Visit to the Museum

There are not too many museums around here worth visiting so when Father told me that a friend of his friend was going to be at the Ayala Museum to personally walk visitors through his fossils collection, I jumped at the chance to bring the kids.

MacGyver dropped me off with GI and MyGirl at the Ayala Museum last Saturday. RD happened to be sick last weekend so he had to stay home.

Fossils are the remains of living organisms that have been preserved in stone. Their color is derived from the minerals found in the area where they are located. The fossils on display were amazing and quite beautiful. Most of the fossils on display were from Arizona. There were a lot of pieces from Madagascar that were beautiful. There were a couple of pieces from the Philippines. There were fossils of trees, dinosaur bones, dinosaur poop, ammonites and more. I particularly liked the ammonites which are extinct nautilus-like creatures of the sea. There were pieces on display that were over 210 million years old!

(This picture of an ammonite by Bobby Wong)

I found Larry Gotuaco to be a good-natured man with much passion for his collection. He also has a great sense of humor. At the exhibit, he pointed out a huge piece about the size of a basketball. He explained that this was dinosaur poop. He said, "Can you imagine the size of that animal to come up with something that big?" One of the children touched the fossil being discussed and Larry said, "If you touch it, you have to kiss it." (The kid moved away quickly.)

Mr. Gotuaco had a talk and a slide show in one of the conference rooms beside the exhibit. We got to see other pieces of his collection and other fossils he'd seen.

The kids enjoyed themselves a lot. Since RD was unable to join us, we bought a book entitled JURASSIC FOSSILS Wood and Dinosaur for him. (If I'd known they would let us take pictures, I would have brought my camera. Thank goodness my Sony Ericsson has a camera.)


This was MyGirl's favorite piece.



Here we are with Larry Gotuaco himself.



(IMAGES IN STONE will be open for public viewing until 30 November 2008 at the Ayala Museum. If I heard correctly, there will be a special session for children on October 04 called Fossils are Fun. )

Passing the Sniff Test

This is the continuation of the story about the other Thursday when I hitched a ride with a friend from high school. As I mentioned, we were going out to dinner with other batchmates. We passed by their house to drop off her son. She warned me that they had a lot of dogs at home. "No worries," I said, remembering that we once had a pair of Japanese Spitz (we named Spic and Span) at home when we were children.

When we got to their place, I asked her eleven-year old son if my stockings were at risk.

"Nah," he said confidently.

Of course I wasn't quite sure whether he understood my question but I took his answer in good faith and got down from the vehicle.

As soon as I got off their AUV, one of the dogs ran up and pounced on me. He placed his front paws smack on both my legs, and proceeded to give me the usual scratching and rubbing dogs like to do when they want to be caressed. (By sheer luck [note the choice of words], my stockings survived.) I rubbed his head and let him lick my hand. He was very nice and friendly.

The other dogs came up and greeted me as well.

My friend and her husband were astounded. He said that it was very unusual for their dogs not to bark at a stranger. In fact, he could not recall a time when a visitor was greeted this warmly by their dogs. My friend actually complained that the dogs had greeted me ahead of her.

Well, it was a short-lived victory of deception because eventually another dog emerged from the house. It was a small Japanese Spitz. It gave me a funny look then started to bark. ("Hey, I don't know you! Bark! Bark! BARK!")

When the others heard the barking, they started to bark as well. Of course this did not stop some of them from coming up and getting their heads rubbed in between barks.

Eventually things quieted down and the dogs let me walk in their midst without much ado.

(I have yet to figure out how to get the children introduced to animals. Since we don't have pets in the house, both RD and MyGirl are visibly scared of dogs. They hide behind me as soon as they spot a dog. Ironically, MacGyver grew up with dogs in their home and is very comfortable with canines. One day, I hope the children muster up the courage to pet a dog and discover why they are known as man's best friend. Who knows, they might end up having as many dogs as my friend has. I think she had about a dozen dogs of varying breeds.)

Do I Know Her?

