A touch of awe and pity

Any time this leaning tree will give in. Countdown has
started some years ago. Fairview, QC

The Mourning Tree, ADMU-QC

Euphorbia breaks through on old window of a dilapidated
structure. Sta Lucia, Ilocos Sur

Home, Sweet Home with Nature, AVR

I am a waterfall - a drawing exercise

Waterfall mural, AVR 2009

Abe V Rotor

How do you see yourself as a waterfall?

This exercise leads us to differentiate reality from imagination. Second, how can we combine reality and idealism to express ourselves?

Here is a drawing exercise suitable to both young and old, class or workshop.

As a participant draw a waterfall from your own experience and imagination. You have ten minutes to finish it on a one-fourth bond paper using pencil or pen.

A background music is provided while you work. Nature’s sound: water cascading or flowing accompanied by songs of birds and other creatures, and occasional breeze. The theme of a song is Somewhere Over a Rainbow. Other appropriate pieces are The Blue Danube and Flow Gently Sweet Afton.

If you are ready to start the exercise, at this juncture, please pause.

You will come to know the basis of judging your work after you are through. It takes some twenty minutes to finish.


NOTE: Do not read these criteria until you have completed your drawing.

Exchange your paper with your seatmate's. The instructor will now guide you in checking the papers with the criteria below. Use a scale of 1 to 10, starting with 1=Very Poor to 5=Average, and to 10=Outstanding. It's now your discretion to grade the paper given you.

1. Height of the waterfall
2. Fullness of its water
3. Lushness of its watershed
   
4. Abundance of its source, river or lake
5. Force and power of the fall
6. Strength and firmness of the rock face
   
7. Downstream flow and direction
8. Creatures in their natural habitat
9. No wasteland, no space left out
   
10. Naturalness and artistic presentation
    

Add the points obtained from each of the 10 factors. The perfect score is 100. Return paper to the owner.

The second part of the exercise is sharing. What is the significance of this exercise? How does it relate to life?

Relate each criterion with your personal life, your dealings with people, Nature, and the Creator. This takes about half an hour or so.

This exercise leads you to know yourself better - your strength and weakness - and most important - your potentials. ~

Home, Sweet Home with Nature, AVR

Cat on an Icon's Lap

Abe V Rotor

St Paul University QC

You found a home and a companion you seek,
While your kind in the wild still roam free;
You surrendered to a life idle and meek,
Sans honor to bequeath to your progeny.

Living with Nature 3, AVR

Cooking with Puso ng Saging

Abe V Rotor

Most popular puso ng saging comes from saba variety.

Banana blossom is a favorite culinary ingredient of many recipes distinctly Filipino. Here is a short list.

1. It is a must in kari-kari (ox tail) - fresh or dried.
2. Try ginatang puso ng saging, best with dried fish (pindang Ilk).
3. Pickled - select the succulent and cartilaginous inner part.
4. Fresh - get the heartmost part.
5. Bulanglang or diningding, best with saluyot and hipon (small shrimp) or broiled bangus or tilapia.
6. Pata or pork adobo with dried puso ng saging.
7. Hamburger extender. Shred and mash in fresh water to reduce acridity (pakla). Mix with ground beef and flour at desired proportion.
8. Torta with egg.
9. Pesang dalag, with puso ng saging in chunk.
10. Salad, succulent part in natural vinegar, dash of salt, and bell pepper.

NOTE: Puso ng saging is grown commercially with the botolan (balayang Ilk) or seeded variety. The whole bunch is harvested upon emergence without allowing the fruits to form, whereas the heart of saba variety is harvested after the fruit bunch has gained desired size. Early harvesting of the heart results in undersized fingers. The heart of cavendish (bongolan or tumok Ilk) variety is not edible. Watch out for unscrupulous vendors. Other varieties yield smaller hearts but nonetheless edible.

Home, Sweet Home with Nature, AVR

Through the Mist of Time

Painting and Verse by Abe V Rotor

Through the mist we see children
Years back with many years lost;
Yet much is gained in memory
That holds the stories untold.

Who is fishing there? Ahoy!
Only the tingling chime answers;
The childhood in us throbs, throbs
With the sweet music of time.~

Comment:
I have read it and it made me think of my memories in the past, especially my childhood days, It is said that there
there are many things left in the past, but all of it has millions of memories that we would treasure a lifetime.

Being a child is enjoyable but no one will remain a child, it will just be a memory.
Chiara Alyssa Cochico

Living with Nature in Our Times, UST-AVR

Poetry: Footbridge

Footbridge AVR 1998

Abe V Rotor

1. I walked the bridge to its far end and beyond,
And down the river to the sea I cast my pole.
It was a fight I fought, it was no longer game,
And it was neither fish nor dream I caught.

2. 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.

3. I touched the towering figure and I was touched,
Transported to Gulliver’s land for a moment;
To meet the maker, a simple man from the hills,
Unschooled, yet his burin sings the glory of Greece.

4. Pygmies make giants, for the little man dreams what he misses.
Humble is he, painstakingly working on his stead,
Until a Genie rises from his hands, mirror of a great soul.
Lo, a pupil I am, doubting my skill, my goal.

5. Many years ago you had another name -
Gleaners, and work was also game.
Now it’s all work and the art of the vulture,
And those with fangs and ugly mane.
But if none is waste and waste is useful -
Would your breed thrive just the same?

Don't Cut the Trees, Don't - UST-AVR

Oriental Tapestry

Tapestry murals of romantic landscape with
tropical setting. Manila Penninsula, Makati

Do you believe in the Flying Carpet?
Abe V Rotor

Believe in Aladdin's Lamp and in the Flying Carpet, too;
Arabian Nights and many a fairy tale flying through
And across the desert, the ocean, and down to the East,
The bold and the sage sailing, taming the wind and the beast,
Bridging the realms of the world into one throbbing soul;
Art, thou art the greatest unifier, the language of all. ~


Acknowledgment: Photos taken at Manila Peninsula, Makati MM