Still Life: Flowers, Flowers - “There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”

Still Life: Flowers, Flowers, Flowers

Dr Abe V Rotor

“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” —Henri Matisse

French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship.

"In joy or sadness, flowers are our constant friends." ―Kakuzō Okakura

(Japanese scholar and art critic who in the era of Meiji Restoration reform promoted a critical appreciation of traditional forms, customs and beliefs."

  

“The earth laughs in flowers.” ―Ralph Waldo Emerson

(American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century.)

 

“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine to the mind.” ―Luther Burbank

 (American botanist, horticulturist, and pioneer in agricultural science who developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants over his 55-year career.)

  

 "It relaxes my mind to paint flowers. I do not bring to it the same tension of spirit as when I am in front of a model." — Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style.)

“Pick a flower on Earth and you move the farthest star.” ―Paul A.M. Dirac

(British theoretical physicist who is considered to be one of the founders of quantum mechanics.) ~

Still Life painting of Dr Abe V Rotor with details.  Acknowledgement with gratitude - Quotes and sayings from the Internet

APPLIED HOME ECONOMICS: Don't waste food! Don't!

Don't throw away holy grace.

Don't waste food.  It is a sin against the Giver and humanity. 

So please, don't!

Dr Abe V Rotor

  • Food is Santa Gracia (holy grace) as old folks reverently call it.
• Food waste could otherwise go to millions who have not enough to eat.
• Food waste breeds pest and disease, sickens the air.

• Anything that goes to waste draws down the economy.

• Waste widens inequity in resources.

Coffee shop bin - what an extravagance!

Here are some things to do with food leftovers.

1. Sinagag - fried rice mix with bits of bacon, ham, fried egg, fish, and the like.

2. Torta - tidbits like those mentioned in scramble egg. Include veggies like carrot and onion.

3. Pickle – excess veggies and fruits plus vinegar, sugar and salt, and spices. Good for carrot, bell pepper, cucumber, green papaya, yam (sinkamas), others.

4. Paksiw – if not consumed is fried, makes a new menu.

5. Daing – fish in season is dried, cooked with gata’ (coconut milk).

6. Suka – fruit vinegar from overripe pineapple, banana, others, but not tomato and kamias.

7. Pudding – bread not consumed on time is also made into pizza bread- bread crumbs, garlic bread.

8. Sopas – Grind bones, shrimp head for soup and broth. Bulalo for whole bone.

9. Pastillas – milk powder not consumed on time, also grated hardened cheese.

10. Veggie and fruit peelings – for animal feeds, composting. Include solids from brewing (coffee) and juicing fruits. Ultimately, inevitable food waste is collected for feeds in poultry and piggery.

Excessive serving leads to food waste and obesity.

Food waste also emanates from carelessness in handling, food preparation and serving. Much is also lost due to lack of proper processing, transport and storage facilities. Estimated loss in postharvest alone runs from 10 to 37 percent of actual harvest of crops.

In "Give us this day our daily bread..." in the Lord's Prayer, us here is regarded as thanksgiving and remembering the millions people around the world who may not have the food they need.

I believe in the wisdom of the old folk who remind us of the value of food. They have experienced hunger during war, drought, flood, crop failure, pestilence - even in normal times. They have not lost sight of the presence of Santa Gracia.

Yes, children there is a Santa Gracia . ~

APPLIED HOME ECONOMICS: 5 Practical tips to cope up with current food shortage

APPLIED HOME ECONOMICS*

 5  Practical tips to cope up with current food shortage 

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Brown eggs are preferred over white eggs

 Brown eggs come from native fowls that subsist mainly on farm products. They are very resistant to the elements and diseases that they simply grow on the range. White eggs on the other hand, come from commercial poultry farms and are highly dependent on antibiotics and formulated feeds. Another advantage of brown eggs is that they have thicker shells. Besides, their yolk is brighter yellow as compared to that of white eggs.

Preference to natural, and organically grown, food is gaining popularity worldwide. It is because many ailments, from allergy to cancer, are traced to the kinds of food we eat. Many kinds of allergies have evolved from genetically engineered food, for which they have gained the reputation of Frankenfood, after the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, published in 1818.

