Tree of life

"The two basic items necessary to sustain life
are sunshine and coconut milk."

~Dustin Hoffman, American actor

In the Philippines, the coconut tree (Cocos nucifera) is considered the tree of life. Sustenance and shelter are just the most basic needs that coconut trees can provide. The list of useful products and by-products that come from every part of coconut trees, though not endless, is very long. In fact, we have a government agency under the Department of Agriculture that focuses solely on the coconut industry: the Philippine Coconut Authority.

This is artist Impy Pilapil's tribute to the Philippine "Tree of Life." It is made of metal and glass, and stands in the atrium of the Eugenio Lopez Center in Antipolo City.

Renewal

Our three-day spiritual retreat this year was held at Bukal ng Tipan (literally, bukal means "spring" and tipan means "meeting" and the sense of the phrase is "wellspring of community"), a retreat house and spirituality center in the town of Taytay in Rizal province run by the Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae (CICM, Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary).




The most striking feature of the building is its glass-enclosed spiral staircase with four story-high posts hung with capiz shell lanterns.




More than the building, however, the true gift of Bukal ng Tipan is its profusion of trees and plants, with this magnificent acacia tree dominating the center of the garden.

A simple feast

This stained glass window is located over the door of the chapel of the Loyola Retreat House in the town of Angono in the province of Rizal where we had a spiritual retreat last April. I thought it appropriate to post today because many Filipinos will be attending Mass in celebration of the Nativity of Our Lady. It is not a holiday but it is a holy day in this largely Catholic country.

For Anne

Your heart and body were just too weak to sustain your love and joie de vivre. Our offices will miss your cheerful, efficient and caring presence. "Papa" Exie too.

Annafel Roca

June 26, 1982 – July 20, 2010
Beloved Friend and Colleague

Taken at Yo and Mo Farm Resort in the town of Tanay in Rizal province where we had our office outing back in 2008.

In her heart

This is the companion piece to the stained glass window featuring St. Ignatius of Loyola behind the altar of the chapel of the Loyola Retreat House in the town of Angono in Rizal Province. It is a depiction of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a devotion to Mary which focuses on her interior spiritual life. The 19th verse of the 2nd chapter of the Gospel of Luke, after Mary learns from the angel that she will soon be a mother, sums up the concept well: "And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." Quite appropriate for a spiritual retreat center.




Many countries, including the Philippines, are celebrating Mother's Day today. So, to all mothers: may you have a wonderful day filled with love and joy. And to everybody: no matter how flawed or imperfect our mothers are, they dedicated a large part of their lives to us—please tell them how much you appreciate that in any way you can.

Happy Mother's Day!

D'oh!

On the second day of our recollection last week, the first prayer period was at 6:30 in the morning. So I finally woke up early enough to catch a sunrise. Only to discover that, from the highest point of the Loyola Retreat House (which was the second floor deck), the sunrise was behind the trees and over the next hill.

Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page and tour the skies of our beautiful world.

A gym for the spirit

The two-day prayer recollection that I went to earlier this week was held at the Loyola Retreat House in the town of Angono in Rizal Province, east of Metro Manila. It is run by the Society of Jesus and visitors and retreatants are greeted by a statue of St. Ignatius of Loyola holding his Spiritual Exercises, which was the basis of our recollection, though in a much shorter form.




Almost hidden among the trees at the back of the retreat house is a small shrine depicting one of the most important events in the life of Ignatius. He was a Basque soldier and after his conversion, he made a pilgrimage to the Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat in Catalonia, Spain where he lay down his arms and armor in front of an image of the Virgin Mary.




The Loyola Retreat House is nowhere near as gorgeous as last year's Caleruega. It is actually quite spartan in its furnishings and design, but since it is used strictly as a venue for spiritual retreats, I think it was a much better choice—it was completely quiet. The most extravagant adornments in the center are the beautiful stained glass windows in the small chapel. Again, St. Ignatius is depicted holding the book of the Spiritual Exercises in one of the four large windows behind the altar.

