Part 2: Practical Pest Control at Home

Frogs, such as this Green Pond Frog, are the most

common natural predators of pests in the field.

Abe V Rotor

Here are pest control techniques you can adopt at home.

1. To control furniture weevil and moths which destroy the felt and piano wood, place a teabag of well-dried and uncrushed black pepper in the piano chamber near the pedals. Paminta is a good repellant and has a pleasant smell.

2. Coconut trees whose shoots are destroyed by rhinoceros beetle (Oryctis rhinoceros) can be saved with ordinary sand. If the trees are low, sprinkle sand onto the leaf axils (angle between the leaf and axis from which it arises). Sand contains silica that penetrates the beetle’s conjunctiva, the soft part of the body where hard chitinous plates (hard outer membrane) are joined.

3. To control bean weevil (Callosobruchus maculatus), an insect that destroys stored beans, especially mungo, mix a little ash of rice hull (ipa’) and spread it in a way that sand kills the rhinoceros beetle.

4. To get rid of nematodes (microscopic elongated, cylindrical worms) in the soil, incorporate chopped or ground exoskeleton (skin) of shrimps into the soil, preferably mixing it with compost. Chitinase is formed which dissolves the cover of the egg and the body of the nematode. Use poultry dropping to reduce nematode population in farms and gardens.

5. To control the cucurbit (plants of the gourd family) fruit fly (Dacus cucurbitae), wrap the newly formed fruits of ampalaya and cucumber with paper bag. Bagging is also practiced on mango fruits. For ampalaya use newspaper (1/8 of the broadsheet) or used paper, bond size. Roll the paper into two inches in diameter and insert the young fruit, folding the top then stapling. Bagged fruits are clean, smooth and light green. Export quality mangoes were individually bagged on the tree.

6. To keep termites away from mud-plastered walls, incorporate termite soil (anthill or punso). To discourage goats from nibbling the trunk of trees, paint the base and trunk with manure slurry, preferably their own.

7. Raise ducks to eat snail pest (golden kuhol) on the farm. Chicken and birds are natural insect predators.

8. An extra large size mosquito net can be made into a mini greenhouse. Underneath, you can raise vegetables without spraying. You can conduct your own experiments such as studying the life cycle of butterflies.

9. Plants with repellant properties can be planted around the garden. Examples of these are lantana (Lantana camara), chrysanthemum, neem tree, eucalyptus, madre de cacao (Gliricida sepium), garlic, onions, and kinchai (Allium tuberosum).


10. To scare birds that compete for feeds in poultry houses, recycle old balls, plastic containers, styro and the like, by painting them with two large scary eyes (like those of owls). This is the reason why butterfly wings have “eyes” on them to scare away would-be predators. Hang these modern scarecrows in areas frequented by birds. To scare off birds in the field, dress up used mannequins. In some cases, the mannequin may be more effective than the T-scarecrow. Discarded cassette tape ribbon tied along the field borders scares maya and possibly other pests.

Continued...

Today's Environmental Revolution - 3 philosophies

Today's Environmental Revolution - 3 philosophies

Three philosophers have three formulas of an environmental revolution.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Rudolf Bahro, author of The Alternative, claims East Europe’s non-capitalist road to industrialization has been shaped by the same growth ideals and methods as has Western capitalism, and that the working classes of both West and East have the exploitation of nature and the Third World as common. Defending their own societies’ privileged positions on the world market, both camps add to global inequity. For which Bahro calls for a new social movement – the environmental movement, a grand coalition of people’s forces, a rebuilding of society from the bottom upwards.

Ivan Illich on the other hand, criticizes modern society and its failure to cater to human needs. He believes that the privileged today are not those who consume most but those who can escape the negative by-products of industrialization – people who can commute outside the rush hours, be born and die at home, cure themselves when ill, breathe fresh air, and build their own dwellings. People must arm themselves with the self-confidence and the means to run their own lives as far as possible, especially as big institutions like schooling, medical care and transport today are creating more problems than they solve. Politics is no longer a simple Left-Right choice; man must have a choice of energy, technology, education, etc., he calls vernacular values.

According to Andre Gorz the ecology struggle not as an end in itself but as essential part of the large struggle against capitalism and techno fascism. He champions a civil society shifting power from the State and political parties to local community and the web of social relations that individuals establish amongst themselves. The State’s role is to encourage self-management among the citizens. He envisions a Utopian future where “the citizens can do more for less,” and the development of a rich, all-round personality.

 ----------

André Gorz was the Theorist Who Predicted the Revolt Against Meaningless Work.  The COVID-19 pandemic led millions of people to question their meaningless jobs. French socialist thinker André Gorz anticipated this shift, sketching out a vision of a new civilization that would free us from the constraints of work. (Willy Gianinazzi)

------------
Definitely, while we need a revolution to save our environment, any means that is contrary to peace and unity, is definitely unacceptable. And we would not adhere to the rule of force or violence just to be able to succeed.

