Misty morning

Summer is coming to a close; it will be officially over on the 21st of this month. Autumn made a short visit last Friday morning reminding us that in a few days it will be here officially. It came in the form of a cool mist hovering below, covering the whole valley, creeping between trees and houses. Mist to me has a feeling of calmness, of tranquility. In the midst of it I could hear only the sound of the birds chirping, the rustling of leaves falling, the cracking of twigs as I step on them, and the soft gentle drop of a dew falling from a leaf.

Fall here in Southern California, is a sampling of the cold weather, intermittently interrupted by warm weather, and sometimes a heat wave; and it ends with a constant cool weather and then winter begins.


Today we were back to our usual summer warm weather. And it was a clear day ...we could see forever. Hmm...just like the song.

Kick 'em hard.

Of course, it's Nona who gave me this award. She thinks I am a kick ass blogger. :-D Thanks Nona. You are a true friend.

I am to toss this to other kick ass bloggers. Those ones with creativity and originality; ones who are supportive of their blogger friends; ones who inspire and etc. and etc.

I am to choose 5 that I feel are “Kick Ass Bloggers.” I am to:

• Let ‘em know via email, twitter or blog comments that they’ve received an award
• Share the love and link back to both the person who awarded you and back to www.mammadawg.com. Pass it on! To get the code for the image you can go back to mamadawg.com - don’t forget to link up the person who nominated you for the Kick Ass Blogger Club.

I can do all of the above. The problem is if I pick 5 of the hundreds of them the rest will be after my neck. I don't want that to happen. I love all my blogger friends, and, of course, I want them to love me as well. So, instead of plucking 5 names, I'm not going to name any of them. It will be up to them to come and get it. I hope this is fare enough.

Grapes anyone?

They are hanging over my pergola on my patio. There is so much of them I've given some to my friends, but there is still a lot more.

The birds are feasting on them, and some are falling on the ground. If we're not careful we step on them; crush them; and drag the sweet sticky juice inside the house. Which, of course, annoys me no end when my flip-flop sticks on my wood floor. Some people wouldn't even notice something got stuck on their shoes, and they would walk right in the house and leave residue on the floor I have to scrub them. More work for me. Grrrrrr!

I planted it many years ago, this Thompson grapevine. The fruits have to be harvested at the right time, when the color has turned yellowish green, that is when they are sweet. Last year they were the size of peas. This year they are a bit bigger than garbanzo beans. They seem to get bigger as the vine gets older. Perhaps, next year they would be much bigger, just like the commercial ones.

They are small now, but I am enjoying them; munching on them; sharing them with my friends; with the birds; and with the ants.

Tadaaah!

Heeeeere's kangkong.

It's right on my patio in this big clay pot. It's so lush and healthy. This plant was from a stalk I trimmed of its leaves for my sinigang. I dug a small hole and pushed the stalk in this pot. There used to be a ficus benjamina plant here, apparently I over watered it and it went kaput. The ficus trunk is still intact right there, but it's now dry, lifeless. I have used this pot since, to put all my veggie trimmings, kind of a compost bin. It is now my kangkong pot. I'll see how much it will grow, if I will have enough for another sinigang. Har har har.

One thing good about this plant, it loves water. In fact, it thrives well on swamps, ponds, and any watery place. So, there is no fear of having it over watered. Perfect for me who kills my plants with love by over watering them.

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Note:

Kangkong per Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Ipomoea aquatica

Ipomoea aquatica is a semi-aquatic tropical plant grown as a leaf vegetable. Its precise natural distribution is unknown due to extensive cultivation, with the species found throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world.

Common names include water spinach, swamp cabbage, water convolvulus, water morning-glory, kangkung (Indonesian, Malay), kangkong (Tagalog), eng chai (Hokkian), tangkong (Cebuano), kang kung (Sinhalese), trawkoon ( Khmer: ត្រកូន), pak boong (in Thai: ผักบุ้ง) (Thai), rau muống (Vietnamese), kongxincai (Chinese: 空心菜; pinyin: kōngxīncài; literally "hollow heart vegetable"), home sum choy ( Hakka), and ong choy or tung choi (Cantonese蕹菜, ngônkcôi; pinyin: wéngcài)., " ကန္စြန္း " (Ken-Zun) in Burmese.

