The Art of Ruins (Article in Progress)

The Art of Ruins

 Historical Remnants of the Past   

Dr Abe V Rotor

“Even when the magnificent buildings of the past are ruined centuries later, they continue to shine like candle flames that weaken by the wind but never go out!” -  Mehmet Murat Ildan

Part 1 - Ruins of Palacio del Gobernador

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

 

“The allure of antiquity...
The echoes of bygone eras, where time seems to linger in the aged textures of ancients.
A visceral connection to history, a sense of mystery wrapped in the patina of time, evoking a profound appreciation for the stories embedded in each weathered relic.
I'm in love with the feel of this very feeling.
I belong here. Relics. Ruins.”
― Monika Ajay Kaul

   

 

Part 2 - Ruins - Grim Reminders of Civilization

“It seems, in fact, that the more advanced a society is, the greater will be its interest in ruined things, for it will see in them a redemptively sobering reminder of the fragility of its own achievements. Ruins pose a direct challenge to our concern with power and rank, with bustle and fame. They puncture the inflated folly of our exhaustive and frenetic pursuit of wealth.” -  Alain de Botton, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work

  Sunken town of Pantabangan Nueva Ecija resurfaces during a extreme drought. Nature is sacrificed to human needs, more so to human wants in pursuit of affluence.  

Sunken pier, Puerto Sto Domingo, Ilocos Sur; Shipwreck, Tacloban, Leyte.

To some scientists the "uselessness" of technology is likened to Lamarck's theory of use and disuse, though biological in perspective. Lamarck believed that disuse would result in a character or feature becoming reduced. 

 

 Ruin of Intramuros, Manila, left by WWII 60 years after. 
Death of cities is on the rise all over the world.

 Berlin wall falls, Germany is re-united in 1989 since end of WWII.
But more walls are built dividing cultures and politics.

 “Maybe there’s something instinctive in us, that we’re drawn to human habitation and can’t resist a ruin, the way newborn babies respond to a crude drawing of a face. These are the rarities in human history, the places from which we’ve retreated. These once-inhabited places play a different air to the uninhabited; they suggest the lost past, the lost Eden, not the Utopia to come.” ― Kathleen Jamie, Findings

Part 3 -  Ruins of a Lighthouse

Dr Abe V Rotor

Ruins of a Lighthouse in acrylic by AV Rotor

Painted on August 5, 2023 in Brisbane, Australia, 

It's a song on canvas heard and seen

of an ancient lighthouse ruin;

waves against the rocks still crashing

and the boats gayfully sailing.

Melody I hear in every brush stroke,

like writing pages of a book,

against blue sky and water still alive

 through time that you survive.

Entombed on canvas are your relics,

of history that speaks

of a masterpiece of the imagination

in artistic expression. ~

The Lighter Side of Human Nature: Have You Met an Honest Fisherman?

The Lighter Side of Human Nature:

Have You Met an Honest Fisherman?

Researched and Compiled by Dr Abe V Rotor

FISHERMAN: “I tell you it was THAT long! I never saw such a fish.”
FRIEND: “I believe you.”

“A woman who has never seen her husband fishing doesn’t know what a patient man she has married.”

“The reason some fish get so big is because they’re the ones that always get away.”

“How far a fisherman will stretch the truth depends on the length of his arms.”

Fisherman’s Lament: “A three-pound pull, and a five-pound bite, an eighth-pound jump, and a ten-pound fight; a twelve-pound bend to your pole – but alas! When you get him aboard, he’s a half-pound bass!”

A fellow in a lunatic asylum sat fishing over a flower bed. A visiting doctor, wishing to be friendly asked: “How many have you caught?”
Answered the not-so-dumbed fisherman, “You’re the ninth.”

“There is no use in walking five miles to fish when you can depend on being just as unsuccessful near home.” – Mark Twain

WIFE (cleaning fish in sink) TO HUSBAND: “Why can’t you be like other men and not catch anything?”

“No man has ever caught a fish as big as the one that got away.”

