Sa nga’min a nagita’o nin maray a bana’bana’ ag nagite’rew nin sakandang pakikiiba ag rabos a serbisyo para sa ikakaraay nya Boie’ sa paagi nyading BOL – MABALOS SA INYO NGA’MIN!

Sana madagos nanggad a sa’ten a mga maray a bana’bana’ sa tabang ag erak nin Dios…

Last November Stella Dasmarinas-Roig and I talked on the phone in the States. I expressed to her what may sound my over-cautious attitude in approaching the organizing intent of BOL as an official volunteer entity in the Philippines.

Regrettably, I only had two weeks in the States then.  This Fall I will have more time to attend to BOL matters when I return.

In my emails with Jec M. Ailes, who obviously has and had been recently involved in private organization/s in Boie’, he came to the conclusion that what we all don’t want to happen is to see an NGO/non government organization-type BOL come to naught or become just ‘a-flash-in-the-pan’ entity again in Boie’.

Some of the familiar names in BOL now that are dear to me already are the same people who were active in the publication of the only-published BOL Magazine, Pintakasi Edition in the year 2000 so far.  These are the same Boie’nen who I know have the passion and willingness to chip-in for Boie’s-common good.

These good-hearted Boie’nen cannot be blamed for BOL Magazine’s discontinuance – it was the exigency of my career and the sudden change in global geo-politics that rendered me unable to continue the formal organization of BOL then for which I express my public apology for now.  Their names are now indelibly etched in BOL Magazine’s Pintakasi Edition 2000.

What was proven in the BOL Magazine 2000’s publication is the fact that it is possible to organize and carry out projects participated by Boie’nen all-over the world using mainly cyber-communication resources.  It is even better these days as online-functionalities are a lot more advanced and user friendly compared to the year 2000.

I hope this piece of mine would not dampen the enthusiasm of the new and emerging BOL contributors and volunteers.  On the other hand my conversation with Stella which I want to share part of which here will, I hope,  give more encouragement to all of us who are passionate in our search for an effective means in channeling our community-voluntarism and material help for the common good of Boie’ most particularly through BOL.

First, my  plan as I already revealed to Stella is to organize and officially register BOL as an NGO in the States and to eventually do it so in the Philippines as a branch of the Stateside-headquartered BOL.  By doing so I hope to avoid or dodge red-tape in the Philippines and make the BOL-NGO more effective especially in advancing BOL’s causes to international prominence.

Second, focus the BOL-NGO’s initial action plans “not merely on throwing money on problems”, so to speak, to solve Boie’s woes but rather on trying to understand the deeper root causes of the problems.  Then exert pressure on existing government functionaries and entities – public servants and executives who are not properly and effectively delivering their sworn public service.  This can be done by the BOL-NGO collaboration and coordination with existing NGOs involved in increasing public awareness, education and participation in this effort.

Third, when the active members and especially the leaders of the BOL-NGO have identified and are sure of our commitment and passion for our chosen cause and our capacities in effectively organizing ourselves and successfully putting it to the test of fire: to prioritize BOL-NGO’s action plans making sure not to bite more than what we can chew.

BOL-NGO would have to realize that there are paid-public servants who are not doing their job that are one of the root causes of most of the problems in our community back home in Boie’ and in the Philippines.  The sustainability of our contributions can only be realized by the deeper understanding of each-community issue we want to champion.

If the BOL-NGO or any NGO or Philantropist would just keep THROWING MONEY ON THE COMMUNITY PROBLEMBS OF BOIE’ -  I am afraid this would just be encouraging further corruption in our government and civic-laxity in the community in general.

Again, I hope I did not dampen anyone’s enthusiasm especially of Boie’nen like my classmate Pido’ (Wilfredo Ibarlin) whose energy, motivation, perseverance and initiative are the qualities that could make a sustainable BOL-NGO.

It was reported that the fire on the Santiago-Sta. Elena side of Asog in Iriga City was caused by slash and burn method (kaingin).

On the other hand, the Santiago-Sta. Elena portion of the Buhi-Iriga road still has a lot of potholes. Grabe alpog sa biyahe. Maray gaye’d nyadi giboon dayaday yo banta’ nyadtong mga taga Sta. Justina kaso nyo di pa natitinampo sa atubang nya Sta. Justina West. E’da’ tinampo e’da’ boto. E’da nakukong boto si Boboy Alfelor.  Nga’min nagboto ki Luis Villafuerte. Pero adi dapat aksyonan nya mga taga Santiago-Sta.Elena man.

