Girl Powah!

It hasn’t seen  deep cleaning of any sort for the past seven  years or so. And, for the past few years I’ve had my eye on that nasty-looking, dust and mite-ridden carpet of ours.  Many a time I have suggested, encouraged, begged and pleaded the husband that we hire the professionals but he had been stubbornly  resistant in that hard-to-figure-out way that husbands are.

Until  this writer, who hasn’t had allergies in decades  suddenly developed a perennially running nose…  Until I  could no longer bear to hear my son breathing from a mile away... I determined to do what  needed to be done.

Today was the day, while the husband was away, that I put my plan to fruition.  Today I waged the long-awaited battle against  the very nasty-looking, dust and mite-ridden carpet, with my secret weapon: the powerful, heavy duty carpet cleaner, the Rug Doctor.

The Rug Doctor weighed 36 lbs and holds a gallon of water so it weighed approximately 40 lbs. It was hard labor and extremely cumbersome navigating two flights of stairs. I realized I had to rent the “hand tool” for the hard-to-reach-places which necessitated another trip to Winn-Dixie.  Already I had labored one and  a half hours and gobbled a couple of my special “power-pastry” to give me a psychological boost on top of my healthy oatmeal.

Putting the hand tool in place took longer than my ride to Winn-Dixie but my girl-power (Powah!) took charge after several minutes.

It was “easier” on the stairs with the use of the hand-tool but I had to be particularly flexible as the spray was activated from the Rug-Doctor’s main handle.  It took enormous girl-powah to press from an armslength away on the right arm and spray-scrub on the carpet  with the other arm.

“Res Ipsa Loquitor”… the thing speaks for itself. (the murky water)

After three and a half hours, 5 gallons of water, lots of straining, pulling, lifting, pushing, twisting, wrestling, mental-figuring, upstairs, downstairs, forward, backward, sideward,  and a helluva racket (thankfully, I had my earplugs and headphone) with the Rug Doctor, I did what I had set out for years to do.  It is done.

In the battle vs.  the super-grimy, nasty-looking, dust-mite ridden, never-had-a-cleanin’  BERBER CARPET,

the winner is…

… my RUG DOCTOR and I.

Chasing after the Sunset

 

A vista of open road, and trees set against the blue sky

Dragonflies flitting in and out of the knee-high grass

Long ant tunnels running perpendicular to the road and

the scrunch of the stony white gravel under my feet.

John Mayer singing “Gravity”, “Clarity” and “Georgia” in my ears;

the shimmery stillness of the water alongside me;

snow white pigeon perched on a log;

ducks roosting on the half submerged branches on the water.

Full moon rising.

A mother duck and her tiny ducklings huddled on the canal embankment;

Me chasing after the sunset;

spider webs brushing against my skin

even as I race to catch the sunset

to the songs of Norah Jones.

The sunset turning from gold, to bloody red to purple to blue;

I hurry to catch the sunset,

perhaps too late.

But the moon has risen,

peeping from the tree branches.

The moon has risen:

My heart is full

Like the moon.

Better Than My GrandMother’s Garden

My husband rearranged our living room so that I am able to play the keyboard while facing my garden. What a wonderful way to spend the morning,  watching  two bluejays and a woodpecker hop from my papaya trees to the citrus tree and the fence.  That’ s why no matter what the hubby says I will never do away with my cherished plants and trees in my humble suburban garden.  

Of the growing things in my garden that infuse me with daily pleasures  there are my two malunggay plants that I grew from seed. Despite the poor soil, these babies of mine have grown up.  They’re both tall and leggy.  The one in the pot has fewer but larger leaves and the one on the soil has  leaves that are narrower in shape.



I almost denuded one of my babies. It has only a few leaves left.
First harvest of malunggay for my monggo beans with kalabasa (squash). Hubby cooked it so the kalabasa  got mushy and saturated the soup making it sweet.





Look at my two papaya trees that also grew from seed.  I intend to chop off the tallest one to stimulate growth at a more accessible height.



My citrus tree to the right and my potted money tree that hasn’t stopped growing.



And my alugbati , the newest kid on the block.  To its left is my tangglad (lemongrass) which is all but devoid of leaves from spicing our tinolang manok and monggo with kalabasa for the past weeks. 

I also have kamote vine growing in a pot and more on the way, perfect for tinola nga isda.  I have all the ingredients for tinola nga manok in my garden except for the luy-a (ginger) and of course the chicken.  Shout out to my sister in Australia who raises “free-range chicken”, and who, by the way has an extensive vegetable garden that will put me to shame. She’s growing broccolis, cauliflowers, tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, beans, celery, spinach, bokchoy,parsely, basil… the list is long.

In retrospect, despite the profusion of fruit trees around the house I grew up in back home, there was not any of these vegetables.  We had banana and coconut, guava and santol, mango and several tar apple trees and iba and guayabano  and some flowering trees like the gardenia and crepe myrtle back then, but strangely, no vegetables. When it comes to this, for an Ilongga living  abroad it is amazing to think that I am growing  more Filipino vegetables than my old folks back then...better than my grandmother’s garden.