2. Salted egg with fresh ripe tomato 

Bored with monotonous breakfast? Looking for a side dish?

Serve red eggs with fresh juicy red tomato. It's easy to prepare.  Just have a ready supply of red eggs and ripe tomatoes in the refrigerator. Lycopene, carotine and xantophyll in tomato  promote good health. Check the quality of the red egg.  Discard those showing discoloration and trace of unpleasant smell.

Making salted eggs is an old technology, and most likely originated in China.

Here is an easy-to-follow procedure, the old folks’ way.

•  Mix 12 cups of clay and 4 cups of salt, adding water gradually until they are well blended.
•  Apply a layer of this mixture at the bottom of a palayok or banga.
•  Coat each egg with the mixture.
•  Arrange the coated eggs in layers, giving a space of 3 to 5 cm in between them.
•  Add the extra mixture of clay and salt on top, cover the container with banana leaves, and keep the setup in a safe and cool place.
• Try one egg after 15 days by cooking below boiling point for 15 minutes.  If not salty enough, extend storing period.
• Color eggs if desired. 

3. Eggshell seed bed 
This is for your home garden.  Save whole eggshells as seedling bed of pechay, mustard, cucumber, tomato, pepper, and the like.  When ready the seedling is transplanted with the eggshell intact.  Just crack it to let the roots grow freely and reach out for water and soil nutrients in the new place wherre it has been transplanted.

 

 

4.  Crispy Kamote (Sweet Potato) Fries

To make potato fries crispy on the outside and soft inside, immerse in ice water for a minute or two. Proceed with usual deep frying. Do the same with kamote or sweet potato, gabi (taro), and ubi and sinkamas (yam)

5. "Gibba" keeps rice longer from spoilage

 Whatever is the explanation why rice cooked in a pot previously heated with a pinch of salt will not spoil fast is beyond scientific explanation. Yet it is common knowledge in the rural area.

This is what housewives do. The call the process “gibba,” literary, to heat at extreme temperature like firing clay in a furnace. Put a pinch of salt in the cooking pot - clay pot, heat until the salt disappears. Cook rice as usual in the pot. This will prevent rice from getting spoiled in a short time.

Another technique using salt is to place a pinch of it on the cover while the rice is boiling. This is shorten cooking time. (Lesson from Miss Veny Rotor of San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, supported by Tinong Viernes, April 8, 2009).

-------------

Applied Home Economics is an interdisciplinary field applying scientific, social, and practical knowledge to improve daily life, nutrition, and resource management for individuals and families. It covers areas like food studies, textiles, family finance, and consumer education, focusing on applying these skills to sustainable, real-world scenarios. Britannica Kids/AI Overview/Internet

Four Timeless Classic Adventure Books for Boys.

Four Timeless Classic Adventure Books for Boys.

Living with Nature Center Collection

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Dr Abe V Rotor

"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open." - Jawaharlal Nehru

Assignment: List down your favorite adventure classic books you have read.  What other adventure novels do you wish to read? Share your adventures in your school and community.

 

Treasure Island is an adventure novel about young Jim Hawkins’s quest to find buried pirate treasure, facing mutiny, danger, and cunning pirates along the way.

Robinson Crusoe follows the adventures of an Englishman who survives shipwrecks, slavery, and isolation, ultimately learning self-reliance and spiritual reflection.
Robinson Crusoe, a young man from York, England, defies his parents’ wishes for a secure life and sets out to sea, seeking adventure.

 

The Last of the Mohicans is set during the French and Indian War and follows the journey of Hawkeye and the last members of the Mohican tribe as they protect two British sisters from treachery and violence.

Ivanhoe is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott that follows the adventures of Wilfred of Ivanhoe, a Saxon knight, during the tumultuous period of Norman rule in 12th-century

England.

"Rise free from care before the dawn, and seek adventures. Let the noon find thee by other lakes, and the night overtake thee everywhere at home." - Henry David Thoreau.

Acknowledgement with gratitude: Wikipedia/Internet

Easter Greetings: Brighten your life with Wit and Humor

 Brighten your life with Wit and Humor. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog

"Jump high and fly, like the hopper, from ground to sky."  

