35. a sun-drenched sunday morning

 after a long line of rainy days, i woke up (after going back to bed and catching on some lost sleep, my third early morning mass was this morning!  and i intend to complete this devotion) to a sun-drenched room!  i wanted  to crawl up in the bed and read a spell, but i settled for a number of snapshots of the red ginger that grows randomly at my backyard garden here at the villa.

 

 

i love the rain, and the feel of wet earth under my bare feet.  but when the sun smiles, it makes my plants and flowers glisten with glee!  and who would not love that, too?  bwahahaha!

so for this day, i thank The Force for this cool, windy and sunny sunday morning. . .  and my fresh new and exciting thoughts on my life's colours!  bwahahaha!

here's wishing you a sun-drenched day, wherever you are.  

ps. ilysm and i know you know it!

secret revealed

i have had more than my share of accolades, praises, honours, (not that i have grown tired of them, i won't!  bwahahaha!  i have been born to be outstanding!  and that is not just a statement), about my paradise, my haven, my refuge.  la huerta has been called the best of names, most of them true (am being modest here.  bwahahaha!)  the lush, verdant and flourishing gardens have earned a lot of positive critiques, good reviews.  the food served at the restaurant has been creating raves, and has put the place in the "must visit" list of camsur, has also turned pilgrims out of tourists.  bwahahaha!  the ambiance, the mood, the atmosphere have all made both locals and not, wish they have a piece of this eden.  and behind all these, i hold a secret very dear to my heart.

so for this week that has been so hectic, frantic and wild, which almost caused me to forget this my gratitude entry, i would like to reveal the secret behind the success of la huerta, and how i am grateful of these blessings that come in the different shapes and sizes of the three women in my life.

32.  inggay - funny, impish and small, with a booming voice, a ready retort and a contagious laughter.  she makes sure my path is strewn with flowers when i visit, which is almost everyday.  bwahahaha!  she tends to my plants, my clothes and everything in between.

33.  lalaine - tall and lanky, always with a ready smile, she manages my kitchen and makes sure my pet poultry does no invasion.  bwahahaha!  she not only makes breakfast for my guests, she makes mine, too, 24/7.  bwahahaha!

34.  virgie - do not let her serious demeanour fool you.  she commandeers the la huerta fleet with authority, but is ready with her own version of humour, most of them from papanards.  bwahahaha!  a steady supply of avocado, jackfruit and guyabano from her, and when that runs out, she brings the seeds, too!  so my future orchard would have been from her.  bwahahaha!

my cup of gratitude overflows, with the thought that these three women in my life have made sure i nurture my passions and let me live my dreams.  this is my secret revealed.

come sit with me

find your way to me, my love.
the coffee is brewin', my cup ready.
i got hundreds of things to tell you,
come sit with me.

i only have this moment,
and only have one wish.

a rant

if you think this post is about my diego, then you are wrong.  (believe me, my diego is my fave subject to write about.  but i got to rant, too, at least once in a while.)

i have chewed, chomped and gnawed on this for a few days, and decided it is time to spit and spew it out.  i could talk to you in words and terms that might make you think, "wow, she's smart".  but i have found that when i am really bothered by something, angry at someone, it is better to speak the way i do when i mean something.  bald ass plainly!

and i mean this!

so here's my rant:

i have been reading about and watching lots of people the last little bit.  unhappy, miserable and forlorn people.  people who think they are above other folks.  not just here in the blogs and things i read online, but in the real world, too.

and it is stuck in my craw.  these people who think they know more than other people.  who think other people do not have the talent they have.  people who criticize, condemn and disparage ad nauseum what other people do or are, in a vicious, nasty and belittling way.  people who get their chuckles, chortles and giggles, or make themselves feel better, by insulting, wounding and slighting, and putting other folks down.

it torques my jaw.  irritates and infuriates me.  what a waste of time i think to myself while i read or listen to their shit.

if you have a legitimate gripe and grievance, spit it out. air it.  get it off your back.  better yet, come out!  stop hiding!  show your face or whatever it is called!  but do not keep tearing other people down because you need it to make yourself feel better, or to justify yourself as a human being (a term i use loosely).

