Thunderclouds threaten
Sunlight fades to purple haze
Autumn night has come.
365 Things to Look Forward to — Number 41: Orwell Corner
0(Orwell Corner Historic Village, PE. 17 September 2011). It was with great excitement that approximately 100 newcomers to PEI, along with about 4 or 5 staff members from the PEI Newcomers’ Association and a few EAL tutors gathered at the Kent St. entrance to the Confederation Court Mall on a sunny but very chilly windy Saturday. The group was unfazed by the cold, although several, who had expected a warm day, were starting to shiver as they waited for the buses that would ferry them to Orwell Corner Historic Village. Finally, the buses arrived–huge red and white behemoths that swallowed the people one by one. Sadly, a few newcomers have not yet learned common courtesy and etiquette. They have yet to learn that here, in Canada, we LINE UP and not rush for the door and cut into the line out of turn. Unfortunately, as well, they could barely understand English, so it was not something that could be easily explained. There was some head-shaking there, but that didn’t ruin the mood of the day.
The trip was a short one…not more than 40 minutes out of town taking the route through Stratford and somehow arriving at Orwell Corner after a series of pretty farmland scenes with corn fields and other fields, cows taking a noon nap, bales of hay rolled in white plastic wraps like gigantic white worms stretched across the fields, and gently rolling hills.
Once into the Orwell Corner turnoff, the road was slightly bumpy, as it was unpaved, unlike the highway. A bit of dust rose from the rear end of the red bus ahead of ours, but the buses were air conditioned, so that didn’t bother us at all. We pulled into a sharp turn that led into a parking lot, where our only view of the village was a dirt path bordered with log fences. Upon disembarking, we proceeded to follow the red dirt road to the museum and, of course, gift shop.
A view of the distant hills from the parking lot
Welcome to Orwell Corner!
following the red dirt road to the museum
Inside the museum, we were greeted by shelves of souvenirs, curios and other PEI products (like lobster chips, which I have yet to try), hand-made soap and goat milk soap. Unfortunately, this was a cash-less field trip, so I could only appreciate what I saw. Besides, everything was priced for tourists! Well, pretty much.
Once past the gift shop counters, we encountered huge and varied farm equipment, transportation modes, mostly for winter, and all sorts of alien machines. There was also a miniature log cabin and a miniature setting of a house–pretty much like a playhouse, with child-sized furniture.
Log cabin
There was even a little potty chair!
a little potty chair!
Outside the museum, we strolled down the road to the village proper, where the first thing you see is the cemetery in front of the Presbyterian church.
Orwell Corner cemetery
It was a nice peaceful quiet spot, God’s little acre where the old denizens of Orwell sleep for eternity. If I’d had more time, I’d have looked at the gravestones to see what years they were put up. Not that I’d find any relatives there! The sleepers would be from England and Ireland and Scotland.
The church was a simple building, a bright shiny white in the September sun. It looked pretty much like most of the rural churches around PEI. Simple, unassuming. I wonder if that is a characteristic of non-Catholic churches, or of churches built by the English, Irish, and Scots. Back in the Philippines, hardly any two Catholic churches look alike!
Orwell Corner Presbyterian Church
As soon as you stepped into the door, you could smell the old pine and cedar and the very strong smell of must in the air. The archway in the foyer above the door to the interior of the church bears the year the church was built: 1861.
built in 1861
The pews were sitting there, facing the pulpit. Old, solid, shiny from wear and some polish, I suppose.
The pulpit stood dead center of the altar area, dark and imposing, as it probably meant to be.
To be continued.
Spring to Fall (Poem and Painting)
0does Spring spring to Fall 
or does Spring fall?
do you fall when you spring
or do you spring when you fall?
can you spring on springs
and not fall or do you fall?
it’s all a pun on nature
and that’s just au naturel!
© Cindy Lapeña, 2011
Rosy Morning (Poem and Painting)
1a sliver of time before sunrise
wild buds burst open as if in surprise
raise their dainty heads in expectation
turn their motley heads in exaltation
eastward into the early haze gazing
at the rising sun on a rosy misty morning
© Cindy Lapeña, 2011
365 Things to Look Forward to — Number 40: New Jobs
040. New Jobs
With most people, the idea of a job is something that you go to four or five days a week and work at for a specified number of hours and get paid a specified amount. Most people will stay at one job for years on end and work their way up, if they are lucky, until they land a somewhat higher-paying position with the company and get to have more responsibilities (=headaches) and sometimes supervise (=boss) other employees.
It’s what a lot of people call “security”. Sure, it’s job security, and a lot of people actually look forward to it and are happy in that situation. But not everyone.
Because I grew up with parents who were very conservative in some things (including the concept of job security), I was discouraged from trying to get into “business.” I was actually encouraged to find a company that would employee me and at which I could work until I retired. Or something like that. Switching jobs was frowned upon. But that was only until the 70s.
