 |
| Accent Lights in the Living Room |
This past season I had purchased flashing Christmas lights
for the outside of the house. The price
was basically one dollar per string. We bought
four stings in Bacolod and I put them on the front window. What I didn’t notice was the randomly exposed
wires (guess where they were manufactured, hmmm?) and thus with the very first
JOLT, those colorful line of lights immediately got my attention. May I comment that 110 volts has nothing on
220 volts. Accordingly, I went and bought electrical tape (only came in yellow
color) and had junior (Diana’s brother) tape all the exposed wires. Along with the cheap price came the short
lasting bulbs. Within the first day, I
had to go to the local retail store to buy another string (at over double the
price to Bacolod) to cannibalize (packets of spare bulbs didn’t exist in my
neck of the jungle). Still, the lights
looked pretty good as they flashed on and off for the sea of carolers who
visited this past December.
On January 3rd, I took down those lights and placed them
away in storage only to bring them back out again on January 8th and
taped them to the ceiling encircling the living room. The kids loved the color and flashing lights
whereas twelve year old Clarisse thought our house now looked more like a Videoke
Bar. I personally thought it put out a
warm soothing light in comparison to the bright energy efficient bulb in the
ceiling. Then I got my utility bill on
Saturday and noticed it had gone up $5 for December and am now wondering if
that was such a good idea. I guess we
will find out with next month’s utility bill.
Last night as I was watching Star Trek, The Next Generation
DVDs (Thank you for loaning them to me Mark), when there occurred a slight
earthquake (5.0 on the Richter Scale). I
felt the soft rocking effect of the chair while experiencing a wavelike
sensation in the soles of my feet. The
kids had gone to bed, but Diana and Junior were still up. Amazingly, I was the only one who felt the
trembler. Diana was dozing on the couch
as Junior sat on the floor. Seemed even
more unusual that a sixteen year old could not feel it, but still I did and guess that was all
that mattered. Location was about 50
miles to the SW of me. I also reported that
I had felt it on the USGS (US Geological Survey) website. Within the hour there were three aftershocks,
but I didn’t feel any of them.
When I
was stationed on the island of Adak in Alaska, we had some form of earth tremor/quakes
every single day. When sitting in your
chair or laying upon your bunk, you could experience a gentle swaying motion
like being in a rocker. Sometimes the
initial shock would be strong, but then settled down to a nice wave motion as
the concrete structure would “go with the flow” of the trembling rock beneath
it. Just like electricity, I don’t fear
earthquakes, I just maintain a great respect for them and aware of the
potential dangers associated.
You know that you have a happy home when there is singing or
whistling by individual family members within the four walls. It seems that recently, Charissa Mae (Mae
Mae) had decided that the acoustics were perfect for singing in the bathroom as
she performed her daily duties.
Sometimes I would hear religious songs being sung within that enclosed
space, but yesterday I heard her singing:
“Watermelon, watermelon…papaya, papaya….bana –na- banana, bana – na
banana…fruit salad, fruit salad.” It was
sung to the tune of Frère Jacques or
in English, Brother John. At the end of
each song, she would then yell, “TISSUE
PLEASE!” Now, try to tell me you didn’t sing those words with that tune
in your head….
 | |
| Giant Marigold Plants - Blogger won't let me rotate picture |
When we (the
whole family (except for Mae Mae) walked from Binalbagan to Hinigaran a few
months ago (another story in the making), we came across some Marigolds. I absconded with a couple of blossoms from
the burgeoning plants growing alongside the highway and planted the seeds after
returning home. In the states, marigold
bushes would grow to about two, but no more than three feet in height. It appeared that was not the case in the
Philippines. The seeds I planted are no
less than five feet high as I write. The
family doesn’t like the pungent smell of the flowers, but I don’t mind the
strong aroma. Donarae had sent over a
bag of Marigold seeds in a Balikbayan box in October and, upon its arrival, I
discovered the parcel had been inspected by the US Customs Service. They had cut open the box right where the
seeds were located and then sliced open the plastic sandwich bag within. I am confident
they had thought those were marijuana or some other type of narcotic seeds,
only to discover that they were the innocuous Marigold variety instead.
That must have been why my car alarm went off !
ReplyDeleteDidnt feel a thing...