Flower Friday, Actually

Our apricot tree is in full and heavy bloom!  Now wouldn't it be grand if we could still be able to enjoy the fruit that's coming?  We would prefer it, though, to have sold our house by then.  If it's bought in time, the new owners will be able to sample what our backyard trees have to offer, as the peach tree is also covered with promising knobs.  When they burst open, I will blip them, too.

Went to work, worked, went back home.  Attacked the European Discovery of China MOOC.  This week's lectures are more in number than in the previous weeks, so I'll probably need the time all the way to Sunday to finish the work.  No matter, it's all very interesting because the topic for this week is the Manila connection.  It appears that the Spaniards used Manila as a jumping board to China, and the Chinese also used Manila as a jumping board to Mexico and the rest of the Americas.  And what did the Filipinos gain from all these transactions?  You guessed right -- a mere fragment of less than 1% of all the profit made.  We were too brown, too small, too submissive, too stupid, too shy, to share in anything.  That image, and that feeling, lingered for 500 years.  The Manila Galleon was laden with rich treasures, to be sure -- silver from Mexico, silk-porcelain-metals from China, and the Spaniards had rich pickings, including the Spanish friars, not to forget.  Nevertheless, at the end of it all, Spain remained bankrupt, China was able to boost its economy, Mexico increased its sphere of influence (although not as successfully as the US).  The Philippines basically stayed as it was, whatever anyone wants to make of that.