STORYBOOK FOR A CAUSE: Artwork & Life Stories

WATWAT is a Kankanaey term which either means the traditional partaking of food for certain occassions like kanyaw, or it refers to the meat cooked and shared in the traditional way. It is a community affair. Everyone is invited. I was in Mankayan the past two days and you just smell WATWAT in the air! There were wakes and funerals, barangay affairs, and community meetings - there you find WATWAT, practically everyday, every meal. Honestly, I love WATWAT. From time to time, I would miss this IGOROT CUISINE. Other people who are not used to eating this way may wonder... Usually, a black native pig (now hybrid kadi) is killed, the blood is drained , then the hair is singed and the skin burnt. The pig is butchered, the bile is read, then cooked. Check for more photos: Entako Maki-WATWAT

"Follow your bliss" is to follow where your heart is. No matter what you do, you will always go back to what makes you really happy.

T'was drizzling when we went to visit the grave. Quite gloomy with the overcast skies and the shower of rain. The tombstone was just right. Had some prayer. It was a nice visit.

Fog capped those mountains. They looked like icing on a cake. In Abatan. Early morning. 7 AM. The van had a bad swerve, we almost had an accident. God was just good. There was no traffic. If there was an oncoming vehicle, we would have been a direct hit. The sharp curve made the tires skid... Thanks for the life.. another chance. Just how is it to die?

"They're our kindred spirits, fellow manifestations of this living, feeling Earth. They are playful creature reminders of our own innate animalness, our suppressed instincts and as-yet-unlived dreams. When we embrace rather than deny our animus, every ...sense is heightened, every skill sharpened, every act empowered with the strength and grace of our kindred spirits..." ~Jesse Wolf Hardin Photo: Davis Degay

F ertilization happened in April 2006. They were already there during my capping which was the end of summer classes in early May. No wonder I felt so sick and irritable. During the break, I had been so lazy, all I did was lay away. I thought I had been so tired after all the hassle and excitement of capping. I went through the enrolment and the comprehensive exam. I felt so weak and uninterested on the first day of classes that I did not attend my classes although I woke up early for school. I stayed with my friends at our hang-out at the bus terminal but I refused to go with them to school. I went home quite disgusted with myself as I had to skip classes for no reason. It was just so good to stay in bed. Missed period I knew something was happening with me which I was not so sure of. I was expecting my menstruation on the second week of May but it did not come out. In June, I missed again. That was already the second month. It could be delayed as I was irregular before. I wa...

IGOROT is a collective name for an international human person who loves and endears himself/herself to the enigmatic mountain ranges of the Cordilleras of Northern Luzon in the Philippines.   The unconquered Igorot spirit soars like an eagle, with a burning passion for beauty, freedom, justice, and peace! Although dispersed in the whole wide world, no matter where, and whoever he or she now had become, the Igorot would endeavour to trace back his/her roots to the Cordilleras where his/her navel had been sown. The generation of the Igorot changes with the dynamics of intermarriages and migration. Anyone could be an Igorot: by blood, by birth, by residence, or by heart. It is a personal choice, and it is a PRIVILEGE. WHY? Igorots are the designated stewards of the Cordilleras, the backbone of the Philippines. They have that innate responsibility to take care of nature because when the mountain ranges go, everything would go. Their indigenous practices are geared to protect th...

I am attracted with these MILLION FLOWERS. A bunch of attractive pinks.

Sanggumay Orchid Cordillera : Lepan Art Work & Life Stories Sanggumay is a wild orchid endemic to the Cordilleras of Northern Philippines. The purple white petals with magenta centers are daintily sweet scented. Dr Silva's Sanggumay

A February date to remember Burnham Suite Resto, Kisad Road Baguio City Happy valentines, too!

JANUARY 20, 2010: Czar came home early evening from school holding a limp bundle of feathers wrapped in a towel. It was an owl. She looked pretty dainty, so I knew she was a girl. Her claws were curled like she had been in great pain. Her eyes were closed, and her body sagged as she seemed to have been knocked down unconscious. He said that one of the guards found it slumped on the road near the children's playground. Czar got it from him hoping that we could go find a vet in SM to repair whatever damage done to the poor bird. We thought the wild cats in the Brent School compound did it. Observing the unconscious bird, however, it had an even breathing.She surely had an injury, but I found no blood on her, aside from a fresh stain on her beak like she had just eaten. I put a dry towel on a shoe box then laid it there. The chill had set in so I put on the heater and covered the box so she would not be disturbed by the light. My 3 kids took turns takin...

Linda, Ryan, Elmer, Steve ..with Tom and Annie from La Habra, California, USA January 14, 2010 Baguio City

Stef and me, Lepan