All Saints Day ++

(Begun Monday morning, Oct. 30)(Completed  Thursday afternoon, Nov. 2)

October is nearly over, and a flurry of activity around cemeteries reminded me that All Saints Day is approaching, Nov. 1.  In the Philippines, this day is an official holiday and hardly anybody works, in respect for the "departed."  I think that the observation is a fusion of Asian ancestor-respect (often, "worship") and Spanish Christian observance - - and, in fact, in many European cultures, All Saints Day receives much more attention than I ever saw in the USA.  (Halloween, see below *) Here, I made it a point to speak to our mechanic who had scheduled us for Wed., before either of us noticed that it would be Nov. 1, - - and to my surprise he said that he will be working on Wednesday (his "shop" is discreetly behind his house). 

For several days there has been much more than usual activity

and vehicles parked around the nearby cemetery.  Cleaning

up, repainting vaults, and placing of wreaths and other

decorations is in "full swing" much like Memorial Day

is observed in much of the American heartland.

(NOTE: I passed by again on actual Nov. 1 and the crowd

was about 5 times this photo of Oct. 30.  But I didn't have

the camera with me - - -)

 A number of temporary vendors have established near the

 cemetery entrance to help provide the needs of un-departed.

In keeping with my "general rule" of not intruding I didn't go

wandering around snapping photos of cleaning and decorating.

(I mostly avoid putting identifiable pictures of people in this

blog, unless they are known to me.)

*Halloween - - In our immediate area there is no observance

with American type costumes, trick-or-treat, etc.  Some years

the nearby urchins have had wax-candy "fake teeth" and other

SMALL Halloween-motif items which show up in the tiny "sari-

sari" stores, but this year I haven't noticed any so far.  IN THE

LARGER CITIES I see minimal Halloween decorations in

a few places - Christmas decorations have been thick for a

couple months.  In the fairly  upscale shopping malls I see

some costumes and "handout candy" available, so I guess

that the upper-income sub-divisions are beginning to adopt

this American observance as they have done some others.

 The recent typhoons and most heavy-weather events have

"missed us" this year,  but the storms have roiled the ocean

considerably and also the tides are high.  The sand shown 

above is 10 or 15 yards up beyond the  usual "tidal hump,"

where the beach becomes mostly rocky.  The farthest I

have ever seen sand, in 5 years.  The sheer power of the

ocean to move rocks and sand, in millions of tons, has

amazed me.  THIS AFTERNOON the Sulu Sea had its
typical flat-as-a-farm-pond look.

When this lone boatman landed his craft about a minute

after the previous photo, a handful of "meter people" quickly

scampered over to help him push the boat up to the usual

"parking" position.  This, in imitation of their elders, as

it is local custom for anybody nearby to help "land" a

heavily-laden boat.  This small boat, empty, might

not weigh much more than 50 or 60 pounds.  Note 

that the sand, extensive in most places, had for some

reason skipped this little area.

DOOR UPDATE:  "hangin' in there."

The new mahogany panel-door was not quite finished when

I posted last month's allotment, so here I take a moment

to show you how it turned out.  Even with a selection of

power tools to help, there was fully two weeks of two workers'

effort (actually more, I think) to "make from scratch" what

you see.  The center "Celtic braid" carving required two

days to complete, but we are especially pleased with it. 

Cooking occupies more of my attention here, than it ever did in the USA.  Local food is fine, mostly (some notable exceptions), but lots of times I just WANT MORE VARIETY than is usually available here.  VERY BASIC  materials are pretty much available, and MORE items are in the larger cities, but still I have to improvise some of the "from scratch" material in American recipes (Example: green bean casserole, without condensed canned soup or canned French's fried onions - both of which aren't too hard to make from "raw materials.")

I was fairly pleased with this pumpkin bread, which I "baked"

in the Dutch oven on stove-top.  I will repeat it at intervals, for

special occasions.  Banana bread and other sweet breads

would probably work out just as well with the stove-top

method, which uses much less cooking gas than the oven.

The empanadas were a large enough batch (three sheets) 

to use the oven.  They are basically pie-crust "turnovers"

with meat-and vegetable filling. and are similar in lots of

European cultures - many many recipes are on YouTube

and other sources, but I just "winged it" with these: pork,

potato, carrot, green bean, + "gravy."  A small batch can

be done 2-at-a-time in a  dry iron skillet on stove-top.

