Birds on a Treetop

Dr Abe V Rotor

Birds (16" 28") painting in acrylic by the author 2012

They chirp, but you don't see them,

     only leaves moving, rustling;

their becks red, their eyes sullen,

     and they blend with everything.

When you get near to admire,

     they shun, they stop moving,

silence the rule of their game,  

     discreet and subtle warning.

Birds are indeed real strange,

     they fly fast or sit at ease;

they sing with few notes to trace,

     like passing breeze in the trees. ~    

Captured Moments of joy in Photographs

Dr Abe V Rotor

Moments of joy, moments of sadness;
they come like a moving wheel
every day, all the time in our lives,
on the road of trial and will.

Moments of joy, moments of loneliness,
they come like a rolling cloud
in light and shadow, bright and gray,
fall as rain and clear the shroud.

Moments of joy, moments of suffering,
they come together in ease and strain;
nostalgia the happiest state of mind,
sweet is sweeter after pain. ~

Posing with a baby elephant, Thailand

Wild pigeon (bato-bato), pangaw (Ilk)

Philippine Hawk, Avilon Zoo San Mateo

Taking pride of ones craft.

Apple mangoes, Don Antopnio Subd, Diliman QC

Floating lotus flowers, Thailand

Baby rabbits

Bronze sea lion, Thailand

Prize catch to market - siriw

Fruit cart, Darwin, Australia

Vegetable market, MM

Fish sauce (patis) for sale in a wet market, MM

First to see dragon fruit. Origin: Vietnam

Friendly owl. Avilon Zoo, San Mateo, Rizal

Bunny at home, QC

Garland of Dioscorea, relative of the ubi, at home QC

Listening to the sea with tambuli shell, MM

Armageddon Ticking: Defaced Earth from the Air

Dr Abe V Rotor

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

School project: Write the appropriate caption of each of these 13 photos. Make a Pictorial Essay from these photos. Next time you travel on air, take the seat by the window and photograph Mother Nature from the air. These photos were taken with a palm-size ordinary digital camera set on its maximum ISO. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Armageddon Ticking
AVRotor

Armageddon in human hands released,
piece by piece ticking with the clock;
innocence denied, sanity defied
to the final shock.

Time capsules all into infinity:
pleasure and pain, evil and goodness -
all that is on planet earth,
into emptiness.

It's Sodom revived, so with the Flood
and Vesuvius a thousand times;
and in war none but the innocent
is the price.

And the god in man and man in God
in futile struggle comes to end
the earth shall be no longer,
so with a heaven.

Fabled paradise shall be no more,
lost and regained, and finally gone;
then a new world shall rise - perhaps
without man. ~

Here is a series of aerial photographs taken on my travel to Roxas City from Manila and back on August 3 to 5, 2011, showing the different ways and stages on how the Earth is being defaced by man's activities. 

1. Expanding settlements 
2. Rise of urban centers 
3. Coastal runoff and siltation
4. Water pollution
5. Marginal communities 
6. Vanishing shorelines
7. Pirated rivers
8. Clogged waterways
9. Super infrastructures
10. Deforestation
11. Desertification 
12. Siltation
13. Illegal constructions
14. Heavy industrialization
15. Eroded hills and mountains
16. Submerged islands
17. Reclaimed coastlines and coral reefs
18. Garbage dump and incineration
19. Inversion layer and smog
20. Changing geography 
    

 

Photos were taken by the author on an airplane, Manila-Iloilo, with Sony Cybershot, and edited with Adobe Photoshop program.

MEDITATION: Reflection and Relaxation

"When the sun is in its zenith, half the day is gone, half of the work done, half of life's stirrings over, yet the joy of living, its challenges and rewards are whole 

and forever." avr

Dr Abe V Rotor 

A Paulinian student takes time out to meditate over a landscape mural painted by the author for St Paul College of Ilocos Sur, February 26, 2018. 

