Bonifacio Day

(Begun 6 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017) (Finished Friday about 9:30 a.m.)

Philippines holidays seem to me to be far more numerous than U.S. holidays, something which several other "'canos"** who I know have remarked about.  The actual number of official national holidays may not be any greater, but we "aliens" are often caught by surprise with unexpected closings-of-everything and festival traffic congestion.  There are also a large number of religious and regional/ local events which can shut things down and generally create obstacles-to-progress.   You have to be "from here" to anticipate all of these, it seems.  
** 'cano  is a common designation for "foreigner" here, a contraction of "Americano."

Bonifacio Day - November 30 - is one of the "better" holidays for us since it is a prominent National Event, and we can anticipate the closing of banks and "gummint" offices while many of the "common folks" continue to pursue their livelihood.   It slips past with about the same level of observance as Presidents Day in the USA, except that I haven't encountered any Bonifacio Day special sales.  Andres  Bonifacio (accent over the "e" not available) was one of the heroes of the Philippine Revolution of the 1890s.  (link, Wikipedia).

This image is from a routine "IMAGE Andres Bonifacio" google-

search.  I noticed that ALL of the available images seem to be

reproductions of two or three actual existing photos so I picked

this collage which was the most colorful.

(Behind the scenes NOTE:)  I have been sitting here for about an hour,  indulging my curiosity about various things as they occurred to me.  Biography of Andres Bonifacio;  meaning of the word Boni + Facio  for which my rough- guess was a fair shot,  it means good fortune or "do-gooder person"  instead of good-looking or handsome; how to type special characters - particularly letters with accent marks and tildes, etc. - on the keyboard; and one or two other things which have wandered out of my mind about as quickly as they wandered in.  I love having enough internet service to just go looking for information whenever I have a question.  We have about 1/20 the "speed" of USA  and many interruptions/ "outages,"  but my slightly-rural location in KY put me beyond cable-internet so I never had it "this good" before I came to the Philippines.

Not perfect by any means - I see this notice on-screen all-

too-often - - but it's great when things are working!

é é é  Hey, I figured out the special character thing, too.  Work it out in a word processing program, then cut- and- paste it into THIS place.  Andrés.  HA!

Andrés.  I even got the font corrected.

Guess I'd better quit rambling and get on with a month's worth of photos.

I never get tired of the scenery here, even though a lot of it is pretty similar.  I guess "pretty" is the operant word!  Inland mountains within a few miles of our house exceed 6,200 feet altitude.

This photo could be "stock shot" from files, but it is from 2 days ago out the passenger-side window of the car while ridin' along.

Ridin' along a few minutes later, Joseph stopped us at this 
veggie-vendor booth and bought some singkamas (I thought
it was"cinco-mas" until I looked it up).  This edible root is the
same as jicama, "Mexican turnip" which has become fairly
popular and easy to find all over the USA.  Small vendors
are everywhere here; you will rarely travel 2 minutes in the
countryside, or walk 20 paces in any city, without encountering
some small vending operation hard-at-work.

Just ridin' along, we see things that you just wouldn't see in

the USA, and sometimes they begin to seem pretty common

to us.  The rider is obviously eggs-tra careful with this load.

These egg-trays will go to several "little" stores ("sari-sari")

or maybe to one little-bit-larger establishment.  Eggs are

sold "per-each-egg" here, ranging by season from about 11-

cents to about 15-cents.  So, nearly always below $2/ doz. Of

course, we prefer our OWN yard-chicken eggs, much better!

 A nicely-woven basket made from bamboo strips (I think)

costs less than $1.00 here, and we have several like this

serving as nesting baskets (turned open-sideways) for

various hens.  Coffee mug provides size reference.

We had several large pepper-bushes on this property about

4 years ago.  For several years there have been none.  I 

found out that the chickens forage the leaves off small

plants and keep them stripped so they can't survive.  NOW

we will soon have some fenced seedlings, and hopefully

a constant supply of Tabasco- hot peppers for use. 

 I made this simple gate with half-overlap-joint corners for the

chicken-yard more than 4 years ago, and I experimented

with using a baling-wire tourniquet to reinforce and pull

each corner together.  This has worked out fine, and it is

about the easiest method I can think of for making strong

corners. I pass it along for any viewer who occasionally

builds rustic gates or similar constructions.

