Don’t you just love early mornings in a brand new place that you’re staying in? I could never outgrow the feeling. As far as I can remember, my first experience of this was when my cousins and I would sleep over at my Anma’s place (God rest her soul) in Fernhill. We’d wake up to the smell of dew (or what’s left of it), big red roses, and of course good ol’ rich top soil.
This morning there was fresh morning air – and a wonderful cool breeze that stirred up wonderful past memories of childhood. It, too, reminded me of the Creator’s awesomeness & gentleness. I was supposed to take myself out for a brief jog, but instead I ended up doing stationary exercises – just revving up that single-generation-old blood pumping machine. I had forgotten to ask for the keys to the gate’s locks.
This morning I took some pictures of a small spider having breakfast. His meal was almost double his size! The poor insect just didn’t have what it takes to free itself from the deadly silk trap. Taking the shot wasn’t easy since the air was blowing against the web and I was trying to go macro on it. So I instead switched to the best settings for it – manual. One of the reasons I’m hoping for that special macro lens just for times like these.
After breakfast we set out to the market, it’s market day here in Calumpit during Tuesday mornings. In fact the vendors occupy overflow the side street with their goods until around noontime. I wished I had brought my camera with me since it was our first time to witness how spring roll lumpia wrapper being heated and readied for sale. But then I realized the point & shoot would have been a better idea especially in the smelly wet areas. We also passed by a vendor who was selling these funny horns for the new year. One of his horns was interesting since you could adjust the sound pitch by changing the length of its extendable body – I found it very amusing so I asked how much it was, and the answer was 50 pesos. I called domo’s attention to it and we went ahead through the other make-shift stalls just before getting to the market area proper.
Breakfast was kilawin, more on the pork stuff. My first time to eat such a dish, and guess what? It wasn’t bad, not bad at all! Ok ok so it was delicious. And so was the pancit canton which obviously was home-made, none of those tiny ‘pirasos’ you see at fastfood chains. Yum!
Lunch – squash & string beans in coconut gata with last night’s wonderful mongo soup; domo & i are having a great time with all the yummily prepared food. I should’ve guessed that fish sauce has been a key ingredient in all of these dishes.