The market in Sta. Elena will be transferred alledgedly to Sagrada in the vicinity of the Buhi-Malinao-road crossing. The project is on hold because of election ban.

Also, a new Shell gasoline station is now operational. The Caltex one in Sagrada Crossing is now closed.

Mga tinampo sa poblacion na project pa nyadtong depontong si ex-mayor JYM, ang’gang ngowan ampaw pa man dayaday. Di’ nae’e'rakan na dawa’ aspaltoon tanganing ana mga niparada ag niprusisyon magayagaya ana pag agi.

There is an on-going basketball tournament sa centro. Mga nagiyame’n mga tanod ag mga barangay officials.

A new church will rise in Sagrada beside the Sagrada cemetery. The hilly portion is now being flattened by heavy equipment.

The flagstone quarrying is still unabated in Burocbusoc. Mas lalong grabe na ading paglapastangan sa saton na environment.

***

When I was a Grade-2 pupil at the Buhi Elementary School, the Riprap behind the school campus became my arena and short-time-day spa or resort of sort.

To escape from the manual chore of grass cutting in our assigned patch in the school ‘bull-ground’ my newfound-truant friends and I would surreptitiously ‘escape’.  ‘Mageskip kita sa Riprap’ (Let’s play truant at the Riprap.).

Through a secret hole in the thick-bamboo-twig (kagingking) fence we’d cross the forlorn dirt-road shored up by a high-concrete-riprap embankment spanning perhaps 40-meter long.  Down the Riprap wall’s low portion we would go down to the then pristine part of the Rinaga’ river for a cool-river dip amidst the fast-setting sun.

The Riprap was to boys mainly a trying place of their budding manliness.  A classroom dare from another boy – ‘Sa Riprap kita! Eskwir sana.’ (See you at the Riprap mano-a-mano!).  Thus for many of a boy like me, our ‘manly’ initiation at the Riprap in settling disputes with brute force and violence came to be.

Lately, a new Riprap has wormed into our community sensibilities.  This time no one seems to be able to make sense of it!

While there obviously is a riffraff of corrupt government officials, functionaries or private contractors who obviously botched up the Rinaga River riprap project our extant concerned local government officials and functionaries are obviously unwilling to do something about this.

This is in spite of massive evidence some links of which were posted in Buhi Online Facebook and You Tube by concerned citizens such as:

HOW COULD A 45 MILLION WORTH OF FLOOD CONTROL STRUCTURE AT RINAGA RIVER (POPULARLY KNOWN AS RINAGBA RIVER) RAVAGED AND DESTROYED BY A FLOOD COURTESY OF TYPHOON REMING?

TESS DE LIMA’S PERIODICO SA RADYO COMMENTED ON MAYOR LACOSTE’S FATE AND THE 45 M RINAGA RIVER PROJECT ANOMALIES…

When I posted the link several months ago for the Philippine Commission on Audit’s (COA) Fraud Report site and asked at least for information on the project name and other details so BOL can itself file the COA report, the twits stopped all of a sudden.

Surprisingly or perhaps not so surprisingly, the blog I wrote with the same title last year in October got merely a lukewarm reaction with  one comment to date coming from Tagasi’rip who obviously uses only a pen-name.

But again last week when the BOL Facebook posts became alive with election issues, the Rinaga’ River riprap scam once again became an active issue in the discussions.  New accusations surfaced on BOL Facebook though from an anonymous person using the pen-name Anthony Francisco.

Though Anthony Francisco’s earlier posts were taken out or deleted already by BOL, his persistence coupled with the lack of BOL Facebook FAN ‘reporting’ his posts as inappropriate, BOL decided to let his succeeding posts remain.  BOL feels that it cannot justly block his posts permanently until it gets sufficient feedback or ‘reports’ that would warrant it to do so.

The nagging question though is: will we ever get a response or positive action from our local public officials to look into this obvious issue of public-project mismanagement and even the corruption of public officials or what mudslinging candidates of earlier elections refer to as KICKBACK!

