through the years

the joys of added number to age

Aging (Gracefully!)

The love of my life. I have made this sketch a long time ago and the pencil was smudge on some parts, was hard to erase to make it clean.

Fear

The following illustrations are some drawings in my sketchbook that I have finished some weeks ago. I have been busy drawing and practicing everyday. I have started with pencil and ended up with Photoshop. I am moving slowly in using watercolor and oil and still finding my way with it. As usual, I am sharing with you some of my past experiences.

My stories today is about FEAR. I experience fear from time to time. Fear comes within me as a reaction to danger. It is a part of my human nature that is very useful in my life. It comes alive so I can respond to threatening situation. The following stories are from my past in which I had experienced different kinds of fear and how I managed to overcome it.
There was a time that robbery was frequent in our place. Sometimes, some people ended up wounded or badly hurt. One evening, I was awaken by steps in the roof and I was sure it was not the cats from our neighbors but from a person and it was not only one but maybe more. My first reaction was to shout and I did shout with all my might-“Robbers! Robbers! Robbers!. Everybody was awaken by my voice and we all went in the windows to see. There were already the police that were after them and what they did was to climb the roofs to get to the other side or even hide in the dark corners. They were all caught because the neighbors also helped and open all their lights in their houses. The next morning, I cannot talk because I have no voice.

The plane was supposed to be landing in Schipol Airport twenty minutes ago as what the Captain have been announcing but we did not. It was very rough floating and going around in the skies..Time passes by and it was almost one hour already. The passengers were worried and some of them even the men where already vomitting. I tried to be calm eventhough I felt something in my stomach and, so many things have been going on in my head. I was about to take the paper bag when I heard my seatmate’s voice asking me if I was afraid. I answered her no, are you? She said “ no, I am not, but we can do some breathing exercises together”. I said, ”okay!”. And we agreed that we have to close our eyes and she lead our exercise. I suddenly felt relaxed when she started slowly guiding me in the exercise. Her voice was so nice and it was like that for so long as I can remember. The pilot only succeeded in landing after more than two hours in the air. There were no explanations, we were all just happy we made it. I thanked my seatmate and asked her name and where she’s from. She was an angel sent to me whose name is Jennifer and she is from New Jersey.

The first time I became really afraid about the political situation in our country came one afternoon, when I was in school and the electricity went out and all the students were sent home. It was a big crowd going out of the gates talking all at the same time. The news broke out. Benigno Aquino Jr. was assassinated. It felt like everything was dark. Suddenly, there was heavy traffic. There was no transportation available for the commuters because of the sudden flow of people on the streets. I saw my friends and we got together and we decided to have some snack in a restaurant but it was also full. A lot were busy talking about what was happening. Some were just in the corners sitting, standing, thinking and waiting. I know that we are worried and afraid and it seemed that everything stopped for so many hours. It felt like we were all in the dark. The assassination of Benigno Aquino Jr. transformed the opposition movement overnight from a small isolated movement to a mass movement involving people across all classes of society in Metro Manila. A historical event that gave me a lot of fears but also hope….

There’s only one shield that’s keeping me from harm and danger and also for my lovelones and those who have been experiencing the same thing-and that is praying.

Bo-G

He loves watermelon!

Hungry for Power

Here I was sitting alone on a big rock. It was so quiet and, the only thing I have heard was the slight breeze of air and the singing of the birds on the trees. The view and surrounding was peaceful but not deep inside me. I was not happy or relaxed because at that moment, I was thinking of my family in the Philippines and what was there to hope for because of what has been going on in our country right now. …What is peace, unity, honesty etc. words. meaningless.

Halley's comet

Sometime in my past, I have lived in the nunnery for more than a year. It was a very small community, and I have learned a lot during my stay there. It is a beautiful house with lots of plants around. There were two mango trees planted in the front and back yard of the house. The mango trees was extended until the middle of the house going to the backyard. We usually climbed in the tree to get the rest of the fruits. Sometimes, we would meet there to see the sunset or someone would bring the guitar and play sweet but not loud music so as not to disturb the neighbors. From there can we see all the houses around and what the other neighbors were doing in their garden, and so I thought, it could have been more nicer to be there during the night and waited for a shooting star. I think it was in 1981 that Halley’s comet appeared in the skies again. Actually, I can only remember that, I have waited and look at it until it was dawn standing in the window of our living room. In my illustration above, I have made it looked like, I had watched the Halley's comet in the roof where there was that mango tree and visualized that I was with my two younger sisters and two cats sitting in an old used rolled carpet. In real life, my mother and father’s old house have lots of guests cats during the night and they usually fight or flirt with each other in the roof during the middle of the night.

