Abal-Abal ken Simut-Simot

Natural toys were in abundance during the summers in Burgos. Apong's ancestral home was surrounded with tall trees. There was one specifically, located right across close to the small church.

Abal-abal are beetles that stay up in the trees especially during the summer rainy season. You hear these chirping at night in unison. We would wait for these to fall(since the trees were too sturdy to shake) then we picked these up. Randolph, my other cousin, would have strings handy to tie these critters; when these are ready we spun them around making these "fly". Another toy was the simut-simot. The "gasera" was propped up in the wooden dining table and we waited for the simut-simot to approach the gasera, circle this around and eventually got trapped to burn. How about those lighted bugs we caught and placed in glass bottles? These did light up and the glow got magnified by the darkness surrounding us. Apong Baket (grandmother) was very patient with us. Makaunget no nakaro nga alikuteg ta saan na nga mabalasa dagiti baraha na. Those playing cards would be collectors items now. These look like the tarot cards maybe used by the gypsies to read your future.
Ayan na aya dayti dakkel nga lata ti biscuit ni apong baket? Makasamsaramsam ni Apong Lakay ta iden-net na daytoy idiay kape na. My grandmother never ran out of samsaramsam- be it the kankannen, MySan biscuits or the sarguelas (sineguelas) and lum-boy usually delivered by the agtal-talon. Roll these suckers in salt and enjoy them - nagsugpet no kwa ngem naimas latta.