Author: Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Philippines, Part 8: Please Don’t Feed the Sharks (Anilao)

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Welcome back to our Friday in the Philippines. Last week we battled the cockroaches for possession of our new apartment. You can find that episode (and any others you’ve missed) here:

Philippines, Part 1: Have Baby, Will Travel
Philippines, Part 2: Do You Know How to XOOM?
Philippines, Part 3: Confessions of a Carseatless Baby (Vigan)
Philippines, Part 4: Strawberries and Cotton Candy (Baguio)
Philippines, Part 5: Hanging Coffins! (Sagada)
Philippines, Part 6: Voyage of the Icebox (Banauae & Batad)
Philippines, Part 7: Revenge of the Cockroaches (Manila)
Philippines, Part 8: Please Don’t Feed the Sharks (Anilao)
Philippines, Part 9: “Sexy Chic” at the Playboy Fashion Show (Field Study Research)
Philippines, Part 10: Luxury Travel, Filipino Style (Cebu)
Philippines, Part 11: Nuts to the Huts (Bohol)
Philippines, Part 12: If You Were Stranded on a Desert Island .… Read more

A Few Thanksgiving Thoughts

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

It’s Thanksgiving in the United States today. Last year we had Thanksgiving with Grammy and Pampa and Uncle Curt on our back porch in sunny Fallbrook. I was sick and depressed. Tony was between jobs again. Grammy mostly cooked the whole dinner herself. I don’t remember if I even did anything besides feel tired. This year things aren’t quite back to normal, but they are better. A lot better. At least I can picture them getting back to normal, which was hard to do last year. So this Thanksgiving I feel thankful for some really big things, and a lot of little things.… Read more

Gardening for Dummies

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

We have snow forecasted for this week. Every day we watch the snow march a little further down the mountain towards us. Tropical birds that we are, it is all an adventure for us. Axa and Dominique have been wearing their snowsuits for days in anticipation of the big event. They were thrilled the other day when our neighbor Beatrice invited them over to help her prepare her yard for the snow. They knocked down leaves, each got a ride in the wheelbarrow, and helped to wrap her twelve-foot banana tree in plastic. Yes, our province is statistically the coldest in Italy, yet in Beatrice’s yard live a banana tree and a palm tree, which have both obviously been flourishing for years.… Read more

“Repent, Harlequin!” said the Ticktockman


Sarah Bringhurst Familia

For those of you now under the misapprehension that I spent all my time at college studying in the library, here is a story of my secret double life. A story of crime, intrigue, and ultimately, wretched embarrassment. It’s so bad, in fact, that even though I graduated almost ten years ago, I don’t believe I’ve ever told anyone but my husband the story. I figured he should know the full truth about me.

(By the way, if you are looking for literary commentary on the Harlan Ellison story “Repent, Harlequin!” said the Ticktockman,” you will find it here. If, on the other hand, you want to hear about the time I came closest to being Harlequin myself, by all means read on.)… Read more

Philosophical Parenting

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

As a starry-eyed freshman philosophy major, I dived heart and soul into my first three-hundred-year old epistemological debate. Had I not spent the first seventeen years of my life as a weird unsocialized homeschooler, perhaps I would have been painting my face blue and jumping up and down in a crowded stadium, screaming for my team to grab the ball away from the red team. As it was, instead I was centuries away in the library, reliving the enlightenment by reading Locke and Descartes, and on pins and needles over what would turn out to be the true source of human knowledge.… Read more

Philippines, Part 7: Revenge of the Cockroaches (Manila)

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

It’s time again for our Friday in the Philippines. Last week we ended up nearly freezing to death in the tropics. If you missed that episode, or any of the previous ones, you can find them here:

Philippines, Part 1: Have Baby, Will Travel
Philippines, Part 2: Do You Know How to XOOM?
Philippines, Part 3: Confessions of a Carseatless Baby (Vigan)
Philippines, Part 4: Strawberries and Cotton Candy (Baguio)
Philippines, Part 5: Hanging Coffins! (Sagada)
Philippines, Part 6: Voyage of the Icebox (Banauae & Batad)
Philippines, Part 7: Revenge of the Cockroaches (Manila)
Philippines, Part 8: Please Don’t Feed the Sharks (Anilao)
Philippines, Part 9: “Sexy Chic” at the Playboy Fashion Show (Field Study Research)
Philippines, Part 10: Luxury Travel, Filipino Style (Cebu)
Philippines, Part 11: Nuts to the Huts (Bohol)
Philippines, Part 12: If You Were Stranded on a Desert Island .… Read more

Chinese Buns

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

You know you’ve been in Italy too long when your daughter’s copious drawings suddenly all consist of huge psychedelically decorated depictions of candy. Is she attempting to visually portray the sensation of a sugar high? Her latest covert source of caramelli is our next-door neighbor, who in all fairness does gift her seed pods of various sorts as well. They seem to have a special understanding. Who else would have intuited that the offering Axa would appreciate most (aside from those caramelli, of course), would be random yard clippings?

Yesterday we also inadvertently netted birthday cake, syrupy baked pears, and chestnut cake.… Read more

The Blood of the Soul

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Once while out on an evening walk, Tony and I decided to cut through the cobblestone stillness of our little town square. At that time of day, with the bells striking and mists curling up around the church tower, the town resembles nothing more than an Italian Brigadoon, about to disappear again into a hundred-year enchantment. However, on this particular evening it just so happened that the entire square was full of chairs, and a stage had been erected on one end. A local acting troupe was performing a play to the rapt attention of what must have been half our little village.… Read more

My Mission in Chile

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Yesterday I told you about what a fun time I had talking to the sweet old Chilean couple we met over pizza. So today I thought I might tell you a little about my experience in Chile. I went to Chile nine years ago. I had been called to serve an 18-month mission for my church. After two busy months learning Spanish at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, I touched down in Santiago on December 10, 2001. There’s nothing funny about that, except that Utah was snowed over at the time, and in Chile it was nearing midsummer. I remember walking out of the airport in my winter coat, feeling the heat hit me like a wall, and seeing trees covered in glorious purple flowers everywhere.… Read more

Pizza and Conversation

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Sorry you didn’t hear from me yesterday. But I have a good excuse. We came home from Church at mid-day, opened our front door, and were nearly bowled over by the heavy scent of gasoline emanating from our apartment. I took a deep gulp of fresh outside air and dashed heroically into the house to see if I had left the gas stove on. I hadn’t, and we don’t really have any other ways to leak gas into our house. So we went upstairs to talk to our landlord. He was not at home, but when his wife phoned him, he confessed that he had indeed spilled gasoline that morning as he was filling up his car in the garage.… Read more