Sounds

Try To Remember 

Each memory has a soundtrack of its own. - Anonymous

It's all about sound. It's that simple.

The noise of rumbling Marikina buses, street noises at night, the rustle of dry leaves burning in a bonfire.

Crunching pan de sal, the creaking bed spring of my blue bed.

Nat King Cole's silky rendition of Autumn Leaves. The train whistle from a long way off. The sound of rain on the galvanized iron rooftop of our home in the compound.

It can be a secret sound, the real sound which is inside you.

Sounds whispered, soul-to-soul, in silence. Never-heard of, yet the silence contains all the sounds, all the words.

These are some of the motley sounds that I like to follow, even as they grow fainter in the far-off, lonely places of my mind each day. 

In listening to them, perhaps I can hear my soul.

Smells

Try To Remember 

The sense of smell is the hair-trigger of memory. - Mary Stewart

Smell is such a potent wizard.

It can transport you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived. 

In my childhood house, I remember the musky scent of Auntie Luchie's carnation flowers in the front garden. The sweet refreshing aroma, much like honey, of the sampaguita wafting from outside the living room window.

It can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up merienda afternoons. To this day, if I smell fried bananas, I'm like Pavlov's dog. My mouth starts watering immediately like, Yummy. Gooey, cinnamony turon! 

The sense of smell can be extraordinarily evocative, bringing back pictures as sharp as photographs of scenes that had left the conscious mind. A boating trip at the Burnham Park Lagoon that surrounds you with a pine forest exuding the mellow odor of vanilla and pineapple. Or a chimichanga dinner with its bold and spicy smell competing with the hellish fumes of Phoenix in summer.

Nothing revives the past so completely as a smell that was once associated with it. Perhaps, the scent of someone that you know and someone that you love. The scent of air. Solid and alive.

All these I try to remember.

Scents as old as the world. 

The hundred aromas of a thousand places. 

Images

Try To Remember

 It's funny what you hold on to, the things you remember when everything ends. - Anonymous

I love those random memories that make me smile no matter what is going on in my life at the moment. 

Inspired by the nostalgic song Try to Remember from the musical The Fantasticks, this series is a recollection of my best things when life was low, and oh, so mellow - images that have been embedded in my mind, evocative smells, sounds, rousing memories of a certain taste, the poignant remembrance of a touch. 

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There was a time when I remembered things quickly and easily. Now, not so much.

I have had to dig through the bottom of my crammed adult closet for those especial moments, unforgettable experiences, and cheerful celebrations with people who matter to me. 

So many of them.

I try to remember. 

Birthdays, re-connecting with loved ones...

Family vacations, yuletide, crafting for Easter...

School events, May Day, recital prep days...

Too tired to sleep, 

too sleepy to hooman.

Then and now in Hawaii...

How did they grow so fast?

Missions, gorging on ramen...

The only thing I like better than talking about food is eating.

I remember things that fill my heart without their trying.

Unexpected moments that become my best memories.

Azul nestled in his coffee can house...

Priscilla with her green eyes, purring...

Chip the chipmunk atop his tunneled home in the sandbox, hoarding a piece of Papa Johns pizza in his mouth...

Lexi cuddling with her new favorite squishy-mallow friend, Matt...

Beau Bean snuggly tucked into his hemp bedding...

The surprise of a blue robin egg.

A scapular from the Mission Church.
Tucson: 2022 

Even as I recollect the good times, I also remember the sadness. Images of people who have walked in and walked out of my life.

I remember being saved by grace when I succeeded, but I remember it much more when I failed.

It is said that as you get older, three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two.

At least, I can still hang out or talk with old friends from high school and say, Remember when?

More so, thank God for photographs.

Perhaps, in the sunset of my life, they will help me remember.

Sunset on Waikiki Beach. Photo: VEV, Hawaii: 2023

"Trees"

Trees 

For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Indeed. 

Trees represent age and beauty and the miracles of life and growth. Thus, I end this series with Joyce Kilmer's classic lyric poem Trees. I used to sing it in my elementary school class.

Dog wood In Spring.
Photo: VEV, Columbus: 2022

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

Maple Ash in Summer. Photo: ATV, Columbus: 2022

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Dogwood In Winter. Photo: VEV, Columbus: 2022

Apple Picking In The Fall. Photos: ITV, Lynd Fruit Farm, Columbus: 2022

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

BANYAN TREE

Trees

Eleven days ago, on August 8, this was in the news:

Devastating fire rips through Maui; sparks concerns about beloved banyan 

And subsequently:

More than 100 killed, 1000 still unaccounted for 

How strange and sadly coincidental that I had written this blog way back on June 15 and scheduled it for posting today, August 19.

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If walking by Kuhio Beach in Waikiki, you see an odd-looking massive tree and you’re like, What is that? - then you may just have seen a banyan.