The least that I personally could ask from the only openly-identified currently-serving public official of Buhi LGU active in BOL Facebook the Honorable Councilman Edwin Salvamante is his indulgence to bring the clamor of many in BOL Facebook particularly to get the official stand of the incumbent elected officials of Buhi in this issue including the Municipal Council of which he is a member of.

My previous blog with the same title TE’EM NA way back in October last year raised many questions on the Rinaga’ River project and floated suggeted action particularly for the Municipal Council.

Will we ever get answers to these?

Kin indi’ mageskip n asana ako sa Riprap, maray pa… Ay inda baga?

MABALOS,

Al Claveria

Maestrang Osta wielded her bamboo-stick pointer akin to a fairy’s wand rather than a Maestro’s baton for conducting an orchestra.

With a quick flick of that wand on our young bodies and confused mind we were forced to memorize mechanically the katon’s alphabets, their individual and combined-letters sounds altogether.

Thus I went thru my very-first formal-reading lessons or Katon lessons under the tutelage of the old Maestra in her then typical nipa-roofed San Buena residential house cum nursery or pre-school classroom.

Pag te’em na yo katon ag mga pangadye’ para sa premerong komonyon pasado nang mag Grade 1. When the whole katon booklet and prayers for receiving The Eucharist in first communion were committed already to rote memory we pass on to Grade 1 primary school.

TE’EM NA! literally means ‘memorized already’. It is obviously now a Boie’nen slang or idiomatic expression as recently used in Buhi Online Facebook.  It is perhaps used idiomatically to mean ‘we know the deal’, ‘we know the deal on this’, ‘we know the spin on this’ or perhaps ‘we were not born yesterday’.

Shenanigans and outright fraud and corruption in public service and government are almost common knowledge to many of us – te’em na! Chris Edward San Luis says.

The graphic images posted recently in BOL Facebook by Ting Villadares III are strong proof of fraud in the Rinaga’ River Revetment or Riprapping project that was obviously managed by the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways).

Long before that river-bank-revetment project to the tune of 45-million pesos (according to Ting ) came to be –  some river-bank property owners had already put up their own riprap-based revetment protection such as in the adjoining properties of the Lorenzos’ and Constancios’ in San Pascual.

Their river-bank structures are obviously more durable and have withstood already so many typhoons and severe flooding and are still standing. Were these privately funded and already existing structures and many similar ones also conveniently claimed payment for by the contractor or contractors of the DPWH project for the Rinaga River?

Those that the contractors built from scrap or should I say plastered on the river banks that were easily washed away by Pepeng’s-triggered floods – will the contractor rebuild those as these had not even seen their first year anniversary?

If not, will our elected-local-public officials starting from Mayor Rey Lacoste and especially his Sangunnian Bayan (SB) do something about it?

These Boie’nen functionaries are in the best position and have the sworn responsibilities to protect public interests particularly in the case of the said Rinaga River project.

It is also in their self-serving interests to do something about it if they are running for reelections! They should at the very least pass a Municipal Resolution to demand explanation from DPWH on how such an expensive project had been so flimsily constructed!

Or are their lips sealed tight as the facial portraits printed in Philippine-Peso Bills are!

Let us demand too an explanation why obstructing structures that illegally are squatting along the river and on the river banks that constrict free water flow were not dismantled in the supposed-rehabilitation of the river.

On the cash bills it is understandable that their mouths are shut because most of the faces on these are of dead people. Except I think for one, if I am not mistaken,  who is currently alive but perhaps has very good reason to keep her mouth shut richly!

The problem I see is the Boie’nen and Filipino attention-span, focus and commitment on public issues.

We quickly forget and easily relegate important community issues even those pertaining to our public safety and security  to memory until the next similar catastrophe strikes.

Then again we will be croaking in unison sans Maestrang Osta’s wand, BA-HA’ DI’DI’ BA-HA’ AD’TO

Ba – Be – Beh – BO’ – BOH!

Jacqueline Bermejo’s now infamous Facebook entry on Typhoon Ondoy’s devastation and human catastrophe in the Philippines:

[SIC]“buti n lng am hir in dubai! maybe so many sinners bak der! so yeah deserving wat hapend!” [SIC]“

Whoever authored such calloused statement quickly went down in infamy especially with the Filipino-web community and immediately caught Philippine-media attention.

In Biblical times sinners were punished swiftly with tangible wrath of God – as an example, The Great Flood that only Noah and his kin survived.

