I wonder what they'd say

Lucy

Creating memories with my granddaughters include our adventures with flowers, butterflies, lizards, birds, grass or trees, sounds around them, colors, textures, shapes, taste and scents. 

This I hope will create a lasting bond between my granddaughters and me long after they are parents themselves. 

Sofia

I hope they'd say that they had a crazy and wild woman as their Ima. 

Ziva

that their Ima was cool and that she rocked. 

Robin

I would not really know what they'd say in my eulogy but I am sure they will take care of their children the way they were raised. 

And that they will all be gorgeous like me.  

Amazing (G)race

This is a picture of a beautiful peaceful disarray.  Before this was like a fraternity ramble! (I meant rumble)

I can't believe how i survived the night. On my left were bony knees, and arms that felt like baseball bats and on my right felt line a ninja dart spinning ceaselessly all night. 

By midnight, a 'thick', round log would roll over the bony knees with a baseball bat for arms bumping me with a heavy thud!  The boy riding his horse would run over the spinning dart landing on my left side.  

Everything would be quiet and peaceful by dawn and that's about the only time I can forgive myself for being in the middle of a gang war! 

Not complaining. Just musing.  

Bacon anyone?

There are days when you feel this way.

Hahahaha!! Justo, the old stock told me this morning at breakfast: "bakit ang sungit mo?" (Why are you grumpy?)

The rambutan trees are blooming and I noticed a spurt in my agoho pine. They have grown taller than me! There is a crowding of plants in a corner and the roses have clusters of bloom. 

How can anyone be grumpy when you wake up to a great promise of day?

Bacon did it to me! So much bacon for little people!! Someone is killing them softly? 

Ziva says it all with her expression all my exclamation points and dismay. 

(She is wearing a lovely dress we found in the Sunday market.) 

This Bridge

This is the coolest area. Yes it is breezy, and it rocks!

I hung a hammock on this bridge some years back when all i could do was to keep myself suspended due to an illness. This is a vantage point. One can still spy the rest of the house from here. 

It is a historical bridge because of the countless "celebrations" that have happened here.  Announcement of pregnancy, overseas calls, family meetings (you know how these things turn out at times), and babies lulled under spell by the beautiful song birds and the giant tree ferns.   This is also where Golda and Keira take their dog naps. This is also the cat's port where she imagines a pair of wings caught between her jaws and hears her conscience whispering "no Marmalade!" denying her very nature.

I am snacking on my chia pudding here this afternoon. Meanwhile, i am content that  i have Aurora on my lap! 

photo by Justo

                   

5 things of wonder

I started a homemade workshop for my gremlins yesterday. Upon waking up, they will be asked to notice at the most 5 things that catch their attention.

I started with Jose,5 yesterday. We sat down by the pond before 6 am. We listened to the birds and just simply talked. Then i handed him my phone and told him to take a photo of 5 things that he finds beautiful or interesting.

  

Today, i asked Jacob, 7 to do the same thing. Here are his photos. 

They took more than 5 photos- meaning that they saw more than 5 things of wonder.  

I am amazed by what they have inside of them. More to come...

Catching Ziva

Last night's guest of honor was Funny girl Ziva with her Ate Sofia who is a regular. The 3J's are mainstays. 

I lured her with stories that did not make sense but children can always make sense out of our nonsense! 

So my effort for the night was a big seal of approval from a very discriminating little person. She fell asleep figuring out my stories. Sweet dreams I guess. 

She woke up as bright as the morning sun.

#100daysofmusings 1/100

We need fire to forge, shape and reshape.  Raising the young requires passion, determination, persistence and devotion, courage and en"courage"ment.  Let us sing 'em no more lullabye as it will only put them to sleep. They have to be awake to realize their dreams.

So that afternoon of April 25, during our commencement exercises sending off the graduating elementary and high school students, I changed course.  No adoration and sweet talk as this special batch of potential achievers needs to reflect on things that should matter.

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Opening Address

April 25, 2015

“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future” – J.R.R. Tolkien

Congratulations...

To note, for the school year 2014-2015 that is ending, there are 32 candidates for graduation in Grade 6 and 31 in Fourth Year.