“Been fishing, haven’t you? Catch Anything?”
“Yes, indeed, caught the 8:30 there and the 6:10 back. Got caught in a storm, caught cold; and boy, will I catch it when I get home.”

Truth: “When one fisherman calls another fisherman a liar.”

“How long a fish grows depends on how long you listen to the fisherman.”

“Our ideal summer resort is one where fish bite and mosquitoes don’t.”

“Nothing grows faster than a fish from the time he bites until he gets away.”

“No honest man is a successful fisherman.”

“Many fishermen catch their fish by the tale.”

It doesn’t take much for a girl to hook a fellow – he generally supplies the line.”

The two best times to fish are “right before you get there; and right after you leave.”

Saint Peter stopped a man who knocked at the Gates of Heaven. You have told so many lies to get in here,” said the Keeper of the Keys.
   “Have a heart, Saint Peter,” said the new arrival. 

   “You were a fisherman once yourself.”

The ability to sin differs among people,” says one of our friends. “For example, s short-armed fisherman isn’t as big a liar as a long-armed one.”

Author (right) in his younger years 

as amateur fisherman, with local guide. 

We’d had no bites in an entire evening of fishing. As darkness fell and we pulled towards the shore we passed a couple in another rowboat. 

   “Did you have any luck?” we called.
   “No,” said the young man gloomily.
   “What kind of bait were you using?”
For a moment the young man was silent. Then he said: 

   “I wasn’t fishing.”~

References: Speaker’s Encyclopedia of Humor (Stories, Quotes, Definitions, and Toasts for Every Situation) By Jacob M Braude, Prentice-Hall, NY 1961; Jokes, Quotes and One-Liners for Public Speakers, by HV Prochnow and HV Prochnow, Jr 1983 

Oh! If only man's wisdom can bring back Paradise lost a long time ago.

Oh! If only man's wisdom can bring back Paradise lost a long time ago.

 Wall Mural Dr Abe V Rotor

A wall is empty no more, it dissolves into forest and stream

running down soft under the feet, spilling onto the street;

where once a city of steel and concrete, of dust and smog

reigned, where the forces of human frailty and nature meet,

rekindling wonders and adventures of childhood little known

to the city-bred whom the Good Life in disguise would cheat!

The wall is alive in three dimensions in make-believe perspective,

progeny of primary colors - red, blue and yellow, bold and mellow,

azure sky, deep blue-green sea, prism of every dewdrop bead,

sparkle of every star at night, crystalline water Narcissus saw;

if only walls can speak to mirror human longing of a happy world,

if only man's wisdom can bring back Paradise lost a long time ago! ~

NOTE: Kim Laurence and Sophia at the author's residence in Lagro QC.

Living Emerald in the Garden

 San Vicente Botanical Garden Series 5:

Living Emerald in the Garden

" Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain."  Henry David Thoreau

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

Contrast between an exquisite jewel beetle and a working hand.

        Iridescent* Asian Jewel Beetle (Sternocera aequisignata)

You catch the rainbow, the rising sun,

     the fading light of the day,

golden, sapphire, amethyst , emerald

     changing colors as you may.

Green you appear most of the time,

     yet in a variety of design,

that earns you a status of species,

     among hundreds of your kind. 

Children love you for play and keep, 

     parlors for your vanity;

in the garden you are a living gem;

     Nature's touch of sanctity.

 *Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear to gradually change color as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Examples of iridescence include wings of certain insects, feathers, butterfly wings and seashells as well as certain minerals.

"How still the woods seem from here, yet how lively a stir the hidden animals are making; digging, gnawing, biting, eyes shining, at work and play, getting food, rearing young, roving through the underbrush, climbing the rocks, wading solitary marshes, tracing the banks of the lakes and streams! Insect swarms are dancing in the sunbeams, burrowing in the ground, diving, swimming,—a cloud of witnesses telling Nature's." - John Muir *

 *John Muir also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States of America. Wikipedia

World of Insects in Photographs and Verses

World of Insects in Photographs and Verses

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Click Beetle - Living Catapult

Click Beetle (kuddo Ilk) Family Elateridae, Order Coleoptera*

Sweet memories brings a wit long laid,

when I was a child I played,

your game of click-click-click,

telling me if life's bright or bleak.

