Sunday feels

As soon as I saw the Facebook announcement that Robert Alejandro was going to conduct an online drawing class, I prepared my Mercury Drugstore journal and Pilot Hi-tecpoint V10Grip for the purpose of being a student before the master again.

Our teacher's pacing was just right so this always newbie-at-things was able to catch up. I didn't feel conscious, unlike in Fine Arts school when we would do live drawing in class and I felt the most inferior to classmates who had been doodling since they were in diapers.

Here are the results of my first drawing class with Master Robert. Photos were taken by my sister Ellen Suzy Lolarga, my companion every time I'd go to the Medical City for physical therapy and rehab of my new knee.

Interesting thing about the just concluded class: I didn't notice the pain of my stitches because I was fully concentrated on letting the lines flow.

Thank you, Robert, for sharing your enormous gifts. God continue to bless you more! And yes, anyone can draw.

Meanwhile, tada!!!

Tuldok the dinosaur

Patty the Pangolin. I failed to add the baby pangolin on its back because I had to go to the toilet mid-lesson.

Pablo Tariman, Joseph Uy, here we are all dressed for the audience-less opera veerus.

In praise of Bogart and his tiny shadow

Kuya Bogart

The boy on the left, a mini pinscher, is curious Bogart peeking out of our main gate on a sunny morning. He is the older brother to a pug named Bruno. Their surname is like mine: Lolarga.

I do believe that the pets we adopt or invite into our homes should also be considered family and be given humane (to mean human-like) treatment. Like us, they need to bathe, to eat, to drink, to take walks to clear their heads, to feel the warmth of the sun, to have their own "blankies" on cold, rainy nights.

My youngest sibling Gigi has shown by example that if you can't commit or love a pet fully to miss him/her enough when away on long trips, you are better off raising virtual pets in your cell phone or in your other social media platform.

I have a whole album of ponies, cats, kittens, baby elephants and their mommies, calves, chicks and hens, cubs and lionesses in my Pinterest account. By attending to them in this fashion, I am also saying I have my own form of fulfillment as the online master/mistress of these blessed beasts.

By whatever name you call it, it's a kind of loving. Good night, little boys!

The younger dawg who really lives up to his name and his looks: Bruno! Photos by Babeth Lolarga

Stud Service

My kid sister Gigi, Bruno's owner, was upset when my daughter Kimi described him in Facebook as "smooshed face." We love Bruno Lolarga dearly and want his breed to increase so if there are pug owners out there looking for a stud muffin, he's your guy. Guaranteed big balls!

Gone to the Dogs

Although I was originally a cat person (I had a cat named Omar after the Egyptian actor Omar Sharif), I’ve grown accustomed to the dogs in my two households—Bruno and Bogart in Pasig, Yao Ming in Baguio.

Yao is a mixed breed--has Japanese spitz blood but grew too big for a typical spitz’s size. He lived indoors with us as a puppy, but he now spends most of his time in a cage. I never liked the idea of his being locked up, but tell that to his master.

Bogart is a freaky mini pinscher. He has only one ball so he cannot reproduce. Bruno, on the other hand, has balls so big we can expect his line to continue.

I once asked Bruno’s owner, my sister Gigi, what trick her pet knows. She claimed her pug was the fastest eater in his category. So one mealtime, I counted slowly while he lapped up his food. It took him 20 seconds exactly to clean up his dog dish.

Yip-Yip-Yip

The CT Scan of my brain revealed an “ill-defined hypodense zone in the anterior limb and genu of the right external capsule as well as the right lentiform nucleus," in layman’s language, a mild stroke. The doctor said one possible side effect is short-term memory loss. Visiting me at the acute stroke unit of the Medical City, my brother Dennis quizzed me: When is my birthday? June 24, 1955 (check). What is the name of the pug at my mother’s house in Pasig? Bruno (check). He points to my youngest sister Gigi. How much money does she owe you? “Plenty,” I joked. That was typical poker-face Dennis humor.

Bruno has become the family baby. Like me, his weight is being watched. He is completely useless as a guard dog. He only barks thrice a day to remind us of his meal. My daughter Kimi came home late one evening, went to his cage and called out his name repeatedly. He didn’t stir, he continued sleeping and could be heard snoring. Now that Bruno and I are both on a strict diet, he feels starved and munches on leaves when taken for walks the way I munch Romaine lettuce leaves with a light vinaigrette dressing. I only have to frown and pucker my lips and we can pass for lookalikes. Photo taken at Bonifacio High Street by GIGI LOLARGA