Just a stray?

Stray cat being admired by a homeowner who may be allergic to it. Photo by Junic Lolarga

how can you be stray

when you've walked this old planet

ahead of this girl?

- Babeth Lolarga
July 19, 2015

Youngest food Instagrammer in Northern Philippines

"Apart from the known and the unknown, what else is there?" - Harold Pinter

So do I proceed to jump into and explore the unknown and realize more strengths or weaknesses in myself? Or do I stay put, keep still in what's popularly known as one's "comfort zone", the known? Either way, I will be taking risks.

I like risky ventures.

But certain times I also like the balance provided by the known on days when I'm alone and sick to my stomach in the house in the lowlands. Nothing supplies that balancing factor better than this photo shared by my oldest daughter Kimi. It's The Wee One playing food Instagrammer on one of the family's eat-out days.

Hello Kai, formerly Butones. Your Booboo is zipping back to your loving arms in a few more days. Hurry Thursday! I need Kai's sunshine in my life again!

Who else but a mother can take the cutest photo of her child? All because Kai's Mamay is the most familiar with the face's structure and best angles. Photo by Kimi Fernandez

Sharing our sun

I don't know now which came first: the old Rod Mckuen song that had been playing in my head for sometime or the bright afternoon of yesterday, no fog, no threat of rain. It only meant there was a great chance of catching a sunset from The Wee One's and my favorite point somewhere in Baguio. By 5:15 we were clambering up the steps to get to that special place.

We caught it, and how we did! Just as the weather person predicted, it set at 5:39 p.m.

Now we share our sunset along with the lyrics of "I'll Catch the Sun" by McKuen. This I first heard in college, and it never quite left me. I know how schmaltzy-waltzy it sounds now, but I still like listening to it, singing it and will have it playing again when I get to that sleep-inducing non-activity of tallying all the sunsets that went noticed and unnoticed, admired and taken for granted in my life.

Photos by Babeth Lolarga

I’ll catch the sun
And never give it back again
I’ll catch the sun
And keep it for my own.

And in a world where no one understands
I’ll take my outstretched hand
And offer it to anyone
Who comes along and tells me
He’s in need of love
In need of hope
Or maybe just a friend.

Perhaps, in time
I’ll even share my sun
With that new anyone
To whom I gave my hand.

(I’ll catch the sun
And never give it back again
I’ll catch the sun
And keep it for my own)

Perhaps, in time
I’ll even share my sun
With that new anyone
To whom I gave my hand.

September morning of our lives

Another holiday, this time because it's Baguio Day. You can imagine how skippy happy The Wee One is with another full day ahead of her, all her own. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

Here's a song that I hope she also grows into. I'm teaching her the spiritual "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", and she enjoys watching on YouTube the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's versions.

Maybe when she's a little bigger. My Dad used to sing this when it was being played on the radio as he drove his car. Neil Diamond's "September Morn" remains one of the songs that I associate with him.

Some excerpts:

Stay for just a while
Stay and let me look at you
It's been so long, I hardly knew you
Standing in the door

Stay with me a while
I only wanna talk to you
We've traveled halfway 'round the world
To find ourselves again

September morn
We danced until the night
Became a brand new day
Two lovers playing scenes
From some romantic play
September morning
Still can make me feel that way

Look at what you've done
Why, you've become a grown-up girl
I still can hear you crying
In a corner of your room
And look how far we've come
So far from where we used to be
But not so far that we've forgotten
How it was before...