A Piece of Eden Regained

Painting and Verse by Dr Abe V Rotor 

A Piece of Eden Regained 

Acrylic on canvas (33" x 103") by AVRotor April 27, 2017. 

Courtesy of LAWIN (Lagro Association of Writers and Artists Inc.), QC

A lake full to the shore, its water deep and clear, 

     trees speak of old age, yet  hale and strong; 

under their spreading crowns and roots the fish stir

     to the company of children and their song. 

the lake a living theater and a huge playground, 

     with ospreys hunting, pigeons and doves flying,

silence reigns, save the wildlife’s call and sound,   

     and passing breeze in the trees whispering,  

Promenading by the lake, fishing, and kite flying,

     pastime from school and the shopping mall,

where Nature teaches the true meaning of living,  

      to humans among creatures big and small.

That was a long time ago, a lifetime since then,

     the earth has aged, senile in many parts;

let's refresh memories else the scene be forgotten,

     relive Nature, the greatest of the arts.  

Speak of love beneath a tree

and pray, how do I love thee?

two hearts through Cupid's arrow
on the tree the vow be true! 

Oh, sweet nothings of love, 

maketh the heart throb, throb.  

Diogenes was looking for an honest man,

not the fisher who caught the biggest fish, 

but in the recesses of his mind got away;

oh, philosophy, a subject to remiss;

time and freedom the biggest catch,

no big fish can truly match.    

 

It's the osprey of the lake playing 

with the kids with their kites flying; 

I join them by writing and painting  

    and rejoice in finding this lost lawin. 

  

Reptiles, scorned and feared,

symbol of death and greed;

I defend them for any creed,

their demise I shall grieve. 

Colorful in the vast green, 

to be admired and seen;

birds on stage and screen.   

thinned in their own scene. 

Survival Food Plants.

Survivors of war, plane crash, shipwreck have a lot of lessons to share, among them are edible plants that kept them alive.Dr Abe V Rotor

Hanging yam (Dioscorea sp.)

Pongapong (Amorphophallus campanulatus) 

 
Alugbati, Gumamela petals 

Gabi (Colocasia esculenta); ube (Dioscorea alata)

Bagbagkong flowers (botanical description?) 

 

Cassava (Manihot utilissima), wild gabi (Dioscorea esculenta)

 

Native sweet potato (Ipomea batatas), tugi' (Dioscorea sp)

Survivors of war, plane crash, shipwreck have a lot of lessons to share, among them are edible plants that kept them alive.

• Talisay (Terminalia catappa) bears nut like fruits that contain small seeds that taste like almond.

• Tibig (Ficus nota.) The fruits are edible and have a good flavor. They are soft and fleshy when mature.

• Isis (Ficus odorata) or isis because its rough leaves are used as natural sandpaper for utensil and wood. Its fruits like tibig are edible.

• Balleba (Vallisnera) is an aquatic plant growing in clear streams, ponds and lakes, whose leaves appear like ribbon, hence it is also called ribbon grass. The leaves are gathered and served fresh with tomato, onion and salt.

• Apulid or water chestnut. Our native apulid produces very small bulbs - only one-third the size of the Chinese or Vietnamese apulid. It grows wild in places where water is present year round. It is boiled, peeled and served.

• Aratiles (Muntingia calabura) bears plenty of tiny berries which are red to violet when ripe. It is sweet and somewhat aromatic.

• Wild sinkamas (Pacchyrhizus erosus) has enlarged roots which may remain in the soil even after the plants has dried up in summer. It is gathered and eaten raw.

• Urai (Amaranthus spinosus). The plant become spiny as it matures. It is the very young plant that is gathered as vegetable.

• Mulberry (Morus alba). Its leaves are the chief food of silkworm. The fruits when ripe are purple to black, and while very small are juicy and fairly sweet.

• Taro (Colocasia sp.). The Palawan gabi grows twice the height of man and produces a large corm. There is a technique in preparing and cooking the corm. Or making starch out of it. The key is thorough cleaning and cooking.

• Gulasiman (Portulaca oleracea) has succulent leaves and stems which are cooked as vegetables.

• Alugbati (Basella rubra) is a twining plant with reddish stems and leaves. The tops are gathered as vegetable which is mucilaginous when cooked.

• Talinum ((Talinum triangulare). The succulent stems and leaves are gathered as vegetable.

Wild food plants include corm of banana, core of maguey (Agave cantala), bamboo shoot, bignay (Antidesma binuis), kumpitis (Clitorea purpurea), kamkamote, rattan fruits, sabawil, alukong, lotus seed, bamboo shoot, puso ng saging, heart of maguey (Agave) wild papaya, corm of banana, botolan (seeded banana), wild mushrooms, cassava tops, many species of seaweeds, and many others. ~

NOTE: Please add others in the category of wild food plants, especially those found in your locality.

