Petals and wings up close

A couple of days ago, it rained quite a bit (hurray!). As the humidity had been nearly unbearable on some days, the downpour was most welcome. Then came a flash of lightning and a startlingly booming clap of thunder, the kind that sends everyone flashing facial expressions that would be great to capture on camera to see the different demonstrations of a stunned face.

Anyway, moments later I noticed that my net connection was down. The lightning must have hit whatever it was I needed to be able to go online. Till the next day I was blaming my ISP for this tragedy that had befallen me.. then I got to talk to a DSL repair technician over the phone.

"May ilaw ho ba ang router niyo?" was his query. I checked. No lights on the little rectangles that were normally red. So the culprit was the router, and I had to have it repaired or else purchase a new one.

So here I am, feeling somewhat nostalgic about carrying on my pre-wifi routine of working on my computer beside the telephone and modem. If I wanted to go online, I'd walk over to this desk. If it was time for bed, no bringing the laptop with me to catch a few minutes of whatever I fancied on YouTube. I had the same view in front of me, to my left and to my right whenever I worked online at home.

This is what I see in front of me each time I have to use the internet at home:

Cute huh? Brown wall embellished by dainty bird cages, with vines climbing around them, giving the cages and the winged creatures a kind of  "let nature take its course" charm. Only, there's nothing natural about it since they're mere stickers, meant to beautify an otherwise plain surface. They really are lovely and make a wonderful substitute for framed photos or paintings.

But then step out of the front door and you'll be greeted by the real thing. We don't have bird cages, but birds do have a habit of whizzing by often -- probably due to the luxuriant foliage in some parts of the garden. Many times when we can't see them through the living room window, we simply enjoy their endless chirping. It's amazing to live in the city -- and a polluted one at that -- and realize that birds still thrive in this environment.

Yesterday morning I was inspecting the lantana and a las cuatro beauties outside the front door, as I have grown accustomed to doing each morning; I even took a few shots -- for what, I didn't really know. I used to do that a lot when I was still on Facebook, then I'd share one or two photos if they turned out okay. Now that I had taken a break from it, I seemed to take shots with my phone with less enthusiasm though the practice, obviously, wasn't eliminated altogether.

Here's one I like because it shows the lantana with a slightly different color scheme. It's the first time I'm seeing the blooms with red-orange instead of fuschia:

It's amazing how you can feast your eyes on the same area of blooms day after day for months and see the same things, and yet one day you'll be surprised by something new.

However, as I checked out the colorful blossoms, little did I know that I was in for yet another surprise, a surprise that would allow me to see another wonder of nature up close -- well, not really up close, but the closest so far that I had gotten to seeing a tiny creature doing what it's supposed to do in any garden.

Neat huh? Too bad my phone's zoom feature acted up and wouldn't work, so this was the closest shot I could get. Seconds later, the butterfly flew away.

But what do you know -- 24 hours later it was back, hovering over the little flowers  again! I think it was the same creature as the black and white prints on its wings looked the same. What do you think?

As I later studied the photos I took, I noticed another winged creature in the background that just happened to fly by as I took this shot. Great timing for the little one to be passing by over our hedges!

One thing's for sure -- the dainty bird cages and vines decorating our wall sure are pretty, but nothing can beat the real thing in any garden.


P.S.  This has more photos of other flowers found in our garden, along with interesting quotes and proverbs about flowers.

Bravado

When I think of Home...

A little over a week ago, Yahoo -- one of my dogs -- bit me. It happened when the vet was cutting off some hair on Yahoo's tail so she could scrape off a sample of the skin that was infected and have a lab test determine what was wrong. Yahoo didn't like it and -- coupled with the stress of unfamiliar surroundings -- manifested her protest by biting my hand, as I was the one holding her down.

The bite wasn't that bad that it would require stitches, but it sure was painful. And though the vet assured me that a little delay in the dog's rabies shots was nothing to worry about (Yahoo and Perdita's shots were due in January -- four months ago), I was nonetheless a bit concerned. I knew of two cases in which the persons -- a 5-year-old boy and an elderly man -- bitten by rabid dogs eventually died, so that was at the back of my mind despite reassurances from at least two doctors.

The notion of observing Yahoo for two weeks to see if she becomes rabid and dies -- and thereby sealing my fate -- did momentarily have an effect on me. Well, what if Yahoo turned out to be rabid and I failed to get anti-rabies shots on time? For about two days, I tried to live as if I had only two weeks left on earth. Have you ever done that? It's amazing how simplified things become.

