My Twitter pal from Greece

If you look close enough, there's some kind of watermark on the upper left side that gives the name of the photographer. Anna Papadopoulou sent me this via Twitter last night after I thanked her for her tweets, mainly images like this one, that I find solace in after a day's work. Twitter, like many popular social media platforms, can be noisy and busy. Once in awhile, I happen upon something as soothing as a girl in pink.

And this served as my thank-you "note" to Anna P of Corfu, Greece. Someday we will meet, and I hope it'll be in a Grecian isle. These pink, orange and yellow flowers grow abundantly in what once was my Dad's garden, now tended by Mom and my bro Dennis. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

A lifestyle

"Giving is a lifestyle." - Inspirational Quotes found in Twitter

I saw this old watercolor work, entitled "Tres Marias", that was first exhibited at the Baguio City Museum at a Baguio Aquarelle Society show, at the fireplace of Auring and Des Bautista's home on Christmas Eve. It felt like running into an old chum. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

Very little of my body of artworks (ahem!) are left with me or my family. They're mostly in the homes or friends, other family members, including in-laws and cousins who've hosted us abroad, and a few indulging collectors, mainly friends, too.

Whenever I have an exhibition, whatever is left unsold is given away without regret as gift for birthdays, weddings, thank you for favors or just for the abiding friendship. These paintings are also handy to be around when there's a call for fund-raising for ailing colleagues or for relief/rehabilitation during disasters.

Nothing can replace something made by one's hands. A reminder for me to resume painting in 2015.

Meanwhile, on the shore of the living

"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."
--Matthew 7:6

"Pearls don’t lie on the seashore. If you want one, you must dive for it."
--Chinese proverb

Some things keep me awake longer than usual at night. Among them is the origin of expressions. One is "Do not feed your pearls to swine."

And on the matter of pearls, why do we use the phrase "pearls of wisdom?"

It may sound silly, I know, these nocturnal activities of mine. In the morning, the brooding has fled after six to eight hours of quality sleep.

Meanwhile, I've stored this image of a piglet in red boots in my hard drive for several months now, waiting for that moment when I can trot it out like taking a pet for a walk.

A woman from Corfu, Greece, Anna Papadopoulou, who I follow in Twitter, shared this. She likes to post her gathered treasures of photos and videos around the time I'm about to take dinner or should be turning in for the night. When I thank her with a photo I've taken, she responds in the same manner. While I'm already calling it a day, she is just getting warm after breakfast. We've had this relationship for months now.

It's a nice feeling--to know that I'm not alone in learning to dive deeper and deeper into myself, to rise up, then share my own little pearls here and there (for want of a better word, I use "pearls"). And Ms. P, I suppose, is also doing the same.

Here's to you, Ms. Papadopoulou, wherever you are. Mabuhay and good morning from where I am.

Here's to solitary dining

Cab Cafe usually serves its coffee in a paper cup, even if you're dining in. Ask for a mug--the coffee tastes just the same and you save on paper and plastic stirrer. Photos by Babeth Lolarga

“Because we all need somebody to talk to, somebody that will listen, somebody that understands.” - a tweet from Inspirational Quotes

Often I find myself talking to whoever just happens to be reading this blog or past blog entries after he/she accidentally "hits" it in search of something else. Other times I share the day's content out there to friends and family who give a word or two of encouragement. 

Otherwise, I talk to myself most of, if not, all the time. I do the talking not too loudly though. Otherwise, my “frenemies’” suspicions about my eccentricity, a.k.a. weirdness, will be confirmed. And there are some people out there who delight in others’ pratfalls. It is not a kind world, unfortunately for the sensitive.

Where was I before the taho vendor’s cries interrupted my concentration? I’m supposed to make a strong pitch for the occasional meal enjoyed with oneself, not with some Other (be it partner, child, grandchild, parent, sibling or friend). I call it a form of decompressing so I don’t suffer from what divers call “bends” when resuming my routine and becoming a social being again.