Hiking Diary: Longest Walk

I decided I will walk 4 miles this evening and I did. 

It was cool and cloudy, at 79 degrees.  The heavy rain had ceased and everywhere the ground was wet.  Certain areas of the path were covered in water puddles.

I’ve walked a total of 12 miles this week.

On the Road to This Ilongga’s Fresh Market Paradise

I badly need some change from our regular fare of meat and pork and chicken so today I went on one of my notorious road misdaventures to the fish market.  Notorious because I’ve had similar experiences in the past  where I drive with only  the faintest clue of where I’m going  and relied heavily on my Garmin navigator to take me there.  So to the tune of classical music on my radio I miscalculated my exit, narrowly missed my turn, became enslaved  to  my navigator  which took  me  through a surprise toll booth that left me fumbling for a quarter, around some side  streets  straight to the  loading dock of Delaware Fish and Seafood Market.  I parked my car across an adult store and backed out again after gauging the long walk  to the front of the market which was across the narrow street.  As I was arm-wrestling with the steering wheel another car was cluelessly backing towards me and to warn it I unsuccessfully banged all over to toot  my car horn.  The car horn disappeared from my line of sight from  all the arm twisting I was doing with the wheel.  Good thing I did not end up with another dent in my newly  refurbished (finally refurbished after multiple accidents) ride.

From the fish market I went to the farmer’s market and found multiple glimpses of home.

Atis!  $3.99/lb  Kaching!

Pink guava or the bayabas of our childhood years!

Rambutan  $5.99/lb. Which, price-wise is a no-go for me.

This one is called Longan, which I highly suspected might be lanzones.  But after a sneaky taste test, it was not as fleshy as the lanzones, or as sweet.

Remember in the good old days where we have those red bananas with the seed inside?

Dragon Fruit.  This I don’t think we have in the Philippines.  $3.49 each!

They have lots of organic and/or locally grown   produce.  Their bananas, cherries and grapes, watermelons, are about the same price as in the grocery store.

 

I was taking pictures of the bok choy when the store help  told me I can’t take pictures in there and don’t I know it’s illegal to take pictures?  Really?  Gotta do a rain check on that.  The other time I was accosted not to take pictures of the wares was in another farmer’s market.  There’s something about farmer’s markets….hmmm.  I was irritated but nothing could dampen my spirit in this Ilongga’s paradise of bayabas, and atis and rambutan.  I just mourned all the nice pictures I could have taken of everything else…the organic vegetables in endless variety, choice of organic fruits and locally grown ones, many varieties of tomatoes, bottled produce, just like in a health food store  and then the herbs.

There was lemongrass growing  in  a pot and best of all --- my most favorite of all the leafy green vegetables-----

The lovely alugbati! 

I’ve coveted eversince the one I discovered  growing luxuriously  in someone else’s backyard.

And now a taste of home at a cost of $5 bucks.

I’m dreaming of alugbati with ground pork.  Alugbati with monggo. In laswa. etc.

The guy told me that Oriental people and those from the Caribbean are familiar with this vegetable. Familiar, my foot!  I grew up with alugbati in my diet.  The American spinach is no match, in my opinion.

Truly, a taste of home!

Hiking Diary: My Walking/Hiking Gear

So far, I have not been able to convince anyone in my household to become my hiking/walking companion—which, by the way, is really important for safety purposes. 

Yesterday, I  was walking alone as usual on a quiet, scarcely populated area when  I got spooked by two instances involving strangers—first, a service truck stopped on the side of the road 500 feet ahead after passing me and the driver came out for whatever reason then hopped back into his truck shortly after I came in visual contact with him.  Then another guy in streetclothes (meaning not a biker or fitness enthusiast) passed by en route to nowhere. So that same day—yesterday, I went to my favorite army-navy surplus store to buy me a pepper spray…

I had other choices like the gel pepper spray with a reach of 14 feet.  What’s great about this one is it has a velcro strap to wrap around the hand. It has a reach of 8 – 10 feet.  Spray from ear-to-ear across the eye.  It said to shield my eyes when spraying into the wind.

This is my whistle/thermometer/compass.  I do not know how to read the compass though so it’s not of much use to me.  But the whistle  definitely is.

My hiking hat made of nylon supposedly moisture repellent – to keep the harmful UV rays away and unlike cotton, wouldn’t absorb the sweat. I normally use a baseball cap but I find that when my head gets hot I had to remove the cap. This way, with the tie I can just flip back my hat and go on my merry way.

Of course, my “self-phone”, er cellphone with all the cool apps.  This I cannot do without.  I use it for a camera/videocam, to gauge the weather and temperature and as a GPS when needed.  It  has the coolest hiking gadget so far, my ImapMyHike app that I use to monitor my progress on the road and at home in my pc.

To hold my self phone is my cellphone arm band. Slide in the phone, slide into my arm, and let my legs do the walking.  My cell phone doesn’t stay there all the time, though.  I have to stop and take pictures or check out my distance and pace several times en route.

