Delineating Des

Kneel It happens in church and in church school Children are taught that praying is cool. God loves you, He took the cross for you Talk to Him, He'd love a feel Kneel in prayer and seal the deal.   This post is linked with ABC Wednesday .

Anya of KARELTJE en ikke!!! tagged us this Lucky Chinese Tag called Eminent Eights. Here it goes: 8 TV shows we like to watch: These will have to be movies because we don't watch TV shows Ceejay i. Animals are Beautiful People ii. Barney: You Can Be Anything iii. Winnie the Pooh: Heffalump iv. Baby Einstein Hazel v. Pride and Prejudice vi. Miss Potter vii. Ladies in Lavender viii. Harry Potter 8 Favorite Places to Eat & drink: Ceejay i. KFC ii. Chester's Grill iii. Thai restaurant at Piyarom iv. Fried chicken stall in front of 7 Eleven on 3rd street Hazel v. iBerry vi. Fuji vii. Thai restaurants in the countryside viii. Auntie Annie 8 Things I Look Forward To: Ceejay i. Mommy coming home everyday ii. eating fried chicken from the stall in front of 7 Eleven iii. watching my favorite movies iv. Mommy's approval of my drawings Hazel v. Ceejay communicating well enough to be understood properl...

This week's STS topic: 6 things you love or hate about spending time with your or your significant others relatives had me thinking of none others but my former in-laws. I still have the memories and I thought it would be healthy to breathe those feelings (in written form) out at last. But then since it's that time of year I'll go easy on the negative; balance them with what I love and don't like about spending time with them and my own significant others: I. We don't speak the same language :( When they're over at our place I feel like an outsider in my own home. Once the then hubster told me my piano playing was interrupting their conversation. Let's just say I must have been playing that badly, or I wasn't playing at all but making noise in my own living room. II. In fairness , ex-hubster's siblings and cousins are generally nice. They try to interact with me. I appreciate their effort. I enjoyed the education I got from observing their way of ...

Hubster and I split up four years ago, so the woman I am talking about is history to me, although I don't want her to be so in my son's life; at least not totally until after she's gone. Mrs D is proud and fiercely supportive of her children. A rather premature widowhood must have brought out the best in her. She successfully raised six children single-handedly. So on to this week's Small Talk Six topic: six things (good or bad) that you credit your mother-in-law for: 1. Calling the shots at my wedding . My then fiance and I were not so keen on a ceremony and reception, but she was. I don't speak Thai and he's useless at organizing such events. We couldn't pull off that kind of wedding the way she did. Being married in a completely different culture from your own is quite an interesting experience. Those chanting monks, strange but lovely paraphernalia and hours of rituals were important reasons why when we divorced, I made sure I got all the wedding album...

Once in a Philippine mall my mother and I were looking at swimming trunks when Cj suddenly decided it was fun to pull the skirt off a baby mannequin. In an instant the poor mannequin went naked in front of other shoppers! Startled sales assistants's faces were like, "isn't child porn prohibited around here?" Shopping has since become an activity that we seldom do. I find going around the mall trying to catch a hyperactive monkey at every turn too much. We don't spend long hours anymore, much less a day at the mall (Mommy Moments theme this week). But now that Cj is more receptive to shopping behavior instructions, it has become easier. During one shopping in Bangkok I warned him that if he'd check out another mannequin like he did in PI, I would disappear. His response: Unlike me he picks what he likes without deliberation. When the 7th installment of the Harry Potter series was released, it didn't take him 3 minutes to choose his merchandise: It's ...

An aunt in Seattle told me we had this family reunion in December 1999 partly because Uncle J found out that his son's got a crush on a beautiful girl. This girl turned to be a second cousin! So before the crush turned into something romantic, he suggested we all gather for a reunion and get to know new members of the family. Plans were immediately made. Everyone was notified and encouraged to make time for the event. In our case about six generations were involved and showed up so we called it a clan reunion. We are a huge clan I almost didn't notice that another cousin was flying home on the same plane with me. Three great aunts who were widowed for a long time were going senile and were behaving like frustrated spinsters. Uncles talk business-like with great uncles. Another old maid aunt couldn't help implying that she preferred the old Filipino tradition of hand-kissing over "Hi Auntie!" We gladly obliged as she was paying for the eat-all-you-can snacks :-) ...