Yesterday from late morning to apres-lunch, I was with kindred spirits or fellow cultural workers. One of them referred to ourselves as alipin ng sining (slaves to art and culture). I always bristle like a porcupine when I hear the word alipin. I like to correct the phrase, to think of ourselves as “art warriors in aid of peace.”

But even warriors need a rest day. No, it’s only Friday today, and there are two more writing deadlines to be met. These deadlines are largely self-imposed, but I want to meet them in the quickest, most efficient way possible. 

For me to do that, I must decompress first the way a diver must go up slowly from the depths of the ocean lest he/she suffer from the bends and get paralyzed. So after that meeting-cum-coverage-cum-interview-cum-shared meal, I headed home but stopped over at good ole reliable Cab Café on East Capitol Drive, Barangay Kapitolyo, Pasig. I was desperately in need of a caffeine fix to stay awake and finish a hanapbuhay article. The cake chiller was tempting, but I’m always careful about my sugar intake. 

There was a slice of cherry “cheesecake.” It had no cream cheese in it. Deceptive, right? Instead, the sumptuous red cherries that sported a come-hither look were sitting on a lump of yogurt, the yogurt sat grandly like a princess on a round savory biscuit. Think crown, think princess, think throne. 

Whoever in the kitchen-bakery thought of this must be congratulated. I’ve always had a taste for the sour (okay, here’s where you make jokes about my increasingly sour disposition).

Hurray for “decompression chambers”, those way stations between being a social being and being a completely solitary person once one returns home to face an empty Microsoft Word page, a throbbing cursor, a waiting angel (or devil) that one must wrestle down to keep the flow of words going and going without disappearing.

P.S. My bill didn't even exceed P200, and I got the drafting and writing done before midnight. Oy vey!

Hands cup cheeks

I used to wonder why The Wee One liked to pose in this fashion for photographs. Took a lot of half scoldings, half sweet talking to make her pose more naturally. Until I saw the possible source of that hands cupping cheeks pose.


Kai with her Granny Sue this summer in Baguio Photos by Babeth Lolarga

Photo from The Glitter Fairy in Twitter

Warmed by another sun at 7 a.m.

"I believe in the sun even when it's not shining /I believe in love even when I am alone /I believe in God even when He is silent." - Tweeted by God's Grace at 7 a.m., 8 Feb 2014. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

Keep calm and stay beautiful

"Cuddle with me." - from Keep Calm Tweets

The Keep Calm posters have been everywhere in the past year, even at the Wimbledon Games, e.g., "Keep calm and eat strawberries with cream," and more delights that kept me riveted as much as the final women's singles game between Bartoli and Lisicki.

Earlier in this new year, I've seen "Keep Calm. 2014 will be awesome" popping up all over the Web.

Wherever I am, nothing reassures me more than the new knowledge I acquired from seeing one too many "Keep Calm" reminders that by keeping calm, all will be well. Keep calm, Butones, and remember to turn your head towards the Light.

Love, the Booboo

The Button at Baguio's Chaya Restaurant calmly waits for her order sometime in 2013. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

Doors

“People who walk through a doorway during the middle of a task are three times as likely to forget what they were doing.” – from @UberFacts, the most important things you’ll never need to know, in Twitter

I've heard this advice before. It was given to me because I'm on the threshold of hitting 60, the age that heralds the years of grace (these years are given to those who're undeserving but they're still freely given).

There's something about doors or arches that make you instantly forget what you went into the room for. I guess it means one must be supra-mindful. I used "supra" because I saw that on the front-page photo of the new Miss International, and the caption spoke of how the terrible year of 2013 was somehow saved by these homecoming queens, including a Miss Supra-National.

Now, where was I, and what was the point I was getting at? See, I'm starting to fade like this year!

Former door guardian elevated to another site Photo by Babeth Lolarga