I've been noticing larger-scale "cooking" in progress at several places along the highway, lately:

Here, tar is being melted in a pot inside a steel-drum fire,

then moved to the large iron "pan" over a trench-fire at right,

and mixed with wheelbarrow-loads of hand-sifted sand.

When it gets to the right consistency, it is shoveled into

buckets and carried to the repair site, where it is care-

fully spread and leveled with "squeegee"-looking metal

hand-rakes.  No fuel-fired trailer-mounted melter-mixer

anywhere in sight!  Everything is hand-work. Even the

firewood is rough piles of branch wood which likely

have to be cut up before they can be used.

The repair site was the approach and deck surface of the

OLD Tibiao river bridge.  The NEWER, larger bridge was

complete in August of 2016, but its approaches have

never been paved so it is not yet used for highway  traffic.

 (LINK  to "Dinosaur" posting, photos of "NEW bridge"

are about # 10 and #11.)

The graveled south approach of the New bridge serves as

the asphalt- cooking site for repairs on the OLD bridge. 

Many locals use the NEW bridge for rice-drying, and I

have used it for driver-training gear-shift-repeat drills. 

One recently- completed project is the "aprons" at the "T"

intersection of Tibiao "main street" with the National Highway.

The areas behind yellow "Slow Down" and red "No Entry"

signs are quite-large aprons which would allow traffic to

easily enter and exit the "T" roadway if they were  finished.

They had river-rubble of mixed stones and sand in-place for

a couple years, which had eroded into ruts mixed with

sharp rock-edges.  We were quite pleased to see the crews

out there pouring the finished cement a few weeks ago.

THIS "couple year old" section has also recently been ex-

tended  at its other end, and the previously-awful 150 yards

or so near the municipal plaza are now nicely concreted.  

(A short distance to the left of this photo is the curve where

the "dinosaur" wrecked, see LINK above, photo #1 in

that Blog posting.)

Not what you'd usually picture in your mind, if someone said 

"Mitsubishi."  Definitely not a Mirage.

The SAME here as in the USA,  placement of cross-walks

and other road markings often doesn't seem to "suit" whoever

is doing the re-painting.  VERY RECENTLY the Highway

Department has gotten automatic paint spraying equipment.

Newer lines are much more regular and precise - Many

times I had seen line-painters working with bucket-paint

and 4- inch rollers, creating wavy lines.

Our church's meeting place is a conference-center which is gradually being developed and improved.  With TWO "camp groups" scheduled in the last week of October, we were able to take a few steps in the right direction as we prepared the venue a couple weeks ago.

The stairs from the food-service area downward towards the

meeting hall and the beach had been many-times patched,

and were no longer reliable for any direction but DOWN

(as in, falling down).

I was pleased one Sunday morning to see that materials

had been delivered for the new stairs.  Note at the top of

the photo, the large object being shoulder-carried is the

Yamaha piano in its case, which weighs nearly 60 pounds.

I can "suitcase" carry it 30 or 40 feet at a time, so I'm

always glad to have younger, stronger help.

On Monday the workers managed to dig and pour foundation,

plus build most of the cement-block walls and risers, for a

nice solid stairway.  I asked them about installing a "zip-line"

down to the ocean (a steep 75 or so yards downward) 

"while we're at it - - "  but I guess that part of the project

is indefinitely postponed.  

Later in the week the finish-work was mostly completed.

Enough material was left-over to do several other repairs

and "extensions" of other steps and walkways.

I have made three San Jose trips plus one "beyond Iloilo" trip in the last few weeks, which is an unusual amount of travelling.  Combined with projects at home and the campground, it's been a busy month.  COMING UP for November, I have probably TWO Iloilo trips and another couple San Jose runs.

This group gathered at Batonan, Culasi, before 7 a.m. one

morning to go to a conference in San Jose. The 50 mile 

trip usually takes about 1 and 3/4 hours, and it is not

unusual for me to have 12 passengers on such runs.

I always watch the overall weight and its distribution

on the car ("old truck driver" habits persist). This day,

"payload" was around 1,700 pounds.  The car has an

unusually strong frame and suspension for its size -

built for cargo! -  which explains its rough-ride when

lightly loaded with just Joseph and me.

Four fairly petite Filipino ladies can ride OK in the back seat.

Later in the day I got this photo.  The guy waving had ridden

in the cargo bed mostly sitting on the tail gate with the other

man there - which is why I always install the cargo straps

when I have passengers.  "Yellow hat" youngster was

in the right front seat with one adult on the early trip.

