Brian, Bertod, and I resumed work on the roof deck. More cleaning, more replanting.

We moved all of the decorative plants to the Kwan Yin shrine, where Cerefina's and Kichiro Mayuzumi's graves are located.

Planting of vegetables began, and so this is Day 1 of our roof deck vegetable farm, a joint project of our family and M.'s cafe. Brian, who grew up doing farm work, planted string bean, Chinese celery, bell pepper, chili pepper, bitter melon, and garlic.

We plan to buy more vegetable seeds sometime soon, including some that might involve the construction of trellises. Can't wait to take photos when everything is growing.

Perhaps on the downside, our roof deck has begun to lose its Tennessee Williams atmosphere, the same atmosphere in the garden-with-Tampinco-bagneuse-fountain of the old Army-Navy Club in Ermita. Yes, the lanterns and statuary and park bench and marble table and Vietnam stools are still there, but the place is no longer as poetic as it was. Years ago, with the overhead and spot lights on, Angelique and Aubrey used to read their textbooks there at night.