Pale amber sunlight falls across
The reddening October trees,
That hardly sway before a breeze
As soft as summer: summer's loss
Seems little, dear! on days like these.
Ernest Dowson
The Poems and Prose of Ernest Dowson
I love the sun, how it dances and plays on the tips of leaves and how it bathes footpaths and even shady streets with its warmth and light. This is perhaps the reason why the incoming winter season is particularly hard. I am a sun person, I live for blue skies and vibrant colors, and the scent of the ocean, if you have one of those, please.
This is also the reason why I have a special appreciation for those rare days when the fog parts, the temperature rises just enough and we can walk and enjoy colors and warm weather, even for just a day. These days are made for the big girl camera, for taking in the details as they are recorded for reminiscing when days are less bright and colorful.
I love the sun. And aside from family and love and all good things, the sun is what I'm most thankful for.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes,
but in having new eyes.”
― Marcel Proust
My family has this tradition of going out for drives especially when we get together after some time spent apart. It's been that way since we were little and I'm glad we still love doing it today. We have spent many long afternoons on these kinds of drives, meandering through the small streets of Valencia, down the wider streets of Bacong and further on to the beach-side roads of Dauin and Siaton. All of these come with good memories that I go back to over and over again, more often now that I spend so much time away from home. All these memories of being wonderfully lost with my family cramped in one car, with no destination but the road in front of us keeps me excited for the next vacation when we can do it all over again.
This one was in Tambobo Bay, on a scorching hot Wednesday after a filling lunch at Malatapay. Even with all the good things that we enjoy here, there is no place better than home.
“Have a happy wet Sunday.
Rainbows love the rain.”
― Anthony T. Hincks
Seasons are changing, and after the intense waves of summer heat, we're having more rain as summer rolls into autumn. This Sunday is particularly gloomy, although that's what CQ weather usually is for most of the year. The anticipation for sunnier days is not helping my homesickness, though. Sundays usually make missing family and the dogs Nemo, Pip, and Kimchi so much harder.
It's a rainy Sunday, and news of the storm pummeling some cities here after it wreaked havoc in the PH is all over Wechat. Wet Sundays do not make a happy camper out of me at all. But no complaints.
We bought Tomas his own pair of glasses from Daiso, just because it was cute and a pooch needs to look like he reads books from time to time. And we are home safe and dry. A lot of people are living through strong winds and rain right now and that can't be easy. Praying that all the people and animals caught in the storm will stay safe and get the help they need if they're not.
Hopefully, the rainbows will start peeking through the clouds soon.
The thunder and the rain
The way you say my name
After all the clouds go by
The simple things remain
The sun, the moon, the stars
The beating of two hearts
How I love the simple things
The simple things just are.
Simple Things,
Jim Brickman
I put off writing this post because for some reason, I hesitate putting very personal highs and lows online in great detail. I like to keep the most personal moments close to my heart and writing about them and sending them off to the great big virtual world seems like the opposite of that.
I think the only thing I remember vividly is the ride to my hometown on the day of the ceremony. Rain was pouring, like a big bucket was being emptied out from the sky. I sat in the car, thinking of a plan B. "I think four tables can fit in the garage," I tell JP in my calmest, I'm-not-freaking-out-voice. Holding the ceremony in my parent's house would be the likeliest Plan B we'd have, because at the rate the rain was going, the venue was going to a soaked, muddy, mess. Jeff, our friend and photographer, chimed in from the back that no, no, no, it won't rain.
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
Sometimes I catch myself saying or thinking something cynical or nasty about an issue, event, or a person and I realize that I really do not want to be that kind of person who sees the negative in every situation. You need to be smart and discerning, I get it, but to overdo it is bad for your health, too. This is probably the reason why it's a conscious effort for me to think the good and see it and look for it, because sometimes the world can be a really, really bad place and sometimes it becomes a matter of survival, that need to find goodness that balances it all out.
This is probably the reason why I like taking pictures because especially of friends and family in states of happiness, togetherness, bliss. It's a reminder that the world is a bleak place but we can create pockets of positivity, love and acceptance that means the world to the people who matter.