On waking up and find yourself a millionaire

Five Filipinos were discussing what they would do if they awoke one morning to discover that they were millionaires 

• The Cebuano said he would build a big cockpit arena.
• The Manileño said he would go to Las Vegas and have a good time.
• The Palaweño said he would build an island resort. 
• The Ilocano said he would deposit the money in the bank and live on its interest.  
• The Boholano said he would go to sleep again to see if he could make another million.

Why does a captain go down with his ship?

A soldier who lost his rifle was lectured by his captain and told he would have to pay for it. 

"Sir," gulped the soldier, "Suppose I lose a tank, will I have to pay it, too." 

" Yes, you will, even if it takes your whole life in the army." 

"Now I know why a captain goes down with his ship." 

Honesty really pays

Two friends were riding a bus and had just reached their destination.  At the station one of them realized she hadn't paid her fare. Confessing to her friend she asked, "Did you pay for me?"  To which her friend wryly answered, "No."

"Well, I'll go right up and pay."

"Why bother? That's just a small matter, and you were able to get away with it."  

"I believe that honesty always pays." And virtuously she went to see and pay the conductor. 

She returned holding a fifty-peso bill.  "See, I told you honesty always pays!"  "I handed a twenty-peso bill and he gave me this change." 

Time and space 

"The distance between Manila and New York is the same as from New York to Manila." Explained one of three friends.  

"Well, not when you come back on the other side of the globe." 

"What do you think, Jon-Jon?"

 "I dunno; its just a week from Christmas to New Year, but is it a week from New Year to Christmas?" 

Just the same

"If you have your life to live over," the prominent octogenarian was asked, "do you think you'd make the same mistakes again?"

"Certainly," said the old man, "But I'd start sooner." 

Memory lapse 

"Have you forgotten that 500 pesos I lent you a month ago?"

"Not yet, give me time." ~ 

Disparity

In his Sunday mass homily, the priest told the faithful, "As I look around, I ask myself, 'Where are the poor?' "

"But when I look at the collection, I say to myself, 'Where are the rich?' " 

A five-letter word is the real problem

A five-letter word,

not enemy, not study,

not bored, not birth,

neither dying nor death;

wanting around the world 

in springtime or autumn,

in dark days or sunny -

this five-letter word;

craved by everybody 

none other but money. 

All about Money

• A well-known comedian was being seen frequently with a certain beautiful blonde.  Finally someone asked where they had met. "I dunno," said the comic.  "I just opened my wallet and there she was." 

• When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion. (Voltaire)
• I don't like money, actually, but it quiets my nerves. (Joe Louis)
• Money talks as much as ever, but what it says nowadays makes less cents. 
• Everything is subject to gravity except tax rate, salary, inflation, tuition, cost of living...

 Acknowledgment: Braude JM, Speaker's Encyclopedia of Humor; Procknow H & H Jr Procknow (Jokes, Quotes and One-Liners)

Remembering my Dad on Good Friday: "I shot an arrow into the air and it fell on a newspaper."

"I shot an arrow into the air

and it fell on a newspaper."

                                                               Dr Abe V Rotor

I was 4 or 5 years old then. Dad was reading a newspaper - center spread - relaxing on a rocking chair. I was playing Robin Hood nearby. Since our sala was very spacious (it had no divisions), anything on the ceiling and walls was a potential target. But something wrong happened.

In physics a crooked arrow would not follow a straight line, so it found an unintended mark – the center of the spread newspaper dad was reading. The arrow pierced through it and landed on my dad’s forehead, almost between his eyes. He gave me a good beating with my plaything as he wiped his forehead, blood dripping.

I did not cry, I just took the punishment obligingly. Dad must have seen innocence in my eyes. He stopped and gave me a hug. ~

Part 1 - The Fine Edge of Awareness: To Mackie and her Generation. "At the fine edge of awareness the journey of life begins."

Part 1- The Fine Edge of Awareness:

To Mackie and her Generation

"At the fine edge of awareness the journey of life begins." - avr

* Mackie now 13, lives in Brisbane Australia, with her parents and brother.  She is a grand daughter of the author on the maternal side.

Continued -