The Uplands - their songs send into the air nature's happy call

 The Uplands 

 - their songs send into the air nature's happy call

"Crossing the uplands of time, Skirting the borders of night, Scaling the face of the peak of dreams, We enter the region of light, And hastening on with eager intent, Arrive at the rainbow's end, And here uncover the pot of gold Buried deep in the heart of a friend." - Author: Grace Coolidge

Paintings by Dr Abe V Rotor

Living Fire in Trees in acrylic 2012

Tree of Childhood, wall mural detail at author's residence, 

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, circa 2005

The uplands, happy they bloom fire to summer's end,

sigh with some dying waterfall;

hues of brown and green, earth and sky they blend,

waiting for the first rain to fall,

to wake the crickets and cicada, their songs to send

into the air nature's happy call. ~

Valley of Life

 Valley of Life 

"Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely between the rocks. Also learn from holy books and wise people. Everything - even mountains, rivers, plants and trees - should be your teacher." 

- Morihei Ueshiba

Dr Abe V Rotor

Watershed, a wall mural by the author, St Paul University, QC

If a child asks, “What makes a valley?”

Forget what you may have read -

valley of death or valley of sorrow;

valley is the life of the mountain,

more so, that of the river below.

It is a watershed, it is a trough,

where clouds gather and fall as rain

where trees and flowers grow.~ 

Don't patronize "Padas" and "Danggit.""

Don't Patronize Padas and Danggit.

Ecologically we are destroying the species every time we patronize padas bagoong. One kilo of padas is equivalent to several hundreds of individual fish that potentially mature in six months time reaching up to one kilo apiece. The mature padas is malaga (Ilk) or samaral, one of the tastiest fish in the world. It is prized by the Chinese in celebration of the Chinese New Year. To Filipinos - and other Asians - serving samaral during Holy Week and fiestas is a status symbol. The price of samaral in the market is twice or thrice that of ordinary fish.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Padas

Padas is the fry of spinefoot or rabbitfish, locally known as Malaga or samaral (right), mainly of the species Siganus canaliculatus. Other common species are S. concatenates, S corallinus and S. spinus.

Danggit

The white spotted siganid Siganus canaliculatus (Park, 1797), locally known as “danggit”, is one of the most important and heavily exploited fish species in the country, with adults and juveniles often targeted for boneless production, and post-larvae sizes (padas) for fish paste or bagoong, a popular condiment. Right, dried fish market of danggit, dilis (anchovies), alamang (small shrimps)

Padas is the fry of spinefoot or rabbitfish, locally known as Malaga or samaral. mainly of the species Siganus canaliculatus and S. concatenates and S corallinus and S. spinus. These species occur in schools in coastal areas around rocky and corals feeding on phytoplankton and browsing on seaweeds and seagrasses. They grow up to 280 mm. They tolerate a wide range of salinity that they enter rivers or go down to the open sea.

Spinefoots or rabbit fishes are members of the Siganidae family. There is only a single genus, Siganus with 32 member-species worldwide. They are found in the Indo-Pacific and eastern Mediterranean oceans, living in shallow coastal waters to a depth of 50 meters. They can be recognized based on pelvic fins with 2 spines (one strong inner and one outer spine, with 3 soft rays in between). Spinefoots are diurnal herbivores that feed on benthic algae. They can be found living in pairs or in school of up to 15 fishes.
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Caution: The samaral has very sharp and venomous spine on the dorsal, anal and pelvic fins. The spines can cause a very sharp pain, bleed and numbness (especially when the fish is alive), but they are not fatal. Handling of the fish with hand is done by holding the gill covers, or the widespread dorsal fin. In this way the fish becomes docile and normally does not attempt to struggle.
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When passing through Urdaneta and Villasis towns of Pangasinan you find padas bagoong in bottles sold on the shelf or by peddlers. Sometimes the small fish is beautifully arranged in rows covering the entire bottle. How skillfully and patiently is the art done considering how small the fry is. Those familiar with the product prefer seasoned bagoong over a newly made one. Like wine, seasoned bagoong is better. They know it if the fish are well settled in the bottle with an appreciable amount of patis appearing as a distinct layer on top. On the other hand, the patis of raw bagoong is at the bottom or middle of the bottle, and if there is too much of it, they know that the product is diluted with water.