It is said, that revolution starts in a small corner. It could start in each of us.

x x x

Part 1: Humanities weaves a beautiful tapestry of humanity

Abercio V Rotor, PhD
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Dedicated to teachers and students of Humanities, a 3-unit subject in college.

Lesson: Humanities is like Janus, not because it has a happy face and a sad one at the opposite, but because students taking up the course are divided, in the same way our brain is divided into two. Well, perhaps there are those who are more inclined to the reasoning left, while others on the creative right. The ideal however, is a well-balanced use of both hemispheres, and a healthy tandem that brings a wholesome and holistic use of our faculties. Through humanities, we learn to use properly reason and imagination, logic and creativity - in fact, the eight realms of intelligence - in our everyday life, and in our pursuit of our ambitions and dreams.

Humanities as a subject and course focuses on four fields of art, namely, spatial (painting, sulpture, architecture, creative photography, literature ( prose and poetry), music and drama which are usually combined, together with the others, into what we call performing art. These, through their themes and applications are link to the various disciplines, from theology to natural science. In fact, humanities takes us to the highest plane of goodness and beauty and peace.

Monument of Fr. Miguel Benavides, founder of the University of Santo Tomas, now on its 400th year (quadicentennial). UST is well known for liberal arts, the precursor of all fields of knowledge.


“Son, what do you remember as the happiest moment in your life?” asked a dying old man on his deathbed.

“When we went fishing, dad, and caught fireflies on our way back to camp.”

The old man held the hand of his son tight, and smiled looking at him. “Thank you.” It was a parting sealed by the sweetest memory of life - childhood, love and nature

1. Humanities brings out the sense of awe and wonder

Humanities brings out the sense of awe and wonder, specially to the young, of the things around, of life processes and cycles, the passing of seasons and ages. It makes one aware of even the minute existence of things, the transformation of the ordinary into something beautiful.

Wonder the summer night, camping by a lake, home outside of home,
no walls, no roof but the sky, stars and fireflies mingle in the dark;
Wonder the breeze blow and weave through the trees, comb the grass,
carry into the sky kites of many colors flying under the rainbow’s arch.

“The sense of wonder is indestructible, that it would last throughout life, an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantment of later years.” Says Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring. It is true, the sense of wonder prepares the young to face the world and conquer it.

2. Humanities builds on the framework of truth and values

Fewer words set the mind to explore, giving way to imagination, over and beyond reason. Brevity is the framework of the mind, the heart and spirit in the Lord’s Prayer and the Gettysburg Address of America’s most loved president, Abraham Lincoln. It is a path to humility in greatness. It unites the classic and the contemporary.

If the story of the Creation can be told in 400 words, if the Ten Commandments contain 297 words, if Lincoln’s immortal Gettysburg Address was only 266 words, if an entire concept of freedom was set in the Declaration of Independence in about 1,300 words – it is up to some of us to use fewer words, and thus save the time energy, vitality, and nerves of those who must read or listen. (Jerome P Fleishman)

3. Humanities brings out the human spirit

Guernica, a plaza mural made by the greatest modern painter Pablo Picasso, ignited popular revolt against the Nazi regime. On his huge mural were cleverly embedded images that conveyed principles of truth and freedom, and secret call for action.

Similarly, in an earlier era, our own hero Juan Luna painted Spolarium, (centerpiece of the National Museum), a mural depicting the Filipinos under Spanish rule suffering like the gladiators during the Roman times, a visual message for the people to realize their plight. Later Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere, one of the greatest books ever written in the category of War and Peace by Tolstoy, and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, extolled the rise of a new world order – post-colonialism and the birth of new nations.

4. Humanities brings tranquility in crisis

It may be strange to know that Winston Churchill, the great English hero of WWII, still found time to paint by the bank of the Thames. Arts bring tranquility in times of crisis, and elevate the senses on a higher plane of vision. Putting down his brush and easel, he would then return to the battlefield with greater revolve to save Great Britain from the raging war. And to a greater surprise, what was it that Churchill painted? Peace.

It was the other way around five hundred years earlier when the great Michelangelo who single handedly painted the huge ceiling of the Sistine Chapel would descend from the scaffoldings, exchanged his paint brush with sword and fought side-by-side with his benefactor the Pope, and when victory was apparent would climb back to finish his masterpiece. The result: the biggest composite mural that virtually brought God down to earth with the angels and saints, making the Sistine Chapel a microcosm of the Kingdom of Heaven.

5. Humanities is guardian of movements and schools

From the paintings of early man in the Lascaux caves in France, to the surrealism of Salvador Dali, humanities has kept faithful to the evolution of human creativity expressed in various aspects of human life, pouring out from palaces and cathedrals to the villages and streets. For arts no longer belonged to selected societies and cultures. Impressionism took over Romanticism and translated Realism on the grassroots, subsequently bypassing standards of perception, and permeating into the unconscious seeking expression and catharsis. Expressionism founded by Vincent Van Gogh opened a wider door to abstractionism that subsequently spilled into post-modernism.

