Chiq Boutique » family fun

The Bird Buffet

Chiqui — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 22:30:17 +0000

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Friday. Hung a feeder filled with bird seeds. Dragged Proserpina, my potted baby pomegranate, beside it. I think it is best for her to be acquainted with the creatures that would one day reside and sing among her branches. Proserpina is special. I raised her from the seed of a fruit that I ate.
Monday. Feeder half empty. Avian visitors growing in numbers. There are eight of them gathered at one time. Two scarfing down seeds from the feeder perch. The rest forage among the grasses for seeds that have fallen.
Wednesday. Time for a refill. Free food is definitely delicious. My regular customers are House Sparrows and House Finches. Just the garden variety types. I like the male house finch. It has a rust red coloring on the head and the breast area.
Small but terrible. These common creatures don’t just sing happily. They fight, too. They push each other off the feeder perch, and away from the choicest forage spots. They wrestle in the air, their wings all stretched out, flapping wildly. Bird organizations consider them as pests and blame them for the decline of the bluebird population.
I just saw three European Starlings(another pest) hopping on the wall directly above where the other birds were eating. Bigger than sparrows and finches, but smaller than pigeons. Black with tiny yellow spots on the back. Prominent long, yellow, pointed beaks. They didn’t quite know what to do. Maybe they’re not used to feeders so they left after a few minutes.
Word must be spreading among those in the winged community. Hey, there’s a bird buffet at the Baylon residence. It’s open 24/7. And it’s free. Lets go, go, go!
What a treat! A Gold Finch landed on top of the feeder and stayed for a few seconds trying to figure it out. Too bad. It was not as smart as the ordinary birds.It didn’t know what to do so off it flew.
Thursday. My heart skipped a beat. A slim blue bird with white, grey, and black streaks on the back swooped down to investigate the goings on in my yard. The regulars fled upon its arrival. I took out my binoculars from the kitchen cabinet and feasted my eyes on this rare beauty. Like the starlings, it didn’t know how to work the feeder.
Researched the internet and found out that it was a Western Scrub Jay. Hope it comes back.
Friday. Just came home from another job-hunting expedition. Slumped down on the couch and reached out for the paper. Scanned the classified ads section. Nothing for me. Went to the kitchen sink . While soaping up the dishes, I watched, through the window, my feathered guests enjoying the banquet I had laid out for them. It was fascinating to watch them root about for food, scatter seed, quarrel, push each other, and sing. These birds didn’t have to work too hard because I had prepared their food for them.
Then it hit me…. “Look at the birds in the air. They don’t stock grain and yet they feed. The father takes care of them. Aren’t you more valuable than they are?” This bible verse came at me so suddenly, like a punch to the gut. It jolted me out of my dark mood. A reassuring voice in a pitch-black cave.
Left the sink and rummaged inside a drawer. I pulled out something that my daughter had done months ago, a tiny paper with the picture of a bird. Its caption was “My God will take care of all your needs”. Posted it on the fridge. Just to reinforce the message in my brain.

Sunday. Light was fading. Saw a tiny creature hovering close to the hanging feeder. A hummingbird!
Monday. 8 AM. It was back. Its color vivid in the sunlight. Iridescent green and black. I called my daughter excitedly. Together we watched it flap its wings 80 times/second, flying up and down, backward and forward. Amazing creature!

Went to the dollar store to get another feeder , nectar, and some artificial red flowers. We’re ready. The Baylon Bird Buffet is now serving hummingbirds. Welcome.

Tribute to our Tree

Chiqui — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 08:05:05 +0000

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Finito. It is with tremendous self-satisfaction that I announce the official end of christmas in our household. For almost a month I had struggled and finally won the battle against procastination. My son helped me take down the tree. The last christmas ball has been packed in a box and pushed into the closet. Not bad, considering that one neighbor has christmas lights hanging above his garage door all year round. Jesus, another nextdoor neighbor, still has candy cane lights lined up by his doorway. So I’m really better off than any of them.

This was how our christmas tree looked in full holiday regalia.White. Fake. Cheap. Plastic. And slightly leaning to one side. Not the type I’d photograph and post proudly on facebook. I’ve always wanted something elegant, one with a unifying element, be it in terms of color or decorations. A facebook friend showed off a tree all decked out in gold. I liked it. I saw one that had different kinds of pink birdhouses on it. It was pretty. Ours looked more like Dona Victorina in Noli Me Tangere, a lady with a loud and atrocious fashion sense. This is what happens when you limit yourself to ornaments from the 99 Cents store.

