"Would you drop by for a li'l rest?"

"Would you drop by for a li'l rest?"

Green Stage on the Sidewalk

  

A wall transformed, emptiness to green scenery,

amidst buildings, noise, and busy feet;

"Would you drop by for a li'l rest?" it seems to say;

a chance passersby for a moment meet. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

avrotor.blogspot.com

To school, but quite early;

there's time to explore 

in make-believe, the wood 

on the wall, with nanny 

in a happy mood.    

The school van can wait idle,

    so with the kindly driver;

let time pass awhile waiting

    for the children to prepare.

Reminisce the youthful years,

     by the stream and forest, 

a tunnel of time and space,

     to go on living afresh.

Wildlife in our home, why not?

In imagery and reflection,

the archival art of Nature

for the future generation,

time to make up for our fault,

a grim reminder for action

Once in a while vary the scenery

     to the depth of the sea;

 bring down the sun to refresh memory

     of man's triumph and folly.    

Capture the rays of the sun,

     white doves flying for fun,

while you're innocent and young,

     and the happy days gone.

Nature is always there as you grow up;

she doesn't grow old in her own way;

only in human hands she tires and cries;  

thus the challenge of true beauty of a lass

to be a deity of Nature in mythology. ~

                                    San Vicente IS to the World series

Finest Wood Furniture Maker - The Pride of San Vicente (Ilocos Sur), "Little Florence in Spanish Time"  

San Vicente was dubbed the little Florence during the Spanish times. It was in Florence, Italy where the seed of Renaissance grew and spread throughout Europe, and to other parts of the world through colonization, the Philippines being a colony of Spain for four centuries.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog

avrotor.blogspot.com

If you are a native of San Vicente IS, you can instinctively identify if a piece of furniture is a product of your town. It is experiential, too, that has rooted in your mind the standards of your judgment and conclusion. You are in your own right a natural born critic, a connoisseur of fine products truly Vincentian.

Old narra chest  retains its antique quality with relief carving of the typical grape vine design popularized during the Renaissance in Europe. 
Lower photo: detail of an intricate carving of an antique narra aparador.  

 Antique chairs and open cabinet. There was at one time a big demand for antique furniture. For an untrained eye, fake and original ones are difficult to differentiate. Today there are furniture that are like lemon cars. They look attractive when new but they do not last long. Plywood, particleboard, canvas upholstery, glued-joint instead of mortise-and-tenon joint, linings to hide defects, and other shortcut woodwork have destroyed much of the integrity of the original industry. 

These framed paintings are giving way to borderless paintings with the subject spilling out to the sides.  These are sample products of a framing shop I put up after I opted for early retirement from government service in 1989 which lasted for ten years when framing business declined. I learned the trade from artisans in San Vicente and from industrial art classes I attended in elementary and high school.  

Frames still have a market but selective, such as this special frame of narra made for a memorable photograph.   

  

Details of fine hand carving and rattan instead of modern upholstery. A medieval ambiance of drapery, ceiling and wall, plus a conventional piano and painting could be added to enhance such atmosphere. 

Fine furniture products, among other products of the Ilocos Region such as Basi wine and Añil (Indigo Dye), found their way to Europe by way of the Galleon Trade, based on Seville Acapulco, Mexico. Records are scanty on the interchange of products and their value between East and West, but this opened up the first-world economy undertaking set to grow  in modern times. 

As there are preserved icons from Europe in our churches and homes of prominent Filipinos, so with the fine products of our country found in Europe and elsewhere in the world particularly colonies of Spain. Filipino artisans excel in duplicating fine works, and even innovate them to the point of largely modifying their originality. The ocho-bados wooden glass cabinet for China wares is an example. Dressers bearing oriental touch yet retaining their European design are not rare to find - original or close imitations. Wooden chests are distinctly carved bearing the name of the local artisan. And if you would probe deeper, furniture making is linked to sculpture, as evidenced by religious icons sculpted by local artists. If you have seen the pieces of furniture in Rizal's Shrine in Calamba Laguna, you would think they came all the way from Europe. So with many museum pieces all over the country, including those in the capital town, Vigan, three kilometers east of San Vicente the principal market for its products. 

