Flying over the crater of Mt Mayon

Wonder if a woman is of your kind, 

beautiful when calm and coy.

Photos and Poem by Dr Abe V Rotor

Closest I could get a photo of the crater with ordinary lens on a Zest airplane 

October 19, 2011, 2 pm.from Manila to Virac, Catanduanes .

Landscape view, seconds after taking the first photo above.

               Surrounding landscapes: forested area, farmlands and settlements.

Beautiful Mayon, what's inside you?

I peeped within distance at your breath,

And a wisp of cloud veiled your beauty,

and oh, the warmth of your hearth.

Wonder if a woman is of your kind

Beautiful when calm and coy;

Within lies her strength, or her ire,

Her fit when wanting of joy. ~

20 Famous quotations of famous novelists to live by

" There are quotations which reflect the writer and his story, immortalizing famous novels in the like of "the singer and the song."  

Selected and compiled 

By Dr Abe V Rotor 

A novel is long story (which differentiates it from short story). It is a narrative fiction normally in prose and published as a book. The novel has about two thousand years of history, originating from classical Greece and Rome. The versatility of media today has transformed  reading the novel to viewing it on the screen.  With TV and the computer one can enjoy his favorite novel in the living room - or anywhere with his iPhone - at his convenience. This "shortcut" loses much of the essence, including the theme and message of the story. The beauty and power of words are also underestimated, save certain quotations that reflect the story and the writer, immortalizing famous novels in the like of "the singer and the song."    

"Only a mediocre person is always at his best." Somerset Maugham 

Dr Jose Rizal is author of the Philippine most famous novels Noli Me Tangera and El Filibusterismo 

"The victor belongs   to the spoils." F. Scott Fitzgerald  

Prose is architecture, not interior decoration.
– Ernest Hemingway

To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.

– Herman Melville 

Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short.
– Henry David Thoreau

Poetry creates the myth, the prose writer draws its portrait.
– Jean-Paul Sartre

The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience.”
-Leo Tolstoy

People do not deserve to have good writing, they are so pleased with bad.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.
– William Faulkner

It is the writer who might catch the imagination of young people, and plant a seed that will flower and come to fruition.

– Isaac Asimov

The work never matches the dream of perfection the artist has to start with.

– William Faulkner

Begin with an individual, and before you know it you have created a type; begin with a type, and you find you have created – nothing.

– F. Scot Fitzgerald

A wounded deer leaps the highest.

– Emily Dickinson

Only in men’s imagination does every truth find an effective and undeniable existence. Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life.

– Joseph Conrad

Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.
– Edgar Rice Burroughs

Anecdotes don’t make good stories. Generally I dig down underneath them so far that the story that finally comes out is not what people thought their anecdotes were about.
– Alice Munro

Words are a lens to focus one’s mind.
– Ayn Rand

My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying.
– Anton Chekhov

I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose.

– Stephen King.

Swarms of bees, locusts, gnats and other organisms fill the imagination with awe and fear. Is the swarming gene also inherent in humans?

 Biologically swarming is essentially a social act enabling members of a colony to share genes with others belonging to the same species but different colonies. 
Dr Abe V Rotor 

Nature has so timed swarming to occur simultaneously in order to enhance gene sharing which is vital to the survival of the species, otherwise in-breeding within the colony is perpetuated like brothers, sisters, marrying each other.

Anti-pork barrel scam rally at the Rizal Park.  People are drawn together for a common cause - the key to social reform.

 Annual migration of monarch butterflies down Mexico and Central America to escape winter in the north.  Ants on the run in search for food, reminiscent of the biblical story.  
 A kind of swarming is also observed among coelenterates (corals). At a given precise time, eggs and sperms are released into the water in countless numbers, and there fertilization takes place, the resulting zygotes becoming minute hydras that will soon attach themselves to become new corals. In certain islands in the Pacific ghost crabs crowd the shorelines and beaches during a particular period of the year at a certain phase of the moon, and there mating takes place in a kind of orgy. The gravid females then shake off their eggs in the water where they will soon hatch and initially become zooplanktons. Very few of these survive to maturity. 

Swarming among winged termites (simut-simut Ilk.) is perhaps the most romantic, in fact it is called nuptial flight because in the sweltering night air lovers meet, and then they descend and seal their vows. The couple seeks a suitable place where they will establish a colony. 

Swarm of migratory locust

Swarms of gamu-gamu (gnats and midges) become nuisance to communities in sheer number, swarms of locust destroy fields of standing crops overnight, swarms of bees, especially the African bees, may send a whole community to abandon homes and belongings. In the bible King Solomon halted his troop to let an army of ants pass by. This could be the kind of ants we know that invade homes and schools, and there are killer ants that destroy everything on their path. 
Old folks attribute swarming to several reasons which science has tried to explain scientifically. 
Jellyfish swarming along beaches is disastrous to the fishing industry and tourism. 
• Swarming is a seasonal occurrence dictated by a biological clock, and therefore timed with the life cycle of the species. (e.g. termites and ants). This kind of swarming occurs regularly to a particular species. 