Tranquility

I just finished this drawing this morning. I used colored pencil. Don't you think it fits the topic for this week? You can kindly go back to home later in case I have other ideas....

Sailing is a therapy. It is one of the best cure for stress. I should know because I am married to someone who has a very demanding job connected with a lot of stress. He is also a very good sailor. Sailing makes him calm. I have never seen him so happy everytime he gets the chance to sail which is almost every week. I have sailed with him a couple of times and I can also say that it feels great . It is quite an experience being in the middle of the sea and the only thing you can hear are the waves and the splashing of water in the deck of the boat while lying under the sun. So calm and relaxing.

Well, allow me to introduce to you “Fant”. It is owned and was built by my father in law 57 years ago. It is an original Aage Utzon design-the father of the architect who built the Sydney Opera house. They have used an oak wood for the skeleton, larch for the body, silver spruce for the boom and mast. For the tables, cabinet and the deck –it is made of mahogany and pine wood. My husband and stepchildren are very good in drawing and, I just hope I did some justice in drawing Fant.

limbo?

This is how I felt this morning! I'm not as broken as yesterday but waking up--- It felt like being pulled somewhere while lying on bed trying to get up and I can't!.... I was able to after ten minutes but right now, I am still dizzy.

broken

This is how I feel today. I need some cheering up!

memories down the lane part 2

It was near to Ramadan ((rämädän´, răm´´ dän´) , in Islam, the ninth month of the Muslim year, during which all Muslims must fast during the daylight hours. Indulgence of any sort is forbidden during the fast. There are only a few who are exempt, e.g., soldiers, the sick, and the young. Because of the purely lunar calendar, Ramadan falls in different seasons. The final day of Ramadan, Id al-Fitr, is celebrated by a day of feasting. The first revelation of the Qur'an is commemorated in this month)when I arrived in Riyadh for the first time. It was 5th of December and the temperature was 12 °C. During summer it goes up til 50°C that your nose will get bleed if you are not used to it. During Ramadan they start their prayer in temples with loud speakers at around 4 and 5 am. I am a sensitive sleeper so, I usually get up at the same time and do something else like reading. When we have moved to our new accomodation that I jogged and exercised in the big common living room or sometimes around the compound of the hospital(not going out of the gates) or in the tennis lawn. Our working days are from Saturday til Thursday morning. The rest of thursday and friday was free. We had parties too in our accomodation when someone was celebrating her birthday, or during valentines day, christmas and new year or anytime we felt like getting together. We are all ladies of course. We get to attend some parties in other places if the invitation comes from a couple. But that is not included in our bus trips so we had to take the taxi(never take a taxi alone especially in the evening because there is the risk that the driver will take you to the vast desert rape and kill you....). But to tell you the truth, I took the taxi alone thrice but during the day. One of the favorite sports over there is tennis. There are lots of tennis tournaments- competing with other players from other hospitals. The men have a separate tournament from the women but at least, we were allowed to watch each other's tournament. Sometimes, the finals were held in the Embassies and that was more fun. During my free time and when it was so quiet that, I get to practice my drawing or play bowling with my friends and some of the doctors-who usually sponsored or rather invited us to use the facilities in their accomodation. We were provided cable tv’s and we were updated of what’s happening back home because we had “the filipino channel”. One of the things that I missed doing was going to cinema(....there is no theater) eventhough we had dvd movies we borrowed or swapped with friends. The cut drawings on the cabinet are some of my pastel fruit drawings I have displayed in our kitchen in Riyadh. I regret I had to cut it out but it turned out okay, anyway. I will stop here and you can kindly watch out for the next memory down the lane. You can also click the title to see the pictures in my other blog. thanks!

