pre and post christmas vacation

Books/TV/Movies

- I managed to finish the "Tudors" Season 1, Sandra Brown's "Rainwater" (starting on Tough Customer).

Christmas morning

- has been a busy one. Sans breakfast, everyone had to wait for the lady of the house to look her best for pictorials before we started exchanging gifts and tearing the wrappers.

I got tatay a pair of Milanos slippers, mary some undies, toothbrush for glad, hula hoops for sis, and travel kit for mae. Sis bought nanay a pair of slip-ons, chewable hides for tara, a sleeping mat for pooh, fancy treats for bjork, frisbee for cuchi and a wristwatch for me.

Boxing Day

- mid-afternoon, was spent with six elderly men in a cabana, in the middle of the abandoned village plaza. It's not what it seems. We convened there to finalize the requirements for our HLOA (Home and Lot Owners Association) registration at HULRB. Again, the meeting was peppered with debates and raised voices, I kept a low profile to somehow minimize the noise. Everything looks to be in order and its up to me to get all the paperworks ready for the lawyer to sign.

a series of events...some of it unfortunate

morning...cuchi's morning run again met with a sinister end. those chicks never learn. this time, the 'death toll' doubled. turned out, the chicks were my uncle's. i advised the poor man to keep the fowls fenced in as the garden is the dog's playground.

noon...cuchi tore nene's newly acquired blouse which was tossed haphazardly on top of the washing machine which is just within reach of scissor sharp teeth. the dog was unrepentant. help!

midafternoon...read the three articles of our hoa by-laws, mainly on the subject of membership before village neighbors who thought that the general assembly was worth their time. what's with voluntarism that people avoid it. Our number started to dwindle once committees were being formed. Sigh...

late afternoon...admitted dad at the local hospital for yet another battle with a chronic lung problem. i was told he was without sleep for two days already. it must be the heat and humidity. it's been threatening to rain these past two days but if finally fell only tonight.

early evening...while walking along the pavement outside the local justice hall on the way to piazza to meet with classmates, spied a motorcycle cruising through at a moderate speed. The wheels however slipped from the pavement and onto the gravel causing the driver to lose control and accidentally press the accelerator. It all happened in a flash. The girl riding at behind the driver was caught off guard and fell off. It must have hurt. We had to run back and cry for help. Blood ran from the girl's head but she kept saying she was okay. It must have been the shock feeding her system with adrenaline. A young cop stopped for a spell but did not linger. We hailed a cab, got the girl into it and left the boyfriend to tend to her. Well, they are so dead meat. No helmets. Both of them.

evening...reunion planning is getting somewhere somehow. seven attended this time and some specifics were sealed. more discussions to come before the year ends.

date with mom

it's always a joy taking mom shopping. she's easy to please and doesn't care for brand at all. if something comes in her favorite color and it fits, she buys it. for herself, she bought underthings and a pair of slip-ons, shorts and pjs for her hubby, tees for her tricycle drivers and more underthings for me, sis and cuz. shopping was over but not without endless queues to incompetent cashiers which left us tired and hungry.

she agreed to go japanese so we sat inside the rather empty rairaiken. i ordered beef yakiniku and california maki which became instant hits. she enjoyed her meal as much as having her pictures taken.

christmas with kids

Major change indeed!

Gone were the days of glamorous pageantry; of carpeted floors and chandelier-lit ballrooms; of assisted buffet and made-up round tables; of adrenaline filled production numbers and grand prizes.

Fellowship with the kids provided as much fun except for giving an impromptu inspirational message (from a person who lacks inspiration - in many things- in the first place).

huntress and prey

Eight unsuspecting weeks-old chicks strayed in the fenced off garden on Tuesday morning. Six quickly found their way through the wire mesh. One panicked and learned how to fly over the concrete fence. Unfortunately, one was not as fast and after some feeble attempts of evading the inevitable, Cuchi had it cornered and between its teeth in no time. Taking it away was not an option. Either way, the chicken will end up dead anyways. I chose it not to be bloody.

After mere minutes, the chick hang limply between the dog's half open mouth, its pale lids closed. I could only feel sorry for the owner's loss. But what could I do?

Secure that nobody will take away the prize, she placed it on the ground, proudly displaying the day's catch