Vigan, then Ciudad Fernandina, was on the regular route of the Galleon trade. It was second to Manila in economic importance. This lasted for more than two centuries. No other international link surpassed the importance of the Galleon Trade in its own time. It provided stimulus for multicultural growth and development in the region which explains the rich variety of art in the Ilocos from massive churches, to local industries which include furniture, exquisite lanute wood fan, icons of saints and important personalities.

Hand carved dining set, a prized collection for its narra wood and finish, royal design, and intricate woven rattan seat and backing. Ilocano homes take pride in having fine furniture sets from Cleopatra bed to Louis XV sala set distinctly made 

by San Vicente artisans  

  

Solid narra cabinets with relief carving show strong influence of European Renaissance art of the 15th century.  Renaissance art was brought into the country from Spain, and became a symbol of affluence. Classicism and Romanticism are the two schools which dominated this age which later gave way to Realism, Impressionism, ultimately ramifying into several movements which we collectively term as Modern art. 

   

 

Jewelry box of solid narra is preferred over fancy designs today. Miniature wooden furniture set attracts tourists and collectors preferring them over mass produced plastic and metal casts. 

Go to San Vicente if you wish to see a double size bed made of all-kamagong (ebony), with Persian design. Ebony is a dense black wood, most commonly yielded by several different species in the genus Diospyros. Ebony is dense' it easily sinks in water. It is finely-textured and has a very smooth finish when polished, making it valuable as an ornamental wood. Complimenting the bed are a bedroom table, chest, chairs and cabinets of the same material. I saw a whole set in Bernardo "Berning" Ruelos' residence in San Vicente. The set has become too personal the family would not part with anything.

Spanish folding fan made of lanute wood, exquisitely carved in lace design, can compare with the world's best. In fact you may not know that you would be buying a San Vicente lanute fan in Madrid marked Made in Spain. Maestro Lorenzo Mata Sr is the local wood fan industry leader with beautiful designs of his own. If you have a Mata fan, you might simply save it for very special occasions.

Carro (Ilk), carriage of religious icons during procession is in itself a masterpiece. The carro of the grieving Mother Mary and that of Christ carrying a cross are the most exquisite and decorative, Both carro and religious icons that attract tourists are the works of the Castillo and Lazo sculptors, the late Mauro Castillo and Jose Pepe Lazo Sr, among them.

Customized corner arranger rack and telephone table 

Custom made furniture like personalized doors, apparadors, rocking chair, Cleopatra bed, lounging chair (butaka and silyon Ilk), picture frames, jewelry boxes, can be traced to leaders of the industry, the families of  Repulleza, Roc, Riotoc, Rigunay, Lazo, et al. each work having a distinctive flavor, so to speak, that among us natives to the place can identify the artisan, or the barangay it was made.  Bantaoay, Pudoc, San Sebastain, Bayubay.are major carpentry barangays.  Or simply "west" or "east" of the church, Or north or south of this point of reference. In my time the industry was so popular, carpentry is part of growing up.

Our home in QC is graced by the works of three Vincentian master artisan-carpenters: a sala set Victorian in design made by the late Damaso Rotor, an uncle of mine, who won a national prize during the Commonwealth era for his fine furniture, a dining set for eight, also hand carved solid narra with rattan "upholstery" by Vicente "Bitti" Regocera, antique apparadors and chests made by the late Andong Ruelos, and Angel Requilman, veterans of  the industry.

My father had a furniture shop before World War II broke. It was the first mechanized furniture shop north of Manila, so I was told. Dad had just returned from his studies in the US finishing Bachelor in Commercial Science from De Paul University in Chicago. As his shop grew, so with the threat of war. Finally the country was placed under Japanese occupation and the shop was destroyed. Memories of the war are old pieces of furniture made in that shop. In later years dad said that things have changed unexpectedly, fast and radical. Even after Philippine independence, furniture making - so with other local industries - were never the same again. Entrepreneurship soon gave way to corporate business and many small businesses were swallowed up. 