It's family time at TCP this week. I could not find a trailer for Impromptu 1990 on youtube, (my internet connection has been jumpy too) but I'm convinced it's one of two films I'd like to feature. Here's the overview: A true historical depiction with comedy, romance, & classical music. Nineteenth century England is the setting for this more than a love story about George Sand, an extremely independent woman writer, who often wore stylish men's clothes and took a male nom de plume in order to be published. She does not allow the mediocrity, pettiness, and hypocrisy of ordinary life to stop her from being a sincere, loving, creative, intelligent, unique, independent and strong spirited woman. A portion of the film deals with her romance with Frederick Chopin. It portrays the vicissitudes of an artist's life. Highly inspirational for women who dare to be different . (text from the same link) It's suitable for growing up or grown-up children. Here...

Most shots I take of CJ are precious to me or there is almost always a reason why they are so called treasured pictures (this week's Mommy Moments theme) regardless of the quality. I selected a few pictures for my MM entry today. In 2007 I flew Mozart, my 'eldest son' home to PI and took the younger son Cj back to Bangkok. Mama and I exchanged wards :) This is one of our early family online chats Summer 2009: I just love it when he shows me his latest antics. Thanks to Auntie Chette for capturing this moment He's growing virtually half a centimeter an hour and I'm trying to hold on to his being a baby by carrying him like this He's got slight fever but due to our yayaless situation during weekends, I had to take him with me on my chores. Despite not feeling well, he endured an hour following me around while I sorted my european travel insurance. When I gaze at peace on his face while he is asleep, I feel at peace too (I posted this pic on a different meme but) ...

~ brought to you by Alicia of More Than Words ~ The month of August has been filled with birthday celebrations of friends and family (read: mine and my canine). As I've already blabbed about people's birthdays, I thought this FPF post would be about Mozart. He's my toy poodle who turned 7 on August 2nd. I had him two years before my biological son arrived. This was taken on his first birthday in 2003, using my ancient Kodak camera. Like they say first baby, first birthday: big deal :D. So Mommy threw this cuddly guy a little party. ~ waiting for his guests ~ Actually there were only two invited guests. One didn't make it to the fun because she overslept. Her name is Dawn, the youngest 'child' of our next door neighbor, a local film actress. Dawn's mom handed a gift. Over the fence. ~ and this is Salapao, the other neighbor's 'baby' and Mozart's partner in ruining my alugbati patch every single week ~ They snobbed the cake, but had fun w...

~ brought to you by Susanne ~ The highlights of my week centered around my birthday, which was the last in a series of birthday celebrations for August; my poodle's birthday excluded. The new month should come in less eventful if we can help it. But as usual, and thanks to Providence, a party or two continues. Meanwhile my faves for this week are -- 1. Absentee voter registration . In two years and a decade of living overseas, I have never done anything like absentee voting. In fact I never got any chance to vote at all. There's a presidential election at home in 2010 and I decided it's about time I made my choice official no matter how dim things seem to be both politically and economically. 2. A good laugh and a friendly vice consul . At the Philippine embassy for my registration there was a little glitch. While waiting for the computer to get back to ready mode for processing e-signatures, a friend took me riding down memory lane, "Didn't that guy carry you a...

Today I join Friday Photo Flashback and give justice to these old photos on yellowing albums. First off I want to thank Alicia of More Than Words for hosting a meme where I join you in looking back and reminiscing the good old days , certain that there is a past and opportunity to be in touch with personal history. I was on the phone with my mother yesterday, asking her how old I was in this photo. She said if she couldn't see it, she couldn't remember. Her guess was 2 years old. The fun part of looking at old photos is sometimes seeing things that (to me at least) are funny, i.e. I burst out laughing at my hairless head. "Your hair was jus t thin, but you weren't bald at all," Mama corrected. "Oh, it's bald to me, I teased, "but I understand you want to euphemize because she's your baby."

Thanks to Pinaymama for the badge This week's Mommy Moments theme had me musing, "it's I who's gotta wear shades." After all it's my moment. So here we go: At first I didn't believe it, but during the wake for HRH Princess Galyani I started to think it must be true that my boss has friends in high places. How else did he secure an hour at the Grand Palace for his company? The thought of joining my colleagues to pay our last respects to a Thai royal thrilled me. While millions of Thais watched from their TVs or glanced hopefully from outside palace walls, we enjoyed observing rites in the throne hall itself where the King's sister lay in state. Kids were actually allowed inside, the child-friendly society that Thailand is. My mother instinct really wanted to take Cj along. But his Dad decided the place was too adult and somber for him. Besides, we couldn't risk the possibility of a young child behaving in a way that might not be considered appropr...

