A fishy story

Noah's missus loves to fish. While he was busy looking after the animals she would sneak out to the bow of the ark with her fishing rod to hook some legal-sized deep sea dwelling critter.

One winter morning while Chicago was freezing cold, she was at sunny Clearwater Florida for a fishing adventure that was planned and paid for by Howard D' Tiny. Here are some photos of her escapade.

Before 8:00 Jo Ann of Ark is at the Clearwater

dock waiting for the call to board

 the "ark" is a double-hulled boat named

"double eagle II." 

the fishing expedition included Asset D' Cuddly,

Hardin D' Londong, Howard D' Tiny and Noah D'Shy guy.

Inside the ark while it speeds toward

some deep waters about 45 minutes from

Clearwater beach.

 the fishing commences with a 

show by some sleek dolphins.

The missus trying hard to successfully

reel in a heavy line...

...which turns out to be a grouper...

..."sorry" says Kevin D' deckhand, but

it's short of the required legal size...

...so Jo Ann of ark has one last pose

before mr. Lapulapu (filipino name for

the grouper species) is heaved back into

the sea...

 ...where some hungry pelicans make

lunch out of him.

this unlucky chap had no intention to bite

the bait, but stayed too near and got

hooked by the chin to the delight of 

Mrs. Noah. And like his predecessors of

smaller-than-legal-size he was thrown back

into the sea to tell his kin about a gorgeous

dame he saw on board the alien ship.

 in his mind Howard D' Tiny savors the tasty

meat of grilled trigger fish, but this was

not the right season for this species and

the lucky guy gets bailed out and back to

his mom in the depths.

These twins got hooked at the same

time and since they were legit size

they were held for eating. Sometimes

growing up too fast and too big has

its dangers.

 with the ice chest filling up and

the time running out, the captain calls

it a day...

...and heads back to shore while the 
fishermen brag about their catch.

Meanwhile, the most compelling part of the adventure gets underway - photo-ops.

 is she thinking about the Titanic in this pose?

 with her nephew Howard D' Tiny
on the sun deck

 a hug by Noah as they cross under
the Clearwater bridge

 a captain's pose

 with niece Asset D' Cuddly

 an exact example of "coffee n milk"

 Kevin D' Skinhead really loved this
noisy bunch of Filipinos. He got a
hefty tip for his efforts to please them.

 when you're in season and you're the
right size you end up...

 ...either fried or...

...in a soup dish with some horse raddish.

Noah's missus had a wonderful time that day and the memories she had will keep her till the next visit to this beautiful state of sunshine, oranges and beautiful and loving relatives.

Two dudes and a bucket full of memories

No, this is not a bromance so please keep your judgement till the last phrase of this blog. LOL

The time: decades of 1960 & 1970. 

The place: a village high up on the mountains at the heart of the island of Mindanao. 

Imagine two hyperactive boys in a remote place about a day's drive through dirt roads to the nearest city. All they had at their disposal were some horses and cows at a nearby ranch, a dancing creek with small tasty fish and ferns on its banks, a forest behind the village, some empty milk cans and other odd objects to craft into toys and a very rich imagination.

In those ancient days boredom was a given fact and to combat it you had to create your own fun, and these blokes were very good at that. 

Another thing they had to cope up with was their seemingly bottomless stomachs, and again they managed to stay satiated with the vast array of wild and cultivated fruits around the neighborhood. 

This was a time when life was simple and slow-paced. Happiness and fun were not dependent on gadgets or mass media productions. Mischief was also abundant and always useful.

Half a century later these two blokes happen to cross paths in the sunshine state and a couple of hours together was packed with reminiscing and trying out the things they used to do back then.

a torn achiles tendon kept

this ADHD guy hobbled.

a perfect garage is one with

a pingpong table

instant replay

Thanks bro for all the memories - while we still have our minds. Another reunion in the age of dementia could be hilarious.

Fambam - a potpourri of Spanish, American and Filipino genes

Make no mistake. This piece is not about Noah, rather it is about his dear wife's family and why they have the looks of the beautiful people of the western hemisphere, which Noah conspicuously lacks.

<<O>>

"In March 15, 1621 the Philippines was discovered by Magellan" and colonized for Spain. And then in 1898 the Americans wrested this archipelago from the Spaniards and claimed it as their own. This was actually a story of greed, power and dominance.

A similar story emerged in the early 1900s when a handsome, young and adventurous hombre left his homeland Spain and found himself walking the dusty paths of a beautiful southern Philippine island. What struck him most was the hospitality of the people and the gorgeousness of their daughters, and so he decided to get himself some land and seven or so brown-skinned ladies who would eventually give him dozens of children. 

Some decades later two American dudes set foot on the island and had the same realization as the Spaniard. This time the Americans found the daughters of the Spanish guy irresistible and decided to stay for good. Little did they realize that they had in fact followed the trend of the earlier Spanish and American colonizers, but this time it was a saga of infatuation, love and romance.

Fast forward by half a century and we now find Noah encaptivated and entranced by the Spanish guy's granddaughter and his heart is colonized forever. 

A vacation in the Sunshine state just recently gave Noah a chance to bond with the grandchildren of the Spanish dude in this story. Here are some photos to prove that his seed hasn't stopped multiplying.