This year’s grade 6 is 1 year short of the prescribed 6 years of elementary.  If the K to 12 program  will not go awry or kaput, they will have to go through an extra year as G12. 

Is this batch ready for High School?  They should be.

Let us take a look at the seniors.  Nothing was altered.  6 years in elementary and 4 in high school, but before that,  two to three years in Preschool.  Are you ready to face the world?  This world that will tempt you to try to be different or be like everyone else except yourself?   That is precisely the purpose of your education but how you are going to use it to arm you is something I cannot predict.

One more question:

Will you be a wonderful contribution to your country and fellowmen?   I hope so.

Honestly, do you think that your HEDCen education will matter when you go to your respective universities or to a different high school?

In the years that you were in HEDCen, what was your greatest challenge? Your all-time difficulties?  Whatever it is or was, are or were,  there is only YOU at the bottomline. No devil.  No other reason other than the failure to understand and respond to who you are, your compulsions and demons.  Your nature.  You are your greatest ally or nemesis.  Spiderman knows that.

Another question:  Will you buckle down at the slightest sign of difficulty or will you own up and get up and revise, reinvent or re-align if needed? Will you desire nothing else but to learn from your valuable mistakes to become a better person? a changed individual?

I have endless questions but meanwhile I am not giving you any accolade yet,  just  because you are graduating today.   

Dapat lang. (That is to be expected.) 

Dapat lang na makatapos ng pag-aaral.  (It is to be expected that you finish your studies if you have the resources.)  

Dapat lang na maipagpatuloy sa unibersidad.  (It is to be expected that you continue to tertiary level.) Dapat lang maging college scholar. (It is right to expect that you rise to the highest form of achievement like getting a college scholarship if you try hard enough and if you set your goal high enough.)   Have an ambition.  Do not fear hard work and adversities.

Dapat, ang pag-aaral ay buong buhay – o ika nga “life-long, sa paaralan man o labas nito.  (Education should be life-long whether it be inside a classroom or out of it.)  

Dapat ding umiwas sa masasama, sa pang-aapi, sa pandaraya, katamaran o sa pag wawalang bahala.  Anong tawag dun?  ++++++ (Habitual callousness and  insensitivity to the needs around you should be shunned especially those that take the form of cheating, indolence, or simply the devil-may-care attitude.)

Wag mayabang.  Wag mamili kung sino ang irerespeto. Irespeto ang lahat ng nilalang. Di lang kayo ang maalam.  Huwag maliitin ang inyong mga makakasalamuha.  (Don’t be arrogant.  Don’t choose who to respect or disrespect.  All creatures and beings, including everyone here, YOU deserve to be respected. The lowliest and the greatest share the same air and place under the sun.  

For the people you have hurt or have taken for granted, now is the time to look back with gratitude and to seek their forgiveness, for we must start fresh and clean to be able to carry their blessings on our back when we seek our adventures outside this school.

This is after all,  the essence of the graduation theme that  you have chosen:  "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future".

Enough said, these final notes however, are not by Tolkien...

“May the Force be with you.” and “may you live long and prosper”!   

Have a wonderful life ahead of you Graduates and congratulations!!

Adieu!

 thank you.

The Middle Child

What mystery envelops a middle child?
Is he really more complicated than the first and the third?
Born after the first child who became the first experimental baboon to parents who knew little,
the second one was born with a degree of knowledge and experience which the eldest child provided these anxious beginners.

Then why the supposed syndrome?
This child of woe and complication was raised by parents who knew more, whose mastery of the craft of parenting has afforded them less sweaty palms and armpits.
Then why does this child of complexity raise such challenge and concern?

This child is between two siblings.  One taught him the ways while the third showed him how he is stronger and wiser.

He is not ever taken for granted.  He cannot be taken for granted because he will not allow it.  He is either a child who feels persecuted and thinks that nothing he gets is better than the rest, but he is also the offspring who loves the best, who defends his Kuya and who allows his baby brother to treat him like his toy bear.  He cannot be taken for granted because in the same manner that he gives the sweetest love,  he also demands that he is loved like there are no others.

The middle child can be the rainbow and the bright sun but can also be the thunderstorm.   And when he is all thunder and lightning, how he disarms his mother is a gift.