When you have underaged design consultants, decors are chosen for their multipurpose qualities. Some of our ornaments functioned as doll accesories, too. See how the tinkerbell doll above was transformed into a little drummer girl.

As a kid, I loved glass balls. My ordinary world looked magical when viewed from their shiny surfaces. My daughter, I suspected, felt the same way. So I made sure that our tree had lots of glass balls in many colors.

This jelly roll didn’t exactly look christmassy, but it smelled delicious, like a real cake. It’s my son’s toy. He bought it and completely forgot about it after one day. It looked very forlorn at the bottom of his toy box so I decided to hang it up.

Our tree was a 3D bulletin board showcasing my kids’ school and home craft projects.

The aesthetically-challenged paper elephant was my son’s masterpiece. He hates crafts. Usually, I have to coerce him into doing it. I was surprised when he unexpectedly presented this to me. This was a labor of love.

See the snowman on the left? Notice the thick black line above the yellow scarf? That’s supposed to be his mouth. I called it the snowman who ate too much sauteed squid. “Nagpa urok-urok kaon lokos,a.” My daughter made this during family craft night in school. Another favorite ornament.

Everyday my kids would reach out to hang a new bauble. Then they’d stand back to see how it looks. They’d straighten a garland that’s out of place. They’d count the ornaments. Break some of them. They’d try to steal the M&Ms and jelly lollipops at the topmost branches. If we had an elegant-looking tree I would constantly be barking at them to keep away. Where would the fun be in that? Our tree was not the prettiest girl on the block, but she was definitely the merriest.

Thank you, tree. You served us well.

Exploring Santa Fe Dam

Chiqui — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 14:16:06 +0000

January 6 was a Thursday. The rains have stopped. T’was not too cold. Nice day to be out. I had my money ready for the parking fee at Santa Fe Dam Recreation Center in Irwindale, but when we got to the gate, there was nobody there. We got in for free. Great.They don’t charge on weekdays. No crowds. No car noises. No out of tune big brass bands practising. Just a lot of quacking and honking.

Armed with a few gelatin treats, my kids and I hiked the 6.5 mile perimeter of the man-made lake. As usual, my son did what he does best: whine. I am tired. I am thirsty. I am itchy. Are you sure this place is safe? Why can’t we go somewhere else?

“Do you know how to skip stones on the water?”, I asked. He looked confused. So I told him that it was time for him to learn how to do it. They started hunting for flat stones. The whining subsided.

Handing him a pair of binoculars, I asked him to tell me about the birds on the lake. He liked being in charge of that gadget. He puffed out his chest and peered into those lenses like an explorer. We noticed that the Canada Geese were no longer around. There were new visitors though. They were all assembled far away on the opposite bank, but even then I could tell right away that they were cormorants. These black water fowls like to to stand motionless for long periods of time and stretch their wings while basking in the sun. I wonder if they ever get tired. Last summer I saw a crowd of pristine white herons landing on some bushes. I was intrigued because I always thought of them as solitary creatures. I had hoped to see them up close as a group and find out whether they could also be as boisterous as the geese and the ducks. No luck. On this particular day I only saw one. It was too far and too quick for me to get a decent picture.

The park vegetation was not very pretty. Hopefully it will be when spring comes. Only two colors greeted our eyes: drab browns and tired greens. There was this one and only cluster of vibrant daffodils that broke the monotonous view. Excitedly, I recited a line from a favorite poem: I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high over vales and hills. when all at once I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils.

Somebody must have thrown some bulbs here and the plant must have thickened through the years. These are not a natural part of the chaparral landscape of Southern California. A bright idea popped up in my head….. I will buy some flower seeds, make a seed bomb and scatter them around the park. When the plants grow and blossom, other hikers will feel the same pleasure I felt when I chanced upon these lovely things.

My kids loved this unique playground. It had a large jungle gym made of thick nylon ropes. My little girl scampered up and made her way to its trampoline center . There was also a modified monkey bar where you have to hang on to a handle and glide down.

