Hall of Justice

"Meanwhile...at the Hall of Justice.."  (he he he)

Flag ceremony on November 13, Monday.  Tagaytay City

April Showers Bring Narra Flowers

I know...Narra overload in this blog.  But in the past posts they came in March

http://lagunagingerlily.blogspot.com/2011/03/mmm-
smell-that-its-narra-tree.html

, a day after a rainshower too.

These bloomed on April 19.

  Oh here is my pineapple in a pot...I do appreciate pineapples more now...never knew they took long to grow...

I woke up to the narra's fragrance, and looked at them in golden sunlight just after sunrise.

Bye-bye Narra tree, after 8 exactly years!

They do bloom at the same time...like these on Inchican Road...and further up, in St. Scholastica's Westgrove campus...

So have you seen/smelled any lately?  How about in the UP Diliman campus? 

That "Marcos Mansion", Canlubang

Zigzag down the ridge...

 Bouganvilla used to bloom here...

Down at Canlubang...

out to Nuvali

 Incredibly large crowds along the lake...

Cafe Voi*La Tagaytay

 One of those cozy, yummy places whose location I want to keep to myself...

Glass sculptures

JUST AT THE TOP OF THE RIDGE IF YOU TAKE THE STA.ROSA-TAGAYTAY HIGHWAY ALL THE WAY UP...

Beautiful art and a beautiful view...

Greetings from Museo Orlina!

We are inviting you to an exhibit entitled Blue Shirt by the remarkable glass artist Dong Hoon Kwak from Busan, South Korea.

​

In addition, we recently unveiled the replica of Ramon Orlina's "Arcanum XIX, Paradise Gained"—the first glass sculpture in the Philippines. This is part of his continuing celebration in the arts as a sculptor.

Operating hours: Tuesdays-Sundays, 10am to 6pm

Regular admission fee: Php 100

Student/senior citizen/ PWD admission fee: Php 80

Be sure to include Museo Orlina in your itinerary this summer! See you!

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Lent

Candles at St. John Bosco Parish, Santa Rosa

     One of my rituals, not only during Lent, is to stop by the Perpetual Help Candle Sanctuary at the St. John Bosco Parish Church in bgy. Don Jose.

     If I am lucky and the candle drawers are newly replenished, I go for all the colors available, regardless of their symbolism. There is a poster enumerating the colors and what they symbolise.  Red is for birthdays, anniversaries, and white for general intentions.  I do not memorize what the other colors represent, as I light any or all available.  I do know that the one most often out of stock or low in supply, is the one for finances.

     Now that's not really a surprise, is it.

     You can opt to donate cash in the adjoining box, and I do have an amount set per candle.  From 1996 to 2007 I used to stop by to light candles at the St. Andrew parish in Bel-air, Makati, and pray to Our Lady of Czestochowa. Now, it is here, and not regularly.  Lighting a candle and praying while gazing at its flame is meditative and brings me instant peace.

     While being in the parish after the morning mass and when the place is empty makes me wary these days...(the new fences and gates have enhanced my insecurity), I find it is still quite neighborly and comforting enough to see the parishioners leaving or hanging around chatting.   
     
     Options for Bisita Iglesia in the vicinity are St. John Bosco in Bgy. Don Jose, and in through the Inchican Road (which intersects Laguna Blvd), is St. Benedict in Ayala Westgrove.  I do not think the Oratory at Xavier School Nuvali nor the Chapel inside Montecito will be open to the public for this activity.  Farther toward the Santa Rosa SLEX toll, past Greenfield is the Laguna Bel-air chapel.  Another route is to go up towards Tagaytay, where starting in Lumil, Silang is the San Antonio de Padua church, relatively new, but already having seen many weddings.  Indeed it was built for those, in my opinion.  Angel Fields' Holy Family Pavilion is not a church, but the place is a retreat place, with cottages to rent.

    And then of course, up toward Tagaytay for the rest of the churches.

Laguna Very Gingerly

Okay I'm a hypocrite. Ranting about the new malls in town...yet seeing two movies since their Cinema opened a month ago, and enjoying the fact that they are new and nearby.

At the second movie today,  something happened to me.  I felt what seemed like a tiny bug crawling on my leg.  What happened was, it reminded me of where I was.  Happy to be in a cozy new cinema with only about 15 other people in the audience, five minutes away from home.  Then wham! my chest suddenly went heavy remembering what stood there BEFORE the mall was built.

Just five years ago these were fields of cogon...where we watched shrikes perched on thin branches.  Further into Nuvali, fields where in March kites were flown.  Actually, there were kites being flown yesterday, and I'm not sure if it was an event open to the public, but it was certainly not in the same scale as the kite-flying events of five years ago.

There were many children in the malls' play areas, the parking lots immediately filled by dusk.  So many people. Just mid-week there were press releases by the POPCOM (Population Commission) about...overcrowding in Metro Manila and the move toward Calabarzon.  Here we are.