“What’s abstract? a young art enthusiast
once asked, dutifully I answered:
“When you look through the window of a car
running so fast that views are blurred.”

“What’s expressionism?” an elder one asked;
“When the car stops, or just about,
yet still running inside, seeking, searching
for the spring of life to pour out.”

“And what is impressionism?” a third asked,
and I said: It’s sitting on a fence -
On one side Amorsolo, the other Ocampo,
It’s the spirit of art past and hence. ~

Humanities is the universal language of goodness, beauty and peace. (AVR)

Continued...

Part 2: Humanities weaves a beautiful tapestry of humanity

Dr Abe V Rotor

“Humanities holds the greatest treasure of mankind." - AVR

"Humanities accompanies you through a valley of grandeur and beauty to a kingdom of no return - a singular experience in a lifetime." (AVR) Wall Mural, St Paul University QC

6. Humanities is guardian of change, of movements and schools
Propagandism and license are perhaps the greatest enemy of Humanities. The world was shattered by two global wars, and while recovering, laid in coma for half a century of cold war - the polarization into opposite ideologies that froze mankind at the brink of Armageddon. Humanities sought recourse through peace and understanding.

And as in the Renaissance, Humanities centered on rebirth and renewal of man’s faith in his destiny. Peace reigned the longest in contemporary times in spite of pockets of conflicts. And for a century or so Humanities blossomed into wide popularity and acclaim, and rich diversity which we know today, dominating media, commerce, industry and in practically all aspects of life, which often venture on the boundaries of humanities itself, through pornography, religious extrememism, aculturation, liberalism, among others.

7. Humanities is custodian and pioneer of the arts

Humanities gave the world the finest of human achievements and it continues to do so - timeless classics from novel to cinema, painting to photography, colonial design to high rise structures, stage play to TV and Internet show.

Man’s glory is akin to humanities - Venus de Milo, Taj Mahal, Borobodor, Eiffel Tower, Hallelujah, Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, The Little Prince. to name a few. Name the wonders of the world, and those in a longer list, and humanities is there. It is there in the crowning glory civilizations and cultures.

Humanities discovered superstars like Elvis Priestley and Michael Jackson, and our own local sensations, Leah Salonga and Charisse Pempengco. It uncovers the genius of man in the past, bringing it to life, spanning the gaps of knowledge and history.

8. Humanities faces challenge of the cyber age

But arts also plunged into a deep and unknown global pool bringing across the world cultures heretofore unknown and untested, and riding on postmodernism into the chartless world of cyberspace. Which leads us to a puzzle, Quo vadis, Humanus?

9. Humanities elevates man’s reverence for life and Nature

And yet humanities is anchored on a strong foundation, none other than the place of his birth and his ascension into Homo sapiens - Nature. Reverence to Nature is reverence for life, the highest expression of man through humanities. From this relationship he finds inspiration in his arts and technology, in seeking knowledge and wisdom, and in enhancing the unity and harmony of creation, and among mankind into a living network.

10. Humanities is the keeper of the network of humanitiy

We are the World, the song that united the world by the compassion it created for the dying is perhaps the greatest humanitarian movement in recent times, originally USA to Africa in the eighties, and was repeated during the Haiti disaster twenty years later. Translated by different races, beliefs, ideologies into a common call, it brought consciousness to the whole world, that humanity is a network, a closely knit fabric beautifully expressed in the lyrics of the song -

There comes a time
When we heed a certain call,
When the world must come together as one.
There are people dying
And it’s time to lend a hand to life,
The greatest gift of all

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me .

It is a most fitting tribute to mankind through this song, that no man is an island, that when somebody dies, a part inside each of us also dies, and for every man’s victory, we too, feel triumphant. Humanity is a beautiful tapestry, and Humanities is Arachne on the loom.~.

Humanities

- weaves a beautiful tapestry of humanity
- brings out the sense of awe and wonder
- builds on the framework of truth and values
- brings out the human spirit
- brings tranquility in crisis
- is guardian of movements and schools
- aims at goodness and peace
- is custodian and pioneer of the arts
- faces challenge of the cyber age
- elevates man’s reverence for life and Nature
- is the keeper of the network of humanitiy ~

Miscellaneous Tips for Simple and Happy Living (Part 2, please open preceding post)

Dr Abe V Rotor

Bonus Assignment: UST CA217 - Communication and Socio-cultural Change
List down on a bond paper more Practical Home Tips.

1. Water, water everywhere. Recycle water, save the second washing in laundry, and from dishwashing for use in general cleaning.

2. Don’t throw away empty tube of toothpaste. Cut it open lengthwise and glean. Good for hand wash, removes fish and meat odor and tough dirt.

3. Recycle soap cake into liquid soap. Scrape or shred , dissolve with just enough water as liquid soap. Filter and refill empty dispensers. You may add scent of orange or lemon grass (tanglad).

4. Harvest rainwater and store it in garden ponds (with fish), large bins and earthen jars, with cover to prevent mosquitoes from breeding. Limit domestic use due to possibility of acid rain contamination.