Next time a vendor offers padas, think of the tiny fish as the potential tasty malaga or samaral which grows up to a kilo apiece. Harvesting the fry (padas) and its juvenille (danggit) is an opportunity loss for the fish to increase in number and maintain a stable population level, and to grow fully and become affordable to the ordinary consumer. Harvesting of padas and danggit should be regulated, if not banned. Conservation of this threatened species starts with us.~

Acknowledgement: Wikipedia, Internet; Conlu P V 1986 Fishes: Guide to Philippine Flora and Fauna Series.

A Singular of Roses

A Singular of Roses

“People where you live,” the little prince said, “grow five thousand roses in one garden... Yet they don't find what they're looking for... And yet what they're looking for could be found in a single rose.”  

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery 

Mural and Verse by Dr Abe V Rotor

A single rose is all the roses in the world;

Because a rose is a rose is a rose.*

Nothing describes it best but its own word.

Oh, the power of a single rose!

* This expression comes from the American author Gertrude Stein. It appeared in her poem “Sacred Emily,” which was written in the year 1913 and published in 1922. ~

Giant Click Beetle

                                                    Giant Click Beetle

Dr Abe V Rotor

Giant click beetle, Oxynopterus sp., is a click beetle from tropical Southeast Asia. The thorax-abdomen joint is equipped with a catapult lock.  When released it produces a clicking sound and the force it creates can bring back the insect from upside to normal position. Clicking is mainly used to avoid predation and to escape its enemies. 

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;

Ans pressing your breast, my wish implied,

All I wanted, you complied. ~

*Oxynopterus mucronatus, sometimes known as the giant click beetle, is a species of click beetle from tropical Southeast Asia. Their larvae are specialized predators of termites. It was originally described by the French entomologist Guillaume-Antoine Olivier in 1792 as Elater mucronatus. There are about 9300 known species worldwide. The generic name Oxynopterus means "sharp-wing" in ancient Greek; while the specific name mucronatus is Latin for "pointed". Both refer to the sharp, pointed tips of the elytra.(Internet)

Blind Shrimp

Blind Shrimp 

Blind Shrimp discovered living in deep open wells in Sinait, Ilocos Sur, Philippines

Dr Abe V Rotor

This microscopic Crustacean was found living in deep wells in Sinait, Ilocos Sur, by Professor Juan Campus and the author in the seventies.  A classical example of speciation, this species has forever lost eyesight, now replaced by a well-developed tactile sense.  Its presence in a number of wells in the area suggests that there is a common underground river or aquifer through which this creature can pass, using a well-developed appendage which works like  catapult.  (Article published in a book,  Sunshine on Raindrops by Dr A V Rotor, 2000) 

I let the rope down as I peered,

And down the bucket disappeared;

The well is bottomless it seemed,

'Til the rope went forever limp.

I felt the bucket full and bound,

As it went down without a sound,

Until it hit a hidden spring,

As I hoped for a prize to bring.

Through the microscope's aperture,

Appeared a frail and blind creature,

With long antennae for vision

and a springtail for action.

Equally blind I could have been,

Had I not with inner eye seen

The little monster in the dark,

Counterpart of Jurassic Park.

For a lost lamb Nature pleases

To make it a new species

Now different from its own kind,

Orphaned - and forever blind! ~~

Saksakulap, the Spirit Bird

Saksakulap, the Spirit Bird

Cadaclan Mountain, San Fernando, La Union

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

The saksakulap bird or Philippine frogmouth bird (Batrachostomus septimus), mimics a tree stump and remains completely motionless even as it senses danger.  Matthew Marlo, son of the author examines the bird's nest and egg. Old folks believe that the bird is either the  spirit of a beautiful maid or a fairy guarding the forest of Cadaclan.  When the bird felt threatened, it attempted to divert the attention of its enemy from finding its nest and egg by silently falling from her nest and surreptitiously dashing away underneath the bushes, then made a bluffing noisy take-off. Photos by the author with telephoto lens (left), and ordinary lens (right) c.1999?