Living with Folk Wisdom, book by A V Rotor,  published by UST Manila

Albinism - Nature's "error" yet vital to evolution and perpetuation of species

Dr Abe V Rotor

Are albinos really pigmentless? I found it lately, and the answer is no.


Here are photos of my pet fish - Oscar. I took the photos at two different times of the day - under bright sunlight, and under waning light. In both cases the fish exuded beautiful colors and patterns. They are simply magnificent.

Yet with the naked eye, one would dismiss them as "forgotten" creatures - Nature failed to transmit to them the pigment genes of their parents.
The first three photos were taken from an outdoor aquarium under direct sunlight

Lower two photos were taken under waning light from
the same outdoor aquarium with the same school of fish.

Normally Oscar fish are multicolored with black, yellow, gold and orange dominating the color scheme in distinct and sharp patterns. Among local aquarium fish, to me, they are the most attractive, and because there is no standard pattern, each fish is an original piece of art. I used to study their designs, associating them with maps of land masses, countries and islands, of shapes of creatures and objects. As a biologist I wondered how colors and patterns help the fish's survival through nature's laws of offense and defense - or by mimicry to be able to integrate themselves with other species to form a community.

I failed to buy the colorful normal Oscar. Pet shops say they are rare, although my son was able to secure five colorful ones which he raised to maturity and became a centerpiece of a biological laboratory of a college in Manila. Because of the rarity of the colorful ones, I settled for the albinos - ten of them - which I got for a good bargain.

Now, if albinos lack the colors endowed to their normal siblings because Nature "committed an error" how come they are still around? Are they not vulnerable - or even inviting - to predators? I surmise that their mere presence within the population would certainly predispose them victims to cannibalism by the normal members. And how can they be protected by the harmful rays of the sun and other forms of radiation?

Human albino. Albino whale, albino bat, albino blackbird,

Albinism is not rare - kangaroo, peacock, turtle, crocodile

Questions about albinism are many indeed. We know that colors are necessary to hide the internal organs, they make the tissues opaque, and the protective coat like a shield. We also know that the fins become pronounced if colored, giving the impression that the fish is solid and bigger than the light colored ones. Albinos don't only look smaller than their actual size, but have the "glass or ghost effect" because they appear naked to the bones, their heart beating and lungs expanding and contracting - as can be traced in these photographs. 

I did some research. I went back to my genetics I learned from my professors: Dr. Nemesio Mendiola, dubbed the plant wizard of the Philippines, and Dr. Ruben Umaly who became a director of a biological institute in Indonesia. And I updated myself with today's molecular biology.

It's true that pigments are phenotypic traits. Their absence means their pigment genes were not transmitted to the offspring. Under Mendelian law, if two recessive genes for pigment are paired instead of being joined to a dominant gene, no pigment appears, and therefore the affected offspring becomes an albino.Yes, there is an albino (white) carabao, there is an albino boa constrictor, there is even a human albino. Albinos are found in other animals, in plants and protists.

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There are simply white colored organisms that are not albino, such as the white rhino, sheep, horses, seashells, and the like. These are genetically normal, they are true to type to the parents, and the population for that matter.
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Albinos however, are not really without colors. They do have but their colors are not the same to all viewers. Flowers are seen by bees or butterflies different from the colors we humans perceive. The bull cannot differentiate red from other colors. It charges not because of the red banner and colorful attire of the torrero, but by the teasing movement and perceived threat at that moment. Wonder how an owl spots a mice in the dark, how an eagle swoops on its prey from up high.

An albino after all has pigments carried by the recessive genes, only that these pigments may be masked and discreet. They appear only under ultraviolet rays, they are spotted by infrared, amplifying the colors and patterns. For all we know, the unusual characteristics of the albino from their normal counterparts may somehow keep them alive in the wild, under natural conditions of their habitat - at least for some time.
White elephants are regarded sacred in Thailand and other countries. Lucky for the albinos protected by our culture. Religious beliefs have saved certain albino animals, like the albino (white) elephant which is held sacred in Thailand and other parts of Asia and Africa. Otherwise if it is used as draft animal, it would certainly succumb to heat stroke. This is also true with the albino carabao.

How can nature correct its so-called "mistake"? Or could it be that nature planned albinism as an advantage in evolution? But to what extent? Otherwise albinism will lead to speciation, that is, gradual dissociation of the albino from the population, and crosses the genetic border to become ultimately into a new species.

It is also likely that albinos are decoys of predation saving the normal and stronger members of the population in the process. Albinos are repository of recessive genes that would otherwise spread out and weaken the whole population. The mechanism involved in albinism is a universal genetic phenomenon. Traits carried by the pairing of recessive genes do occur in each generation.