I also bought a hydration back pack but I still won’t be needing it on these short walks.  Maybe in the near future when I do find likeminded folks who will hike with me on areas of the Florida trail. For now, considering it’s summer and my state of health, I am waiting for the weather to get cooler and my body to get fitter to be able to tackle more challenging adventures. 

I will surely keep you posted on this journey.  And hey, if I can encourage you lazy- boned couch potatoes out there  to get into the groove and let your legs  not your fingers (on the computer or remote control)  do the walking, that indeed be will be a win-win for all.

Hiking Diary Day 12

I almost chickened out of walking today because when I came out at 7:54 a.m. it was already 82 degrees, wary, as I were, of getting sunburnt. But since I already locked myself out of the house full of still- sleeping residents, I decided to just flit into  whatever shade I could find.

Before I set out I usually drink a full glass of soy milk for energy and hydration, since I don’t bring any water with me, unwise as that may sound. I like to travel light… this time, no cane either or umbrella, just my self phone er, cellphone. That mistake was unintentional but it does sound like a good pun  on the word.

Duration:  1 hr.

Distance:  3 miles

Pace:  20:45 mins/mile

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Terrain:  Flat  (Paved path and grass)

 

I had a hard time getting a picture of this scorpion who was trying to run away after I crossed its path.

mayflies were hovering over the rotten fruit of the palm tree.

Perching Anhinga

Perching duck

Perching mystery bird.  This is the same bird that I discovered  a few days ago. 

There was actually a lizard perched on the same fence as this bird.  Check it out on the left side of the screen below.

lizard

Perching Lizard

What a nice shady tree! 

What looks like a pile of poop on the tree roots

is actually maybe a part of the root.  Or is that some kind of fungus?

Someone’s growing pineapple in their front yard.

The first rose in my  summer garden.  It had a lovely scent.

Hiking Day 10: My Longest Walk So Far

I went out as early as I could to beat the heat and 7:44 am was the earliest I could get.  It was a leisurely walk  and it was  84 degrees when I stepped out. 

Duration:  1:11

Distance:  3.53 miles

Pace:  20:16 mins/mile  (my slowest so far)

Terrain:  Level

Difficulty:  Easy

Around half a mile into my walk I noticed a loud, unusual chirping behind me  and I turned to see a bird swoop over my head and land on this tree. It kept tweeting like it was talking to me.  Normally birds would fly away at the sign of humans but this one followed me.  I haven’t seen this bird before.  It was all black except for some red-orange plumage on top of its neck. It’s on the topmost branch of the tree, if you can’t see it. This is not a common bird where I live, stoking my curiousity as to what it is.

I cut through the newly cut grass to get to the other side of this nice grove of trees.  I was tempted to sit awhile under their shade.

Horses and cows happily co-existing in this cow pasture on the side of my path.  It smelled of dung when I walked by.

Passed by a pine grove.  Shady walk here and my path was dotted by patches of creeping wild grass growing on the pavement.

I made a detour to check out these two handsome horses in their pen.

An exotic flower I don’t know the name of.

This time another snake I happened upon on the path.  It slithered quickly into the grass before I had the chance to get a photo.

It is the southern ringneck snake.  It grows from 6- 10 inches. Found commonly here.  I’ve found one in my garden in the past.

    

    

Photos of snakes  above courtesy of  Malinda Dowling &  Felix Maldonado, respectively.

Since I started hiking two weeks ago, I’ve chanced upon a snail, pigeons, ducks, and twice now, snakes across the  paved paths I’ve taken.

“My Crepe Myrtle Walk”

It turned out to be a breezy day, thank God.  And as I passed by this walk bordered by white crepe myrtles, the breeze was stirring the panicles and causing the white flowers to fall across my way like snowflakes drifting in the breeze.

All along this path to my right were tall electric poles and it was eerie to hear the magnetic-like whirring sound they made.  I wonder how many volts of electricity they held and  if one of those wires were cut loose and fell on me, I’d be fried, for sure.

Hiking Diary Day 8: Interesting Finds

Today I tested a cool iphone/Ipad app IMapMyHike which is one of the many types of workouts available in IMapMyFitness.com.  It  downloads  the distance, time, elevation, route of my hike.  This is my hike for today:

Duration:  37 minutes

Distance:  1.97 miles

Pace:  19.32 mins/mile

Elevation:  starting: 27 feet  Maximum elevation:  43 feet

Speed:  3.1 miles/hour

The coolest thing, by far about this app is that it gives me a 3D flyover video from Google maps of my actual route which unfortunately I’m unable to embed in this blog.

 

 

Interestingly, on this walk I passed by  a house that has alugbati (Filipino spinach)

 

Katumbal (chili) plant

Amargoso/ampalaya (bitter melon) with fruit hanging from the vine.  On the ground is lemongrass (tangglad) and up above is a banana tree with fruit clusters,

and a papaya tree….all in the backyard. The inevitable conclusion is that this is a house inhabited by a Filipino.

On the way back this fruit-laden tree intrigued me.  What fruit?  edible or not? 

You tell me.

This was the beautiful  sunset that greeted me on my way to the house.