This was not a nice day for taking photos. The sun was playing hide and seek among the clouds. This picture would have been better if there was more light. I like those blue posts by the water’s edge. They liven up the dull winter scenery. If you study it closely, you will see a seagull perched like a sentry on several posts. I can’t really understand why there’d be seagulls here. We’re too far from the coast. The background is my most favorite part. Snowcapped peaks. We live in the shadow of the San Gabriel mountain range. Everytime I step out of my home it beckons me to look up. Takes my breath away….always. And automatically I murmur a “Thank you” to my creator.

Giving LACMA another chance

Chiqui — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:11:01 +0000

Hold the statue’s hand while I take your picture. He scanned the surroundings before timidly touching the statue’s fingertip, all the while reminding me that the guards may not like it. He is such a fearful child. My son was hesitant to get close to any artwork at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Poor thing. Our last visit did not really make us feel welcome. We were reprimanded four times by the museum guards. And I was thinking that it wasn’t such a good idea for them to give kids free memberships because LACMA is not a very kid-friendly place. They have to move slowly , talk quietly, and keep their hands to their sides. I was all stressed out trying to restrain my rambunctious children. Museums are like mausoleums, unfit for creatures that are full of life.

Nothing fazes my four-year-old. She touched the sculpture just to annoy her older brother. I kept looking around, expecting a guard to pop out and tell us off.

Boone Children’s Gallery. This is a new addition to LACMA. I had my qualms about visiting LACMA again, but we went there last August 13, after my dental appointment. It was late in the afternoon and I wanted to wait out the rush hour traffic on the freeways. I didn’t want to bring the kids to a mall and have to listen to them beg for a racing barbie or a star wars action figure. In this place I didn’t have to spend a dime. My kids have free membership.

I announced that we were gonna be artists for an hour or two. My son proceeded to do what he does best. Whine. I pretended not to hear. We sat down. Across the table was a baby, in a high chair, imitating Jackson Pollack’s painting style. His mom was cheering him on. An artist-looking guy came over to welcome us and give us art materials. Our unease started to melt away. It was refreshing not to hear a brusque warning from a museum staff.

What did he say this was, again? Tempura paint? My son looked at me in exasperation, and chided me that tempura is for eating and not for painting.

My little girl just went down to business right away. I like it when people just do things without complaining. She painted a monster of some kind. Then she declared that she wants to be “a artist”.

My son’s masterpiece. Beautiful! It must be humpty dumpty wearing a ceremonial mask. I made something, too, but I threw it in the trash.

Nice place. People were happy here, especially those two old guys in the next table. They looked like little kids. With their faces all scrunched up in concentration, they wielded the brush like a musical conductor’s baton. Each time they finished a painting, they would hold it up and examine it with obvious pride. It was delightful to watch them.

By the time we had to go home, my son begged me to check if they have some medieval armors on display. We only found a samurai armor and he asked me to snap a photo of him beside it. There was no other armor aside from that so he suggested that we just look at some paintings instead.

No reprimands for us on that day. My kids have learned the proper way to behave around expensive art objects. I guess, they’re starting to acquire some culture.

Santa Fe Dam Sunday

Chiqui — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:08:54 +0000

I leave my kids by the water’s edge. The little girl wants to stay and look at the ducks. But they’re not really ducks. They’re Canada Geese, maybe the non-migratory kind. Under the dappled shade of a tree I spread my green blanket (which is actually a table cloth), pile up my old throw pillows, and stretch out on the ground.

The gentle breeze cools me down after an hour spent under the noonday sun. I had been keeping an eye on my daughter who was playing in the water. Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area, in Irwindale, has this awesome wading and spray pool for toddlers and preschool kids. Of course, maybe it’s not much compared to what they have at big water theme parks, but an entrance fee of two dollars per person is reason enough for me to give it an A rating.

The kids tire of watching the geese and join me in the shade. Little girl looks up at the sky while munching a cookie and declares: This is the life! The trees, the wind, and the river….. Where does she get these lines? I smile in amusement, but I couldn’t agree more with her. They regale me with detailed reports of how geese butts open and squirt poo into the water. The ten year old boy asks if he can drop a probe into the murky depths of the dam. Yes you can if you have the gadget. I wonder what mysteries he hopes to uncover there. I shake my head discreetly. My boy has lots of bright ideas. One time he told me that he wants to meet with George Lucas so he can give the filmmaker some suggestions for the next Star Wars.

My son whines that he is bored and asks if we can rent a paddle boat or a family cycle. Right on cue, a bell rings. A family cycle passes by, its cyclists huffing and puffing, all of them giggling. I know, those things are fun, but I don’t have enough money. Maybe next time when your dad is with us. Maybe you can even go fishing with him.

