393 days of celery juicing, 196 days of digital mass and social distancing
Celebrations for birthdays are held outdoors. Those who live together can hug and cuddle. Those who don’t are content to giving quick, short hugs. Happy happy advanced birthday anak! May you keep thriving and living your life in service of others. We love you so much!
The #CoronaVirus virus has claimed now over 200,000 deaths in America. Can you visualize that? 1/6 of those who attended Obama’s inauguration at over a million.
It is dreadful to think that the narrative of ‘America is great’ means we as a country has the highest transmission rates of all countries, over 200 in the world, according to oneworldindata.org.
Our over 20% transmission rate is at par with Brazil, India and Russia. How did we get there? We have a 45th US President who knew the gravity of the virus but lied to the American people to play it down as a hoax and said ‘it would go away in two weeks.’
Now on our 196 days of shelter in place, wearing masks, doing digital zoom meetings and only NYC thus far which been able to open school and children can attend in-person. Why? Their testing is now up at 95, 000 from a prior capacity of 500 a day. Transmission rate is less than 1, at 0.87%, minimal rate.
Photos include Northern Lights in Iceland, an emaciated hungry Arctic Polar Bear and a well fed Arctic Polar Bear, including a metronome keeping tab of the time we have towards climate change reversal.
Countdown to earth is ticking, in a metronome in NYC, as climate change reversal is truly much more urgent. We all need a change of behaviors to transcend our collective extinction in this planet.
Message is grim as our cities are spontaneously burning from 11,000 lightning fires and thoughtless immature irresponsible actions of using firecrackers for gender reveal parties that lit up acres of forests.
But, if we all do our concerted actions of taking care of Mother Earth, we may yet get to see Patagonia, at the southwest part of South America, a ‘sparsely inhabited region shared by Chile and Argentina’, photographed and preserved in a book by Noel Casaje.
Noel Casaje’s Patagonia:Landscapes from the Edge of the World photography book captures serenity, the views beyond the icy peaks, the reveal of the first light or behind the dark shadows , the brush strokes of clouds, unfolding the beauty of stunning orange tree leaves or wild yellow flower blooms. The adjectives simply roll out of my pen as his images both transport me and allow me to imagine the Lord’s magnificent grandeur.
In Noel Casaje’s lyrical words: “to be able to capture scenes of incredible beauty, available only in the cracks of time, and preserve them for posterity’s sake,” he guides his readers to hope, to see beyond, to images that conquer darkness, dead trees into the flow of the first light. We need not be in the dark foreever. We can emerge with the Lord’s light.-@Prosy Delacruz, 9/21/2020.
My husband @enriquedlz has been gardening diligently and the fruits and vegetables are reciprocating with growth and abundance.
Figs, Basil, Eggplant, Lettuce, Oranges, Bell Peppers, Avocados, Kale, Bok Choy, Mint, Pears are alive and well. Our pomegranate is also doing well. Cherimoya will soon be ready for harvesting. Tomatoes were sparse but so sweet. Olives were harvested but we did not quite succeed in processing them. Even the strawberries yielded sweetness, harvested by our #princess2015la.
I really look for inspiration everywhere. Today, two beautiful arrangements by @ediram88 now on its 7th day. I kept it hydrated twice during the week and added a rosemary branch and a basil branch to the arrangements. It is thriving #beyondmyexpectations – maybe because Ed put so much love into his craft and I benefited from his love of the arts. Thank you dear Ed and also @Oscar for the special intentions and delivery.
I also drew inspiration from this beautiful photo taken by my hubby @enriquedlz of a man-made water fountain we saw in one of our road trips. Do you get a sense I am missing travel, as all of you out there?
Let’s pray for a safe and efficacious #CoronaVirus vaccine be upscaled for manufacturing into billion doses by May/June 2021. Today, John Hopkins reported 27, 208, 206 new confirmed cases and 889,989 deaths worldwide. America, yes, the USA, has 6, 289, 964 new confirmed cases and 189, 069 deaths this Labor Day. 30% of frontliners, nurses and doctors come from our Filipino American communities. California now has 740, 245 cases with 13, 732 deaths while NY has 440,021 cases with 33, 002 deaths – former epicenter.
