Since summer isn't completely gone, trees still throng with the medley of andidiit. Alinaay—benevolence of weather that we pray for. Alutiit—house lizards skittering through cracks, under the door or in the ceiling. Some days it seems impossible to get through this life without some kind of anib. As night falls harder, gurruod ken kimat. I wanted to see the moon: so much fuller when I think of it as bulan. But all the world is either sheets of fire or water. Bari-bari, we whisper, walking every day through streets of danger. * Ilocano words: panangaasi - showing pity, concern andidiit - cicadas alinaay - calm anib - talisman gurruod ken kimat - thunder and lightning bulan - moon bari-bari - a word to ward off bad spirits