Button by Pinaymama . Thanks! It seems usual, if not normal, or except in other cases, that whoever is close to the mom is also close to her child. As I have no siblings, I consider Vilma, one of my closest cousins, my sister. By virtue of her weight in my heart and her proximity to me right now, she automatically becomes Cj's favorite aunt. Vilma's late mom was also my favorite aunt. Whenever possible Vilma and I get together during weekends to eat our favorite pinoy foods and chat ourselves til morning while our boys play. Vilma's boyfriend is great with Cj too. He's not in the pic but I want to mention him because I appreciate the way he bonds with Cj. The picture below was during Cj's 5th birthday. I'm third and Vilma is second from the right. Her sons Kakoy (white shirt, leaning on her) and Janjan (black and white stripes) are Cj's closest cousins. The infant on the far left is Cj's third cousin. The rest of these lovely people are friends and their...

It's Father's Day and in my case, it's remembering-Papa day. Sweet things that remind me of him have a place in my heart, and in my palate. My father had a sweet tooth. When I was little Mama lectured the two of us about the hazards of too much sweets. Papa did the opposite and secretly allowed me to eat all the sweets I wanted. Sometimes he would take me out to eat ice cream until the tip of my nose was cold. When he passed away in 2005, I lost my 'partner in crime.' I made sure there was enough ice cream for everyone at the funeral reception. It has been four years of collecting memories of him, and the list now includes a weekend self treat that has become rather indulgent. Macadamia choco cheese cake and durian ice cream - my old man would have loved these. This is my imperfect shot of a perfect indulgence: Papa would have spoiled my boys just as he spoiled me. I just know he would have. History has a sweet way of repeating itself, doesn't it? The eldest...

1. What was your favorite active game as a child? ~ A dodging game called Bakunawa (gigantic sea serpent); played it with cousins in an uncle's wide basketball court 2. What was your favorite board game as a child? ~ Scrabble . Ok that is originally my mother's favorite, but I learned to enjoy it very much although it was difficult to win over a parent who's a scrabble ace. I still love scrabble to this day, and my mother still wins when we play 3. Tell us about a friend you played these games with in your youth. ~ Cousin Angelica looks like her name, is sometimes mean but nice most of the time, as brainy as she's unmotivated to attend school, materially well-provided by a moneyed father (the uncle in #1). Angelica loves to party, collects boyfriends, ends up with a handsome frenchman, and right now is undergoing chemo for breast cancer. I hope she pulls through. 4. What is your favorite card game? ~ I have none, but I play Malunggay when there's nothing else to ...

History repeats itself . The saying threatens to ring true in my son's life. When I became a mom my plan was that Cj would not be an only child like me. But circumstances have a way of twirling people. My son repeats what I was while growing up. The difference between Cj and I as only children is the restriction on friends I was allowed to have time out with. But I'm sure my mother had her reasons. In this lifestyle I and Cj are thrust in, my wish is that Cj would have more human friends and maybe less of feathery friends. I jump at every chance for Cj to mingle with friends. Although not an everyday occurence for him, it does happen, and I am thankful. We went to the province one weekend where Cj got to hang out with a friend's son. Cj is a shy bunny around anyone new, but this is one of those rare moments where he quickly warmed up to a friend's friend. It may sound cliche but I was really happy to see him with people other than myself. Nowadays I go out wi...

There's a ritual at home that my mother imposed: family worship. It's the time when we sing hymns, read the bible, recite verses and pray. We did it morning and evening. My parents, although both christians, come from different religious backgrounds. Papa didn't attend worships 98% of the time, so it was mainly just mother, I and the pets. When I left the nest, I also left the church and worship became a thing of the past. Forgetting church and worship was easy as I'm not a fan of either. For more than a decade I was all work and party. Life rocked until divorce entered the scene. I found myself alone and resorted to the internet for company. Thank God for such a wonderful technology! I stumbled upon youtube and this: It's the very Abide With Me we used to sing at home! I clicked around and found other arrangements like Elton John's, but this is nearest to the way we sang at home, usually to close those worships. I used to memorize this, we all did. Mother'...

This morning I received a text message from my mother about Mozart. Mozart is my 6-year old toy poodle. I had to fly him home to the Philippines when my divorce became final. He's been staying with my mother who, I suspect, spoils him more than I did when he was with me in Bangkok. Mother's text message read, "Mozart caught a huge rat from the edge of the yard this morning. He wanted to munch it but I didn't let him. Now he is a cat." I replied, "Not letting him eat the rat is a good decision. After all a rat is not his diet." Back in the pre-divorce days Mozart caught a bird from our tiny garden. With his mouth bulging, he ran to me. He was very pleased with his catch. I had to tell him firmly, "Mozart, drop the bird." He obeyed and I ended up nursing the poor maya until it was ready to fly again. That earned Mozart a stern lecture about things he can play with and creatures he should leave alone. I emphasized the importance of being himself ...