Simply Belle

New York, London, or Gay Parie? Hardly. Stephanie Mae grew up in a small town in rural Arizona. There,  in the rarefied mountain air, she composed many of the tunes you find on her CD, Pokerface.

It started one afternoon while life guarding at the municipal pool. She discovered that the melodic splashing of all the twittering, laughing children somehow instilled in her mind the basis of the tune, “At The Edge.” Then, While washing dishes one evening, she put together a few bars of ” Crazy” to the musical background of pots and pans scraping against the sink. And as a president of the high school Key Club, the tune Poker Face found its way into her assembly while she was listening to the clanking of donations dropping onto assorted piles. On these occasions, she would rush home to her piano and finish composing her new songs while they were still fresh in her mind.

As time went on, her passion for music gripped her so deeply that at any moment, she might set the piano to jumping and the walls to shaking when she pounded away at the ivories. Members of the family would have to flee to the far corners of the house to protect their ears. Are those signs of a genius?

It is often said that music and mathematics are interrelated. And when a person is exceptional in one branch of knowledge, she might do well in the other. So it is true with Stephanie Mae. Her aptitude for mathematics earned her a scholarship at Stanford University where she is currently pursuing, of all things, a degree in Bio Mechanical Engineering! Well, a girl has to earn a living, doesn’t she? But you can bet that she crams in plenty of music appreciation courses into her busy schedule. And she spends quality time with her friends in the Every Day People A Capella choir.

Stephanie Mae is now in her senior year and can’t wait to graduate. She plans to start her own recording studio where in her free time after work, she can sing and burn CDs to her heart’s content. Bravo! We expect to see and hear a lot more of Stephanie’s extensive talents in the near future. That is, unless she plans to go to grad school. Stay tuned.

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From my family to yours, Happy Holidays!

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picture lifted here

My daughter came home yesterday from Flagstaff by way of Lake Mary but had to turn around because the road was closed due to snow. I had told her several times before her trip to check first the road closures in the area before proceeding home. Of course, she didn’t listen and assumed that the road was passable because the weather has been nice since the snow storm.

After driving half an hour into the road, she called us that she had to take an alternate route because like what I was afraid of, the road was closed. Hmmm, if she only listened, she would have saved a 40 minute-drive, plus gas. It was 3:30 PM when she called.

I expected her to arrive around 6 PM via the long and winding route which she hasn’t driven alone before, so I was a little worried. I told her to call us if she needed help with  direction. I also prayed that she would have a safe journey home. At 5 PM, my eldest daughter and I drove to the mall in town to do some last minute shopping, and also to get my mind off L

From a distance on my way home,  I didn’t see her car parked along the driveway which worried me a bit. It was about 7 PM, and so the visibility was poor. As I turned on the street where I lived, I saw a red car stranded along the road in front of our house.   I suspected something was wrong as she normally doesn’t do this.

Me: L, why is your car parked like that outside? Why didn’t you park where it is supposed to?

L: The car quit working. I just barely made it to the gas station in town, and then it ran again until just right in the front of our house.

What a perfect timing because my husband just signed up for a road side assistance four days ago due to my prodding. He called the 1-800 to ask for help first thing in the morning. He couldn’t get through. He tried again, and he was put on hold for half an hour. I told him to dial again and maybe he would have better luck the second time around. Wrong! The line was busy.  Busy! Busy!  We dialed again, and again, and again, and no luck. This went on for an hour or so. We were getting agitated.

My husband called the insurance, where he signed up with, to complain about the service. She told him that he just had to wait for his turn because there might be tons of people calling. Huh? She wanted us to go through that same routine again by waiting for an hour or so by the phone, wasting our whole morning.

This time, I got up and used my cell phone to call the agent in town, upset. We exchanged words and I got hot under the collar. She insisted that I also wait for my turn as there could be a lot of people calling. I said, “look, if I am in the middle of nowhere and I do as you told, my cell phone is going to run out of battery. What good is it if I couldn’t get a hold of anybody?”  She said she was able to get through earlier. I told her that I would come over to her office that minute for her to show me how to get a hold of the sales representative because we couldn’t. And I also told her to try calling them, wait by the phone, and asked her to call me back, should she get through.

