My vacation

   When most everyone had hied off to another place, taking advantage of the long Holy Week break, we opted to stay in town. The news says that Manila is like a dessert, a ghost town even, although I would never even have known because I hardly stepped out of the house. 

    My vacation is very productive. Other than little trips to church to pay tribute to the solemnity of the season, I pretty much stayed home. Those days, all that free time in one uninterrupted big chunk, were more precious than I would want to admit. 

    I have been on vacation many times without exactly feeling that I was on one. But this one was different. The days actually felt long. Hot, yes, but thankfully long. There were many hours to do many things. I loved that, if only because they hardly feel that way anymore nowadays. 

    What did I do? I was on home-keeping and housewife mode, naturally, puttering here and there, keeping and putting things away. Again, I sorted and simplified, giving away some stuffs to the maids, a poor family in Baclaran church who became our friend and some friends.

    When I was not daydreaming or eating, I organized. I found satisfaction in finding and employing smart storage solutions for the many things that ceaselessly find their way into the house. And when I got too tired I lolled in bed, reading and seeking solace from the books that set me off smiling and dreaming some more, spinning my thoughts into lovely fabric of ideas that I in turn organized into lists, written in my little yellow notebook, for fear they would slip away with the summer wind. 

     I've rested, yet I have accomplished much actually, although as the case always is, there is still more to be done. Of course, I stuffed myself with chocolate and ice cream, something I loved doing every summer. My husband and I got to spend more time playing with the kids too.

     So that's how life was for me two weeks ago when half of Manila is away - simple and spontaneous, sort of just tossed together like a salad.