Wednesday, August 31, 2005

A gene thing...

I still miss home a lot. I miss the closeness of family and the warmth that is just home. It's not easy living abroad when you call home and everyone is there. A few days ago, I called home on this number that allows you to talk for 0 cents per minute. That was simply fabulous. My cousin played the piano for me. It was like being back home again. I could almost imagine the softness of my mother's couch, the warm air blowing in through the open door and the soft swirl of the fans while my cousin played Fur Elise and Le Fontaine.

I thought that it would be the ultimate Science Fiction Fantasy come true to be able to reach through the telephone lines and touch the face of my mother.

In the space of this half year, I've learned such a great deal about myself. Isn't it interesting what a great deal we can learn just by listening to the stories that are going on inside us. I've discovered that I can't keep myself from writing. Perhaps it's something that I've passed onto my son. I know that he is so into words and into stories. I'm really proud of that. I'm proud that he's proud of the stories that he makes up, and I think that he should continue to do that. Sometimes, I wonder if writing is a sort of virus in the blood that we pass on from generation to generation.

Could it be that I inherited mine from the aunts who all wrote? Is it possible that they themselves inherited their writing bugs from our common ancestor who also wrote and was a bit mad? It's something I wonder about. If madness is a gene thing, could writing also be a gene thing?

I really don't know.

I just keep on writing.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005


entrance to Severac le Chateau... Posted by Picasa

Yet another view of the ruins... Posted by Picasa

ruins of Severac le Chateau Posted by Picasa

Sitting in the master of the castle's chair... Posted by Picasa

more photos...

Here are yet more photos from our vacation in France. I'll be adding a few more in a couple of days...

From a window in Chateau le Severac... Posted by Picasa

the view we woke up to... Posted by Picasa

avondrood...evening red from our campsite beside the Gorges du Tarn. Posted by Picasa

dusk beside the river... Posted by Picasa

Joel in the tent... Posted by Picasa

A pebbly shore... Posted by Picasa

Another bend in the river Tarn... Posted by Picasa

Gorges du Tarn...where you can go canoeing... Posted by Picasa

Under the viaduct of Millau. Posted by Picasa

Looking out over a vista showing us the entrances to different caves... Posted by Picasa

Inside Caves Dargilan... Posted by Picasa

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Poetry Life and Times

Poetry Life and Times has published three of my poems in its August issue. Finding me, What I did this Summer, and For Joel. The first two, I wrote when I was still back home in the Philippines. I don't write much poetry nowadays, and For Joel was born on one of those rare moments when nothing else would seem to do except a poem. The last time I had a poem in Poetry Life and Times was in 1999, you can find it by clicking on this link .

Monday, August 15, 2005


Avondrood, evening red... Posted by Picasa

Capturing the sunset on the road back to Lapaloup... Posted by Picasa

my other blog...

That's my other blog. I don't post to it as regularly as this one though.

Friday, August 12, 2005

Some more photos from our trip...

Montpellier Le Vieux. That is one trip that will be hard to forget and the temptation to return to see these mountains and these formations will probably nag at us until the day that we do go back and revisit the South of France. Here is such a wealth and diversity of nature that one week, is not enough to see all that there is to see.

I'm still in a bit of a haze, where I am so thankful for the blessing of being allowed to visit this part of the world, to see with my own eyes the wonder that God created with his own hands. Isn't it great, I found myself thinking over and over again. Thanks to these wonderful people who have taken the time to preserve this piece of God's earth so that all who flock here from far and wide can see and be blessed with wonder of his creation.

The eye does not tire of looking...you could look again and again and again and each time everything would be just as awesome and breathtakingly amazing... Posted by Picasa

yet another view... Posted by Picasa

More views... Posted by Picasa

The French Salamander... Posted by Picasa

another interesting rock formation... Posted by Picasa

A group of Stone People... Posted by Picasa

A hollow in the rock formation called The Sphinx... Posted by Picasa

view from the top... Posted by Picasa