Evidently, she was unsuccessful, as well. Told her  so.

She called back, and said that it was alright to call a towing service in town as long as the fee was under $150, and that she would reimburse us for it.

It took two unpleasant calls before the agent caved in to option B.

Problem solved.

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took these pictures late this afternoon

Have you had your fair share of blustery snow storm yet? In my neck of the wood, we are expecting our first dose of it anytime soon which is supposed to last a week. Yesterday, while I was visiting my daughter, Lexi, in a 7,000-foot altitude city, I heard people talking about it, which made me worry a bit. I don’t care for snow at all. Yes, snow is a beautiful sight to behold, but for a working woman like me, there aren’t words to describe how much I abhor snow especially my kind of work requires me to be on the road most of the time. I do uphold the slogan, “neither rain nor rain nor sleet nor hail shall keep Belle from doing her rounds.”

So, count your blessings if you have the choice to stay by the cozy fireplace, sipping a cup of hot tea or cocoa on a cold winter day.

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Yet another of my shameless plug:

My daughter, Stephanie, has recently pre-recorded a new song titled, When You Sing, via computer, and I would like to share it with you. You can listen to it by going to her myspace site. This is the kind of music that she wants to specialize in because it basically fits her personality, and it is the kind of music that she can easily do live without needing a band to back her up.

K was asking if she recorded an album for the holidays. The answer is No because she is currently finishing a degree in Biomechanical Engineering that is quite a demanding course by itself.
She will graduate in June of 2009. It is a good thing that engineering here only takes 4 years of rigorous and grueling study as opposed to 5 years in the Philippines. And another good thing is she doesn’t have to take an engineering board exam to be a licensed engineer, which I find hard to believe. Why is that?

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Wow, it has been a while I haven’t updated my blog, and I haven’t paid a visit to any of my friends’ blogs either. Nothing is wrong from my end, except that I have been overly busy with job and other important stuff. Hope all is well with you all.

Anyway, the other day, on my way home from work, I thought of having a hearty neck bone soup for dinner. We have been having a cooler weather here so a soup dish would be a good idea and would definitely stick to our ribs.

The moment I got home, I shouted to my husband. He seemed to be nowhere in the house. So, I looked for him outside, and sure enough, he was out there wheel borrowing a load of soil up to the garden area.

Me: Could you get me a white cabbage please?

S: How many?

Me: Just one plant.

He brought me a single plant but turned to be an arm load…hehe

typical salad on a daily basis

Lately, we have been eating tons of vegetables and plenty of fresh crisp salad. Sometimes, it is too much of a good thing that we have to give a lot of them away. Sometimes, we give our tummy a rest and skip a day of eating veggies. And after a day’s rest, we crave for it.

The cold weather doesn’t seem to hinder the growth of the plants. Some, like the lettuces, spinach, kale, asian cabbage, and even the mache are exploding. The brocolli raab which is one of the better tasting vegetables, is doing extremely well. We never expected that the plants would survive in the cooler weather, down in the 20’s.

So far, we haven’t bought that much vegetables since summer. The ones I buy from Oriental store in Phoenix now and then, stay in the other refrigerator until they spoil. And my husband throws them eventually in the compost pit. I think our garden would last through winter and continues until May. By then most of the plants will bolt. And then comes the beginning of the summer garden which includes the melon, tomatoes, beans, eggplant, peppers, etc.

Now, we just prove that there is no reason for people to go hungry. And it doesn’t even require a huge garden space to produce an ample supply of vegetables.

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A good friend of mine asked me if I could post an article about his nephew, who is currently awaiting surgery in Jose Reyes Medical Hospital, in Sta Cruz, Manila. His name is Armand Jerome Fernandez.

Unfortunately, Armand was born with hydrocephalus. This condition occurs in 1 out of 1000 babies, and it means that the baby is born with too much water in the brain. The water that builds is called ceresbrospinal fluid, a clear water-like fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. The excess fluid can increase pressure in baby’s brain, possibly resulting in brain damage and loss of mental and physical abilities. That is why prompt medical attention is needed to help limit serious long-term problems.

