Home is “Heaven on Earth.”

Home is “Heaven on Earth.”

Happy Expressions of Home

this Christmas Season 2025

Add  your own thoughts and experiences 

and share them with others.*

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School on Air): Home has as many expressions as people's thoughts and feelings about it. Let's take a glance at what respondents say.

 Bahay Kubo in oil by AVR patterned after the song of the same 

title; western bungalow version of a cottage. 

   

Restored 18th century ancestral home of the author.

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

1. For a home beauty and function are one, in the same way as in biology – morphology and physiology.

2. Aesthetics is an art – it is both natural and man-made; it is a harmonious combination of the two.

3. Sanctuary is a home, simulated from the natural habitat of an organism or group of organisms. Sanctuary implies values of kindness, care, respect and understanding.

4. Generally, there are two parts of our garden to landscape – the public area and the private area, which are self explanatory.

5. Home is a call, ancient craving, in fact, biological like the salmon and the dove. It is the same homing instinct of the balikbayan.

6. Home is a fortress and a lighthouse.

7. Home is made by man and perfected by his hopes and dreams. We can reach the state of perfection, if only we do the best we can.

8. These are great Filipino artists whose works contributed to having our happy home of today: Nicanor Abelardo (music), Fernando Amorsolo (painting).

Light through the kapis window brings in warmth and nostalgia in this old home.

9. These are great Filipino scientists whose works are worthy as well in building an integrated home: Nemesio Mendiola (agriculture/gardening); Deogracias Villadolid (freshwater fishery), Leon Ma Guerrero (medicinal plants), Angel Arguelles (organic farming).

10. Other great Filipino women whose works likewise contributed to the making of a happy home: Fe del Mundo (health, specially children’s healthcare),  Maria Y Orosa (home economics/food art).

11. Even how inadequate may be our home – even if it is located along the railway - it comes to full bloom when Christmas time comes.

12. A home is a movable feast, referring to Ernest Hemingway’s early novel The Movable Feast.

Home is a workshop. It is a place to discover and develop talents.

13. A home must be efficient in protecting the dwellers from ultraviolet rays that causes skin cancer, unburnt carbon and acid rain that cause allergy and other ailments.

14. A home is surrounded by trees. Trees buffer disturbing noise from traffic, but they are good resonators of music and conversation.

15. A 20-year old acacia tree gives a cooling effect in its shade the equivalence of 10-window type air conditioner 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, virtually without any direct cost.

16. Have plants in and around your home. Plants give off O2 as a by-product of photosynthesis. It is good to health.

17. The best model for a garden is the Filipino style, because it is patterned after the structure of a tropical rain forest.

18. A home garden simulates a tropical rain forest which is basically made up of four stories just like a tall building: ground plants, shrubs, bushes and small trees, canopy layer, and emergents.

19. The most common canopy trees are most fruit trees, like santol, avocado, mango, while the most common emergent is the coconut.

Home is a greenery

20. A home is compared to a bird's nest. After the chicks have grown up and have learned to fly, they leave the nest. The difference from that of the bird's nest is that, the home is not abandoned. Now and then. the children visit their parents (and grandparents).

21. Life and love emanate, reside and grow in the home.

Home Art Gallery 

22. Home is “heaven on earth.”

23. Home is a rocking chair with long arms.

24. Home can be missed sorely like Heidi in Sipyri’s novel, about an orphan girl who was separated from her grandfather in the Alps mountain. Only when she was able to go back to her home with his grandfather that she found her world complete again.

Country farm house, Peñablanca, Pampanga 

25. A broken home is the most difficult to bear – broken by divorce, misunderstanding, quarrel, by early death, by prolonged absence – and most especially, by apparent lovelessness. If you belong to this kind of home there are two things you can do. Rebuild it, pick up the pieces and mend them together. The other is to make a new home yourself, and make it the ideal home of your dreams, the ideal home which is the highest expression of our worthiness on earth, and worthiness in heaven. ~

 

Traditional Thai House, Bangkok; Wigwam - dwelling of aboriginal 

Indians in Manitoba, Canada; Eskimo igloo, Alaska

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

Meditation and Reflection

We may have our own ways of expressing our happy thoughts and experiences. Let us share them with the less fortunate, particularly those victims of war in Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, Lebanon and other trouble areas, poverty and other circumstances, notwithstanding. 