• Certain organisms such as locusts - Locusta migratoria manilensis -  (photo) are driven by necessity to gather into a swarm. Small groups first congregate where food is available and then coalesce into huge numbers, mating and reproducing along the way, before turning into migratory swarms. This kind of swarming though unpredictable has historical records in a place. It often jibes with the occurrence of widespread drought or with the El Niño phenomenon.

• Ecological imbalance may lead to swarming such as the case of gamu-gamu swarming on Laguna Bay in the sixties. Over fishing in the lake triggered a population explosion of gnats which constitute the main food of fish. Thus swarming is an indicator of the conditions happening in an ecosystem. 

Much of what we know about the subject can’t sufficiently explain pathological conditions where bacteria suddenly burst in numbers, or how fungi all of a sudden grow over an entire forest floor. Why do people move to cities? Why did the Israelites turn to the golden calf, a symbol of fertility, after their deliverance from Egypt? Do we harbor the genes for swarming called orgy?

Is urbanization a kind of swarming? (Acknowledgement: Internet photos, Wikipedia)

Ullaw (Kite) - Haiku in Ilokano

Dr Abe V Rotor

Mural and Verse by Abe V Rotor

Kimat, gurruod:
Panagbuteng, panag-raem,
Igges, u’ong.

(Lightning, thunder spawn fear and respect,
vermin and mushroom)

Angin ammianan,
Kannaway agsangpetdan,
Nepnep umayen.

(Wind from the South brings in herons and monsoon rains)

Agkankanta
'Diay kakawkawayanan,
Angin abagatan.

[The north wind (amihan) makes the bamboos creak.]

Denggem ti kanta:
Arado nga sumilsilap,
Andidit ken kuriat.

(Listen to the chorus of plowshare, cicada and crickets, indicating good crop year.)

Ullaw nasapa,
Ubbing agkakatawa,
Umpes ti dawa.

(Early kite flying and boisterous urchins predict empty grains.)

Bangir inaladan,
Sanga marmargu-uyan,
Amin mairaman.

(All shares bounty of a branch across the fence.)

Agbarbaraniw,
Nagatud nga nasapa,
Gumurgura.

(Early pruning retards growth of the plant.)

Makaguyugoy,
Pul-oy iti mumalmalem,
Sirok mangga.

(It’s conducive to take siesta under the mango tree.)

Minuyungan,
Agri-ing dagiti bittuen,
Maturugen

(Stars are seen under bare trees in fall.)

Agawidkan,
Bulong ti akasia
Nakaturugen.

(It’s time to go home when the leaves of the acacia tree start to droop.)

Kalgaw nalpasen:
Saan nga masapulan
Lapis ken papel.

(Summer is over - it's hard to go back to school.)

x x x

Talisay - Autumn Tree of the Tropics

Dr Abe V Rotor

Talisay tree (Terminalia catappa)
sheds its leaves as the cold winds 
from Siberia blows in to herald the 
the start of the Amihan Season








Two seasons have we in the tropics
but the talisay makes it three -
fall between habagat and amihan,
when the world is tired and free.

unburdens the tree her toil in the sun,
its  deciduous  crown once or twice
and builds a new one every time;
indeed nature is keen and wise. 

I need not fathom the mystery  
that keeps the world young though old.
in her nakedness I see heaven
on a litter of red and gold. ~

Filipino Traditions and Customs Illustrated

Paintings and Drawing of Leo Carlo R Rotor 

Dr Abe V Rotor

All Saints Day

November 1 is a special day worldwide, a church tradition since early Christian time, in remembering the dead.  It is celebrated by visiting their tomb, quite often with the ambiance of family get together and picnic. It is Halloween in the western world, with its religious significance balanced with to the lighter side of modern life.

Harana

Harana is a traditional Filipino serenade of Spanish origin, a courtship in song with guitar accompaniment in a "Romeo and Juliet" setting.  The suitor is accompanied by friends, pleads for the the girl to open the window and listen to the harana.  The most popular harana song is O, Ilaw (Oh, Light). Asa an endangered art the harana clings precariously to its traditional roots in the remote rural communities. 

Ash Wednesday

"From dust you came, and to dust you shall return," humbles the human being of his temporal existence on earth, cautioning him against excesses in affluence and power, and that nothing material can save him but by the acceptance of his Creator of the meaning for which he has lived.