"There she is Papa," my boy whispered.

A telephoto away, a drama on stage,

Lianas and foliage reigned instead,

And a shadow hid the message.

Calm in summer spread on the open.

An arena of camouflage and deceit.

The unseen to be seen. At the end,

We knew little of this game of wit.

Bruised we tread on cautioning our feet,

To find a hidden vantage view.

There sat in a Darwinian outfit,

Motionless she posed yet knew.

One click, and another, a view to freeze,

But like cotton she dived, crept then flew,

A ploy to save her brood and species,

Leaving us in wonder and awe.

"She is a spirit bird," the folks said.

"She was once a shy pretty maid,

To the kindhearted she's not afraid."

Sighed we who made the raid. ~

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

Rarely seen bird gets limelight in forest plan
JUNE 5, 2013 BY ARIES MUNANDI

THE FOREST of Mangatarem, Pangasinan, is home to the Philippine frogmouth or “saksakulap.” Pangasinan—It looks like an owl but its beak is as wide as a frog’s mouth. It is a bird that is often heard, and rarely seen, because of its loud sound “Kaawww” or its staccato “Wak wak wak.” 

Head profile of saksakulap

PHOTO COURTESY OF PAWB-DENR ILOCOS MANGATAREM,

That’s the “saksakulap,” the very elusive Philippine frogmouth (Batrachostomus septimus), which has become the poster creature of government programs to protect the critical Mangatarem forest, the largest forest in Pangasinan with an area of 6,500 hectares. It is a part of the 139,679-ha Zambales mountain range, which straddles Pangasinan, Tarlac and Zambales. 

The Mangatarem forest is now in the five-year New Conservation Areas in the Philippines Project (NewCAPP) of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB).

NewCAPP is being implemented with the local government and Haribon Foundation and with funds from the United Nations Development Program-Global Environment Facility. Protecting the Pangasinan-Zambales rainforest would mean protecting the saksakulap, said Leduina Co, provincial environment and natural resources officer.The saksakulap and other Mangatarem forest inhabitants also serve as tourist attractions at Manleluag Spring Protected Landscape System, part of the Mangatarem forest.

While not a threatened species yet, the saksakulap, which has white bands on the breast, is seldom seen even by residents.

The saksakulap is nocturnal and is a “shy bird,” according to Cora Marie Pugal, an expert from the PAWB Ilocos regional office. It is small with a length of 230 millimeters and wingspan of 138 mm. It hides during the day, perching on branches and is often mistaken for a broken branch because its gray-brown feathers render it indistinguishable from tree bark.

At night, it forages for insects, its main food. Aside from the saksakulap, the forest is also home to other species.

Birds comprise most of the life that thrive in Mangatarem which hosts 96 bird species like the Philippine parakeet, the horn bill, coleto and malkoha; eight species of mammals like the cloud rat, wild boar and Philippine deer, and reptiles like the water monitor lizard. Four threatened species are living in the Mangatarem forest: the Philippine duck (Anas luzonica), the flame-breasted fruit dove (Ptilinopus marchei), the ashy ground thrush (Zoothera cinerea) and the Philippine warty pig (Sus Philippensis).

According to a NewCAPP report, the biodiversity of the Mangatarem forest is threatened by hunting, unregulated gathering of forest products, charcoal making and illegal logging.

NewCAPP said the forest is also threatened by the invasion of exotic species, “kaingin” (slash-and-burn farming) expansion into forest lands, unregulated mining and quarrying.

Source:newsinfo.inquirer.net ~

Author's Note: Acknowledgement, Aries Munandi et al.  Based on this report, this rare bird appears to have a wide habitat range. I personally encountered the bird at the La Union Botanical Garden on Cadaclan mountain sometime in the late nineties. 