Here’s the problem though. Armand, who will turn 10 months old this November 28, was admitted earlier this month at a charity ward in Jose Reyes Medical Hospital for an operation. However, they had to cancel the operation because the baby suddenly developed a high fever brought about by an infection in the brain. The doctor, Dr Romeo Encanto, had to put the baby on antibiotic to get rid of the infection before he can proceed with the operation.

Meanwhile, the baby is confined in the hospital waiting for the fever to completely go away so the doctor can perform the operation. The baby is constantly crying. Water is now coming out of his nose, and is causing him severe discomfort and pain. All the mother can do is sympathize with him, cry with him, and perpetually hold him day in and day out.

Though the operation is free, still the parents are responsible for buying the medicines. And you know that medicines nowadays are very expensive, especially for the young couple like Armand and Jenelyn Fernandez. He is 22 years old, and she is 20 years old, and both are natives of Bagumbayan, Bato, Catanduanes, Philippines. Father works odd jobs in the province, receiving a measly pay. Mother is a full-time housewife, and is currently at the baby’s beck and call in the hospital, 24 hours a day.

So, the couple are turning to you for any help you could spare them. A few dollars/prayers and prayers would give the baby the chance to live.

Baby Armand

Mother and son

You may contact Shelly at chie_tg@yahoo.com or at this number: 00639193498681

Or you may contact me through this blog for any help you can spare to the child.

Oh God, please help this baby.

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our prolific garden

during our trip to Catanduanes 6 years ago

As of this moment, I am 36, errr 46 years old, and I look forward to my retirement days with great merriment and excitement. For a woman my age, what better thing is there to do than to plan and conceptualize what I intend to do with my future. There’s nothing we can do with our young and energetic past life as we can never bring it back. It is all history now. All we can do is recollect the happy moments and use them as an inspiration to tackle our life ahead, and at the same learn from the mistakes we made in the past, making sure that we avoid those errors as we move on.

I dream of nothing spectacular really, but something simple and practical. Currently, I live in a foreign land, but I don’t intend to live here in my retirement days full time. I want to go back where my heart is - my home sweet home, and to reside there 50% of the time. To realize this goal, I plan to buy a huge piece of property in the province that I can develop into a fruit plantation. Yes, I am fully aware that there are pros and cons in living in the province.

Pros: rain is a plenty which is a must for plantation, the weather is conducive for a year-round gardening, cheap labor, near relatives and friends, low cost of living, beaches abound, food is wholesome, etc.

Cons: the super typhoon that comes every 10 years that practically demolishes everything. the possibility of tsunami, earthquakes.

But Catanduanes and its people are resilient to all these calamities. They have the ability to bounce back from adversity, depression, or the likes. Look at Catanduanes now, who could tell that a little over 2 years ago, all living things were strewn all over the ground transforming the forest into a lifeless, brown landscape. It was like a nature’s way of pruning the vegetation. Everything came to a halt for a while until slowly, greens started cropping up, the trees sprouted new leaves, thereby filling the earth with verdant greens and luscious forest. It has been proven that Catanduanes has the ability to recover readily from all types of adversities, so why not go back to the province?

Going back to my dream, I also want to raise pigs and chickens, the organic way, for personal consumption. I understand that to have a good and healthy plantation, I would need plenty of manure from these animals. So, you see, animals and plants are like two different species that are interdependent but gains benefits from each other. Whatever vegetables scraps I have will come in handy for pigs.

So, when I have visitors, I don’t have to rush to Virac palengke to feed them. I will have fresh eggs readily available, or I will have someone slaughter a chicken/pig, and for side dishes, I will turn to whatever is in season from my vegetables—all guaranteed organic. Or I can always check with my fishermen for fresh catch of the day? Does fresh kusido sound appealing to you? Dessert? What better way of serving my guests with fresh and tree-ripened fruits from the farm than with a sugar laden cakes and ice-cream?

