a manger on hay, between an ass and an ox. For once I want to see all this with my own eyes.’ When the good and faithful man had heard this, he departed quickly and prepared in the above-mentioned place everything that the Saint had told him.

            The joyful day approached. The Franciscans were called from many communities. The men and women of the neighborhood, as best they could, prepared candles and torches to brighten the night. Finally the Saint of God arrived, found everything prepared, saw it and rejoiced. The crib was made ready, hay was brought, the ox and ass were led to the spot and Greccio became a new Bethlehem. The night was radiant with joy. The crowds drew near and rejoiced in the novelty of the celebration. Their voices resounded from the woods, and the rocky cliff echoed the jubilant outburst. As they sang in the praise of God, the whole night rang with exultation. The Saint of God stood before the crib, overcome with devotion and wondrous joy. A solemn Mass was sung at the crib.

              The Saint dressed in deacon’s vestments, for a deacon he was [out of humility, St. Francis never became a priest, remaining a deacon all his life]. He sang the Gospel. Then he preached a delightful sermon to the people who stood around him, speaking about the nativity of the poor King and the humble town of Bethlehem. (source: catholictradition.org)

I would love to share this story with baby Nate when he is old enough to understand why we celebrate Christmas. And how lovely and significant it is that we remember the Christ Child who is the reason for celebrating the season. Let it not be cloaked in grandeur but let it be as simple as the child in the manger.

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