Just ride your scooter or go catch a dragonfly for now. He grumbles that they fly too high. Silly. You can’t catch them in flight. You have to stalk them the way a tiger stalks its prey. You have to be very quiet. Lie on the grass if you have to. And when they land, that’s your chance to get a hold of their tails. He goes off with his sister. When they spot some hovering dragonflies, they run after them, screaming at the top of their lungs, and not caring that they are disrupting another family’s soccer game. That’s not the way to do it, I shout. Realizing that they are not going to heed my advice, I return to my reading.

Soon they are back. Their faces are downcast. The boy badgers me that he wants to go exploring. Give me five more minutes and we’ll have a look at that bush on the other side of the water. Are those a bunch of herons gathered there? The boy and girl leave me alone. I put my head down on the pillows to enjoy my last few moments of quiet. My mind starts to enumerate the tasks I have waiting at home: wash dishes, cook fish, arrange papers, fold the laundry. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. My mind is abuzz with a million details. I have less than five minutes of quiet left. Do I really want to spend it making a mental TO DO list?

Who cares about those chores?!! I’m loving this wind on my face. Today is a day for rolling on the grass.

Flying Kites

Chiqui — Thu, 13 May 2010 21:17:02 +0000

The best things in life are not always free. Sometimes they’re cheap. Like that kite up there. It only cost me .99 cents at the 99 Cents Store. Flying it at the beach – priceless. I’m starting to sound like a credit card ad here, but it’s the truth.

It’s automatic. A grin pops up on your face when you look up at the kite you’re flying. Somehow, the thin string that connects you to that glorious, soaring thing in the sky makes you feel one with it. Flying a kite makes me feel birdlike. It lifts my spirit off the ground.

And while I stand there, filled with awe, my toes digging in the sand, and my neck stiff from craning backward, I would silently recall the lines of a poem that, as an eight-year-old, I had recited for Ms. Cajelo, my stick-wielding second grade teacher.

I often sit and wish that I

Could be a kite up in the sky.

And ride upon the breeze and go,

Whichever way I chance to blow.

Then I could look beyond the town,

And see the river winding down,

And follow all the ships that sail

Like me before a merry gale,

Until at last, with them I come

To some place with a foreign name.

When I see my kids enjoy it as much as I do, that’s an added bonus. I give myself a pat on the back. I’m a good parent.

Have a closer look at my little girl’s face below. She’s holding a string. That’s the first time she ever flew a kite. And she knows exactly what I’m talking about.

Chiqui: Wildlife Photographer Extraordinaire (Adventure 2)

Chiqui — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:01:59 +0000

Lake Balboa Park – Again. Can’t get enough of this place. There’s so much more here that my camera hasn’t captured. I’m hoping to get a picture of a pelican and those tiny yellowgreen birds. Last time I was here it was January, a rainy month. This picture was taken on the last Sunday of March.

This is a day when you wish you can paint pretty pictures just like that man right there in the shade. How lucky is he to have the kind of talent that others like me could only wish for.

Pleasant sunny day. The cherry blossoms have started coming out and the park looked cheerful. Splashes of pink everywhere. Gentle breezes were shaking petals down into the water and the ducks were scooping them up. I didn’t know they ate flowers! Just the memory of it makes my heart as light and fluffy as a marshmallow.

I learn something everytime I visit. These birds, for example, are not ducks but coots. The one on the left is just about to dive. They’re so cute when they’re underwater. They can stay there for at least 10 seconds. I didn’t see this before. Then I noticed that their feet are not as prominently webbed as duck feet. My newest vocabulary acquisition: fissipalmate.

This seems to be the heron’s favorite fishing spot. Shallow and rushing water. Best of all – no quacking. It’s not the kind of picture I really want to have, but it’s better than the last one I took.

Ooops! That’s not part of the Lake Balboa wildlife, but a harassed and distracted mother may sometimes forget and mistake it for one. That’s my son rolling down a gentle slope.

My daughter is counting the holes and calling for their gopher residents to come out and play.

Goose, coot, mallard. Do you see the silhoutte of a big fish on the right side of the picture? Barely visible under all that murky water. Almost two feet in length. A carp. I don’t think it’s going to be tasty when cooked. You’ll have to drown it in tons of sweet and sour sauce for it to be palatable.

