Will it Catch my Dream?

It was a surprise package coming from the eastern side of the continent. I don’t remember when it came; it must have been in the early part of January of this year, 2007. The small envelope was bulging and something hard inside was in bubble wrap. I opened it and there it was, a beautiful piece of art--intricately woven tiny threads with colorful beads in a ring wrapped with leather ribbon and tassells of feathers. I never knew anything about dream catchers until I got this one from a special friend.

The enclosure in the packet gave me a synopsis of what it is.

Dream Catcher

It is believed that each woven web will catch your dreams in the night. The bad spirit dreams will get caught in the web and disappear with the morning sun. However, the good spirit dreams will find their way to the center spirit hole and will float down the sacred feather.

The Legend of the Dream Catcher

A spider was quietly spinning his web in his own space. It was beside the sleeping space of Nokomia, the grandmother. Each day, Nokomia watched the spider at work, quietly spinning away. One day as she was watching him, her grandson came in. "Nokomia-iya!" he shouted, glancing at the spider. He stomped over to the spider, picked up a shoe and went to hit it. "Nokeegwa," the old lady whispered, "don't hurt him." "Nokomia, why do you protect the spider?" asked the little boy. The old lady smiled, but did not answer. When the boy left the spider went to the old woman and thanked her for saving his life. He said to her, "For many days you have watched me spin and weave my web. You have admired my work. In return for saving my life, I will give you a gift." He smiled his special spider smile and moved away, spinning as he went. Soon the moon glistened on a magical silvery web moving gently in the window. "See how I spin?" He said, "See and learn, for each web will snare bad dreams. Only good dreams will go through the small hole. This is my gift for you. Use it so that only good dreams will be remembered. The bad dreams will become hopelessly entangled in the web."

My dream catcher hanging above my drawing table. I'm hoping that my dream of painting a large masterpiece in oil would fit through the hole.

Thanks, D’Chrysalis. I will treasure this gift. Muah!

A Day in Redondo Beach

On the last Saturday of the month of January my husband and I headed to Redondo Beach. But before going there we went to a computer place where we purchased computer parts that my husband needed to put together in preparation for the coming of the new Windows, the Vista. This place was in Manhattan Beach, a few miles north of Redondo Beach. After we went around the place looking at all the merchandise, comparing and selecting, we made our purchases, and we headed to Redondo Beach. We parked at the residential area close to the beach, about quarter mile away, and walked towards the pier. (This is one way of stretching our legs...by walking.) We went to our favorite restaurant, right on the pier, where we ordered our usual hot and spicy seafood soup.

After our lunch we took a stroll on the pier. The clouds were gray that day, and there was rain that morning when we were on the freeway. So there were only a handful of people on the pier, a few were fishing, but it seems the fish were not biting. Although it was overcast there were sailboats on the water. My first time to see them, since I've been coming to this place.











One side of the pier was deserted. The early morning rain had turned away beach goers.










This family still managed to have a picnic at one of the tables. The gloomy weather has not discouraged them.











The pier was still teeming with birds of all kinds. I took pictures of those that took my fancy.
This one above has only one leg. My husband peered to see if it really has one leg, or if it's folded up. It has learned to balance itself with just one.











This bird above caught...not really caught, but grabbed a fish from another bird. (The other bird stole it from a fisherman's catch.) It's trying to fend off other birds from stealing it. Others are waiting for the chance to pounce on it...circling it, waiting...and waiting.










We went down to the fish store and restaurant and checked out what they have. They have prepared dishes, like the shrimp special above, and some fresh fish like: yellow tail, pompano, tilapia, sardines, anchovies and many more. They have bangus, which they called bangoose. Oh, very expensive--$2.95/lb. Cheaper at Pinoy stores, of course.

We were at the boardwalk when it began to drizzle, so we thought we should head back home. There were some accidents on the road as the wet asphalt became slick and drivers were not careful enough.

This accident on the surface road had someone badly hurt an ambulance had to transport the driver to the hospital. Some were just fender benders. Traffic on the freeway was long and at a snail's pace. That's what usually happens when it rains.

Revisiting Old Places

One night I paid a visit to Dennis Villegas' blog, and the pictures he posted of the 400 year anniversary of the Black Nazarene, had evoked feelings of nostalgia. I was so happy to see pictures of my old stumping ground; my favorite haunts when I was young--from a tender age of 7, when my mother would take me with her--until I finished college. The belfry of the Quiapo church, a very familiar sight, reminded me very much of the time my mother and I used to go there to pray to San Antonio, the saint of lost souls. But it saddened me to see the interior of the church. It had been remodeled to a more contemporary style, which does not match at all the architecture of the exterior. Preservation should have been the key to keeping the original architecture of the interior.

