beautiful breaths

a bugtronaut

there's beauty behind the lush and fresh

at prayerful rest

vibrant and glowing

a little shy

nature's design

lovely young ones full of joy and innocence

vegan

a beautiful giver

No regrets!

Sweet crochet.  A future tablecloth or a bedspread.  Now a shawl over my seater.  No regrets.  I love it!

unfinished and no way I will

PS
I remember my three children crocheting while I make my doilies and this... no texting and social networking at that time yet. 

wrap with love

Be kind to the earth.  Fill your bin with found and used things that will make beautifully wrapped presents. 

(back)

for a little girl (front)

for a little boy

for the entire family

1) have old colorful magazines at hand / a black and white magazine would give the retro look

2) keep those ribbons to make a pretty bow, tie the sides of a package together (challenge:  don't use clear tapes at all).  use interesting strings. 

3) recycle used paper bags (cover the brand with an interesting collage that tells about the person you are wrapping the gift for.

4) wrap with love.  say a little prayer or a good wish

5) don't get attached!  give those gifts away!

It is getting exciting

have you been to where I am today?
IT is strange and unfamiliar.
It is familiar and yet new.
who would have thought it would not be easy?
I did not know.
Alone with so many people
Sad when there’s joy and laughter at the same time.
wise yet naive
found and lost.
Where is this moment?

What is this place?
Who is this time?
What do I do?

What do I need?
What do I let go?
I thought I did.
I thought I always knew.
It gets dark where I am or too bright at times
how do I go back to peace
and be content with nothing knowing that I am full?

I need help Leo

Where is the moment that brings me to the next level?
I am fifty freakin' nine and there are no fireworks!???
Do I write the next blockbuster or do I die saving someone's life?


Do I fade in mediocrity which is definitely more fun
Or do I bury my head in between pages of books then conclude for the nth time
That it is not the only way to learn?

I don't see anything marvelous being almost 60 yet.
Prone to unproductive pursuits if you can call that grand
Emptying if at all I was ever full to the standard of Buddha
Generous but only to myself - how can I be self-actualized that way?

I think I am in trouble.

Maybe in bad trouble.

Please someone wise speak to me.

Tropical Winter

E

a cascade of Congea

The congea is just beginning to turn pink.  It provides a spectacular mantle on my wall, a surreal moment of heaven on earth.  I thought that the likes of Balenciaga and Lanvin would be inspired to create a similar experience in their haute couture or perfumery called florabotanica.

As the temperature changes from cold to warm, the flowers of the congea turns darker and brighter.  It makes all the passers-by gape with awe. It signals the end of the cold season and the beginning of summer.  And yet, the flowers will dry (not wilt) to a beautiful golden mauve just before when the days become longer than the evenings.

woven around the angel wings in dry arrangement

The bloom coincides with the mating season of owls in the area.  I heard a different pitched call from the tree where Kulas, our eagle-owl resides.  She has found a new admirer.  They duet at night.  It is a welcome call to come out and enjoy the enthralling multitude of stars and other visible heavenly bodies.

I realized that I have planted annuals that bloom from November to February.  This is the most festive season in my garden.  And just before the sweltering heat sizzles, I plan to soak in this marvelous time of the year.

School is almost over before the last of the congea blooms stain the grounds.

Looking forward.

Ta-ta!

The Caroler

 Persistent "NAMAMASKO!!!!" was repeatedly chanted in escalating voices and banging of the gate.  It was so annoying that Ana decided not to answer the commotion outside.  Jacob and Lloyd"s sleep was disrupted.

There are several kinds of carolers.  Just a few off my list:

 Savvy 1 2 3 sends a printed "soshyal" card requiring your presence in your house that same night.  They carol for the sick, the infirmed, the lonely and the dead.

The "Taynk you beery much taynk you" would call Gloria even if there is no one by that name in your household : "Glo hu hu hu hu hu, hu hu hu hu ho ri ya, inex shell shet de he yo... taynk you beery much taynk you!" 

Karaoke Gang will regale you with a portable minus one in blasting sense surround and the videoke king usually dominates the carol.  They either come in an overloaded tricycle or a jeep.

The Street Urchins from Azucena road are the regulars.  They shake their baby brother's rattle or  a DIY tambourine (fashioned from tanzans pounded to flatness and strung in a wire clipped from a neighborhood's clothesline or "sampayan").  If they get five pesos and there are 6 of them, they would be back until they can divide the money equally.  The gang will split in two or three groups in several combinations: 2-2-2, 2-3-1, 3-3, 4-2, 5-1.  This makes for a good thesis in Social Psychology.  You can always speculate through the combinations the interrelationship among the members.

Then this 'NAMAMASKO'.  They were not singing.  They were just shouting and bullying.  Attack is a better term.

Do we give but choose who to give?  Do we set conditions?  Do we succumb to the "pressure" to be generous because it is the season to share?  Do we moralize or do we judge? 

Well, irritation prevailed.   Gone was the Christmas spirit. Ana decided to fold her arms stubbornly, especially after the feral pack woke up the house monsters.  She is not going to let a coin go from the caroling fund in the jar.  It was a "human" choice.

God will not punish us for being human.  He created us to be humans. You see, when you are human, you want the house monsters to sleep! 

Lloyd went out to see the pack.  Lloyd's thoughts are always lost in translation whenever he tries to communicate in Tagalog.  Nonetheless he said something about them making so much noise, the little boys were still asleep and that they... suddenly, a  hand was waving,  one hand holding an umbrella. "Sir! Sir! Sir!" spoke her body language as she bobbed up and down behind a taller guy. 

Jacob was looking outside the bedroom windows, sleep still evident.  He was staring outside.

La Loba was there waving, one hand holding an umbrella. "Hey Sir! you know me! I know you, remember? remember me sir?  Sir! Sir!"she said without speaking.

Lloyd recognized her but got blind in his brain.  Jacob stared recognizing.

For twenty minutes, the pack was howling on a Christmas day.

The house monsters woke up one by one.

Zen moment over.

 



I