We may first encounter our own hapless kababayan victims of a series of typhoons and floods, and earlier, a long drought caused by the El Niño phenomenon.  As of this writing I have seen on TV conflagration cases destroying hundreds of homes almost in an instant, not to mention spontaneous wildfires, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. 

Let us support legitimate campaigns and movements,  contribute to their cause in helping the victims rehabilitate their homes, reunite with their families, rebuild their communities. Let us help them in many ways within our own capacity, small it may be. We know that a good deed is never small.  Let us be catalysts of hope and joy. We know that happiness multiplies whenever and wherever we divide it, so with Love and Peace. 

An aftermath scene of Cebu earthquake and flood 2025 Internet

Before the World Goes Silent

Before the World Goes Silent

By Santiago*

"This is our finest hour, and we are God-sent,

To act now before the world goes silent." - Santiago 

The young artist poses with his painting depicting the

theme, Before the World Goes Silent, 2025

Times were beautiful once, if I’m not mistaken,

     But due to our folly, abuse has taken.

The forests were green as the tides were blue,

     But all soon faded, as the sky lost its hue.

Aren’t we to be blamed for this great damage?     

     If not, do we have to fix such carnage?

The old has its past, yet aims to bear new fruit,

     Even a broken arrow seeks the truth.

We stand tall and high like we can control all -

     But can we survive a storm’s sprawl?

Won’t devastation strike and consume us all,

     Especially if death starts to call?

Who lurk in the shadows may miss the climes,

     But would they ever speak in these times?

If only on paper that our thoughts are enough,

     And not twist the mind with hate and bluff.

We will be struggling still, if we don’t recall

     The beast whose head hangs on the wall,

As the poor can’t walk, so they start to crawl;

     Mighty empires will tumble and fall.

Grim and violent is our world, we can’t deny it,

     But we need to live decently with and for it;

This is our finest hour, and we are God-sent,

     To act now before the world goes silent. ~

                         * Mateo Lawrence M Rotor, 13
                           St Paul College of Ilocos Sur

Are you living a simple life? Evaluate yourself.

Are you living a simple life? Evaluate yourself.

"Simplicity is the peak of civilization." – Jessie Sampter

Dr Abe V Rotor

A happy family reunion

Check if you are practicing each of the following: There can be no step-by-step guide to simplifying your life. However, these are important reminders. Do these apply to you?

1. Make a list of your top 4-5 important things.
2. Evaluate your commitments.
3. Evaluate your time.
4. Simplify work tasks.
5. Learn to say no.

6. Make a Most Important Tasks (MITs) list each day.
7. Spend time alone.
8. Go for quality, not quantity.

9. Indulge in productive hobby, like home gardening.
10. Create an easy-to-maintain home.

11. Carry less stuff.
12. Simplify your budget.
13. Leave space around things in your day.
14. Live closer to work/school.
15. Always ask: Will this simplify my life?

16. Limit your communications.
17. Get rid of what you don’t need.
18. Get rid of the big items.
19. Clean /Edit your rooms.
20. Limit your buying habits.

21. Spend time with people you love.
22. Eat slowly.
23. Streamline your life.
24. Learn to live frugally.
25. Learn what “enough” is.

26. Eat healthy.
27. Exercise.
28. Declutter before organizing.
29. Find inner simplicity.
30. Find a creative outlet for self-expression.

RATING:
26 – 30 You are a model of Simple Living, an apostle.
21 – 25 You are appreciated by people around you. You are happy and they are happy, too.
16 – 20 You live moderately – know how to adjust, if there’s too much or too little.
15 and below You are not living a simple life. Simplify your life style. Get advice from parents, model teachers, your family doctor, spiritual adviser, reliable community leaders.  Read more about this topic.  Search the Internet.   

