Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Calamities and Occurrences

I had a long vacation this Christmas Season. I went home early on 20 December, in time for my sister's arrival from another country. I have been thinking of many things to do in gardening, thinking i will finish a lot of chores. However, a lot of unexpected happenings occurred limiting my efficiency and working hours. The morning of Christmas Eve my mother's youngest brother already transitioned to God's Kingdom. We were already there immediately even before the funeral services. It made my mother the sole survivor of her eight siblings, yes 8 siblings. She is now 86 years old. My uncle's interment was just yesterday, 11 days from death. We just slept in our house but were there almost everyday.

The second untimely occurrence was a strong typhoon Nina, whose center passed at the islands beside our town. That makes us also very vulnerable and most of our fruit trees were destroyed. Fortunately, it passed at daytime, so we were able to make some corrections, like removing water from the terrace. All of us helped alleviating destruction in the house, but plants in the garden suffered a lot. My hoyas and hippeastrum were toppled down and thrown away. I immediately retrieved the pots and thrown away plants . They suffered a lot of stress and setbacks.

The results are inadvertently not favorable. My vacation seems too short for me to do all the required tasks for the garden. I even wasn't able to get even just one picture of a butterfly!


 Hippeastrum and caladium pots are scattered on the ground, leaves broken 

 even the hoyas at the background are thrown to distances with broken stems and leaves

hoyas scattered on the ground, far from where their former places

 This scene of scattered plants and debris made me so confused what to do first, where to start in putting things to order.

 Coconut leaves, tree branches and a lot of things were scattered on the streets. It was total chaos. 

Thanks to the immediate response of these young men, equipped with sharp and strong bolos to cut the big trunks and branches on the streets.  Above is a big branch of our mango tree.

 Epipremnum pinnatum attaching on the mango tree trunk fell with the tree. 

Epipremnum pinnatum inflorescences. 

Most of our fruit trees were destroyed. Two coconut trees were uprooted, bananas are weak so they all broke or fell. Papayas are weak too, most trunks are cut to the ground. Our chico tree is laden with lots of fruits, already waiting for a few more days to mature before harvest, but all the fruits fell on the ground. The chickens had a feast on chico fruits two days after the typhoon.

It took 2 days for my nephew and sister to clean the leaves from the roof drains. There still are lots of dirt sticking outside our walls. There still are lots of scattered things, plant debris on the streets and gardens, but they will eventually decay and be part again of the environment. I thought the spiders and insects will not be a part of my garden for a longer time, but they were able to build their webs faster than us. The butterflies are already there flying again when the rains stopped. These creatures are trully incredible. Nature really is awesome, fascinating!



21 comments:

  1. Oh dear - sorry about the damage.

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    1. Looks like the death of my uncle is not seen, hehe. But loss of our plants is big too.

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  2. Hello, it is sad to loss so many pretty trees and plants from a storm. Nina was bad! I wish you all the best in 2017, Happy New Year! Have a happy day and week ahead!

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    1. You missed my first paragraph where i told the loss of my uncle, my mother's youngest brother. Thanks Eileen

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  3. Andrea, I am very sorry to hear about your uncle.
    And the devastation in your garden and surrounding area looks terrible. I hope that once you have managed to clear up, your plants may benefit from their impromptu pruning. However some of the trees will take years to regrow. It is amazing how well nature can cope with storms like this. You wonder how such apparently fragile creatures can survive.

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    1. Yes Nick, i am so curious where those small creatures hide during calamities like this. People will be blown away if exposed to the winds and will be smashed if hit by flying objects. So i can't imagine how butterflies and spiders cope, do you know? And thanks for the condolence. Happy New Year!

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    2. Andrea,
      I have often wondered the same. I know that we have some species of butterflies that spend the winter in hollow trees and abandoned sheds. I think that they will also spend periods in such places during bad weather. I have seen other species of butterflies crawling deep down into the vegetation in the evening to shelter for the night. Other species simply roost on a grass stem, so I fear they wouldn't survive a storm.

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  4. I'm sorry about your loss. And that's some serious devastation - I've never experienced a storm like that.

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    1. Our loss of our uncle is a more serious one, just that nobody seems to ready my first paragraph, hehe. Thanks for the visit.

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  5. We get pretty strong winds during storms, but nothing like a typhoon, fortunately. We do have to be careful about things on our cabin deck. Storm winds can take them right off and into the lake where they are gone forever. - Margy

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    1. Storms are with us all the time, but the typhoons now are getting stronger and stronger. Before our highest is Signal #3, now we added 2 more to the signals after Typhoon Yolanda.

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  6. So sorry for your loss, hugs from me. Hope the clean up wasn't too bad there.

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    1. Thanks Amy, the clean-up was back-breaking, but we had to do everything as nobody else will.

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  7. So sorry for your loss. A big hug from me.

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  8. How sad that your uncle died, and how awful that the storm damaged your trees. Probably a good thing for your mother that you were there, however— every dark side has a light side, it seems.
    Hoping you are well,
    Kay
    An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

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    1. Death is a fact of life, we just mourn for a short time and we move on. We have a saying that we all go there, it is just one at a time. But of course my mother is lonelier than most of us! His immediate family and grandkids the most affected, most specially because most of them work abroad. Thanks so much.

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  9. I am so sorry for the loss of your uncle, and for the destruction the typhoon brought. Thank goodness you were all safe in the storm, however, even if your family lost many trees and plants. They can be replanted and I hope and will thrive again. I hope your mother will be OK-- do you think she will coem to live with you or your sister? I hope 2017 will bring you all peace and happiness

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    1. Pat, your concern is much appreciated. I guess these nature calamities get stronger through the years, just like the winters in temperate countries, climate change, most say! My sister and 2 kids live with my mother and we all go home every now and then from our work. I go home most weekends. My mother is lucky that my sister stays with her, and someone looks after her always.Thanks so much Pat.

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  10. Oh Andrea...I am so very sorry about the loss of your Uncle and how hard that must be on your Mom and the rest of your family..and then to have such destruction from Nina... That is very sad for everyone who suffered under Mother Nature's wrath. I'm sure this is another heartbreak for you. I hope you can replant but it will take time for things to grow.. Oh sending hugs my friend.....Michelle

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    1. Thank you so much Michelle. It was such a devastation, but we rise up from calamities very fast, at least in spirit! We move on to the next changes, and we as a people smile a lot. Happy New Year!

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