Not really adobe, but even better

Adobe wall in our old family house

As children growing up in Kamuning, which was dotted by stone quarries in earlier times, we were used to calling this type of rough stone “adobe.” That’s because this was how our parents and all the adults around us called it.

But the stone we are familiar with is not really adobe. Adobe is the Spanish term for “mudbrick” (from Arabic ‘attob’). The real adobe, particularly the sun-baked or unfired type, was the quick-and-dirty earthen material used for Mediterranean construction since time immemorial.

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My aquatic micro-ecosystem

There are these two big, clear-glass jars that I’ve long refused to throw away, but allowed to just lie around the house because we couldn’t decide what to use them for.

These jars are at least 50 years old, probably manufactured ca. 1950s, perhaps even earlier. I remember my Lola Itang used one such jar for her magickal liniments of garlic and ginger soaked in coconut oil and kerosene, which she used as remedy for miscellaneous muscle, joint, and tummy aches. I remember the other jar was formerly the fuel base container for a gas-lit lamp. The rusty tin caps have long been discarded.

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Subenir ng Nagsasa

SUBENIR NG NAGSASA, muntik ko na malimutan. Mumurahin lang ito, hindi gaya ng pa-tattoo kay Fang-od. Hinaharbes lang ng mga pamilyang Ayta sa dalisdis ng bundok, nilalapatan ng konting dekurasyon, ganun. Bilhin mo para pwede mo na ipagmalaki na nakarating ka sa Nagsasa.

Kaya, hayun. Ang ilalagay ko lang na dalawang katiting na tuldok sa super-pausong mapa ngayon sa FB ay ito: Nagsasa at Loo. Kaso, sa sobrang liit ng tuldok, hindi lilitaw sa mapa. O baka kukulayan ng travel website ang buong probinsya, na para bang naikot na ng respondent ang lahat ng sulok nito. Kaya wag na lang ?

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