Evolution of Faith

Dr Abe V Rotor

                                         Neo-Gothic church, Parañaque

Move over Baroque, once bastion of the ancient
world, evolved from the underground and grassy hut,
into mighty fort for war and worship - a kingdom,
until Gothic took its place - ah, freedom!

Soaring into Heaven, scaled not by walls or stairs
but by spires rising like swords piercing the blue sky -
until smog hid its view, and took away its purity,
no longer a rod to fear, pointing at eternity.

High rise buried Baroque and Gothic, with billboards
around; Gregorian chant turned to rock and pop,
in time passing, not by the clock but by the car,
and space a catacomb of concrete and steel bar.

Make way for the Messiah, make haste, we are told;
but who would he or she be? Of what race and tongue?
manger we no longer find, find the star by the Google chart;
does faith make any difference in science and art?

The world did not really change, but we - we did.
Creation, we're but a part - never the Creator, forbid. ~

Homemade guava jelly and calamansi juice

Homemade guava jelly and calamansi juice

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Making jelly from native bayabas (guava) at home.  Use ripe native guava  newly picked from the tree.  Be sure all fruits are healthy.  Discard green, over ripe, and damaged fruits. You made need a kilo of fruits. 

• Slice the fruits thinly, place in a saucepan, add water twice the volume and mash. 
• Cover and cook slowly until the mash is soft, allow to cool.
• Cover with muslim or linen, invert mash and collect the filtrate.
• Take the four ends of the cloth, squeeze gently, and collect drippings into the bowl.
• Discard pulp or use it as feed ingredient for poultry and livestock.  
• For every cup of the  filtrate add one cup of white or washed sugar, plus 1 tbsp lemon juice. If you harvested 4 cups, add 4 cups of sugar, and 4 tbsp lemon or lime juice. 
• Put the mixture back on low fire and bring to a slow boil, while continuously stirring, until the mixture starts to turn into jelly.  Let it stand for half an hour
• Pour jelly into sterilized while still warm, cover and seal.  Label. 

Extracting the juice of calamans. Add sugar equal to the volume of the extract to make the mother stock.  Place in the ref, do not freeze.  It will remain fresh up to one month.  All that the children need is to add two to four tbsp to a glass of water, and pronto! Calamansi juice, more nutritious and economical than commercial softdrinks and juices. And there's one thing you are sure of - no preservatives, clean and safe.  ~

Man-Heaven-and-Earth Garden Profile

 Man-Heaven-and-Earth Garden Profile

 Dr Abe V Rotor

"Freedom with nature rests on oneness with creation." - avr

Cactus bonsai, dwarf Agave and overhanging striated Oregano grouped in a recycled PET container make a miniature garden. The setup gets occasional watering and sunlight exposure on weekly maintenance. Mural background lends a three-dimensional effect to heighten a make-believe nature scene in the receiving area, porch or hallway, as may be preferred. Artwork and mural by the author.

"Man-Heaven-and-Earth," in this order,

  a rule in garden and floral arrangement;

  man is first, though humbly in-between;

  because beauty lies in his own judgment.~

“The most important four words for a successful marriage: ‘I’ll do the dishes.’”—Anonymous

                               The Lighter Side of Human Nature

"After marriage, husband and wife become two sides of a coin; they just can't face each other, but still they stay together." 

- Al Gore

                        Researched and Complied by Dr Abe V Rotor

1. "My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met." - Alec Baldwin

2. “Marriage is an alliance entered into by a man who can’t sleep with the window shut, and a woman who can’t sleep with the window open.”—George Bernard Shaw

3. "A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong."- Barack Obama

4. "I don't worry about terrorism. I was married for two years." - Rudy Giuliani

5. "I had some words with my wife, and she had some paragraphs with me." - Bill Clinton

6. “Always get married in the morning. That way if it doesn’t work out, you haven’t wasted the whole day.”—Mickey Rooney

7. "By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher." - Socrates

8. "Some people ask the secret of our long marriage. We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week. A little candlelight, dinner, soft music and dancing. She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays." - George W. Bush

9. "There's a way of transferring funds that is even faster than electronic banking. It's called marriage." - Michael Jordan

10. "I've had bad luck with all my wives. The first one left me and the second one didn’t.” The third gave me more children!" - Donald Trump

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A husband asks his wife, “Will you marry after I die?” The wife responds, “No, I will live with my sister.” The wife asks him back, “Will you marry after I die?” The husband responds, “No, I will also live with your sister.”

Weaning: Introducing Baby Food

Weaning: Introducing Baby Food 

Dr Abe V Rotor

                    
                    Baby Mackie, author's granddaughter at weaning age. Circa 2012

                               Weaning

                  Weaning - time to get baby to the dining table,

     and move away from the bottle;

to learn taste, aroma, to chew and to nourish

     food, and get ready for life's battle; 

a stage to rejoice, to find relief and joy, a baby

     becoming a baby no longer;

in the art of nutrition and culinary, the baby

     deserves the best we can offer. ~ 

* Weaning is the process of gradually introducing an infant human or other mammal to what will be its adult diet while withdrawing the supply of its mother's milk.

Bringing Nature into the City

Forest on a Wall Mural:

Bringing Nature into the City

Dr Abe V Rotor

A Tropical Rainforest Wall Mural (3.5 ft x 15 ft) in acrylic by Dr Abe V Rotor at his residence in Lagro, Block 61 61, Lot 55 (corner Kudyapi St and Lam-ang St) 2015. The mural is an integral part (3rd panel) of a larger mural (7 ft x 30 ft).

The mural is made up of three sections as shown in the above photos: Emergent trees and their tenants (top); Exploring a forest stream (middle),

Food web and energy flow (lowermost)

 

 

Among the countless creatures of the tropical rainforest that comprise its rich biodiversity are: a rat, giant among its kind in the lowland, lives in a hollow of a tree; boa constrictor adapted to arboreal life, transient gulls adapted to both sea and forest life; tree iguana that branched out of marine iguanas, and those that live in dry conditions; chameleon the master of camouflage and mimicry; sloth, mother and young, clinging on a tree motionless and sleeping most of its life.

My grandson, Markus Andrei, 6 months old and his nanny - 

guardians of this rainforest wall mural. Lagro QC~