Halloween 2018

Nate brought along his loot bag of the candies and chocolates he collected during their Halloween  Party at Nissa’s office.  We had fun sorting them out.

Halloween 2018

He came  dressed as a jet fighter pilot.

 

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Turning 62

Nissa took these shots during my birthday. They are the only photos we had of it. A joyful occasion  with Nate doing the entertaining.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Blue Ternate, Anyone?

Gardens and Empty Spaces

Every day I would harvest blue ternatea flowers and usually give them to our neighbor who air dries them. Her daughter wants to bring them back to the US. she said when she came here that dried blue ternatea flowers are so expensive in their area. Early this morning, I harvested more and gave them to our neighbor. Lucky me, I saw a dried ternatea fruit and gave it to her too. It’s hard to see if there are more fruits because the plant is so robust and healthy, you could see flowers every day. It rained yesterday so there were more.

Last Saturday, I  gave some to my friend who came over for my birthday. She was so happy, made them into juice and mixed  them with rice for that lovely blue rice look. And yes, it is an anti-oxidant. She sent me this picture  of the flowers that…

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Musings On A Tuesday Morning

Have you ever felt it? You wake  up one morning, you’re not sick or anything but you just feel so lazy.

I went back to bed when Josef left home for work.  I woke up around 7:30 am and immediately checked the other room, I thought he was still sleeping. Did the morning chores of cleaning the house, watering the garden and sweeping the yard but I still feel like going back to bed again.

I’ve checked my reader feed here and my news feed at Facebook but didn’t feel inclined to make comments. How’s that again?

Maybe these are those times when I really feel the years catching up on me. My goodness, I just turned 62 and some of my friends say that it is still a young age.  Or is this how you feel when you are two years beyond  sixty?

Since Facebook has taken out all those troll pages, it has somehow become a quiet place again. But there are still those who can’t wait to click angry emoticons when some of our eight opposition candidates post something on their walls. They could not wait to make angry comments and rebuttal on those dissenting arguments by anti-Duterte people. A pro-Duterte fanatic admitted a few days ago that he is jobless now. He used to have fifteen fake accounts at Facebook and  used to spend the whole day making those fake news. But trolls I think are still everywhere, they just  no longer have those fake wall sites to propagate their liking and loving what Duterte is doing to the country. They are dividing us Filipinos and if one is vulnerable enough to believe in them, you’ll surely have your say too siding with the ugly and all the lies.  They propagate lies and untruth resurrecting  issues against the previous administration but they are so quiet when it comes to EJKs, (extra-judicial killings) drugs from China in billions’ worth and  Marawi rehabilitation. Marawi was destroyed when Duterte challenged the Maute group to bring their war to the city.  Oh my gosh, what else is new? Given all these circumstances, I wonder why so many still believe in the guy.

There is a strong typhoon that has entered the country named Rosita. It’s battering the  North at the moment. We are under signal No. 1 but thankfully, it is just gloomy and there are still no rains.  Thank God.

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Nate’s Halloween Costumes Over The Years

via Nate’s Halloween Costumes Over The Years

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One Day In December

“You tread lightly through life, but you leave deep footprints that are hard for other people to fill.”

A tale of love, loss and friendship. One of those books that you can hardly put down. It’s that good.  Is there love at first sight?

She saw him through a misted-up bus window. She was on the bus and he was sitting at the bus stop. Their eyes met and  they smiled at each other. No communication, no physical contact except that brief eye encounter with a stranger. Then the bus drives away.

For a year together with her best friend, the girl looked for him in each coffee corner and bus stop to no avail. Then one day, the best friend introduces her boyfriend. She was tongue-tied and speechless, the boy of her dreams is  right before her eyes but he belongs to the best friend. She never told the best friend that he is the guy she was looking for.

Such is the start of this beautiful love story One Day In December and it is also my first book of Josie Silver. I think this is also her first book  publication.

She didn’t want to be the third wheel in what she sees as a lovely relationship. The boy denied that they have met before but they became friends eventually. The girl even managed to get married to a guy she met later. As for the rest of the story, it is for you to find it if you ever find a copy of this lovely book. A feel good story spanning a decade of friendship for the three characters.

Sometimes you find a light read like this and you are thrilled. Sometimes you are touched by the message it conveys. Sometimes you just enjoy it and you wish the story would go on. But there is always an ending no matter how good the story is.

And fate sometimes has other plans.