Karma

I like making illustrations about my experiences in the past but, since I was working on this drawing that I'd thought I'll just make a story out of it based in this weeks's topic in IF. I hope you'll like it!

It is a story of two women who was so envious with two other women who owns lots of jewelry with unique designs and were made of different kinds of golds and stones from all over the world. Those two other women lives in the other flat in front of the building where they were living. The two other women loves going to party every night, and they can see from their window how happy they were to wear different kinds of gowns and jewelries night after night. The two women were so envious that they decided to take all the golds from them. One night, they climbed in the vines going up to the terrace of the bedroom of the two other women while they were out for the night. They did not waste any minute and were able to open the glass door right away. Surpisingly, they don't have to turn on the light because the jewelries were shining so brightly and were all in a big musical box. The music was playing(let us just say sally_gardens-one of my favorite songs) and actually, so enchanting that they found themselves enjoying it . When they started touching the musical box to put each of the jewelries in a bag that, suddenly the golden shining light became like a silk white thread light going around the two of them very fast - until it was gone and so were they....The next morning, the two other women were so happy upon entering their bedroom and was wondering why the terrace door was opened. While they were putting their jewelries on the box , they were surprised to find a new set of gold rings. They were also amazed of its unique design because there were two gold women on it. ....
 

memories down the lane part 1

I have made this illustration with the inspiration of my memories working in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The woman in my drawing is myself while I was looking at the view from the window during one of our company bus trips going to malls after work. We usually ate in a restaurant in the women's area- sometimes, the family side. We also did a lot of shopping especially if there’s a sale going on. We are not allowed to talk with any men outside if you are single. Some married couples are even being checked and asked a copy of their marriage contract which should always comes handy on their bag or pocket. I worked as a medical transcriptionist and at the same time have set up the medical records department-in a newly built modern hospital together with doctors mostly from UK, the rest of Europe, three from Canada plus one neurologist from USA who is my favorite doctor. Half of the number of nurses and those working in the administration, the cafeteria and even the cleaners all came from the Philippines. The filipino women's accomodation were built in the adjacent building of the hospital. During my first month in Riyadh, our accomodation together with another filipina was a very nice hotel 15 minutes away from the hospital. Our breakfast, dinner and laundry were shouldered by the company for the whole month we have stayed there. Two orders of breakfast was usually two much so we wrapped and ate the rest for lunch. I have always looked forward to dinner because it was always buffet and I get to eat what I want which were consist not only of their own kind of food. I am sorry to say but there's some kind of taste and smell in some arabic food that I don't like. During our trips to big public market place on fridays, I get to eat my favorite shawarma. You can choose between beef meat and vegetables but for me and my roommate the vegetable shawarma tastes so much better. Our bus trips are three or sometimes four times a week. Two of them earlier or later in the afternoon and only for three to four hours. If you have friends(I had) who are couples and have children that you can go with them in their car for unlimited hours. I have enjoyed the evening trips because I like Riyadh so much during the night. The streets and all the buildings are well lighted and have all those big christmas bulbs all year round!(of course, they have the oil!….). Almost all houses and building made of different kind of marbles and the hotels with lots of gold designs on the wall. Some of the people may not look rich but hey, I don't think there's poor people in the Middle East. I will hang my story right now and wait for my next memory down the lane....and yes, I have worned that black long dress and veil with only our eyes and hands were allowed to be seen everytime we go out in the hospital, and that means even just after the door of the hospital! And by the way, you can kindly click the title--the pictures were posted in my other blog.thanks!
 

Metropolitan

I have been drawing almost every day and this one, I just finished it yesterday and i thought it would fit with the topic hence my story is about living in the Metropolis.

I was born and grew up in one of the cities comprising Metro Manila in the Philippines. Metro Manila is home to roughly 20 percent of the country's more than 80 million Filipinos. I have lots of sad, happy and exciting memories living in the city with lots of people surrounded by lots of houses and establishments like big malls and restaurants, transportation - like bicycles, tricycles, jeepneys, busses, private vehicles and some years ago the metro train. I was used to hearing lots of different kind of noises just by opening the front door of our house.