Banyan. Photo: VEV, Waikiki: 2022

Or if you were in Maui, strolling along the Lahaina Court Park that is shaded by a canopy of trees reaching upward to a height of 60 feet, you’d probably think, A whole bunch of trees.

Actually, it is one BIG banyan that has grown sixteen major trunks in addition to its original trunk in the center, all connected together.

Daughters Dwarfed By Giant Banyan.
Lahaina, Maui, 1981

Awesome!

Well, here are a few amazing facts about the banyan, in general.

It's a strangler tree.

It grows from seeds that land on other trees. It sends down roots that smother the host tree and grow into stout, branch-supporting pillars that resemble new tree trunks.

It's gigantic.

The biggest one alive today is in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It covers 4.7 acres and can shelter 20,000 people.

It is many-footed and can walk.

Unlike other trees that have to stay rooted, the banyan actually moves forward slowly with every new trunk it puts out.

It's cosmic.

Hindu texts written more than 2500 years ago describe a banyan growing upside-down with its roots in the heavens. Its trunk and branches extend to Earth to bring blessings to humanity.

 Lahaina Banyan Revisited. 2018

It is considered God's shelter.

In Hinduism, the tree is considered a symbol of immortality and of Brahma the Creator. Its large leaves are often used in worship and rituals. 

Hindus say a banyan tree at Jyotisar is the one Krishna stood beneath when he delivered the sermon of the Bhagavad Gita.

It's been called the tree of life and fertility.

With its unique ability to spread in an ever-widening circle with the help of its aerial roots, the tree achieves a long lifespan

And finally, be on the lookout.

It could be haunted.

According to Hindu mythology, the banyan tree provides shelter to ghosts and other supernatural beings.

Today, the most haunting thought that remains is one of endurance and survival.

To the people of Maui and to the mighty banyan, I invoke the sentiment of this Japanese proverb:

 Fall down seven times, get up eight.

My rallying cry:

HO‘OMAU

Persist. Continue. Perpetuate. Never give up.

"August"

Trees

 From little seeds grow mighty trees. - Anonymous

You may have heard of a tree being planted to commemorate especial occasions.

This one grew by itself.

A gift from heaven.

Perhaps delivered by a black-capped chickadee.

It sprouted on our back yard right around the month that Second Granddaughter was born, eleven years ago. 

Since that time, it has put forth more leaves and flourished, seemingly growing in tandem with the baby girl.

A couple of years back, as we noted the tree's progress and shared the story with Second Granddaughter, she thought, then said, I'll name it "August."

A Pre-Teen Smirk.

Photo: ITV, Columbus: February, 2023

So it is that "August," which has since then grown taller exponentially, has become her birthday tree...

... here celebrating their eleven years together next Friday. 

Second Granddaughter with her birthday tree, "August," a Sweet Buckeye tree. Columbus: July 2023

Cold Shoulder Top, Fourth Grade School Pic. February 2023

Cheers to you two! Here's a wish that's bright and sunny, filled with love and happiness in every way!

Be like a tree.

Stay grounded.

Connect with your roots.

Bend before you break.

Can you spot the little girl atop this gigantic tree?

Tree House. Children's Museum. Indianapolis: 2023

And most of all,

keep

growing.

Tree Frolic With Cousins.

Hawaii: August 2022 

           Hibachi Birthday Dinner. Fujiyawa Steakhouse of Japan. Ohio: 2023

Pizza Time! Swim party. Plain Township Aquatic Center. August 2023

Nezuko-Adorned Bday Cake

You gave me what??!! Awesome!

SpongeBob Popsicles - A Fitting End To A Really Cool Day!

ALAGAO

Trees

Maybe in our world there lives a happy little tree over there. - Bob Ross

Dirt, mud, puddles, sticks, and tadpoles?

Oh, yeah.

In the original family compound garden on Fountain Street, I had them all - and more. 

Beetles, hairy spiders, and piglet bugs to stash in a matchbox. Dragonflies hiding in covert places in the overgrown talahib grass. Squiggly catfish in the back canal across from Aling Binay's house.

But what always fascinated me were trees, maybe because I had been surrounded by them all through my childhood days. They are, as Khalil Gibran says, poems that earth writes upon the sky.

So, I'll talk about some of these in this series.

Do you know what an alagao tree is?

Nondescript, small, and hairy, it was the source of what to me at the time was my most creative venture.

I didn't know then that its seeds were considered effective for lowering cholesterol and increasing blood circulation.

Or that its raw leaves could be used to wrap up ingredients the way a tortilla or fresh lumpia wrapper was used.

I did know I could make beautiful colored ink from its fleshy, dark purple, round seeds.

The process  was straightforward. It didn't require the use of any special equipment. Here was how I did it.

1. Gather the alagao berries

2. Place a few berries into a strainer

3. Crush the berries until they have all been squeezed into juice

4. Use the ink

How's that for a sustainable and biodegradable ink? 

I was channeling how ancient civilizations made colorful dyes from natural pigments. 

Genius, don't you think?