5. Cut you finger and it’s bleeding? Raise hand above heart level while attending to it. Keep this position steady until bleeding stops. Immediately seek medical treatment for serious cases.

6. You feel you can’t hold it any longer. You are about to sneeze and you are in a conference. Press the base of your nose; hold it there until urge subsides. Find excuse to leave and relieve yourself somewhere.7. Pencil stub is still useful; roll paper over it to extend its length. Secure end with square knot. You may add décor.

8.. In the absence of a cutter, moisten folded edge of paper you want to cut with your tongue. Divide paper slowly. Warning: Print in paper contains pigments and lead which is not good to health. Alternative: Fold back and forth, creasing the folded edge every time, then slowly divide.

9. Be aware of reverse screws and knobs. You find them in bicycles, electric fans, propellers, sewing machines. Inadvertently turning clockwise - which is the standard – will result to irreparable loose thread. Read instructions carefully.

10. Recycle writing materials:
a. Notebooks with unused pages.
b. Other side of used bond papers.
c. Replace spent ballpens with new fillers. Take with you samples.
d. Small notes and reminder slips, save blank spaces of used papers.
e. Papers which can't be recycled for writing can be used for wrapping and similar purposes.
Just avoid waste.

Why don't you contribute to this list and share your ideas and experiences with our viewers, and listeners in School-on-air?

Mayon Volcano and Cagsawa Belfry Ruin

Abe V. Rotor


Mayon Volcano and the ruins of Cagsawa Church Belfry, Albay
The church remains buried with the reamains of the faithful
who sought refuge from a violent eruption in the 18th century
when the Philippines was then a colony of Spain. Photo taken
by the author in 1978

Tranquility reigns on her face, rage in her breast,
If beauty exudes best from a spring of force,
I do not wonder at the shyness of a crest,
And the power of a single rose.

Light from the Old Arch, AVR

Trivia: Jumping Salad is Live Shrimp

Abe V Rotor

There were five callers on Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid who got the correct answer. Except one who said he learned about this rare dish from a friend, the callers apparently Ilocanos, said they have actually tasted jumping salad.

This dish is prepared from newly caught small to medium shrimps from the estuaries and rivers, and while they are still very much alive, are served right there and then with calamansi and salt, momentarily agitating the fated creatures. Pronto! The shrimps, on removing the plate cover, frantically jump out of the plate, save the dazed one. You should be skillful in catching them from the table (and even on the floor) deftly picking them by the head, taking caution so as not to get hurt by their sharp rostrum. You can imagine the danger you face as the creature makes its last attempt to escape. You must get a firm hold before putting the struggling creature into your mouth, tail first and quickly bite off the head, severing the sharp dagger in your hold. The creature wriggles in the cave of your mouth and you can actually feel its convulsion fading as it undergoes the initial process of digestion.

This exotic menu is getting rare unless you are living near the sea, river or lake - or a good friend brings live shrimps to town in banana stalk container to keep the shrimps alive. Being an Ilocano myself, eating jumping salad is an adventure. Try it; it’s one for the Book of Guinness Record.

x x x

Fallacy of Greatness

Abe V Rotor

Portrait in mosaic of Alexander the Great

Oh, Oracle of Delphi, what secret has the gods and godesses
Revealed to Alexander that made him conqueror and immortal?
Empires rose and fell before him, from West to East and beyond;
Beauty he sought, beauty herself he destroyed at her portal?

In Egypt, the pharoah kissed his feet - isn't a pharoah a living god?
In Babylon , the seat of power of the world crowned him twice,
Where the Hanging Gardens once stood, where palaces then stood,
Glistening in the sun - the sun in a kings's hand to set and rise.

What genius has Gordius? His legendary knot untied in a flash,
A blink, a slash with Damascus sword, laying down trivial matter
On the road to conquest - so with dissenting friends and old allies,
But not Bucephalus, his faithful horse, a town he named it after.

Who is great, the invader or the vanquished? History never asks;
He who holds the Flag and the Pen, more so the Cross and the Sword,
It's the master not the slave, the pioneer not the native, the victor,
The spoils that cloak him gold, who forges the right word.

"Have we done you wrong?" the Indian prince asked the invader.
Only clash of steel and moan of the dying answered - then the crow.
Tribe after tribe, they all fell - reason to unify them into state.
What is a state, when the law of amalgamation is death row by row?

Aristotle, Alexander's teacher must have been wrong - or wronged,
When he advised the youth, "It's easier to make war than to make peace."
But advice is later laid to rest when gold and power rouse mortals
To dream beyond dreams - what could be that life the gods please?

The world is confused, the world cries foul, it weeps but forgets,
Time is the healer and the equalizer, the unifier of good and evil;
Darius and Alexander - both are great, but neither keeps the right,
For the world in gaining knowledge, after all, is the winner still.

Folly we all are, and if rationality were measured by equation, then
It is not far from biology and the gene of the lesser kind, and the same
Fallen angels, exiles of Paradise for knowing the truth of man's being;
Yet no one of us would admit it is better to be ignorant and tame.