By the 80s, more experience in a variety of jobs with different employers actually made employees more desirable. It showed flexibility and adaptability. More and more employers were looking around for experience and trained employees whom they could entice (=pirate) from their current employers by offering better salaries, better benefits, better hours, and so on and so forth. This actually saved them a lot in training, because they could get employees who were already trained and had a track record somewhere else.
By the 90s and well into the 2000s, I had fallen into this corporate culture of holding one or more jobs at different companies at the same time, and getting pirated or offered jobs because of my past and diverse experience. I had also begun to like the concept of the extras that additional jobs (=moonlighting) provided. I had begun to seriously consider freelancing, and eventually did quite a bit of that as a consultant and a trainor, delivering workshops and seminars for professionals in different companies. Some of the jobs I acquired on my own. I also hooked up with an old friend (=from the past, not age-old) who offered training consultation services, and pulled in several contracts from that.
By the 2000s, I had a couple of part time jobs and several freelance contacts for training, consultation and writing.
Then I moved to Canada. The new jobs were there, and were a necessity (=necessary evil) just to have enough income to pay for bills. But the idea of being a full time professional writer and artist were always there, and I was looking for every opportunity to transition into a life where I would not need to depend completely on regular employment, except maybe for things like health insurance (group plans from employers were the ideal thing to have, as you pay a very small amount compared to the expected costs from any possible illness forthcoming).
I am still working on getting my paintings out. Once I complete my Diploma in Art, I will be able to push myself more aggressively in that area. (Unfortunately, aggressive is not my number one trait.)
I am working on getting more and more writing done, hence this blog (=platform building) and getting it published, hence this blog and Facebook, and getting independent writing contracts. Eventually, I will get my own manuscripts published (instead of just letting them sleep in my computer and on discs) and move towards becoming the professional writer I have wanted to be all my life. Hence my online publishing of materials I have developed over years, starting with my Quick Grammar Guide.
And the good news? Getting a new writing job! Sure, writing jobs don’t always give you the credit for your work, especially if you’re writing to help someone else develop content, but that’s what writing jobs are about! At least I get to use my mind and the skills I’ve been honing all these years. Finally.
Sometimes I feel like it’s all hopeless and too difficult, especially starting all over again at my age (which no one really believes). Then I get a real booster–like a new job to work on, that is just along the path I am carving out for myself.
Hurrah!
A Quick Grammar Guide
0If you need a bit of help with grammar, I am publishing A Quick Grammar Guide online.
You can access it by clicking on this link.
It is still a work in progress, but I guarantee it will be helpful!
Already available:
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
Past and Future Tenses of Verbs
Materials for this guide were developed for seminar-workshops I designed and delivered as Cynthia Lapeña, Cynthia Rueda, Cindy Rueda, Cynthia Amador, Cindy Amador, and Cindy Lapeña. To simplify things, I am now simply using Cindy Lapeña.
Two Ships (Poem and Painting)
0
Two Ships (watercolor on paper, 12″x18″)
silent dark water
bereft of light
two ships cross each other
in the silence of the night
what life is there on either
what work or play or fright
what unknown sea-bound voyager
in doubt awaits first light
how many lie in slumber
ensconced in surreal plight
how many wait and wonder
when land will be in sight
and still the ships forge deeper
in pertinacious flight
away from one another
away and out of sight.
© Cindy Lapeña, 2011
365 Things to Look Forward to–Number 40: Mail Order!
040. Mail Order
Have you ever ordered anything by mail order? (And no, this doesn’t include brides, so those of you who’re hoping, dash it!)
I groan in dread every time I get an envelope in the mail from my mail order companies. Yes, more than one.
I belong to a book club that has given me some truly delightful collectible editions, but that has books that cost an arm and a leg! But they do have at least one spectacular clearance sale each year, when I can order books at ridiculously low prices. The shipping from England sort of brings the price back up, but over all, it is usually a satisfying and worthwhile experience.
I receive mail order catalogues and fliers from a couple of companies that specializes in mail order, and you can get all sorts of big and little things for anywhere as low as a couple of dollars to big ticket items that might cost nearly two hundred dollars. Some of the items are just amusing. Others are curios. Still others are curiosities. And the majority of them are items you might think of getting or trying out but wouldn’t really get. Then there are the items that you will really find handy or items that you might really want. Because of these, I do a lot of household shopping for non-perishable items that are not readily available in the grocery or department stores through mail order. Because one of the companies requires cheques to be sent before the items are sent, I don’t usually get from them, although once in a while, they have an item that’s too good to pass. Now, the other company actually gives customers the option to pay COD or in 4 or 5 equal installments. That is what makes it worthwhile. Even if you pay a little more for shipping, which raises the prices, you don’t need to get out of your house or even up from your couch to shop. Well, you do need to get up to mail in your order. The bonus is that they also offer all sorts of prizes and free gifts and bargain items and a lottery. Mind you, the big lottery is legitimate, as researched by various independent research companies, but as in any other lottery, you have a one-in-a-million chance of winning! But that’s not the point.
