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| Clarisse, Charissa Mae, Junior, Santiago, & Toy Toy Baguio |
Since the kids have arrived on Negros, we have always said a
prayer before each meal. I was taught
the family prayer when I was young and have said it silently or aloud thousands
of times throughout my life. “Bless this
food to the nourishment of our body.
Guard and guide us through the coming days. In the Lords name we pray, Amen.” Whenever I would say this blessing, the words
would be steady and deliberate, but I remember that my mother and even grandmother
could say that prayer is less than three seconds flat. To me, it was the Indy
500 of blessings during those youthful days. To those two elders, it was just a formality,
nothing more or less. At first, I had to
get the kids to fold their hands properly and then had to instill in them the
requirement to close their eyes and to NOT make funny faces at each other while
the prayer was said. The children all
adapted quickly, but Charissa Mae. She
would, during the brief prayer, have to brush the hair out of her face (when
there wasn’t any), or reposition herself in her chair, or worse of all have to SCRATCH. It came to a point that I would have to make
sure all of Mae Mae’s idiosyncrasies were completed before the prayer was said.
A few weeks ago, Charissa Mae came home from school with a
prayer she had learned. “Heavenly
Father, thank you so much for the love and care. Help us in our studies. Bless our parents,
teachers, and food. Amen.” This began as a funeral dirge. The words were tortoise slow as if Mae Mae
was struggling to recall each word or just wanted to get them out correctly. The other three children embraced that prayer
and would vie for the honor of saying it before each meal. Amazingly, like all youngsters, they said it
at about the same tempo. I must stress
that the prayer began innocently enough, but as time passed, an abbreviated
version evolved. In an effort to speed
up the blessing and shorten the time between sitting at the table and grabbing
at the food in front of them, words would be conveniently omitted. Soon enough (in the case of Mae Mae), Help us
with our studies, along with Bless our parents and food and even AMEN had
disappeared from the grace. Suddenly,
with hands stilled folded, eyes closed, and reverence upon their faces the
other three would remind Charissa Mae to add the missing words to her blessings.
The other day I was assisting at making spaghetti. My ONLY task was to break the long strands of
noodles in two and toss them into the hot water. Now, I have done the noodle breaking with
spaghetti for eons and thought I was fully versed in that you SHOULD break your
pasta over the pot of boiling water and then feather it into the bubbling
liquid. Well, I opened the sack and
grabbed out a handful of those elongated noodles in my left hand. There were two pots in front of me on the
range; one had a lid on it while the other did not. Never giving it a thought, I broke the
spaghetti and dropped it into the sauce!!!
Fortunately, my befuddled brain kicked in before depositing the complete
handful into the red, fluidic mass. “OH
CRAP!” I exclaimed as I watched the strands slowly settle into the simmering sauce. I immediately took the lid off the pot of
boiling water and then grabbed a large spoon.
I got most of the (now) colorful pasta out of the seasoning pot and
transferred it to the water pot. Of
course, the virgin liquid turned a nice bubbling red as each spoonful was
dropped in. I finally quit digging out
the random or overly coated strands and finished breaking and placing the rest
of the pasta into the water. I must
admit the spaghetti was pretty tasty that evening and even though I did look for,
as well as ask the opinion of the other young diners at the table, I never did
taste any crunchy strings…thank goodness….and I never told anyone either about
the mistake either.
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| Mae Mae, Diana, Santiago, Toy Toy, & Clarisse Baguio |
Every Sunday after supper, as long as the budget held, we
would have ice cream. I must confess
that a 1.5 liter container (just a pinch over 1.5 quarts) costs over $6.00
here, but the excitement displayed by my children more than made up for the
cost. As soon as supper was completed,
they would empty out their drinking glasses, grab spoons and stand in wait at
my end of the table. It could be hectic
at times as Santiago and Mae Mae fought for position as to who would get the
frozen confection first. Still, the
kids, who have never had a problem asking for seconds and sometimes thirds, would
make short work of their weekly treat.
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| Charissa Mae Baguio with her Ice Cream mask |
Last Sunday, Toy Toy did not want to eat his ice cream portion
and requested it be put in the freezer until the next day. After supper on Monday, he dutifully opened
the freezer expecting to savor his frozen treat only to find that “unknown” youthful
siblings had mostly emptied the container of its contents, leaving only a
couple spoonfuls for the unfortunate recipient.
This past evening, I declared that if you did not eat your
portion of ice cream, then you forfeited your share to the others. Predictably, everyone ate ice cream.
A couple of weeks ago, my Sony digital (model W230) point
and shoot camera finally gave up the ghost.
Unfortunately, it had to happen during one of my photo gathering sojourns. I recall buying it in the Spring of 2009;
using it for the first time when traveling to and while visiting Denver (with
Pastor Bulger) on Amtrak. I took it to
the Philippines that Fall and utilized it extensively after returning to the PI
in 2010. In the end, I took 11,186
photos with that small image saver.
During its lifetime, it found safety within the side pocket of my cargo
shorts or when secured to my wrist. It also shared many of my adventures
through its captured images. I had let
the two oldest (Toy Toy and Clarisse) take pictures with it and during its
final months, even Santiago got to use it a few times. Even though I really need a replacement, the
budget dictates otherwise. Hopefully,
within the next few months a good replacement will find its way to my home
continuing a picture taking tradition that has found its way into my meager
family.
Unfortunately, it had to happen during one of my photo gathering sojourns. I recall buying it in the Spring of 2009;
using it for the first time when traveling to and while visiting Denver (with
Pastor Bulger) on Amtrak. I took it to
the Philippines that Fall and utilized it extensively after returning to the PI
in 2010. In the end, I took 11,186
photos with that small image saver.
During its lifetime, it found safety within the side pocket of my cargo
shorts or when secured to my wrist. It also shared many of my adventures
through its captured images. I had let
the two oldest (Toy Toy and Clarisse) take pictures with it and during its
final months, even Santiago got to use it a few times. Even though I really need a replacement, the
budget dictates otherwise. Hopefully,
within the next few months a good replacement will find its way to my home
continuing a picture taking tradition that has found its way into my meager
family.
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