Its Summer Time Here in Northern California

My Cactus plant is starting to bloom. It is a signal that summer is here. For the last three days high temperatures ranged from 82 to 95 degrees F and low temperatures range from 57 to 62 degrees F here in the Sacramento Valley.

The following 3 photos were taken by my grand daughter Carenna KT the other day during their monthly visit to Lola and Lolo. Thank you for your visit. We have fun playing mahjong. Let us do it again next month.

The above cactus blooms only once a year around the first week of June. The blooms stay only for a couple of days and has a mild fragrance. It is easy to grow as it does not need water and can be planted in a pot.

UP Men's South Dorm ( Narra Hall) Candidates for Officers( 1952-1955)

I resided in the Men's South Dorm during my undergraduate college years in UP Diliman. The dorm was renamed later as Narra Hall and now demolished. I had pleasant memories of my stay in the dorm as discussed in my autobiography as follows: https://davidbkatague.blogspot.com/2011/12/chapter-4-my-college-years-1951-1955.html

Narra Hall Election Flyer with me running as Secretary and VP, 1954 and 1955

While looking at my old album, I found the following election flyers of UP Men's South Dorm (1952-1955)Narra Hall, UPSCA Womans Candidate for the Womans Club as well as the UPSCA candidates for the Student council, Liberal Arts. Oscar Evangelista name is in the list among others that I will always remember. Other names that I will not forget are Angie Villanueva( r.c.)and Vivencio Villaflor, MD. Here are the images for your viewing pleasure.

A Recent Visit from My Nephew from Australia

Photo from Dave Recent Visit, May 2019. Macrine with the 3 David Katague.

Dave and His Family- Dave's Dad is my younger brother, Efren.

Last week my nephew from Australia, my name sake visited us. He was in LA on a business trip, but placed us in his busy schedule just for an overnight visit. He flew from LA to SFO and drove from SFO to Sacramento.

Macrine, David III and I enjoyed his short visit. The following is one of his videos about his family in Sydney Australia. The video is mesmerizing and fun to watch.


I like to share with you, the following video taken by my nephew from Australia who happens to have the same name as myself. Enjoy!

Visiting The Aquarium | "Turtle!" from Dave Katague on Vimeo.

Dave Katague, the only son of my younger brother is a Sydney( Australia) based Motion Designer. He has the passion for anything related to 3d / motionography, cinematography, photography, motion control time lapse, film, illustration /animation, typography, branding and special effects. You could see other samples of his work on his website, davekatague.com

The Wife-An Award-Winning Movie about Writers and Writing

We saw this movie on Netflix just recently. We enjoyed the movie so much as it reminded me of my article in my blog wondering if good writers are born or made. **(https://myarticlesfromviewshound.blogspot.com/search?q=born+writers, 12/11))

One sentiment in the movie that all writers should know: No matter how good or accomplished is your writing, if no one reads it, it will just rot in the book shelves.

Here's the trailer:

https://youtu.be/d81IM0loH7o

If you have not seen it, it will be worth your time. Here's what Wikipedia says:

The Wife is a 2017 drama film directed by Bjõrn L. Runge and written by Jane Anderson. It is based on the novel of the same name by Meg Wolitzer. It stars Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, and Christian Slater. The story follows a woman who questions her life choices as she travels to Stockholm with her narcissistic husband, who is set to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The film premiered on September 12, 2017, at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, and was released in the United States on August 17, 2018 by Sony Pictures Classics. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with Close's performance garnering high praise. Close won the Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress for her performance, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress.

**Excerpts from my article on my blog about writers( born or made) and writing:

Most writers that I know write because they love writing. To them writing is just like breathing. These born writers do not work hard to create an excellent article, because their writing comes from the heart and their soul. Others write with a lot of work, training and pain. Good writers run in the family as exemplified by the family of Stephen King. Most writers however are made and only become good writers through hard work and constant practice. The most common traits of good writers are patience and persistence, whether their writing talent is inborn or just developed.

Allow me to quote Jan Bird from her recent article, The Writing Bug. "Writing for me right now, is like love. It isn't something I do, it happens to me. It takes me completely by surprise when I least expect it and then it absolutely refuses to let go until it wants to. It's intoxicating and irrational".

Life in Marinduque without a Driver, Housekeeper and Cook

Reminiscing our snow birding lifestyle in the Philippines in March of 2012.



Last March(2012) during our snow birding sojourn in the Philippines, Miko, our pet dog( see photo above) was our only companion, 24 hours a day except when our laundry lady and two temporary workers are here in Amoingon, Boac, Marinduque, Philippines to do their gardening duties. Our driver/caretaker and cook/housekeeper(husband and wife team) were on their two weeks paid vacation and two weeks of paid sick leave. Thus, I got to feed Miko every day as well as exercise him in the beach every afternoon 15 minutes before sunset. Miko understands both English and Filipino commands such as sit, move and let's go as well as "kain na"( eat), alis( get way) etc.... Miko loves American food and leftovers. His favorite is Chicken Macaroni salad and Italian Spaghetti( not the sweet Filipino spaghetti).

My other duty was to drive Macrine to the public market in downtown Boac. This is the job, I really do not enjoy, because the public market stinks, specially the FISH section. The open market is always crowded and not many parking spaces. Luckily, I have to do this only once a week. Speaking of driving in Marinduque: Driving here requires that you toot your horn more often. It also teaches you how to expertly maneuver overtaking the slow tricycle drivers as well as carefully passing jeepney drivers who drop and pick up passengers in the middle of the road. In addition to the inconsiderate jeepney drivers, you have to watch out for pedestrians, small children, dogs and chickens crossing the national road without any warning.

However, after driving to downtown Boac (10 KM one way) and to downtown Gasan (12 KM one way) for one month, I feel more at ease, thus, do not missed the services of our driver. On the other hand, Macrine really missed the services of our housekeeper and cook. Macrine does not mind cooking( we purchased 90% of our meals from local restaurants), but hates washing the dishes. We do not have a dishwasher here( we do have a washing machine), so dish washing have to be done manually. Macrine hates the grease and oil that sticks on the plates, so she has to boil water to rinse and clean the dishes every time.

At the end of March, our Driver and Housekeeper returned to their normal duties. We feel we are back in Paradise. But, remember that there is no perfect place on earth. Paradise only exists in your heart and mind. But to my mind, Marinduque is paradise when you have help in your daily activities, such as cooking, cleaning the house, driving, gardening and other errands.

This is indeed close to perfect living especially when you compared it to our daily activities in Northern California-our primary residence. Here in Northern California, Macrine and I do all the household duties, driving, gardening, grocery shopping, since we can not afford the services of a personal driver and housekeeper and cook. Occasionally we hired a cleaning lady to clean the whole house.

Note: If you have been following my blogs, we are called "snowbirds". We have a new friend from Toronto, Canada who commented when he learned of our lifestyle. "So you are "snowbirding" every year"? I am envious of your lifestyle. Yes, Indeed and we loved snowbirding and if you are envious, we understand why.