Delineating Des

Our Weekend Memoirs: Roadside Fruit Stand Scroll down for Sunday Stealing Tupi is called the fruit basket of South Cotabato. It was only four months ago though that I really paid attention to the many fruits that I take for granted when I'm home. MG3, a pineapple label, is something new to me. The is the fruit stand in Kablon, a barangay near Dole, the pineapple giant. I bought loads of avocados. They're quite pricey in Bangkok. Whereas in SC 5 USD go a long way. We made several stops on our way home from the airport. This watermelon stand is in Gensan. Luckily, people at home are fruit eaters. It's no fun to eat alone. Click here for more OWM . **************** Sunday Stealing: Another 50 Questions Meme, Part One (perhaps) Today we ripped this meme of a blogger known as Nigel Vanstone at Away for a Bit . Nigel explains that he was tagged to do the meme, but does not credit the blogger. But, it was probably stolen there as well. So, of course, that will be as far as we g...

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 :-) ...

When I posted my OWM entry on Sunday this week, I was completely innocent of something similar that had hit my own country on Saturday. It was in fact the same calamity; only bigger, more disastrous, more terrifying, and really heart-rending. My flood experience in Bangkok is nothing compared to the plight of my countrymen in Manila. Most images on google and video clips on youtube about Typhoon Ondoy (International Code Name: Ketsana) show how bad the situation is. This is just one of the few less frightening images Courtesy of Boston.com In 2004 a friend halfway around the world frantically rang me. "You ok?" she asked straightaway when I picked up the phone. Confused, I hesitated, "yeah...? why?..." "Aggh you never watch TV" was her frustrated sigh before she hang up. The tsunami was killing thousands in Southern Thailand as we spoke. Talk about oblivious . It's true I rarely watch TV and the fact that my connection has been fluctuating since Sun...

Can you believe this??? Wait... I'm counting us.... wah! Eight fully-clothed grinning teenagers! All we needed were robes and a minister and we're ready for rebaptism. First glance at this photo after 19 years and I thought there were only 3 of us wearing size L shirts. We seem to have multiplied over the years. This is the same summer in 1990 I reminisced about in a previous FPF post with that Eric . Oh that's him alright; the guy holding the little girl, and that's me with my left hand on his shoulder, not knowing whether I should stay for the photo op or run back to the cottage. Now what were we laughing about? ... recall ... recall ... ok, my guess is our bathing suits. Like most of them, I didn't plan to get wet. But a few bored companions had this goal of having everyone in the water before sunset. Early on I told them I was staying put looking as gravely as I could and hoping they'd spare me. But they were planning an ambush and carried it out by pourin...

Back in the day, it seemed like the English Department always got this errand of hosting school pageants. 1996. Saturday evening. We had to move a few kilometers along Bankerohan River for the venue of this pageant. That's my co-instructor and co-host, a Mr C. We're both employed in this marine academy in Davao, a city in Southern Philippines. Mr C and I we're having a lull in reading sponsors' names and advertisers when this shot was taken. The student wearing blue is one of the campus hunks who girls go crazy over. I've forgotten whether he won or not but I'm guessing he must be out in some ocean now working on a ship. The academy also offers courses in Hotel and Restaurant Management where the hunk-crazy girls come from. This was my last job before I left the country. ~ FPF is brought to you by Alicia of More Than Words ~

"I remember the boy, but I don't remember the feeling anymore." LOL! Pardon me for laughing first before explaining this memory. It's that line of the song that amuses me about this snapshot. He's not my boyfriend. Now I kinda wish he was. Right now it just feels right to say he was, but he wasn't :(. If only he was *kidding* lol! Eric is a Theology major (see I remember his name too, lol). His department and mine used to do social activities together. During the summer of 1990, I fancied going with his group to Tacloban City. I didn't want to go home wearing an atrocious hairstyle like that (so I escaped and joined the circus). My parents wouldn't be amused to see their only girl looking like a boy. Eric's group were student literature evangelists out in the city selling books. I wasn't supposed to be allowed to join them because #1. I am totally useless when it comes to marketing; #2. The group had already reached the maximum number of studen...

~ brought to you by Alicia of More Than Words ~ It was a beautiful Saturday morning, and we're elevated 9509 ft; at the summit of Mt. Kitangland. These are former college classmates. I could not remember the exact year this happened. I'm guessing this was around the time I finished my bachelor's degree, so circa 1992 -1993. We hiked up for 7-8 hours, spent two nights at the peak eating, chatting, goofing, and came down on Sunday. It was a blast! My first and last mountaineering experience and one of the best memories I have from college: We also had a bit of serious time. We're actually having some worship when this shot was taken. We were singing what...oh, I've forgotten the darn song. Most probably "O the depths of the riches, the wisdom and knowledge of God..." or something like that. The two guys at the back and the classmate wearing a yellow top on the left are happily married. I have no confirmed updates about the second and the middle girls on ...

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."

Catching a flight during Holy Week in the Philippines is difficult. I am keeping track of my mother's travel to Auntie M's wake in Cebu via SMS and overseas calls. God she was a very cool aunt; loyal to my philandering uncle til the very end. She had a flair for smart fashion. I wonder how did she look like before she made her final exit. She was once facetious, "I want to be buried wearing my electric red lipstick." Whether she's getting what she wanted or not, I do not yet know. The latest update that popped into my pc instead says Mama (who arrived at 4 AM today) and Auntie M's daughters are in a hair saloon. I am convinced they are having fun despite the occasion that brought them together. Girls will be girls, funeral or not. And I'm stuck jealous in Bangkok. So what else is there to do but snap the weekend away. This is my urn and the clay base of my reading lamp. Auntie M is not headed for the crematorium though, but going down a vault. And my urn i...

Cj was eleven months old when I flew him to the Philippines to stay with my mother while I was finalizing my divorce. For almost two years I was playing hard ball with his dad, you know the fight over child custody that we usually hear surrounding divorces. While I was meeting lawyers and sorting documents I tried my best to play my role as a mom every chance I get in spite of the distance. Summers were those chances. With the help of my family, I was able to enjoy those summers with Cj. We were almost always out of the house even if we didn't go very far out of town. The heat drove us outdoors: This is Cj's favorite part of the yard. Guess why... because this is where he chases our neighbor's chickens off. I love this part of the yard too because it's where I watch him discover creatures around him. He hops after a frog and says, "Mom, kee-kith." My eyebrows meet in the middle, "what's kee-kith, Ceej?" He repeats with emphasis, " kee-kith !...