My July

It's now the end of the month and like I did last month I'll have a re-cap of what has gone through with my month of July.

1. 77th!!

It was my mother's 77th birthday last July 22. We only had a simple celebration but my mom was real happy when I posted this photo of her on facebook wearing a hand-me-down dress from my cousin and the huarache Crocs from another cousin also. I made her see all people who took time to greet her and liked her picture and she was just so glad. Thank God for giving her 77 strong years!

2. Tomatoes.

Because I garden, I'm happy to share with you my tomatoes. It has now grown and has a budding flower. I'll let your see for sure if it will give me lots of fruits.

3. Cancelled trips.

My friends slash colleagues planned two trips that were both cancelled because of the heavy rains. The first was the Manaoag - Baguio trip but was cancelled due to the nonstop monsoon rains. The other was the one I called the "Manila tour" where we planned to go to Quiapo, Baywalk, Binondo and Divisoria but that day was welcomed with a gloomy rainy morning so we had to choice but to cancel.

4. Gone too soon.

My college friend passed away just last week and I was teary-eyed upon hearing about it. She was the first person who approached the very quiet me on our first day of classes and she has remained my friend since then. I regret that on the days that I've missed her I didn't push thru seeing her. I will forever miss you my dear friend!

My beautiful college friends. I will miss you Bheck! (The pretty girl in light blue sleeveless top).

 5. Beautiful people!

It was happiness seeing the people I see everyday for four years during college. I have just missed them so. It feels like we didn't actually age at all.

6. Mockingjay 2, Fear the Walking Dead.

At long last, I've seen the trailer of Mockingjay 2. I am just so excited to see it this November.
A new TV series showing how the zombie apocalypse started will be aired this August. I just hope I can download it here in the Philippines the soonest.

7. Movie fun. Happy faces.

We watched the local movie The Break-up Playlist at the nearest cinema.

So, there goes my July. It's been bittersweet. I expect August will be a tough month for me and my work. Lord, please guide me. God bless us!

Reminiscing the beach

It was raining hard the whole day today because of the typhoon somewhere around the Philippine area of responsibility. Though it did not make a landfall, the typhoon has been pulling monsoon rains. That's why it's been wet and cold here for a week now. I just hope that the rain would stop soon or otherwise our river would overflow.

And I guess because it's Thursday and it's raining, I am permitted to reminisce the dry hot summer.
This was our trip to Morong, Bataan where we rented a two-bedroom house. It was a private house along the beach and we were lucky it was not as crowded as other beaches were and the water was so clear.

We have taken about twenty shots before we were able to make it up there at the same time. Tiring but super fun.

We stayed in the water as long as we can. Sunset at the beach was just one of the best thing ever.

During the night, maybe because we were all exhausted we already forgot to take photos so there's none I can share. But we did cooked the food we have brought along with us. We grilled the barbecues and my fave "isaw" (chicken intestines). We also have fried okras and pork and chicken adobo. I was so full I slept early but some stayed awake and sang at the videoke they have rented outside the house.

Our yummy breakfast: binagoongan rice (rice with shrimp paste topped with onions, mangoes, tomatoes), hotdogs, sweet longanisa, fried eggs and the sinful backfat chicharon (crispy, fatty pork rinds) dipped in chilli vinegar.

Before we went home on our second day, we made sure we've had a lot of memories to keep. I'm glad we've found this cute house and the beautiful beach.

DIY Paper Pots for Seed-Starting

Reduce, re-use, recycle.

I appreciate the beauty of nature that's why I practice this. I always use scratch papers when making drafts at the office. I do the same at home. Since I do gardening and would like to stick to my organic gardening habit preferably starting out sheet composting, I've thought of using biodegradable pots as seed starters. There's none in any stores I've looked for and since I like doing these kind of things, I mean crafts, I tried making a few myself.

These are the materials I used:

1. Used bond paper
2. Paste

Please let me clear that the ink used for the printed papers are non-toxic and I used a homemade non-toxic paste as well. Here's how I made the paste.

Materials

1. Cornstarch
2. Water
3. Vinegar

Heat a pan, then add two tablespoons of cornstarch to a cup of water (I just used the cup I'm using for my coffee). Mix thoroughly until it thickens and would appear like the color of a paste (colorless) we can buy from stores. Then add a few drops of vinegar. Mix it well again and that's it, you now use a homemade paste free of any harmful chemicals.

How I came to know this? Well, when I was younger my mother who was real thrifty because we do not have much to spend wouldn't buy me a paste for school home projects but instead would always "cook" one for me. Good thing I learned this from her.

Going back to the pots, I folded two 8.5" by 11" used bond papers lengthwise. I pasted it together so it will be a total of four sheets when attached.

I folded it into four-parts making sure the attached part would be in the middle and not at the bent side so it will stick well.

This is how it will look like. But just to make sure it would be thick enough I add another four sheets to this square with the same procedure as the first so it will be a total of eight sheets and would be thick enough to hold seeds even when it rains or when I water.

A pot can never be without a base because they must be able to hold the soil. I attached a half sheet of paper which can either be cut off crosswise or lengthwise folded and pasted together just like a 1/4 sheet of paper. Do it just like when you are wrapping a boxed gift only it is one side. I did this twice so it will be thick enough to carry the soil.

Voila! I have a home-made nature-loving biodegradable pots for my tomato and pepper seedlings.

Happy Gardening!