 A commotion in our street one afternoon around 3 p.m. turned

out to be the Forex delivery truck.  We manage to get one

shipment of USA stuff each year, usually arriving late Dec.

or early Jan.

 This year my buddy in California set up the shipment for us

and we managed a much earlier arrival mostly because there

is less warehouse-delay at various points when it comes

from the west coast instead of Kentucky.  Our thanks to the

"special people" who have helped us with this each year!

Lots of things just can't be gotten HERE locally: piano-teaching

books; gadgets; great varieties of dried beans and seeds; 

several out-of-print books from on-line; a skil-saw and a sander;

"stuff" as varied as epsom salt, borax, & horse-radish; curtains; and

some items from my siblings in Oklahoma, all fit into the two boxes.  

 Many thanks to brother Dave, who sent a nice variety of "every- day"

shirts.  These are hard to find, here, as nearly everybody wears

t-shirts or "polo" shirts. I wear button-front cotton-blend "sport

shirts" and "casual-dress" shirts.  I'm grateful to have some

replacements!

Well, over a month ago we BEGAN  to work on a "minor"

intermittent performance problem with the Suzuki car.  There

was a fair amount of improvement, but we haven't quite gotten

it SOLVED yet - mostly from lack of parts, tho' also  because

this vehicle technology is pre- computerized diagnostics so

problems are ONLY solved eventually by process of elimination.

I am amazed by how many complicated adjustments and

gadgets there are on this little carburetor, which COULD

be much simpler, and would then probably work better.

Quite a lot of our November has gone to events around the Thanksgiving Season.

At 7 a.m. one Sunday morning I got over to the local ice cream

manufacturer, to pick up a "special order" of 150 ice-cream-on-

stick. These are quite popular here, so it is wise to order ahead.

The ice cream was part of the Thanksgiving Program

held by our church-group that morning.

 There are always special presentations for special

occasions. 

Later, there was a "potluck" meal, with the ice

cream sticks as the extra dessert. It seemed an easy

task for 50 or 60 "customers" of all ages to make those

150 ice creams disappear!   

It happened that my trip to Iloilo had to be done the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving Day.  I was able to provide a ride for 6 other people to get down to that area,

and I got MY errands done, and returned by mid-afternoon on Tuesday.   HOWEVER, the cooking chores for Thursday had to be divided around that journey, so several foods were pre-cooked and kept (frozen if needed) for a few days.

 Thanksgiving Day we were able to set out two herb- roasted

chickens, beef pot roast, lasagna, dressing with giblet

gravy, green bean casserole, green-salad and fruit-salad,

 Bernadette's home-made dinner rolls, and a couple

other items I've forgotten about.  Locally raised turkey

is available here, but each of us "can live without turkey

and not MISS it" so we pretty much do just that!

Among desserts a while later (a long while, we were too full!)

were Bernadette's pumpkin-roll and pecan pies, and my 

buttermilk-custard and apple pies.  The IMMENSE pie-plate

(compare to two "standard 9-inch" nearby) of the apple pie

is one of TWO commercial pans sent from a bakery-supply

in Oklahoma by my brother Dave.  These will become

favorites, if I can  gather enough folks to finish-off their

contents!

At Iloilo I got a photo of my friend's new Suzuki Celera, a

snappy-looking car which is economical but quick, and seems

to be larger on the inside than it is on the outside.  I think

the designers somehow use mirrors, like a magician.

This seems to me to be a little shorter than my postings have been, recently.  The month has gone by quickly, with a lot more happenings than I can show here.   It's already time to start KEYBOARD-practicing the Christmas carols so they will go smoothly when I have to play for the singing.

Thanksgiving Season has reminded me: it is MOST IMPORTANT to cultivate an appreciation for all the blessings which I receive daily, often scarcely noticing them as I deal with the "flip side of blessings,"  the responsibility to properly use resources of good health, materials, and TIME,  and to not fuss about little challenges.  I am honestly grateful for all of my advantages, and I try to see them in the light of those who don't have so many as I do.

We passed our 5-years-here-in-the-Philippines anniversary, during November.  Things AREN'T THE SAME here as they would be in the USA, but I'm making progress on adjusting my "expectations" to fit "reality,"  and things are mostly pretty good!  

We hope you all are experiencing a fine Autumn season, and SEEING the blessings in your lives.  "Take time to smell the roses!" (AND try not to fuss about the smell of the fertilizer!)

Have a great day!

TJ and Bernadette Larson

Philippines