Let Me Be Your Umbrella

Umbrellas 

Did you know there is such a day as National Umbrella Day? It's celebrated in the US each year on February 10.

Why?

I'm not really sure. Perhaps, it's a way to honor one of the world's most convenient inventions.

The umbrella keeps us dry from rain and protects us from the heat of the sun. It can be a fashion accessory. It's a religious symbol in some cultures. Representing the dome of the sky, it's a protective shadow on earth. When carried above a person, it indicates respectability.

Plus, it provides inspiration when you need to get through days when the sky is grey, and everything is… wet.

Consider this.

The mind is like an umbrella. It's most useful when open.

 

When times are tough, friends and family are your umbrella. 

When others try to rain on your dreams, let it be your shelter and comfort.

Take refuge under that canopy and dream on.

First Grandchildren share a golf umbrella, 3 and 5 years old, resp. Honolulu, HI: November 2015

And if you’re feeling a little bit low,

If you’re feeling under the weather,

If your sky is darkening with rain clouds...

... Let me be your umbrella. 

Fashionably Nerdy Me.

Alum Creek Lake, Delaware, Ohio: 2020 

Rain Walking

Umbrellas

I love rain. It's my favorite weather.

Rain is the sky descending to earth.

It makes me think of grace. 

Someone's smile.

A presence beside me as very light rain, almost mist-like, falls quite lowly and gently. 

And it all comes back again. 

A voice meeting mine. 

Someone who makes a tiny world with just him and me, his whisper and my trust.

A couple holding hands.

Walking under an umbrella in the rain. 

Pennies From Heaven

Umbrellas

... Every time it rains, it rains

Pennies from Heaven

Don't you know each cloud contains

Pennies from Heaven?

Are you familiar with the song Pennies from Heaven?

It's an American popular tune introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1936 film of the same name.

I heard it a long time ago when I was young and naive. And I believed it.

I would look at each cloud, knowing that behind its shadows were bright, shiny pennies just waiting to shower upon my spirit and water my soul.

So every time it rained, I'd put my umbrella up, up, upside down.

I was hopeful that fortune would soon be falling all over town.

Have I ever caught any riches yet?

No. Not yet.

Just paltry stuff.

Like the smell of rain and its secrets. 

A feeling of peace that washes over me from the wide, open sky.

The promise of sun after the rain.

Pink Umbrella

Umbrellas

I love umbrellas. 

Like no other.

Maybe because I associate them with the jubilant years of my early schooldays. 

Each year, besides the usual Mongol pencil, box of Crayola, paste, and ruled paper all stashed in a brand-new bag, I also had an umbrella.

Mum wanted me to preserve my fair-skin looks so she had me use the umbrella on sunny days. And, of course, she didn't want me to get even a speck of rain on me on those rainy days. Thus, the ubiquitous umbrella. 

Weird, but that was how it was.

For sure, I looked forward to what my umbrella would look like. Perhaps, light green with white stripes for a change? But Mum always chose a pink one with flowers for me, a joyous splash of color on those gray, rainy days when I walked on Fountain Street toward Geronimo. 

I would curl my hands around its curved handle, thinking, The wind is trying to make it fly.

To this day, each time I hold one in my hand, I cannot help but grin.

The rhythm of rain upon the umbrella reminds me of younger days when I would be on the street, wooden clogs splashing the puddles. 

When it made me feel as if I were rising high regardless of the weather, destined to rise above and watch the clouds below. 

 

Touch

Try To Remember

Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts. - Charles Dickens

I've heard it said. I can be coldhearted at times. 

My rationale?

I'm not against showing emotions, but there's a time and a place. More so, as my strongest feelings had expired when ignored and taken for granted in the past, I feel that it's the best way to safeguard my heart from re-living the hurt.

But I do care.

All I need is a change from a near frigid to a tropical state of mind. I tell myself that I'll strive to make my life like an open fireplace so that people may be warmed and cheered by it.

I'll remember to open my mind. Realize that I can touch others in all the right places without physical touching. 

Recall that alternatively, touch can be physical affection, skin on skin. Intimacy. When you get weird with someone and find that it's okay.

Maybe I can get the knack of physically reaching out and taking someone's hand. Or, allow someone to take mine. I do remember how a long time ago, being touched like that felt like millions of tiny universes being born and then dying in the space between someone's finger and my skin.

I can start small. Get down pat being chummy with those who don't see my imperfections.

Some angels choose fur instead of wings. - Anonymous

Communicate. Interact and touch the miracle of being alive.

Be present. 

I'll try to remember...

And when I remember, I'll follow.

 

It's Libra Season!

Try To Remember

I'm such a Libra, it's not even funny my sign represents me so well. - Cardi B

In 1974, McDonald’s hamburger cost 28 cents, and a hot apple pie was 26 cents. Also, candy consumers first tasted the rainbow of fruit flavors with Skittles’ hard sugar shells. 

The biggest scandal that hit the US? Yep, it happened that year when Richard Nixon was forced to resign as President after the Watergate scandal.

So, what else transpired in 1974?

I've never been up on the news, but I do know of a single significant event that happened, specifically on September 28, that overshadowed all these.

My rainbow was born.

Two favorite characters of mine in a childhood book were Doreen and Iris. I wanted to be called Doreen, but Mum chose to nickname me Doris instead. 

As for the name Iris, I told myself, Some day, there is going to be an Iris in my life. I just knew there was something especial about that moniker, as I learned some years later in a high school mythology class that it was an appellation for the rainbow goddess. 

That some day came some 49 years ago.

And I try to remember...

The zodiac says that as a Libra, my Iris will exhibit the energy of balance, harmony, and justice.

Represented by the scales, she will strive to maintain equilibrium.

Maybe so, but she is much more. 

Since that time when I realized snuggling with me on the rocking chair might be the last time together before she wasn't a baby anymore, my Iris has grown to be strong, spirited, and beautiful - inside and out.

She lives by the sun and loves by the moon.

Peachy Toes

She has a quiet and sweet side, as well as a fun and crazy side. 

Yes, she's just a normal young woman, but way cooler. 

Wine is the divine juice of September. - Voltaire

I'd drink to that!

What do you say? Let's celebrate. 

It's Libra season!

Happy birthday to 

my September sweetheart!

 

Tastes

Try To Remember 

Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.

 - Ruth Reichl

This blog is not about taste of success, taste in ideas, or matters of taste. It is literally, taste. The sensation of flavor perceived in the mouth and throat on contact with a substance.

Like the unique pungency from chili peppers and locally-produced yak cheese in Bhutan's signature ema dashi dish.

The sweetness of baklava, a popular pastry of Ottoman cuisine in Morocco; and the rich creaminess from three layers of milk in tres leches from Costa Rica and Mexico.

The ambrosial delectability of many other dishes savored in the course of my international travels comes to mind but, interestingly, what has always been on the forefront in my taste memoirs is one that's neither gourmet nor exotic. 

That of a slice of warm, flaky and sweet apple pie smothered in Rocky Road.

Tasting it for the first time in a small cafe on Cubao Street, I recall that it looked simple.

Unpretentious.

Its principal filling ingredient was...well... apples. With a bare sprinkling of cinnamon. Its topping was not fancy. Creamy chocolate ice cream with chewy marshmallows, crunchy almonds, and flecks of chocolate.

I remember its overwhelmingly fresh, bright, clean flavor. The playful pairing between the tartness of apples and the sweetness of a frozen concoction. It was pert, even chill.

I remember the moment. The company. 

Ah, yes.. My own Michelin star in dessert. So exquisite. 

And I try to remember.

The taste that brands a memory on my soul.