Lavender & Coffee Stains

This blog is an on-and-off affair with me. I have tried so many times to leave this particular space and yet, I still find myself being led back to it. In fact, I have created a couple of online lair at Wordpress and the last one was here in Blogger.

I have neglected writing for more than a decade. There were snippets and random postings but the mojo was simply elusive. Facebook and Instagram were my main outlet but the desire to write more was palpable as the days go by.

Later on, I realized that I really do not want to leave this blog because my previous life was consolidated here. I know...it sounds so "boxed." Can you blame the mind of an "organized" (in a way, I will describe myself like that) person? 😀




The years have been very kind and generous to me. I thank God for those wonderful blessings. I have a loving and generous husband and a son (not-so-little anymore) who fills my day with happiness and insanity. 💕 My parents are together back home and I just pray that they live long enough for all of us to be together in one place, celebrate milestones. To my Mama, get well soon. Please pray for her to get her strength back. 🙏 To Papa, you are silent but you have been a rock of hope. 💓 My two siblings also have their own families now. All of us live miles away from each other. There are times that things get tough but I believe that God has a purpose for everything. 

As I grow older (and hopefully wiser), I have let go of people who proved to be toxic in life. So-called friends have been disregarded for they bring me nothing but sadness. I have also "given away" the link that bind me to kinship (one or two of them), figuratively. My logic is that people are old enough to understand actions and doing the same thing over and over again is simply exhausting for those people involved. Somebody close to me remarked that I am just holding a grudge. Probably. If I am holding a grudge, it only means that I still care, right? Honestly, I want to believe that I do not.

I still love to read books and drink coffee. Nothing would ever changed that. When it comes to food, I have taught myself to cook dishes that caught my fancy (rather my palate). I also tried baking and oh, boy, sweet things were always happening in the oven. It does not really help when you are trying to shed a few pounds. 😂

Literally, I am at a certain point in my life that I want to do more with my time. I have read somewhere that if you want something to change, you have to grab life by the horns and ride it, even it tries to throw you. 

So good luck to me and hopefully, change will come.

It has been a while since I blogged. Honestly, I am at a loss on how to jumpstart the writing part. I feel so ancient! 😁 Since I am re-acquainting myself with the process of making sense with words using the keys on my laptop, I thought of participating in First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea. Basically, you just share the first paragraph, or two, of the book you are currently reading or the one you are about to read.


 At the moment, I am reading a mystery/thriller book, The Alchemist's Secret written by Scott Mariani. For my initial participation, I prefer to share the first two paragraphs (it says I can use two) to depict an interesting scene.

Chapter One


France, October 2001

Father Pascal Cambriel pulled his hat down tight and his coat collar up around his neck to protect against the lashing rain. The storm had ripped open the door to his hen-house and the birds were running amok in a panic. The sixty-four year old priest herded them back in with this stick, counting them as they went. What a night!

A flash of lightning illuminated the yard about him and the whole of the ancient stone village. Behind the wall of his cottage garden lay the tenth-century church of Saint-Jean with its simple cemetery, the crumbling headstones and ivy. The roofs of the houses and the rugged landscape beyond were brightly lit by the lightning flash that split the sky, then plunged back into darkness as the crash of the thunder followed a second later. Streaming with rainwater, Father Pascal pushed home the bolt of the hen-house door, locking the squawking birds safely in.

Will this intro excites you to read this book?  


 

I was just checking my inbox a while ago and since I am a bookish gal, I am subscribed to various bookshop's newsletter. I realized that after a few more weeks, it will be June already. The month of June heralds the beginning of the school year back home. Thus, I receive offers and discounts on back-to-school shopping. They even provided a checklist to make the experience stress-free, which, back then, was a constant source of headache for parents (especially if you have a number of kids and you want the best deal ever).

But here in Doha, most of the school implements a September-to-June academic year. So while everyone I know in Manila are getting ready for the new school year, I am just waiting it out to end. 😊

On the other hand, I sort of miss the feeling of doing all those rushing about to prepare for the first day of class. I never had the chance of doing such for my son because he started his school years here in the Middle East.

I remember the times when my momma and I (and sometimes with my siblings) would go to the bookshop and malls (and Divi --- the possibilities are endless) to buy a new bag, pencil case, lunch box, pair of shoes, art materials and other school stuff. I get a kick when choosing my notebooks because I cannot seem to pick a limited number of notebooks with thousands of lovely covers to choose from (I am not sure if this statement even makes sense). I also buy extras for my journal.

But the most exciting part (aside from shopping for school needs) is the idea of the first day of school. Don't we all drool about meeting new classmates, friends and teachers? Of course,  we also get to experience bouts of anxiety by just thinking of something going wrong. Who wouldn't?

taken when he was in second grade

Looking forward to new things happening in school is something I want my son to experience. I wish the time will come that we will be able to come back (hopefully soon) and share those joyous and sometimes, nerve-wracking moments of being an elementary student and mom of a school kid in Manila. What can I say? My heart still beats for my beloved 💜PH💜.

 All children start their school careers with sparkling imaginations, fertile minds, and a willingness to take risks with what they think. --- Ken Robinson