February 5, 2017 at 4:27 am (postaday, Traveling)
Tags: Calgary, pets, postaday, postaweek, San Francisco, Saturday, Wordpress
“Show us what being alone means to you.”
— Jen H., The Daily Post
Self never feels more alone than when she’s on the train, surrounded by people listening to iPods:
And there is something incredibly solitary about these people on a train platform:
Cats are solitary creatures: Agree/disagree? The cat’s name is Chester. He lives in Calgary:
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
October 3, 2016 at 1:32 am (Family, Food and Drink, Links, postaday, Relatives, Sundays)
Tags: China, memories, nostalgia, pets, postaday, postaweek, websites, Wordpress
Of course, nostalgia is something that affects everyone differently. We’d love to know what kinds of experiences you’ve had that stir these emotions for the past in you.
— Jeff Golenski, The Daily Post
Here are some WordPress blogs whose takes on this week’s photo challenge, NOSTALGIA, intrigued self:
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
August 21, 2016 at 10:37 pm (Books, Food and Drink, Memoirs, Recommended, Sundays, Women Writers)
Tags: indulgences, pets, reading lists
Before school I would go for a run with my dog, Rambo, then make two large peanut butter cookies in the toaster oven and eat them, steaming hot, on the bus.
— Leanne Shapton, Swimming Studies
Really enjoying this book. Stay tuned.
December 7, 2015 at 10:38 pm (postaday, Traveling)
Tags: Florence, pets, postaday, travel
# 1: Artur, whose acquaintance self made in Florence, early November:
Self encountered Artur on the loggia in front of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, early November.
# 2: Joan Crawford’s eyes. Self-explanatory, really:
The Intensity of Her Gaze!
# 3: Friend Annabelle Udo-O’Malley has the most gorgeous eyes. Took this pic in San Francisco, last year:
Annabelle! It’s been so long! Time for more dress shopping!
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
November 11, 2015 at 9:02 pm (Family, Niece, postaday, Recommended, Sundays, Traveling)
Tags: discoveries, Italy, memories, museums, pets, postaday, postaweek, Sundays, travel, Wordpress
Self’s niece was so organized that we got to see three small towns around Florence, all on the same day: Siena, San Gimignano, and Pisa.
Self’s favorite was Siena.
The beautiful Gothic cathedral has a magnificent interior (striped columns! Who would have thought!) but it’s the exterior self will focus on for further examples of the “ornate.”
For instance, all kinds of creatures proliferate, including a roaring lion sticking out of a buttress in the front:
Stone lion on the front of the Cathedral in Siena, built in the fourteenth century. The lion represents one of Siena’s 17 districts.
Here is the facade of the Cathedral, or as the Italians refer to it, the Duomo:
The Duomo of Siena is decorated with animals representing each of the city’s 17 districts, which compete twice a year in horse races called the Palio.
For the third picture, self goes back to her archive of Florence photos. This is a shot of the loggia of the Uffizi Gallery. On Sunday afternoons, the stone benches are lined with people.
The Loggia of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence: a great spot to people-watch!
The last shot isn’t related to the Photo Challenge but is one of self’s favorite pictures from her trip.
On self’s last afternoon in Florence (a Sunday), she took a picture of this adorable creature, whose owners kept calling him “R2” which self thought was a kind of homage to R2D2 of Star Wars, until a young man told her that the dog’s name was “Artur.” Oh. How adorbs!
Artur, who self met on the stone benches in the loggia of the Uffizi Gallery
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
April 11, 2015 at 10:19 pm (Family, Places, postaday, Traveling)
Tags: Bacolod, Gardens, Ireland, memories, pets, postaday, postaweek, travel, Wordpress Ireland
More on the WordPress Photo Challenge, AFLOAT.
Self took the first two pictures when she was in Dublin, May 2014. It was her first time ever to Ireland. She walked along Grafton Street, met author Catherine Dunne for lunch at Bewley’s, then walked around St. Stephen’s Green.
The water in the lake had a sort of mineral quality that self has never seen anywhere else.
And this is a picture of Manong Freddie’s pet turtle in Bacolod. Turtles bring good luck:
Manong Freddie’s pet turtle
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
January 26, 2015 at 4:16 pm (Artists and Writers, postaday, Recommended, Women Writers)
Tags: breakfast, happiness, memories, pets, poetry, postaday, postaweek, Wordpress
This week’s WordPress Photo Challenge is EXPRESS YOURSELF. In posting on this theme, self has focused — twice — on artistic expression.