"Do I know her?"  

This is what the son of my friend asked when he saw me enter his mom's clinic and talk with his parents.  It was Thursday last week.  I was hitching a ride with them to have dinner with other batchmates at SM Mall of Asia.  

We were to have dinner with one of our batchmates who had come home from the States to attend the homecoming.  I had walked from my office at Paseo de Roxas to her clinic at Park Square.  His mother is my batchmate in High School.  Our batch has been having meetings galore to plan for our Alma Mater's Homecoming since we are lead batch this year.   This 11-year old and I have met on several occasions over the past couple of years.  

"Of course, you do,"  his mother said, "we've gone to their house for our High School meetings.  Remember?"

He took one hard look before it dawned on him ... oh yeah ... I do know her.  

So why did he have such a difficult time recognizing me?  

Because he knows me as the mother of RD (who is about his age) and he normally catches me on weekends in my T-shirt, jeans and rubber shoes.  Surely this was the first time he'd seen me in a skirt.

(Well at least I know his mother has trained him well not to speak to strangers.)

Take A Step Back

There is beauty in our everyday lives. Sometimes we are just so caught up with everything going on around us that we fail to realize we might actually be missing out on something wonderful.

How did such profound thoughts get into my head?

Two words. Divine intervention.

I was on my way to mass. It was very early in the morning. Since I was very early, I passed the scenic route. I didn't go through my normal (straight to the point) path. I took the walkways and approached the church from the opposite side that morning.

Lo and behold this is what I saw.

Do you see that?

The rays of the sun clearly reaching out to the area below.

I found it so amazing because I know for a fact that if you were coming from the other side, the light would be in the wrong direction. You would be standing in the middle of a masterpiece and not ever realize it. And if you happened to be coming from the "right" side but continued walking, it would be as if the light disappears.

I guess you could liken it to being inside a cloud.


You don't see the cloud when you are in the middle of it but once you view it from afar you find that clouds are really so beautiful. (Yes, I know there are better pictures of clouds but this is the one I had on hand.)

So if you are lucky enough to see such a wondrous sight, you shouldn't keep on walking. You should stop. STOP and think. Stop and enjoy. Stop and be amazed.

Do you know why?

Because if you don't, you would quickly lose yourself in the middle of that place and be blinded to the fact that there is really something MORE going on around you. You would fail to see the beauty and the magic one can only appreciate by taking a step or two back.

Mental note to self ... stop and reflect upon the beauty and magic, fortune and blessings surrounding me today.

My Lips Are Sealed

Check out GI, RD and MyGirl when they were still little babies.
(Aren't they cute?)

(I got a LOT of objections and half a dozen comments on inequality as I drafted this post. In the end, I decided to add the extra picture of MyGirl. I just couldn't resist. All these pictures are way ADORABLE!)

Outside the Box Ads

Just wanted to show you this building along EDSA

It has the Levi's 501 Jeans advertisement on it.

No, I don't stare at this building for the muscled upper body on display

nor for the suggestive unbuttoned jeans (which I just noticed now, by the way).

It is the fact that they used the whole building as their canvas which makes me want to stop in my tracks.

I think it's simply amazing!

The last time they did something this interesting with this building was during the Centennial Celebration of the Philippine Independence in 1998. They had the Philippine Flag displayed along its length.

Too bad I didn't take a picture of the building back then.

Give the Girl a Prize

We went to the 29th Manila International Book Fair this morning. The Book Fair was held at the SMX Halls at the SM Mall of Asia. MyGirl insisted we go. She had mentioned the Book Fair several times during the week. She kept on asking what our plans were for the weekend and that she wanted to go there. I doubt if she would have accepted 'no' for an answer.

We had initially told her that we would go from 10 am to 12 noon on Saturday and that we would leave the house at about 9:30 am to get there. Well, we arrived a bit after 10 am and I think this upset her because she was dragging her feet as we went through the aisles and she refused to tell me what was wrong. I couldn't tell if she was unhappy because we'd arrived late or because she we would leave way before the scheduled 2:30 pm storytelling or because she didn't see a single familiar face around. I was ready to pull her out of the Book Fair and just bring her around the mall when we heard an announcement of storytelling at the OMF booth.

