Musical interlude of the day

my brother reports the flowers are springing up and the robins are returning early this year.

As for us, it's the start of "Tag-Init", the hot dry season that comes before the summer monsoon planting season, when afternoon showers tend to cool things off.

we have been harvesting the "second season" rice harvest (that tends to be smaller than the main season and requires irrigation). The harvest is good for the second season, which helps since we lost a third of our crop last year when the fields went under water during the typhoon rains at harvest time.

We are not in trouble (we have several sources of income) but it's been hard for a lot of local folks, and this second harvest will help them meet their expenses.