Read more here.

Home Alone

I was by myself last Saturday, and I felt I'm free to do anything that I wanted. I didn't have to cook lunch which would sometimes take an hour or so, then a half hour to wash dishes and clean up. So, there I was contemplating what to have for lunch. In my fridge are sorts of left overs. There was the quesadilla left over when I had lunch at a Mexican fast food restaurant; left over Pasta e Fagioli, an Italian dish I made the other night; and 2 pieces of moldy chicken that I don't know what dish it was. I decided on having the pasta dish. I warmed up some of it, and put some aside, in case someone looks for it. I was out of grated Parmesan cheese to sprinkle over it, so I got a stick of mozzarella cheese and sliced it into small pieces and tossed on top of my pasta.

This is the leftover I put aside in the fridge.
Click image to enlarge

When I was done eating, I still felt hungry. I opened a box of crackers, and munched 6 pieces of it.

Still I was not full. I thought I'd have a handful of potato chips.

I devoured it in a few seconds. It was salty...too salty. I needed something to get that salty taste off of my mouth. I opened my fridge, and found nothing there. Then I found ice cream in the freezer.

Eureka! This is perfect. Ice cream! I scooped about half a cup of it and put it in a small bowl. Hmmm....yum! I was about to finish it when I started feeling guilty. I've been eating all this junk, and now I felt guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! I dumped the rest in the sink, and I drank a glass of water.

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I love this pasta dish. I copied it from a magazine some years ago. It's very filling; always a welcome dish at home, especially when we get tired of the usual pinakbet, adobo or sinigang.

Pasta e Fagioli

Ingredients:

1 carrot, peeled and diced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 can (8-ounce) tomatoes*, cut up and undrained
1 can (8-ounce) tomato sauce
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cups cooked macaroni
1 can (15 1/4 ounces) dark red kidney beans**
Parmesan cheese, grated

Procedure:

Saute vegetables in olive oil until onions are transparent, but not browned. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, garlic salt, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer 30 minutes.

Add macaroni and undrained kidney beans. Simmer 20 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve. Makes 4 servings.

*I have searched all over for an 8 ounce can of tomatoes, but could not find any. So, I buy the big can (15 1/4 oz or 16 oz) and use half of it. I wonder why it said 8 ounces can when there is none.

**This also comes in 16 ounces can.

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Someone up there...

I woke up the other morning and found this work of art by Someone up there.

And the award goes to...ME!

From: Ev.

Ev

To: me.

This lovely award.

I thank Ev; and the academy, the producers, my director, my mentor, the crew, the caterer, the drivers, and...and...

Just playing.

I am passing this to all my sweet blogger friends (laging nilalanggam) and you know who you are. Grab 'em, steal 'em, copy and paste 'em, or whatever way you can, just do it! You hear! I mean, you read! :-D

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I hope I got Ev close enough. My printer ran out of ink and I had a hard time referring to her photo.

Death of a grape.

Click image to enlarge.

Not wanting to become wine,
Freed itself from the vine.
Down it came falling
But alas, now it's dying.
Landed on a sharp blade
Of a leaf, this young grape,
Met its death with an orchid.
One less fruit for me, or the kids,
Or the birds.

How sad!

I can't bear to see it impaled right through its heart...this seedless green grape.

Award

Thanks to Ev for this wonderful award. I am so honored. My acceptance speech will follow soon, if I ever make one. har har har.

This award was created originally by Arte y Pico and to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creativity and their talents, also for contributing to the blogging world in whatever medium. When you receive this award it is considered a "special honor". Once you have received this award, you are to pass it on to 5 others."What a wonderful way to show some love and appreciation to your fellow bloggers!"

I pass this award to the following creative and nice bloggers: Nance, Jeannie, Nona, Pepe (you must have this one already, but just get it and display it on your shelf) and Caryn.

Come on guys, get to work! LOL

Thanks

So long, my friends...

I tried to recall as much as I can how these
ladies looked like, as I do not have any picture
to copy from. I hope, I got them as close as I can.