We looked for the booth and waited for the session to start. As they gathered the children to listen, MyGirl and I sat down in front to listen.

They had invited the authors to come and read their books aloud. The first book was Sandosenang Sapatos (A Dozen Pair of Shoes) by Luis Gatmaitan. The author and a girl named Mikee told the story. When they had finished, they asked some questions about the story they had just read and then gave away free copies of the books to the children who were able to answer correctly. MyGirl was able to answer one of the questions, so she got a free copy of the book.



The second story was Big Brother by Grace Chung. The author and Mikee only read the first part of the story, leaving the audience (including me) hanging.

I wanted to know the ending of the story!

Fortunately, MyGirl was one of those chosen to answer a question after the storytelling session. She won a free copy of the book and I was able to read the ending.


We extended our mall trip to 2 pm. After the Book Fair, we had lunch at ChowKing and MyGirl got her first taste of Krispy Kreme donut.


Needless to say, MyGirl was back to her normal, happy self after all that.

Ye Ole Gadgets

Both Father and Mother LOVE gadgets. It is no wonder that I do as well.

This post will just have two of those gadgets because the message was primarily written to address my deliverable to Stingray. I owe him a photo of Father's old hairclippers.

THE CLIPPERS

Father used to use this when he called us for our haircut. Here it is. Alive and clipping.

Of course we don't use it since I have my trusty Wahl clippers. (What? The real reason? OK, if I must ...) What I meant to say was: We don't use it because my regular customers have concluded that they get what they pay for; and if they go to the barber, they are more likely to get a decent haircut. (There, I said it. I don't want to get struck by lightning especially since the weather is so bad these days.)

When I see this ancient pair of clippers, the scene that plays in my mind is one where we kids are in the living room downstairs. The red slide is indoors. We are hanging around and playing while waiting for our turn to get our hair cut. That's it.

I really can't tell if this scene comes from an old photograph I'd seen or if that was what it was like when we were having our hair cut as kids. I don't know. I suppose Father should be there somewhere. And there would be a chair for us to sit on while he cut our hair.

I don't know why, but it is the red slide that I see. Did we sit on the slide while Father cut our hair?

(Someone please jog my memory.)

THE WAFFLE IRON

Mother has lots of kitchen gadgets which I've never used. However, this waffle iron is among the things we really used as kids. Of course this is already on the 'throw pile'. It is only a matter of time before I never see this appliance again. It will soon be sold off by weight since it no longer works.



I wish this old waffle iron would work though because I remember it making great waffles. But I am afraid this one's warranty has expired many times over. And I would definitely hesitate serving waffles coming out of this machine assuming I were able to make it work.

I remember standing on a chair by the oven and pouring batter into this waffle iron to make our waffles. If I'm not mistaken, our oven at that time had a 110v outlet we used for things like this waffle iron. It would have been a Sunday morning if we were having waffles.

A couple of years back, I found a decent waffle maker among Mother's things in storage. It was still in its box just waiting for me to find it. Seeing it reminded me of how much I loved waffles plus I knew how much the kids enjoyed eating waffles. Naturally, I asked if I could have it.

Though we are still unable to replicate the waffles they serve at Pancake House, I have discovered that if we eat waffles right after they are made, they certainly come close to Pancake House waffles (especially if you have whipped cream and hotcake syrup on hand).

WAFFLES (based on Betty Crocker's recipe)
Makes 8 pieces

Heat waffle iron while mixing batter

Beat well until foamy
2 eggwhites

Combine and beat well
2 egg yolks
2 c buttermilk
1 t baking soda
2 c sifted flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
6 T shortening

Fold in beaten eggwhites

Pour batter and bake in hot waffle iron until steam stops.

