This last few weeks have had several camera occasions which I actually NOTICED as I was walking nearby, mostly close to our home here at Malabor**. One afternoon I was approaching a friend's house, located at ocean-side, and I was struck by the multiple bands of horizontal colors in front of me.
Cloud overcast, clearer sky, three or four distinct colors of the sea, and the beach + bamboo fence just seem to make a nicely composed view. This IS the same viewpoint which had an oceangoing ship, featured at the beginning of the March posting. Living in our area is a lot like "living in a post-card."
(**Malabor is a "Barangay" = neighborhood of Tibiao, our "municipality" division of Antique Province. A municipality is roughly like a county in the USA; larger municipalities are re-designated "City" at some point, maybe above a certain population.This link should take you to the Wikipedia article about Tibiao, which is worth a quick skim; we are designated a "fourth class municipality," I think because of population.)
(**Malabor is a "Barangay" = neighborhood of Tibiao, our "municipality" division of Antique Province. A municipality is roughly like a county in the USA; larger municipalities are re-designated "City" at some point, maybe above a certain population.This link should take you to the Wikipedia article about Tibiao, which is worth a quick skim; we are designated a "fourth class municipality," I think because of population.)
We see a lot of ocean-fresh fish here, provided by Bernadette's
various relatives often "special deal" or barter before they
vend the rest of their catch. I have joked here before,
about Humphrey Bogart's toast "Here's lookin' at you!"
from Casablanca. These are lightly fried and then covered
vend the rest of their catch. I have joked here before,
about Humphrey Bogart's toast "Here's lookin' at you!"
from Casablanca. These are lightly fried and then covered
and "steamed" in vinegar-water with garlic and tomato.
And of course you can see the sea-salt on them.
50 yards from our gate is the main highway intersection where
vendors frequently have fish for sale. This one caught my
eye as I walked out one late afternoon, as it is fairly large for
our area, and there were several like it in the same catch.
(Maybe they were in a "school?")
(Our road is the access to Malabor Elementary School!)
(Shown on the satellite view a few photos down.)
(Shown on the satellite view a few photos down.)
.
Its size becomes more apparent compared to a 4-year-old
standing nearby. The vendor had weighed it at 12 kg. =
around 26 lb., I'd say heavier than the child, most likely.
One afternoon I noticed this fishing canoe approaching from deep-water, as I was chatting with some of our "cousins" at dela Cruz Family "compound," which is Bernadette's relatives' inherited place. This particular fisherman is noted for going out when nobody else does, in rough-water times. It's pretty risky - - but worthwhile if successful - - and maybe he just gets bored and "antsy" with not much to do, this time of the year.
He made several approaches, apparently trying to get the best timing-of-the-waves to safely land. Three or four times, he circled back outward after making a run at the beach.
He finally got a "set-up" that he liked, and came safely in to the beach, received and helped by a small crowd which had gathered as they saw his attempts to land.
And he had a fairly successful voyage; there were 5 or 6 of the
larger tuna seen above, maybe about 8- to- 10 lb. as compared
to the large "vendor fish" a few frames above. And there was
about half-a-cooler of miscellaneous 6- to- 9- inch fish (being
examined by some of the small kids above). As there were at
least 8 or 10 "elementary age" kids nearby, I noticed that every
one of them walked away with several fish from that catch;
and I saw no sign of "transactions." This is a "hard-and-
hungry" time of the year, around here, when rough weather
keeps the fishing opportunities pretty slim. Also, we are in-
between rice crops for a couple more months. So all that
fish was surely a big help to a handful of families there.
This view is from the front gate of the school, at the east end
of our road. The triangular garden-area shows distinctly on the
sat- view above. For a few years after the big typhoon of Nov.
2013, the school (and almost everything else around here)
looked pretty drab and threadbare. Now, everything is
brightly painted except the cement walkways, and gardens
of ornamentals and edible crops are everywhere, carefully
tended by staff, volunteers, and students (as educational
activity). 20 minutes after "flag ceremony," quite many of
the tenants were out weeding and sweeping. About 2
years ago I noticed ALL the schools suddenly got large
numbers on their roofs, apparently for quick identification and
access by helicopter (military!) in case of some emergency.
