As usual, it just doesn't seem like 2017 should be over quite so quickly, looking at it from one angle; AND AS USUAL (from a little different angle) enough things happened to have possibly filled TWO years. So it seems I'll probably say it was about an average year, once some time passes and I get a little further away from it.
Guess I'll start with a few "general photos" and work my way around to some more seasonal things.
"Hi-yo, Silver!"**
We had a couple extra trees growing in the poultry yard, not
needed very much where they were. One of these was a
banana tree (OK, I know it technically is not a tree!) which
will be easy to replace. Here is its last "harvest" just before
getting "the chop." Several varieties of bananas always
grow nearby, so no loss.
This view may give you an idea of the height of the coconut
tree, which appeared to be more than 35 feet. If it fell over it
could do lots of damage - - -
and in fact the 25-or-so 2- pound "coconut bombs" falling
one or two at a time could punch through the roofs of the
storage- or saw- sheds; or maybe cause a head-ache.
So one fine morning, two of our "helpers" removed both of the trees,
taking the coconut down in safe-to-drop short sections.
One of our "back fence" neighbors has this very nice-looking motorcycle "tricycle" (a vehicle
type iconic to the Philippines LINK) . He frequently comes to our gate before 5:30 a.m. to buy 33 of our "ice bags" which Bernadette fills and freezes. He is developing a small-scale ice-cream vending business, so he uses our ice to freeze a day's worth of product.
His vehicle has an unusual number of nicely-made racks all
around and on top. "PRIVATE" signs posted on the front
help would-be passengers to quickly see that he is NOT
a "TAXI," as nearly all of the tricycles around here are.
(Photo shot from opposite direction, with the rising sun
behind me, is interestingly different color from the other two.)
A majority of people around here get up well before 6 a.m. most of the time, and we do, too. Only in the last week, since Dec. 21, do we tend to "sleep in" a little later than 5:15 or 5:30, since the sunrise time has moved by about 45 minutes later. It is actually quite dark until a few minutes before 6 a.m. now, but that will change pretty rapidly (get light earlier) in the next month.
(**Ford Motor Company has an assembly plant somewhere near Manila, so we see many Ford pickup trucks and "SUV-type" Ford vehicles. They are an "upper market" choice, here, priced at- and- over 1.5 million Philippine pesos - $30,000. I just checked, the top of the line Expedition is about $80,000 here = 4 million pesos. I won't elaborate about the caption of that photo, I think most of you probably "got it.")
The "National Highway" which runs around 400 miles of the
perimeter of Panay Island is getting a lot of improvement,
and many places are being made into 4- lanes. The new
lane at left is complete, and the new lane at right is almost
ready to pour, at this section about 5 miles of south of us.
***
***
Here, the "old bridge" on the right was retained and remodeled
beside the new bridge to create a 4-lane pair of bridges.
But immediately at both ends of those bridges, there isn't enough
right-of-way space to continue 4 lanes. This "SHORT 4-lane
reducing to 2-lane" pattern is pretty frequent now, and I am
doubtful that all of the narrow areas can ever be widened
because of existing structures and obstacles.
(I don't know if Philippines has "eminent domain" laws
but if so they would move pretty slowly.)
(The phrase "GLACIAL PROGRESS"
often comes to foreigners' minds here, but glaciers pretty
much would move faster than most processes here, and
of course THERE AREN'T ANY GLACIERS!!)
***(NOTE: First "road photo" above, the utility poles in the
graded area at the right WERE NOT removed, before the
new highway- lane was poured-in-cement around them!!
MAYBE they will be removed in future, and the HOLES
which they leave behind MIGHT be repaired after THAT.)
(MAYBE the next ice age will cause a GLACIER to come
and remove those poles from obstructing the new lane.)
THIS view is still typical of 99% (it seems) of the highways here.
20- foot roadway with 10- foot lanes is "standard."
YOU NEVER KNOW what you might see being carried on
a motorcycle here. There is a driver seated in front of
the lady who is holding the chairs.
Philippine "baby boomer?"
One morning Joseph and I passed this cute little boom-crane truck - violet, but not too dangerous - on our way to San Jose. As we overtook it, he got a couple photos. Seems
like it might be useful for electric or communication company pole and line work, but it is
a little small for most other "high work" projects I see around here.
