Recovering from a Trip and a Storm all in One Week!

We just got home Sunday afternoon after a four-day camping trip at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, which was a lot of fun by the way and I still have to write about it, and I was still trying to recover from that trip (it takes me a few days) when the storm hit Monday night. After coming home from the boys' baseball games, we had a snack, prepared the boys for bed, did a few things here and there and finally relaxed and sat on the couch about 9:30pm. Tom turned the TV on. He tuned to NBC and there was this huge green color on the screen with some pink and purple in the middle from the radar. It was heading east on our direction. It did not look good.
There was no talk of bad weather, not at either baseball games. Of course, the boys and I stayed home all day trying to recover from our camping trip and I did not tune to the weather, I seldom do. But Tom is constantly keeping an eye on the weather so I was surprised when he himself did not even know the storm was coming.
We lost power about 10:30pm. The boys and I were huddled in the basement with their glow-stick/flashlight/whistle/flashers on while Tom kept an eye on what was going on outside from the main floor. He started gathering our computers, cameras and home movies and brought them downstairs. I went upstairs to light some candles when I heard this booming sound outside. I knew for sure something went down. I thought maybe it was debris from a tornado, I didn't know. I went back downstairs to check on the boys and we stayed there until the storm had passed.
We woke up to a very muggy morning since we had all the windows shut from the wind and the rain all night and no A/C for the power had not come back. It was a steamy day outside on top of not having power and water in the house. The aftermath of the storm almost became an extended camping for us since we didn't have water nor electricity at the campsite. Luckily, we still had ten gallons of water leftover from camping, which we used throughout the day. (Ten gallons was a lot of water when there was none at all coming out of the faucets.)
The booming noise I heard last night was the tree in our backyard. Luckily, it did not fall on the house. We had just cut the other branch that was bending toward the house last year. Good thing we did for that would have come down on the house. I discovered further that it had fallen on top of one of my flower gardens which destroyed more than half of my flowers in that particular garden. It's only two years old. I worked hard on making that garden look nice. It did, until the tree fell down on it! Oh, well...I had to whine somewhere in this article or whatever you call it. Blog. That's it. Oh, while I'm at it, did I mention the laundry that piled up during four days of camping that I haven't gotten into yet at this point? And then, a full day of no electricity? I should title this blog "Whining" and not what it is now. I know some people have more troubles and have more to whine about than I do but this is mine and am letting it out. Whew! There. I let it out. Really, I should be thankful. And I am, truly.
Now where was I before all this whining thing?
Oh yes. We worked on getting the tree cut and cleared all day long. The sound of chainsaws and generators were blaring in the neighborhood. Almost every household in our block had a tree down. Thankfully, there were no injuries or damage to property.
The town of Eagle, which is roughly fifteen miles west of us was not very lucky. A tornado touched down in the town and destroyed some homes. Only minor injuries, thank God!
Friends and family called to see how we were doing. Thanks for all your concern guys!
The power came back on at 7pm. Thank goodness or I told my husband we would have to spend the night at a hotel or some place where I could take a shower. We were all so sticky and dirty from working on the fallen tree all day.
Now, it's Friday and besides putting my flower garden back together (which I'm not sure anymore if I'll keep it as a flower garden or turn it into a green house area), I think I have recovered from the trip and the storm. Today is the first time I got up at 5am all week and have the energy to write. (Hurray!) It has been a trying week and I'm glad that it's almost over. I can just look back on it and leave it there. Exactly.

Homesick

Tom asked me to gather some old pictures of my neighborhood today to show to his co-worker who asked about it. I started rummaging through old pictures and I found a few that I would scan and email to him in the next hour or so. I also remembered the slideshow of Cebu from a few days ago posted on my profile. So I went and clicked on the youtube link. Seeing the pictures of Cebu brought tears to my eyes. It looks so different yet the feeling I get looking at it is the same. My emotions are mixed: pride, longing to be there again, memories stirring up in my head and emotions in my heart. It's been thirteen long years...

The Five-Forty-Five to Cannes

At last, I finished reading The Five-Forty-Five to Cannes. Since I started reading it last Wednesday, I haven't been able to concentrate on anything else. I had to force myself to forget about it so I could get on with my day-to-day activities. So relieved was I when we did not go to a car show Friday evening but I still had to get ready for the picnic the next day. So I read, little by little each day until I was more than halfway today and I was determined to finish it then.
The book did not disappoint. It was very engaging, fast-paced like a train ride, taking the reader to different places, seeing different nationalities and hearing different languages. Tess Uriza Holthe is brilliant. I love how she uses poetic language as if it were ordinary language; how she describes something poetically but without trying to emphasize it too much so that you read it ordinarily but the meaning is deep and the impact, lasting.
Ah, another good book to keep in my library. Now I can rest having finished reading it and let the story and characters just linger in my head...It is one that I can read again. I don't know when but I know I will.

FAAWIS Picnic

It had been two years since I went to the last FAAWIS picnic. And with the new location, I didn't quite know what to expect.
The weather held up though it was a little cool. It did sprinkle a little bit but it did not turn into a full-blown rain.
There was a good turnout. So many people were there that my dad had to constantly call me on my cell phone just to find out where I was! People stopped at our booth looking for me while I'd be somewhere else but eventually we found each other. I got re-acquainted with people I haven't seen for a while and met some new ones. If there was one person that stood out for me at the picnic, it was Renee (Inday) Mondano who really went out of her way to make people welcome. She was everywhere, tending to people, helping organize and just saying 'hi.' Thanks Renee for making everyone feel welcome! Everyone else was friendly and had a smile ready for everyone.
What gave me the goosebumps (besides the cold breeze blowing on my skin) was when the Philipine national anthem, "Lupang Hinirang" ("Beloved Land," I think is a fair translation) was sung. It just stirred the patriotic emotions inside me...not enough to bring tears to my eyes though!
The food was delicious as usual and there was so much of it that it was almost overwhelming. My favorite was the lechon (pig roast). It was especially good this time. I'm not a lechon person so if you get me to eat it, it must be good! Then there was a young-jackfruit-with-coconut-milk dish. It was pretty yummy! I never did catch who made it and couldn't find it the next time I went through the line.
I presented Connor and Colin with the T-shirts that I ordered for them. Printed on them was: Filipino, from East to West, We Stand Proud. It had the Philippine Flag and the Statue of Liberty on it. Colin was so excited that he wore it right away, over his sleeveless shirt while Connor was so-so.
Tommy liked being passed from one person to another: from Lolo to Lola to uncles, to daddy, to mommy and Connor. He watched his older brothers who had fun playing with the giant chess under the FANHS-WI tent and guarded the captured pieces. Then the boys played kick ball with their uncles afterward. They cheered on as they watched their Uncles Ondo and Ray play tug-of-war, who lost twice. "The Marine was defeated," we teased uncle Ondo. They wanted to watch them play volleyball but we could not stay any longer. We had to leave early for it had been a long day for everybody with Tom taking the boys to baseball practice the entire morning then running an errand on the north side of town before stopping at the picnic.
It was a great day and I'm so glad I went. The experience exceeded my expectations.

To Read or Not to Read?

I did it! I ordered "The Five-Forty-Five to Cannes" by Tess Uriza Holthe a few days ago. I couldn't resist. Now, I'm holding it in my hands. The question is, Do I dare read it? I know that when I start, I'm not going to be able to put it down. I just am that kind of person and right now, I have so many things to do with preparing for a car show on Friday, picnic on Saturday, 4-day camping next week and then trying to plan for my son's birthday party, baseball 4x a week! Not to mention constant Facebooking and emailing...I don't know how I'm going to fit reading a book in my schedule. On top of that, tomorrow is the last day of school for my two older boys. They're going to be home to constantly and sweetly bug me! Maybe I should wait until we go camping to read it. I'm looking at it right now and it's very tempting. I did read the first couple of pages that were allowed in the "See Inside" feature in either bn.com or amazon.com, can't remember which one. Okay (taking deep breath). I'll have to let you know what happens next...

Out of the Blue

Today, out of the blue, I thought about a Filipino-American author by the name of Tess Uriza Holthe whose first novel, When the Elephants Dance, is a New York Times bestseller. It was back in 2003 when I was invited by the president at the time, I believe, of the Filipino-American National Historical Society-Wisconsin Chapter to attend a book signing by the said author at the Schwartz bookstore in Shorewood. I instantly looked up the book and borrowed it from the local library and read it in 3 days!
She was already reading a portion of her book when I walked into the bookstore. There were a few attendants from FANHS-WI. When Tess was finished reading, I proceeded to buy a copy of her book and had her sign it. She and I posed for a picture that my husband took. I printed two copies of the picture: one I framed and the other I pasted on the book that she signed.
Anyway, I decided to look her up on Facebook and I found her! I started reading her blog and I visited her website where I learned that she had published another book in 2007 titled, The Five-Forty-Five to Cannes, which is a series of short-stories connected together. I can't wait to get my hands on this book and read it. She is one of my idols. I am proud of her and I am proud to be Filipino!