Sunday, May 27

falling flowers

I have been enjoying this view of the fire tree in full bloom outside my bedroom window for several weeks now.

I love the sight of fire trees are in bloom!  They always, always remind me of an Amorsolo painting. Also, when the trees are in bloom, I am assured by visits from olive-backed sunbirds, hovering and hopping from flower to flower.  The almost leafless branches also make it easy for me to see the woodpeckers creeping along the trunks, pecking and trilling away.


Another sight I can see from my window is the golden shower, also in bloom at the same time as the fire tree.  In the mornings, the dripping yellow flowers are a-buzz with bees sipping nectar. 


Amorsolo didn't paint golden showers in his paintings, I suppose they are quite new introductions?  Anyway, when I was younger, it would be golden shower flowers I would offer to Mary during the month long novena.


Sometimes I wish we also had space for a banaba tree, or had planted one across the street.  And I always remember the palawan cherry tree at Albert Hall or those lining the driveway of the Manila Seedling Bank.  The former lavender, the latter pink.  Wouldn't that be a beautiful sight?!?!? Orange and yellow and lavender and pink all at the same time!

(Palawan cherry trees take ten million years to grow though I think, and there's no more space in my mother's garden for 2 more trees.  I'd better think of a place to plant them all now, wait twenty or so years... and enjoy them in my old age!)

It has started to rain in the afternoons, a sure sign that summer will soon be over.  Winds before the rain would send flowers falling to the ground, much to the delight of my niece.

The rains will soon strip my bedroom view of yellow and orange, and the colors will carpet our garden and driveway instead. 

Until next May...

Wednesday, May 23

concepcion

mom arranged Sunday lunch for the entire family at concepcion last sunday. the pond was full of big fat tilapia and the mangoes were dripping with the second harvest of the season. the house was in a sorry state, but clean enough. such a shame the house isn't livable anymore. 

the kids had fun running around the open space and teasing the cows and the goats. i hardly remember the few summers i spent in the farm. i was the youngest of the cousins and didn't get to spend too many vacations in the province. still, i have memories of giant hay stack slides, of little frogs in muddy carabao footprints, of a large bedroom filled with a row of beds, of hitting pili nuts with a stone, of hito harvest season and fruit laden duhat trees, of climbing up to the pigeon house to hear soft coos through the wall.

i definitely grew up a city kid, but i'm glad i have these memories.


Tuesday, May 8

not so helpful all the time



Awww... my favorite beetle is now put in a bad light.  So much for being a helpful bug.  I guess wine growers will disagree.
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070505/food.asp

Introduced species are a tricky subject.  Natural, yes.  In the sense they aren't man made.  But natural to the location? 
Definitely not.  So when is natural un-natural? Sometimes definitions are misleading.

(Thanks to Marvin for sorta pointing me to the link)