lui is in heaven

The yellow flower in my previous post was also posted by my dog Bogart. He is the black dog in the background. Bogart and my other dogs would alert me whenever a flower is about to bloom in our house Heaven. And a lot of people have also asked me if dogs can indeed hear a sound emanating from flowers and plants since Bogart would always bark about flowers singing in his blog. Yeah, yeah, my dogs have blogs . . . and even if they do not speak the human language I, as their Keeper, can understand the animal language.

So can plants sing? Well, I used to wonder about this too, until I noticed that my dogs would act crazy on some days. I try to tune in to "animal language" and Sumo, the father and leader of the dogs, taught me to hear and feel nature.

I know it sounds crazy but while in the act of watering my plants one day, I stopped when I heard a shrill sound. I dropped the tabo (water scooper) in my hand and looked around for the source of the sound. It sounded like a sharp whistle. When I did not see anything I surmised that the sound must come from some kids playing with a whistle or something outside our property. I continued watering the plants and tried to ignore the shrilling noise. The sound stopped and then I heard a hissing sound. I dropped the tabo again fearful that the sound I heard must come from a snake. I took a step back and looked around the plants. It was then I saw Sumo sitting and watching me from the corner of the house. I told him to stay put and not to come near me in case there was a snake. Sumo remained seated watching me intently. Now this is not his normal behavior. When Sumo sense my agitation or anything dangerous nobody can oder him to stay put.

So I calmed myself so as not to agitate Sumo. I took a series of deep breathing keeping my eyes focused on the plants. It was then that I saw the plant before me slowly unfold its leaf to reveal a flower! The flower came out dramatically like a ballerina in a slow dance. Its closed petals slowly unfold to open its amazing beauty for me to behold. I watched in awe. The whole thing seemed surreal and it did not take a few seconds for the whole drama to unfold but at that moment it seemed longer. And the most amazing thing was, I heard the hissing sound became a shrilling sound until my ears got used to it. Trance-like, I tolerated the shrilling sound (it was unnerving the first time) until it sounded like music! I closed my eyes and opened it again to assure myself that it was not a dream. And when I opened my eyes I heard the sound waft around me in haunting melody! And when I glanced back at Sumo, he gave me a knowing look and left! I thought Sumo was aware of it. This would have been an amazing story until I heard the plants "singing" again! Again and again! Sumo and the other dogs would watch me in a distance and I knew I was magically "allowed" in the animal world.


The week when our former President Cory got sick, the yellow flower was a lone bud. The sound it emitted was soft and not too shrill. The dogs bark nonetheless.

In the weeks that I joined the whole nation in praying for President Cory, I witnessed the bud come out, unfold its petals by mid-morning, and fold again to close its petals by late afternoon. The lone bud would fall the next day and be replaced by another bud, or the bud would simply open and close for the day. . .

But on the day that President Cory died, two buds came out and revealed their beautiful yellow petals like two birds flying. The two flowers opened and closed the whole week of President Cory's wake until her burial. It seemed romantic to my fertile imagination.



The yellow flower symbolized Cory for me.
Yellow was the color used to symbolized Cory and her late husband Ninoy.
Maybe Cory is joined by her late husband Ninoy now.
Maybe, like the yellow flower, Cory is not alone now.
And like the yellow flower flying beautifully in our garden
Cory and Ninoy are together in their own garden.
Hindi ka na mag-iisa! (You will not be alone!)