At Medibank International

It is once again our tennis season here, and another wonderful chance to see fantastic matches of world class tennis players. As a big tennis fan, I had been waiting for the day to come. Last year, I took with us my parents and I can tell how much they enjoyed some of its great matches. Having grown up in a family that loves tennis, it gave me so much knowledge and interest about the game. My father was a former tennis president of my hometown for years and everyone in the family played the game except me and our eldest sister. I used to do practice before but it stopped when I pursued my studies in Cebu CityLast Saturday, we ( Dorothy, my sister and I) managed to grab a chance to visit Medibank International Sydney at Olympic Tennis Center. It is Sydney's biggest tennis event every year, "Sydney's Biggest Stage" prior to Australian Open which will be held in Melbourne sometime next week. Every year, I could not afford to miss to watch up close and personal some of its great matches. So when the day was getting closer, I was able to make arrangement with hubby to leave David under his care and glad that he didn't failed me. We always have a great time and it is worth a visit even though weather was quite warm and humid.

Pasalubong from Phi

I was surprised when I got a call from a friend who recently made a holiday to the Philippines informing me that I have something as "pasalubong" from my family. The friend of mine came from the same island where my hometown is. Her place in the island is not that far from where my parents live only it is in a remote location . Although, we only met and knew each other here, but gradually, our friendship developed to a special bond. She is like an aunt to me. She lives far from us here but from time to time during certain occasions we don't miss to visit her.

Before she went back to the Philippines, she rang me if I had something to send to my parents because she was planning to visit them. Of course, I didn't want to miss the chance she offered, so, I hurriedly prepared a letter with some photos enclosed and some few other stuffs that didnt give her any burden with regards to weight and space to take with her on the trip . And she informed me farther that if my parents will send something for me on her trip back to Australia, she will be happy to take it with provision that it would not cause any delay in the customs. Of course, I would not allow that to happen to her. The interrogations in the customs are unnerving to her and that is what she was trying to avoid. I just told her that not to worry about "pasalubong" from my family, as long as she kept her promise to visit my parents, I would be happy and feel contented.But to my surprise, when she came back from her trip, she brought something for me from my parents, a pack of dried fish and 2 small bottles of salted fish (ginamos).Thank you to her. Her effort and kindness are greatly appreciated. She is truly a good friend.

My tomatoes

I finally saw the fruits of my endeavor planting seedlings from kitchen scrap. Just when I went out to water my vegetable plants, I noticed that my tomatoes are bearing fruits already. Some are still small and some are bigger now . These type of tomatoes are just an average size which I regularly use in making our sandwiches. I am hoping we can enjoy as much as we could, saving a little from our budget...lolz The best tomato is one that ripens straight from the garden.
Growing tomatoes isn't that hard after all. A good fertilizer, sunny area, frequent watering and a well-drained soil are all that it takes. Although, it is not ready yet and for sure it will take more days and more effort just to be ready to be picked up. Yet, I feel a bit of success and my effort is about to pay off.

On My Special Day

Yes, it was my birthday last Sunday. I woke up early excited to see what the day will bring me for my special day. Hubby was the first one to greet me while we were still in bed and gave me a card and a gift. He got up early to go down to the shop to get things he needed for our portable foldable barbecue stove to be used for the planned simple celebration. The same as last year, we celebrated it in a very simple way with my sister and her family and my parents. However, this time, we decided to celebrate it in a park up in the Blue Mountains. It was my first time to celebrate it outdoor and an idea popped up to mind was to have a small barbecue celebration in the park. So hubby busied himself early preparing everything for it. While my sister prepared also something to throw into the barbecue, I myself prepared something as well with some sea foods and some deserts.The park is somewhere in Wentworthfalls not very far from the Great Western highway with a big lake where boating, feeding the ducks, and even swimming are allowed. I brought with us packs of bread for the kids to throw into the lakes for the ducks and fishes. It amused them for there were many ducks and small fishes of different kinds came by to enjoy the feed. Like most parks here, it has playgrounds where the kids enjoyed playing and making new friends. A pirate ship playground is one of its big attraction which is just nearby from the other playground.
Clouds were threatening the day but it didnt stop for the fun and enjoyment we had. We did a stroll around the park after lunch and enjoyed it very much. And not until the first drops of rain pelted that we started packing up to get ready for home. It was a great day where everyone enjoyed it.

You Make My Day Award

Now, here is another award from my friend, Inday Adin, my second award for this year. It's a great pleasure to receive another award from her and I am delighted and feel honored again. You surely make my day, Inday Adin. Thank you so much for always remembering me.

