October 13, 2019 at 9:45 am (destinations, Eavesdropping, Holidays, Links, Niece, Places, Relatives, Sundays, Traveling)
Tags: memories, Prague
HAVE YOUR CAMERA READY AND JUST SHOOT.
— Leya, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge # 67
Prague, May 2019
Irene (self’s niece) and Martin (tour guide) crossing the Charles Bridge, our first day in Prague.
Street Performers, Prague, Last Week of May 2019
Prague Castle, Last Week of May 2019
September 25, 2019 at 11:23 pm (destinations, Family, Links, Niece, Philippine History, Places, Recommended, Relatives, Traveling)
Tags: Bacolod, Corregidor, Don Salvador Benedicto, festivals, memorial, memories, nostalgia, Philippine History, Redwood City, The Philippines, World War II
Week 179 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge is STONE (“Turn to something a bit more permanent.”)
Self went searching among her recent photos for examples of stone.
First, the fire pit at Manggapuri Villas, Purok Pagdanon, Don Salvador Benedicto, in the Philippine province of Negros Occidental (Dear Departed Dad’s home province). Just beyond, shrouded in mist, the still-active Canlaon Volcano. Don Salvador Benedicto is about an hour-and-a-half drive from Bacolod City:
Manggapuri Villas: September 2019
Next, a photo of Courthouse Square, just prior to the Annual Redwood City Salsa Festival:
Courthouse Square Before the Annual Redwood City Salsa Festival, Saturday, 21 September
Finally, a statue of General Douglas MacArthur on the Philippine island of Corregidor (That’s self standing with son and his cousin Georgina, 20 years ago. She found the photo when she was cleaning out the closets recently):
Georgina, Andrew and Self on the Island of Corregidor, at the Mouth of Manila Bay
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
September 23, 2019 at 5:35 pm (Artists and Writers, Books, destinations, Filipino Writers, Links, Places, short story collections, Traveling, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: London, memories, Mondays, The Lost Language
Fun Challenge this week from Nadia Merrill’s Photo-a-Week:
A stack of one of self’s short story collections: The Lost Language
Published by Anvil Press of the Philippines, TEN YEARS AGO!!!!
A stack of books at the London Review Bookshop, May 2019
London Review Bookshop: May 2019
On one side of London’s Russell Square is the newly renovated Kimpton-Fitzroy. Love the stacks of ornate, ironwork balconies:
The Kimpton-Fitzroy off Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
September 19, 2019 at 4:47 pm (destinations, Family, Food and Drink, Links, Places, Recommended, Relatives, Traveling)
Tags: Bacolod, happiness, memories, restaurants, The Philippines
Thanks to a Photo a Week Challenge prompt: SOMETHING NEW.
And self did do something new: She went home.
Not only did she go home, she went one better and returned to her Dear Departed Dad’s home island of Negros Occidental.
She stayed with cousins.
7th Floor, Belles Artes Condominiums, Galo cor. GV & Sons Street
She saw, for the first time in six years, the house where her Dear Departed Dad grew up, the Daku Balay:
Daku Balay, 50 Burgos Street, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, The Philippines
In Bacolod, she had the most delicious pizza! Here, smoked bangus pizza and basil pizza:
Café Oscar, Galo Street (Ground Floor, Belles Artes Building), Bacolod City
Great trip.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
September 19, 2019 at 4:40 am (Artists and Writers, Dearest Mum, Family, Filipino Writers, Great First Lines, Personal Bookshelf, Places, Recommended, Relatives, short story collections, Traveling, Weather, Women Writers)
Tags: humor, Manila, The Philippines
(Read all the way to the end; this post has many digressions)
Re-reading a fantastic short story, “Hothouse,” by Gilda Cordero-Fernando, a mimeographed copy of which self just pulled from a closet overflowing with old files.
Thank you, Jennie and Marie Kondo for inspiring self to organize! She had to drop everything and leave for Manila for two weeks, supposedly Dearest Mum Read the rest of this entry »
September 18, 2019 at 7:10 pm (destinations, Family, Holidays, Links, Places, Traveling)
Tags: Ateneo, Don Salvador Benedicto, nostalgia, The Philippines
Week 178 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge is FUZZY.
So glad there is a Photo Challenge that lets self post pictures she would never otherwise have posted!
Her Dear Departed Dad comes from the province of Negros Occidental in the Philippines. She recently had the chance to return. These pictures are from that trip.
Reading in the Gamboa House in Silay, Negros Occidental, The Philippines
Lissa Ylanan Moran, Best Friend Since College Days at the Ateneo, flew to Bacolod and Self took her to a resort in the town of Don Salvador Benedicto.
View of Canlaon Volcano from Manggapuri Villas, Don Salvador Benedicto
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
September 8, 2019 at 10:22 pm (Artists and Writers, Books, Food and Drink, Links, Traveling)
Tags: fast food, Manila, Mondays, Philippines, Redwood City, restaurants
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge # 62: SILHOUETTES
Silhouettes “are a marvelous technique to add to your photographic repertoire because they can add drama, mystery, emotion, and atmosphere to your photos.”
Can they ever. Self’s favorite types of shots are silhouettes.
A Little Past Midnight, Jollibee Drive-Thru, Manila
Reading Nook, Self’s House in Redwood City, California. The lamp is one of her favorites: She bought it several years ago from Harvest, a furniture store in Menlo Park.
Menchit Ongpin, wearing jewelry of her own design, at a dinner with former college classmates, Fely J’s, Greenbelt 5, Makati. Self asked Menchit to turn her head so she could capture her in silhouette.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
September 5, 2019 at 12:35 am (destinations, Family, Filipino Writers, Flowers, Links, Relatives, Traveling, Weather)
Tags: Manila, seasons, The Philippines, transitions
To self, FALL means changing weather and fading summer flowers.
It is rainy season in Manila, which means grey skies:
Self loves the light:
As the weather turns, the hydrangeas on self’s front porch are starting to fade:
Hydrangeas on Front Porch, September 2019
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
August 16, 2019 at 2:26 am (destinations, Links, Places, Plays, Traveling)
Tags: Cal Shakes, Cee Neuner, Cornwall, England, Fowey, Mendocino, summer
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge is TREES.
This is self’s second photo challenge post today. She spent a long time poring over her photo archive and came up, finally, with these three:
Early Morning Fog, Mendocino, April 2018
Cal Shakes Grove, Orinda, CA, September 2018
Monterey Pines in Fowey, Cornwall, England, May 2019
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
August 10, 2019 at 2:13 am (Conversations, Food and Drink, Places, Surprises, Traveling)
Tags: Fridays, India
Tim Dee’s gorgeous book – about gulls, and human waste, and interdependence, and evolution – is making self think about India.
She’s back in Old Delhi, the night market. She has a guide, but everything is just TOO. MUCH. The people, the open vats of food, the crowding, the muddy gutters, the smells.
She couldn’t resist buying food (Someone told her cooked food was okay): she tried some samosas, wrapped in an old newspaper. Delicious!
When she had finished, she looked vainly around for a garbage can. She clutched that oily piece of newspaper in her hand, alley after alley after alley. Finally, she asked her guide where she could dispose of her trash. The guide pointed straight down.
Self was confused. “Where?” she asked, looking at her feet.
“Just throw it,” the guide said. Meaning: anywhere. Throw it anywhere. Right here if you want.
Self looked around, and saw that other people were doing just as the guide suggested: eating and then dropping the containers on the street as they walked, never breaking stride.
She truly felt as if she was in a nightmare. The idea of eating something and then just dropping the wrapping or container ON THE GROUND while walking around. Oh God. She almost heaved.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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