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School on Air) 738 DZRB-AM 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday (Philippines)

Acknowledgment: Thanks to Zen Habits. Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life. Every Wednesday is Simplicity Day on Zen Habits.

Cheer Up, It's Christmas! Christmas Stories, Events, Jokes & Quotes

                                         Cheer Up, It's Christmas!

Original Title: Christmas Stories, Events, Jokes & Quotes

Selected and compiled by Dr Abe V Rotor

 The small girl had spent the morning watching her mother do her Christmas shopping.  Finally, she found herself in a big chair beside the department-store Santa Claus, tell him her wishes.  "... and a big doll and a doll buggy and a doll house ..."  she finished the long list.  Then sliding from the chair and walking away, she suddenly turned back a pace, and called, "And charge it, Santa Claus!"

x x x x

CONDUCTOR: "You know darn well the distance between Chicago and Cleveland is the same as from Cleveland to Chicago. Any damn foo knows that."

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

x x x x 

A youngster walked into a bank the other day to open an account with $1000.  The bank's vice president gave him a benign smile and asked how he had accumulated so much money.

"Selling Christmas card," said the lad.

"Well, you've done very well.  Sold them to lots of people, obviously."

"Nope," answered the little boy proudly.  "I sold all of them to one large family - their dog bit me."

x x x x

A mother took her five year old son to a mall to say, "Hello" to Santa Claus, who in turn, asked. "What would you like for Christmas, sonny?" 

"A bicycle, a football, and a pair of skates." the youngster replied promptly.

"I'll certainly try to see that you get them," said Santa. 

Later, the mother and son visited another mall and stopped to see Santa there.  Again the same question and the same answer, but Santa asked, "And are you going to be a good boy?"

x x x x

A little girl about five received a box of crayons for Christmas and made a great many pictures.

"What is this one?" her mother asked.

"That's  Baby Jesus on the manger."

A little to one side were three vertical lines - the wise men perhaps, or the shepherds.  The mother inquired what they were.

"Mary and Joseph are going out for the night." the child explained, "and that's the sitters coming in."  

x x x x

Here it is the middle of January and we're still cleaning up from Christmas.  Last week we cleaned out our checking account; this week we cleaned out our savings account. 

x x x x

What do you call a kid who doesn't believe in Santa? A rebel without a Claus.
What is the popular Christmas carol in Desert? Camel ye Faithful.
What part of the body do you only see during Christmas? Mistletoe.
What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus? Claustrophobic.

 x x x x

If you want to be reminded of Christmas all year, buy your Christmas gifts on monthly payment plan. 

x x x x 

May the forgiving spirit of Him to whom we dedicate this season prevail again on earth.

May hateful persecution and wanton aggression cease.

May man live in freedom and security, worshiping as he sees fit, loving his fellow man.

May peace, everlasting peace, reign supreme.

Unusual Historical Events That Happened During Christmas

1. Christmas Day, 1990, The Internet Gets Its First Test Run
2. Washington Crosses the Delaware River in 1776
3. WWI Christmas Truce Soccer Games
4. USSR Invades Afghanistan in 1979
5. Isaac Newton Was Born on Christmas Day
6. Charlie Chaplin Passes Away
7. Apollo 8 Reaches the Moon’s Orbit
8. Mikhail Gorbachev Resigns as Soviet President
9. The Song ‘Silent Night’ Is First Performed in Public
10. President Andrew Johnson Pardons All Confederate Soldiers
11. Charlemagne Crowned Holy Roman Emperor, year 800.
12. William the Conqueror Crowned King of England, 1066
13. World War I Soldiers Hold Christmas Truce 1914
14. Andrew Johnson Pardons All Confederate Soldiers, 1868
15. Hirohito Becomes Emperor of Japan, 1926
16. President Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu of Romania Executed, 1989 
17. Ford Model T Unveiled, 1913
18. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, former presidents of the US, Die, 1826

Addenda

20th December, 1803
The United States doubled in size after acquiring 827,000 square miles of land from France for $15 million in what was known as The Louisiana Purchase.