Medel + Joyce = first degree cousins minus the kid.

Not in the pic are Jerry and Judy who missed

the potluck and Emmeline who recently left

for the Philippines.

Daphne - niece

Harold and Howard - nephews

Hardin - nephew

Tiffany, Meghan and Asset - nieces

Gizela - niece

Svetlana - niece

 nieces all

nephews some

nieces and nephews with about a handful more

 who couldn't make it for this event.

All the personalities in the photos were proudly made in the Philippines and just migrated to the USA in the last 2 decades or so.

The last, but not the least is this dude. However, his birth certificate is still missing hence their genetic lineage is yet to be confirmed.

Eat-all-you-can

Smorgasbord was a term that Noah had to come to grips with while growing up. To him it was a table laden with all the stuff that he could not possibly consume, and being an eat-everything-in-sight kind of freak he just wished that the buffet table didn't have too much on it.

Fast forward by a little over half a century and he finds himself vacationing in the Central Valley of California - a breadbasket of sorts for the states on the west coast and possibly even for the entire nation, where food is grown by the tons, shipped off by the tons and sadly, wasted by the tons. While cycling through post-harvest fields, orchards and vineyards Noah sees acres upon acres of produce considered as "non-marketable" or "reject" rotting under the sun. 

With all the excesses Noah reckons that there is no excuse for hunger. Not a single soul in this vast valley should go to bed hungry and he had to find out if this was the case. True to his expectations Noah discovers that there are civic and religious centers around Bakersfield that give out free meals and food/groceries on a regular basis and if one has the knowledge of the schedules and venues and is able to queue on time, there would be free food for each day of the year.

To get a firsthand experience on this system Noah decides to have some free food for himself. The New Life Center - a Foursquare gospel church, hands out food/groceries twice a month for the entire year on a regular basis. To qualify for the free food one has simply to want it... not even need it, and should be able enough to stand in line to get the food 7:00 - 10:00 in the morning.

That's the warehouse of the NewLife center at White Lane

Noah got there and the parking lot was 60% full

with the owners of the cars already in a neat line

 The "suman cum laude" boys shivering in the

8 degrees Celsius morning.

 each "suman" boy was given a cart of grocery stuff,

which had apples, blue berries, grapes, cauliflower and other 

fresh veggies, canned tomatoes, fruit cocktail, frozen chicken, pasta, bread, peanut butter, etc.

with all this food there is no excuse to be hungry.

A reunion with Toots

There are certain things in life that you absolutely don't have any control over. One of these is who your cousins are. You can't choose them neither can you determine the circumstances into which you were born into. 

Popeye and sweet pea @ the pier

For the petite lady in this story, there were no options, but to accept this writer - Noah, and his sister as her cousins, their mothers being sisters. The circumstances that bound her to them came in a way that there was certainly no means that they could develop animosity or get bored with each other, simply because they only saw each other during yearly summer vacations and these times together were just for about a couple of weeks. So what transpired between them all their lives was just fun, fun and more fun. When your relationship with someone is at this level, you would treasure each chance to reunite and reminisce. This is exactly what this blog is about considering that the cousins are now at the grand stage of their lives... I mean being "grand" parents already and not the roles they previously played as carefree youngsters.

There were about 6 - 10 cousins including Toots' siblings who shared these fun vacations together, and I'm quite certain that they wish that it is still possible to reunite on the island beaches where they used to hangout. Other cousins who were born a decade before or after them where treated with respect and awe, but with none of the elbowing, scratch-my-back-I-scratch-yours or sleeping-side-by-side-on-the-floor type of closeness.

Toots and her family lived in the big city while Noah and sis lived in the remote mountainous recesses of the farthest island from the big city - 4 days by boat in those antique years. Noah actually lived each day of the year in anticipation for the summer trip to Manila.

Since this blog is about a reunion and not about the bygone years let's leave the past behind. Toots at this time was spending some months touring the United States... so with Noah. She was based in Las Vegas and Noah in Bakersfield - just 6 hours drive between them. 

To bring Toots to Bakersfield Christian and Jinjin brought

her halfway to Barstow from where Noah and sis would take her

through the second half portion of the trip. There's no doubt

in the photos that the three are cousins by their unique

facial expressions.

 the next day they toured the museum of president

Ronald Reagan at the Simi Valley...

 ...where this horse brought back into remembrance

the years when Toots would visit the mountains

and Ethel and Noah would take her horse-back riding.
Some famous American photobomber with them.

 this time it took quite an effort to get

up on the saddle with less flexibility

of the joints.

The next day was Pismo Beach...

 ...where they got to taste the famous clam

chowder in an consumable bowl.

 waiting for the sun to set in a 

fabulous sun-sea-sky showdown.

The next day was free breakfast at

Ethel's hospital and apparently the 

temperature is very low.

At this point Noah would like to apologize for the succeeding videos

which may be too gross and offensive for some people. Viewers discretion is advised.

The lyrics of the songs have become to scarred and shredded in their
dwindling memory, so to stay on the safe side they only sang the chorus parts - "relax."

Toots is ready to board the plane at LAX for the Philippines and at this point this question begs for an answer: will another reunion be possible?