Dee Finally Tied the Knot (with John)

Dalisay, Dee for short, was my classmate and friend from elementary school.  We got reconnected here in the States in the early nineties.  Divorced for many years, I had been egging her to get married already to John, her boyfriend for sometime and they finally did today in Massanutten, Virginia.  Just the two of them, she said.  I got a call from her around eleven this morning and she gave me the go-signal to announce it to our friends and former schoolmates.  I am flattered I was the first one she called.  It seems like only yesterday when we posed for this picture in Prague (nope, I don't drink, just borrowed the beer from Ben) in 2004.  And it seems like only the day before yesterday when as a child not even a teen, I would walk to her home in Yacal in Sta. Cruz to read the Liwayway and Bulaklak magazines they sell in their store.  A 'Best Wishes' toast to the couple!!

Favorite Baby Pictures: Jared

Jared is my fourth grandchild.  I took this picture of him and had intended to frame it but never did, so I am displaying it on my blog and publishing it on facebook for friends (and relatives) to see.  Jared is ten years old now.  He has always been a restless kid, can't sit still, talks (lectures) a lot, so her mother has had frequent visits to the principal's office.  Lola of course gets mad at the school.  "They don't know how to handle smart kids! That's what.  He gets bored. What is wrong with a kid who hums while doing his work?"  He likes to hum because he likes music.  Unlike his Lola, Jared can sing.  When he was six, he dedicated and performed a song for me and his Lolo on our 60th birthday celebration. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb-C5lhJ9eY

Foggy Clarity

When we reached Peggy's Cove from Halifax,  I was extremely disappointed.  It was very foggy.  The tourist site was just big rocks and a lighthouse and a small general store, all gray in the dense fog.  The area visible around it was very limited.  We couldn't even have a glimpse of the sea past the rocks. Luckily, there was an inlet and a few low buildings I could see through the haze. Of course I took pictures for memories even if I expected them to come out blurred.  I was still using film then and when the pictures were developed I had my surprise and a very valuable photography lesson learned:  The fog acts as a sort of filter which gives one's pictures a special kind of clarity.  Without the fog I wouldn't have been able to capture the stillness of the scenery in this, one of my favorite if not my favorite photo.
(Nova Scotia, June 2004)

Those Were The Days: UE Fashionistas

I taught at the University of the East from 1968 to 1979.  Above is a picture of me with the younger group of teachers.  The photo reminded me of the fashion of those times:  miniskirts, long dresses, flared bottoms,    ele pants, bare midriffs.  I tried them all.  It was a pleasure having a hand in the making of one's dresses.  I bought the cloth or material myself, I made the design and then brought them both to my 'modista'.  I can't say I was able to compete with the other, usually older fashionable matrons in the college who were also always well coiffed and made-up.  I couldn't even fix my hair nicely but of course it was thicker then, so hindi halata.  Besides, youth is the best style of clothes, hair and make-up. Anytime.

Kim in a World of Colors

One of my favorite photos.
This was taken on one of my european trips (first with Kim, in 1998(?)).   We went to Amsterdam and took several day excursions from there to the adjacent countries.  This was taken in one of the stops of our riverboat in Dusseldorf, Germany.  I was so self-congratulatory because the picture appeared technically manipulated although it was just taken the way it was, Kim on a walkway where the walls were very colorful.

London 7: Broadway Shows

An older female tourist also from the US once told me that every winter when fares were really cheap she would fly to London for a week just to watch as many broadway shows as she could taking advantage of the half-price tickets one could get at those ticket booths in Leicester Square.

As soon as I got off the plane and after we dropped off my bags in her apartment, Kim and I hurried to the theater to watch Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.  We were late half an hour but since I already saw the movie, which had been a family 'cult' favorite when my kids were younger (we all adored Guy Pearce), it wasn't much of a loss.  It was very colorful, quite fun and the costumes quite outrageous, more than in the movie version, and the actor who played Terence Stamp's role carried the entire show 'fantastically' playing only second to the bus (with the gigantic glittery silver shoe on top) around which everything revolved.  This was the last performance before the show took a month-long break, which was why we had to catch it.

I saw ads for 'Hair' in the underground walls but to my dismay, its run ended on September 4, the day I flew to London.  I missed it when I first got to New York, I missed it again. Well, so much for the Age of Aquarius.

My last day in London was rainy so I was tempted to just stay in Kim's apartment.  But remembering that slim, fashionable, white senior tourist made me drag myself from bed.  I got dressed, carried an umbrella and took the underground to Leicester Square.  I was decided on Jersey Boys and Frankie Valli,  for its 3 o'clock matinee.  I went to a booth, tickets were already sold out.  I was so disappointed but didn't give up.  I went to another booth.  The young lady was nice (sometimes they are snobbish) plus there were still available seats, she said.  I got the lowest priced ticket,  20 pounds sterling instead of 32.50.  She promised to give me a good seat, anyway.

I grabbed a slice of mushroom pizza and then walked several blocks along the Charing Cross Road to the Prince Edward. My seat was in the fourth row of the upper level which was the third balcony I believe, high vertically but still close horizontally to the stage so my view was very good.  It was a very good seat for the price I paid. And the songs were my songs.  I had almost forgotten that Ragdoll, which was my favorite as a teen was by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.  Of course there was also Sherry, Walk Like a Man, Stay, Bye Bye Baby Goodbye, Big Girls Don't Cry, and it seemed like hundreds more songs but it was the rendition of Dawn (Go Away) that was sooo beautiful.  More than a week in New York and I was still humming it in my head.  We found it in i-tunes but it was different listening to it live, even if not by the original performers.

So, two broadway shows ... and not just any two shows.  Not bad for one trip.  I am happy.

Happy Birthday, KIM

We won the orchids centerpiece at the APMAA dinner-dance we attended Friday night the 24th. It was already the 25th in London, my daughter Kim's birthday. I attached the picture to my birthday greetings for her in an email.

Happy Birthday, Bunso!!