The Flemington Racecourse in Dec 2006

Here is Phar Lap whose monument is the centre piece at Flemington, the site of the famous Melbourne Cup that occurs every 1st Tuesday in November every year. The race that stops the nation, a national day in Melbourne!

Christmas Cheers and Trims

Gee, I didn't realise that I haven't posted here since early November!
It's after Christmas now and before we finally remove and store our christmas adornments, here are some of them in our home right now-

The christmas flower, the Pointsettia will always grace the buffet table. This is not real!

Ray and David's bar portrait is not spared from tinsels.
The coffee table has a santa that turns around with a wind-up musical song. Some of the christmas cards we received are on the table that holds the TV
My favourite stockings- empty inside though.
Christmas lillies (these are real -courtesy of Woolworths) is a feature of the dining table.
This silk wreath had been with us since 1992!.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Queens Street Mall Plants

Every season the Brisbane City Council changes the plants features in its raised gardens.
These plants look deceiving but they are real- they are actually planted on individual pots, the pots are arranged in a pretty design then they are all covered with bark.
Very effective indeed- you can actually dig them out and take them home- but not my advise as it's an offense to take them.
Bromeliads were the feature for this season
Those whites, pinks and greens on different levels are very effective.

Ahhhh Brisbane, queens street mall- i just love walking up and down this street.

Shania, You´re Still The One

enjoy the music for a break- she's one of my favourite artists.

Riverside landscape

I am leaving this wonderful work environment very soon and i want to share with you the facade and buildings and surrounds.


I really love the surroundings of Riverside Centre- very elegant, near the river, right in one of the most beautiful CBD locations- aside from Southbank, this is one of the choicest places to be in Brisbane.
Just right infront of our building is the icon of Brisbane, the Story Bridge.
The CityCat- a catamaran ferry that's an important public transport system in the city.
This is the 123 Riverside Centre, where I worked on the 34th floor for more than 3 years now. The building has 40 floors and was once the highest building of Brisbane.

Our Orchids

Sometime in April 06, we attended an Orchids Expo in the Planetarium in Brisbane and David was enticed to purchase 2 orchids with unknown flower colour. Surprise, surprise, it has now bloomed into a serene creamy-white tiny flower. David was so rapped because he just took interest in orchids when we were in Baguio last and he was quite successful in being able to 'nail' them onto the tree and they have thrived.


Here's the other one, the flower colour we still don't know. Somehow it grew more leaves instead of flowers.

These are my orchids- they are native to Queensland and are better known as Rock Orchids. They were left here by the previous owners of the house. Somehow it flowers every start of winter and they last for a couple of months on the tree. But this time they did now last long as there was a strong storm that destroyed the petals. Luckily for me I brought a stalk home and enjoyed it on my dining table before it shed its petals.
Orchids will be attended more in our retirement....

I know that Ramon will have a Zoo

If he will have his way but until then here are some cyber-animals he might have

A Tortoise like Henrietta (rip) (175 y.o. ) who along with his boss, Steve Irwin had now passed on to the next life. This picture was taken when we visited the Australia Zoo
Am sure he will have some kambings- goats for the kilawen. This was taken by Ray's group in Sydney 2006 trip group.
His favourite- our cousins the gorilla- he's been dying to have one as a pet since he was three- after being pinched by one in the then Baguio Zoo.
He will probably keep some cows for the much needed milk in his baking.
Of course, the roosters will have a special place in his zoo- this one was taken in Fort Ilocandia during the year of the rooster. In fact Dolly wanted to take home this rooster and wanted to approach the manager if she can have it after the Chinese New Year.
I will ask him to put some of these horses as they are my favourite animals.

And of course to entertain Dessy endlessly and to annoy Donna he will have one of these Barneys.

I hope that your zoo will become a reality one day....wishful thinking. When you come here next we will visit Taronga Zoo or Melbourne Zoo or the one in Dubbo. Promise.

The plants and garden at Donna's house

I think that this is still the everyday outlook of Donna. I haven't seen her near the plants but her parents are keen gardeners and landscape developers- of their own garden to start with.

Identical mini trees create a statement on this otherwise empty drainage cover.

By the driveway, a combination of ground cover, mini hedge and bushes.

Donna is hardly there so here I am enjoying the Japanese bridge over some goldfishes- but i forgot to take a shot at the fishes but i have it on DVD ( I should learn to translate it to itube)

Would the cattleyas still be blooming for her to wear in her debut?

The fence that Sammy built

Since it's Sammy's birthday, let's just feature some of his accomplishments and one great one, apart from organising the food for the 5000 or so crew of the USS JFK aircraft carrier, is his house fence. His purpose of course, apart from ensuring privacy to his house is to keep the alligators away. That's half the job done..and the fence is even taller than he is- 7 feet?
His backyard with the one who gives him the orders- i mean inspiration... according to Sam the patio is 12 ft by 18 ft and it's being used a lot.
And these are his little helpers- child labor in the 1st degree- these girls will really appreciate the value (nice fence in this instance) of hard manual labour.
Mission accomplished- what a handyman- can i borrow you for a year Sammy? There's a lot to do in my backyard.

Images sent by Sam

A tribute to Daddy on father's day and his great legacy

Daddy was a keen builder and renovator of houses. When Mama and he were just married, Uncle Joe gave them a lot allotment and he quickly built a 2-bedroom house at first. As the family grew, he added extensions, attics, floors on the basement.
As a legacy, his children especially my brothers worked their hardest to save money to build/buy their own houses for their own families.
We always loved owning our own homes no matter how big or small they are.
Dad's children had spread their wings- in the Phils/USA/Australia
We do hope that our children will continue the legacy of the importance of a good home.

note:my house is the smallest!

Agave Plants

These AGAVE plants that existed under our outdoor staircasehad multiplied and the more I make cuttings and give them a big clean-up they seem to thrive and shoot more baby plants. This plant was already there when we bought the house. They are the 'in' plant at the moment on this this part of the world. They are considered as succulents and require very little care and watering. I have transplanted quite a few and they are all thriving too.

Hibiscus or Gumamela in the Phils

This Hibiscus plant is nearly 3 years old- it hasn't grown much but it's always blooming.
I was about to prune the stems but everytime I try to do it, new buds are present.
Finally this weekend, I was able to trim a couple of branches. One of which I stood in a jar with water.
I hope to propagate another bush or so as I just love those lovely giant flowers. It simple melts your heart! They are very photogenic too.

Look this orchid is starting to bloom!

This specie of orchid that's grown on the bark of the paper tree, a legacy of the former owners of the house had shot a stem and is flowering! I will research for the name- wait till the orchid exhibits come back and i will get the name for you. There used to be a cream and yellow flowering ones and those flower shoots are out, one each per plant and I do have several.
My spider plant had also thrived under the shade- I can propagate it now into several plants.
It is the last month of winter and in September it will be spring here. I prefer the wintry months as it reminds me very much of my hometown in Baguio. But it will be gone soon.