I said I groan in dread when the catalogues or fliers arrive. That’s because I know there might be something there I just can’t resist, or something I think I could really use, or something I really want, or something that might come in handy in the future, or something that’s too good to be true. That’s when I know I’ll be spending some money on something I wasn’t planning to get at all, no matter how useful. Which means I’ll be out some cash that I shouldn’t have spent in the first place. Which means I’ll be beating myself for spending money in the first place!
Aaaargh!
But when the package(s) arrive, it’s like Christmas! I don’t always remember everything I order…I’m not obsessive-compulsive enough to make a list of every single thing I order, in the first place, so when packages arrive, it’s a surprise! Well, not totally, because I knew packages would be arriving. But surprised, nevertheless, because I didn’t know exactly when they would be arriving. Plus, there’s the excitement of finding out what’s inside. And the excitement of seeing if what you get is exactly what it looks like in the pictures. Plus, the excitement of trying out something new and adding it to my growing pile of kitchen gadgets and tools, or household implements and other things.
Then the realization of a bill in your hand just hits you. Sure, it’s a small bill, so it’s like a pebble bouncing off your head. But sometimes, you’ve got two or three at the same time, so it’s a small handful of pebbles bouncing off your head, and if those pebbles are the size of dimes, a handful of them can be a bit annoying and even a bit hurtful, if they hit hard enough!
Aaaargh!
At least it isn’t TV shopping where I’d need to use a credit card that could just get maxed out before you know it! Thank goodness I don’t have a credit card!
1-800-HOTLIPS (Poem and Painting)
1
1-800-hotlips (watercolor on paper, 12″x18″)
call the number
if you dare
up from slumber
drop all care
get it right
don’t hesitate
don’t take all night
don’t start too late
who will answer
can you know
miss or mister
high voice or low
do you dare
to call the number
bring the player
into your chamber
hesitate
a moment more
you won’t find fate
at your front door
© Cindy Lapeña, 2011
365 Things to Look Forward to–Number 39: Fresh fish supper!
039. Fresh fish supper
There is a lot to be said for fresh fish, if you like it. I do.
One of the reasons I picked PEI was because it’s an island with lots of fishing communities. So much water in rivers, lakes, ponds and creeks all over the island. No wonder a favorite pastime of many people is fishing. During the fishing season, that is, when it opens in mid-April until when it ends after summer. I figures it would be a great way to get healthy eating.
You would think that in four years of living here, I would have found some time to get me a decent fishing pole or net and go fishing. Or, considering I have never really done that in my life, I might be buying fresh fish from the grocery all the time. Apparently, that was never a habit ingrained in me, so I bought frozen fish instead.
Then, after four years of meeting the same people day in and day out and getting to know some of them well enough to crack an occasional joke or greet them with a personal remark, some of them actually asked, in the course of talking about fishing, if I liked fish and promised to bring me some in the next time they went fishing. True to their word, one of them brought me a pack of four fish, all cleaned and filleted and ready to cook. Not completely fresh, though, because he had to put them in the freezer until he could get them to me. Still, pretty fresh.
Then, wonder of wonders, another one actually brought a whole pailful of fresh fish, still slippery and shiny and bright eyed, to share with my friend who also worked at the store. (He had already brought her some before, but because I wasn’t working that day, she wasn’t able to get any to me.) So there I was, with a bucket of fresh fish. I shared some with her, dropping them off at her place after work, just before I headed home to confront the fish.
I was all ready and charged to clean them up so I could freeze what I wasn’t going to cook right away…but it’s really nice to have a friend who’ll do it for you, because he didn’t want me to hurt my hands on the really sharp fins. To make the work easier, I chopped of the heads and he cleaned them out. Unlike in the Philippines, people just chop of fish heads here. They do not eat the heads! Of course, my friend couldn’t understand that, as most fish in the grocery stores, fresh or frozen, come without heads, tails or fins, and they are all filleted and clean.
More surprising was, the only way he knew to cook fresh fish was salted and rolled in flour then fried. I, of course, humored him, and did just that, but fried it the way we do in the Philippines, so that the tail and fins and skin are all crunchy and delicious to eat. He watched me in horror, warning me over and over again to watch out, that I might choke on the spines, that the spines would stay inside me and puncture my insides. I totally enjoyed seeing the look on his face as I crunched away at the tails and the fins and the crunchy skin.
The worst part was, he just took away the whole belly of the fish and discarded on the side of his plate, along with all the spines and tail. That is the best part of the fish! Even while cleaning out the fish, he would have scraped the belly away if I hadn’t made him stop and told him the belly was the best part of the fish. He left some of it. Sigh.
Anyway, I made some Filipino-style dipping sauce to go with the fish. I had some fresh tomatoes and onions that I chopped up and soaked in vinegar and soy sauce, mixing in a generous sprinkling of dried chili flakes, which is only next best to fresh tiny red chili peppers. It was a wonderfully delicious supper, the fish slightly flaky on the inside, without a hint of fishiness.
I will cook the rest in different dishes. Maybe for supper tonight!
Cindy Lapeña: Creativity Unlimited 