The righteous Noah, his family and select menagerie of animals had a second chance to restart in a new world without sinners.  We don’t have that second chance.

In Buhi’s mainly-countryside belief, that many so called learned people refer to as superstition, supernatural entities are the unseen guardian of the integrity and purity of the natural environment.  Or perhaps their conscience’s alter ego.

Defilers and destroyers of their natural environment right away are dealt with with unexplained illness, insanity or even death.

‘Nae’stapan’ is the Boie’nen concept of the supernaturals’ manifestation of their warning or punishment to offending mortal for spoiling the supernatural’ and even the natural worlds of mortals.

Supernaturals such as the ‘Enkanto’, ‘Taong Liped’, ‘Doende’ and the like are all around us. They are unseen lurking especially in remote places such as in jungles, desolate-cool streams and potable-water springs or ‘burabod’.

Perhaps if people start considering the defilement and destruction of our natural heritage such as the Lawe’d, Kaoma-an and Kabokiran as sins and punishable transgression of the Enkanto, Dwende and Taong Liped domains, many Boie’nen will have to think twice first not to be lax or derelict with their responsibilities for the protection and preservation of Boie’s environmental endowments.

Environmental transgressors will burn with unexplained fever at night, go suddenly insane or worse die of unexplained causes.  Such are how God  and the Supernatural manifest their wrath and punishment.

Such would be the fate of many elected public officials, public servants, unscrupulous businessmen who manage to elbow their fish-cages or illegally buy their way in unauthorized areas in Lake Buhi, the illegal loggers, and those who toss their garbage anywhere convenient to them and similar unconscionable people.

Sinners they are, sinners they shall be in our eyes and heart for the sake and assurance of our good-environmental posterity.

The incorrigible sinners in Noah’s time were timely served ultimatum before their final punishment – death by drowning.

Who will deliver the ultimatum to these sinners in Buhi? God? Enkanto? Taonglipe’d? Dwende?

For now let’s just wish:

Magkae’re’stapan sana adding mga bagading tawo, na sabi ngani’ ni barkadang Chris Edward P. San Luis:

MGA BAKOON NA E’DA’ PAKI LABE’T!

I titled it with a concocted Boie’nen-English title as follows:

AYKO! (OUCH!) HAIKU

Oh children heed thy native land’s place in the sun

Hold your head high, go maximize your potentials

Your motherland’s future rests in your very hands!

Raise your standards, your impressionable mind

Fight your lot with sheer intellect and inventiveness

With talented passion banish oppressions of all kind

With focused industry, your mind rises above the petty

Your natural ingenuity ensures good posterity you’ll see

At the end of the day your future brightened it would be!

Rizal it seems expected the Philippine youth to completely take our Motherland’s future in their very own hands. I cannot find in ‘To the Philippine Youth’ poem any reference to parental care and guidance – wetnursing their potentials’ bloom?

It is not easy for me to write about things that are troubling especially to me.

The recent day’s deluge of media images and sounds had just been overpoweringly disturbing.  Still greatly confusing even for someone of my age who I can say have already seen much from deeper and wider perspectives from all over.

It may not be so with most of us who may only perceive events constricted by the proverbial frog’s mouth-of-the-well habitation concept of the sky.

Could many of us be now so emotionally calloused as a result of the constant bombardment especially by daily news media of killings, deaths and violence especially lately from our streets and waters including floodwater?

The television image of that little girl unusually sitting calmly it seems on top of house debris swiftly being carried by the raging-flooded river under a concrete bridge with disastrous consequences obviously. May the Almighty bless her cherubic soul and all other victims.

The images of youngsters clearly having fun and even horsing around safe in the safety of shelter while taping people outside trying to frantically survive in the rampaging flood.  Such dirty laundry hung on You Tube for the world to see!

The overall inappropriate demeanor of Chris Aquino in the Television telethon with Tina Monson Palma, Fr. Tito and Pokwang and her inappropriate side comments.

I have more respect now for Pokwang and highly empathize with Tina if she was indeed sarcastic when she said in effect: ‘We have received many donations thanks to Chris.’ These are confusing scenes.

The more I believe we may indeed now are wanting in decorum and sensibility as a people.

But perhaps no. Thanks to Jessie James Nealega’s Matobato Prayer Warrior children video and written post especially on the Buroc’busok Flagstone Flak – the sad exploitation of children there.

