Rustic Living

Three saturdays ago, we went to a 30-minute drive resort from home… The waters were so cold and inviting yet we didn’t took a dip. Instead, we were content to watch kids frolicking under the shade of the trees and diving in the waters. I took my daughter and sat on a big rock and let her see the kids swimming. She stared at them for a long time and momentarily I thought she also wants to dive too!

On our way home, I can’t help but take a picture of the wonderful vista…I told my hubby that when we grow old and gray, I’d want to retire and live in the countryside. ..

                                      

Dinner at Imays

To celebrate my husband’s birthday, we went to a quiet dinner at Imays. We ordered some Pinoy delicacies including kinilaw and crispy pata pictured below and Gulaman and sago for drinks:

                       

I didn’t took a picture of the buko (young coconut)  salad complete with the whole green coconut stripped of a covering at the top revealing the young flesh added with crushed ice, sliced custard cake, piniping, gulaman, sago, jackfruit strips, milk and sugar. The sinigang was plain and simple.

To complete the night, I also took a picture of J. and Danielle and mommy and daughter.

            

My daughter’s 10th month birthday

I took a picture of my daughter earlier today for memories’ sake… it’s her 10th month birthday.

                                                

No, we didn’t go out but we did buy a cake from Red Ribbon. I absolutely love cakes from Red Ribbon! Everything is just temptingly delicious. My top favorite is the most popular Black Forest. Who doesn’t love Black Forest’s soft dark chocolate enveloped in thick white icing with ruffled chocolate strips? I just love the way Red Ribbon satisfy a sweet craving. But we didn’t buy my favorite instead we bought a cookie monster-like chocolate cake with vanilla strips and candy like toppings. This places a close second to Black Forest.

And for my daughter, we let her taste a tiny chocolate dripping. I know I should not pamper her with sweets at this stage or even in the next few years…

Earlier, as I was putting my daughter to sleep- I can’t help wonder how she is growing really fast! She is getting heavy and taller. She can stand by grabbing my hand and pulling herself up and takes a few steps if we guide her along. She claps her hands when she hears her father sing, calls me “ma-ma” and her father “ya-yi” and says “da-da-da” and “ba-ba-ba.” She also responds very well when we call her name (she started responding to her name at 7 months). Everytime we let her listen to songs, she would “sing” by raising her voice along with the music and stops when the music ends. Most of the time she would also “sing” along when her Daddy sings. And I think she would like to play the piano when she grows up because when I placed her in my lap while I played the piano she immediately placed her hands on the keyboard and pound the white keys. When I removed her, she cried out and wanted to go back and touch the keys.

I wish Danielle would stay as a little girl needing my help all the time. But I know this would be wishful thinking because soon she would start to walk, run and before you know it- a big girl!… I now understand that we as parents could not always hold our children’s hands. My mother has a favorite framed cross-stitch at home with these words about mothers: ” A mother holds her childrens hands for a while, but their hearts forever.” It is now my favorite too…

Birthdays

Who doesn’t love birthdays?

I love birthdays! When I was younger, I would eagerly wait for D-day: You wake up in the morning, your mom and papa and siblings greet and shower you with kisses. You go to school and is greeted by classmates and friends and get teased to treat them to a birthday blow-out. I love celebrating birthdays. I still do and everytime I add another year in my life- I pray and give thanks for all that I am blessed….

Tomorrow is my hubby’s birthday. Will there be a birthday party? nope- just me and danielle and him celebrating quietly in a dinner at a restaurant of my (not his! hehehe) choice! so what would it be? hmmm… I’d want a barbecued ultra juicy (only in Bacolod) chicken with its aroma wafting around the resto at Aida’s. But a dinner at Imays would also do. They have sizzling lemoned marinated malasug-i (fish); crispy pata that is ultra crispy; brewing hot sinigang; crispy and juicy kalamaris; tempting desserts and etcetera…

Dumaguete’s boulevard

While in Dumaguete, we went strolling in its seaside boulevard during dusk time. There were many joggers and strollers too like us. The seabreeze was a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of city-life. We took some pictures and strolled the whole walkway. At the end of the boulevard are street vendors selling tempuras, fishballs, squidballs and balot! Just love these delicacies! Here is a picture of danielle and joseph in the boulevard:

                                                                           

Off to Dumaguete

Last week, My daughter and I tagged along with Joseph in his working travel to Dumaguete. I absolutely love the place! It’s quiet, peaceful and very clean. At the heart of the small city is a premier Philippine school- Silliman University. There is virtually no traffic with very clean air. Just at the port of the city is a long boulevard where anyone could jog or stroll around.