The Louisiana Territory stretched from the Canadian border in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south; and from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west.

Fifteen American states were eventually created from The Louisiana Purchase and the deal is considered one of the most important achievements of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency.

21st December, 1968
Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with astronauts James Lovell, Frank Borman, and William Anders on board.

A few days later, on Christmas Eve, the crew entered into orbit around the moon – making history as the first manned spacecraft to do so. During Apollo 8’s 10 orbits around the moon, incredible images were taken of the moon and Earth from the spacecraft and sent back home.

Apollo 8 landed safely in the Pacific Ocean on 27th December. On 20th July 1969, Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, astronauts of Apollo 11, became the first men to walk on the moon.

References" JM Braude, Speaker's Encyclopedia of Humor; Prochnow HY and HV Prochnow Jr, Jokes, Quotes and One-liners for Public Speakers; Wikipedia; Internet

                       

"Chandeliers of Capiz above my head, 

     I'm under the sea it seems;

among mermaids and corals for bed,

    bathe in the glow of moonbeams."

                         -  A.V. Rotor   

Stille Nacht, by Franz Xaver Gruber, c. 1860. Source: Wikimedia Commons

 

                                - 

  

Research Triangle: Hydrangea, Caterpillar and Me

         Research Triangle: Hydrangea, Caterpillar and Me   

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature School on Blog

Mophead or Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) produces blue and pink flowers, and various combinations and hues, that many people think these are varieties or cultivars.  The fact is, the same plant may produce these varying flowers.  

What determines the color of the Hydrangea flower  is aluminum in the soil. Most soils have aluminum but if the soil is alkaline or basic - 6.0 to 6.5 pH (power of Hydrogen) - the plant cannot absorb the aluminum and therefore its flower becomes pink. If the soil is acidic - 5 to 5.5 pH - the plant can absorb the aluminum and its flower becomes blue. 

A mix of colors is obtained when the pH is between these ranges. This is the secret of gardeners producing Hydrangea of different hues and shades, other than deep blue or old rose pink.  

There are other horticultural variations like density of the flower head, height of the plant, branching, variegation, and the like, that make Hydrangea an interesting garden plant. 

And this leads to another phenomenon of nature - dimorphism which is another challenging research. As the name implies a plant or any organism may exhibit  dual characteristics, like two patterns of leaves, or distinct variations termed as chimaera. 

In Greek Mythology the Chimaera had three heads - lion, goat, and snake. Its body was also mixed having the front part of a lion, middle of a goat, and snake for a tail. 

Hydrangea, Caterpillar and Me

Came a banded caterpillar heretofore unknown,

     shielded by the plant like its own shell,

and when the clustered flowers one morning opened 

     raced this hairy convict from its cell.

It fed on the leaves, not on the beautiful crown, 

     for whatever reason beauty it spared,

and my inquisitive mind found another enigma, 

     why is the flower neither black nor red.

And whoever this emissary of doom its name,

     family and evolution, deserves study,

what these two creatures mean to each other, 

     to me, and the whole of humanity.  

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

Don't throw away rice hull or "ipa."

                                Don't throw away rice hull or "ipa." 

Here are 5 practical uses.

Dr Abe V Rotor 

 

 

 

Top: Cross-section of rice grain; closeup of grain.  Middle: Rice hull stove, building block of rice hull and clay. Bottom: rice hull as litter; newly built vegetable plots.  Acknowledgement: Google search, Wikipedia,  Internet  images
 --------------------------------------------------------

Rice hull is the outer cover of the rice grain which comprises 25 percent of the total weight. The cover is made up of a pair of hull-shape structures - lemma and palea - which are tough and impregnated with silica and cellulose. Considered waste in rice producing areas, now there are uses which this article would like to share - and recommend.

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

1. Rice hull ash protects mung-beans from bean weevil.

Burnt rice hull (ipa) contains silica crystals that are microscopic glass shards capable of penetrating into the conjunctiva of the bean weevil, Callosobruchus maculatus.  Once lodged, the crystal causes more damage as the insect moves and struggles, resulting in infection and desiccation, and ultimately death.