3 in front seats, 4 in back seat, + 6 in cargo bed.

The longer trip to Iloilo province took place two weeks after the above trip.  This was another overnight trip to Barotac Nuevo, this time with 10 passengers.  The drive time for this 130 mile trip was about 5 hours. 

I've finally learned how to move Google Maps into my Pictures files, so I can

show a map here instead of only providing a link.  Culasi andTibiao are on the

left side of Panay Island, and we travelled south, crossing the mountains

between Hamtic and San Joaquin, then east to Barotac Nuevo, which is

the red outlined area north-east of Iloilo City.

I don't have road-scenes from the most recent Iloilo trip, but

after the conference we spent a couple hours in a large mall

on the outer fringe of town, and I still get a little surprised at

the number of USA chain-stores I see.  I bought a local-

vendor waffle-hotdog snack from one booth, then as I

walked around the next corner munching, I ran into

a Crispy Creme Donut booth - - aw, man! Too late.

Among 4 or 5 rows of kiddie  coin-operated rides, this guy

was prominent in the front.  Wonder if any of the kids here

even know who he is?

We had a rice harvest on a very small parcel (1/8 acre?) recently.

This fish was brought and vended to us that morning, by one

of  "the cousins" who keep us supplied, and the plan was for

some of it to be used to feed the harvest workers (standard

negotiation).  As things turned out, the yield of the small

field was so small that the various "shares" took all of it -

well, we didn't quite LOSE ENTIRELY on the transaction

(the person who planted and tended the crop also paid

for seed and supplies in this case) but we DID end up

feeding the workers and not getting any of the harvest. 

OUR INTEREST is that we have a collateral loan which

gives us first-option to buy the plot, which could be a nice

place for a small residence and personal garden space.

One morning we started working in the front bedroom of

the blue house, getting it ready for an air conditioner unit.

  Constructed about 10 years ago, this is the oldest building

on our town property.  We were pleased to find that the

cement-work and reinforcing are unusually strong, as this

cut out took most of one morning to make.  High-cement-

content mortar was used to smooth and finish the hole.

Finishing our "hole in the wall" plus pulling new wiring
through the ceiling, and re-painting took about one-and-
a-half days.  Still remaining is installing a ceiling fan but
fortunately the existing light fixture is already wired with
an "always on" circuit,  so it will be fairly uncomplicated.
We have added a "moulding frame" around the A/C
since this photo.

SOLID COMFORT: Most beds that I see in use are built

like this one, with a wooden or bamboo frame and slats

for surface, and many people prefer only a blanket or

thin pad under them for sleeping;  foam rubber or other

mattress material holds body-heat and makes them feel

too hot.  We used this bed with a 3-inch foam mattress for 8

months after our arrival, before we got the "yellow house"

built and our Select Comfort air-adjustable mattress 

installed on a practical bed frame.  THIS BED will be

replaced with a Queen size "memory foam" mattress

(We haven't seen Select Comfort in the Philippines yet),

and likely will have a frame with storage drawers under

it, but that part of the project is a little in the future.

My visit to the mechanic on Wednesday was productive, as he was able to repair and modify the carburetor.  There will be one follow up, probably Friday, as he hopes to get a few other needed parts from San Jose on Thursday.  "Vehicle mechanics" other than motorcycle mechanics are few in our area, and Henry is a GIFT with his extensive skills and ability to improvise.  We had to wait for several weeks through his "urgent" projects which were ahead of us, and I am REALLY GLAD NOT to continue driving a manual-shift car with a balky and capricious engine!!  Running pretty sweet, now.

I may have found a way to economize on the number of trips I'll need to make, to Iloilo in November.  I'm hoping to cut back to just ONE, with an overnight stay.  There are some meetings in that area, plus I hope to pick up my replacement "ALIEN CARD" from the Immigration Department.  Several other errands have accumulated, like getting a few months' supply of medicines from a discount pharmacy and getting into the Yamaha Music store for some support services.  We look forward to having a few guests for Thanksgiving Day, and to the Traditional American fare of that day.  

We wish you a pleasant and satisfying "end of 2017," and will be back to you sometime around each change-of-month with another installment.

Have a great day!

TJ and Bernadette Larson

Antique Province, Philippines

I retired to "Ann-tee-kay" Province 4 years and 50 weeks ago, and I'm gradually becoming an Antique.