Father's Scouting Unit

In those days boy scouts acted like real men. Imbued with sterling traits - honesty, loyalty, bravery, fortitude, and love of country, they proudly donned their uniforms. I guess it would now be difficult to find a lad who could tie different knots, identify trees and edible wild plants, pitch tent, use a bowie knife properly, or survive in the wild using basic lore. Bleeding hearts and apologists for today's whining hip-hop
generation hasten to rationalize this sad state of affairs as an adaptive mode of a confused lot... There is no tenacity to excel or to fight for a worthy cause, only whimpering about harsh conditions and seeking early relief or compromise... And the leaders we have today? We don't have statesmen in our midst - we merely have elected officials...

Lyrical Lines

" My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends--
It gives a lovely light! "

- Edna St Vincent Millay (1892-1950)

Two Tykes

Max and Joshua acting before the camera with their new caps... Childhood is bland without occasional mischief and the accompanying impish smile.

Two Lolas

Born in the late 1800s, she rode horses in her prime and packed a wallop as far as life's problems and challenges were concerned.
Feisty and full of worldly wisdom, Impong Tenteng, as she was fondly called, never completed formal education yet her mental prowess was so keen and analytical...She espoused a mundane philosophy that always went for the jugular, or the crux of any situation. She smoked a lot, hated vegetables, ate a lot of red meat, and lived to a ripe old age of ninety-five. Her sister on the left, Impong Orang, lived to more than a hundred years... © 2007 rauleramos, md

Chinese Lass

Rapid modernization has its aesthetic side... Lithe figure garbed in chic apparel floats by this Great Wall marketplace... What is beauty? Perfect symmetry? Order in complexity? A fixed set of parameters defined by an aquiline nose, deep-set eyes and the scarcity of melanin? Alas, most definitions are either too cold or culture-bound. Beauty is really in the eyes of the beholder...

Of Fish And Men

Nadine and Xavier pose beside a day's catch from Ramos Pond in Macatbong, Cabanatuan City, Philippines.