This is the finding of Ethel Niña Catahan in her masteral thesis in biology at the University of Santo Tomas. Catahan tested two types of rice hull ash,  One is partly carbonized (black ash) and the other oven-burned (white ash).  Both were applied independently in very small amount as either mixed with the beans or as protectant placed at the mouth of the container. In both preparations and methods, mungbeans – and other beans and cereals, for that matter – can be stored for as long as six months without being destroyed by this Coleopterous insect. 

The bean weevil is a cosmopolitan insect whose grub lives inside the bean, eating the whole content and leaving only the seed cover at the end of its life cycle.  When it is about to emerge the female lays eggs for the next generation. Whole stocks of beans may be rendered unfit not only for human consumption, but for animal feeds as well.  It is because the insect leaves a characteristic odor that comes from the insect’s droppings and due to fungal growth that accompanies infestation

2. Preheated rice hull is used to incubate balot eggs.

Simulating the way the mother duck incubates its eggs old folks bury duck eggs in rice hull (ipa) heated under the sun until they become penoy (incipient embryo) or balot (full grown embryo). For commercial production the eggs are held in bundles made of simamay or fishnet), placed in large holding boxes filled with rice hull. They are harvested in batches to meet market schedules.    

3. Rice hull compost is good soil conditioner for the garden. 

Mix rice hull with other farm residues that are ordinarily used in making compost at varying proportions but not exceeding fifty percent of the total volume.  These include animal manure and chicken droppings, dried leaves, peanut "hay" or tops, scums (lumot, Azolla and Nostoc from ponds and rice fields). Add equal amount of top soil to the final product.  This is excellent medium for potted plants and for germinating seeds, bulbs, and cuttings. When buying commercial potted plants, examine the medium used; the rice hull is still partly visible.    

4. Rice hull as fuel 

There are stoves designed for rice hull as fuel. One has a continuous feeding system for commercial use, otherwise ipa is hand-fed for typical kitchen stoves. Rice hull has a high thermal value because it contains silica that increases temperature level. This means faster cooking. To make full use of this advantage, rice hull must first undergo thorough drying usually under the sun.  It is then stored in sack for ready use. With the spiraling cost of LPG and electricity - and the dwindling supply of firewood - rice hull as fuel  is the best alternative in rice-based areas. 

5. Rice hull as litter of livestock and poultry

To solve muddy animal sheds and corrals, spread rice hull for time to time. This is also good for range chicken, and holding pens of animals in the market. Rice hull binds the soil and other materials such as grass and rice hay. When the litter becomes thick and old, replace it with a fresh one. The old litter is a good fertilizer for the orchard and garden. ~

* 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

Arboretum Living with Nature Center Botanical Garden

                                                    Arboretum 

Living with Nature Center Botanical Garden 

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Autumnal equinox sun through a reddening leaf,

     measure of three quarters of the year gone;

so too, the calendar of man's life swift and brief,

     golden like precious gem in the setting sun.

Heritage talisay tree at the San Vicente Botanical Garden, San Vicente Ilocos Sur sheds its leaves turning yellow to red before they fall to the ground. Photos taken by the author 2020

Talisay (Lugo Ilk) Terminalia catappa is a large tropical tree in the leadwood tree family, Combretaceae, that grows mainly in the tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and Australia. Common names in English include country almond, Indian almond, Malabar almond, sea almond, tropical almond, beach almond and false kamani. Wikipedia

Author's grandchildren Markus and Mackie, accompanied 

in the arboretum by his sister, Sr Veny Rotor, ofs (deceased)

Heritage Tree of 3 generations: 

Camito - Chrysophyllum cainito

Heritage tree of three generations - native mango (Mangifera indica)

is host to viny plants, ferns, and lianas like Rosary Pea and Philodendron

 

It's mango season, usually during summer months.

Mangifera indica Indian variety  

 

                        Towering Anahaw -  Saribus rotundifolius - Caryophyllaceae