Urban or rural, natural or man-made, take a sightseeing tour of our world's diverse scenery!

Broccoli trees

Walking around the perimeter of Timberland Sports and Nature Club (see yesterday's post), an office mate pointed out these trees on the slope of the next hill. Since it is the middle of summer in the Philippines, most of our grasses and plants are brown, pale, thin, dry or downright bald, so these trees are striking for their lush, bright green leaves. They were too far to identify with any certainty, but another office mate said that they looked like broccoli and thus were they christened.



Kidding aside, my guess is that they're mango trees.

Lazy day with a view

For our office's annual summer outing, we spent one day in Timberland Sports and Nature Club in the town of San Mateo in the province of Rizal. It is on one of the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountain range and has a spectacular view of Metro Manila.




Timberland is a members-only club and is 45 minutes away from Quezon City. It has a wide range of sports and leisure facilities and except for a few small details, it seems that the developers have remained true to their vision as presented in the scale model.




Can you locate where this garden is in the model?




I'm sorry I don't have more photos of the club, but it's as my title says: I decided to indulge my lazy side that day. Swimming pool, whirlpool bath, steam bath, sauna—and my camera isn't waterproof.

I breathe it everyday

The view of Metro Manila from Timberland Sports and Nature Club which I posted for the City Daily Photo theme day on Tuesday was just one of several which I took that day. The club's pool is located one level below the dining room and has the same magnificent view. If you enlarge the photo, you can just make out a large body of water in the distance. That is the La Mesa Dam reservoir, which supplies most of the metro's water. The area has also been developed into an ecopark, but I have yet to visit it.



The club is only one part of the mountain development that is Timberland Heights, which offers lots for residences and farm estates. Here we see some of the homes that have already been built and a section of the hill nearer the clubhouse that is still being developed. Unfortunately, the trip to the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountain range made it quite obvious just how polluted Metro Manila's air is. Just look at that pall of thick smog over the metro!



The pollution became even more pronounced when the sun hid behind some clouds. I wish I could say that this was just rain but it didn't start pouring until late in the afternoon and I took this mid-morning.



I don't know why it was so, but by early afternoon the sky over Metro Manila, though still a bit hazy, was much clearer. Like the sun had burned off some of the smog.

Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page and tour the skies of our beautiful world.

A tale of three cities

THEME DAY: BIG • Is three cities big enough? This is the view from the deck of the dining room of the Timberland Sports and Nature Club which is located in the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountain range in the town of San Mateo in the province of Rizal. Metro Manila, with its seventeen cities and municipalities, is too big to be encompassed by any single view (unless you're up in an airplane) and my friends and I figure that we could only see three cities from Timberland: Marikina, Pasig and Quezon City.



Size is relative so it'll be interesting to see how City Daily Photo bloggers around the world will define big. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Of hills and heroes

December 30 is Rizal Day in the Philippines. It commemorates the death of Dr. Jose P. Rizal by firing squad in 1896 which made him a martyr of the Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonial rule. So today I offer you a photo not of Metro Manila but of the province named after him. Rizal province is to the east of Metro Manila and has one city and 13 municipalities. It is hilly, situated as it is on the slopes of the southern portion of the Sierra Madre mountain range, and the weather is cooler than Manila's. It can actually support pine trees! They're on the scrawny side, but still. Because of Metro Manila's congestion and high land costs, the nearest municipalities of Rizal are seeing a lot of development. This photo shows some of the new subdivisions in Taytay. Next to Cainta, it is the nearest municipality to Pasig City, which is part of Metro Manila. In fact, Pasig City itself used to be the capital of the province of Rizal until it was made a part of the metro in 1975.

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Just a reminder to all you CDP bloggers out there: If you haven't voted for the February theme yet, please do so! The poll is in the February Theme Day Poll forum topic. Please help spread the word too!