November 14, 2011 Windows of San Jose

So interesting and beautiful...I never get tired of looking at them, and I seem to notice the same ones every day. These are just a few of my favorites. I've got to start walking a different way so I can see others. My father, a carpenter, would have enjoyed seeing the construction here. Mama, too, noticed architecture, especially old buildings, and pointed them out.

Windows seldom have screens, so we get the most of the light and the delicious breezes.

This was taken from Taten's house in Batangas. 

Our school fence on the left, I pass this house a few times a day.

PILMES has, as most schools, walls of windows with wide verandas and deep overhangs around the entire building, which provides shelter from the sun as well as the rain. Only in the wildest storms will the wind blow the rain into the rooms. I love the openness, natural light and fresh air. The rooms are filled with outside noise but the pupils and teachers are used to it. I guess I'm not noticing it too much anymore either, but I remember it being very distracting to me in the first days in Colo. (These students were assembled to work on the school newspaper. That is a very serious undertaking for both pupils and teachers, all in Tagalog, so I was no help.)

These graceful "kapis" windows are the older, traditional style. They are made of translucent shells (kapis), set into wooden framing. They slide to open or close. I hope to someday be inside a house with these windows and see what the light is like when the sun shines through. 

My home! The front of the Masilungan, Paglicauan house. Note the M in the grille work.

So many different kinds of bananas here, and so flavorful! I can see why island people I've known have been frustrated by the one type of banana we usually have available in our US grocery stores.

I  enjoy taking pictures, but I am frustrated by my lack of talent when I try to capture the luciousness of the flowers here. Just take my word for it- they're gorgeous, especially when when seen one color after another house after house.

I enjoy contrasting the windows and views here to the ones in my home in Minnesota. It is like a mind game it is so incredible. Enjoy it for me!

Winter, early 2011