Convergence in Nature

 Convergence in Nature

Painting and Verse by Dr Abe V Rotor

Convergence in acrylic 2015

Convergence in a garden with butterflies fluttering among flowers, reflecting the early rays of the sun into a prism of rainbow colors;

Convergence on a wall of mosses and lichens carpeting an old stonewall, sanctuary of living minutiae beyond the naked eye;

Convergence of seasons with seeds and buds waking up, flowering plants in their prime, leaves of gold and red falling, trees rising bare into the sky;

Convergence of art with romance in the air, impressions of vision, realism in everyday life, expressionism in feelings, abstracts in thoughts;

Convergence of culture erases the boundaries of faith and belief, race and nationality, inequities of living, into but one global village;

Convergence seeks peace and unity in a garden, on a stonewall, in seasons changing, in art movements, in cultures wanting to be free. ~

"Our lives are being outrun by Science and Technology."

"Our lives are being outrun by Science and Technology"*

  In our age of modern science and technology, of automation and computerization, of globalization and space travel, do we admit, "Our lives are being outrun by science and technology?" 

                                                            Dr Abe V Rotor

I proceed by presenting to you two challenges posed by our increasingly complex scientific and technological world.

The biblical forbidden Tree of Knowledge (Internet)

The first challenge is to keep up with the pace of scientific and technological change. At its present rate, we are virtually grappling with the pole vault to cope with the leaps and bounds of discoveries and inventions which are pushing us to change our ways, and our very lives. It is no longer us who dictate science and technology; it is science and technology that dictates us.

The second challenge calls for a conventional approach. It is to find the means with which to cushion the impact of rapid change of science and technology on our lives by clinging on some anchor of values. If we have a choice of priorities, of looking back at history and tradition, or by simply standing rationally firm to what is good not only to us but for all mankind, then we just can not become easy victims of “progress”.

Our lives are being outrun by Science and Technology 

In so short a time – virtually just within a life span of many of us in the elder generation - the world witnessed three important unprecedented discoveries which have changed human life and our society forever. There is no turning back now. Science and technology marked the milestone of no return, a point of irreversibility as we race for industrialization, and plunge into the “third wave” of progress

The three scientific breakthroughs are

1. Splitting of the atom (nuclear power, atomic bomb);
2. Invention of the microchip (electronics, computers); and
3. Cracking the DNA code (Human Genome Project, genetic engineering).
The applications of these breakthroughs cannot be overemphasized. as we witness today or in the near future the following:

1. Man’s landing on the moon;
2. Information highway via satellites and the Internet;
3. Cloning and genetically modified organisms (GMO);
4. Universities without walls (distance education);
5. Robotics and nanobotics (microscopic robots);
6. Frankenfoods, (modified foods);
7. Test tube babies, menopausal childbirth;
8. Gene therapy and immunotherapy;
9. Extended life span (now 78 years on the average to 140 by 2500); and
10. Cryonics or human hibernation, which prepares man for space travel.

We just can not be bystanders, an advice as old as the Renaissance, when Shakespeare said, “The world’s a stage, each has a role to play.” We are participants in this “modern” drama of life heretofore known only in fiction.

"The glory that was Greece, the grandeur that was Rome."  a syndrome of civilization.

Virtually there is no place to escape from our high tech world. Imagine life if there were no cell phone, cable TV, video-games, malls, hospitals, e-mail, solar watch, MRT/LRT, ATM, and the like. And if we think about today’s process in making many products we use everyday - from ball pens to cars – imagine computers and robots at work in place of man.

Scenario: You are awakened by a quartz clock. You switch on the light, tune in the TV or radio, take a bath, pick up the phone, cook breakfast, read the morning paper, dress up, take the elevator, drive the car, etc, etc, etc. All this is not surprising to most of us.