LISTEN! Little voices.  Little children. Not to be belittled.

If only I could hit a single musical note, I would sing in sincere prayer the song below popularized by The Carpenters.

BLESS THE BEASTS AND CHILDREN

Bless the beasts and the children

For in this world they have no voice

They have no choice

Bless the beasts and the children

For the world can never be

The world they see Light their way

When the darkness surrounds them

Give them love

Let it shine all around them

Bless the beasts and the children

Give them shelter from a storm

Keep them safe

Keep them warm

Light their way

When the darkness surrounds them

Give them love

Let it shine all around them

Bless the beasts and the children

Give them shelter from a storm

Keep them safe

Keep them warm

The children

The children

***

Tsynos\’s Birthday Song (at 4 yrs old)

I look at written comments such as this as little voices of our collective social/civic conscience.  ’Little voices’ is not meant to trivialize such comments.  Rather it is a statement of a realization that perhaps no one especially the ones in a position to do something about it really cares.

There is nothing wrong perhaps with such quarrying activity.  If only people are informed and are confident that their public officials have concrete plans that are clear and understood by its constituents.  For after all the reasonable and sustainable exploitation of our resources would be beneficial to the community in the long run.

Perhaps  such knee-jerk suspiciousness is spawned by general feelings that concerned Buhi-government functionaries don’t really care.  Especially about written comments like these that are not personally-brought straight to them.  Simply they have to be able to gauge what they would get from doing something about it.  What is their guarantee of a payback from their efforts otherwise?

Don’t you see Tagasi’rip why, no matter how exasperatingly, government services  in  Buhi and in the Philippines for that matter are most effectively acquired through persistent personal follow-ups it seems?

Payback come in different forms.  Your and your family’s guaranteed votes comes election time; or worse yet and most blatantly a direct demand for grease money, padulas or tong.

While you call attention to Burocbusoc flagstone’s-quarrying scandal allegedly involving one of its Barangay officials, who would listen to your ‘little voice’?

Who indeed would listen in the Buhi Munisipyo to your ‘little voice’ if right in front of their very eyes are glaring violations left and right.  Violations such as private-property owners encroaching on public roads and sidewalks to the detriment of public safety.  In the expansion or perhaps more appropriately reclamation of the main road in the Sentro the road kerb suddenly deflected 90% to dodge the dismantling of a road-encroaching private structure.

Or has anyone ever notice the San Buena-Welcome/Boundary Marker that is planted almost in the middle of the main road? Why? What about public safety and common good?

No one seems to be listening to our little voices much less to the little voices of each of our very own conscience – this is true with many Boie’nen public functionaries and ordinary citizens.

So?

Quo Vadis Boie’?

Stella Dasmarinas-Roig opines ‘Nature has its own way of dying and healing itself…but if the cause is man-made – like what is happening to Lake Buhi – then it is our moral obligation to stop it.’

Chris Edward San Luis floats in Boie’nen vernacular a question to this effect: ‘When will we act?  Hopefully now…the change can begin from each of us.’  This reminds me of Kari San Antonio Kenny’s story in Buhi Online Magazine in the year 2000 on the demise of Tarn Paeron.

Jessie Nealega in similar vernacular response sympathetic to Chris’ daring question wonders if a Bayani Fernando leadership-style that is decisively straightforward in putting public good ahead of select-individual gain irrespective of who gets the brunt of it could be the solution.

Jessie observes that it is the upcoming election of public officials that people are too busy with nowadays so no one cares about cleanliness in Boie for now’.

On the suggestion to upload pictures in BOL Facebook of offending-physical features and acts that pollute especially Boie waters; Mira Yaguel Averia entreats in the vernacular: ‘Please don’t’ because it would be embarrassing. The whole town will see’.

These concerned Boie’nen obviously agree that individual responsibility and positive action are critical if we were to reverse the wanton denigration and preserve Boie’s natural heritage among others.

What is obvious though is that Stella, Chris, Jessie and Mira are all non-resident Boie’nen.  So am I.  Would we then be fired-up with the same resolve to clamor for the change we seek if we were all back in Boie?

Making ends meet for our loved ones with the meager income we will be earning from our daily toils in Boie perhaps could change our fervor on issues like these.

