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!!

Earth Hour in Pittsburgh

Earth Hour caught us at the lobby of the Sheraton where we were staying. We couldn't get to our rooms as power was turned off and our electronic card keys wouldn't work. Instead of waiting for security to take us up we decided to wait it out at the reception area. For a change the kids were quiet. They just sat there and stared, mesmerized, at the candlelights.
(March 2010)

Tornadoes Rip New York

On Thursday, the 16th, two tornadoes hit Queens and a part of Brooklyn hard. However, according to News 1, it was a macroburst that felled down all those trees. I still am not sure what a macroburst is, though. Several areas including mine were affected though the heavy damage was to the trees, a thousand or so were uprooted (the figure according to the news), and fortunately for the residents, only the inconvenience of heavy traffic arising from blocked streets and loss of power and/or TV and cable connection only. The houses and buildings, mostly brick, were able to withstand the winds. Of course there are some exceptions.

I walked around this afternoon with my camera and took pictures particularly of the neighborhood around the elementary school P.S. 174 which was badly hit. Three of my grandkids studied there. The usually quiet and clean streets were only now starting to clear. The corner where I stood waiting for Karl or Erika and Lee Anne is still filled with debris. Cleaning crews have been working nonstop but several roads are still blocked. A lot of work still needs to be done.

And I thought that tornadoes only happen south of D.C.

(September 19, 2010)

London 6: No Photography Allowed Inside

Trafalgar Square with Nelson's monument .. this was the view from the steps of the National Gallery as I came out. I would have loved to have taken photos of its interior especially of the ceiling arcs, and also of the jewellery collections. Or the portraits at the National Portrait Gallery located just behind it. Even if you just went for the Tudor portraits, you've already won. Imagine those paintings in the very same room with that mean skirtchaser King Henry VIII !

Windsor Castle's State Apartments especially the paintings and other artwork and military displays were simply fantabulous though a bit ostentatious, but I would have treasured photos of those, too, not only of the massive exteriors.

(September 9 and 10, 2010)

London 5: London Grub

Fish and chips and sausage with mashies and peas. These are typical (and cheap) english meals. (Yes, they still use coke glasses and coke bottles over there.)

One can have his meals at pubs, too. London Chinatown is a bit different from the other chinatowns. More soul? Their lechon kawali (or oven) was really mouth watering, but the prawns were a bit tasteless (frozen??).

And don't eat at those Chinese buffets elsewhere. I did at a joint close to the Victoria and Albert Museum despite my daughter's warnings. Blaah!

London 4: Shoreditch and the Saatchi

I will always remember the Saatchi Gallery for the giant red print of Che(r). Also of the sculpture which I had to make sure was really one - the huddled group in one corner. And of one arrangement of speakers which reminded me of the basalt columns of the Giant's Causeway.

After she finished work on Thursday, Kim and I walked from the Liverpool Street Station to the area known as Shoreditch. We passed a lot of shops, bars and restaurants, some odd, like a bar on an actual red doubledecker in a big parking lot. (across the three black and white wall drawings.)

It was a place for the young, Kim told me like a warning. I could see for myself and I was already thinking, where did all these yuppies come from?
The bars could not even contain them. They spilt in the corners and filled the sidewalks. The males in white shirts with half unknotted ties and jackets on their arms, a drink in one hand.

Farther were a concentration of Indian restaurants where 'sales reps' accost you to persuade you with their specials, much like in the halo-halo days of Central Market in Manila. We tried one and we discovered a very healthy (lots of turmeric) and tasty dish-Biryani. So no regrets. ( At Dishoom in Leicester Square, a more expensive place, it wouldn't be that good.)

(September 6 and 9, 2010)

London 3: The Osborne House

The Osborne House was only meant to be a summer home but Queen Victoria and her family found it a perfect refuge from the trappings of royalty that they spent a lot more time here than was expected. In fact, Victoria spent most of the rest of her life here in seclusion after his prince's death at the age of 42. Upon seeing Windsor Castle and the State Apartments, my reaction was 'Wow', here however it was a feeling of sadness and eerieness especially when I was in the bedroom where the lonely queen died (1901) and the dining room where a wake was held before bringing her to London. On a positive note, at least one realizes that she and Prince Albert and their nine children and some grandchildren were able to live as normal as they could and enjoy each other in this lovely home with its vast grounds and gardens. Most of the giant oaks and other trees were planted upon the behest of the prince when they acquired the property and have always been silent witnesses to history. The terraces, the Swiss House and the walled garden are all worth visiting. Photography inside is not allowed but I was able to take pictures of the outside from the upper level windows. At least I was afforded a view of what royalty saw when they looked out their windows.
(September 12, 2010)

London 2: Across the Solent

We were on our way to the Osborne House in the Isle of Wight in the southern part of England. From London Waterloo we took the train to Portsmouth Harbor Station and the Wightlink Ferry was right there to take as across the Solent to the town of Ryde in the Isle of Wight. Here we would have to transfer to a small train to town then take the green double-decker to East Cowes where the royal house was. It was a beautiful day, sunny blue skies with dabs of white, fluffy cotton clouds. The sea wasn't mediterranean blue, it was pale greenish grey, but it came out alive because of the sun and the sky and the tiny dots of white sails and the path of white froth left by our ferry behind. Ah, the excitement that a boat ride can generate!
(September 12, 2010)

London 1: Dover Beach

the sea is calm tonight

the tide is full ...