But hear this. The milk you drink is genetically modified (human embryo hormone was injected into the cow to produce more milk), the corn flakes you eat comes from BT corn (corn with a gene of a bacterium – Bacillus thuringiensis), your potato and onion are irradiated for longer shelf life, your lettuce carries a trace of dioxin, the deadliest toxin ever synthesized, your tuna carries a residue of mercury, the microwave emits rays that are not good to health, the paint in your condominium contains lead, plastic deteriorates and you may not know you are absorbing the by-products, synthetic fabric is the cause of your allergy, there is nitrate (salitre) in corned beef and in tocino, MSG (sodium mono-glutamate) in noodle, aspartame in soft drinks, sulfite in sugar, potassium bromide in bread. And the list goes on, ad infinitum.

Again we ask, “Where will all this lead us to?”

Well, read again Dylan Thomas poem, “Do not go gentle into the night” purporting everyone to become vigilant and not settle into comfort and take a license for freedom. It is the road often trodden. Why can they take the less trodden?

This masterpiece reflects an experience the boy Dylan had one Christmas. He was given a beautiful book that told him everything about the wasp, a relative of the bee. Everything about the insect - except “Why?” And the boy wondered, “Is this all?” Rage builds up the more we ask “Why?” – and we find no satisfactory answer.

Does it strike you sometimes that knowledge – even the knowledge we obtained from the university - does not bring true satisfaction - much less enlightenment? It is because our education, especially in science and technology, emphasizes the “How?” rather than the “Why?” Instead of searching for meaning we are searching for causes, or cause-and-effect. As we study phenomena we seem to underestimate the question, “Why?” which is the foundation of values.

Maybe it would be good to our searching mind to reflect on life’s meaning or values on a historical perspective. Consider these

1. Socrates model, the right to seek, to awaken from ignorance. (birth of the university)

2. Communal enterprise which gave the vitality of the Renaissance, brought West to conquer the East (colonizing and civilizing)

3. Voltarism – “reach for knowledge and share the experience of civilization”. (Post-Alexandrian concept of one civilization, one world)

4. Enlightenment spawned by the French revolution (birth of democracy and nationalism)

5. Capitalism-consumerism, the world is a global village (economics today).

François-Marie Arouet (1694–1778), known as Voltaire, French Enlightenment writer and philosopher

We have been disciples of Voltaire too long, believing that the greatest achievement of mankind is civilization. We do not dispute that civilization is a prerequisite of progress. But recently we began to raise disturbing questions.

Before going farther let me interject a tale of B. Traven, The Treasure of Sierra Madre which is reminiscent of an earlier story, The Pardoner’s Tale by Chaucer. In both tales, the plot is about men who meet by accident and join together in search for gold. They take mortal risks for one another in their community of search. But when they find the gold, they are filled with suspicion and end up fighting each other - and losing their treasure in the process. This syndrome still haunts us today.

Now consider these issues.

1. Two world wars, nuclear armaments, unending armed conflicts
2. Domino effect spawned by super economies which toppled the lesser economies (Asian crisis)
3. “How the Other Half (of the population) Dies” (a book exposing inequitable distribution of wealth, as the reason of mass hunger and poverty, by Susan George)

4. “Silent Spring” (a book by Rachel Carson, an expose’ of deadly chemicals, specially pesticides, which are destroying wildlife and the environment)

5. Pollution, global warming, Ozone hole, which are consequences of man’s quest for a better life through industrialization

6. AIDS, drug abuse, broken homes, erosion of values
7. Mass poverty, widespread ignorance
8. Destruction of the ecosystems
9. “You do not find sacredness anymore,” Time
10. “Death of privacy,” Time and Newsweek.

The deleterious by-products of today’s science and technology exacerbate the problems of mankind. Paradoxically, science and technology have not successfully eradicated the ancient scourge of mankind – disease, poverty and ignorance.

While man may have a grasp of history and his society he has apparently lost control of his destiny. 