But then I might be wrong.  These newfound cyber-acquaintances, relative and friends of mine obviously are my junior town-mates – they belong to the X-generation.  And obviously they are different in their environmental fervor and community concern.

Unlike me, they are not ready to come back to enjoy their retirement years in Boie.  Unlike me none of them perhaps had the chance to frolic in the pristine water of the Sowong and the mouth of Porong Kasabangan in their growing-up years. So what is in it for them?  What could they be missing in Boie’?

While it is laudable that they know about the pivotal role of individual responsibility for upholding our community good; does anyone of our Boie’nen public functionaries know about this.  Not only about individual or civic responsibility but more so about Public Service and Public Trust!

Could we put to book the Bureau of Fisheries station in Boie’ for our Lake’s woes?  One of the original Boie’nen official of this station was responsible for unleashing the Golden Kohol in the lake -these voraciously decimated its beneficial-underwater greeneries of to start with in the 70’s.  I personally know about that.

How many of the present public-elected officials of Boie’ have vested interest in the fish-cage business there?  And who were the original Fisheries station functionaries who made the first killing in the then fish-pen business at the very start? Do we know?

Who dare would ask in Boie?

Who dare would act on these issues there then?

Only perhaps now is the right time for again it is election-campaigning time

On the question to ask – (Bae man ta malase’pe’g.) Please don’t for it is very __?__…. well on second thought, what’s the exact English equivalent of malase’pe’g in Boie’nen?

It could be anything from ‘shyness’, ‘embarrassment’ or ‘shame’ I would say.

If we don’t know the difference between these English words, no wonder there seems to be no guilt feelings on Lake Boie’ manmade problems.

Da’ Se’pe’g!

It is not our fault that Buhi is endowed with natural geologic prettiness. Lake Buhi is smack-snug practically in the bottom half of a pretty-mountain-lipped bowl – the other half is plane arable land and gently rolling hills where the town-proper sits.

Just like the mythical Narcissus in Greek mythology,  Buhi’s God-given or godforsaken environmental endowments and beauty will only bring it its very own demise.

Not as single-good-hearted Boie’nen can stop it.

One Boie’nen folklore suggests that the bottom of the lake is the graveyard of an ancient thriving community of people. These were the whole community and its people who supposedly were rapidly submerged there - frozen in time in the cataclysmic formation of the lake.

We were told of ghastly silhouettes of human and human-habitation forms glimpsed in the then clear-water lake bottom by local fishermen in the light of a full moon.  When we were young this story and the like of it would unendingly spin our imagination, awe, admiration and titillation.

Perhaps that’s how stories, folklore and mythology made us one as a people – Boie’nen all.  The stories our elders told us that we in turn retold to our children connected us all – we had a holistic soul.

We love telling stories of what we commonly share as a people.

That’s why perhaps those of my generation who are past the golden age of fifty want to hear and re-tell those stories again, and again.

My generation cannot perhaps more effectively relate to our younger progenies – what is called the X-generation. They in turn may not see the value of the stories we tell and still seek to hear – our history as a people.

With all available modern-day gadgetries and tools of immediate gratification, they are the victims of the latest western-mercantilism and constant commercial bombardments. While my generation’s and earlier ones’ victimization came first on historical records in galleons, the X-generation’s come in light-speed and terabyte billions.

They make their own stories or perhaps what they believe as their own stories – perhaps justly so. The spool they wind their stories on are made by wily-modern cyber merchants and manipulators.

Many of the X generation exchange virtual gifts, fight virtual wars and boast of virtual achievements.

So who among them would care for something so mundane and physically tangible as Lake Buhi’s people-accelerated eutrophication? This is supposed to happen naturally anyway in thousands of years as the natural cycle that lakes have to undergo.

At the last stages of Lake Buhi’s euthrophication, we will again see all those shoreline green vegetation that are all gone now. The thick almost impenetrable anginglit patches  of Purong Kasabangan and the trailing long leaves of the linamon water plant gracefully undulating in the water surface and others that I don’t anymore know the names of will again thrive – let’s hope.

These beneficial-water plants will come back when the whole lake will inevitably shrink and turn into a shallow wetland – filtering all the rubbish and impurities that Lake Buhi and even some Boie’nen now are unfortunately full of.

That wetland will naturally shrink and turn into a nice shallow pond.

The rest of our elderly generation and I then will be able to truly enjoy our final-fading days On Buhi-Golden Pond.