I was scrolling down my cellphone's contact list the other day, and found a name that I didn't need anymore. I deleted it, and then deleted another one.

The first was Leila B's name. I met Leila about 6 years ago through another friend (Carrie). She and Carrie lived in the same apartment complex. Whenever I would go to Carrie's to work on artworks for the church's fund raising, Leila would stop by to say hi; or we would call her to have lunch with us.

She was a petite lady - about 4' 11" in height, weighed about 90# +-. She was perky and always greeted me with, "Hi, Mari. You look good." And one time I said, "Lei, I would like to lose at least 10#, if I can. I'm overweight." She thought I should not and that I'm perfect as I am. Of course, I am not. Her reason for thinking so is because of her physical condition: She was underweight.

She told me that many years ago she was as tall as my 5' 2". She was in a car accident which almost took her life; had to undergo physical therapy for a year before finally getting her life back to normal...almost. She fractured a bone which caused her to lose some bone density and thereby shrinking her height. I've forgotten the name of the bone, and her scientific explanation.

Although she had been ill for quite some time, her spirit, however, was always up. There was always a smile on her face.

She passed away 4 weeks ago.

The other name was Ritsuko's. She was from Nagasaki, Japan; petite, just like Leila. I met her through Junko San, about 3 years ago. She had had some major surgery; and had been living on borrowed time.

She played the shamisen and showed me pictures of her in her kimono when she was young. She spoke English very well, with very little accent. She was bright, funny and witty; photogenic and very fashionable. She always wore color coordinated clothes with matching shoes and purses. She loved to wear hats.

She passed on 4 months ago.

Their names were deleted, but they'll not be forgotten. I'll miss these two nice ladies. May they rest in peace.

What a hairstyle!

Well, Nini, my friend, I'm sorry to disappoint you. It wasn't Arnel Pineda I drew. This one I've just finished had a wild hairdo, one that was ahead of his time. Some of the young men nowadays sport similar hairstyle. They don't carry combs to groom their hair anymore; they don't need hairsprays to keep it in place. Those days are gone. During those days, however, this guy sported the style of today; of the 21st century.

Why him? George Clooney is too good looking. And, so is Brad Pitt...and other Hollywood cuties. Albert Einstein had more character, and he was also cute when he was young.

Walk this way~~~>

Top of the world...

Sunday night my husband and I were watching the second game of the NBA finals when it was apparent that the team we were rooting for was losing. It was the third quarter and the L. A. Lakers have a deficit of 20 points behind the Boston Celtics. We were getting disappointed. My husband started flicking the remote from channel to channel. We thought we would rather watch another show...something to enjoy. Then he remembered the set of Journey album I just purchased earlier. It has 2 cds of their old and new songs; and a dvd of their recent Las Vegas Concert. He put the dvd on play; we sat back, relaxed and watched.


The album.

In this album our own Arnel Pineda was introduced as the new lead singer of the group, the Journey. By this time everyone knows the cinderella story of Arnel; how he landed the coveted part in a legendary group; and his life as a struggling singer back home, the Philippines. For Arnel it must have been like a dream; like a story from a book, or something from a G movie.


The Journey with Pineda in the foreground.

As we sat watching the concert, we were amazed at how energetic Arnel was; his showmanship was at par with other singers; and his voice was great. His transition from high to low was so smooth. I've heard of how he's being compared to the past vocalist of the group. It is to be expected. And others have mentioned his accent. I couldn't detect any. That could be because, I have an accent myself. But then there are other singers out there whose accents are very evident even in their songs. Take for instance Andrea Bocelli. He's an Italian tenor, and when he sings some English lines the accent is there; Sarah Brightman's Italian lyrics shows her American English accent, and there are others still, like the late Pavarotti and Julio Iglesias. Of course, we all have accents when speaking a language not our own.

This is my first time to really listen to all the songs of the group. The truth is I never heard of them before, though some of their songs sound familiar to me. I like most especially their latest one - After All These Years. Arnel sings this one tenderly, passionately.

Click here to listen --->After All These Years

I wish him more success in the coming years.