Light from the Old Arch, AV Rotor, 2000, UST Publishing House; arch of the centuries 

Sun and Blue Sky

 Sun and Blue Sky

Dr Abe V Rotor
Unedited photos taken in Virac, Catanduanes
with a palm size digital 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 Rembrandt,
     their inner sun shining.~

Relaxation - A Luxury in Our Postmodern Living

 Relaxation - A Luxury in Our Postmodern Living

Living with Nature

Heritage Zone of the North (RA 11645)

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Dr Abe V Rotor 

  

 In our postmodern living we are moving away from the natural world which guaranteed our success in evolution as a species. Then, rationality brought us out of the biblical Paradise in search of Utopia. We have been travelers searching for this ultimate destination.

Imagine the world of the "lost" - professionals and students, ordinary people notwithstanding. It is a world where

• Thoughts refuse to close down, even only for respite.
• Energy drains the whole being, even before starting to work.
• Sleep never comes on time and is never enough.
•  Relationships are strained, if not alienated.
•  Family bond is breaking up.
• Self worth and respect are falling to a point of depression, or suicide.

 Relaxation is a discipline, a regimen, to

• ·         switch off your thoughts to release stress before it builds up.
• ·         conserve energy, budget it well
• ·         sleep well to obtain full rest.
• ·         mend relationships, build friendship
• ·         bond closely with your family.
• ·         discover your potentials to enhance self worth and respect.

Let's Observe International Mother Earth Day, 22 April 2022 (Theme: Invest In Our Planet.)

Let's Observe International Mother Earth Day,

22 April 2022

Earth Day is celebrated annually on 22 April.

The Earth Day 2022 Theme: Invest In Our Planet.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Children fishing, painting by the author.

UNITED NATIONS: International Mother Earth Day is celebrated to remind each of us that the Earth and its ecosystems provide us with life and sustenance.

It also recognizes a collective responsibility, as called for in the 1992 Rio Declaration, to promote harmony with nature and the Earth to achieve a just balance among the economic, social and environmental needs of present and future generations of humanity.

International Mother Earth Day provides an opportunity to raise public awareness around the world to the challenges regarding the well-being of the planet and all the life it supports. The theme for 2022 is "Invest in Nature.".

We need to build a global citizenry fluent in the concepts of climate change and aware of its unprecedented threat to our planet. We need to empower everyone with the knowledge to inspire action in defense of environmental protection.

Environmental and climate literacy is the engine not only for creating green voters and advancing environmental and climate laws and policies but also for accelerating green technologies and jobs.

Wholesome ways of being environment friendly.  Add your own to these examples, and share with your friends, family, school, church and community.

On-the-spot painting (UST College of Fine Arts)

 

Visit botanical gardens. Or initiate building a community garden.

Author at the UST Botanical Garden. 

Visit farms and gardens. Bromeliads horticulture,

Mt Banahaw, Quezon. Visit a museum (UST Museum

of Natural History)

 

Visit and join festivals about Nature. Pahiyas festival,

Lukban, Laguna, 15 May

 

Conduct workshop like Folk Wisdom for Kids in the neighborhood.

Barangay Greater Lagro, QC

 

Protect and preserve our native gene pool. Native jackfruit in fruiting season,

 Agoo, LU. Promote natural or organic farming. UPLB Laguna

 

Join the Green Revolution at home. Promote consumption

of vegetables (typical vegetable stall).

 

Revive Bahay Kubo culture and values. Bahay Kubo model at IRRI 

Museum, UPLB Laguna

 

Outdoor friendly games childhood's memorable experience 

on the countryside, Bohol.  

 Yes, there's a home for every one. Kuya Center, home for

street children, Cubao QC

 

Promote Interfaith gathering for peace and prosperity, UST circa 2005

Have time to reflect. Meditation before a wall mural on nature painted by the author

 

Use biodegradable materials like walis tingting

(coconut midrib); a festival.

Help preserve historic century-old trees, Hi Chi Ming,City, Vietnam

Support alternative environment-friendly energy source.

 Author's sister and daughter, respectively (Wind mills, Bangui, IN)

 

Support breast feeding and proper weaning program.~