But then, it was short-lived. My wound healed faster than I expected, and in less than a week, the swelling had subsided and I could feel only a slight pain around the wound. A plaster facilitated the closing up of the wound in a week's time (I still put a plaster daily till now to avoid the possibility of anything hitting the wound or my hand making sudden movements that may result in the wound's opening up again). Obviously, I no longer feel like I'm a "dead woman walking."

Nothing out of the ordinary can be observed of Yahoo as well, so that's that.

However, four people we knew died in the past three weeks. My best friend's mother passed away less than two months ago. And an online acquaintance's daughter also met a fatal accident days ago, I was told. Needless to say, I have been reminded of the reality of death more often lately. "Morbid" is how some people regard dwelling on things pertaining to one's inevitable death, but for me such an attitude simply shows a lack of supernatural perspective and perhaps an excessive attachment to the things that preoccupy us in our day-to-day affairs.

I was once more reminded of the inevitability of being taken Home at some point when I visited Barbara Curtis's blog a couple of days ago. She was one blogger I felt a particular closeness to even though we were not personally acquainted. It's probably because she was quite open about her life, her struggles, triumphs and things and people she held dear -- and was also so generous in her advice to readers who sought her help -- that it's hard not to feel that one knew her already by just reading her blog regularly. Barbara died unexpectedly in October 2012, leaving behind her spouse and children, four of whom have Down Syndrome and therefore depended more on her. Her husband, Tripp, continued the blog and in one post related the difficulty of marking Mother's Day for the first time without the mother who kept the family together. In that post, however, was a line that struck me:

"Grief blocks my ability to see God, but I shouldn't conclude He is absent." 

Is this not relevant to other situations we've found ourselves grappling with? It doesn't need to be the death of a loved one, but anything deeply upsetting that has caused us much pain. I know I've felt as if God left me to fend for myself and deal with suffering on my own. And during those times, sayings such as "Every cloud has a silver lining" sometimes don't make a dent at all. But for some reason, that statement above sounds comforting. I'll be sure to memorize it and take it to heart, for I know it will be needed at one time or another. If not by me, then by friends or family who could use the assurance that spiritually cloudy days don't mean the Son isn't shining.

What in the world is going on?

Good things, too, apparently. I must admit that with all the atrocious developments happening especially in matters concerning life and family, it can be a struggle to pay attention to the things worth celebrating. I did a brief search of the goings-on for the month of May to get a fresh perspective of the bigger picture -- we were quite busy and preoccupied with election issues in my country after all, what with Filipinos trooping to the polls on May 13 and the more actively engaged ones spending a lot of time on the campaign trail weeks prior to that as well.

Tens of thousands gather for the May 12 Italian March for Life

So outside the Philippines, the gay lobby has been increasingly active lately, and thereby the legions firmly upholding traditional marriage have been making their stand known more intensely, too -- particularly in France. There are a couple of news items on that below, along with a thought-provoking analysis on the way media has been treating the issue. You'll also get to read about the effect of the Gosnell trial on one formerly pro-abortion reporter covering the case, and the continued closing down of abortion facilities, this time in California because “we just didn’t have enough patients,” according to a receptionist at one of the facilities. And, some 30,000 life advocates who staged an Italian March for Life got the wonderful surprise of having the Pope suddenly show up during the event. Then there's the horrific "butchering" of an off-duty soldier in Woolwich, England, but as the man lay dying on the pavement and with a crowd looking on from afar (frightened, as the weapon-wielding assailant was meters away), two women came forward and let courage quietly lead the way.

So, read up on those below to get a better idea of the positive developments which took place last month!

One of many protests against same-sex 'marriage' in France bring together hundreds of thousands, May 26

France’s youth ready for more teargas: Demonstrations against same-sex ‘marriage’ continue

by Jeanne Smits, Paris correspondent

Tue May 07, 2013

Pro-choice reporter covering Gosnell trial changes mind on abortion

by John Jalsevac

Wed May 08, 2013

Tens of thousands march for life in Rome

By Francis X. Rocca
Catholic News Service 

Chain of six Northern CA late-term abortion clinics CLOSED

 from Jill Stanek's blog

 

Humanity amongst the horror of Woolwich attack

Tamara Rajakariar | 25 May 2013

Paris, France - Nearly 1 Million French Gay Marriage Opponents Stage Big Paris March

Published on: May 26, 2013

What life all boils down to

One can either set his sights on the enticements that life has to offer and stay on that level, or live remembering the whole point of being given time on earth.

During times when serenity is temporarily lost amid the distractions, just get back on track and carry on.