Well, things just aren't going to slow down! So I'd better just do the best I can and get SOMETHING put together. I had thought that I'd get the several weeks after mid-November all "blogged" about two weeks ago, and then run another "special" for Christmas and New Year season. Meanwhile several "road trips" and projects plus lots of meetings and music-work have kept me pretty well occupied. So we will START with some Christmas things, and then jump back to around Thanksgiving, and work our way through whatever will FIT into an average-length Blog posting.
"Christmas Letter" / "Annual Report"
(AND JUST IN THE MIDDLE OF TYPING THAT THE ELECTRICITY WENT OFF. ELECTRICITY HAS BEEN PRETTY DEPENDABLE LATELY - by Philippine standards - NOW, about 30 minutes later, I am ready to continue, GLAD that it was restored pretty quickly, but I can hear from the electric-fan speed that we are having some up & down "surges" in current.)
NOW,
where was I when the lights went out? Oh, yeah - -
"Christmas Letter" etc., I will fill in a few details
as I go along here but most of what would make up an OFFICIAL
CHRISTMAS LETTER is covered in the last several Blog Postings, so
please navigate to them using the list at the right of this page, if
you are particularly interested in reviewing. THANKS!!
Christmas and Seasonal Stuff:
Decorations
seemed kind of sparse around this area this year. But in
the last week or so I have been in the "right place at the right
time" a few times it seems.
Walking past the Barangay** Hall on Dec. 25, Christmas afternoon,
I noticed the star up in the balcony opening, which it seems I had
NOT noticed in driving past there which I do several times per week.
It being the ONLY decoration is one reason I view things as "sparse"
this year. However, closer inspection revealed some interesting
details about this particular star.
Did
you EVER wonder "What do you do with a Mountain Dew,
when
the Mountain Dew is done?" WELL, I had NOT wondered!
But
someone else apparently DID wonder, and it appears to me
that
this entire construction is from 2 sizes and colors of
Mountain
Dew bottles (There IS an "orange" Mt. Dew, here).
What
a "tour de force" in
creativity!
**SIDE
NOTE - - RE: "Barangay," above: This
is the word for "neighborhood" here.
(There are FOUR levels of governance that I observe in the Philippines: National, Provincial, Municipal, and Barangay. The first two you are perhaps familiar with; Municipal is typically one prominent city, but usually with enough "ground around it" to be like a county in the USA. BARANGAY ("ba-RON-guy") is the immediate neighborhood of a few thousand with the equivalent of a "mayor" and "council members" of various functions. They use local-language names for those positions, but the setup is pretty similar.)
(There are FOUR levels of governance that I observe in the Philippines: National, Provincial, Municipal, and Barangay. The first two you are perhaps familiar with; Municipal is typically one prominent city, but usually with enough "ground around it" to be like a county in the USA. BARANGAY ("ba-RON-guy") is the immediate neighborhood of a few thousand with the equivalent of a "mayor" and "council members" of various functions. They use local-language names for those positions, but the setup is pretty similar.)
On
the same Christmas Day walk I noticed these bloomin'
Mimosa
trees, on the opposite side of the highway. MOST of
the USA
would not expect to see such, on Dec. 25. At
about 5
p.m., it was cool enough to walk for a little while.
At times
when there is full sunlight here, I sit in the shade!
Our temperatures remain in the mid-80s F., daytime.
Our temperatures remain in the mid-80s F., daytime.
I
don't get out much, at night-time here. There's not much
going on, so there's no point in leaving the house. Things
are reasonably secure as to safety, but "ya
never know" what could happen, anywhere in this
world. HOWEVER, our one-day-turnaround "road trip"
to ILOILO*** ran pretty late,so we were traveling the last 2 hours after
sunset. Bugasong, about 25 miles south of Tibiao, turns out to have had a contest among their barangays to create decorative lighted structures in their main plaza. I stopped and took a few photos that evening, and we took Timmie down there by bus the following evening to see it all - so I got a few more photos. Seems like the contest "theme" was famous landmarks of the world.
From a little distance, the sheer amount and variety of the
lights created a "phenomenon" for our area here "in the
provincial backwoods."
Statue of Liberty,
"Big Ben"
"Eiffel Tower"
"Leaning Tower of Pisa"
and "Brandenburg Gate"
were among the featured works,
among a dozen others.
the roadway as we prepared to leave the plaza.
Christmas is "done" a little differently in this area, than in the USA. I think in the larger cities and among the more affluent ones here, it begins to resemble Western-style. But mostly things are pretty simple, with perhaps a little bit of "special" cooking. NEW YEAR's EVE and NEW YEARs DAY, and ALL SAINTS' DAY and CHINESE NEW YEAR all seem to have equal-or-more observance than Christmas. I noticed that all the "small vendors" were open as usual on Christmas Day this year. I THINK they will all be closed for a day or two around New Years, but I guess I'll see when the Day is here.
