Vacation et al

This is a shot of the beach just in front on my aunt’s property. Hmmm… actually that’s my aunt’s property (with all those small coconut trees) and I too have a piece of my own land just a short distance from the place. It is on the foot of that mountain at the back! It seems far but it is actually just a short distance and the sand is wide since it is low tide.

I stayed in another aunt’s home also just a short distance from this place for a short vacation in the province. It feels good to rest! One shouldn’t really have to go far to rest but should learn to rest and be at peace wherever one may be but sometimes a change of environment is also good for the body and spirit.

The vacation also gave me some time to visit my aunt, my father’s youngest sister. She had a stroke mid this year and this is the first time I had a chance to visit her. She could move about and talk and function but she is not as fast and sharp as she used to be. Good thing my uncle cares for her well though you can also sense that it is a big weight on him. But when you truly love a person, you don’t really focus on the burden but just express your love, right? I believe it is the natural thing to do! Still, we pray for her well-being and complete recovery and also the strength and deeper love of my uncle to carry on.

I like going home to our province when there are not much (vacationers) people around. Although, I also enjoy being with people, I would rather just be “still” there and rest and just be with a few people I really care about. I am quite content to just sit around and talk in my aunt’s garden… a very beautiful garden by the way with 2 huge date trees in the middle… and be at peace.

Life there is very slow. My sister who was with me would wonder at the time. The clock would show that it is still early yet feels like it is very late already. My niece who was also with us didn’t bother much with time and just settled resting and reading books, including those of Emilie Loring.

There were also some land matters to attend to while we were there which distracted us from a vacation but my sister has already put the matters in her hand and took care of things. I informed her early on (even before I bought our plane tickets) that she’ll have to take care of the matters since I just wanted to rest. It was nice to visit one of papa’s share of the land though. The land is on top of the hill. It is a beautiful property even if it is rugged. From there you could see the rice fields below and the sea at a distance and on the other side you get to see a mountain range. There’s also a narrow creek downhill surrounding the property which is a good source of water. We still have my father’s drawing of how he would like to develop the land, unfortunately, he was not able to carry it out since he left us early. It is not that it is costly to implement his dream but someone should be there to carry it out but no one is ready to take charge of the property at the moment since it is so far from us. I don’t really know if papa’s dream will ever come into reality but the land will be there waiting…

Anyway, we also went to this beach while there. This is a neat beach even if it is rugged. In the sand is a spring of fresh water. You could actually put some rocks around, dig a bit deeper and you could rinse there if you want to. Of course we didn’t have to since my aunt’s home is near anyway. That’s not just it because just beside this place is a cemetery. Yup, a cemetery in the beach! It is actually weird to have a cemetery there. It is not really spooky but still weird. So I would say that the place is unique!

I would love to say that I would like to stay forever in our place but the welcome I get there is too much for me!

It is a different kind of welcome I get there…

And it is not from people but insects!

Geez, I think they love me too much and kiss me all over. I don’t think anybody else gets the welcome I get and I get it every time I visit! What can I say? I’m special! (well at least to them) Hehehe…The welcoming committee really wants to do it with a bang that they don’t just leave small marks but big red marks, really big red marks! I know it will take time for them to disappear. I could complain over it or I could just think of them as a souvenir from a nice vacation. :)