I just noticed the sat.-view is from before the number was put on.
Many planters such as this near the Office feature jelly-bean
colored stones and fake-tree-bark painted cement. Everything
is almost inconceivably immaculate.
This photo is taken looking to the right from the school's back-
gate exit (described above) towards the rice fields and Alegre.
The mountain ridge in the background is the same one seen
in the school front-gate-area photo above. Less than 5
minutes' walk from here to our portion of the fields.
Sure enough, the several days of heavy rain came before
many of our rice-seed had firmly rooted, so we have a lot
washed out. Nearby fields planted a week or two earlier
were stable enough to withstand the heavy water flow.
Bernadette has already found some replacement
seed so things should work out OK.
I STILL see quite a lot of one-wire electricity in places where
the installation is "informal do-it-yourself." But THIS is a
community funded street light beside the road in the fields.
ONLY the "HOT" wire runs from light- to- light; each light
is then "grounded" to complete the circuit. In this case the
large galvanized-metal main utility pole was handy; other
situations, the ground wire might just go to the lamp post.
This method uses only half as much wire and usually works
fine for turning lights on - - - but any person who touches
that metal light-post might also get "lit up!"
As I walked back towards home, I encountered several "kids"
who weren't at school that day. This one and two companions
had no ropes or stakes, and were freely moving and munching.
0 = 0 = 0
This monument appeared not-very-long ago about 10 km. from
where we live, but in my frequent passings I was always too
rushed to stop and investigate until a few days ago. It over-
looks a stretch of beach, and memorializes defenders of this
area of the Philippines during WWII. There is one minor "typo"
in the text (4th line from the end - never factor out human
error!). The principal person mentioned shares the family
name of the current governorof Antique province. I know little
of the history of this area,as it is largely not published, so I'm
glad I finally stopped to see this.
fish was surely a big help to a handful of families there.
I decided to walk out to the rice-field a few mornings ago. I'd heard that the heavy rains which followed our rice-seeding had pretty well washed out the all the seedlings, and same for several other fields nearby, so time to take a look. As I walked out our gate, I realized that it was still "school traffic time," meaning that the gates of the elementary school would be open and provide me with a handy shortcut. Here's the satellite-view of our immediate neighborhood, I think for the first time I've posted it here.
"Tibiao Elementary School" is actually "Malabor Elementary School." I've been trying to get Google to correct this for several years, but with only partial success. Two bright-white roofs showing left of the school are our 2 houses. When the school-gates are open, I can save about 200 yards distance by cutting thru the campus to Malabor - Alegre Rd., instead of walking around via the National Hwy., diagonal-left on the photo. The back gate, locked after classes begin, is just where the bright-white roof in the upper left corner of the school campus is. Turning right from that gate, onto M- A- Rd., one passes by the cabinet-and-metalwork shop featured last month, top-right-of-center, and out through several hundred yards of rice-fields, including our collateral-loan fields, soon passing into the hilly area and out to the Alegre Barangay; our little "farm" is about a mile out there, and Alegre settlement is about two miles out, up quite a steep incline. ALSO WORTH NOTING, the Sulu Sea is in the lower-left corner of the photo; our walking distance to the sea is about 100 yds.
of our road. The triangular garden-area shows distinctly on the
sat- view above. For a few years after the big typhoon of Nov.
2013, the school (and almost everything else around here)
looked pretty drab and threadbare. Now, everything is
brightly painted except the cement walkways, and gardens
of ornamentals and edible crops are everywhere, carefully
tended by staff, volunteers, and students (as educational
activity). 20 minutes after "flag ceremony," quite many of
the tenants were out weeding and sweeping. About 2
years ago I noticed ALL the schools suddenly got large
numbers on their roofs, apparently for quick identification and
access by helicopter (military!) in case of some emergency.
I just noticed the sat.-view is from before the number was put on.
colored stones and fake-tree-bark painted cement. Everything
is almost inconceivably immaculate.