The street along Quinta Market is where I used to catch a bus to get home. The bus would pass under the bridge (ilalim ng tulay) and go straight then make a right on to another bridge. I have forgotten the names of the streets and bridges after all these years.

Thinking of the places and writing about them bring back sad memories that almost always bring tears in my eyes. The people I was with--my parents, my siblings, cousins, and other relatives, friends and neighbors now all come to mind. I miss them all; the happy times I spent with them in those places.

Avenida Rizal my favorite haunt has changed. That was one of the places I would go to shop and watch movies. But, alas, it's now so crowded and with an overhead street just above the avenue. And I thought, "What did they do that for?"

A lot have changed. I've been away for so long, and , of course, as expected progress and population explosion would change the place. The only unchanged landmark that I can remember is the church (the exterior) and I'm glad, it remained intact.

The Chinese style ham that I missed so much, at the Excellente Ham store makes me wish for a piece of that mouth watering meat; the queso de bola, I have longed and craved for when I first got here. Sure we have cheese here--all kinds, sizes shape and flavor--but queso de bola has a taste of its own, and it's a must-have for our holidays; the roasted chestnuts (kastanyas) makes me wish I'm back home munching on some.

Ah, memories of days gone by have resurfaced through those pictures...those days of my youth.

Portrait on Scrap

I met a lady artist about a year ago. She was sitting in the shade by a building taking cover from the sizzling hot sun. I took cover myself, and sat about 4 feet away from her. She sat there reading a book and was intently looking at a picture of a painting, her hand moving, mimicking the movement of a brush. I stroke up a conversation with her thinking probably that she is a painter, an artist. “Painting book?” I asked. She looked up from the book and answered me politely with a, “Yes.” “Are you an artist?” I asked again. She is; had done all media: pencil, pastel, water color, pen and ink and others, except oil. (I never asked her why she stayed away from oil.) She had attended classes and workshops on art; gone to parties with her sketch book and drew the attendees. I told her that I’ve taken an oil painting class; done some paintings, but have never ventured into portraiture. She had encouraged me to take it up, and as she looked up at my husband (who stopped by) she said I should use him as a model. Yes, perhaps I can try it; I’d never know what I can do unless I try my hand at it.

Her husband, a nice tall gentleman, is a veteran of WWII; been to the Philippines during the war. Both of them have experience the days of the depression era; nothing goes to waste. To save her husband’s half-full bottle of coke she poured it in her half-full can of coke.

When it was time for me and my husband to go I said goodbye to her and told her she had inspired me; that I will try my hand at portraiture. She in turn had expressed the same, and to pick up her brush again, as she had for a while been on a hiatus.

A few days after I met the lady, I tried painting a portrait of the First Lady, using her picture on a magazine as a model. As I sat on the couch watching TV, I grabbed a scrap paper and a pencil and copied the picture on the clean side of the paper…the other side has writings on it.




















This is what came out. I would say not bad for a newbie. The writings on the other side of the paper came through the scanner. For some reason, if I do my drawing on scrap paper, I do well, but on a better quality clean drawing paper, somehow I screw up.





I tried to do the same portrait, a week ago, on a clean Strathmore drawing paper and this is what came out. Argh! I didn't do justice to the First Lady. Argh, argh!!!! It could be that my hand was shaky then, as I was still ill and not strong enough? That’s my excuse. Ha!

I'm not a professional artist. What I've done here, my artworks, I do on my spare time...it's only a hobby. But someday, I hope to devote more time on it.

...........................

The Sixth Day

We are on the sixth day of the New Year, but for me nothing seemed to have moved on. I have not budged from where I am--a painting I have started remained untouched. The days are still short, although we are getting sunny days and unusually warm (80 degrees) weather this time of year here in Southern California. My neighborhood is as always quiet—no ambulance or fire truck sirens, no car chases, hardly any car or truck passes by and no gun fires (as in drive by shootings). It is so calm and quiet it is lulling me to sleep. It reminds me of siesta time which happens at this same hour (3 pm) of the day back home. The glare of the sun hitting the blinds makes me sleepier, I feel like slipping under the covers and taking a catnap.