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Another Year Is Over

Sometimes I think blowing a candle on a birthday cake is something old-fashioned. But yesterday I did  it with gusto.  Nate said, “I’ll help you blow Nonna” while singing happy birthday at the top of his voice.  I guess, birthdays are not complete without blowing candles on your cake, having a liter of ice cream and sweets.  The ref is full with many left-over food and something I cooked earlier yesterday that we didn’t touch.  It’s just  the family, a friend and I. I guess I won’t have to cook for two more days until we’ve  eaten everything. Home-cooked meals are always the best I think. You can enjoy those moments without worrying about what to order in a restaurant setting.

Nissa told me she will bring me to the place where she learned to paint and we’ll have some moments to ourselves together soon. Not exactly looking forward to it but she said  I would enjoy it.  We’ll see.  My son gave me some cash and Lilet brought a jar of pili nuts and one of my favorite collections….keychains.  Received a nice shirt from Jovy.

We had some fun sorting out Nate’s loot at the  Halloween party at Nissa’s office last Friday.  He brought with him a big bag of assorted candies and chocolates. He gave all the wafer biscuits to Lilet because he is not fond of wafers, haha! Since Nate was born, Lilet would always give him gifts  on his birthday. Nate was overjoyed to receive more books and glow in the dark stickers from her.  He’ll be turning  six next month.

I received so many greetings on my wall on Facebook.  Some photos are just so lovely.  Nissa posted this yesterday. Just have to edit the resolutions so it won’t eat up my free space.

 

What does it feel like turning sixty-two? Growing old and getting older too but the enthusiasm of living life every day the best I know how is still there.  I look forward to the days that I get to spend more with the family and maybe learn some crafts too. I hope to make rosaries again for gifts to close friends who visit me now and then.  I have to start those coloring books that Nissa gave me  two years ago. Yes of course, I would love to discover more books and new authors too. Blogging of course would always be  a happy medium of getting in touch with online friends.  So really happy to find you all here.

Another year is over and another year is here to look forward to.

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Thank You

Thank You Lord for another wonderful year. Looking forward to more years of blessings and happy moments.

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Every Breath

I am giving this four stars.

The last time I read a Nicholas Sparks book was in 2016 when Two by Two was published. Unlike his other books that I enjoyed reading in the past, it was not really an amazing read for me.  Of course, he is a romance writer  but not all of his subjects  and plots are okay with me although they are also well-written. Here comes Every Breath which I think is better than the other books he wrote before.  Of course, I love Message in A Bottle which was the first book I read of him, I also love A Walk To Remember.  Except for a few titles that I’ve missed, I have read almost all of his books, courtesy of Nissa who deeply admire Nicholas  Sparks’ writings. Fancy a male writer more in tune with women’s feelings, emotionally in touched with scenes that keep you hooked till the end.

Regrets of course always come last. Sometimes we make bad decisions that we have to live up to and maybe dream that someday, all would be well again. Every Breath is such a story, a story of hope, a story of true love.

It is such a joy to read another winner. It is such a joy to find a book that would make you believe that fate sometimes truly makes a way for you to enjoy the remaining days of your life. Love endures and it is always a blessing when you find that one true love.

As always I jotted down some quotes which I like in the book.

“A life, after all, is simply a series of little lives, each of them lived one day at a time, and every single one of those days has choices and consequences. Piece by piece, those decisions help to form the people we become.”

“One of the great things about a leaf,” he said to her, “is that it reminds you to live as well as you can for as long as you can, until it’s finally time to let go and allow yourself to drift away with grace.” 

“Memories are a doorway to the past, and the more one treasures the memories, the wider the door will open.”

“Falling in love is the easy part; making that love last amid life’s varied challenges is an elusive dream for many.” 

“Being loved deeply by someone gives you strength, and loving someone deeply gives you courage.” 

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All For The Love Of Nicholas Sparks (Nicholas Sparks, Live In Manila)

I am re-blogging this post which I did back in 2011 when I met Nicholas Sparks personally. I am presently reading one his books (his latest, I think) and I suddenly remembered meeting  a real life author. Every Breath is better than some of his books I read before. Back in 2011, there was no “like” feature yet on WordPress.

Dreams And Escapes

I was a typical celebrity fan for a day, shouting, laughing and cheering with kindred souls while waiting for Nicholas Sparks at the Podium yesterday. Gosh, if Nissa was excited to give me her gift, I was just as excited to take a glimpse of one of her favorite authors, Nicholas Sparks.

The Best of Me.

It’s the newest book by Nicholas Sparks which was launched yesterday at the 2nd floor lobby of The Podium. I told Nissa earlier that I won’t be caught dead lining up for hours just to have a book signed. Signed or not, I could still enjoy reading it , right? Nissa asked me to just try since this is the first time that a very popular and well-known author is visiting the country.  I am sure there have been so many authors who visited the country before but Nicholas Sparks is “the Nicholas Sparks”…

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