Dancing Lady/Today's Flowers #17

@ mirandablue
Dancing Lady, Oncidium altissimum

Tranquil pleasures last the longest; we are not fitted to bear the burden of great joys.  

~Christian Nestell Bovee

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Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower. 

@ mirandablue

Posted for Today's Flowers

La Pinay

@ mirandablue

This was the dessert I shared with two girlfriends at Cafe Breton-Podium recently.  It's called La Pinay---a delectable serving of mango crepe with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Posted for Food Friday and Food Trip Friday

Nostalgia: Time travel

@ mirandablue

When I am having a bad hair day, one look at this picture and I chuckle.  I love this frozen psychedelic time travel that takes one back to the era of the beat generation.  Rest assured this group does not belong to a cult espousing free love and alternative states of consciousness.These hippies were not high on anything except hair-spray.  The flower power get-up was the theme of our company's Christmas party in 1999.  


You'd be surprised how difficult it was to look this cheap hip. It was a team effort, really. Tita M and Mel were in charge of charol bags---I don't know where they got the bags and outfits, while I scoured every beauty parlor in Guadalupe looking for wigs, begging a few Miss Gay contestants to lend me their wigs for a night. Didn't know about ukay-ukay back in the day, and I had no idea where to get retro outfits. (If only my mother kept her 60's wardrobe complete with polka-dot vinyl bags and winklepicker shoes...sigh!)


Well, it took me 3 weekends to finally find the perfect orange outfit at Corso Marconi.  To complete the look, I wore an afro wig [that itched like crazy] and a pair of clogs that felt like I was pulling a whole trunk of acacia under my feet.  Varicose veins screaming in protest but I pulled it off like a true-blue hippie fashionista.  By 3 am, we were all dancing barefoot sans wigs.  It was liberating!


We were admiring each other's brilliant creations [sic] when somebody asked, "What happened to Lola Cristy? Why is she wearing a curtain?"  Obviously, Lola C is the one in florals, a testimony that she grew up in the 60's.


This was one Christmas party that I will always remember---a fun, delightful night among friends and colleagues. It was a poolside party held on the roof top of a building in Ortigas Center.  Marte and I won the "star of the night" award with a cash prize of one thousand pesos each.  It didn't cover the cost of my outfit but at least I have this photo to look at when my spirit needs a lift.  

Posted for Nostalgic Marveling hosted by Rose

Showy Medinilla/Today's Flowers #16

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Showy Medinilla (Medinilla cumingi)

For myself I hold no preferences among flowers,

so long as they are wild, free, spontaneous.

~ Edward Abbey

Posted for Today's Flowers

Sweet summer dreams

@ mirandablue

Not even a rain storm and Saturday night traffic could stop me from my chocolate ice cream craving.  After dinner at a grill in the Manila Ocean Park a couple of Saturdays ago, we were caught in a rain storm and a horrible traffic.  But I've been haunted by chocolate ice cream the whole afternoon.  My friend wondered out loud---who would eat ice cream in this weather?  But when we arrived at Ice Monster in Harbor Square, the place was almost full. Evidently, wet and cold weather have no power over people who crave for chocolate ice cream and other delightful indulgences.  I savored each spoonful, dreaming of summer.

@ mirandablue

All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt!
-- Lucy Van Pelt in Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz

@ mirandablue

Posted for Nostalgic Marveling,  Food Friday and Food Trip Friday

Yard Art on Thursdays

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Pepe and his dog---Dr. Jose Rizal as a boy with his dog
at the grounds of Rizal's ancestral home in Calamba, Laguna.

Posted for Yard Art on Thursdays

Everyday Life Around The World: Fire

Taal Lake and Volcano @ mirandablue

No actual fire in this photo, but this volcano is one of the active volcanoes in the Philippines, and part of the Pacific ring of fire.  About 50 kilometers south of Manila, Taal Volcano is an island in Lake Taal, situated within a caldera formed by an earlier, very powerful eruption. The last major eruption was in 1977 but alert status level was raised to 2 in June this year which indicates the volcano is undergoing magmatic intrusion which could eventually lead to an eruption.  As the crater lake temperature increased, with hot ground and steam emissions, the area was declared off-limits to the public and high-risk area for residents.


This photo was taken from the Tagaytay ridge along the highway.

Posted for Everyday Life ATW

Purple Petunia/Today's Flowers #15

Blue thou art, intensely blue; Flower, whence came thy dazzling hue?  

~ James Montgomery

Posted for Today's Flowers

Yard Art on Thursdays

@ mirandablue

A larger than life self-portrait of the artist, Kublai Millan,
 coming out of a shell.  Found in Ponce Suites, Davao City.

Posted for Yard Art on Thursdays

Everyday Life Around The World: Air

Bangui Wind Farm @ mirandablue

The first wind farm in the Philippines and considered to be the biggest in Southeast Asia.  The Bangui Windmills are the first power-generating wind farm located in Bangui, Ilocos Norte.  The site, at the northwest tip of Luzon, faces the South China Sea from where the wind blows towards the land.  It is a 9-kilometer stretch of sea shore, undeveloped and uninhabited, making it an ideal site for this project. 

Posted for Everyday Life Around The World

Clock Vine/Today's Flowers #14

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Thunbergia mysorensis, Clock Vine

Every flower about a house certifies to the refinement of somebody.

Every vine climbing and blossoming tells of love and joy.

~ Robert Ingersoll

@ mirandablue

Posted for Today's Flowers

Everyday Life Around The World: Water

@mirandablue

Waves crashing on the white sandy shores of Blue Lagoon in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.

Posted for Everyday Life Around the World