Notes : Waffle iron is hot when droplets of water dance when dropped on the iron.
Grease iron before pouring in batter.

Happy Meal Madness

The children are growing up and we are slowly trying to dispose of their old toys.  

(MyGirl has indicated that she wants to keep some of these but majority of these toys will be donated soon.)

  

Snoopy c/o McDonald's

101 Dalmatians c/o McDonald's

Don't know where Pluto came from.

Looney Toons c/o Jollibee

A Bug's Life -- Hopper, Flik, Dim, Francis c/o McDonald's

100 Acre Woods residents -- Eeyore, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Rabbit c/o McDonald's

Flubber characters c/o McDonalds (?)

Hercules characters -- Pegasus, Hydra and the Rock Monster (?)

These are neat toys that encapsule Megara (Meg), Hercules and Zeus.

A view from the inside.

I admit that I am quite obsessive when it comes to toys that come in sets or toys that have many parts. I like similar toys (and their matching pieces) to be packed and stored together. Somehow I feel the one playing with the toys would appreciate it better if the other related toys (and all the parts) are present.

Puzzled Anew

I went to Baclaran this morning. On the way home, I noticed a make-shift stall along the road selling these 4x4 puzzle games. It reminded me of the number puzzle game we (still) had at home somewhere. I used to bring that puzzle along with me to keep the children busy unfortunately, whenever we'd go out, the puzzle was a far second to the DS. But since I have reinstated the mandate that the children should control their TV/computer/DS time, I figured I should give them a decent alternative.

I hoped the kids would enjoy playing with the ones they were selling on the streets because they had Disney characters on them unlike the (boring) one we've had for over bleep-bleep years. I decided to get two.

When I got home, I showed my loot to MyGirl. She was immediately interested and picked up the one which had Minnie Mouse, as expected. She quickly got the hang of the puzzle and figured out how to move the tiles around.

Seeing MyGirl playing with the toy piqued RD's curiosity. He was happy to discover that I had acquired two puzzles and that the second one didn't have Minnie on it.

He set out to solve his puzzle.

When he finished his puzzle, I decided it was picture taking time. I wanted to include the museum-worthy number puzzle. Fortunately, MyGirl knew where to find the number puzzle. Soon afterwards, she solved her puzzle while RD played with the other one.

Here are the pictures.

Guess How Much I Love Him

Do you know who this is?

No, it's not Cookie Monster!
Even though Cookie Monster does have BIG eyes.

No, it is not Elmo!
Elmo is RED.

No, it's not Ernie.
Ernie's e y e s are a bit farther a p a r t.

And it's not Big Bird.
Even if Big Bird IS yellow and Big Bird DOES have big eyes.
You see, Big Bird does not have a small nose. He has a big beak.
Besides, Big Bird has eyelids.

Yes, you probably guess it.
It's SpongeBob SquarePants
(cough! cough! gag. gag.)
>:-<




No, I don't particularly LIKE SpongeBob.
Can you tell?
(More coughing. Lots of gagging on the side.)

In fact, I have been known to ask the children to change the channel when they are watching this show on Nickelodeon.




So WHY, pray tell, do I have this HUGE SpongeBob pillow blanket in the house?

I think these pictures speak for themselves.

The pillow blanket was waiting for RD when he came home from the hospital the other week. He stayed at the hospital overnight and I figured he needed something to cheer him up when he returned.

MacGyver and I had seen this pillow blanket on sale when we had gone around the mall one Friday evening earlier in August.

He asked, "Should we get it for the kids?"

I said, "I'm sure they'll like it but I don't like SpongeBob."

We walked away.

When we arrived home, I told the kids about the pillow blanket. RD's face lit up at the thought of such a treasure. He insisted, "You should have gotten it, Mom!"

My response?

"No way!"

But for the love of this little boy, I ate my words. I bought the pillow blanket (last one) during my lunch break last 27 August. It was the day before his operation.

(As you can see from the pictures, he's fine now. Thanks for the prayers.)