I asked how many friends or money I had,

by clicking, I knew what you said;

and pressing your breast, my wish implied,

all I wanted, you complied. 

3. Phosphorescent Caterpillars

Caterpillars eating the leaves of ilang-ilang (Cananga

 odorata), at home near La Mesa watershed.

        They came - an army of hungry glowing worms,
        on a sunset on a tall ilang-ilang tree;
        there they hang like lanterns or neon far away,
        and in crepuscular light there I could see
        a familiar tree traced by its essence in the air,
        and now by the phosphorescence from this tree -
        Christmas ahead and beyond yet here at hand,
        by the glow of these worms reminds of Thee;
        through nature's ways to guard the frail and lowly
        through the secret of ephemeral beauty. ~

3. Halloween Moth

                   You can't hide behind mask;
                         it is no longer Halloween;
                   with thin lips and sleepy eyes,
                        I know where you've been. ~ 

30 pesticide-free vegetables. How many can you identify?

30 pesticide-free vegetables.

How many can you identify?

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

In general, leafy vegetables (e.g. pechay) and fruit vegetables (e.g. tomato) receive more chemical spraying than do root (potato) and seed (mungo) vegetables. On the aspect of pesticide application, vegetables are classified into two: those that do not need spraying at all, and those which can not be raised economically without chemical protection. The most sprayed vegetables are the crucifers (cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, pechay, mustard, broccoli, other members of the family). 

Assorted native vegetables: patani, himbaba-o, ampalaya, eggplant

 

Himbaba-o or alukong Ilk; papait (Mollugo oppositifolia)

 

                                          Talinum, alugbati

 

                                         Dampalit, bagbagkong

 

                                    Edible fern (pako'), saluyot

Home Gardening Campaign - The purpose of this article is to promote home gardening nationwide and worldwide in response to three crucial issues affecting our society today.

The first is to build natural body resistance against COVID-19 and other ailments like flu through the consumption of more fruits and vegetables.

The second is to promote a bottom-up approach of providing alternative sources of food through people's initiative to produce food and reduce food cost and increase the level of nutrition to cushion the effects of the worsening global economic crisis.

The third is to reduce the incidence of slow poisoning as a result of the accumulation of pesticide residue in the body. Vegetables and fruits are the principal carriers of residual poison from chemical spraying which leads to the development of many ailments, such as cancer and impairment of the senses and loss of control of the nervous system.

In general, leafy vegetables (e.g. pechay) and fruit (tomato) vegetables receive more chemical spraying than do root (potato) and seed (mungo) vegetables. On the aspect pesticides, I would rather classify vegetables into two: those that do not need spraying at all, and those which can not be raised economically without the protection of chemicals.

For the first category here is a list of 30 common vegetables in their common and scientific names. Farmers simply find them resistant to insects, mites, nematodes, snails, fungi, including weeds, rodents and birds. These vegetables may also be found in the wild, or in the open spaces.

1. Malunggay (Morinda oleifera)
2. Saluyot (Corchorus olitorius)
3. Wild ampalaya (Momordica charantia)
4. Katuray (Sesbania grandiflora)
5. Batao (Dolichos lablab)
6. Patani (Phaseolus lunatus)
7. Sinkamas (Pachyrisus erosus)
8. Summer squash (Cucurbita maxima)
9. Native eggplant (round) - (Solanum melongena)
10. Native tomato (susong kalabaw) - (Lycopersicum esculentum)
11. Native sitao (short) – (Vigna sesquipedalis)
12.Seguidillas (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus)
13.Alugbati (Basella rubra)
14.Talinum (Talinum triangulare)
15.Native spinach (Amaranthus sp.)
16.Gulasiman (Portulaca oleracea)
17.Sweet potato (tops and root) (Ipomea batatas)
18. Kangkong (Ipomea reptans)
19. Pepper or Sili (labuyo) (Capsicum frutescens)
20. Ginger (Zingiber officinale)
21. Rimas or breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis)
22. Sayote (Sechium edule)
23. Taro or gabi (Colocasia esculenta)
24. Kamoteng kahoy or cassava (Manihot esculenta)
25. Ubi (Dioscorea alata)
26. Tugui’ (Dioscorea esculenta)
27. Kadios (Cajanus cajan)
28. Banana (Saba) (Musa paradisiaca)
29. Sampaloc (Tamarindus indica)
30. Kamias (Averrhoa bilimbi)

There are many other vegetables classified under the same category. These include alukong or himababa-o, bagbagkong, papait, sampaloc (flowers, tips and young pods), flowers of madre de cacao or kakawate.

