HALSEMA HIGHWAY SIGHTS

Teaching is a very rewarding experience that it is not work at all. And you get paid to "not work!" But university life has its moments of drudgery, I suppose, especially for people who spend most of their time in school. Too much play, like too much work, can bore Jack and Jill.

And so in October 2008, members of the faculty of St. Louis University's Department of Political Science and Social Sciences traveled to Mt.Province. We were with Dr. Joyce Fernandez, our favorite Associate Dean and Prof. Jose Alangwawi, our Department Head.

We started from Baguio City at past 3:00 A.M. It was a good decision because we witnessed the break of sunrise along Halsema Highway.

The colors were not the same everywhere. In one part, there would be more blues than orange-reds. In another, there would be more hues of yellow-orange.

But that is the beauty of nature- it is not always the same, but it is always breathtaking.

IN THE LAUGHTER OF A CHILD (II)

Whenever I see my bashful baby smile in delight without restraint, my heart leaps. It leaps even more when I know that I contributed to the cause of her happiness. You see, working mothers with so very little time on their hands must suffer from such huge guilt complex over their inability to spend as much time with their children. I know the feeling. So I cherish every time I have with my baby girl. While at work, it gives me relief from stress to remember her mirth.

When I took Gawani to a vacation in China, Hongkong and Macau for almost two weeks last October to November, she was very happy. Although she had a few tantrums which is normal for a baby her age, she was a very amiable vacation companion. Since she is now a very good reader, she took charge of reading the maps and made decisions as to where we should or should not go.

Every time we would go to a place, she would ask me if I ever took her two older siblings (Dinney and Lugat) there. If I answered in the negative, she would say, "Mommy, let us take some pictures here." When we returned home, she would say to the brother and sister: "We went to (this or that place) and you never went there."

My bedimpled daughter is truly a thing of beauty and a joy. Forever.

BEAUTY IN THE LAUGHTER OF A CHILD

 Gawani in the Shenzhen Safari 

Gawani in Disneyland

                                                      Gawani in Ocean Park

What could be more gratifyingly beautiful than the laughter of a child who appreciates what little thing you did for him or her?

My baby, Kathlea Francynn Gawani, rewarded me with such laughter when I took her to an almost two-week vacation. In spite of my misgivings about the "disneyfication" of our children's consciousness and the dangers it can cause, I took her to Disneyland -Hongkong. We also took a trip to China. She had a swell time.

My baby is a neglected one. I am a busy person and she has to fit into my schedule (Hah, imagine saying that your own child has to fit into your schedule as if she is an agenda!?!). I am sure she savored every moment I was with her, when she was the focus of every bit of my attention.

This is something beautiful, don't you think?

AUTUMN: BEAUTY BEFORE DEATH

Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Photo by Cheryl Daytec)

Suddenly, the green leaves metamorphose into red or yellow or a combination of several colors. It sure is a delight watching the beautiful uprising of shades. The irony though is that the leaves looking more vibrant than they could ever be or we could ever hope them to be are gasping for their last breath, awaiting their fall.

I envy autumn leaves. We humans can only hope to be our most beautiful before we join the earth.


Let me share you a poem I wrote about autumn:

Beauty Before Death

Trees dance with colors like discotheque lights
through mists of white descending from the heavens
The light about to travel to another world hesitates,
begs for more time to kiss the vivid autumn shades
like a thirsty traveler who cannot drink enough from
the spring of sweet water in the heart of the desert
But it must go and its farewell walk alters the landscape
Into another dazzling form that holds my gaze
There is an orange fire in the sky, that seems to herald
A gaiety of every form blessed with magnificence
But tomorrow, the leaves cleaving to the proud twigs
Will tumble stupefied on expectant dull earth
Multihued petals will drop down on a pile of decay
In every corner frozen branches and twigs will cling
To the trunks like the near-dead rejecting the grave
Trees will stand like ghosts too unhappy to haunt

For now let me stay mesmerized by the sight before me
With Mont Le Blanc ahead and Lake Geneva behind
Let me forget that this soul-entrancing beauty
Is a flamboyant prelude to the colors’ sad demise.

AUTUMN: A RIOT OF COLORS

Montreaux (The Jazz City), Switzerland. The lake in the background is Lac Leman. (Photo by Cheryl Daytec)

At this time in my own Baguio City, Philippines, it is raining in the afternoons. No problem with that. At least, I get free water for my garden. In some parts of the world, people are enjoying a riot of colors in the surroundings while they shiver in the cold.

Autumn (or fall to the Americans) never happens in the Philippines which has only the wet and dry season. How do I best describe this magical moment? Perhaps sharing pictures of autumn will do the job best.

Zuerich, Switzerland (Photo by Fred Labfayong)
Geneva, Switzerland (Photo by Cheryl Daytec)

Santis, Appenzell, Switzerland (Photo by Cheryl Daytec)

AND THE GRASS STAND PROUD

I took these pictures outside the Cagayan Provincial Jail.

ISABELA SUNRISE

Last time, I posted pictures of an Isabela sunset. This time, I am posting pictures of an Isabela sunrise. The pictures were taken more than a week after I captured that Isabela sunset with my Samsung camera.