There is always an Alexander in our midst, a Darius who ruled longer
A richer and wider world before, and Xerxes after them, and men
At their command, or in Maslow's heirarchy find ourselves who we are;
Heroes we all are, striving in a real world whose end is beyond Amen. ~

The Edge of the Forest, AVR 2011

Ten Verses by a Pond

Dr. Abe V. Rotor

Nymphaea lilies crowd a receding pond, detail of mural, AVR 2010

1. Cheered with praises aflame,
Grieved by the slightest blame.

2. Stone grows in age in a cave or on some peak;
Clear is its message even if it can’t speak.

3. The Pyramids – a triumph in architecture,
But not without the genius of nature.

4. Who grows two measures where there was one,
Is a pride of mankind, a model son,

5. Childhood is ephemeral like a dream;
As if only yesterday as it may seem.

6. A star shines wherever a seed is sown,
Shining best when it is lovely grown.

7. I watched a dove passing by, its song I heard;
It dropped a feather like a flag unfurled.

8. Kindness, however so small,
Is never, never wasted at all.

9. Unless cut and polished, a stone is stone,
Like a gene lying deep, unknown, alone,

10. John Milton in his blindness saw the world,
wrote Paradise Regained and wasn't alone.

Success in family life is key to happiness, unity and peace.

 Success in family life is key to happiness, 

unity and peace.

Former title: Married Life is a Gift

Success in family life is primordial. Between career and family, many people have chosen the latter, and say with a sigh, “Well, you cannot have the best of two worlds.” And they choose family.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Rotor-Sta Maria-Mendoza-Viray family in a re-union

Married life is perhaps the greatest challenge. For us who are married, truly it is most difficult to know and say, “Yes, I have a successful married life.” 

 
- On getting married and your friends come around, and you tell to the whole world, “Here is the person I will always love.”

- On having your first child and see the image of both of you and your spouse, you say, “Look he got my eyes, and chin of his papa.”

- On having a second or third child and the economy has not improved, you say, “I haven’t any increase in pay since last year.”

- On driving the kids to school, and then attend to chores, you say, “It’s like a storm had left all things out of their places.”

- On having your in-laws around and other relatives coming for weekends, then you realize you have an extended family.

- On leaving your present job (or his) and start anew, you say, “Tighten your belts.” Even so, your family is as happy as before.

- On having a home of your own - ” Home, Sweet Home!” It has a home garden, pets, playground, a farm.

- On having family disagreements, you say, “Well, if everything is yes, maybe only one is thinking.”

- On winning an award, and say, “I owe this thing to all of you, to our family.”

- On going to other places and call up, “I’ll be home for Christmas.” It is only autumn though.

- You find time to celebrate life with your loved ones, your friends, your ninong and ninang, the members of your community – and particularly with those who have lesser in life.

- On experiencing a tragedy in the family, and find a shoulder to lean on, “Well, everyone loses a loved one at one time or the other.” And you wish the departed to find eternal happiness.

- On discovering a life threatening illness and you realize how each day passes with greater meaning and resolve, “Each day is a bonus.”

- On surviving and your hair is now gray, and the children have learned to live on their own. It’s about time they build their own families and follow their chosen profession or vocation.

- On receiving an award your children earned, and this time a sweet voice says, “This is for you, papa, mama.” A drop of tear rolls on your wrinkled face. Words are not enough.

- On being alone together, once more. The children have left, their visits become less and less frequent. It is like second honeymoon under the waning moon in the golden years of life.

- On having grandchildren. “You little one you got my nose, and chin of your grandfather’s.” “And you little one ... what’s your name, again? “

- Success in married life - yes, it is the greatest success a man or woman can achieve. It is this kind of success that makes the world go round. It is the very foundation of a family and therefore of human society.

- It is a kind of success no one is denied to aspire for, irrespective of race, creed, education, or culture. Yet it is one many people failed to achieve in spite of their wealth and power.

- Success in family life is primordial. Between career and family, many people have chosen the latter, and say with a sigh, “Well, you cannot have the best of two worlds.” And they choose family.

- Success is not always equated with money or power. But it is always associated with happiness. A philosopher once said, “Happiness is the only commodity, which if you divide it, will multiply.”

- Family life to be successful does not depend on one formula though. It thrives on new frontiers. There are always new things to discover. It is the discovery itself that is important, that makes it original and unique. And it must be always mutual. Joy to one is joy to the other.

- Success cannot be kept in a treasure box and locked. They say, “You cannot rest on your laurels.” Trophies are just symbols; they are not an end.

- Success in married life is neither abstract, nor merely spiritual. It is real. It is to be shared. It must be contagious. Let it be expressed with the children. It must be felt and celebrated in one way or the other without ostentatious show.

- It must be exemplified. It must strive to be a model. It should be able to pass as a paradigm of not only what life really is – but what it should be. “Life is the most difficult art, yet it is the finest.”