One experience that I cannot forget is about a typhoon that was named "Yoling". She possessed a mighty wind and non-stop downpour of rain. Some of the water dam in Metro Manila collapsed that made most areas flooded. Our house is a two floor made not of concrete but wood. That morning, the water went up right away and when it was already one meter high, my parents decided that we moved to a concrete house nearby (it was the house of a relative who's an engineer, and have built his own house which have been tested having been through a lot of disasters....)especially that we don't know when it'll stop. There was no electricity and my father was afraid our tin roof will be flying also just like our neighbors. We ran by two's but, we had to passed by a three floor concrete abandoned building before we reached the house. Together with my cousin we started running but the wind took us both and I hit the wall of the building. My cousin who was thrown almost near the house waved at me and started running again. I did not waste anymore time and ran after her, and lucky me because just after I left, the building collapsed. I almost did when I saw it. Very terrifying experience. An experience like that is something we cannot get used to eventhough a strong typhoon is very frequent in our country. We just have to be prepared and always ready with all the options we can think of. Now, that I am living in a country with extreme weather condition, that I am still alarm by heavy rain and blowing wind that I thought a hurricane is coming. We have lots of trees around the house and the noise it creates during windy days reminds me of the strong typhoons we had.

London blasts

a quick sketch of what I thought about when I turned on the television and saw the news....what about their future? 

Her name is Christine.

This is an sketch I made of my cousin's daughter who is living in Chicago. I was enhancing it with the tools in photoshop and I thought it was okay and yet, later on upon looking at it again that I realized there were marks of the next sketch on the next page i was working....does it look creepy?  

another sport

Basketball is a national sport in the Philippines. My father, his friends and my brothers would gathered around the sala and watched the live telecast on television. I like basketball but not as much as my younger sister. She was a basketball player in the university where she studied. She played well and became famous around the campus. I was enrolled in another university but everytime there's a game between the two universities that I watched her played and well, cheered for both universities. She would always teased me everytime our university lost in the competition.

I used pencil and pen and later enhanced with the tools in photoshop 

Sport

If there's one thing I hate about myself is when I write something in a hurry without reading it afterwards. It has always been my mistake.... I don't know why I am always in hurry to submit my entry but it just my nature to rush.... anyway....You have to go back to homelater if the foolish me have other ideas for this topic. I used pen and pencils and later on used the tools in photoshop in enhancing it.

Here is a story and I promise not to embarrass myself again by just typing words that I don’t read again and again before posting. One consolation for committing that mistake is having a husband whom I can talk it over and over until I get tired…....

Hannah Lois is my first niece. She is the oldest child of my youngest sister. I took part in taking care of her when she was little and I witnessed all the firsts that she did when she was growing up. I even cried harder than her parents when she was hospitalized for the first time. I would get angry everytime she is being shouted out or reprimanded by her own father. All my youngest sister’s children(four of them) calls me mommy but Hannah and Eunice were the ones closest to me- because we had a nice bonding during the first few of their informative years.I was still single then, and was still living in the Philippines during that time.

Hannah was always crying during her first few years in school until her mother decided to introduce sports in her activities. She was just an observer during the first two weeks until Hannah decided herself that she wanted to try Taekwando. I saw her ups downs in the sport she has chosen but, at a young age we saw her will and determination to succeed in whatever she wants to do and pursue.

Hannah is also a sweet, kind, intelligent and God fearing girl. She is sociable and would always sing us songs during birthdays and other celebrations. She has a faith that can move any mountain and a big heart that makes a lot of people happy. More than a year ago, when I had my vacation that I learned to like her more. There was a time that we travelled a long way to go to a government office and there, I got angry and had a fight with someone, and my anger did not end there but until when we are walking out to the door ‘til finding a place to sit or eat in the mall. All the time I was talking and complaining, that I realized my niece was just so cool in listening and during the long walk we had, she was just singing praises to the Lord all the time. I asked her if she was listening to me and she looked at me and said, "of course and I was just singing and thanking the Lord because you can talk your anger out….."Just like my other nieces and nephews and my siblings, my memories of them keeps coming back especially that we are so many oceans away from each other.