Our kids gave us native trees for our upcoming birthdays! Monica, our New-York based illustrator daughter who was in Manila for a short visit orchestrated the tree-buying, with some help from her Lola’s car, driver, and gardener! The trees came from the nursery of Imelda Sarmiento, the Project Director of Philippine Native Trees 101: Up Close and Personal.
This is the list of Birthday trees from our kids: Continue reading “Happy 49 Trees!”
Mornings at the farm start very early. And very noisily. No, we don’t wake up to the ti-tilaok (that’s cock-a-doodle-doo in Pilipino) of a rooster. We wake up to a dawn chorus! Wild birds sing with extra gusto and energy first thing in the morning. Birders call this phenomenon a dawn chorus. Continue reading “Good Morning, Birds!”
A plague of flies! Right after Typhoon Glenda, we noticed a LOT of flies at the farm. We would be eating in the kitchen and there would be 10 flies on the window screen trying to get inside. Eww. Continue reading “If Only They Were All Butterflies. But No, They’re Flies.”
One weekend I decided to list down all the birds I saw and heard from the veranda of the cottage. This is my list from two mornings in April 2014.
Tonji and Sylvia's Wildlife Refuge 