Watching them grow

These days, our Not So Wee One Anymore, a.k.a. Kai, often refuses to smile for or look at the camera. "That is not polite," she says with an accompanying "Hmmmph!" And then she stomps her foot like a Baguio version of the Queen of Hearts, and I can almost hear her imaginary soldiers marching towards me to take off my head.

On my visits to Baguio, I like taking pictures of how my husband Rolly's garden, dedicated to our grandchild, is developing. Yes, developing like the person to whom it is being tended for. Scanning my files, I saw how they (Kai, Rolly and the once secret garden) have grown, too, in years. It's the spot of paradise we are proud of in our home where the grandpa can be found as soon as the sun is up, picking up dried leaves or snipping branches here and there with his pruning scissors or bare hands (careful there!). Grandchild offers to water the plants or just walk around, acting as my spotter and telling me what closeup pictures to take.

I'm posting these since we are approaching Earth Day which is observed worldwide on April 22. Gardens may be a luxury during this time of El Niño when farmers and their families are making their parched voices and grumbling stomachs heard, often to indifferent government officials. Now, don't get me started. I don't want to meander just yet to another subject as hot as the sweltering summer sun is.

Meanwhile, how green was our garden then. I used the past tense there with hopes that The Heavenly Gardener (Our Father in heaven) would send some refreshing rain soon.

Photos by Babeth Lolarga

The face of five

I have a writing coach, and she doesn't know it. Her name is Lorianne DiSabato. Although I am just an avid follower of her blog found in hoardedordinaries.wordpress.com, I can sense when her mood takes a dip like when she wrote in her latest piece what happens when she stays away from her journal too long. She feels "rusty when I return, having forgotten the route a feeble, circuitous thought takes from brain to hand then onto the page."

My life's circumstances force me to write in almost desperado fashion for a living, especially now with illness pervading in the room where I dwell in the lowlands. My other means of sustaining the freelance writing is trying to infect older children and teens with a love of and lust for the word. These have taken me away from this space where I like to chronicle, among other subjects, the growth of my grandchild.

Makeup time came early today as I reviewed the contents of my digicam and found these selfies taken by my now five-year-old Kai on her birth week. She may sue me for invasion of her privacy when she comes of age, but by then, I'll be past caring. Hey kid, this grandma still is in love with you. Friend Rita Ledesma likes to quote the author Anne Lindbergh who once said that grandchildren are the love affair of old age.

And mine is intense! Happy birth month, Tweetie Pie!

Daytime selfie

Our "fivester" at night with just the light of a lamp

This picture of Japanese fried rice taken at the Baguio Country Club's Hamada is my reminder to Kai the Not So Wee One Anymore to eat heartily.

Meet the foremost champion on radio–and now on cable TV–of Filipino classical music artists

Bert Robledo talking about his mission for Filipino classical music artists before his stroke. Those who would like to contribute to his medical fund can email his daughter Celine Robledo Fonacier for the bank details at celinefonacier@gmail.com or go to this site: https://www.generosity.com/medical-fundraising/medical-fund-for-bert-robledo

Meet the foremost champion on radio–and now on cable TV–of Filipino classical music artists

Making history at UP’s FC

When the university rebuilds what was lost, it would be wise to listen to the voices of its stalwarts, those who used to walk the corridors of FC with a scholar’s, and a child’s, curiosity. Remember them for making history, for fighting a worthwhile fight against a fascist state and for holding on to the good.

Read more: http://opinion.inquirer.net/94140/making-history-ups-fc#ixzz44tbBjhVW
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

Three sopranos who’re lovely in and out

The three women are the featured artists in the concert “Divas: The Beauty of the Soprano Voice” on April 9 at 7:30 p.m., at Ayala Museum in Makati City.
They go by the old definition of “diva,” which Wikipedia states as “a celebrated female singer; a woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera and by extension, in theater, cinema and popular music.”

Read more: http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/226068/three-sopranos-whore-lovely-in-and-out#ixzz44tcZWhHm
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

Anna Migallos

Renee Michaela Fajardo

Myramae Tapia Meneses

Our poster girl for reading

Soon April comes and she will. She'll be called Literature Month as stipulated by law. I recently happened upon my Mom, our family's convalescent, reading from her bed with such concentration that I was able to snap a stolen shot without her noticing. Her concentration reminds me of that quote attributed to actor Charlie Chaplin: "Nothing is permanent in this world, not even your troubles." So relax and curl up with a book. It's summertime after all when the reading is easy. Photo by Babeth Lolarga

Junic's pics

The eldest of my parents' boys is still in town. He has been a few weeks away from cold Calgary, Canada, and coping with Manila summer. He gets a good workout with his camera when he finds the time in between working from our home, keeping fit by taking walks or biking and doing his turn in looking after and cheering up our Mom.

This Easter he took some pictures of us, and I admire the results. Can't help but post them on this space. He captured not only the physical looks of his subject but their inner essence (do I dare write the word "beauty"?).

Thanks, Junic. Keep those snapshots clear and sharp.

Panfilo Cabiz is our big clan's all-round gardener, repairman, carpenter. When we were small, he and wife Teenie looked after us while our parents worked. Mang Cabiz, as we called him, is the type of man who'll get seriously sick if he's not doing hard, manual labor. Although his legs have formed open and close quote marks from years of carrying the weight of tree branches, twigs, etc., he, like Old Man River, just keeps rolling along. Keep him away from firewater, and he's fine and super efficient.

Bianca entered her teens last year. With it comes the adolescent phase's awkwardness. But we love her dearly because she laughs at our jokes. That makes me feel good. I feel I'm the soul of wit when she guffaws hard at an "eeewww" joke and exclaims, "Tita Babeth naman!" She can also be counted upon to play the piano for weddings and other occasions of celebration. Please book her through me.

They are the M & M's of our lives: Marga the mom and Machiko Skye, a.k.a. Max, the un-shy. Marga and I like to do collaborative work on my books, while Max and I are pen pals.

When the human children Jared Franco Susi, Max Susi and Kai Fernandez aren't visiting in Pasig, guess who's our baby? Not my youngest sister Gigi but her own baby, the mini but overweight pug Bruno Lolarga. He's got the papers to show he's a Lolarga, too.

I never look good in pictures which is one reason I prefer to be behind the camera shooting away. But this time, I asked Junic if I could pose by the mural of Corazon restaurant at Shangri-la Plaza Mall's East Wing. This is what I call my summer look--a dress that's cool on my body and sandals, courtesy of my daughter Kimi, on my feet. I'm even proud of my cane, symbol that I'm growing into crone-hood.

Photos by Junic Lolarga

Tulips on Easter

By this time, this beauty must have faded and died a temporary death. Temporary because God's faithful gardener, my husband Rolly Fernandez, makes sure the seed/bulb is stored in a cool place. Tulips in Baguio? Yes, thanks to the efforts of Marie Therese Jison of Mother's Garden up in Fairview, Quezon Hill, who shares the bulbs with friends who garden. She painstakingly instructs them on the care and growing of these beauties associated with The Netherlands. A glorious Easter indeed! Photos by Babeth Lolarga