MEMORIES LIKE ROCKS

FOR S:

Apologies.
It could be a kind of paralysis without a name, sans logic. It's a kind of illness, of the mind or a part of the physical body. No matter. It was there, day in and day out. An inscrutable enemy that grips you with its tentacles.
And the laptop's thought processes went askew. The gadget helped keep in secret the thoughts of the lone wolf walking the night. Sleep is an aberration of mad men.
And then the decision to take a sabbatical leave from social media.
Could not take this plethora of personal messages, sad and irksome. The anger is there ready to surface, nay, explode in words but could it change the situation? Will the wayward husband go back to the wife who gave her three beautiful intelligent girls? And the niece is sick of cancer.
There are memories that don't go away; they are like rocks that decided to settle in a corner of the mind.

THE VICE-PRESIDENT MUST EXPLAIN HIS 'ENORMOUS' WEALTH

     He was a poor human rights lawyer during the martial law years. He and his buddy, the father of the incumbent president of the Philippines, fought the regime of Ferdinand Marcos.
     After the fall of the dictator, the country's second highest leader was given political power on a silver platter. By the mother of a seemingly incompetent president, who inaugurated her presidency on a high moral ground. That was in 1989 that Jejomar (Jesus Joseph, Maria- the Biblical family) Binay, an Ibanag from Isabela)
started his political career as chief executive of the country's richest city. His family--himself, wife, son--lorded it over the country's premier city since then.

A Hair's Breath

     The envisioned bilingual magazine of Ilokano writers. We were a hair's breath from fulfilling the dream. But we could not walk together for long.

****
They say one thing and mean another tongue-in-cheek. The politics of rhetoric of the Vice-President as conceptualized by his propaganda machine against the Trillianes-Cayetano-Pimentel triumvirate of the Senate alleged politically-motivated investigation of the alleged unexplained wealth of Jejomar Binay. How did he acquire his enormous wealth. He started out as a poor human rights lawyer in the time of Ferdinand Marcos. After the fall of the dictator (was this term invented by the Americans?), Binay was installed as officer-in-charge of Makati by Cory Aquino. He then established a political dynasty that controlled the country's richest city.

****
Enter that dream world and the mystery of the little girl with sad eyes, a jug of water on her dainty head. Earlier, she, on her knees, had dugged the river sands with her little fingers and watched as the water rose, took the cup and bailed out the water. She threw the water on her side, repeating the act until the liquid was clear, sparkling and she could see the bottom of the pit. She scooped the water with a cup made of coconut shell and put it in the clay jar; she did this a number of times until the container was full.

****
PANAAS*

Umarubayan ti lagip
iti kasaor ti malem-sardam
idiay Laoag, ditoy Menifee
iti batog ti kidem a langit:
karkarsanna idi ti pagsakduanna
iti kadaratan, ket iti di mabayag
ballasiwenna manen ti karayan,
ti imnas a nagsusuon iti malabi
ti nasam-it a danum
ni ayat--daytoy ti kaudian
nga am-amangaw, alimbasag
ken tarimbangon dagiti palimed
ken naliday a dandaniw a mariing
kadagiti ulila a parbangon.

PLACES IN THE OLD COUNTRY and other memories

Bridge over the Magat River to Potia, Ifugao in Northern Philippines  

The main canal of the Magat River Irrigation System, third biggest in Southeast Asia . Originating from Barangay Aguinaldo, Ramon, Isabela, this artery passes through the centuries-old village of Oscariz, Ramon town, where the blogger's house is located along the highway to San Mateo, Cabatuan, and several towns unto Tuguegarao, Cagayan to the north.



Artist version of the old dadapilan (sugar cane crusher--the juice can be made into molasses
 or the Ilokano wine called basi or arak) at the Aurora Park in Laoag City

The blogger and government functionaries in the old Spanish City of Vigan in Ilocos Sur. From left: broadcaster Elmer Peredo, broadcaster Ben Pacris, photographer Orlando Pedro and PLJ as officer-in-charge of the Department of Public Information Provincial Office.

The old Tabacalera in Laoag City converted into a museum of traditional arts

Three generations: the blogger, Denise Margarita, Peter II

Julian siblings playing poker at the sala of the house in Oscariz

MENIFEE FIREPIT AS THE ILOKANO TEMTEM AROUND WHICH THE NATIVES WARM THEMSELVES

    
     It was a thing of the past, this firepit called temtem, around which the natives warm themselves during cold weather in the Ilocos of old in the old country. It consisted of a shallow circular hole in the ground on which straws or wood were burned and old folks gather around and made conversations. It was usually early in the morning in the cold months of December, January and February.
     In the Menifee version which was lighted last night, the circular firepit is atop a huge circular concrete post, at least 16 inches in height, that sits on a wide concrete circular base on the ground. The firepit has brown little stones (pulverized river rocks?) and is fired by gas from a source connected to the house by an underground pipe.
    It was a chilly night and the blogger, a bonnet on his head, was wearing a shirt over a black sweatshirt--not much clothing to ward off the cold in the first experience of this kind of weather this year in America.
    The couple Anib and Dianne, in heavy sweaters along with the Mexican Alex Alvarado who constructed the firepit weeks ago, were sitting on chairs and making conversations around the  fireplace which is in a corner of the lighted yard with coconut trees. They were drinking beers, perhaps to celebrate the occasion. An hour later, they broke up and Alex , 29,drove home to Perris City, 15 minutes away. 

Quote of  the day: "In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of the things not meant for you."--Buddha

Frontage of home in Oscariz, Ramon, Isabela, Philippines

Grandchild Denise Margaria Julian, 4th year engineering student at SLU in Baguio City, Philippines