***Mention of the Iloilo one-day turnaround trip, above, reminds me to mention the reason for that quick trip. The display- screen of the Yamaha Electronic Keyboard had gradually been darkening, one horizontal line at a time. The control system of the instrument is many- layers- of- menu- screens which select things like the "voices and sounds" of the instrument, and complex operations like recording and overlaying pieces of music into arrangements. Without the display screen working, it is pretty much impossible to do more than the simplest of "real-time" playing, and even that becomes difficult to select and control. I was able to order a replacement screen from the USA, and it arrived many months later via our annual "care package" box with many other items, on Dec. 18. So, on Dec. 20, by pre-arrangement with the technician, we went to Iloilo to have the new screen installed. A 14-hour travelling + errands day.
As you see, the repair was successful. "Before," on the left, had gotten worse with nearly half the screen darkened in bold horizontal blackouts. "After," so far in two weeks' time, is looking just fine. I'm grateful to have it working again!!
I THINK I'm going to try putting the rest of items in chronological order, beginning from where I left off in the previous posting, which was a week or so before Thanksgiving.
This is ALMOST the complete group that I met on Nov. 25 at
the Kalibo Airport. Seems like two were still collecting baggage.
(Map Link Tibiao to Kalibo area) The distance to Kalibo is about
80 or 90 miles, and required around 2.5 hours driving.
All of these Manila folks were "Philippines Large" (130
pounds and up) except for Alex's daughter YeYe, who
was more typical for our area,5 feet tall and perhaps 85-
90 pounds.Eventually all were "shoe-horned" into place,
5 in the cargo bed and 4 in the back seat.
Aklan Province, Kalibo's location, is noticeably more-trees
and less- grass-and-brush on its hillsides. They have
been more proactive in controlling tree-cutting, and
the results show, after a generation or so.
The crest of the mountainous section north of Pandan is the
boundary between Aklan and Antique provinces. We stopped
there for about 10 minutes, on a weekday, between noon and
1:00 p.m., and only 2 motorcycles and one truck passed us
in that length of time. This is the main National Highway, and
I suppose that the usage is heavier at the beginning and
ending of daylight hours.
These cut- and-eroded bluffs were near the provincial boundary,
and their interesting appearance prompted a shutter-click.
my first impression was that it was made to use up all the left
over and "extra" letters from the sign making kit. After
studying the photo several times, I have discovered the actual
WORDS there: "Kalibo/ Numancia Bdry. 42 Km." Maybe it's
just that "letters are cheap, signboard metal is dear?"
Gathered around the lunch table, about 2:30 p.m., still missing a
couple "bodies" from the photo. The reason these folks had
a few extra days off is that most of them work for a customer-
service call center, and their clients are mostly USA. So they
were "free" on Thanksgiving weekend!
A little later, Pumpkin Pie made quite a "hit" with everybody.
Smallish green-skinned pumpkin-squash is common here,
but usually prepared in a "stir-fry" with other vegetables. So
this was something a little bit "new" to try out.
We all walked beside the sea for a while around sunset. I
imagine it was a real treat for them to NOT be in a congested/
crowded mega-city area. It was nice to have a pretty sunset, too.
(This is where I got interrupted on Dec. 29th. Now Jan. 3, I hope to finish the blog and get it posted.)
We all walked beside the sea for a while around sunset. I
imagine it was a real treat for them to NOT be in a congested/
crowded mega-city area. It was nice to have a pretty sunset, too.
(This is where I got interrupted on Dec. 29th. Now Jan. 3, I hope to finish the blog and get it posted.)
(Miscellaneous photos)
This "western style" fishing vessel was moored several hundred
yards north of where I usually walk, probably a couple days after
Thanksgiving. The ones of these that I have gotten closer to seem
to be about 60- to 75- feet in length. I think they must pose fairly
significant competition to paddled and/ or motorized "canoes"
which are generally less than 20- feet long.
yards north of where I usually walk, probably a couple days after
Thanksgiving. The ones of these that I have gotten closer to seem
to be about 60- to 75- feet in length. I think they must pose fairly
significant competition to paddled and/ or motorized "canoes"
which are generally less than 20- feet long.
call "giant canoe." These are 30- to 40- feet in length, but with
the narrow-hull common to canoe construction, and the "outriggers"
I see on both sides of every canoe here, for stability. These are often
large enough to have a shelter mid-ship, and are powered (likely)
with adapted automotive diesel engines. There were about
eight of these moored like an armada off the Malabor beach
one afternoon, but I didn't manage any photos that day.