Today the furniture industry, while it retains its San Vicente signature, has undergone radical  developments, mainly through the use of basic machines as envisioned by my dad in pre WWII era, and use of substitute wood materials to the famed narra (Diptherocarpus indicus, national tree of the Philippines), acacia (Samanea saman), molave (Vitex parviflora), and kamagong (Diospyrus discolor) - four threatened species under strict protection of DENR. The supply of wood threatens the industry as a whole, exacerbated by today's market demand trends preferring cheap and mass produced plastic and metal crafts and wares mainly products of China. And with homes getting smaller, and perched on high-rise condominiums, pre-fab and convertible designs hardly called furniture, have virtually displaced the bulky

 conventional types.   

Marker of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon that carried Philippine products to the other side of the globe which included fine furniture, basi wine and añil (indigo dye) from the Ilocos. It paved the way to international trade, precursor to modern world economy.  

The masters and their generation may have gone, but their works are legendary evidences of a golden era that has put San Vicente on the map as the maker of the finest furniture in the region - if not over the world. ~.. 

Goya's Paradox of Human Life

                             Goya's Paradox of Human Life

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature School on Blog

Goya's painting of two men clubbing each other while

being swallowed by quagmire to their inevitable death.

If there is Plato's Allegory of the Cave - a man escapes and sees the truth and that it is his obligation to lead others to get out of the cave of ignorance;

If there is Thoreau's Walden Pond that man's isolation from society is realization of his inseparability, however principled he may be;

If there is Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo that tells at the end the emptiness of the soul, triumphant one may have revenged on his enemies;

If there is Burnett's Secret Garden that has long been forgotten and that having the courage to open it is discovering the joys of the past and starting a new life.

If there is Picasso's Guernica mural, symbolic of peace triumphant over war, coded secretly to carry on the message in novels, sculpture, movies, photographs, etc., to this day;

If there is Rizal's Noli and Fili denouncing abuses of colonial masters, demanding reform and equitable governance, and inevitably igniting the flame of revolution as the ultimate recourse;

If there is Goya's Two Men Fighting in a Quicksand, exuding strong and direct message to warring nations, that no one wins at the end, mankind ultimately the loser;
It is art - the brush and the pen - that has really changed the world - and is still changing it. ~

Francisco Goya (1746-1828), Spanish painter, is considered "the Father of Modern Art." His career began at the close of the late Baroque period, and the rise of Gothic art, extending over a period of more than 60 years, for he continued to draw and paint until his 82nd year.

To understand Goya's paintings, it is equally important to know the life of painter. Three stages marked his long active life.

• His attitude towards life in his youth, when he accepted the world as it was quite happily,
• His manhood when he began to criticize it, and
• His old age when he became embittered and disillusioned with people and society.

The world had changed radically during his lifetime. He saw the society in which he achieved great success dissolved during the Napoleonic war, so that he turned to new ideals, as reflected in this painting of two men clubbing each other while being swallowed by quicksand.

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

* Lesson on former 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

Proverbs and Riddles in Ilocano: "A helping hand reaches heaven," figuratively speaking.

Proverbs and Riddles* in Ilocano

"Dumanon langit ti maikatlo nga takyag." 

A helping hand reaches heaven, figuratively speaking.

Dr Abercio (Bersio) V Rotor

Columnist, Okeyka Apong: Dagiti Tawid a Sirib ken Adal (Heritage of Wisdom and Lessons), Bannawag Magazine (weekly magazine in Ilocano, published  by Manila Bulletin)  

1. Nangisngisit nasamsam-it -
Bugnay.
The darker it is, the sweeter. Duhat

A bee pollinating flowers of kamias.

Photo by the author.

2. Bislat: pagbaut, pagsurat
Ken sarukud.
Cane is for whipping, writing, and walking

3. Adda mata dagiti kaykayo,
No rumabii.
The trees have eyes at night.

4. Agkakabsat, aggugubat.
Ay, daksanggasat!
Brothers fighting each other in war,
what a tragedy! 

5. Sabong nagukrad, alimbubuyog,
Makasulisug.
 An open flower attract a bee. (photo) 

6. Alipupus dua, maysa’t muging,
Nasukir isuna.
He who has two hair pools with one 
on the forehead is stubborn 

7. Perlas ken lua pangar-arigan
Panagkaddua.
Pearls and tears are symbols of friendship.

8. Pan-nangan’ awan agsaramsam,
Ti nagbaetan.

Don't eat between meals.