He prefers the villains over the heroes and sees the excitement and challenge over the despised, evil characters and how the heroes can be really boring indeed!

Yet his prayers are the most sensitive and comes out from him as a natural expression of his heart and soul - "dear God, thank you for the sand in the beach" and after he has taken our breath away and melted us in the warmth of such grace,  he'd jolt us all from revery with "thank you for my BAD brother" with a laughter that can only come from a very familiar and easy relationship with the God he knows. 

He boxed a schoolmate the other day, this middle child.  He said he had been forgiven.  Then why do the adults fuss over the incident?  He cried for an hour when he was told by his mother that parents will come the next day to reprimand him for hurting their son.  He had to learn a lesson and the elders were worried except for his grandfather who took him to his lap with so much love.

We do not know what will work but I know that this middle child will sort it out for himself.  Someone's gotta break 'em rules sometimes, and he is curious and daring enough- except that this time, the principal will be called in her very own office!

Maybe his daddy will see the principal.

The Problem with Grandparents

I am Ima and she is Lucy

1.  Grandparents have to be incarcerated.
They commit crimes like harassment, kidnapping, smothering, crippling and corruption.

Remember this face:  pudgy with a very sweet smile. If you encounter this person, she is a criminal!  This group of elderly citizens have learned to text too and are quite obscene.  Yet when you meet them in school, they smile at you with twinkling eyes!  They have a code name just like Agent 007.  Some are called Mimi, Mamita, Mama Yana, Abuelita, Lolita, Lola Doo,..They harass teachers, guards, principals, canteen personnel and the poor janitor. They also harass the poor parents of the child when they fail to bring the grandchildren on weekends or on daily occasions.

This one goes inside a guarded gate wearing a granny coat pretending to be cold.  She goes out the gate bulkier and with 4 legs.  She has decided to kidnap the poor grandchild from her PE class.

It is not surprising to see or sometimes not notice children being whisked off their porches or while playing on the street by an old driver of a sedan or limousine or taken by a frumpy lady with an umbrella and a paper bag riding a tricycle! 

Smothering is a common crime.  Children don't even have to breathe.  The grandparents can do that for them.  The little imps can't sweat, can't fall, can't get scratched.   They are smothered to perfection until the grandchildren, not the olds end with paralysis. Of course I am exaggerating. 

Bribing is corruption.  Children are introduced to this early signs of corruption from a barter of kiss and candies, sleep-over and toys, and many more combinations.

I can't blame poor grandpa.  AA or apo addiction is an indication of mental disorder.  The symptoms are hair loss, cranky fingers and redundancy.  When he starts getting delusional, grandpa thinks he is cold.  He piles up all the grandchildren to sleep on the bed easing out grandma.  The last one is premeditated.

 2.  Grandparents therefore, should  be institutionalized.
They can be delusional, compulsive liars and make people around them suffer from their paranoia.
Do I need to expound?

Grandma to the PE teacher:  She can't go under the sun.  She gets skin asthma, bronchial asthma, fried brains, hip dysplasia and warts!  She started hyperventilating since you made her chase that ball!

What is with PE?  How come Grannies hate it?

G:   Oh no, I did not give her chocolates!  Why will I do that? and no ice-cream!  Those are not allergies!  They are insect bites! You don't close your windows and doors that's why!

G:   Her teacher is a witch.  She is evil!  Then why would my grandchild be taught to hold a broom?

Impo, the greatgrandmother with J1,2,3

3.  Grandparents have to undergo speech therapy among other things.

Grandpa:  Come, let's go ah babath then ah wawipe.  Ah cow! Ah cow! (pointing to a carabao)  No bebe.  Ah go ako ah stor. A-sama? (I'm going to the store.  Are you coming?)

Guilty or Not Guilty?

NOT Guilty. Guilty of loving and over-loving.  Can't give enough.  But what are grandparents for?  they were made to do all these stuff.  To love their grandchildren without conditions and without limits.  To give till their last centavo.  Otherwise they are useless beings!

I buy toys but very rarely, and when I ask what they want for their birthday, the response is faster than the quick brown fox:  your heart and your love!!

Then this:
Grandpa:  Will buy toys tomorrow?  We can bring Ima.

breakfast in Frogglerocks

J:   Can we not tell Ima we are getting some toys?

