FLASHBACK! From 1 - 5 years old

During one of my morning meditations,I started getting mental pictures of specific events during my childhood. It was very stimulating and left me with a feeling of nostalgia afterwards. It was as if I had relived the events as they happened.

As a mental exercise now, I'll try to list my earliest recollections just to see how well my memory banks are functioning (or have functioned.) The list will not be in any particular order but for purposes of order I'll categorize these flashbacks in increments of 5 years.

So here are my earliest recollections:

BANGKOK ( we were there from 1957 -59 but these recollections would have been when I was 4 years old.)

1. Falling down or slipping into the klong in Bangkok and being rescued by Auntie Luming.
2. Catching a glimpse of King Bhumibol & Queen Sirikit during a fair in Bangkok.
3. Getting a bike and a holster with guns for Christmas.
4. Watching Auntie Luming bake cakes & licking the icing/cake mix from the beaters or from the mixing bowl.
5. Seeing a snake drop from the top of the garage and seeing it caught by one of the household help.
6. Riding in Old Faithful to fetch Ate Per & Ate Alen and one of their Indian classmates from school. The road to the Indian girl's house was full of potholes so Ate Per called the experience "ballet" time since we would swing back and forth as Dad maneuvered around the potholes.
7. Being at an Easter egg hunt at our neighbor's,the Balls. I recall being carried by Mr. Ball so I could get some eggs.
8. I remember a frightening motorboat ride during one of our trips to the beach. What scared me was seeing Mom scream in fright.
9. Seeing the Fat Woman/Lady hanging clothes. The Fat Woman/Lady was Mom's way of threatening me if I misbehaved. She said she would hand me over to her.
10. Sitting at the porch with Auntie Luming and she teaching me " O Ilaw."
11. Joining my siblings in this crazy Egg Nog dance which Kuya Dennis invented whenever he made some milk shake.
12. The routine "All Aboard" and picture taking before we went to Mass.
13. Reading the many comic books that Dad bought for Deyda when she got hospitalized once.
14. The swimming pool we had that Dad would set up at the lawn.
15. Seeing Mr. Khan's frightening boxer thru the gate of their house which was at the back of ours.
16. Tiptoeing across the sala whenever Dad played his records. The hi fi stereo he had then was so sensitive it tended to skip and scratch his records if anybody ran inside the house.
17. Eating good food during the opening of Little Home Bakery.
18. Seeing Santa Claus at the Philippine Embassy Christmas party.
19. Watching the Lone Ranger on TV. We would immediately change the channel if either the Siamese dancers or Thai boxing went on TV.
20. Having get togethers with Filipino friends of Dad & Mom. Uncle Pido & Auntie Beling (and their daughter Marijo.) The dela Fuentes,the Labadias and Cardenases.

BACK IN RP (We returned sometime in 1959. We stayed over at the Nano's at South Crame before moving to Ft. William McKinley,which became Ft. Bonifacio)

21. I remember just waking up,being dressed up and then saying goodbye to Auntie Luming. I didn't know we were going back to the Philippines.
22. Being frightened at seeing Lola Maria since her lips were red from eating nganga.
23. The car ride to Uncle Joe's house when we arrived and seeing Mom cry (I think it was from hearing some news about someone who had died.)
24. Getting paid by Uncle Teofs a huge amount of money for singing a song in front of them. This was during the bienvenida for us at Project Rich. (Of course, it was really a typical Uncle Teofs scam! His way of turning over money to Dad in the guise of me winning it!)
25. Waking up and seeing Skeeter Nano in his cub scout uniform looking at me. He and Sluggo kept me entertained while we were temporarily stationed there.
26. While I don't recall our transferring to Ft. William McKinley, I remember not liking the house too much because it seemed dark & gloomy. If I remember right it was colored pink or a pastel shade.
27. I remember the vendors who sold puto and "napoy" (bread) Time and again,Mom would buy from them. The bread vendor rode on a bike and had two drums at the back which contained the bread (pan de regla,etc.) The puto vendor carried his goodies on a stick which he carried on his shoulders.

JOHN WILLIAMS and FROG'S LEAP WINERY

Here's a video of John Williams,founder & owner of Frog's Leap Winery in Napa Valley. He talks about how they went organic and found out that by leaving Mother Earth to take care of their grapes they produced more.

I found his talk very inspiring and I would like to visit Frog's Leap one of these days and have a taste of their wine. Also, I'd like to get in touch with Mother Earth again..perhaps thru farming or some agricultural project.

John Williams at Gel 2007 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.