Cases per US State (Deaths)740,245 California (13,732)658,354 Texas (13,660)648,269 Florida (11,871)440,021 New York (33,002)283,199 Georgia (6,037)252,895 Illinois (8,398)205,965 Arizona (5,219)194,390 New Jersey (15,991)177,919 North Carolina (2,897)164,126 Tennessee (1,865)153,177 Louisiana (5,105)144,540 Pennsylvania (7,770)132,973 Alabama (2,276)131,336 Ohio (4,276)127,516 Virginia (2,684)125,607 South Carolina (2,907)122,562 Massachusetts (9,125)117,191 Michigan (6,806)112,883 Maryland (3,804)100,394 Indiana (3,368)94,653 Missouri (1,685)87,130 Mississippi (2,585)81,225 Minnesota (1,912)81,193 Wisconsin (1,168)77,235 Washington (1,953)71,967 Nevada (1,393)
In the meantime let’s pray to #OurLafyofFatima for her divine intercession from this global #CoronaVirus pandemic as she did during the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 70% of the children’s population in Portugal, during 1916 to 1918.
Walking in my neighborhood gives me hope. That I am not in this country, alone. That in fact, my perspective joins in with others.
Thought of you @coriput as you balance being an athletic mom to E., working, baking ala Dominique Ansel, and summiting mountains and hills. Thank you for raising a gracious, loving, smart and kind daughter, with your husband, also a doting conscientious dad who is on top of his game. Love your entire family.
Thought of you @nikkidoodledo when I took this photo, for you are a great Mom who raises her twins with conscious love for family, nature, God and discovery. May you keep thriving, as you are now!
Here’s E. eating the meat pies from Porto’s delivered to our place by a long time friend, Rod. It was still hot when he delivered it. He bought it fresh out of the oven.
I am serving it with white nectarine, and gooseberries as my #princess2015la‘s snack.
Then, she asked me to text him:”E. said it is okay that your wife died, you still have your friends and family. She wants to help you to be happy, not sad anymore.” E’s words, not mine. That’s how empowered she is.
Yesterday, she told me that her heart could not take it anymore. She does not like seeing police or hearing them kill Blacks. “It breaks my heart, Grandma.” She was on the verge of tears.
I hugged her, “E. My heart is breaking too. I don’t like seeing my Black friends killed.”
I told her she has a good, compassionate heart, she is kind, helpful, loving and smart. She stopped crying.
She also told me how her dad made her feel better after telling him how she felt, a genuine heartache. I love how her Dad and Mom have high EQ, AQ and IQ.
She is only 5 1/2 years old, in kindergarten. The America that we live in has to change.
By the way, if you are a supporter of the current people slaughter-happy tenant corrupted soul, who divides America, and is residing in the White House, please unfriend me now.
With a deepening sense of reverence, I got up grateful for one more day of life, breathing and enjoying God’s creations. I walked out without breakfast, determined to walk miles.
I still had in my head, Fr. Randy’s homily of “not cheapening God’s fellowship, of keeping fidelity to our faith.” If that were so, why am I not moving more, exercising to honor the Lord’s sufferings so we may have a life, redeemed of our sins?
Gosh, I almost took photos of the entire route. Images struck me from gilded thorns of rounded cacti, of white roses with browning crumpled edges, of posters of ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘We Will Survive’, of gilded flowers and a new friend, Winston Cook.
We talked for a few minutes, social distancing, in front of the Mango tree, with a sole mango fruit. He talked about how blessed we are to be in America, of how his father named him Winston, though he was born in the Fench West Indies. He talked of his Dominican Republic-born mother and British-born father’s great love for decades, and of his father’s determination to come to America with his wife and five sons.
How he is so proud of his brother, married to a Filipina, a very special woman who bless their family and now their son is a principal moving up the ranks, in charge of the school system. Imagine that to be blessed in this country and thanked me for entering “this arena of friendship.”
I introduced myself too and he talked of being bullied by classmates and even concocted a song, which he sang for me. “But it did not seem to have affected you as you became a school teacher,” a fact he shared earlier.
I told him I was bullied too, called fat growing up. Then, in his lovely Caribbean way, “But look at the beauty you are and even what’s inside of you.”
I accepted it with reverence and humility, “Ah, you are seeing God’s heart in me,” which I am carefully cultivating.”
We could not say goodbye quite yet, but my time was up as I have a 1215 mass and I still have 0.5 mile to get home.
I walked 2 miles in the morning heat and savored my new arena of friendship.
When I got home, my granddaughter asked me to make her mac and cheese. She got to the table, tasted it and burst into singing and clapping. Ah – what a joy she is!
Joy in, joy multiplies.
This afternoon, a friend stopped by all the way from the Valley and dropped off Porto’s meat pies.
Joy indeed multiplies! It starts with your inner beliefs first, then act on those beliefs to be more joys.
