SUNDAY NO ALLIGATOR STORY OR MONDAY IN BAGUIO

...it's a dangerous ground at least

on the psyche when jack/jill...

is all work and no play...

So this is what we do  to save our sanity in SF

...after all it's Sunday...though tomorrow

being a Veteran"s Day ...gives us another day

to slack off...Ramon (left) just bought an acoustic guitar

two months ago and ... Penelope in the center

is playing Romanza... while i'm figuring out

the finger positions for the Spanish dance No. 5

of Enrique Granados

...it was simply a cacophony of sound..

Hey...it's the only place where one can listen to

a lot of different compositions being played at the same time...

but don't try it outside...people would think 

you just lost your marbles...

i know a friend of mine would call that redeeming element...

well, she's long gone so that takes care of it...

But i like listening to Ramon play 

Starry Night...

a song about Van Gogh

Ramon by the way is on a trip to Nepal sometime

this month to check out places where Buddha

was born and then might have a chance to

drop in the Philippine Islands.

Penelope is on a trip to Mindoro

next year for the PAWA (Philippine

American Writers and Artists) writing

workshop in Puerto Princesa

Theresa Calpotura is missing in the picture...

that's because she wasn't there...yak, yak, yak...

She teaches guitar at the SF Conservatory

Would have been a lot of fun if she was present...

Anyway....we're having a get together

this coming weekend over pizza and 

apple cider and coffee i hope...

...s short sketching session and lots'a music...

we're expecting Dina, Ksenia and Jennifer

to join us... Ksenia plays the piano by the way...

and the steinway is just waiting for her...

In the meanwhile from across the Pacific ocean..

it is Monday and in the north side...

spared by the super typhoon...Baguio PEBS had a sketching session 

at the Burnham Park. 

...in the picture from left to right..is Sam, Leon and Trina. 

Jem is taking the pictures...

...as you can see the sky is azure blue and clear ...

just don't dive into the lake ...i heard some crazy guy let

go of his favorite baby alligator pet...but for all we know 

that's just fiction...they make up stories nowadays...

clue: if the geese and the pigeons disappear...and you suddenly

find you're missing a leg 

the story may have some truth to it...

Remember we have a similar story in SF's mountain lake

sometime in the early 90s

They had the story so cutely welded that

everyday was  "alligator watch day" on the SF Chronicle

competing with the Woody Allen and Mia Farrow story

.

I don't exactly reckon' when they finally caught

the alligator despite the import of alligator hunters

from the Florida swamps 

The city ran a big tab for vet and whatever fees after 

alternating wacky chapters and episodes of the

inability to catch the 

wiley alligator 

which has eluded the hunter who appeared like

goofy in the eyes of the neighborhood children 

who troubled

 themselves 

to watch

him expend his "expertise".

He was headlined on TV interviews and became 

the paper's photo op favorite.

Then he raised his white flag to the alligator

and to the frustrated San Franciscans

...the motorists were blowing their horns 

for the

alligator...

The city hired another Tarzan who pleaded

to bribe the alligator for as long as he doesn't get the same

embarrassment.  Diplomacy paid off

and that was the end of the excitement in the city.

Dullness dominated the city with all the shrouding

fog. 

And Willie Brown kept his smiles...

So the Chronicle made plenty of dinero for the

alligator episodes and  the  regulars in the cafes

around the city had something to talk about

while nursing their coffee for hours and hours

while pretending they're busy with their

laptops

That was quite something to remember...

i know cause ...we we're in the middle of the gulf war and 

i made editorial cartoons about

Saddam Hussein's notorious 3rd or was it

the 9th regiment

The moral of the story we need another such

story to forget the lousy amusement

we get from the ... hill...

that's all folks

time to get my dinner. it's getting late

p.s. if you don't believe the SF alligator

just google it

jt