I happened to see this jackfruit cut up for vending, so I
took a quick photo. Before, I had no sliced- jackfruit photo
on-file, for some reason. This particular one is the size of
a smallish watermelon. They can grow to 50 or 60 POUNDS!
The flesh, when chunked and stir fried, has a neutral to slightly-
sweet flavor, with texture a little chewy like pineapple. Mostly
it and the seeds are cubed and added to other food. Those
seeds are often the size-shape-taste of water-chestnut, and I
have some plans to try cooking and "flour making" with them.
(Returning to "Thanksgiving")
In a Thanksgiving festival, this little guy was a real "live wire" as he got into the dance-presentation that his siblings and cousins were doing. The whole "troupe" is to the right here.
ALWAYS more projects.
Wind and weather had stripped all the "nipa" palm-roofing off
our water-drum tower, in only about 6 months. Earlier roofing
had lasted two to three years; It is getting harder for the "makers"
to find quality materials as demand increases. The price of the
"nipa" has also gotten much closer to the price of metal roofing.
The bamboo framing of the drums-shelter was pretty well worn
out, so we milled some hardwood slabs into new frame pieces.
By late afternoon the structure was replaced, and covered with pieces of re-used galvanized-metal roof we had saved from other "upgrade" projects.
Several weeks later, I'm still occasionally working on
the float-operated Water Level Gage. It is an option
that I successfully completed in 2013, but it is finicky to
keep adjusted and accurate. We fill the tanks almost
every day, so this isn't crucial to have, but working
with it provides a level of perversity and challenge
that is a sort of "fun."
One of my "perennial perplexities" has been keeping an old-style
wall clock operating here. It came from my younger brother
Danny's "estate" about 18 years ago. While in Kentucky it kept
nearly perfect time with very little effort or adjustment. Here
in the Philippines it has been cranky and capricious since the
first year or so. I finally removed the "works" and soaked it
in clean kerosene for a couple days, then blew gently with
compressed air, then operated it for a week or so out of the
case, while liberally applying solvent-lubricants like WD-40.
This is a Korean-made reproduction clock from the 1980s, a
pretty common item in the "clock world" apparently. It seems
to run nearly perfectly on- time now - I'm still "tweaking" after
several weeks. This bears "a STRIKING resemblance" to one
clock owned by our grandparents, which is probably why
Danny got it.
We pass this prominent house en route to and from
our San Jose errands; it's about 30 miles south of
our place at Tibiao. Last month I finally took a couple
minutes to stop for photos. Located on the east
side of the National Highway, it looks westward
across the roadway - - -
to this panorama of ocean and islands. What a
view!
view!
Well, I'm a long way from being out of photos from the last few weeks. But it seems like I've gone "long" again on this posting.
Today is Jan. 3, 2017. The weekend was busy, and
already it is Tuesday! A little after 7 a.m. the stream
of kids returning to school had thinned out a lot, from a
solid moving mass 30 minutes earlier. Now around
10:30 a.m. it seems like the sun is out to stay, and
maybe some of the outside projects can be moved
along. We are beginning a modest roofed-over area
which will help to get the table-saw and large-work
projects away from the front of the property - to spare
us the dust and mess near the house! Should take
a week or so to finish.
Bernadette had the camera handy a few evenings ago
and snapped a couple photos of Timmie. He is 2.5 years
old now, and is the "lowest maintenance" person his age
I've ever seen. He plays with his own "stuff" without
constant monitoring, doesn't get into much other stuff, seldom
whines (I've never seen anything close to a tantrum), and
is counting fairly well and just on the verge of reading simple
words from watching educational cartoons. His "peeese,
gampaw!" is really cute when he wants to watch
such things on the laptop computer.
and snapped a couple photos of Timmie. He is 2.5 years
old now, and is the "lowest maintenance" person his age
I've ever seen. He plays with his own "stuff" without
constant monitoring, doesn't get into much other stuff, seldom
whines (I've never seen anything close to a tantrum), and
is counting fairly well and just on the verge of reading simple
words from watching educational cartoons. His "peeese,
gampaw!" is really cute when he wants to watch
such things on the laptop computer.
Well, we hope that your 2017 is off to a good start. I will try to get some of the yet-unposted photos up, in a few weeks. Meanwhile, have a great rest-of-the-week, and our best wishes and thoughts go towards your "aims and hopes" for 2017!
Tim and Bernadette Larson
Tibiao, Antique, Philippines
(Finished! about 3 p.m. on Wed., Jan 4.)
(Finished! about 3 p.m. on Wed., Jan 4.)