-Success in married life has an imprimatur. It leaves a mark. It shines on our epitaph after we are gone, and makes the flowers around it bloom to the fullest.

- Trials are not enough to weather success. Yes, to a courageous person, when asked, “Were you not afraid?” He simply said, “I was afraid, but I did the brave thing.” He picked up the pieces together and his family is once more solid and whole.

- Truly married life is a singular gift, it is a God given power to procreate, to bring forth new life, to enhance the perpetuation of humanity.

- As you switch on the vigil light and retire in the night, we are one happy family looking forward for the next day. For indeed, success must be lived with - day after day, season after season, year after year.

- At the end, we - all of us - come to submit our credentials to the One who made us all, Who gave us that star that guides our life, Who welcomes us at His throne when we shall then have reached it. ~

----------------------------------------------------------
When I was requested to give a message in 2002 to the newlyweds – Mac and Anna - I said to myself. “Gosh, I should know I am really that successful in my married life.” For whatever Cecille and I have done so far – through thick and thin - I know our family has always been together – on the stage, on camping trips, painting exhibits, on visitation of the tombs of our departed loved ones, in the church, around the sickbed, on lectures, in the mall, on the farm, on rosary hour. Seldom have we found ourselves lost when encountering the four “Ws” and one “H” – the very things that make life complex and uncertain. It is because my family is always together to answer these questions. Life is worth living for. (Anna Christina is the daughter of the author and Cecille, married to Mac Sta. Maria. They are presently living in Australia with their two children, Mackie and Markus.)

--------------------------------------

 Our Family at our ancestral home in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

Asked what the great British Prime Minister and hero, Winston Churchill wanted if he were to be born again. He said with twinkle in his eyes looking at Mrs. Churchill. “I’d like to be Mrs. Churchill’s next husband.”

Taming the Clouds

Abe V Rotor




















Giant mushrooms rise with the breeze,
The clouds in Lilliput they make,
Dwarfing the bows of acacia trees
Lining and leaning on the lake.

Many faces I see, angels and beasts
In changing shapes with the sun,
Doves and eagles flying to their nests
In fleeting moments are gone.

The clouds fall into ripples, the images
Break the mirror of Narcissus
Into one thousand and one faces,
Fragments of memories sans cause.

And the clouds angry as they pass by,
Submit their fate to rainbow's shawl
Over the hills and beyond, and I –
I found a Gulliver in my soul. ~

How safe is the food we eat?

How safe is the food we eat? 

Dr. Abe V. Rotor

Kalabasang ukoy (squash, shrimp, egg and flour)
home recipe for breakfast and snack

Tupig wrapped with banana leaves (coconut meat anf milk,
glutinous rice and red sugar) cooked on charcoal

1. Return to Nature. “Go Organic.”
A. How do you gauge food to be natural?
1. Fresh and served promptly.
2. Not genetically modified (GMO)
3. No pesticide residues
4. Safe from pest and disease organisms
5. No toxic metals (Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, others)
6. Organic fertilizer used, instead of synthetic fertilizer like Urea, 12-24-12, etc)
7. No harmful preservatives (nitrates, CO2 gas, N gas)
8. No MSG, artificial coloring (jubos)
9. Balanced nutrients,
10. Proper combination of ingredients.

B. Is it safe to take fat-free fat (olestra), sugarless sugar (aspartame, splenda),. coffeeless coffee (decaffeinated), synthetic multi-vitamins, distilled water?
It is better to use their natural forms or products.

C. Do you consider naturally processed products as organic? Yes, It depends on how they are processed though.
1. Bihon fron rice
2. Sotanhon from mungo
3. Noodles, pasta, spaghetti, macaroni from wheat
4. Taho, tokwa, vegemeat/TVP from soya bean

D. Are native varieties of crops and breeds of animals safer to eat?
Generally yes.
1. They need less attention and input to produce, thus they do not carry residues of antibiotics, pesticides, synthetic fertilizers - which make food harmful.
2. Warning on stray animals and wildlife species - they may be carriers of diseases.
3. Warning on allergy-causing and or poisonous plants, including mushrooms.

E. Why is Integrated Pest Management (IPM) internationally recognized as the best approached in controlling pests and diseases?
IPM is backed up by Research, Training and Extension. It follows a strict regimen to protect health and the environment, in the following sequence.
1. Proper land use (Crop is tailored to the land, not vice versa)
2. Community effort, social infrastructure. Cooperation on three levels: Governmental Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations, Community Organizations.
3. Genetic resistance is primordial.
4. Biological control (Use of natural enemies of the pest)
5. Cultural practices (agronomic and horticultural)
6. Chemical Control as last resort. (botanical, carbamate, chlorinated hydrocarbon, organophosphate, systemic) Chemical groups mentioned are in the order increasing toxicity.

