We are in the internet cafe in Changi Airport

and we were just admiring some orchid garden that almost looks like this....

OK they are rushing me now got to go..will catch up with you when i arrive in Baguio..take care!

Messy Christmas Decorating

Feature of the month for PMN Fam Pic Series is MESSY!

Putting up the Christmas tree starts from a clean slate and getting it assembled with a tinsel is fine.


The problem of a big mess ensues when there are 3 people who wants to put up something, no one agreeing on the same thing, coupled with a lot of Christmas baubles and trimmings available after several years of building up to the collection. Of course our former housemates of grown up children who had moved on had also left theirs and are expecting to see them up somewhere- on the tree/wall/doorway -somewhere visible as each has its own history/memory..ahhhhh.
Anyway, we played some christmas carols (even this we have to disagree- I wanted some mambo xmas sounds, the hubby wanted the crooner and the son wants some mantovani classical piano melodies-- mum decides - ok we will play everything starting with the request of the youngest one...Mantovani which actually proved very soothing as we calmly negotiated what to or what not to hang...
These are just samples of the decors we have had since time forgotten...
Too many tinsels but i just love those xmas flowers known as poinsettias which reminds me so much of my hometown- cool Baguio...we had them planted around the house...The bar is the last place the housemates thought of decorating so I just had to put the poinsettias there!
So by the time we are about to hear the crooners on stereo- it's all finished so I can now sit and enjoy Bing Crosby's Hark the herald...., turn on the aircon and hug my fave monkey collection- Whitey! before cleaning up and vacuuming all the mess on the floor (unsightly, didn't even take a photo of it hehehe)Anyway, super moms, wonder moms, bat moms, spider moms, dad moms...A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL!

from my family to yours!

Desk Top Free View (answering to Teena's TAG)

More intermission before the main event blog LOL..in response to Teena here is my desktop view at the moment.

Description

My background is a photo taken by Ray while we were inside the Melbourne Jail doing our time hehehe! I thought it's an amazing shot showing the corridor on the 3rd level, each door contains a bust of the dead convict and a description of crime commited and profile of the criminal. At first I wasn't that keen entering this museum but I actually liked it for the eerie feeling, the well documented profile of boarders (people who were jailed there) and even a bust sculpture of each inmate.


Our Icons

The PC is mainly mine but Ray and hubby usually use it as it's the only one connected with the printer. My icons include Mozilla browser, W, Paint, My Documents, My computer IQ Test frog, My Games (Magic Inlay, Collapse), Window Washer, Big W Online Digital Photo, E-tax 2007, Letterhead- mostly applications that I use regularly.


Tag yourselves friends and send me a link.


The Desktop Free View instructions are:

A. Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop. It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of FUN.

You can do a screen capture by:

(1) Going to your desktop and pressing the Print Scrn key (located on the right side of the F12 key)

(2) Open a graphics program (like Picture Manager, Paint or Photoshop) and do a paste (CTRL + V)

(3) If you wish, you can "edit" the image before saving it.

B. Post the picture in your blog. Give a short explanation about your desktop screensaver. You can explain why you preferred such look or why is it full of icons. Things like that.

C. Tag your friends and ask them to give you a free view of their desktops as well.

PMN Fam Pics - Pork N Cabbage on a Stripey Plate

Anything plated is the featured theme of PMN (Pinoy Moms Network) for the month of November-
Here's my plated dish of fried lean pork (in vegetable oil) with a cabbage dish- it must be cabbage spooned out of a pork sinigang as I can see traces of tomato seeds. This is a common Filipino dish served Australian-style- no-frills

Come- let's eat!

Plated features

1. Pinayhekmi: Scrambled eggs


2. Ruth: Filipino breakfast


3. Lynn: Tukneneng


4. Mommy Chi: Fried rice and beef stew


5. Ajay: Because pancit is my favorite dish


6. Julie: PinoyMomsNetwork Fam Pics 3: Plated (On a Plate)


7. Connie: Chopsticks on a plate


8. Cookie: PMN Fampics Series 3 : Plated


9. KK: Eclectic taste


10. Feng: Plated on a operating table


11. Raqgold: Schlachtplatte


12. Vicky: What's for tea?-Lean Pork N Cabbage on Stripey Plate


13. Rach: My plated collage

All Saints Day in the Philippines

Tomorrow, the 1st of November. I remember our dearly departed especially my father, sister, grandparents, daughters and recently mom's better half..may you all rest in peace.

A tribute to Uncle Nick and their home in Santa

I will always remember the time in 2005 when we travelled for more than 5 hours from Baguio to visit the house of Uncle Nick and Mama in Santa, Ilocos Sur. I will never forget that time as we had such a great time, sharing conversations and laughter, great Ilocano food and hospitality.



As a tribute to our step-dad, we will always remember you like this, happy, peaceful and proud.

You had done your great time in this lifetime, here's a prayer to our dear Lord that you shall now Rest in Peace. We celebrate your life by remembering with fondness those happy memories. God be with you always, Uncle...we love you..

Potted fruits and vegetables

Pot Vegetables and Fruits

When some of my pot plants died due to neglect/water restrictions in our place, I decided to utilise the empty pots as storage for the citrus, apples, tomatoes, garlic, ginger and onions.