9. Dumanon langit maikatlo nga takyag 
A helping hand to an elderly reaches heaven,
figuratively, speaking.

10. Agar-arasaas diay dadapilan,
Bubud diay burnay.
The sugarcane crusher whispers, 
so with the brew (must) in the earthen jar.

11. Agparparintomeng, awan maka-asideg.
Lunsa-lunsa.
This kneeling creature dares anyone to get near. (preying mantis) - photo

12. Agbilangka't sangagasot ken maysa
No agduaduaka.
Count one-hundred-and-one if you are in doubt.

13. Itudom amin ida, no awan basolmo
ken nadaluska.
Point the blame at all others, if you are sinless 
and pure. It is analogous to "He who has no sin casts the first stone." (Statement of Christ before
a mob about to stone a sinner to death.)

14. Gura ken ayat, bumtak wenno umpes,
Kasla ulep.
Hate and love, like cloud, breaks and disappears.

15. Umisemkan tapno maturogen
Iti bulan.
Smile so that the moon goes to sleep.

--------

* A proverb is a short, popular saying that offers advice about life, while a riddle is a statement or question with double meanings meant to be solved.

Have you been kissed by a black goat?

 Have you been kissed by a black goat?

Dr Abe V Rotor

Rather, has a black goat tasted you? Carlo at home, San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

The goat eats everything - almost:

     leaf or skin, fabric or paper; 

by gene and birth, unscrupulous 

     this creature eats anything - almost. 

And it tastes everything, too - almost:

     the sweetest, bitterest, saltiest,

intoxicating, lapping to the end, 

     until it topples dead - almost.

And if it has kissed and bitten you - almost,

     you must be vegetarian, carnivore,

cuisine lover combined; this creature

     sees you a friend perfect - almost. ~

Note; Carlo's favorite ringtone is a goat's crispy call.

Reflection by a Waterfall

Reflection by a Waterfall

Dr Abe V Rotor

Amadeo Waterfalls, Cavite

Reflect not my folly and greed,

Never Narcissus of old;

Of the deities on his shoulder,

Of youth never growing old.

Reflect not of the future gloom,

Of Heaven denied and lost,

Lost pristine and the butterflies,

And of the Malthusian ghost.

Death is an empty shell I see

Lying in the murky depth,

And a lone deer in memory

Shall man someday pay his debt.

The Good Life, oh we always say,

Is progress and destiny,

Taming both time and space

To create our sense of beauty.

Narcissus, what lesson have you

Taught mankind since you fell in?

Oh, beauty, the land of the doomed,

Where lust is the greatest sin. ~

Autotomy: Nature's Special Defense Mechanism

Autotomy: Nature's Special Defense Mechanism

Dr Abe V Rotor

Philippine Sun Skink or Bubuli (Alibut Ilk) - Eutropis multifasciata). Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae with more than 1,500 species across 100 genera.

My cat caught a skink one lazy afternoon and brought it into our visitors room, apparently lifeless, while its tail vigorously wiggled not far from the tailless torso.  I know as a biologist that certain lizards when faced with death automatically detach  their tails, a mechanism given them by Nature as final and ultimate chance to escape and survive.  The detached tail vigorously twitches to distract the predator in order to release the  tailless creature which feigns dead to the attacker. With remaining strength the poor creature stealthily crawls and in a flash takes off to safety.  

But my cat is stubborn, so I held him by the skin of his neck the way felines are carried when young and tightened my grip a little until it released its hold.  The tailless skink had a bad wound.  I helped it find a place in the garden with the hope that it would be able to  recover.  Meantime Its tail stopped twitching and my cat left the scene.  

Fortunately the wounded skink survived.  I glanced upon it in its hiding place a couple of months after, its tail stump had grown a new tail noticeably shorter at the moment than the lost one. House lizards (butiki) demonstrate the same phenomenon of survival that is specially rare in the animal kingdom.   

 

The detached tail has a special color and glow as it continues to twitch, 

attracting the predator to release its hold on the hapless prey.