The intention of nature, I believe, is purification of the species. Albinos have less chance to survive in the wild. Most do not reach sexual maturity. Therefore, the recessive gene dies with them. And even if they reproduce, they have more chances of producing normal offspring than albinos like themselves, thus keeping the possibility of perpetuating the albino character. Thus the level of albinism is then maintained at a dynamically low rate within the population.

Nature is right after all - albinism is a purification process of the gene pool, it is ensuring the fitness of the species in Darwin's parlance - the preservation of the species through the long and tedious process of evolution. ~

NOTE: The aphorism, White Elephant, may have a negative connotation - refering to a superstructure that has very little use, if there is at all.

Home, Sweet Home with Nature, AVRotor (Manuscript); acknowledgement: Photos from Internet, except photos of Oscar fish. by the author.  

Philippine President Rod Duterte is Time's Person of the Year, 2016

MEDIA

TIME MAGAZINE RECALLS ITS LATEST ISSUE, PUBLISHES A REPRINT

SEPTEMBER 18, 2016 POL PINOY 1 COMMENT

NEW YORK, New York (The Adobo Chronicles, Washington Bureau) – After receiving a lot of flak for its latest issue whose cover depicts the Philippines and the government’s war on drugs, Time magazine recalled all copies and immediately replaced its cover to better reflect the truth.

“We are committed to reporting only the truth, so when we err, it is our responsibility to correct our error,” the magazine editors said.

The reprint includes an apology from the writer of the cover story, Rishi Iyengar, and the local Philippine journalists who fed him the misinformation.

Janus Media 

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Media! how you make and unmake a situation,

clinging to truth divine just an illusion;

what could glitter more than a merchant's gold?

cowers in robe and emblem the bold.

Thus the wall less empire thrives at the boundary,

fence sitting to where the winds carry

the news and bounty like horse and carriage.

seemingly blind, bias in many a stage.   

Quo vadis? journalism of Ka Doroy Valencia et al,  

fathers of this profession whose fall  

rose a Rizal, a Mandela, a Gandhi, thousands more

on the battlefield, and across the shore.

Who is the master, who is the slave? In between

the throng and the bandwagon a twin;

bereft of their right to know, and made like a fool; 

Oh, media! the all knowing, deceitful.   AVR

Return of the Blackbird Martinez

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Martinez birds on a century old acacia tree. Tagudin, Ilocos Sur. 
 Photo by the author with a telephoto lens. 

That was sixty year ago when you disappeared,
I was very young then, but I remember well
and will not forget your satin black feathers, 
a pair of white spots tucked under your wings, 
your song sonorous but friendly, and lo!

You are back, survivor of man's unending pursuit
of the Good Life while you cower away in silence
and oblivion, and I, thinking you are gone forever
joined the bandwagon with a heavy heart.

Now that you have returned, you have released
me back, too, to my happy childhood. 

Wake Up! It’s Springtime.!

Wake Up! It’s Springtime.!

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

An essay about personal insights and reflections   

UST Faculty of Arts and Letters: Communication Art 

Write your reaction to this article which relates to your life. 

“Springtime is here.

I sing with the warbler,

laugh with the stream,

whistle in the breeze.

Time matters not when,

and for how long I shall

from here meet my Creator

who makes them all.”

                                - AVRotor

Detail of Mural, Springtime, by AVR

"The spirit of the new springtime is renewal," said Mother Teresa after receiving the Nobel Prize for Peace. "It is a time of conversion, to be a new person." It is metamorphosis.

It is when "All the World's a Stage" begins, when every creature, big or small, wakes up to a "Whispering Within". When the sound is pure and clear and the happiest of all sounds - and not a "Big Bang" - it must be springtime. And the sound comes from deep within, a calling closest to the heart, ringing the bells of hope and joy to be alive.

And the sleeping buds wake up with the dewdrops heralding the end of drought or winter, breaking into emerald, the first color of spring. Soon a myriad colors comes at its heels in the promise of bounty. The hollow of tree is filled with hungry groan. The stream whispers, the brook laughs. Up on a branch a robin sings, his notes crispy in the chilly air. A butterfly metamorphoses, her wings catching the color of rainbow. And the rainbow makes a huge cathedral in the sky that dwarfs us and we are filled with wonder and awe.

If one finds meaning in the risen bud, in the cathedral of rainbow, then he is blessed. For he is a man in the new springtime, a person renewed.

It is in the image of springtime, which according to Pope John XXIII, connotes newness and freshness. It is when music is soothing to hear and colors are a kaleidoscope. It is when growth and hope are nurtured.

But it is not always that in the life of a person springtime means renewal. The regularity of time and seasons has made the experience an ordinary one, routinely like a cycle, prosaic as rules one has grown accustomed to throughout the years. Matters of importance are no longer in the stars or about a sheep eating flowers on a thorny bush.

