Clouds

The sight of you tells

my heart of cotton candies

claws, clowns, and cats.

The 2nd Tallest Man Alive

God always has a way of catching our attention.

Sometimes He makes us feel little. During such moments, He pinpoints our weaknesses not really to belittle us, but for us to remember that there is always someone bigger, greater and mightier than us. That way, we wouldn’t have to rely on our own strength nor to believe too much in ourselves as if we could live only on our own. Those are the times when we have to look up.

At other times, He makes us feel tall. He showers us with too many blessings, praises, friends and awards, not always because we deserve them, but sometimes because He wants to remind us that life is more about giving than receiving. Those are the times when we need to kneel down.

Here are a few photos that literally show what I mean.

Ijaz Ahmed at Manila Zoo

Ijaz is a Pakistani who maybe feeling tall at 8 feet 4 inches, but I’m telling you, his height doesn’t make him proud at all. In fact, he is shown here having his photos taken with Manila Zoo’s visitors because he needs financial help. He suffers from an orthopaedic problem that afflicted his right leg after he underwent surgery for a hip-bone fracture. News reports said he needs $50,000 to correct his condition.

A photo for a cause

Let’s hope and pray Ijaz would get the medical attention he needs.

Living anew

Each year, we welcome the first of January with a bang, a dozen or so of old and new resolutions plus a hundred of traditions that would “as old sayings say” bring good luck.

My family’s not spared from these. For years I’ve seen my mom preparing a polka-dot duster to wear and a number of round fruits for the table while I and my siblings await the New Year’s eve jump that was supposed to make us tall.

As the years passed, I’ve noticed that the dotted dusters came but were only given much importance on New Years. The fruits were eaten and forgotten, while the jumps seemed to confuse than to amaze us because only my brothers became taller even though they ignored the tradition.

More than these, I realized that each year comes to present itself as a circle of people and events which, like history, never fails to repeat itself. The same seems more evident in our government’s affair where issues focus mainly on our leaders’ blunders and how by turn of fate such unspeakable mistakes are put on hold and consequently erased when celebrity news such as “Pacman wins” snatches justice away from our people.

As if national news weren’t enough, we’d hear bombings from distant places like Gaza echoing a constant cry for survival and normal life. While we see these mad portrayals on tv and read each issue on the paper, something still whispers a thought in my ear – while for a greater number of us life is as easy as choosing the best polka-dot duster in town, there are still quite a number that lives without any options at all.

This year, my family stepped into a new way of celebrating New Year. It’s a great change. Although simple, it created a fantastic memory. I hope that our country, if not the whole world, would see life and living differently, for a better year.

Change is inevitable so let it be a good one.

Happy New Year everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Sun Time: A Picture Story

If I remember it right, one of my college professors taught me and my nursing school classmates that sunlight is a Vit. D precursor, which means our body needs sunlight in order for it to absorb Vit. D. I really don’t know if my mom, my mother-in-law and all my married aunts had any idea about Vit. D precursors but there’s one thing they know – it’s good to expose a baby or a child to the morning sun between 7:00 – 8:00 am. They said the practice helps babies grow strong. Well, then, here’s Arvid and Dade Dave in the sun!

Dade, what's behind us?

So this is a shadow! I wonder how I could catch up with it?

Huhuhu, Dade and Mame, I'm tired na po. Can I just catch dragonflies instead?

Pictures are worth a thousand words, and so they said. As such, it is but a great practice to keep them not only in good condition but also with wonderful and thrilling stories to tell!

Enjoy a sunny day!