Tail loss is also called "tail autotomy" or "caudal autotomy" or "tail-shedding." Many species of lizards like the skink and house lizard (butiki) are able to lose part of their tail to help them escape from predators. This phenomenon also applies to certain  insects like grasshoppers, crickets and walking sticks. A grasshopper, when held by its hind leg, voluntarily discards that limb by intense muscular contraction and in the process ruptures it at the base of the femur.  This case is also experienced when holding the pincers or claws of a crab.  Before you know it the fellow has detached itself and gone back to the water. Nature nurtures the regrowth of these lost parts in due time, and soon the wounded creatures regain their normal appearances and activities.   

 

Philippine Sun Skink or Bubuli (Alibut Ilk) - Eutropis multifasciata).  

Acknowledgement: Lower photos from the Internet

Author's Note: The cat and skink encounter is typical and commonly taking place in the living world particularly in the wild.  It is Nature's drama between a predator and prey.  On the screen we watch a lion pursue a gazelle, pins it down while  members of its pride wait, and soon partake in a  raucous meal.  A preying mantis catches a grasshopper with its spiked forelegs like a clamp writhing as it is devoured. A boa constrictor swallows a live rodent larger than its girth.  Our Philippine eagle, in one blinding swoop, snatches  a monkey in its perch, shreds it with its beak and claws and feeds its brood high up in its hidden abode. It is for this fact that our national bird is called monkey-eating eagle. It sounds primitive and brutal.  Autotomy on the other hand, is finesse; it is Nature's art, a rare phenomenon in our living world. ~

Living with Nature Center Series 2: Arboretum and Garden San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

                                       Living with Nature Center Series 2

Arboretum and Garden

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

An arboretum is an outdoor living tree museum. A garden is a planned plot of land adjoining a house for cultivating plants, flowers and fruits, and other forms of nature.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Arboretum or Miniature Tropical Rainforest

As miniature replica, the Center maintains the three-storey distinct 

structure of a tropical rainforest, namely, underbrushes, canopy layer, 

and emergents, cum epiphytes and lianas, as virtual field laboratory 

in forestry and ecology, and other related fields of study.

 

 

Dead Forest 

Where once stood a lush vegetation of trees, shrubs, liana and orchid - 

these are but remnants, reminiscent of Paradise John Milton's poetry, 

except for one thing - we may never see it regained in our life time. 

Indigenous Food Plants

Top clockwise, karamay (Cicca acida), kamias (Averrhoa balimbi), 

ngalog (Portulaca oleracea), batao (Dolichos lablab), pallang Ilk 

(Psophocarpus tetragonolobus), patani (Phaseolus lunatus).  Wild 

food plants are crucial in providing food and nutrition in times of 

food shortage and hunger.

Herbal Medicine

Luyang dilaw (Curcuma longa) or turmeric is an effective remedy for 

osteoarthritis, hay fever, depression, and high cholesterol. The rhizome 

is a good source of phosphorus and iron. Oregano (Origanum vulgare) 

contains antioxidants, and offers many health benefits.  Lowermost 

photos, Aloe vera for restoring hair, and Jatropha multifida made into 

topical ointment.    

Ethnobotany 

Considered as weeds certain edible plants, such as alugbati and 

karimbuaya or soro-soro, offer an alternative to conventional 

vegetables and fruits. This field of study is valuable in preserving 

biodiversity and in solving problems of food shortage and 

malnutrition.

Pest Buildup

Top, cabbage aphids (Brevicoryne brassicae) gain resistance 

against repeated chemical spraying.  Middle, Cotton Stainer 

(Dysdercus cingulatus = D. megalophygus), coconut beetle 

(Oryctes rhinocerus), green beetle, kamote weevil (Cylas 

formicarius)  are gaining the upper hand in our war against pest 

using chemicals.  Their tool: immunity.  Immunity enables them 

to survive the onslaught of pesticides which killed their forebears.  

Such resistance increases and passed on to their offspring onward. 

Speciation

Living things evolve, and in the transition period may show 

incipient signs of change veering away from their own kind. 

The process may lead to the formation of variants, which may 

become distinctly new species.

Garden Pond

Microcosm of a river, lake, or a large scale fishery right on the 

backyard as source of food, recreation, or simply a place for 

creativity and respite.