because this is the way it is:

if you have something to share with the world, then stop bitching and show us what you have.  there is room enough for all of us on this blue marble.  we do not have to tear each other down to have our own space.

constructive criticism is good.  i believe it makes us try better at what we choose to do.  it improves the voice we are trying to share with the world, in whatever form we choose to share.  i also believe those people who cannot take it should not be throwing barbs.  those barbs turn into boomerangs, people, and they come back and smack your own ass!

waste time bitching about what other people have, how they do things, how they got there, how stupid they are, how untalented they are and on and on. . .and you are wasting time you could be doing something with your OWN life.

enough of that now.  i am usually upbeat and silent about most things.  i am usually and only writing about the diego in my life.  but once in a great while, i rant.

so hear me out!

ps.  ilysm!  thank you for the colours!  bwahahaha!

my diary that is very me

i have spent time thinking
what sort of journal 
should i like mine to be?

i have used all types of notebooks, 
papers - loose or otherwise.
but i would like my diary
to be a thing where i can be free,
that i can be myself, 
express and say anything,
scribble, doodle, whatever.
i like it to be neat, not slovenly
and very, very me.

my journal should be resilient, 
and supple embrace anything
somber, sad or glum
slight and minor, maybe trivial
of course beautiful, 
that comes into my mind.

i should like it to resemble
some capacious and ample hold-all,
in which i can glue and paste my odds and ends
to remind me of places, faces and experiences.

maybe, when i come back after a year or two,
i will find my collection of this and that
and mysteriously transport me back in time,
to the incredible moment,
its magic unbroken, by promises broken,
transparent enough to reflect the light of my life.

the main requisite, i think, 
of my journal, chronicle, diary,
is not to play the part of a censor,
but to take my words and letters,
my drawings and colours,
as the mood comes or of anything whatever,
and when the morrow comes,
i would be curious to read and find
how i went for things put in haphazard,
and how i found the significance to die.
oh no, just lie.

ps.  ilysm.  thank you for the colours!
pps.  my diary jacket is exclusively F.A.R.M.

only 21 days till christmas

honestly, 
i hope i am not put into a mad frenzy, 
crazy turmoil 
and "earnest panic" (bwahahaha!), 
this holiday season.
i hope that i can enjoy 
and take pleasure in all the wonderful 
and fantastic things that come with my favourite time of the year:
family and friends,
good cheer
and the feeling of love.

ps.  the last one, though, i have everyday.  bwahahaha!  ilysm!  thank you for the colours!

wishing everyone a merry month ahead! 
 

31. sunday morning's sun

on clear sunday mornings, there is a brief space of time when the leaves of the trees in my yard at the villa, lined along the path to the back, to my shoppe, are sprinkled with pure sunshine.  it only lasts a few minutes, and i often miss it, but whenever i do happen to catch the magical moment, i am mesmerized to the point of sitting down, gazing upwards till my neck hurts, my view screened by the different green hues, and enjoying the simple pleasure of watching the sun do its little dance among the leaves.  

no matter what my mood maybe, i always come away a bit more cheerful.

so today, i am grateful for this sunday morning's sun, filtered by the fresh green leaves of my trees at the villa.

unrecoverable

this is one thing 
you learn over time. . .
and then it's called wisdom.

















and it ain't funny.

herak man

kanigoan na alboroto.
siya, iyo man palan.
naman.
kanigoan na kaanggotan.
gibo-gibo niya man palan.
naman.

hale sa burakburakan.
bakong burak. 
makaherak.
joven inggit sa gurang.
herak man.  

bwahahaha!

ps.  being stabbed in the back by a young person who eats at my table and part-takes of my wine, is but a sad part of being old and beautiful.  bwahahaha!  

ilysm.  thank you for the colours.