My husband bought a new cell phone to replace his old one which does not recharge anymore no matter how long he leaves it plugged in. It didn’t take long before he started getting calls from an unnamed caller with the numbers 000-000-0000. He hardly uses his cell phone; there are times he forgets to take it with him when he leaves home. The landline he uses mostly for important and business calls and it would take him only a few minutes to make his calls. When he’s home he would put his cell phone on a shelf at the hallway and forget about. One day out of curiosity I picked it up and noticed he had a missed call. When I opened it he has 21 calls he missed from 1 caller only—the 000-000-0000 numbers. So he thought he’d put the cell phone near him so he would not miss the call. Then it rang and he answered it. What do you know? It’s a telemarketer! My husband asked him for his name and the company he’s working for. The caller immediately hangs up and never called again.

It seems we're not safe from telemarketer even with our cell phones.

I can't believe I wrote the draft above on a piece of bond paper and a pencil. I thought I'd write something and it's the nearest thing I could grab.

Now for that catnap.

Evolution - A Dove Film

A new film from Dove shows how the "effortless" beauty we see on billboards is actually created.

Farewell and Hail

A nice send-off to the old year--blue sky, white clouds
with streaks of contrails over Southern California. A bit
warm weather, though I was cooped up in the house as
I was not feeling too well.















Clear blue sky welcomes the New Year.

















A quiet warm New Year's Day.

Young Artist

This young very talented artist is not bothered at all by people milling and kibitzing around her as she draws her 4-year-old subject. She concentrates and focuses, as she listens at the same time, on her iPod. At first she sat quietly at a table then drew a gentleman sitting across the table from her. It impressed everyone, including me. The gentleman offered her a couple of dollars, which she refused, but relented on the insistence of the gentleman. More people came to her to be drawn and they all offered gratuity which she promptly took. In the end she made money enough to buy her 2 orders of quarter pounder combos at McDonald's.












She's 14 years old, the granddaughter of one of the guests at the Christmas Eve party. She likes to draw anime characters, the favorite of young people like her. She handled her pencil like a pro, stopping only to look at her subject and then continue to draw on the paper. She draws her lines fast, no hesitancy, no mulling...she's very confident.
















At work and (background) her squirming, uneasy 4-year-old subject.

The finished likeness and the shy, unwilling subject.

Greetings to all!

Night Delivery

UPS man came a-knocking
At my door left something.
Lo and behold! What have we got?
A Christmassy looking box
It has some nuts
And other whatnots.
A couple of delicious red apples,
Some sweets of truffles.
Umm, said Mick,
As the chocolate he licks.
Love those pears and cheese,
He eyes them and gives me a kiss.

Thank you UPS man
Send my love to that friend
Who had sent...
The lovely present
As sweet as she,
None other than Nini.

Thanks my friend, I love it.










Psst. For perfect ball shape I used a template.

Five More Days and Counting...

And then it's that day, Christmas Day. Finally the most awaited day of the year will be here in a few more days . Christmas cards started trickling as early as November...then it came by deluge last week. Most came from former co-workers, friends and family. They came from all over the country and as far away as Australia and from back home, the Philippines. One of the cards that stand out most for me was from a young man, age 19. He's going to school right now, and for him every peso counts, but he managed to save some to get me one special card. His was the first to arrive.

Thank you, Esjay, the card means a lot to me. I know that it came from the bottom of your heart.
















The card with a photo frame, has my friend's (Nancy) self-portrait picture, a mug handle accessory and a bookmarker.

Still Alive!

I’m still alive and kicking, just busy working on my Christmas cards to send to friends and kin. I’m doing the design myself and printing. But, it didn’t come out as I expected…I mean the colors. It came out too dark, not as bright and cheerful as I wanted it to be. It must’ve been the paper I used. There was no white Strathmore any more, so I have to settle for the buff color. I suppose the mixture of the paper color and the ink changed the outcome. I couldn’t change it anymore as it’s too late already. Redoing, reprinting would take time and they should have been in the mail yesterday, already!. I’ll just have to settle for what came out. Just another lesson learned on this one.

As soon as I finished printing them, I suddenly remember I have gold leaf, so I tried it on a few of the cards and they looked a lot better. But, again, I have to do it on each one of the cards. Forget it! It’s the thought that counts.

......

I quit the chase.

The chase went on, but I quit. It went too fast for me... sliding down the hill. Vanity is what it is...but no more for me, my wrinkles are here to stay.

Here's a poem by Maya Angelou, describing herself...

On Aging

When you see me sitting quietly,
Like a sack left on the shelf,
Don't think I need your chattering.
I'm listening to myself.
Hold! Stop! Don't pity me!
Hold! Stop your sympathy!
Understanding if you got it,
Otherwise I'll do without it!