Domingo de Ramos 

Palm Sunday is the start of the Holy Week when Christ entered the city of Jerusalem. The harvesting of young leaves of coconut and other palm trees in making palaspas, costs millions of pesos loss in the coconut industry and in the destruction of other trees among them the cycad or oliva, considered as living fossils.  

Pahiyas 

Pahiyas is a celebration in honor of San Isidro, patron saint of farmers and workers, every May 15 in Lucban, Quezon.  It is an agricultural festival likened to the Greek's harvest festival in honor of the Goddess Ceres, an important tourist attraction, but losing much of its original significance. Pahiyas is unique in its colorful and artful decorations made of kiping (leaf shape rice wafer), with houses competing and vying for handsome prizes.  

Araw ng Kalayaan

Philippine Independence Day was moved during President Diosdado Macapagal's time from July 4 (co-celebration with US Independence ) to June 12, the day the country gained independence from Spain in 1898, but it was short-lived when Spain ceded the country to the US and placed it under Commonwealth rule. Re-enactment of June 12 independence is held at Kawit Cavite at the residence and shrine of the first and controversial president of the First Republic of the Philippines, Emilio Aguinaldo.

Grotto 

A shrine in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the grotto is a replica of the Grotto of Lourdes in France where a miracle took place when 14-year old Bernadette witnessed the first and subsequent apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1858. The grotto is perhaps the most copied shrine in the Christian world, proliferating in home gardens, church yards, retreat centers, catholic schools, and other establishments.  

Fluvial parade 

Fluvial parade venerating the Blessed Virgin Mary is a grand celebration in Bocaue (Bulacan) and Peñafrancia (Bicol). Humble celebrations such as this, is far from being frivolous (bongga).  Fluvial parades draws thousands of people of all walks of life, and tragedies are not uncommon such as the sinking of the fluvial ferryboat in Bocaue and the collapse of a bridge in Peñafrancia some years ago.

Procession 

Procession of religious icons is an important activity of the church. The Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of Christ (the most venerated and celebrated woman in the Christian World) is honored on two occasion: her feast day, Immaculate Conception (December 8), and Assumption of the Virgin Mary to heaven (August 15.

Parol (Christmas Lantern)

Traditional Christmas lanterns or parol grace homes and establishments, the star representing a universal message of peace and hope. Pampanga leads the country's art in making beautiful and giant lanterns, attracting many tourists come Yuletide Season, and opening a new export which makes Philippine parol famous in the world. ~ 

Halloween Tip: Say tabi-tabi when entering a thicket.

Scary scenes in the Woods 
Dr Abe V Rotor
 Living with Nature School on Blog

A scary grove of leafless frangipani, Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches, QC 

Respect the ghosts and spirits
When walking on untrodden trail,
Or beating a path to nowhere,
Unreached by mail or far from rail.
If you wait 'til the sun goes down,
And home you aim before dark you bid;
Then take the route through the thickets
Say tabi-tabi as old folks did. ~

Tabi-tabi in Tagalog, bari-bari in Iloko, is a courteous word to let one pass in an unknown territory."

There’s no harm in believing in it, and practicing it. It warns any would-be attacker such as a snake, or any helpless creature to give way. It is good to be conscious and cautious in an unknown territory. Uttering the word is building self-courage. Keep within hearing distance if you are in company.

Giants mingle with the spirits, too, on Halloween

There are friendly giants, ugly giants, sleeping giants, giants of the deep, forest, fields, and at home and school, notwithstanding. 
Dr Abe V Rotor

Bigfoot. Children who saw giants - real or imaginary -
made better in life than those who did not.

Giants fascinate children most, and mothers do not run out of stories about the kapre or Jack and the Beanstalk or the giant squid that attacked Captain Nemo’s submarine in Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea to keep them at home or eat their vegetables.

Giants to the young mind are living creatures bigger than life, and they possess supernatural powers that they unleash either for good or evil.

There are friendly giants, ugly giants, sleeping giants, giants of the deep, and so on.

They are either aggressive or passive, visible or hidden, loved and hated. It is the enigma about them that heightens their stories, and in fact the stories themselves make them real giants.

Here are popular giants from books and stories, which are often featured in comics and cartoons:

• Nessie in Loch Ness (Scotland) is believed to be a prehistoric reptile. It continues to attract tourists, even after a century after someone took a photo of the monsters on the murky water.

• Bigfoot is believed to be a huge hairy creature roaming the forests of North America. It is projected as a prehistoric man with beast like characteristics.

• Abominable Snowman or Yeti has been sighted on a number of occasions by residents on the snowy slopes of the Himalayas.

• Kapre is the Filipino version of a supernatural being, more of a beast than human, that lives in trees and abandoned places.

Giants in fiction stories and novels are virtually endless.