Here is a news story that we glimpse into a new syndrome in today's society. It is about a unique incident in Paris some years ago when farmers built overnight a piece of the countryside right in front of the Arch d' Triumph. In the morning people of all walks of life put off their urban chores and dreamily enjoyed the rustic scene they apparently had been missing.

"Gubat sa Siyudad", "Disneyland", "Fantasy Island" are more of a symptom than fancy. More and more people who are tired of city life and the fast lane are yearning to go back and live in less congested areas where they are close to nature, and corollary to God. And before we ask ourselves, "Quo vadis?" we must realize that everything in this world, without exemption, is interconnected.

It is this interconnection that is the key to unity and understanding, respect and reverence, compassion and humility. 
Springtime by Claude Monet
Such interconnection links the parts of the living and the non-living world, the abstract and the concrete, the past and the present, the macroscopic and the microscopic world, diverse cultures and races - and most fundamentally, the relationship of man and God.

But as a country becomes progressive, economically and technologically that is, more and more of its citizens become disconnected from the countryside as they flock to cities in some kind of frenzy, a kind of Gold Rush reminiscent of the old West. And what is paradoxical is that cities are growing at the expense of the countryside, eating out precious productive areas, draining precious manpower and resources, supplanting tradition and values with "modern culture".

It is like the human body enticed with material things with adornment leading to self adoration that the spirit is left unattended like a countryside laid in waste. Here a dichotomy emerges, one leading to what we call "modern civilization" while the other lingers in limbo of neglect and false rationalization. It cannot be that there are two seasons that occur at the same time. It cannot be that the body enjoys the cares and abandon of youth, the "glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome" while the spirit lies in winter or in the desert.

This "disconnection syndrome" buries deeper that attachment between us and God, us and nature, which is intrinsic in our genes. The memory of that attachment surfaces now and then in our language, painting, music, legends - even in our thoughts over a sunset or a flowering weed. That is why we yearn to go back, but quite often find ourselves busy, and afraid to set aside things of "consequence" that now threaten to disturb our present lives. We are afraid to take the path of the Prodigal Son.

Sharing makes the world go round and around. How beautiful Reader's Digest puts it. To wit:

"Every human being on this earth faces a constant problem: how to make the most of life. There is no single solution, the art of living is the most difficult of all the arts. But fortunately for all of us, experience can be shared. Insights can be learned. Wisdom can be taught. Experiences, insights and wisdom of men and women - from teachers to clergymen, housewives to scientists, ordinary citizens to statesmen - who have lived deeply, thought profoundly and cared enormously about sharing with others what they learned have found some fragments of truth that cushion the harsh impact of reality or brightens the marvelous tapestry of living. From them we find some answers to the most fundamental of all questions: how to live with life."

This excerpt demonstrates human relationship on the highest plane. Simplicity as a common denominator for all those willing to live by it as a virtue breaks the wall separating today the haves and the have-nots, the whites and the colored, and the barriers of distance, belief, ideology and fame. But it is only when one takes the road less trodden that he can truly touch the lives of those who are poor and are living in poverty, not as a choice or virtue, but because they are inevitable, unwilling victims of it.

This is the road the Good Samaritan took. Here sharing takes a higher category, that of compassion. Compassion comes from a deep source, it springs from the hadal depth, not so much of reason but of love which reason cannot fully explain. From here flows the stream of openness and availability, that compassion becomes universal - in both time and space - respecting all mankind, and going back to ecological paradigm, respecting too, all living creature, big and small, and all the things that make this world a place of Paradise. It is only through deep prayer and faith that we can regain that place we lost. John Milton saw it only when he became blind and illumined its beauty with the power of the pen, while Helen Keller shared it to us on the Braille.

Are these enough to live by? No. Still there is a higher realm of human virtue, and this is the element of taking risk and sacrifice. "If you truly love and care," says Mother Teresa, "you are not afraid."

But it is more important to work with others. This is the element of collaboration. It is in collaboration that we do not only come up with collective strength but build interdependence with which we re-enforce the efforts of others in the magic of synergy. It cannot be explained why collective effort surpasses the sum of individual efforts, why spiritual love can not be equated with human love, why happiness when shared multiplies, why in quiet prayers comes a great resolve.

These are difficult to understand in theory and in good times, when we are only witnesses, nay bystanders. If we are teachers and not disciples, critics and not doers, victors and not the vanquished.

It is easier to teach than to learn, to lecture than to share, to welcome than to accept, to accept than to forgive. It may be easier to treat a friend than a brother, receive awards than show recognition, walk up to the podium than stoop to lend a hand. How do we know endurance from sacrifice? Responsibility from accountability? To help from to care?

Wake up. It is springtime. ~