What sort of fruit tress do I intend to plant? Jackfruit, for one, if planted right, can be prolific, as it can produce anywhere from 50 to 250 fruits over a year. Avocado is a very healthy fruit that is almost extinct in the province as people seem to have lost interest in re-planting it. Pili - there is a big demand for pili nuts in the province to make delicious pili nut delicacies that are not only popular in the Philippines but in the foreign land, as well. Indian mango grows exceedingly well in the province. Papaya, Hawaiian pineapple, breadfruit, banana of all sorts, passion fruit, guava, guyabano, pumelo, duhat, balingbing, lemon, santol, star apple, kamias, and of course, coconut. All these fruits that I mentioned had been successfully grown in the province, but the typhoon eradicated some of them as no one cared to replace them. Just tell me where I can find them and I will grow them back in Bato.

In addition to the above, I also want to raise an organic vegetable garden all year round. My husband is an avid orchadist, and a gardener. He grows beautiful garden.

What I will do for fun? Well, for one thing, I don’t drink or smoke, and neither does my husband. Mababaw lang ang kaligayahan namin. My idea of fun is to swim in the Batalay beach in the early morning or evening, and take a walk along the beach to savor the fresh breeze of the ocean. Or ride on a tractor and navigate the farm - directionless.

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On Halloween’s day, my husband and I decided to abandon the tricker treaters, left the house in total darkness, and headed up to the place called Monument Valley, located just south of Utah border and Arizona, near the four corners area, where Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico touch.

Monument Valley boasts of beautiful rock formations that were slowly revealed through erosion some 50 million years ago, producing one of the most majestic and photographed landscapes on earth. It’s where many motion pictures were filmed, like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Once Upon a Time in the West, Marlboro commercials, to name a few.

We didn’t get to explore the valley because the tour cost a little too much, and we didn’t feel like spending our hard-earned money on pricey tour. Yes, there might have been more to see down the valley, but that can wait until later when we go back there again.

This time, I would like to share with you, my blogger friends and readers, the Monument Valley.

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Updates on E: She had surgery last Wednesday, April 12, and yesterday, her doctor informed her that she is cancer free. The lymph node that was sent to pathology showed no signs of cancer whatsoever. Probably because two weeks before surgery, she was on flaxseed cottage cheese, and juicing diet religiously, and avoided meat and processed food completely. A mere coincidence? You be the judge.

My good friend E has recently been diagnosed with stage 2 cancer, and she is very much devastated.  Of course, I am sad, too, because she is like a family to us. My kids call her aunt E since they were little. I try my best to comfort her the best I can, but in the process, I often give the wrong advice. When I give advice, I put myself in the person’s shoes, and come up with words that would make me feel good. Which accomplishes nothing but the opposite, though, I mean nothing but good for her. I must admit, I am poor at giving advices, so it is best that I don’t say much but offer lots of prayers for her.

Anyway, her husband got her started on Dr Johanna Budwig Diet which consists  of flaxseed oil and cottage cheese.  These essential nutrients when combined properly prevents and cures cancer as the doctor claimed. The mixture has to be eaten right away for it to work.

Dr Budwig, a German doctor and  cancer researcher in Europe, found the blood of seriously ill cancer patients lacked certain important essential ingredients which included substances called phospatides and lipoproteins, while the blood of the healthy person contains adequate amount of these essential ingredients. Her research showed that cancel cells divide and grow crazy when the body is nutritionally deficient of such ingredients.

To get the full benefit, it is recommended that a cancer patient gets on the juicing regimen by juicing carrots, green leafy vegetables, beets, and apples. Green tea is recommended, too. Getting plenty of sunshine is a must. Sugar is highly forbidden. Other forbiddens are meat products, processed food, all salad oil, butter, margarine, and preserved meat.

Actually last night, I added 2 T of freshly ground-up flax seeds to my fresh organic veggies from the garden. On top of it, I added some evvo and balsamic vinegar. Delicious!

If you were diagnosed with cancer, would it hurt to give this a try?

Take a look at this video:

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