Citrus fruits and apples are 'must haves' in my dining room, kitchen and in our diets. The basic ingredients in my cooking are onions and garlic while the tomatoes are handy for instant vegetable for our meals. Lately, I’ve been adding ginger to my steamed broccoli and cauliflowers so gingers became a 'must have' too.

Since I am the chief chef at home, I prefer my ingredients to be at arms length and readily accessible. Having a busy family life, storing fruits and vegetables inside the pantry became quite impractical in my household as they never get cooked or eaten and just left to rot. They have to be seen to be used.

Eversince they became accessible in pots and displayed on the stairs, the housemates-hubby and 17 year old high school son- had started eating them too. They can just readily pick an apple or a mandarin on their way up or down those stairs - those steps by the way lead up to our lounge and down to our kitchen.

Ahh pots- they are just fantastic storage containers...

Other Potted Ideas from Pinoy Moms Network

Julie's flowers
Raqgold's Potted Memory
Cookie's different kind of pot :razz:
KK's indoor and outdoor pots
Rach's Flowers and a Smile
Lynn's Pot Shots
Lady Cess' The Best Tea
Feng's Tagaytay Pics
Analyse's Life isn't easy being a nomad
Purple Girl's Coffee Alamid
Mitch's very edible photos
Noemi's Ceramic Fondue Pot
Vicky's Potted Fruits and Vegetables
Dine's anything potted in Bhutan and Capalonga

This is the grand MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) which is a renowned venue for international and national cricket matches. It is massive in size but I thought that the seats a a bit small- you have to be not obese if you want to come here and enjoy a live cricket match. My 2 housemates are fond of this game. Ray in fact played it while in primary school.

Happy Father's Day- to day in Australia and I am not sure if it is in the Southers Hemisphere.

A place we've been recently

Just around town in Chinatown, Fortitude Valley we recently attended a premiere showing of a movie to support our friend who is with Soroptomist Club of Brisbane.
It was at the Centro, located in a pretty place with pretty shops such as the above. I will buy one of those jars one day. The movie we watched was a good one and it's called Paris, Je T'aime
This was taken on Mother's Day 2007 with my other half.

To all the mothers in the world

I wish that I could take you all and enjoy the view of Fitzroy Park in Melbourne Australia.

We shall stroll the park, admire and talk about the trees, flowers, Capt Cook Tavern and have a coffee and cake at the coffeshop.

In the meantime, let's connect in spirit.

happy mothers day to you all.

Giant Mosaic Frog

After a brief reunion with Mon/Dol/Des I bid goodbye to them at the Sydney International Airport, it was a sad farewell although Mon assured that he will be coming back in April with Donna. It's now May and there is no indication of him coming back. He seem quite happy in the Phils

Anyway this big giant frog which is imbedded with shiny gems distracted me from my melancholy that day of departure of my brother and family. It looked so real- a great piece of art that entertains those left behind by the beloveds.

You'll find Mr Giant Frog in one of the many foyers of the departure lounge in the now famous Sydney International Airport.

Sydney Scenes

A big water feature in the middle of Sydney CBD
My niece, Dessy Dane by the elevators at Sky City Hotel
This is near the Hyde Park on our way to St Mary's Church
A box or a big box of flowers infront of the Queen Victoria Bldg (QVB)

One of the beaches in our vicinity

I didn't realise that these pictures are really tiny, but just to give you an idea about one of the beautiful beaches available in our area in Qld Australia. It's a quiet beach, bounded by Nordic Pines- very similar ambiance to the place we left, in Napier, New Zealand. We always say this everytime we visit this beach- that it's like Napier.

Going into Melbourne Proper

These horse-drawn carriages and uniformed horsemen actually still exists in Melbourne.
Federation Square entrance.
David is ogling the famous building in Federation Square.
In our free tram tour, we passed this edifice which is a Museum (sorry I forgot which one).

Continuing from the landscape of Melbourne...

The tower at the Victorian Arts Centre- it looks like the Eiffel Tower. Next to it is main train station.
From the rooftop of the Shrine of Remembrance this is the view of the landscape.
The Schrine of Remembrance is a big imposing building.

What's blooming in my garden?

These beautiful nasturtiums- i love that shade of yellow- very warm. They just sprouted out of the blue from seeds i just buried there and forgotten all about the.

The bottle brush tree had a lot of flowers, the tree was almost red and the birds loved it. I have a good view of it from my 2nd level verandah.
Of course my favourite geraniums near my clothesline. I always pay attention to it when I hang the clothes on a Saturday morning.

Plants, parks and gardens (PPG) in Melbourne Pt 1

From the rooftop of the War Memorial we viewed this thirsty (they have water restrictions e.g. category 3 when we were there) tree-bordered lawn
I looked back at the War Memorial and this is what I saw- the building right at the centre of the garden!
Further along is my garden...I mean the queen victoria garden.
This is a drought victim watch, a gift from the Swiss - otherwise it is an attractive feature infront of that monument (sorry forgot to take note who's on top of the horse).

More on Melbourne here and here.