"I belong to a world unknown, unsung, untold ..."

"I belong to a world, unknown to other worlds, unsung, untold in the books, where the best of life comes through wisdom and joy." avr
Dr Abe V Rotor

Three Worlds  in acrylic (41.5” x 24”) by AV Rotor 2018*

I belong to both – the red and the blue – at some time or another in life, in youth and in mellow age, a boundary in between, indistinct but firm and strong;

I belong to the red, the world’s a struggle, full of adventure and lofty dreams,where danger and game are often perceived the same, fearless and daring;  

I belong to the blue, the world’s a place to reflect, where peace reigns with past adventures and dreams, yet full of promise and challenge still; 

I belong to the realm in-between - neither red nor blue - isthmus of two worlds where I could see both, yet never a fence sitter, passive and cold;

I belong to a reflection of a world, unknown to other worlds, unsung, untold in the books, where the best of life comes through wisdom and joy. ~

*Courtesy of Dr Peroma L Pacis, San Vicente Ilocos Sur

Softly the Breeze Came ......

Softly the breeze came, cool and free ... 
Dr Abe V Rotor 

Trees by a stream in acrylic by the author

Softly the breeze came, cool and free, 

picking leaf after leaf from each tree, 

each an event of the woods' history, 

and my youth in sweet memory.

Note: Try this verse as lyrics of a ballad with guitar accompaniment. 

Or into acapella, or solo on the violin, flute or piano. ~

Wild food plants or “survival plants” in our time of crisis

It's monsoon, the season of wild edible plants! 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Survivors of force majeure, war, plane crash, shipwreck have a lot of lessons to share, among them are edible plants that kept them alive. 

• Talisay (Terminalia catappa) bears nut like fruits that contain small seeds that taste like almond. 

• Tibig (Ficus nota.) The fruits are edible and have a good flavor.  They are soft and fleshy when mature. 

• Isis (Ficus odorata) or isis because its rough leaves are used as natural sandpaper for utensil and wood.  Its fruits like tibig are edible.   

                                                       Papait (Mollogo oppositifolia)

• Balleba (Vallisnera) is an aquatic plant growing in clear streams, ponds and lakes, whose leaves appear like ribbon, hence it is also called ribbon grass. The leaves are gathered and served fresh with tomato, onion and salt.

• Apulid or water chestnut.  Our native apulid produces very small bulbs - only one-third the size of the Chinese or Vietnamese apulid.  It grows wild in places where water is present year round. It is boiled, peeled and served.  

• Aratiles (Muntingia calabura) bears plenty of tiny berries which are red to violet when ripe. It is sweet and somewhat aromatic.  

                                          Himba-ba-o or Alokong                                                (Alleanthus luzonicus)

• Wild sinkamas (Pacchyrhizus erosus) has enlarged roots which may remain in the soil even after the plants has dried up in summer. It is gathered and eaten raw. 

• Urai (Amaranthus spinosus). The plant become spiny as it matures. It is the very young plant that is gathered as vegetable. 

• Mulberry (Morus alba). Its leaves are the chief food of silkworm.  The fruits when ripe are purple to black, and while very small are juicy and fairly sweet. 

Bagbagkong, flower vegetable 

• Taro (Colocasia sp.). The Palawan gabi grows twice the height of man and produces a large corm.  There is a technique in preparing and cooking the corm. Or making starch out of it.  The key is thorough cleaning and cooking.  

• Gulasiman (Portulaca oleracea) has succulent leaves and stems which are cooked as vegetables.  

                        Banana blossom (Puso ng saging)

• Talinum ((Talinum triangulare). The succulent stems and leaves are gathered as vegetable.  

 .  Edible Fern (Pako’) - Athyrium esculentum); gulasiman or ngalog (Portulaca)

.  Male  flowers of squash (Cucurbita maxima) 

Saluyot tops (Corchorus olitorius) 

Other wild vegetables:

1. Young leaves of cassava or kamoteng kahoy (Manihot utilissima)
2. Petals of Gumamela (Hibiscus rosasinensis)
3. Young leaves of kamkamote (Ipomea triloba)
4. Amaranth or spinach (Amaranthus spinosus) - seedling stage
5. Flowers of madre de cacao or kakawate (Gliricida sepium)
6. Corm of banana (Musa sapientum)
7. Ubod or pith of maguey (Agave cantala)
8. Talinum (Talinum quadriculoare)

Alugbati (Basella rubra) is a twining plant with reddish stems and leaves. The tops are gathered as vegetable which is mucilaginous when cooked.

Male  flowers of squash (Cucurbita maxima

9. Flower of katuray (Sesbania grandiflora)
10. Corm of gabi (Colocasia esculenta)
11.    Edible Fern (Pako’) - Athyrium esculentum)
12.  Gulasiman or ngalog (Portulaca oleracea)  

Often referred to as wild food plants or hunger crops, these and many others, perhaps hundreds, provide an alternative source of food and nutrition on the grassroots in times of poor harvest and calamities like drought. Being native or indigenous they survive extreme conditions of the environment, they need very little care, if at all.

