A Photo a Week Challenge: Out in the Country

For: A Photo a Week Challenge: Out in the Country and Skywatch Friday – 14 July 2016 Edition . Also for: inviting walkway…

BAYAN KO by Freddie Aguilar

Hello everyone! Today is the general election in the Philippines. Hope the people vote wisely and may the best man wins!

Ang bayan kong Pilipinas
Lupain ng ginto’t bulaklak
Pag-ibig na sa kanyang palad
Nag-alay ng ganda’t dilag

At sa kanyang yumi at ganda
Dayuhan ay nahalina
Bayan ko, binihag ka
Nasadlak sa dusa

Chorus
Ibon mang may layang lumipad
Kulungin mo at umiiyak
Bayan pa kayang sakdal dilag
Ang ‘di magnasang makaalpas

Pilipinas kong minumutya
Pugad ng luha at dalita
Aking adhika
Makita kang sakdal laya

Chorus
Ibon mang may layang lumipad
Kulungin mo at umiiyak
Bayan pa kayang sakdal dilag
Ang ‘di magnasang makaalpas

My country the Philippines
Land of gold and flowers
Love in her palms
Offering beauty and virtue

And of her modesty and beauty
Foreigners were enticed
My people, taken captive
Plunged into despair

Chorus
Even birds that are free to fly
Cage them and they cry
More people can perfect splendour
Outstanding wishing to escape

My treasured Philippines
Home of my tears and torment
my ambition
See you fully free

Chorus
Even birds that are free to fly
Cage them and they cry
More people can perfect splendour
Outstanding wishing to escape

For: Music Mondays by Kat and Song Lyric Sunday – Oh Mother by Christina Aguilera by Helen Espinosa

20 Days of Chill: A dose of vitamin N (Day 8)

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
We’ve all had them. These were the times when life was full of roses and innocence, of experiments and fun, of being with families and friends. These were some of my recollections.

“You’re it!” I didn’t see her as she pointed to me, called my name and said, “You’re it!” I’ve got to look for them hiding around our street. It was getting dark so it was tough finding them. However, I knew Thor would be hiding at his usual place, my brother kissing our neighbour in one corner and I’d managed to locate Bethcha. Before long we had to go back to our houses and ate our dinner. Other days, we’d play patintero (try to cross my line without letting me touch or catch you), tumbang preso (hit the can), piko (hopscotch) or luksong-tinik (lit. jump over the thorns of a plant). Sometimes we’d rent some bikes and circled around our neighbourhood.

We were always there
Come Holy Week or All Saint’s Day
And don’t forget the harvest time
And all the fiestas – they were always fun
All our cousins were there
Tatang’s farm was always open
We all slept together on the floor
Snoring, people talking in their sleeps
Playing till the sun came down
Swimming and splashing in the creek
And Tatang washing his carabao
Fresh unpasteurised milk in the morning
We just poured it with steaming rice
We usually added salt and ate with our hands
And on the way to the creek, we had fruits
Mangoes, lansones, bananas as we picked them
On harvest time it was fun, people singing
Grounding some rice and peanuts and coconuts
We made some nice dish, I forgot what it was called
Perhaps we’d never be all together or experienced the same fun
As we are all over the world and the farm was not there anymore
But we’d always remember the fun we shared
On Tatang’s farm in Culianin, Plaridel, Bulacan

NOWADAYS
A dose of Vitamin N is very important. I love walking or cycling around and be in nature. The smell of flowers and plants, being in the woods, mountains, lakes, etc is great! I like to observe all the changes, flowers blooming, hedgehogs and squirrels, birds building their nests, singing or migrating somewhere warm.

I was a butterfly fluttering around the fields. I’ve just woken up from a cocoon and I was very hungry. I ate some leaves and drank some nectars from some flowers. It was refreshing. And now, I have the full view of the wonderland, the sky was clear, the ocean was majestic, the mountains were impressive. What a glorious feeling being able to fly.

For: 20 Days of Chill: A dose of vitamin N (Day 8)

Country Living

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

At our present state, we can start writing our plans. All our lives we’ve been juggling work in the city, raising a son and now that he has left, we can think of moving. This move is a first step towards facilitating the process of an early retirement. Oh how we will embrace living in the country – the easy pace of life, fresh eggs and milk from the nearby farm, a walk up the cliff for some communing with nature – these thoughts have sustained us throughout the years. As long as we can send for necessary supplies, we don’t mind being stranded there.

by brenda warren

For: Rochelle Wisoff’s Friday Fictioneers and Wordle 145 by Brenda Warren