In the backyard

This was my apricot harvest this year. I had more left in the tree, but the birds helped themselves to it. It did not have a lot this year, but they were much bigger and sweeter this time. I planted the tree some 20 years ago, a year after we purchased the property. I love fruit trees and apricot is just one of them.

And here on a shell 'parol' a hummingbird refurbished an old nest which was used by another, or maybe the same hummingbird. The bird is now incubating the 2 pea-sized eggs it has laid.

Last year there were 2 eggs in that same nest, but another creature attacked it and ate the eggs which left the mother bird mourning for her loss. Hopefully, this time, it will be out of reach of a predator.

This hummingbird is so aloft. Every time I step in the patio it takes off. But there was a time, when I was watering my plants it hovered around me, checking me out perhaps. I could hear the wings whirring. It came as close as 4 ft., staring at me. That was the closest it got. But I could never get that close to its nest. The nest is about 12 feet away from the pigeon's nest/basket.

From my kitchen window I could see the bird come and go to its nest, and it's a delight to watch it.

To meme or not to meme?

My meme.

I have so many in mind to post, however, I can't seem to pick the best one to do at this time. I can't crank up my brain to do some work, and meme is right here, and a good filler. This one was a tag from Nona.

Here goes:
Memoirs of my 4th year of high school. How much I remember and how much of it I regret.

The section I am in.
There were only 2 classes in my 4th year of high school: the morning class and the evening class. The lower years have more sections. Since I am not a morning person, I took the evening class. Another reason for it is that maybe I could find a part time job during the day, like some of my classmates.

My seatmates.
I was seated in the front row, on the left side facing the board. On my left was cousin Jess, and on my right was Claudia.

My English teacher.
Her name was Miss Pagulayan. Years later on I heard she became a principal of the school.

My first class.
English...I think.

Friends in the lower years.
Yes. Some of them were good friends.

My class schedule.

It was a regular class with not too many extra curricular activities.

My enemies.

None what so ever.

My favorite teacher.
My English teacher, Miss Pagulayan.

Sports I played.
None in school. I played badminton at home; basketball in my back yard; and swam in my backyard.

Was I a party animal?
We would usually have a party in our backyard. When it would be somewhere else, I would go, with my parents' consent; and my cousin Jess was usually my partner/escort.

I was well known in school.
Since it was a small school, it was easy to be well known. I was one of the officers of the student council and did classroom to classroom campaigning; a muse of something on a float; a muse of another thing on a float; and I'm so amused on a float.

Skip classes.
Not in my senior year.

Suspended or expelled?
Nope.

Can sing the Alma Mater song.
I don't think we ever had one.

My favorite subject.
Literature.

Went to dance parties.
Yes...yes...yes.

Where I would go most often for school breaks.
In the campus, or me and my friends would walk to the public market, where some stalls were still open at night, and buy snacks.

On the last day of school.
I hanged out with my classmates and we talked about where we were heading; what school we were going to; what courses we were going to take. We never seemed to realize that after we graduate we would hardly see each other anymore. After graduation the reality set in. We went to different schools, and once in a while we would run into each other.

My best friend in my sophomore year passed away right after graduation. She lived some 4 miles away from my home. Her mother knowing that I was her best friend, let me know of her passing away. During the vigil I was always introduced as her best friend, although, we had not been hanging out with each other when I transferred to evening classes. Jasmin was her name, she was in the morning class. She would wait for me, when I would go to school in the morning for my library work. She was a nice, pretty young girl.

Regrets?
None at all.

Okay, it's done. I am not going to tag anybody. Any one who would like to do this is free to do so.

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Walk this way...

...and come visit him.

ENTER

Visit His Holiness.

Take any mode of transportation, get there any way you can. Walk to the door and knock gently. Enter (click here) walk softly and say hello to His Holiness, The Dalai Lama.

...And there's more!

About a week ago a couple of pigeons were making trips to and from atop the brick column of the pergola, a few feet away from the basket. They were building a nest. A few days later, while watering my plants I found one of them sitting on the nest already. There is a drawback though about the place. It is easily accessible to predators. There is a grape trunk winding its way along the column to the top of the pergola. The nest is in danger of lurking cats, lizards, rats and other rodents. There is no way we can protect the nest.