Actually the tree-painted cement is a very COMMON motif everywhere I've been for nearly 6 years in the Philippines. These photos also show brightly colored sculpted mushrooms, and jellybean-painted beverage bottles. One motto might be "leave no stone unpainted!" Kudos for creativity, there was a long row of the plastic-bottle + "retired motorcycle tire" flowers - looks like two 1.5 liter bottles are carefully not-quite-completely cut into 1/3s - the cap-threads hold the 3 pieces together - and overlaid to form 6-petal flowers.
This photo is taken looking to the right from the school's back-
gate exit (described above) towards the rice fields and Alegre.
The mountain ridge in the background is the same one seen
in the school front-gate-area photo above. Less than 5
minutes' walk from here to our portion of the fields.
Sure enough, the several days of heavy rain came before
many of our rice-seed had firmly rooted, so we have a lot
washed out. Nearby fields planted a week or two earlier
were stable enough to withstand the heavy water flow.
Bernadette has already found some replacement
seed so things should work out OK.
I STILL see quite a lot of one-wire electricity in places where
the installation is "informal do-it-yourself." But THIS is a
community funded street light beside the road in the fields.
ONLY the "HOT" wire runs from light- to- light; each light
is then "grounded" to complete the circuit. In this case the
large galvanized-metal main utility pole was handy; other
situations, the ground wire might just go to the lamp post.
This method uses only half as much wire and usually works
fine for turning lights on - - - but any person who touches
that metal light-post might also get "lit up!"
As I walked back towards home, I encountered several "kids"
who weren't at school that day. This one and two companions
had no ropes or stakes, and were freely moving and munching.
With all the heavy rains lately, it wasn't exactly a surprise
when we heard about this tree fallen down at our Alegre
"farm." I went there one afternoon (between downpours)
with a couple others to investigate and decide what needed
to be done. VERY LITTLE is wasted here, so the planning
mostly centered around salvaging usable wood for lumber,
and firewood. When we had returned home I heard that later
an acacia tree had gone down; A few days later both trees
were cut and salvaged, and the acacia yielded four 2x4 x 14',
plus a lot of firewood came from the two trees.
0 = 0 = 0
This little guy recently became one-year-old. His relatives
arranged a "Child Dedication and Birthday" celebration
at a seaside resort. Here, he is held by one of the guests.
My connection to the event is that our pastor officiated
the dedication part of the ceremony, and about 10 of
our church members were among the guests. I was
asked to accompany some of the music.
The motif of the party was racing cars; table decorations featured road-cone pylons, toy plastic racing cars as guest "favors," and masses of red-white-black balloons. There seemed to be about 80 people attending; there was quite a lavish buffet after the program; I was impressed by the "engineering end" of things, so I include a photo which shows the roof-trusses of the pavilion, which is remarkable for its size, about 60- by- 40- feet, entirely bamboo.
0 = 0 = 0
where we live, but in my frequent passings I was always too
rushed to stop and investigate until a few days ago. It over-
looks a stretch of beach, and memorializes defenders of this
area of the Philippines during WWII. There is one minor "typo"
in the text (4th line from the end - never factor out human
error!). The principal person mentioned shares the family
name of the current governorof Antique province. I know little
of the history of this area,as it is largely not published, so I'm
glad I finally stopped to see this.
Aside from getting out to look at things, I stay occupied doing little projects and repairs, plus scheming ways to move along projects that have stalled. I noticed that my "goofy little projects" heading didn't get an entry this time, but there WERE several. Right now I'm trying to fix the end on a microphone cord, which SHOULD be replaced, but no replacement is available (you can "cast" certain types of plastic things using epoxy- putty, and that's what I'm trying). And pretty regularly I get into kitchen-work, replenishing items that I "make ahead" here - big batches of plain cooked beans, for example, are easy to freeze and have available without any lead-time when they are wanted. And of course there's always my music-work - lots of hours happily trying to untangle my fingers; that's one occupation which is supposed to help avoid Alzheimer's Syndrome - guess I'll know in a few years how that works out (or maybe, I won't know at all - - -)
Well, I ramble! I'll ramble on out of here for now. Hope all of you are doing fine and enjoying what each day brings.
TJ and Bernadette Larson
Tibiao, Antique Province, Philippines
