Anything goes...

What makes you proud of your country, your place in particular? Last week, Gensan celebrated its National Tourism Week and we chanced upon many things that we never expected it to be seen in the city. The city government has chosen to present an exhibit of the antiques that were found in the area. Hubby and I went around and had the chance to take shots of these treasures. Many of them are no longer functional, they were of course, aged. But in remembering how our ancients have lived with these things, these stuffs make us wonder in awe, and recalling how these are being valued, I would like to share them all to you! This first pic is not an antique, but this sculpture, if you may call it that, is composed of trash, all trash and recyclable materials the designer has gathered in order to make this wonderful and amazing work of art. The center of all the exhibit, I may say, although somewhat farthest from the exhibit site, is this. I feel relieved that people like the designer would thi...

I am ecstatic until now because of the goodies I received over the weekend. These loveliness arrived in my lap last Saturday! I was the one who personally received them as the the courier came. I was jumping for joy because of the loots I have received. My Creative Swap partner Jo, of WitsandNuts gave me these. She posted about her creative stuffs, and I never expected it was for me. The hubby got excited as I was and immediately got his camera and took shots of me opening the lovely package! Here is the bunch of goodies I received from Jo. My goodness, she has got very creative hands, I am very happy over the things I have received and while opening them, Biboy also got excited over the stuffs I got. The Kinder Bueno Chocolate was very delicious, and I shared to my hubby and kids. The Chocolate Notebook was very inviting. I don't think I will smudge it with my bad handwriting. You could not imagine it was not a real chocolate. The swinging card was very cool. And Jo, I love yo...

She was 85 when I visited her. I guess she’s 86 now, and she still weaves. Lang Dulay, as she is called... The Dreamweaver Using abaca fibers, Lang Dulay creates magnificent designs of t’nalak using her artistic imagination and images from her sleep. She has designed many t’nalak fabrics, most coming from the history of their tribe, the T’boli. She has created flowers, lakes, trees, nature, mountains and all the things that she sees with her naked eyes, and transforms them into beautiful patterns of t’nalak. These pictures are still vivid in her memory, they reflect the things she has undergone, her experiences and her more than eighty years of life in Lake Sebu. Because of her art in weaving, she has contributed so much in the lives of her tribe. The history she holds in her hands can be seen through her creations. They are the T’boli tribe, a group of indigenous people that can be found way down in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato. They weave t’nalak. They are small in numbers, ...

Hello everybody, I had a looooong weekend. That’s because of Saturday and Sunday, and the Monday that came left me staying home because Tabebs woke up with a high fever. Most probably because of the rain that never stops pouring every afternoon, brought about by the new typhoon visiting the Philippine Archipelago. The weather here is crazy. It gets to be really hot in the morning till noon and is pouring in the afternoons. Anyway, while I stayed homed to take care of my sick daughter, we had a good time bonding with each other. One day with her made me discover that she has learned a lot in her nearly three years of young life. We sang songs and read books, identified shapes and counted. Whew! I was really glad I stayed home for her. I discovered many things that she is already capable of doing like singing songs completely and knowing the lyrics all throughout. I am one proud Momma! She’s okay now, thank God. I woke up feeling her forehead for any sign of fever, but it’s gone after I...

It has been a week and all the afternoons of this week had sent me home shivering because of rain, if not rain, drizzle, and thank goodness, not really a downpour. I love it when it rains, but i don't like it when a downpour comes. The fact that it floods in the village where i live, plus the fact that other homes might be soaking wet with their leaking roofs. I just want to share to you this song from my kids' favorite show, Barney and friends. I am sure you know this song and you would love to sing along while reading. Tell me what you think... If all the raindrops are lemon drops and gum drops, oh what a rain that will be. Standing outside with my mouth open wide, ah-ah-ah-ah-ha, ah-ah-ah-ah-ha. If all the raindrops are lemon drops and gum drops, oh what a rain that will be. Here's another one: If all the snowflakes are candy bars and milk shakes, oh what a rain that will be. Standing outside with my mouth open wide, ah-ah-ah-ah-ha, ah-ah-ah-ah-ha. If all the snowflakes ...

Life is hard. Especially here in beloved Philippines. Whatever you do, it just doesn't seem to be enough. This picture depicts how hard life is, not only is it being experienced in my country but all over the world. While waiting for the boat to come and pick them up for a trip to Samal, Hubby chanced upon getting this pic of this boy who digs deep in the muddy and dirty soil, for what you may ask, but to get trash, any valuable trash. Isn't it ironic? How can trash be valuable? Well, as they say, another one's trash may be another one's gold. And this is really truly happening. I feel pity seeing this picture, it just saddens me that many people have been suffering like this. I blame the parents, the government, the teachers, this boy. I blame him for not being in school, for not thinking about what his life will be in the near future. What more? This boy should be in school, he should be learning life in school and not in this dirty landfill where he is digging for so...

I love blogging, especially when you get to meet friends who love you back because of the nice posts you share with them. When I went home last Saturday, my head was splitting with a bad migraine. I had to sleep off the bad headache, and my Tabebs woke me up because of this lovineliness that arrived in my bed. I was dancing my way inside the bedroom, and that practically kept the migraine away! I can't help it. This is all too good to be true, I just love the surprise it gives me. I love everything in it, from the ribbons to the neat red packaging. I met Jeanny of Startin' a New Life through blogging and she is one of the first persons I have added to my blogroll. One of the best things she gave me aside from the beauty of blogging is this cool tumbler she gave me as early Christmas present! Added to it was two very lovely magnetic bookmarks I will have to use, just timely for my new book, Godfather by Mario Puzo. Oh Jeanny, you gave me so much joy for sendling away this love...

I was in my 2nd year in high school, was alone in the school ground to check on my section. She came up, with a friendly tone, asked me what section I belong to. I said Durian as that was the name of the section I was in. With wide happy eyes, she said, "Wow, kaklase kita. (We are classmates.)" And I smiled and went my way. School began, and we were not that close at first, I was shy, and had to be pushed over to make friends. And she came up to me, offered her hand of friendship and we became the best of friends. We were inseparable then. Sure, we had our share of ups and downs, and we also had our rifts. We were jealous when one goes out to make friends with others, human nature, but we emerged strong in the friendship. Graduation came, and we had to go our separate ways to be in college, yet we still remained good friends, she might have found other group of friends but we remained in constant contact with each other through letters. I told her my secrets and she knew min...

Philippine classroom setting, examination day : Teacher ensuring that no one gets to cheat. Before - Teacher: Okey class, all bags and other stuffs here in front! Now - Teacher: Okey class, all bags, and cellphones here in front! Everything gets upgraded too, as technology does! What can you say?

Over all, it was fun. It was a holiday here in our small city. We have made sure that many people will be enjoying the festivities and so the parade began with these beauties... While on the roadway, these youth are dancing to the tune the float is sharing, They are students of a certain school here in the city, they make up the Culinary Expo which was done in a big mall atrium here. I will have to post it when the pics are already resized so I could show you the things that happened at the Tuna Culinary Expo. Syokoy (merman), sirena (mermaids), are being depicted as members of the Waterworld, and so they act as characters in the Tuna Festival too. Some claim these creatures were true as to their experience while fishing the waters of the city. Big big tuna, some as heavy as 150 kilograms are being hauled to the ships. These make up the reality that indeed Tuna Industry is the main living of some fishermen here in our city. Although many have already invested into diff...