What a touching scene! A mother giraffe and her baby giraffe share a time of LOVE. It surely captures my heart and makes me more to miss my mother, father and everyone else back in the Phi (sigh). Even though, my parents were just here last year but I feel I haven't seen them for years...hehehe.. miss them so much now.

It is your turn now to receive this wonderful "you make my day award". I pass this to all my friends in my bloggers list .Just grab it if you can get the chance. thank you.

Inspiring Blogger Award

My first award for this year is from my friend, Inday Adin. What an honor from her. She is a truly an inspiring blogger. Thank you so much, my friend. I am so proud and happy at the same time, even though, i am not sure if I deserve this? hahaha.. but thank you, anyways, for including me in the list. What a treat for me for this start of the year! I get more inspired by this..hehehe

And now, i pass this award to all my friends in my bloggers list. I know all of you deserve this..

My Lilium

No, it's not that I have a green thump. It is just a matter of tender loving care that you give and in return they will give what you wanted. At first, I never gave it so much thought to grow them in my garden. Not a tiny a bit. And not until hubby introduced me to the world of Lilium that i started to feel in love with the flower. Hubby bought a few types in bulbs at first ready for planting to try in my front garden. Since we noticed that it grew well successfully, we purchased additional type from the nearby nursery garden close to where we live and planted them in the front garden as well. It is the best place for them for it has lightly shaded condition which is suitable to the type of species I got.Growing them is not that hard. There are two ways to grow them by planting through seeds and bulbs. I prefer to grow them in bulbs rather that in seeds for it is much easier. The fact that it can take from two to four years before seed grown lilium will flower is one thing that I dont like. Whilst the lilium from bulbs takes only about a year to flower. Buying them in bulbs comes with simple instructions on how to plant them. That is where I learned the technique in how to grow them with the great help and support of hubby, of course.Its the beautiful trumpet shaped fragment flowers what I am aiming for so I give them the proper care and love they needed. Even though they are annual type of plants which means they flower only from late Spring right through late Summer depending on the species and growing them is something rewarding.

So hot today!

The forecast yesterday confirmed that it's scorching hot in the west today with likely rising January temperatures. We decided to head off to the pool nearby to simply escape the heat and got hooked up in the water for hours. The temperature reached up 42 degrees C in our place while the city enjoyed a cooler weather between 28 to 30 degrees C.When we arrived there, my speculation confirmed that there were so many people in every pool. I had to keep an eye on David most of the time though, as the pool where he was in was crowded. Dorothy preferred in the big pool which was also crowded with people so she can practice her swimming skills . It was so hot that I can see clearly the heat waves on the ground. Glad that David's choice of pool was partially covered with tarps.
When we arrived home, we got a surprise, hubby turned on the Aircon in the lounge room before he went to bed which made the house more cooler at the time we arrived. I immediately went out to the back to check out our dogs if they had still enough water to drink and found them lazily lying down under a tree. It was my tree fern that got the worst hit of the sun that it burned down badly their leaves. This is also expected every hot summer days that is likely to happen. The worst so far this summer season that we got burned leaves of our plant from the sun.

At Brighton le Sands Beach

We went on a beach outing today with friends at Brighton le Sands on the western shore of Botany Bay just south Sydney's international airport.We often come here on weekends and this time we decided to take some of our friends.


The water was a bit choppy, cold and windy too as the day moved on. It was quiet when we arrived there except for few people taking their morning stroll around the beach. The kids didn't go for a swim because of the weather condition but instead they had a bit of play in the sand for a while making sand castles, gathering empty shells and chasing seagulls.

Then, we took them to the beach amusement park. It has this pirate ship playground and the kids enjoyed so much with some other kids while we lazily enjoying the day, catching what each other up to. We don't regularly see each other only on some occasions even though we live not very far from each other. Our weekends are always filled up with personal commitments and other matters so that's why once in a while we schedule a day like this.

Sunset at Goulburn

I could not come up with what my first post for 2009 would be. Not much exciting happening at the moment. We just mainly stayed at home and did some tidying up around especially in our backyard. Yet, this coming weekend, at least we have something to do with friends and relatives. Hubby doesn't go back to work until Monday so we still have time to enjoy the holidays. Tomorrow, we schedule a trip down to Brighton le Sands beach with a few friends and on Sunday we'll spend it with my sister's family up in the Blue Mountains. That will be something to look forward to.
Anyways, I just want to share with you my sunset pictures captured during our Goulburn escapade on the 27th of December 2008. It's my love of sunset that urged me to take these magic moments in the sky. The time when the far away horizon lights up into a shimmering different colors of blue, purple, pink and orange which I reckon is the best time of the evening as it starts to bath the surroundings. A scene that always takes my breath away that I cannot see every time . Yet, this is a special magic moment not to be witnessed forever for it wont stay there for long .