STROLLING WITH MY YOUNGEST DAUGHTER TO VISIT HER TITA AT THE STORE : MY WEEKEND ENGAGEMENT

It was Saturday morning, the skies were bright and clear after a week of heavy rain, and my eyes were aching. Perhaps it's because I spend too much time on my laptop and phone. As a result, I need to take a break from excessive radiation exposure and rest for a while. So I went in search of greenery to refresh and calm my eyes. It was a coincidence that my youngest daughter was similarly bored and wanted to visit her Tita at the store. So we decided to go for a walk to see her Tita at the sari-sari store. We took the traditional route to the highway. It was the path we took when we were kids or in elementary school. I took in the magnificent sights while strolling, realizing how much time had passed and how much time had changed.
 

 

When I was still a child, these fields were planted with corn, sweet potato, and mangoes. My mother and I will assist the landowner in harvesting their corn, which they will share with us in the following manner: for every 100 pcs, they will give us 10 pcs, whereas for mangoes, we will group the harvested mangoes into 10 and the owner will let us choose which group we want and that will be our share. Our sweet potato harvest was measured by basket, with 1 bucket for every 5 buckets. With this, I concluded that harvesting the product from other farmers is difficult. It's beneficial to have our own and harvest our produce. That field is now barren and used as pasture land because the owner died and their siblings are now professionals who no longer enjoy farming.
 

 
We are now traversing the adjacent field. It was once planted with corn, sesame seeds, and cotton. My mother and I picked sesame and cotton from this field before. We cleared the land by pulling out the weeds and planting or sowing the seeds. It was, however, now planted with mango and banana. It was transformed into an orchard and a banana plantation. A small portion has still been cultivated and planted with corn, although it is a very small portion in comparison to what it was formerly.

Before, this field was a cornfield but now, it was planted with mango. We used to travel to this area as youngsters to gather firewood and weeds to feed our livestock like cows and goats, but now we're afraid to go back because it's turned into a forest. The twigs of trees had already fallen, and it appears that no one had cared for this plantation. However, there was still a way out. It is still visible because there were residents who were living more or less 200 meters away from this site and still used this route. We continued our journey together, guarded by our pet dogs.
 

 

 
This area was planted with corn and sweet potatoes before. It was my mother and I was in charge of maintaining and caring for this sugarcane plantation. We cleared the land, applied fertilizer, and planted sugarcane. Those were the most unforgettable task I experienced when I still studying in elementary and secondary. Now we kept going till we got to the freeway, where my sister's store had been built.

Our walk from our house to the highway took less than 20 minutes. While on the highway we must safeguard our children since vehicles move swiftly. That was the reason, why I won't allow my kids to stroll on the road because I'm afraid of vehicles. It was this time since my sister's store is located on the highway.
 

My daughter had arrived at the store. She assisted her tita in labeling, hanging sales items, and organizing them on the racks. She wanted to help Tita in the store because she wants to learn how to handle a business.

That's all for this blog. Thank you for reading and viewing.