I still find it a bit ironic...to have to have fitness gyms and equipment in a place where people (used to, some still do) enjoyed walking, running and biking outdoors.  I remember thinking about a correlation between the existence of malls, and obesity---because a lot of the people I first met here were fit and enjoyed the outdoors versus in the more urban areas where, really...fat people were in the indoor malls.

I know...I'm not making that much sense again, with disconnected statements.  I am just ranting again, and calling myself...a hypocrite about this.

Things are just not the same anymore. And you know what? Everybody is coughing, right? Suddenly, kids whose asthma allergies have not occurred since two years ago, are suddenly sick again.  And I have a theory.

CONSTRUCTION DUST.

Well, I will end with this shot, not a particularly great shot...taken at a cafe on the ridge.  Where I stared, very cold due to cold winds even at 11 a.m. The Taal lake was visible but not in this photo. A waiter came and said "Ma'am, nakakamangha diba", referring to the view... I asked if he probably was not from the area...and he said he was from there,  from Cavite.  It was nice that this waiter, with artista looks, admired the view as much as most of the customers...and paused to stare himself.  Then he said..."Ganito yan ma'am...'pag heartbroken ka, sigaw ka lang dyan..."

Well, I guess I AM heartbroken...torn...appreciate the paved paradise, do I?  I seem to have no choice.

Last of the land

May I selfishly say that I hope they (the owners) never do anything with that grassland? Ah but it is inevitable.

I do keep repeating this.

What a depressing blog!

Still on Silang

I stopped between mountains to admire this bridge. Nothing special except this road from the bayan ng Silang to bgy. Inchican's Cardiac Trail, goes up and down hills and through forests. 

Along the Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay highway, just past Sta. Rosa Heights, is Malaga Tiles' very attractive, simple, almost easy to miss Spanish storefront.  And these boys were setting up the crab stall.  Where do these crabs come from?

This weekend...

the road to Tagaytay from Santa Rosa will be awfully busy.  

Born and raised in Metro Manila (forty plus years remember), and having seen five Christmases here, I just know there is a pattern in the jumble   (jungles) of our cities.  Pay days are not universally on the 15th &30th anymore, and yet you combine the 15th with a weekend, throw in a full moon some months, and you will have a monster jam leading to the malls.

In these parts...here is where cars will slow down...

as seen from Nuvali's side.  View from the valley.

Last week, I was so sure that was the "north mountain" there.  Last Monday, with the addition of the ice castle's balcony...and squint, squint, do you see him standing in front...dear Olaf...it is confirmed.
Valenza a.k.a. Disneyland.
My kid's own C.O.D. Christmas or Greenhills Shopping Center. If you remember the C.O.D. displays then welcome, my fellow forty-something!  

See you at the castle one of these evenings, when the lights go on.   I wonder how the residents feel, when their village gate gets blocked...

I personally prefer "nativity" displays with nipa huts for Christmas, but some villages and churches do have them too. 

I Have Chalk Paint

I love chalk paint. Why? Because I do not like having to sand pieces of furniture first, and the chalky look can be distressed for a vintage, shabby appearance.

I've mixed up some of the lime and powdery blue colors I used on a child's table and chair (table leg pictured at bottom)...and I am selling them in these boxes that are actually decorative box frames (with loops at the corners for hanging).  

FOR SALE!

"Sun Sea Cottage"

Chalk Paint sampler size decor box kit

Php 365.00

Here are parts of what I've painted with chalk paint...

note I did not bother to distress, and I waxed only the first piece. I've largely been unable to take proper photos and log on to my blog the past month, so took detailed photos from a phone camera instead:

Concha's Garden Cafe

     Maybe last year...I cannot recall exactly when, I posted photos of Mother Earth's Garden.  I may have fantasized aloud about the location being perfect for a cafe...

     This has been the story of my life for the past decade...witnessing others fulfill some "crazy" idea of mine which I could not have implemented myself.

       However, I would have capitalized on this view of Mt. Makiling and built a second level with big picture windows, or just an open balcony.  (Unless that is in their expansion plans).  Sniff, sob, I guess I am still reeling from the loss of King Bee's Makiling view...

  Here is where Concha's is located.  Next to the Petron in Puting Kahoy, Silang. For Manilenos and other non-Silang/Sta. Rosa residents, this is on your way to Tagaytay.  Right across the Adventist University's (AUP) fence and grassy field.

   Now I don't know the owners, though the owner/chef was there the times I dined.  She is not one to introduce herself to customers, or even smile at us I think.  The man, while also being discreet in a corner, is the more welcoming one.  

   Finally and the most important detail: her food is good. It's a full-blown restaurant, to my mind, not just a cafe.  Everything we've ever order was...yummy...lovely presentation, flavorful, and matches the cozy Spanish-influenced Filipino home ambience, and of course, the garden.  The last dish my taste buds still recall is...the Sinampalukang Manok.  Go and try it.