I took this photo while leaning out a bus window, the year bfore
we bought the Suzuki car. We had passed by St. Augustine's
Academy in Patnongan many times before, without a chance
to grab a photo. The "title sign" on the building indicates
the academy's founding in 1962 - - so I had quite some
curiosity about the building, which is much older. Local
guidebooks and "Wiki" had no info to offer, so for a few
years didn't know the actual origin or history of
the building. There is another "wing" of the building
which appears to be "modern" within the last few decades
Passing by about a week ago I discovered this bronze historic sign
attached to the wall just where it is usually blocked by parked
jeepneys and other vehicles. So I got a photo. The sign is in
Tagalog, the "national" language, which is unusual since most
such signs here are in English. The gist of it is that the building
dates from 1860, and was used as convent and monastery
at various times until the academy acquired it in 1960.
"Built, transferred, administrated, organized" plus names of
"Padres," and "Mill Hill Fathers of Inglaterra (England),"
and mention of the Philippines War and World War II dates,
comprise much of the text. I know scarcely any Philippino
language, and only a smattering of Spanish, but "instant
Google translator" for key words makes it pretty easy to work
out the general meaning of signs, even with two "foreign
languages" in play. Even though I can't actually READ it,
I could figure it out in a few minutes.
(SAD TO SAY, some U.S. educators bemoan that children
NOT TAUGHT CURSIVE SCRIPT will never be able to
read historic documents which are written in cursive
English. SAD on two counts, 1) that our "education" is
too "dumbed-down" to teach cursive - - and sadder,
2) that the children do not have enough "grit" taught
them to BE ABLE to figure out a text in English with
slightly different letter-forms. [Well, now that I re-think
it, far too many can't figure out - READ - any text in
plain, simple, modern, printed English, either.])
Well, lots of things interest me, here. That's good, it keeps my mind active in between spells of boredom. I've used up a fair amount of space with "interesting stuff" and now it's time to get the "Holiday stuff" situated.
Around our immediate area, the decorating was not very elaborate this year. The three "trees" above are typical of a dozen or so that appeared around our neighborhood of Malabor, within 1/4 mile or so of our house. These represent lots of time, creativity, and effort, which distinguishes the makers from their surroundings. There were a few lighted displays, but it seems that without a major "push" or perhaps a "competition" folks here don't get overly motivated. The biggest part of most peoples' holidays may be the food and festivities, so that's where their energy goes. The carousel and the larger tree were installed at the Tibiao Municipal Plaza, a couple miles from where we live.
We passed through BUGASONG in mid-December, and, as last year, there was a large display occupying most of their municipal plaza. This is a link which should take you to last year's blog for a look at that display. We managed to get down there (30+km.) a few evenings later when there was no rain (RAINY December, this year!).
Mickey Mouse was prominently featured in an area called "Toonland."
Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head have Rapunzel's Tower and one of Alice's mushrooms from Wonder Land behind them.
"Adventure" in an ancient Pacific Islander exploration canoe.
quite a few other trees were similarly elaborate and well-lit.
Christmas Morning
on Christmas morning. Kids here aren't pre-conditioned to jump
out of bed before dawn! I took this photo mostly to show the
"conditions" that morning which are typical for this time of year;
TIME: 10:49 DATE: 12/25, Monday
87.4 degrees inside with windows open and a fan blowing now
feels OK to us - apparently we have adapted!
Well I did the best I can manage with the layout above! We had
a lot of fun watching the action that morning. So far, Timmie's two
"most favorite" items are the Batman-mobile car from the toe
of the stocking, and the "r-r-r-r-ingy bell" on the bicycle. We haven't
quite gotten used to the bike itself yet, but making progress.
Well it is Wednesday, Jan. 3 already. I have been pecking at this
since Saturday, a few minutes at a time, and there is still a fair amount of "New Year's stuff" which I intended to post, but I will post-pone THAT in favor of getting this published! We had quite a bit of special-programming and activities and guests the last week or so, so it has been a busy time for us.
(AS USUAL, my layout/ format of photos and text gets moved around when published. Sorry!)
We were blessed with a relatively quiet New Year's Eve, the typical loud-music parties being some distance away from us this time. "PANdemonium" at midnight, with a great many small explosive fireworks added to the beating of cooking-ware, but surprisingly FEW sky-rockets and "Roman fountain" works. I got up, honked the car horn two times, and went back to bed.
We wish all of "you and yours" a peaceful and contented 2018.
TJ and Bernadette Larson
Malabor, Tibiao,
Antique Province, Philippines