• Take the case of Gulliver of Lilliput by Jonathan Swift. King Kong the ape monster that crushed cares and leveled buildings.

• Greek mythology would not be as exciting if there were no giants. Giants made Hercules a legendary hero. Imagine the giants he fought - the cyclop, the hydra, among others, during his ten years of wandering. Remember the Minotaur - half man, half bull - whom Theseus killed in order to liberate the monster's hostages?

• How big was Goliath in the bible whom the boy hero, David slew?

• Then we have our own Bernardo Carpio, and Angalo, most popular Philippine epics.

• A favorite bedtime story is Jake and Beanstalk. I wonder how the story can lull children to sleep - specially when the giant comes crushing down to earth!

• Recently Honey I Shrunk the Kidsand its opposite - Honey I Blew Up the Baby became cinema's box office attractions.

Well, children who saw giants - real or imaginary - made better in life than those who did not. ~

TRIVIA: What is the biggest living creature that ever lived on earth? It this creature still alive? Send your answer. Welcome to the club!

Home, Sweet Home with Nature, AVR; acknowledgment, Wikipedia for illustration.

The Eyes of Nature

,Painting and Poem by Abe V Rotor 

Eyes in the Forest, acrylic painting on canvas (60" x 44"), by AVR May 8, 2012

Details: Young adventurers in full gear prepare to penetrate the forest; emergent tree rises to a hundred feet surpassing the canopy layer. A nest is perched on the top, with a mother hawk attending to her young. A pair of deer, a pair of tarsier, a coiled boa constrictor, gecko lizard, are among the many creatures hidden and camouflaged.

The Eyes of Nature

Many eyes are looking at me here with Nature;

By day and night, beneath and atop a tree.

They're scary, they're mean, they're sleepy, 

And how do I look to them seeing me?

Wink and they wink, close and they do, too.

Quick the flashlight, and they disappear;

Can eyes exist alone, like stars in the sky?

I wonder if these eyes are like stars to cheer.  

Yes, the fireflies have lamps that flicker,

The moth and butterfly have wing spots

Like monstrous eyes to stave off predator,

And cave dwellers glow in rows and knots. 

The fish in the stream is silver in the moonlight,

As bubbles rise to the surface and sparkle,

The owl rarely blinks, no creature dare around,

Its infrared vision indeed a marvel.

Raindrops falling make a thousand eyes

Life they bring to the rainbow, borrowing

its colors glow, and sparkle as they drop,

reborn with the light of the river flowing. 

Mushrooms are phosphorescent, they glow,

while others absorb light for future use;

Ah, boast the snake, I can freeze you to fall,

An eagle swoops, there's no excuse.

Petals attract a pollinator in the night

Crickets shine when won by a song,

Seeds pop out to meet the rising sun,

And the sun shines happily all along. 

 

Eyes, eyes, eyes, - for us to see the world, 

And all eyes the world is bound;

In our sleep, in the deep forest and ocean,

Eyes make the world go round. ~ 

Note: How many creatures are there in this painting? Count and show their location. It's a game, and there is a prize for the keenest eye. Painting for Ms Jolly-Ann M Castro and Family. California. USA

Capture Light Moments of Nature with the Camera

The camera is perhaps the greatest personal invention of man.  It has greatly enlarged our vision of our world and beyond; it has expanded our consciousness, and  our unconscious being, as well. It is integrated with the vast cyber communication network, particularly with the smart-phone dubbed as "man's best friend" in our postmodern times.  
Dr Abe V Rotor

Author at Caoayan, Ilocos Sur c. 2010

Imagine yourself a stag deer with the herd;

deep inside you roars the primeval instinct

of procreation, primordial key to evolution;    

your species now at the brink of extinction.   

Carlo in Bangui, Ilocos Norte windmill farm c 2012

Gulliver in Lillitput, the giant in a book,

friendly and revered by the little people;

Don Quixote, the dreamer and redeemer,

laughed at by the simpleton and fool 

Author at Networks office in Technohub, Diliman QC, c 2012

A penguin in the office cools the place

when crowded with paperwork;

it came all the way from the Antarctic

 to bring pleasance like the stork.

Intong at the Sunken Garden at UP Diliman, c 2010

Cotton tree  or kapok, Ceiba pentandra, 

your mighty brace roots are telling:

your majestic height and large domain,

anyone beside friendly and abiding.

Mac in a zoo in Bohol c.2013

Iguana, fierce-looking, gruesome, yet tame;

could this be the reverse of evolution?

what then is Darwin's survival of the fittest? 

is it not aggression and competition?

read again his book, The Origin of Species.

the evolution by domestication.   

Anna in an insect garden in Bohol c.2013

To each kind of flower a butterfly, 

unique to its taste and color;

to a time of day it comes around, 

save a lass of its own favor.~