Click photo to enlarge.

Three days after I found the nest, I went back to check on it...and...gasp...it's no longer there. The place was clean, no trace of the nest at all. I looked down and there it is the remains of the nest, right down below, strewn on top of my plant.

Oh, sad, so sad. A predator got to it before the eggs were hatched. The attacker must be that big cat with bushy gray unkempt fur, walking nonchalantly in my backyard. Why that f&%c$#i&n%g? I am so mad at these cats who stroll in my backyard like it's their own. I should get a big dog to chase them out of my property.

I only hope that the birds find a good safe place for their next nest.

On the other side of the pergola, there is good news.

The eggs in the basket have hatched!

The chicks are tucked under the mom or dad.

What I have observed with this kind of birds is that the couple share the responsibilities. They build the nest together; they take turn brooding; and perhaps feeding the hatchlings. I have seen one of them fly in, and takes its turn; and the other one takes off.

To this day, mom or dad is still brooding the chicks.

There is a lot of activity going on in the backyard, if I look close enough. Aside from the pigeons that have been nesting in my pergola, other birds have turned to shrubs or trees.

I have noticed recently that a small bird keeps flying in and out of this juniper shrub. I thought I would satisfy my curiosity by looking in the thick foliage.

And, voila, this is what I found...a small nest with some eggs. To me they look like quail eggs.

I'll keep an eye on it, and shoo away creatures on the hunt for food.

New Occupants

I noticed a week ago that there were birds coming and going in the basket. There was a time there were 2 of them. One sitting inside the basket and the other perched at the edge. I have wondered if these birds were just visiting or resting.

A couple of days later, as I was going out of the door to the patio, a bird was flying towards the basket. As she or he took sight of me, it took a detour and landed on the wrought iron fence. It waited there for a while. I looked at the bird and I noticed that it was carrying, in its beak, a piece of twig. It must be refurbishing the old nest then, I thought to myself. It is the same kind of bird, a pigeon.

Days went by when I took a peek at the basket and there was a bird inside. It seems it's laying eggs, just like the other bird. My basket is a popular place for these birds; and they picked the biggest one. They must think it as a mansion. I have other baskets on that same pergola, but they are smaller.

Here is the new tenant, caught in the act of laying eggs!

I'm now giving this basket to the birds, it's full of poop anyway. LOL

It pays to wander...

As I bloghopped to some fave spots of mine, I stumbled on a giveaway by Indiaartist. As she had mentioned the first commentator, in her post, will get an oil painting from her. I made it to the first, and others who were not lucky enough, didn't jump in anymore. Days, weeks and more weeks passed by and no sign of the painting coming my way. And then, finally, it came. Beautiful painting, a style of her own. I wish I could do the same.

The lovely apple...is right here.

Little Birdies Flew Away

The mother hen with her chicks.
(click photo to enlarge)

I was quite busy since that time I took a peek at the nest and found those 2 eggs, and I never got the chance to get a shot at them. About sometime last week I noticed that the mother seem to be feeding her little babies. They have hatched then! I thought I would take a peek and if the mother would fly, that would be it. She, however, sat there staring at me. So, I aimed my camera high above my head and took several shots. I got her with her chicks huddling by her side, keeping warm on that cold early morning. They have tucked their heads underneath her.

About an hour or so later, I noticed that the mother was not there. I stepped on a chair again, and peered above the basket, and there they are the chicks. They have grown so much already. They are no longer the teeny weeny little chicks, that are almost bare of feathers.

The chicks
(click photo to enlarge)

When I first found those two little eggs, I thought I would record their progress when they are hatched. But I've been busy lately I never got the chance to do it.

Yesterday morning my cousin told me that she didn't see the eggs. She wondered what happened to them. I told her, "Well, they have flown away then. I mean, the chicks are gone."

And she stared at me and said, "You mean they have hatched and grown and flown?"

"Yes, manang, they are big enough to fly already. They have flown."

And they left the nest with their poop - those dark grey little round stuff with a speck of white in them. That I have to clean for the next tenant.

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