Waiting For The Sun

I am still frustrated. It rained the whole day yesterday so I still could not go out and garden. Monsoon rains and a typhoon in the north are affecting the country.

Visiting some random previous posts from my blog and the most emotional so far were those I wrote during my cancer journey twelve years ago and when Pope Francis visited the country in January 2015.

Sometimes I wonder how I was able to write sincerely from the heart, feeling everything with tears in my eyes. But I did. Those earlier posts were certainly inspiring for me now that I could look at them without being so emotional.

Oh yeah, I am now focused on reading. I’ve read 80 books since the start of the book challenge. I may be able to finish the hundred books I challenged myself to read this year. Lately, I’ve been reading historical fiction. I don’t know why but I love books describing about how life was centuries ago. Riding on wagon wheels instead of cars, candle lights instead of electricity, farms filled with different kinds of vegggies and ornamental plants, beautiful.

I started a different genre though last night about the story of identical twins. One died accidentally. The parents just relied on the story of the twin who was left behind when she uttered the name of twin number 2 when she saw the accident. They were seven years old. The parents were confused which twin really died because the one left behind seemed to manifest the character of the dead one. This is intriguing. I am in the middle of it.

A friend posted a photo of her graduation from graduate school. I told her what an accomplishment. Several years ago, she was a stay-at-home mom then she enrolled in an Education course. She is a guidance counselor in their school. Now she has finished her MBA. What a feat.

I wish the sun would show its face today.

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Tuesday Musings

Seeing my friends shoveling snow in Chicago and Toronto just so they could pass and clean their driveways, I think we are lucky that we live in a tropical country although during summer, the heat at times is unbearable.

We are having a fairly lovely weather here. Our weather bureau PAGASA says the cold weather will stay  until February. Nights and  dawns are really cold and most of the time there is a cold breeze during the day. The sun is always late showing its face. And the nights are longer, right? Six am is still a little dark here.

I am at the end of the few chapters of a story about 19th century England.  Yes, it is a historical fiction again. I just love them. Hansoms were often mentioned as transits used during those times. According to  Mr. Wiki, “The hansom cab is a kind of horse-drawn carriage designed and patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, an architect from York.  The cab was introduced to other British Empire cities and to the United States during the late 19th century, being most commonly used in New York City”.

I remember our calesa.  When I was in grade school in our province, the chief means of transport for near destinations was the calesa.  Back then, motorcycles and tricycles were unheard of. Buses were usually for long distance trips. In those days, traffic was also unheard of. People walk mostly to go to the town proper. Even calesa ride was a kind of luxury. Goods in farms were transported by carabao-drawn carts.

A typical horse-drawn calesa at calle Crisologo in Ilocos. Photo culled from the net.

Nowadays, you can only see them plying the streets in Chinatown, the picturesque Intramuros and in Ilocos province. I am not sure about the southern parts of the archipelago if they still use it. Now we have all the modern means of transportation but they also create heavy traffic along the roads. Private cars are no longer a luxury but  are sorely needed if you want to reach your destination early. Public transports are so unreliable at times that you need to wake up early to catch a jeepney, GRAB or a bus to go to work.  Going to one’s office has become a battle you have to encounter every day.

Today, a friend is celebrating her birthday. We have been friends for almost forty five years since I started working as a student librarian at the university where I spent my high school and college years. She replied to my greetings with these lovely words: “Thank you, Arlene😊 You are one of God’s blessings in my life❤️”.  What a lovely way to start the day.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

 

 

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On Books And Sunrise

The sun showed its face for a while then the clouds obscured it. Will it be another rainy day? I really hope not. My plants need to breathe, see the sun too.

Just done with The Lost Sister by Tracy Buchanan. A different kind of story about a family separated by ideologies  but in the end love prevailed. Imagine yourself living in a cave at some point in your life and embracing something not normally accepted in society. Imagine yourself  looking for a long-lost sister that you didn’t know about in the first place until your mom told you in her dying  breath. Imagine growing up fed by lies and untruth. Such make the book a wonderful read.  If you love something a bit emotional showing some strength and weaknesses of the characters involved, this book is it. Since this is my first read of Tracy Buchanan, I don’t have any other of her books to compare it with.

I am presently reading The Simple Wild set in Alaska by K. A Tucker.  I’ve read a couple of books about Alaska before and I liked them both. I hope this one is good too.  It’s my second book of  K. A. Tucker. Seeing the five stars on Goodreads, I hope it will deliver.

 

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Gloomy Sunday

They are playing Only Friends on the radio which I blogged about two weeks ago. I never get tired  listening to it though.

I am digressing again.

It’s a good thing I attended an anticipated mass last night. I spent most of the morning  searching for news online and listening to the radio on  news about typhoon Karen. We were under signal #2 but we were lucky that we were spared of heavy rains and gusty winds. Typhoon Karen (international name: Sarika) slightly accelerated  a few hours ago  over the coastal waters of Pangasinan but hear this, tomorrow there is another one that will enter PAR (Philippine Are of Responsibility) and news reports say it is a super typhoon, stronger than the last one we experienced today.  Haima will be named locally as Lawin. I am praying hard we won’t be affected too much.  It is the middle of October and yet we are still experiencing severe weather disturbances.  Sometimes these late in the year weather disturbances are stronger than those we experience during rainy season.  Sometimes they come as late as December.

I am sharing a prayer with all of you  a prayer for deliverance from calamities.

ORATIO IMPERATA

Almighty Father,

We raise our hearts to You in gratitude, for the wonders of creation of which we are part, for Your providence in sustaining us in our needs, and for Your wisdom that guides the course of the universe.

We acknowledge our sins against You and the rest of Your creation. We have not been good stewards of nature. We have confused Your command to subdue the earth. The environment is made to suffer our wrongdoing, and now we reap the harvest of our abuse and indifference.

Global warning is upon us. Typhoons, floods, volcanic eruption, and other natural calamities occur in the increasing number and intensity.

We turn to you, our loving Father, and beg forgiveness for our sins.

We ask that we, our loved ones and our hard earned possessions be spared from the threat of calamities, natural and man-made.

We beseech You to inspire us all to grow into responsible stewards of Your creation, and generous neighbors to those in need. Amen

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Waiting For The Storm To Pass (2)

Josef and I left the house early to attend the morning mass at Our Lady of Light Parish. Today is the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Praying hard there won’t be floods in the metro. We decided to leave the car in the church grounds since it is higher there compared to our place.  There was a drizzle and it was cloudy.  We are blessed that at least for now, typhoon Ruby was downgraded to tropical storm although our area is still under the threat of heavy rains and winds when Ruby makes its fourth  (and hopefully its final) landfall this evening in  Laiya, Batangas. The latter is south of Metro Manila and we are still under storm signal number 2.

You know that feeling of anticipating the worst but still hoping for the best, meaning, this typhoon which has been here for almost a week now  must be  tired of  hopping from one province to another  playing a game of “step no, step yes” choosing  when and where she would land next. Isn’t it about time that it leaves for good? It is so slow though at 10 kph with a gustiness of 135 kph. We would like to celebrate Christmas without more threats of rains and storms and bad weather. I am allergic to it.

Hope to see the sun’s face again tomorrow. I miss the blue sky and the  white fluffy  clouds up there. Since I could not dance in the rain, I’ll just wait  for the storm to pass.

Be safe everyone!

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