Work inbox, 1/7/21. Phase 1B (first responders/LE) in NY get a perk. Even if I wasn't at the Dome. And words to live by from the commissioner. Four years more with the agency!
Saturday, January 9, 2021
Saturday, November 7, 2020
Breaking The Curse
Monday, October 12, 2020
A Little History
A GOOD READ this Indigenous Peoples' Day/Dia de la Hispanidad/Columbus Day is Antoon Postma's study on the history of Calavite, a lost settlement/mission on the northwest hook of the island of Mindoro, its Parthenon on the hill. "The Calavite site, while still called Pinagbayanan or "former townsite" has only some Iraya Mangyan resident families. A certain Domingo Venturero, residing in Talaotao, a village on Golo Island, has claimed to own the area, including the ruins. Aside from that, the only visitors are treasure hunters who go inside and around the church, breaking open and destroying the stone walls, and looking for supposed wealth hidden there by the missionaries, as if the Moro pirates had overlooked something. Unless someone takes care of the church ruins, it is doubtful whether it will survive much longer as a historic monument." That was when Postma visited about 50 years ago; I wonder how the site is now.
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From Punto Mindoro |
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
In My Crap Or Sullen Art
Saturday, September 19, 2020
Traveling Light
Tuesday, September 8, 2020
For The Fignorant
GLAD TO FIND this book order in the mailbox upon our return from our trip to Binghamton for Sara's 18th birthday last Labor Day weekend: ecologist Mike Shanahan's fascinating book Ladders to Heaven, published in the U.S. as Gods, Wasps and Stranglers. This highly informative book could be among the Complete Idiot's Guide titles.
“In his insightful book, Mike Shanahan combines poetry and science, history and humanity, to tell a story not only of the fig tree but of life on Earth in all its beautiful and astonishing complexity.”--Deborah Blum, director, Knight Science Journalism Program, MIT; author of The Poisoner’s Handbook
"A must read."--The Daily Mail
"The tree in the Garden of Eden was very likely not an apple but a fig.”--Annie Proulx
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From Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel fresco |
Saturday, August 22, 2020
Buwan Ng Wika
FLORANTE BOUND to a big higuera or balete tree. This famous soliloquy of Francisco Balagtas' hero in a dark Albanian forest reverberates in my brain from an advertisement of a Manila memorial park called Himlayang Pilipino when my siblings and I were kids, watched on our neighbor's black-and-white Radiowealth console TV when the dog was fed and dishes done after dinner and mother said yes. The stanza was translated into English by Luisa Igloria who writes a poem a day and is Virginia's Poet Laureate. I have a grit of discomfort with her translation of the words "lilo" which in Mindoro means "traitor" and "ininis" which means "suffocated" as in overcome by coronavirus, so I had to do my take.
Sa loob at labas ng bayan kong sawi
Kaliluha’y siyang nangyayaring hari
Kagalinga’t bait ay nalulugami,
Ininis sa hukay ng dusa’t pighati.
The tears are the king,
Good and kind are getting tired,
irritated in the pit of martyrdom and grief.
Saturday, August 15, 2020
The Good Bride
AND THERE SHE IS. Not in a sham marriage but one with a hairy roasted wild boar. "Although the courtship period has a varied set of rules and ceremonials, the marriage itself is as simple as possible. After the consent of the parents has been obtained, the unceremonious first sleep of both the spouses together is considered as wedlock itself," according to Mangyan Heritage Center. And true to her nature as a shy, self-effacing Mangyan girl, she chooses a quiet life deep in the jungle, far from the prying eyes of land-hungry lowlanders.
The groom was waiting |
And here came the bride |
This hidden wedge high up the branches seemed like the spot |
Where she could make a happy home, singing an ambahan. Maybe to a baby? |
Sunday, August 9, 2020
Bridget The Midget And Goliath
GIANT FICUS salicaria '89 and miniature orchid Haraella retrocalla. Is this unlikely New York marriage possible to kick this growing season up a high notch? Will it work o sa pangarap lang? Abangan!
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Front: for the grand finale |
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Back: the epiphyte's alley |
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Left side: a longer pot is obviously needed to stabilize the center of gravity |
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Right side: the kneeling giant |
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Close-up of the nebari |
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Bridget the midget and her citrus-scented blossom: is she up for the fantasy? |