F. Should we prefer native recipes over foreign ones? Yes, although we can adapt those that fit into, or compatible with, ours (Chinese recipes, for example). Native recipes have the following advantages.
1. Ingredients used are naturally grown, available locally.
2. Tastier and more nutritious
3. Cheaper in cost
4. Aesthetics of culinary art , cultural pride
5. Promote cooking at home and family bonding
6. Support local producers and entrepreneurs.
7. Integrated with home gardening and local production
8. Healthier
9. Environment-friendly
10. Business potential

G. Some people say home gardening is not practical?
Why not? Even if you are living in the urban area. You do not have to produce everything you need in the kitchen. Choose only those that are practical to grow. Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid conducts lessons on Home Gardening on three levels, namely

* Garden in “pots” for urban
* Backyard gardening for home lots
* Golden Years Homesite (500 m)

H. What other areas are people becoming more conscious about natural products?
1. Natural ventilation of homes and dwellings
2. Non-allergenic or hypoallergenic materials (pillows, bed sheets)
3. Natural fibers (cotton, silk instead of rayon), leather shoes,
wood instead of plastic).
4. Waxed paper, paper bags; grill instead of microwave
5. Firewood cooking

2. Health and Longevity Consciousness

A. Can we combine herbal and alternative medicine on one hand, and modern medicine, on the other? Yes, refer to Dr. Victoriano Y. Lim’s new book Introduction to CAM (Complimentary and Alternative Medicine) UST Publishing House, National Book Store,). There are many books to support this approach.
1. Second opinion may come from non-doctors, including an herbal expert (herbolario)
2. Take it from the Chinese, also other Oriental medical practices and home remedies
3. Practical References: Where there is no doctor and Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by Dr. Eduardo Quisumbing, books on pharmacology.

B. Do vegetarians live healthier and longer?
Generally medical science says it is true. There is another school of thought .
1. Plants product may not supply all the nutrients, minerals and vitamins the body needs.
2. There is a certain formula based on age-weight-life style that ensures good health and longer life – it’s not really being slim or trim. The body needs food reserve, buffer supply in normal and abnormal times.
3. Where vegetation is scanty, people depend of animal products, and do live as long as vegetarians do.
4. Human teeth is evidence that we evolved from vegetarian to omnivorous, which must have insured our evolutionary success (Darwinian).
5. Vegetarians may not necessarily save money by not eating meat.
6. Vegetarians and meat-eaters suffer different ailment – as well as common ailments.
7. Progressive societies depend largely on animal products; less developed ones on plant products – a law of economics, other than cultural differences. Grain to animal protein conversion ratio is poor - 16:1 for beef, 7:1 pork, 4:1 chicken.

C. What is the best way to reduce? Diet and exercise.
1. Diet with doctor's advice. Extreme caution on other means.
2. Liposuction is dangerous. Stem Cells are destroyed, so with the natural capacity of the body to produce Stem Cells which are necessary in replenishing aging and damaged cells of the body.
3.Gym work and exercising equipment are expensive and not practical.
4. A combination of exercise, hobby and work is best. Be output-oriented.

D. How about grooming?
You mean personality development. A natural way is to have a happy disposition, positive outlook, and clean living, rolled in one. Minimize cosmetic grooming.

D. What are the main causes of death in modern society?
1. Accidents
2. Physiologic diseases – heart attack, stroke
3. Epidemics – flu, malaria, TB, dengue, SARS, HIV-AIDS
4. Personality complications of diseases of the nervous system.
5. Traditional diseases - tuberculosis, infection, diarrhea, etc.

E. How can we enhance longevity? Can we plan to live longer?
1. "It is in the genes." (Trace your family tree)
2. Special care for special children
3. Geriatrics forthe golden years.
4. Avoid Viagra, fertility and memory enhancers, stimulants and depressants, etc)
5. Monitor your lifestyle. Alzheimer’s, diabetics, heart attack, stroke, kidney and diseases, are physiologic diseases of modern living.
6. Don't smoke, avoid heavy drinking.
7. Don't retire, but have leisure and good rest.

x x x

Empty Images - are they?

Photos and Verses by Abe V Rotor

Reality and fantasy - hardly we can tell
with a third eye to see or cast a spell.

We speak of unity and might to touch the sky together;
A tree in majestic height will disappear forever.

History bears truth and fancy,
but we love more its fantasy.

Don’t be afraid, bloom, oh flowers,
the walk shall not be the same again;
when the rainbow brings showers,
your beauty shall not die in vain.

Drip, drip, drip may be music to the meek;
but not behind prison walls and to the sick.

Here on this patch of Eden, world of fairies seven;
a shade of a lost garden, a little corner of heaven.

