A Visit from Our Lady of Penafrancia

It will take her 13 hours of train ride just to get from her hometown Naga to the Capital City of Manila. But I guess, travelling great distances has become her forte, there is no distance that is really too hard for her. How she came about and how she was made known to the world, it had all been one great journey of faith....of overcoming great distances.

Her story started when a french man named Simon Vela heard a voice telling him to find the Virgin Mother's image in the far away mountains of Spain. He answered this call and spent 5 years wandering around to find it. He was led to a place called Pena de Francia and with witnesses, he dug a small land as shown to him in a dream and found this miraculous image.

Our Lady of Penafrancia, Philippines

Changes and DIY landscape

I know there's a big gap in my blog because I haven't been able to write anything for a couple of months. For those who would like to know, I'm back working (yey!), found a perfect job that suits me and my lifestyle but (just like any job) I needed to adjust so I've been taking some time off of blogging and just wrote in my journal instead. But, I really missed sharing the many things that made me smile, laugh and cry so I just want to write as many posts as I can this week and then I'll just set the proper time stamps of the posts once I get a long break from my hectic schedule. Either way, it's the thought that counts right (?) ^_^ . I also want to share that even if I'm back working again, it didn't stop me from experiencing life and  enjoying the fruits of my labor. ^_^
One of the home projects that my husband and I focused on in the month of June (before the heavy rainy season started) is to improve the small patch of land in front our home. Landscapers in the Philippines costs about PHP5000 and up (depends on the plants and the size of the area), since we only needed to have a small area planted, my husband and I gambled to personally take on this small project, and in the end, learned and realized that doing it ourselves really has their own rewards.

finally, a home for the horsetail that my mother -in-law gave us as a gift.

Plastic No More

If you are in the Philippines, and you hear people calling you "plastic". Bear in mind that it doesn't meant to complement your "break-resistant" body or talks about how "indispensable" you are in the team or how "shiny" your hair looks. "Plastic", my friend is actually a slang word for "fake" and "backstabber". So if someone calls you that, just go and punch him in the face ---->Just kidding! a confrontation would usually work with these people. Just make sure you have a witness when the confrontation happens (too bad for you if the witness is also "plastic". lol) :p

Anyway, just to be clear, this post is not about the many "plastic" people that lurks around in the dark and sneaks at your back then pretends to be your friend by constantly smiling at you or sometimes even giving you an occasional hug or worst a "Judas" kiss; or from time to time will engage you with small talks waiting for you to say something wrong or personal so he/she can broadcast it to the whole world. The plastic that I'm gonna talk about is the molecular structure that was invented in 1868 by a young  painter John Wesley who mixed pyroxylin and nitric acid with camphor (whatever that is). The plastic that changed the whole world and can be seen in almost anything that we possess and use.

Stories from Bolobadiangan Islands

"Each affects the other, and the other affects the next, and the world is full of stories,

but the stories are all one."

-- Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet in Heaven

10AM. The tides finally rolled back in. The motor boat that was once stranded on the sand had to be anchored properly now to keep it from floating away. Mang Sonny walked us to it and told us that Mang Mode (pronounced as Moh-dë) and another boatman (that I have regretfully forgotten the name) will take us to the other islands. The island tour will cost us PHP1,000. And, I am hoping that it will be worth it. We hopped onto the boat, more confidently now and more relaxed than the first time we were in it. While our two boatmen were busy maneuvering it away from the shore using long bamboo sticks as lever, I was giving my husband the "Yehey! this is it" look.... He knew I was excited...... I can't help it.... Watching these raised masses of earth scattered all around, I can't help but ask --

 "What's the story over there?"