Fried bananas, corn on the cob over red hotdogs?  

How corny can one get? 

This grandparent breaks a lot of rules and does not always follow the code of conduct and SOP's of these dry-skinned and flatulent members of the Apos-tolic Order.  She is guilty of homicide and first degree murder: code KJ!

I love this day

they serve themselves fried saba when I'm on duty

Cirque du Soleil

Grandparents are the only criminals who can get away with their crimes.  They are quite easy to pardon too.  The parents of these grandchildren have no choice anyway, even if they have promised repeatedly to their heart of hearts that they will not give the old folks the chance to spoil their kids.  (They are normally adamant with their first child. The resoluteness changes after a string of babies come!  You know...)

Regardless, the insensitve lolo and lola accused of spoiling and condemned to stay in the corner, endure the torture and in the tiniest opportunity welcome watching over the apos when the good parents are busy with work or when they are on break- anytime.

So we pray for all grandparents okay?  Pray that their eyes won't fail them when they serve fish for dinner.  That's why, I know a grandpa who would rather givem lil ones, warmdogs!

Waiting for Lucy

These last few weeks of pregnancy are so murderously torturous.  Not mine but the ladies-in-waiting.  Ana would be as pregnant as a polywog but walked everyday meeting her quota of 6 hours every God-made day.  That was some determination pumped up by hormones that is otherwise not there when she is not heavy with a child.   And each time, each baby came out, it was all worth it.

I have mastered the art of waiting.  Waiting for each baby to come out.  From Ana to Marie and just two weeks ago, from Anne.

Waiting for Lucy was very zen.  Anne took her steps in the most pregnant way as her date was nearing.  She wobbled from leg to leg. I would watch her and shook my head.  I told myself: "That won't do!"  So I would shout from the bridge and call out to my son Juaqui urging him to bring Anne out of the house and go window-shopping where walking would be more entertaining.

Yet Anne was as zen as the pechays growing in my garden- slowly and quietly.  I managed to trick her to walk with me one day and brought her uphill and down, around the streets of Beverly and back.  Thank God I did not kill her!  I was worried after for she is not a spartan like Ana or the swimmer like Marie.  She is a doctor and she knew what she was doing.  Yet, there I was, the snooping and meddling MIL.

My son just shook his head when he found out that his wife walked with me.  I may be 60 but that is just a number.  I can pound the streets of the subdivision with steps that meant war and victory!

Walking with the MIL did not move the baby out of her mother's womb.  So I just waited patiently.  In fact, so as to keep my mind away from the birth, when, and how, I left for a few days and celebrated my friend Therese's birthday in Cagayan de Oro.

I painted while I thought of the baby and wondered... when do I see her? What do we call her?

I came home and went to the afternoon's graduation of The Little Farm House, where my eldest grandson, Jacob was graduating from preschool.  Jose and Sophia were going to perform a dance and so I prayed and willed for the rains in Landingan airport to stop.  In the afternoon, I was welcoming and speaking before parents and friends.  My phone rang in the middle of my speech.  That was my 6th granddaughter's birth unto this world.

Evanna Lucille was born on March 22, 2014.  The parents of my grandchildren knew what they want to call their children.  I supplied names everytime but none was considered.  I am very happy though with all their names!

So Lucy was born on March 22, 2014.  Oh the blessings of a newborn! She is pink with bright almond eyes.  She is my third granddaughter and the other 3 are boys.  I have no idea what the 7th will be but Lucy is firmly and undeniably beautiful just like all these gnomes growing in Frogglerocks.

She is a good reason to go up and down the stairs and to take a bath for.  Yes, Justo demands to be given a bath before a Lucy visit. And the dirty two other boys would whisper and hum a lullabye.  The 2 girls would come in their floral summer hats and would sit gently beside her.  Ziva did manage to pinch Lucy's toe a little bit.

Frogglerocks is happy for the wait!  Even the kingfishers are chatting joyfully by the river.

And oh, the arugulas are boastful in the garden, outside where Lucy lives.

Evanna Lucille

Lucy and me

Jose, Lucy and Jacob

Sophia, Ziva and Justo

cuddle time