Sunday, February 22, 2015

Remembrance Of Youth

There's a forest near our home. Actually, "forest"   is too generous a term. It's just a piece of land with a few trees and overtaken by decaying fallen leaves and weeds. Sharkteeth was complaining that we have stopped going to the fields, and when I asked her to go to the forest with me during the Chinese New Year break, she was of course excited. So off we went -- moi, TheHusband, Sharkteeth, and TheDog. TheDog, with this usual bravado, charged ahead of us. I saw a foot path leading to a cacao tree. There are a number of fallen cacao fruits, but most were worm-infested and I didn't dare open them further. There are others that were sliced open and with pods spirited away, perhaps by the noisy kids who visit the forest every so often, collecting dry wood and fruits from the trees. There's also a breadfruit tree, but I didn't go anywhere near it. There are lots of decaying leaves around it. In short, takot ako sa ahas. Sharkteeth was agitated because she didn't expect the place to be so littered with dry leaves. And she shares my fear of snakes. So we didn't stay long. Just long enough to take pictures. I was calling out for TheDog, but he was nowhere to be found. After we left the forest and crossed the field, I saw TheDog, waiting for us outside the field. Loyalty-schloyalty. Hmmmppp...

I thoroughly enjoyed going to the forest however short it was. It reminded me of the simple and careless days of my childhood when I would go to the forest near our home, picking up guavas, cashews, duhat...then sitting on a low-lying branch of the old mango tree, munching on my finds. I can still remember when that old mango tree fell. It was a humid summer night, and it made a big, loud boom when it fell. Apparently, the huge trunk of the mango tree was already hollow and gave, and inside, there were numerous bee and wasp colonies. We collected honey and a number of orchid-like plants with flowers. Come to think of it, my childhood was so privileged. I mean, how many can say that they rode a paragos or planted corn and peanuts or got chased by a hot-tempered carabao known to have impaled someone. Well, okay, the last one isn't really a privilege. But let me say this, it has got to be the fastest run I've ever done or ever will. [I'm so sorry, Auntie P, but when that carabao was stolen and butchered, I chuckled a little.]  

Needless to say, I'll be back. Besides,  I'm waiting for a cacao pod to ripen. :) Hopefully, it would still be there when I come back.

Munchies

Lantanas?

I think this is a lantana flower. I think lang ha?


Beauty everywhere, even in decay

I'd like to imagine this as the portal to the forest

Canopy of the palm "portal"


Tree canopy


Orb weaver spider

Cacao tree with fruit


Bread fruit
Click this one to enlarge the picture. It's a beautiful tree.
My faithful steed. Weh? Di nga?

12 comments :

  1. ANg saya, sana may "forest" sa likod bahay namin. Haha. The perks of living in the province. I miss those days! I used to be (and will always be, at heart) a probinsyana. Book-editor ka nga, kasi pag nagbabasa ako ng posts mo para na rin ako nagbabasa ng libro. It's the way you describe things and share your experience... :)

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  2. I'll take that as a compliment, I think. Hehehehe.
    Alam mo, we're living in an apartment here in Dumaguete. And ilang beses na naming gustong lumipat, but I can't let go of the nearby field and forest kasi just looking at it relieves stress.

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    1. Wag na kayo umalis, unless dream house nyo na yung lilipatan nyo eh kailangan na talaga. With all the space, ang saya mag-gardening dyan! :)

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    2. Hindi masaya mag-gardening dito. Maraming kambing. Hahahahahahaha! Di pa man lang humahaba ang usbong eh naubos na nila.

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  3. That's exactly what city dwellers are missing. Around where I live, puro bakod lang makikita (yes, we're inside a village) but nothing like that "forest" of yours.

    Someday, I hope that hubby and I could retire in the countryside. Simple lang lahat. Grow our own "kamatis", etc. hehehe (minus the "kambing, of course! Hay, sarap mangarap! =)

    Nice pics... sana nga abutan mo pa ang cacao pod.

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    1. Yung bahay din namin sa Laguna, nasa gate village, and hinahanap-hanap ko talaga yung space and freedom ng garden ng parents ko.
      Kahit nga sa bundok ako manirahan, basta may Internet, okay na sa akin. :)

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  4. "Kahit nga sa bundok ako manirahan, basta may Internet, okay na sa akin." Hehehe, ganito din ang pangarap namin ng asawa ko. :) Vacant lots ang either sides ng bahay namin now at puro talahib, nowhere near the wonder forest of yours. Nakakatakot nga dahil may nakitang ahas ang dating helper namin. Sarap talaga sa probinsya. I used to spend my childhood summers in Bohol - puro hills ang mismong likod ng bahay ng Lola ko. Nakakamiss.

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    1. Ang ganda sa Bohol, right? At ang lamig ng mga man-made forests.

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  5. TPS, when I saw the flowers, I thought "baho-baho". Then I googled and found out that baho-baho and lantana are the same. Exciting to learn something new through your post. Buti no geckos and snakes.

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    1. Natawa ako sa name, "baho-baho"...hahahaha!
      No, walang reptiles, thankfully. I can handle geckos, pero baka himatayin ako sa takot if merong ahas.

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  6. Speaking of kambing, I read the previous comments, raising them for export daw is a sunrise industry. Low-maintenance pati - all they need is wide open space with lots of grass.

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    1. Oh, so true -- nakikita ko yung mga goats dito, they graze around the fields and the shepherd just guides them when going to the field and going home. Their milk is so nutritious, even better than cows'.

      Kaso baka hindi ko kayanin. They are all so cute.

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