This article was aired in a series of radio broadcast as lesson on Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) on DZRB 738 KHZ and [www.pbs.gov.ph] This also served as reference in Economic Botany, a three-unit subject offered at the UST Graduate School and DLSU-D where the author taught biology and ecology.

Reference:
Living with Nature Handbook
Copyright 2003 Abercio V Rotor and University of Santo Tomas

For a change, try fern vegetable

Vegetable Fern (Pako') - Athyrium esculentum

For a change, try fern vegetable. It's good for the family; It is rich in minerals and high in food value.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog

Pako' abounds in the wild - fields, forests and on river banks. It is often found growing on the backyard and idle lots. Because many people have learned to eat pako', it is now widely sold in public markets just like any vegetable.

Gather the young leaves or fronds which are eaten either raw or cooked. They may be used as salad with various dressings, as leafy vegetable, or as ingredient of stews.

At home we prefer Ilocos Vinegar for dressing, with chopped onions, and a dash of salt. Try fresh tomato instead of vinegar.

When cooking bulanglang or diningding, include pako' singly ir in combination with other vegetables like spinach and eggplant. Don't forget sweet potato (kamote) in cubes as thickening (buridibud).

Pako’ salad with tomato and onion dressing; pako ready for cooking stew.

Mineral Content and Food Value of fresh Athyrium esculentum (percent). Marañon J (Philippine Journal of Science), and Hermano AJ (Bureau of Science Popular Bulletin), Useful Plants of the Philippines Volume 1, William H Brown

Moisture 89-90;

Ash 1.14 - 1.32

Phosphorus 0.26

Calcium 0.03

Iron 0.006

Protein 3.11

Fats 0.28

Cabohydrates 3.86

Crude Fiber 1.23

How do you recognize the plant in the field? Here is a guide. Refer to the illustration to familiarize yourself. Pako' is in ther list of wild food plants, and "hunger" or emergency food plant in times of scarcity. It is a survivor's alternative food.

Pako' (Athyrium esculentum) growing habit

Athyrium esculentum has twce- or thrice-pinnate frond which are 50 to 80 cm long and about half as wide. The pinnules are pointed, coarsely serrate, and about 2 to 5 cm long. The plant is abundantly distributed in the Philippines growing on gravelly bars and banks of streams. It is also found growing widely from India to Polynesia.

Another fern is edible. This is Ceratopteris thalictroides, a stout fern with leaves that are divided into numerous narrow segments. It is aquatic and it actually grows on mud. It is also found all over the Philippines and in all tropical countries.  Ceratopteris thalictroides, an aquatic fern. Other edible fern species mainly in temperate regions: (Wikipedia)

The fiddleheads (unopened fronds) of certain ferns are eaten as a cooked leaf vegetable. The most popular of these are: 

• Western sword fern, Polystichum munitum, "king of northwest ferns."
• Bracken, Pteridium aquilinum, found worldwide (Health Warning)
• Ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris, found in northern regions worldwide, and the central/eastern part of North America (Health Warning)Lady fern, Athyrium filix-femina, throughout most of the temperate northern hemisphere.
• Cinnamon fern or buckhorn fern, Osmunda cinnamomea, found in the eastern parts of North America, although not so palatable as ostrich fern.
• Royal fern, Osmunda regalis, found worldwide
• Midin, or Stenochlaena palustris, found in Sarawak, where it is prized as a local delicacy
• Zenmai or flowering fern, Osmunda japonica, found in East Asia

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday