To Isabela Province

The Intellectual Property (IP) Management Training Workshop for the Cagayan Valley Agriculture Resources Research and Development (CVARRD) Consortium is the first joint IP Activity of BAR and PCARRD. Our trip to Echague, Isabela took us 12 hours, lower back pain and really tired body. We stayed in the only hotel in Alicia for 2 nights and decided to leave on the 3rd night for a better place in Nueva Viscaya State University.

A videoke night capped the 1st night, tired body and minds did not hinder the desires to sing their hearts out.

Cordillera Mountains viewed at the opposite end

Triangular 'suman' at the boundary of Nueva Ecija and Nueva Viscaya

Tugui root crops and turmeric or 'luyang dilaw' sold in that store-restaurant at the boundary

Rattan fruits and the very blue sky on the way back to Manila

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Animals among us

I am introducing..... Britige

Engelbert

at... Si Manok

A reptile hiding under dried leaves

A lizard on the roof. Notice the branched tail.

If our 2 kids already gave a name to a chick, it will not be made to 'tinola' at all, even if you beg! When i really want 'tinolang native chicken' we choose the nameless ones or better buy from the neighbors. Engelbert is the son of a black Japanese rooster ang a native hen. However, he is susceptible to disease and died young.

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my newest butterflies

I have long been chasing and shooting butterflies. These are the most common in our yard this time of the year.

The 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th are variations of each other (maybe Ideopsis sp.), but the 2nd i dont know yet. 1st - completely transparent white portions; 3rd - bluish hue on the upper wing, transparent white portions; 4th - greenish hue on the upper wing, not transparent white portions; 5th - bluish hue throughout the wings, not transparent. Now, Sept 09, i learned that the transparent ones are Glassy Tigers.

The 2nd is completely unknown to me, but it definitely have very hairy body even in the mid-portion of the wings. The white marks in the forewings reflect white light. Ideopsis sp. prefer to suck drying dill stems than nectar from the flowers.


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A Plea for ALL!

Please comment on my blogs, whatever you say is welcome! Thank you.

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Success with the counter

I really am not good in reading computer instructions. Earlier i tried to get counter but not successful. Yesterday i tried again, hurray, successful! Today i looked at it and it registerd 202 views! Less my 2 views that means i got 100 views that fast! Could it mean someone tampered on my counter! Dennis maybe, hoy, did you add numbers to my counter!!!!

How come nobody put any comment at all. I am totally surprised! Are there ghosts in counters too?

Our place in foggy mornings
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Mayon Volcano Escapade

We were one day early for the IP Awareness Training for BFAR 5 Network agencies, so we gallivanted for a while. Mayon's destruction can be seen everywhere, buried a barangay due to the eroding lava carried by heavy rains. More than a thousand died in that last typhoon. Aside from that Tabaco City was flooded for about 7 ft. The heavy rains and flood from the mountain occured during high tide which prevented the incoming waters to flow freely to the sea.

The Mount Mayon Resort is high up the foot of Mayon Volcano. It could have been a good viewers' site for the lowlands, but dense fog prevented us from seeing beyond 5 ft. Even the mountain itself did not allow full view even at noon.


Big stones are scattered everywhere, prompting two enterprizing brothers to manually make stone sculptures.


The Kagsawa Ruins, with only the belltower left from the 1840 eruption. An enterprizing photographer planted cosmos seeds in the site and use them
as background for his art.

Lani and i made so small versus Dennis, huh! Can you beat that!



Finally, Mayon gave way and peep thru the clouds (captured by Dennis' lens).




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Further musings

It is difficult to work, not with a heavy feeling and a heavy head. I instead reviewed Ging's PNG adventures, reviewed the posts from the start as well as pictures. Ging writes very well and she really conveys the information very nicely. The fun and the puns are also there. Since i have been contemplating on her post for a couple of weeks, now i am having more difficult time.

I gave up the 'Undas' weekend to go home, so i can possibly meditate on the matter. I prayed for my dead father's soul to continue being happy with its condition now. I even prayed for all the dead relatives i can think of. I visualized they are all contented and peaceful having the new 'LIFE'. However i still have not been at peace with the idea that i will be going to PNG. It is amusing and fun to read Ging's posts, but it is a very different story if you think of yourself being in those conditions! Will i be able to survive what she has been through? She might be more patient and brave than me after all. I will stop here still musing and grumbling, and probably spend some more sleepless nights for the deeper contemplation, again help me God.

Musings and/or grumblings...whatever!

In September i received an international call from APSA, stands for Asia Pacific Seeds Association-UPOV. At the other end is a Filipina speaking in Tagalog and very courteously professional. Apparently they sent an email a week ago to my director but it has not yet been opened, so she asked for my e-add to directly send me the messages. It was an invitation to speak on legislation updates on the Plant Variety Protection in the country, with emphasis on 'saving seeds by farmers, together with pointers for presentation and some data to include. A program for the meeting as well as the succeeding seed conference was also attached. Maybe they invited me because i head the IPR Office of BAR.

I am glad that BAR is getting to be noticed in the area of IPR, that is something really to be happy about. I am also glad that the signature in the letter is that of my batchmate in college, who long ago migrated to the USA, surprisingly now the Director of APSA. I dont even know if it is based in Bangkok but the conference is in Hyderabad. Lastly, there was the post conference tours to the nearby areas which can be arranged. I started gathering materials for the paper presentation.

Intentions for appointments with my director failed, so i informed him through text, when nothing happened, texted him again that all expenses will be paid by the APSA-UPOV. Nothing happened either. I called the EA for him to facilitate the papers be read by putting them on top of the files on the table. Still nothing! Then the organizers called me again inquiring if the couriered invitation for the Indian Embassy already arrived. That is also not yet in. She allayed my feelings that it could be the Visa problem which might hinder my attendance, and i jokingly told her that i will add the approval of my director to that, making the reasons two. I then made the necessary Travel Authority papers for processing and delivered them to the Boss's office. It has been more than a week and nothing of the papers surfaced. It is time for me to give up hope on the matter. Less than one week is not enough to process all the papers to the DA Secretary, then to the Foreign Affairs and then to the Indian Embassy.

This time the powerpoint presentation from the BPI, being the lead for Plant Variety Protection Board arrived. I am really embarrassed for the burden of asking him to prepare data and then telling him later i will not be able to present it! I am still gathering the courage to tell Dr. Mamaril of the fate of our paper. What i did today was to email the organizers, beg-off not to be able to go and thanking them for inviting BAR, adding that i hope next time i will be able to come. But at the innermost part of my brain was the real grumbling! I still don't know the reasons why my director act as such. He should have at least been glad that some of his staff found professional invitations which come unsolicited. It will take time before i can dissociate these thinking from my head, help me God.