When my bones are stiff and aching
And my feet won't climb the stair,
I will only ask one favor:
Don't bring me no rocking chair.

When you see me walking, stumbling,
Don't study and get it wrong.
'Cause tired don't mean lazy
And every goodbye ain't gone.
I'm the same person I was back then,
A little less hair, a little less chin,
A lot less lungs and much less wind.
But ain't I lucky I can still breathe in.

Mail

Parcel post by USPS
It'd be there the soonest.
Handle with care,
Please do not tear.
Do not bump
On a hump.
Do not crunch,
I'll give you a punch.
Come what may
Bring to her doorway.
It'd be there by Monday,
If not maybe Tuesday.
Mr. Mailman do not delay.
She'd been waiting so many days,
Dreaming of it in so many ways.
Parcel post by USPS
It'd be there the soonest.

Can you read me now?

Mnie of yeras ago
Now taht fcae I don't konw.
Oevr the yeras,
Wlkrine hree and tehre,
Hvae cmoe and hvae not gnoe.
I ceshad,
It was a wtsae.
It pekicd up seped
Dwon the hlil lkie a seld.
I gvae up...
I'm gworn up,
And gworn old
Wtih so mnay flods.
Tehy are hree to saty
And I can say,
Been three, dnoe taht.

The poem above I posted as comment for Songs of Nini's blog. It's jumbled, but it doesn't matter in what order the letters are in a word, as long as the first and the last letter are in the right place. The rest can be a mess, but it can be read without a problem. The human mind read the word as a whole, not by every letter.

Try it here.

Out of Commission.

My desktop pc is out of commission. Its innards is now exposed and the computer geek is working on it. I have all my pictures, documents and other files there. Hopefully, it's going to be working pretty soon. I'm having a hard time with this laptop that Mick has lent me. I'm not used to it and besides I can't do much with this as all my programs are in my pc.

Getting to my email is another story. Spam mail would automatically pop up in a window, while here, a different ISP, I have to take a peek if my spam folder has any mail that wandered there. Aah, and there it is, one from a visitor on my blog. I want my good old mouse, not this little rubber thing stuck between the keys. It's so hard to navigate with it. I guess, I have to get used to other instruments and gizmos no matter how old they are. This laptop is obsolete by today's standards, but, at least, it serves its purpose. I should be thankful then I could still use something, be it old. Better than the ancient typewriter--the ancestor of the computer. How far then could I go with a typewriter? Far. I could go around the globe with a letter written in a typewriter, but getting there will take a long, long time. While an email will take only a few seconds.

It's almost midnight. Today there were sales in every department stores all over. I have not done any shopping...not a single thing, yet. Maybe, I should just hide from everyone so I won't have to get presents for them. Funny. I have started working on my Christmas card design. I finally have the idea on what to make. I did a rough sketch already, in pencil. Pen and watercolor, I think, would be the best media for it. By tomorrow, I could start coloring...hopefully there won't be any distraction.

......

At the Pier

Saturday, Nov. 25.
A stroll at the Redondo Beach Pier and International Boardwalk after a seafood lunch resulted in shots of our feathered friends.



A one legged pigeon, who manages to hop with his stumpy leg while it scrounges for food. I wonder what happened to it?







Sharing man's contraption, quenching its thirst.








A stork on flight.
Would it be bringing a baby to a new mother?









A casualty of man's carelessness.
A fishing nylon is wound around its leg constricting blood flow to its foot, which hangs limply. It hops around on one leg. This bird needs help, but doesn't trust man who gets near it.










Planter with red flowers on the boardwalk.

............

Little Girl With Bike.

3 1/4" x 2 1/4" B & W Photo

This is a picture of me and the old house taken when I was about 10 years old. In the back of that house is the Pasig River where my siblings and I used to swim, fish and play. Lots of good memories with them.












3B pencil on 6" x 5" paper.

I've been trying my hand at doing figures and portraits and this is as close as I can get to that tiny picture above.

Days After

Turkey tasted better the next day, better than when it came fresh out of the oven. I had turducken for Thanksgiving dinner. It came by FedEx all the way from Texas ordered by Eddie. It was prepared, dressed and seasoned, all I had to do was pop it in the oven. I never heard of turducken till that day. It's semi-boneless turkey stuffed with boneless duck stuffed with boneless chicken with cornbread stuffing inside. Slicing was easy, there were no bones (except in the drumsticks and wings) and you get 3 kinds of meat in one slice. It's only now, days after, that I get to savor the taste of it. It was yummy, heavenly yummy.

Patio

Oil on canvas
16" x 20"

My patio.
One of my original paintings.