Memories you'll cherish in the morning
of the path you took through life,
and in the night you missed the stars,
and left the world still in strife.

x x x

Don't Cut the Trees, Don't

Dr Abe V Rotor

Calaruega, Alfonso, Cavite

Don't cut the trees, don’t.
Make a stairway across;
Save the clouds that fill the font,
We have had enough, the Cross. ~

Don't miss these wonderful home recipes - okoy, tamales, mushroom barbecue

Don't miss these wonderful home recipes - okoy, tamales, mushroom barbecue
Dr Abe V Rotor
 
Squash Okoy [grated squash, small shrimp or anchovies (dilis), egg and flour]

Tofu-mushroom barbecue (with bell pepper, optional pork, toyo)

Tamales (tawilis fish wrapped with mango leaves, add salt, vinegar, garlic and ginger)

These are examples easy-to-prepare recipes. Advantages: low cost (50% savings), natural and fresh, locally available ingredients, nutritious and balanced, avoidance of artificial ingredients like MSG, Aspartame, carbonate, bromate, sulfite, aflatoxin, low cholesterol, low fat, planned serving, free of possible pathogens, vermin and toxic metals. Other than gustatory delight cooking and eating at home is family bonding. (Photos by AV Rotor)

Turkey Fish - Impressionistic painting

Abe V Rotor
Glass painting reflects impressionism which started in France by Paul Cezanne in the late 18th century from which subsequent movements were founded - expressionism by Vincent Van Gogh, and later abstractionism in which Picasso later excelled. This experimental painting involves both mediums of acrylic and oil painted on glass, with nature and environment as subject. Turkey fish is a dainty and colorful benthic dweller among coral reefs. It got its name from its numerous floating fins arranged like the feathers of the male turkey during courtship.


"What's abstract? a young art enthusiast
once asked, dutifully I answered:
When you look through the window of a car
running so fast that views are blurred.

"What's expressionism?" an elder one asked;
When the car stops, or just about,
yet running still inside seeking, searching
For the spring of life to pour out.

"And what is impressionism?" a third asked,
And I said: It's sitting on a fence -
On one side Amorsolo, the other Ocampo,
It's the spirit of the past and hence. ~

Where have all the eagles gone?

 

  Endangered living symbol, Philippine Eagle, formerly, Monkey Eating Eagle, is one of the biggest eagles in the world. Photograph by Matthew Marlo R. Rotor, Canon EOS 135, Sigma 70-300 mm 2009 Lord of the sky, king among the feathered, fly over land and sea and sky All day long from dawn to dusk over mountains high, in majestic victorious cry; Envy of migrating birds wave after wave passing by, so with the Monarch butterfly; That was before - then the forests touching the sky, But now people just look up and sigh. ~

Enigmatic Friendly Bat

Abe V RotorThis is a closeup of a fruit-eating bat, Ptenochirus jagorii Peters or paniki. Bats fascinates man, mostly leading to fear and superstition. And lately to cinematic awe and admiration - batman.

This fruit bat was ensnared with aerial nylon net which was set up by biology researchers from the UST Graduate School to study the fauna of Tikob Lake, a volcanic lake in Tiaong, Quezon. It was later released after the study.

Bats are nocturnal. They have a special radar tool to find their way and search their prey in total darkness. It is called echolocation. Their high pitch sound is echoed and instantly deciphered by the animals' keen sense of hearing.

Ever wonder what good are the eyes of bats then? It's a question biologists would refer you to the subject of evolution. Evolution may lead to either the development of certain features as tool in the survival of a species. Or it could lead to the degeneration of a particular feature which apparently has diminishing function - or has totally lost that function. Thus the eyes of bats are no longer as functional as say, ours. Many species of fish living in dark caves have lost their power of vision. Nature's law of substitution or compensation works in these cases. Cave bats can devour hundreds of mosquitoes in mid air in just one minute. Insects have antennae that serve to feel and smell, and as thermometer and barometer.

Fruit bats are hunted down because they destroy crops. This is not really true, because they eat mostly fruits of wild plants. The worst assault comes from the destruction of the bats natural habitats, mainly the forests which are being cut down and burned. Fruit bats indeed face a bleak future.

Ugliest and misunderstood the bat,
Always the hunted on film and real;
Obiquitous by night, shy to light
Enigmatic, scary, surreal.

We children, didn't sleep alone or soon.
Waiting for the high pitch call,
We would dive under our blankets
And survive the vampire's call.

Imagination scares the young
When clumsy bats lose their load
In the dark and break the quiet night;
"Just bats," soothingly we were told.

"Sleep, before dawn we'll catch them."
Net in the air we waited the rise of sun;
One, two, three bats of different kind,
And examined them one by one.

"Who is afraid of the bat?" Not I,
And touched the wings of skin bare;
Not I, and outlined the bat's dog face;
Not I, and freed it from its snare.

Photo by Abe V Rotor, Pentax Spotmatic II, Takumar lens.

Retreat behind bars

Photo by Dr Abe V Rotor, Manresa Retreat House, Banaue St., QC , Sony Cybershot 1080 7.2 mega pixels
 In retreat I'm prisoner in strife,
To stay here and pray,
Sans freedom lost for cloistered life,
To God to take me away.

The shadow of faith in prison bars,
The holy cross I adore;
There's no escape now but the stars,
To gaze and nothing more.

Time longs for the pendulum to stop,
Or hasten for pain to flee;
But I'm obedient to some mountain top,
Where I'm promised to be. ~