 Ethnobotany, the study of plants and their uses in primitive societies, is gaining recognition in the light of economic crisis. It offers a solution to poverty and malnutrition. Culinary delight comes in various food preparations from native vegetables.

                     Dampalit (Sesuvium portulacastrum)

NOTE: Add other wild food plants you know to this list. Make this topic a subject of research for your school and community.


 Top, clockwwise: pusa-pusa, tultulang,  talinum, kalunay (thorny amaranth, harvested while seedling)

MSG: Taste vs Health

MSG (Monosodium glutamate): Taste vs Health

Dr Abe V Rotor 

He died in his sleep in his car after a sumptuous lunch.  Suspect: MSG overdose.  I lost a very good friend.  

For whatever reason, that incident changed my life when it comes to food.  No MSG.  No to any of its aliases.    

No MSG at home. No to my wife, children and grandchildren; their health, happiness, and future are definitely the most precious investment in life.  We have joined the fast growing number of MSG liberated people around the world. 

                          

If you personally experience or observe in your family these signs and symptoms, give serious attention to a likely culprit - MSG.

            Here are proven grave effects of MSG: cancer, high blood pressure, obesity.

Stay healthy and happy: Avoid junk food. Go for fresh, natural food.  Commercially processed food is likely an MSG carrier.  Read the label carefully.  Don't be deceived by advertisement and product promotion.

Cook and eat at home. Do the marketing and cooking of your favorite recipes. Why don't you raise on your backyard fruits, vegetables, poultry, fish - and even process them for home consumption and the community market.  But No MSG and other artificial additives, please. ~

Enigma of the Coral Reef

Enigma of the Coral Reef

No ecosystem in the world is more vast, open 

and free than the coral reef.

Paintings by Dr Abe V Rotor

Don a snorkel and a new world unfolds - the coral reef.

It is a forest under the sea, the counterpart of the forest we know on land. There are also equivalent trees like the giant Sargassum that grows several feet long; shrubs like the branching Gracillaria; cacti like the broad Padina; annuals like spongy Codium. Together with sea grasses, these seaweeds and hundreds of other species, form multi-storey greenery at varying depths the same way forests have the features of mountains, hills, caverns and cliffs.

The animals that live here are more varied and colorful than those on land, mimicking the prism of sunlight in water with all the splendor of the rainbow. There are fishes that are distinctly bright colored, and at night exude phosphorescence like neon lights. They borrow the shape of their surroundings, the corals and seaweeds, for both protection and aggression - all these are adaptations for survival.

On the coral reef food chains have more links, so to speak, and food webs more intricate, as both residents and transient organisms interact. No ecosystem in the world is more vast, open and free than the coral reef. It is also the most lavish. Even beauty itself. Living things and all their ornaments are irresistible to be awed and respected, holding an enigma that expands our imagination to fantasy that lures us to the sea and to love to fish and comb the reefs all day. To write poetry - and to paint.
And eerily dream. x x x

Adventure in Landscape Painting

"I was lost in the middle of a forest 

hidden by fog to its crest..."

                

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Rainforest sentinel AVR

Stately and colorful like a king,
     the cockatoo is lord of the realm;
greet and he will echo your call,
     and will follow to the screen.


Rivulets to streams comb the hills, AVR

The beginning of the great Nile lies somewhere
     on the glaciers of Mount Kilimanjaro;
Hemingway wrote in the like of an idea untold,
     emerging, converging, to be true.


Downstream, AVR

I was lost in the middle of a forest
     hidden by fog to its crest;
trees blocked my path, my sight;
     t'was a stream I owe my life.


Cliff, AVR
A watchtower of my ancestors I revisited;
     once green and sacred,
now bare and empty, I found it instead,
     a history of the dead.


Angling and Loafing, AVR

The fish I caught may be small and few,
     but I am happiest though;
more than the flowing stream that I knew
     many great ideas grew.


Sitting Boat AVR

Wonder the fisherman at sundown,
     his boat by the bay sits;
to sea the whole night he's bound,
     while the world sleeps. ~

Sun and Blue Sky

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Unedited photo taken in Virac,Catanduanes, with Sony 

Cybershot camera, 7.2 mega pixels. October 20, 2011

Never aim at the sun, never, said my mentor,
     a rule I never forgot;
Photos I took, the sun at my side or back, 

      became pride of an art.

But art with no rules grew, and took over the helm; 

     take it from artists Picasso
and Van Gogh, their masterpieces with the sun
     burning in deep arctic blue. 

Wonder how the soul suffers when the body
     is hale yet unwilling;
and triumphs in the works of Milton and Monet, 

      their inner sun shining.~