I just can’t put a finger on it, but there’s something about this picture that I love. Ducks are very sociable creatures. I always see them swimming in threes. These could be the ones that the Birdman of Lake Balboa has named Huey, Louie, and Dewey.

Views From The Mountain

Chiqui — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 02:42:07 +0000

San Bernardino National Forest, Highway #38 – Sunday. May 31, 2009.We set out early from Camp Cedar Falls. My husband forgot to bring his eyedrops and his left eye was swollen again, so we had to go home before camp activities were over. Our friends were going on a thirty-minute hike in the forest to go apple-picking. I so wanted to go with them. Maybe next year. That’s okey. I enjoyed the drive down the mountain anyway.

@ 6000 ft., behind those rocks is a precipice

@ 5000 ft., I kept telling my husband to bring his speed down to 20 mph,

going downhill+winding road+steep cliffs petrify me

splash of bright color on the mountainside

love this one the most, a long yellow blur on the side of the road,

like a church aisle decked out for a wedding

“How picturesque!”, I thought when I saw the fog covering

the lower portion of the distant mountains

“Oh no!”, I groaned when I realized we were headed straight for that fog

the sun was gone, scary, being enveloped by a thick fog can feel suffocating

what if we had fallen off a cliff?

Acquiring Culture: Random Thoughts after Visiting LACMA

Chiqui — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 21:22:35 +0000

I’m tired. Didn’t know LACMA (Los Angeles Museum of Art) could tire you out that much.
What a relief to lie down and glide your feet down smooth, cool sheets.
Big mistake. An art museum is not the best place to take a two-year-old for a stroll.
We were reprimanded three times by the guards. Not at all the relaxing experience I had thought it would be.
I wonder how much those Greek amphoras would cost if Athena had broken them.
Those people at LACMA need a seminar on customer service. From the cashier to the guards – they all looked unfriendly.
Don’t go back there again.
What a shame ! We’ve only checked out a small part of their collection.
Maybe when the little terror gets bigger and less restless….
Not the best place for kids. Dark, musty, and silent. Grave-like. No giggling, jumping, and running around. And definitely no tantrum-throwing. Mausoleum museum. Hey, that rhymes!
Look, but don’t touch. Not very conducive to hands-on type of kids.
We’re not really the artsy-fartsy kind of folks. Just making use of the free admission that comes with my kids’ free museum membership.
LACMA is doing a good job by reaching out to the community through free membership for kids and free art classes.
Wouldn’t it be nice if Museo Iloilo had a similar program?

My KIDS – mesmerized by the movement of a water-propelled mobile sculpture. Is it possible that art has touched the core of their beings??!!!Dream on, mama!!

I dragged them both to the museum and, while we were at the Hearst collection of ancient and medieval antiques, they also dragged me toward the exit. My son was disappointed to learn that there were no dinosaur bones.
Wish I had something interesting and intelligent to tell my whining eight-year-old. I kept repeating, “Langga, these are beautiful and expensive things. Try to look around. You just might get to like something.” Never felt more stupid in my life.
Prof. Zenaida French, Ph.D. would have no trouble pointing out the “lines in space” if she had been there. So obvious I haven’t learned anything much from my Humanities II course.
The only time my kids showed any significant art-related interest was when we were at the Picasso room. Athena saw a statue of a nude woman. She studied it intently for a few seconds, backed away, pointed to it, giggled and said in a loud voice, “Mami, yook! Is a booleh (buttocks)!” Then she went around it, pointed to the vagina, “Das a Meemew!” Rupert and I burst out laughing. “That’s you, Athena. That’s a girl” , I told her. “No, das mami”, she answered.
Rupert’s reaction was, “That’s nasty!”
Barbarians!
I’ve been thinking of taking them to the Getty museum after this. Gotta take advantage of their free entrance. Although, judging from the way things went at LACMA, it might not be such a good idea.
Maybe we’ll just admire the Getty architecture and the LA veiw from the top of the building. Walk through their lovely gardens. Just skip the art. We might get reprimanded again. Get disapproving stares from other people who are ever-so-seriously absorbing all that beauty into their souls.
Folks like us don’t belong in an art museum. We’re the theme park types, I guesss. They’re so much easier for me and my uncultured brood to understand.

A Stronger FilAm Friendship

Chiqui — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:19:29 +0000