But here are two other kinds of expression: facial expression and doggie expression!
Having breakfast outside with Connie Ignacio Genato, best friends since grade school in Manila
Looks like Connie’s Li’l Crits are hungry! Her dogs’ names are Bauer (after Jack Bauer of the TV show 24), Kobe, and Macho.
Angela Narciso Torres’s son, Matthew, is an undergrad in a Fine Arts Program in USC. Here he is holding up a watercolor he made for the title poem of Angela’s first book, BLOOD ORANGE.
And here is the poem:
BLOOD ORANGES
At the river’s edge —
strewn seed, vermilion
petals from blood oranges
we ate. A branch
stoops from the weight
of phantom fruit. Falling,
the leaves exhale
the spice-heavy air,
its punishing sweet.
December 7, 2014 at 6:50 pm (Family, Holidays, postaday)
Tags: Events, memories, nostalgia, pets, postaday, postaweek, Wordpress
Yesterday, December 6, was Redwood City’s annual Hometown Holidays event. The children loved the petting zoo!
Petting Zoo in Redwood City’s Courthouse Square: Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014
Son’s first pets were goldfish and guppies. Next, love birds. Third, rabbits.
He had a black-and-white rabbit named Spot that a friend gave us. It was a huge jackrabbit. When it peed, the spray was phenomenal.
We gave Spot away when we acquired Bella, our first beagle.
Yesterday, we ogled the animals in the petting zoo in Redwood City’s Courthouse Square. There were pony rides!
The pony rides were also very popular. If son were small, he would flip over the pony rides!
Children were enjoying a section with real snow! Who wouldn’t enjoy getting into a snowball fight?
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
December 6, 2014 at 4:51 pm (Family, Holidays, Links, postaday)
Tags: beagles, Christmas, family, memories, pets, postaday, postaweek, San Francisco, Saturdays, Wordpress, Ying
For this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, we’re asked to commemorate what’s “gone but not forgotten.”
Straw Angels: They were a present from Ying, who passed away Sept. 11, 2008.
Self has a lot of doggie tree ornaments. That’s because, once upon a time, she had two beagles.
This last photo shows a bench next to Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. Self has passed that particular bench so many times. She only noticed the sign on the bench a month or so ago.
Memorial Bench, Stowe Lake, Golden Gate Park
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
September 21, 2014 at 4:02 pm (Family, Places, postaday, Sundays)
Tags: beagles, inspiration, Manila, memories, pets, postaday, postaweek, Sundays, The Philippines, transitions, Wordpress
This week’s WordPress Photo Challenge is ENDURANCE.
Show us what endurance means to you. Is it that high-school diploma, beads of sweat earned on a long run, a treasured family heirloom, or something else entirely?
Street Vendor, South Super Highway, Manila: That smile. Wonder how much money he makes selling from car to car when the traffic stalls. Warrant ya, NOT MUCH. Still, he endures.
Gracie dozes — Self missed spending time with her when she started traveling. Adopted at 1 yr. old, she passed away three years ago from complications of diabetes. But she had the biggest, bravest heart. She endured self’s long absences.
Mount Kanlaon: Still active, after thousands of years. It’s in the center of Dear Departed Dad’s home island of Negros, in the central Philippines. Its mystery only seems to grow, with each of self’s succeeding visits to Negros. It endures.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
 | Allan G. Smorra on Tim O’Brien: “On t… |
 | anthropologist on Tim O’Brien: “On t… |
| Allan G. Smorra on Tim O’Brien: “On t… |
| anthropologist on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge… |
Preserving the history and legacy of Salinas Chinatown
The Blog about everything and nothing and it's all done in the best possible taste!
Never get lost in the Sauce
Be One... Make One...
Learning and teaching the art of composition.
Fueling fearlessness through style and inspiration.
My writing and photo journey of inspiration and discovery
Decades of her words.
Observations about my life and the world around me.
Yousuf Bawany's Blog
Any old world uncovered by new writing
the literary asylum
A site for small presses, writers, poets & readers
A journey from one end of the bookshelf to the other
“Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.”― Madeleine L'Engle
Amuse Thyself Reader!
A blog. My blog
Just another Wordpress.com weblog