30. my trees

today i am thankful for my trees.

you, who created the universe,
the stars in the heavens
and the rivers here on earth,
bless me with the strength of the trees
that you have given me.
may my body and mind know the same vigour
that sustains, upholds and nourishes them
through the changing of seasons.

may my heart be as steadfast, unfaltering, committed and firm
in the storms of my life,
as the trees are through the storms
that come with time.

may the wounds 
caused by those storms heal, mend and restore,
just as the trees do.

may those around me draw comfort and strength form my presence
as i do from your creation, 
from the universe.

help me to understand, comprehend, appreciate
that just as the trees lose their leaves
and bare themselves
to the coldness of their winters,
the changes in my life will last for the season. . .

but that spring will surely come to me again.



ps. ilysm.  thank you for the colours.

puerta trasera de una serpente

siendo apuñalado en la espalda por un joven

que se come en mi mesa y toma parte de mi vino, 

no es sino una parte triste de ser antigua y hermosa.  bwahahaha!

te quiero muchisimo!  gracias por los colores!

dreamer

"only those who truly love
and who are truly strong
can sustain their lives as a dream.
you dwell in your own enchantment.
life throws stones at you,
but your love and your dream
change those stones into flowers of discovery.
even if you lose, 
or are defeated by things,
your triumph will always be exemplary.
and if no one knows it,
then there are places that do. 
people like you enrich the dreams of the worlds,
and it is dreams that create history.
people like you are unknowing transformers of things,
protected by your own fairytale, by love."
- ben okri talking to bidibidi

ilysm, my life is a fairytale.

fairy tale

right in the middle of my ordinary life, 

love gives me a fairy tale. . .

ilysm.  i know you know it!  ♥ ♥ ♥

when you love someone

i know!  do not look at me like that!  bwahahaha!
for me, everyday is valentine's day!
and love should be celebrated everyday.

i believe i have to dare to love.  whether i discover the love of my life, or get my heart torn asunder, i should be commended for putting it all on the line, risking everything for love, because that is no small matter. . .

when you love someone
bryan adams

when you love someone, you'll do anything
you'll do all the crazy things that you can't explain
you'll shoot the moon, put out the sun
when you love someone

you'll deny the truth, believe a lie
there'll be times that you'll believe,  that you can really fly
but your lonely nights have just begun
when you love someone

when you love someone, you feel it deep inside
and nothing else can ever change your mind
when you want someone, when you need someone
when you love someone

when you love someone, you'll sacrifice
give it everything you got and you won't think twice
you'll risk it all, no matter what may come
when you love someone

you'll shoot the moon, put out the sun
when you love someone

ilysm.  i know you know it. ♥ ♥ ♥

a jar and two cups of coffee

you may have heard a version of this before but the message serves us all well and is definitely worth a read.
when things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours a day may not be enough, remember the jar and the two cups of coffee.

a professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.  when the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.  he then asked his students if the jar was full, the students said it was.  the professor next picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.  he shook the jar lightly.  the pebbles rolled into the areas between the golf balls.  he then asked his students if the jar was full, they agreed that it was.  

the professor next picked up the box of sand and poured it into the jar.  of course the sand filled up everything else.  he asked once more if the jar was full, the students responded with a unanimous yes.  the professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.  the students laughed.  "now", said the professor as the laughter subsided, "i want you to recognize that the jar represents your life.  the golf balls are the important things - your family, your health, your friends, your favorite passions and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life will still be full.  the pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car.  the sand is everything else - the small stuff.  if you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles and the golf balls.  

the same goes for life.  if you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.  play.  take time to have dinner, to explore, to visit a new place.  there will always be time to clean the house and fix the sink.  take care of the golf balls first - the things that really matter.  set your priorities.  the rest is just sand."

one of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.  the professor smiled.

"i'm glad you asked.  it just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

ilysm!  i know you know it!  ♥ ♥ ♥

my muse

 "but it was you who let everything into my heart, and it was you who once again awoke my spirit!"

it is hard to understand where my inspiration, motivation, stimulation
comes from now, 
yet it is like a fresh wind blowing in
a new season.
my muse may be leading me on
to manifest, reveal something of great beauty.
however, 
my muse is speaking in an alien 
and unfamiliar tongue
making it a challenge for me
to use the material.
no matter how odd, strange and unusual it seems
i try to take the ideas that come to me

and work them into what i create, write and paint.
ilysm.  i know you know it!  ♥ ♥ ♥