the other side of the tracks

Michael and I took another stroll together last Saturday afternoon.

Our path led a different direction, and I was again amazed by the variety in our surroundings.

Hope you'll enjoy just another sampling of life in our colorful neighborhood...

down the street, barefoot boys and wandering chickens,
and for some reason it looks cleaner than it really is...

balancing produce for sale as she follows behind her mother,
hoping for customers along the way

the path to the cemetery, past the coffin-maker's shack

a posting of the schedule of interment;
written in chalk, so quickly washed away...
a reminder of our mortality

continuing down the path we pass several dogs;
all wild-looking, one blind, all skulking past us in fear


then past the home of a pig-keeper;
future lechon in the growing.
we smile and greet the woman in the background,
asking permission to photograph her prize-winner


the nearby pig-sty.
literally.
just a moment before taking the photo,
a pig had been peering curiously over the edge just below the blue bucket.

then we heard the squeals,
and peeked into a nearby dis-used coffin

home for the piglets

with no food in hand, we were a sore disappointment to them all


on down the trail and back to a road we went,
greeting elderly women, children, and all friendly faces after we spoke our
'maayong hapon' with a smile

lovely vines growing down into a drainage ditch at the roadside,
beauty nurtured and braided where it's found

seeing us photograph the vines, they cried, 'picture!'
'take my picture!'
with joy.
and a stalk of almost-ripe cooking bananas, too.

focused on his grazing in succulent pasture along the road,
this goat was coaxed to pose by Michael's encouraging noises

and children shy but eager to see their own faces digitalized immortal on my camera screen

cascading vines of periwinkle

and a moment's break in a street game of basketball


is it any wonder our children worry that life back in the U.S. might seem boring?