When things seem to be overwhelming, the road long and rough, the horizon far and dim, and you feel powerless under this situation, give yourself time to meditate;

When the wind stops to blow, the treetops still, birds no longer fly, the fields lay bare after harvest time, summer creeps in, and you feel the false calm of doldrums, meditate;

When the first rain is but a shower, shy and naive over the parched landscape and the dry riverbed, listen to the distant thunder, watch the gathering cloud, meditate;

When the mountains are blue in the distance, as blue as the azure sky and the sea resting after tempest, the valley deep and green, be part of the scenery, meditate;

When the birds migrate to the south before winter sets in and return in springtime, imagine the magnificence of the view from above, the adventure of travel, meditate;

When the trees proudly stand together to form a living fort, bastion against the vagaries of nature, abode and domicile of creation to which you are a part, meditate;

When the habagat is in its peak with days and days of rain, the fields now a huge lake, joining the rivers and lakes, it's nature's process of dynamic balance, meditate;

When the amihan sets in, cold wind from the north sweeps over the ripening grains, golden in the sun, undulating, lilting with kids flying kites - you're with them, meditate;

When the world seems to be moving too fast, on a chartless path, you feel you are adrift and part of a bandwagon, move out before it's too late, meditate;

When the trees come alive with music at dawn, mists settle into dewdrops, sparkling like diamonds as the sun rises, the curtain opens a new day - awake, meditate; 

When the sun is in its zenith, half the day is gone, half of the work done, half of life's stirrings over, yet the joy of living, its challenges and rewards are whole, meditate;

When the sun sets, dusk the prelude to rest, Angelus prayer itself in silence, peace and harmony set in, be at the center of Home, Family and Creator, meditate. ~

---------------
Poetry reading is an art. In fact, poetry is intended to be read before an audience to fully appreciate it, its theme and message,  its rhyme and rhythm, style and meter cum expression of the reader. For this particular piece, the author suggests as a background music, Meditation, a symphonic intermezzo from the opera Thaïs by French composer Jules Massenet. The piece is written for solo violin and orchestra. The opera premiered at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on March 16, 1894.

A Cross in the Sky

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Skeleton of an acacia tree, QC

I have lost you forever,
now a silhouette in the sky,

spreading a gospel to remember

for the mindless passerby.

You lived half of your life,

yet fullest at the Throne;

earning it well with strife, 

where every seed is grown.

The birds now a flock, 

the child a man; 

you bid them all the luck,

and now you are gone.

In youth you sheltered me,

a thought I can't be free,

I atone for your brevity, 

with a thousand-and-one tree.~

Halo-halo - the Signature of Summer

Halo-halo - the Signature of Summer  
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog

It's a long, hot summer, and one way to beat it is to have a large glass or bowl of halo-halo (literally, mix-mix). Halo-halo is very popular in summer wherever you go in the Philippines.

Make halo halo at home. It is tastier and economical, and custom made. 

Make halo-halo at home from a wide choice of ingredients. The most popular ingredients are kaong, nata, sago, gulaman or gelatin, cut boiled saba banana, evaporated milk, sugar - and a topping of leche plan. You can have other ingredients as substitute , or in addition to, like nangka (jackfruit).

The enjoyment in eating actually is in digging out the ingredients while in leisurely (and haltingly) conversation with members of the family or with friends. There's a saying in Pilipino, "the deeper you get, the better it tastes." In Ilocano, "Umun-uneg, umim-imas." Note: Halo-halo may cause indigestion because of its rich, varied ingredients, and when taken in large amount. It is not recommended for babies.~

Make one for me, a large, large glass,
Epicurean I am - Filipino;
halo-halo's the name and the brand,
that the world may know.

Make it potpourri-like, heap full flowing,
nectar sweet, white as snow; 
family, friends, and guests in company,
and special just for two. 

Make it loaded with native delights,
bounty of Ceres and Apollo,
pride of country and race and taste, 
oh! singular halo-halo. ~

Family Day in a Zoo (Article in Progress)

Dr Abe V Rotor