 Everytime we would travel, I would always look towards the sea and enjoy the serene ”untouched” beaches. Below is a picture I took on our way to Dumaguete ( around 80 km before the city). It must have been around two in the afternoon. Unlike our previous travels, there were no fierce afternoon winds. Just stillness with the clouds reflected on the surface of the beach. If you would notice the beach looks like a huge lake! The island across the sea is Cebu.

                                             

  I also shot the road. Luckily there were few travelers, so I had the luxury of snapping a “deserted” road.

                

Teaching Moment 101

Three days ago, my hubby and I along with our little Danielle went to buy our weekly groceries at one of the malls in this city. It would have been another ordinary weekend buying until I lined up at one of the counters to pay for our food. Just in front of me is a boy between 8-10 years old. He was holding a basket with few grocery items. I watched him took out 2 canned goods, 2 little boxes of candies, and few porkchops in a cellophane. I was silently noting that this boy must have one of his parents inside the mall and was erraned to buy a few missed items from their grocery list. He seems to be a confident kid and looks like he comes from a financially well-off family. Then the time came to pay for his items.

He took out his money from his pocket and counted P34.00. The sales clerk gently asked him if he has some more money since the all the items costed a little over P70.00 and if his mother or father is with him. He shook his head to both questions and began to take out the two canned goods- he was still short and took out more items until the total bill was just a little under P30.00. All the while this was happening, I was trying to look for my husband who was waiting for me in the hallway. I could easily pay for the little difference.  But, something stopped me. Not knowing that my husband saw the whole incident, he was about to come to me and tell me to pay for the difference. But he too had the same impression.

On our way home, my husband and I talked only about the little boy. I was telling him if I was wrong and had not acted immediately in helping the boy pay his bills. My husband remarked that while he had the strong urge to help, he had the impression to refrain from helping and allow the boy to learn from the incident. My husband told me that while we badly want to help, there are some times that “not helping” is actually helping. I was silent for some time until we reached home. I looked at my daughter and realized that like the boy, there would be painful lessons ahead of her and if I want to be a wise parent- I would allow her to go through them and yet stay in the background in case she would need my help.

The Heat is On II

With barely 11 days before election, the candidates are pouring in everything in the last leg of the campaign period- money for media advertising, campaign sorties from Aparri to Jolo ( with the latter, not trodden by most if not all for fear of being kidnapped by bandits), announcements of their impressive records, and even slapsticks for their opponents. I wonder if they would have the same vigor in wooing voters as they would in fulfilling their promises. I have my fingers crossed and hope that worthy candidates who would sacrfice personal agenda with what is best for the country win.

 I can only name a handful who doesn’t run for power, selfishness and hidden agenda mainly because the stage for these politicians are overflowing with balimbings and destablizers of the government, and ambitious actors who presume that being a senator, mayor, governer, congressman is the same as “acting” for a play or movie.

How can I vote for a lady senatoriable when at the height of Estrada impeachment, she unabashedly cried when the Senate President ( another balimbing) resigned because the white envelope that would reveal if Estrada was lying or not could not be opened because the senators in favor of Estrada are too many compared to these Lady senatoriable’s comrades. I once idolized this once-senator because I thought she stood for integrity, principle and service with no expectations of something in return. But sadly, that was erased when I saw her running for vice president of the whole nation in the last presidential election under the banner of FPJ- the bestfriend, compare, and confidante of Pres. Estrada.  How could she abandon ship and ride on another that she thinks would have a fare chance in the elections? Her act was synonymous to abandoning her beliefs.

Then there are the actors who are led to believe that they have the qualifications to run for the senate. Can you imagine hiring a CEO of a big company who doesn’t have at least 10 years leadership experience, long-time financial success, great education, an MBA, good interpersonal skills, driven, can work well with people? Why can’t we expect the same achievements for our senators, congressmen, mayors and president? Why,- do we lack these kind of people in our midst? Well, that would be a big fallacy if we claim we don’t have people with these kind of caliber. 

I believe that it would not be difficult to see candidates who have these qualifications. They are there ( the good men and women)- waiting for us, for you and me to vote for them. I hope we can choose honest politicians who would be worthy of our one vote.