I don't know if this was how it was in Matthew Arnold's days, but what amazed me with this beach is its immense density, pebblewise. The vertical height of the stack of pebbles may be two meters at its highest, one other tourist guessed. I thought the mostly gold and russet stones were clean and nice to look at upclose.

(September 8, 2010)

Lee Anne and the Bride

Lee Anne is only thirteen going on fourteen but looks so grown up in this photo. This was taken at the grounds of Leonard's of Great Neck in Long Island before we went in for IAAI's annual dinner-dance. I love the composition of this picture. And the contrast of the black and white dresses.

(August 27, 2010)

Fearless Lyla

Star City is an amusement park in Manila that I think lags far behind the ones here in the US in terms of size, modernity, variety and safety, but for some reason my grandchildren love it and want to visit again.

Lyla, 7, tried the bubble when we were there this May. She didn't hesitate one bit, walked up and waited for her turn, went inside the giant plastic contraption, knelt quietly while it was being filled up with air and when sealed and thrown in the water, just kept it rolling and rolling on. I, the worrier, as usual was concerned if there was enough breathing air, etc., though her Mom wasn't. On another day, in Eastwood, Lyla went bungee jumping as fearlessly. She was bouncing up to the treetops. Walang takot, talong-talo ang Lola.

(May 2010)

Ngong Ping 2009

The cheapest tour of my traveling days. You take the subway to the end of the line, pay the cable car fare and you get to take the longest (20-25 minutes) and very scenic ride you could get in Hongkong and maybe, elsewhere. You get to climb the steps to the giant Buddha, walk the Wisdom Path, visit a monastery and stroll among the shops and restaurants at Ngong Ping. At the top where the Buddha sits there were three lady Buddhas. Somehow they reminded me of my late sister as does almost every female buddha I see, as does even the female face in the full moon. And the statues looked so beautiful against a backdrop of a blue sky that it is them that I remember most. (Hong Kong stopover, January 2009)

Blue Waters

the sea itself a dream

a dream of blue on green.

e.j.

The sea is still a beautiful blue. The beach is still white in most parts. But many, many things have changed. There are too many people now, many of whom I don't know and who in turn don't know me. There are rebels close by. The old house is in a sorry state. My father is no longer there. It is my childhood paradise no more.

(Hamoraon, Camarines Sur Jan 2010)

Sand Art

The tiny creature is no bigger than a ladybug. It crawls and carries its white shell on its back. It burrows and makes a hole. No, a tunnel actually. It does this by repeatedly forming a teeny ball of sand and rolling it away from the opening. And believe me, it is fast! In the process, it creates a beautiful design. Truly a natural artist.

( Bagasbas Beach, Camarines Norte April/2010)

Standing on her Hair

This piece of sculpture is beautiful and dreamlike. Scuptor is Andrew deVries from Lenox, Massachusetts. Named 'Innocence'. At Lenox' sidewalk sculpture show. (7/1/10)

Happy Birthday to Lola

Lyla kept picking flowers along the paths at Edith Wharton's estate. Happy Birthday, Lola, she would say each time. A tiny yellow wild one looked really cute, just like plastic, I remarked. (6/29/10)

I am a Crab

Ooooh, this is the most delicious crab dish I have ever had! Alimango in lemon and tons of fried garlic. Kara my daughter ordered this at a seafood restaurant in Eastwood, Manila. Yummy !!! (May 2010)

B-b-r-r-r-r-r-r

It is very cold and windy today. The temperature will be in the teens tonight. We are having a much colder winter this season. We saw snow on the second week of October when the leaves were still green. Winter had come early to the Poconos in Pennsylvania. Autumn had barely started. The leaves were burned crisp by the cold and fell within a few days without having reached their red and gold. But at the height of the snow, it was textured beauty all around. Memory bump: my white crocheted skirt from when I was twenty and teaching at UPBaguio. Popcorn stitches, that's why.

(October 2009)

Mayon

In '01 my youngest and I took the night bus to Legazpi intending to get off at Naga City. At around 2 am she tried to wake me up telling me we were already there. Not possible, I told her. Not having realized Philippine transport times have improved considerably since I was last there, I quickly drifted back to sleep. Later on I was jolted by her elbow on my side and her almost scream of 'Mommy, look out the window!!' And there in all her majesty framed by the bus window, was Mayon Volcano, a perfect cone outlined in the early morning mist. It was such a wondrous sight! We were already at the outskirts of Legazpi.

As Mayon was spewing smoke and ash at that time and because the air was becoming thicker and grayer as we approached the city, she vehemently demanded that we get off our bus right away. So, in the middle of nowhere we did then got on the first bus to Naga that came by, never mind if it was a rickety one at that.

I would have been thrilled to see red molten lava flowing from Mayon's mouth for real.