Then and Now

Facebook flashes MEMORIES of pictures or posts people have posted from years back.   We managed to recreate two of these photos.

First one was one of MacGyver and the two younger kids.  The picture came up as a memory in May.  When I posted the 2010 photo on my FB feed, I added the caption was "I want to recreate this picture!"  Luckily the kids and MacGyver were willing to pose and it turned out great.  (RD even changed his clothes to match the original photo.  MyGirl is now holding on to an iPad.)

2010 and 2021

Then June came around and FB flashed a picture of the two of us taken at Hungry Jack's during his birthday ten years ago.  HJ is MacGyver's favourite fast food place.  So HJ is where we ended up this month to celebrate MacGyver's birthday when the restaurants at the nearby mall were jam packed.  

2011 and 2021

A Hundred Years and More

Have you ever met someone that is a hundred years old?  

I have. In fact he is now a hundred and one.

This is me with Denn last year on his birthday.

And this is me with him as he turns 101 today.

God bless him!

Easter Monday

MacGyver and I had no definite plans for Easter Monday.

GI slept over and would be heading off by the evening.

RD had lunch and dinner plans.

MyGirl had work from 12nn to 3pm.

I wanted to get a family picture before the kids flew the coop.

 

Let's Face It

 My FB feed had this picture from 2016.

It was a picture of me and MyGirl taken with a face swap app.

(The fringe of MyGirl on my face is proof of the swap.)

She took another photo of us the other night.

We look different with our faces swapped.

MyGirl has glasses with a black frame now.  

The difference in our glasses caused some challenges this time around. 

We needed to take several shots to come up with a decent face swap.

I still had to ask which facial parts were mine.

MyGirl is in the foreground wearing black with long-long hair.

I was behind her in a green and black striped shirt.

The eyes and the nose belong to MyGirl.

I am not sure whose cheeks I am wearing.

MyGirl says the smile is mine.

I can't really tell.

Can you?

 

Christmas Then and Now

This picture was taken in 2009.  It was our first Christmas here in Australia.

The kids were between 16 and 8.

This was the picture from last year.  

The young adults are now between 27 and 19.

 

Who's the Good Boy?

Haven't seen GI all year so I decided to post these pictures he had sent through last year.

Selby is one of the reasons GI prefers reporting to work at the office instead of working from home.

 

Precious Commodities

I caught Mother and Slash-M on Skype last Tuesday.  It was the first day of my leave so I was just chilling and trying to get some things done in the kitchen.  

Z and Liana popped into the screen so I called MyGirl over so that we could take a screenshot with our daughters.   When I sent it out to the family, my caption indicated "with our bunso daughters" (bunso  means youngest.)  Z is the youngest of Mother's eight daughters but Liana and MyGirl are unica hijas (only girls).  

Mindy's reaction was that daughters are precious commodities in our family.  It is true, all the girls in MyGirl's generation on our side of the family are unica hijas.  

I hope the cousins are able to form tight bonds with each other or are able to find good 'sisters' among their girlfriends because I don't know how it is to be an unica hija but I am 100% sure that having a good sister is definitely a blessing.

Signs of Love

Last Sunday, MyGirl reminded me that 30 April was coming up.

I had a light bulb moment for a gift for Mother.. 

Get all the grandchildren to sign HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

The pictures could be collated as a greeting for Mother.

I sent out the suggestion to the siblings.

By Monday, Mindy sent this initial collation via email 

and the message was entitled "Missing H's" 

because GI and one of his cousins had not yet given in their pictures.

By sheer coincidence, both of them were assigned the letter H.

MyGirl took several photos of GI on Wednesday and sent them to me via FB messenger.

I wanted to submit GI's picture ASAP that I just hit FORWARD to our FB family group where I knew Mindy would be able to grab the photo. I actually sent several GI photos with matching captions because they were too cute not to share.

It wasn't until the next morning when London Eye sent a message asking whether Mother accessed FB messenger that I realised I might have spoiled a perfectly good surprise.

On Thursday, Sunshine sent through the last missing grandchild H photo along with two photos of herself making what looked to me as the PEACE sign.  Her message was "Are we good now?"

On Saturday morning, MyGirl said she had something to give me. She came up to me, showed me the below picture and said, "Advanced Happy Birthday Mom!"

I was blown away!
The siblings had taken the HAPPY BIRTHDAY message a step further and added  WE LOVE YOU.

Yes, they had been plotting behind my back so I could also have a surprise.

 I should have suspected something was amiss when Sunshine sent more than her son's H photo.  All the while I thought the "Are we good now?"  was because hers was the last letter needed for the HAPPY BIRTHDAY to be completed.   Apparently there was a bigger project underfoot.

MyGirl said her assignment was to take a picture of me that could be added to the existing collage.
At the onset, I was to make the exclamation point.
Thank goodness they settled for a heart.

Z presented Mother with the final printed version when they went out for lunch today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Mother!

WE LOVE YOU!!!

Up Close and Personal @ Mogo Zoo

One of the highlights of our trip last weekend was a visit to the Mogo Zoo.

Official animal photos in this link

It was unlike any other zoo I've visited.

 \

There was a red panda.

 His coat was in the process of shedding.

There were several giant tortoises.

 

We passed by the otters during feeding time.

This otter got a big fish.

This one managed to get two.

I thought the emperor tamarin looked distinguished with his beard.

I picked up the camera when we met the giraffes.

What a joy to have a zoom lens.

I could not help but think that Sister Deer would have loved this zoo.

The zebra were roaming quietly.

 

The lioness and the lion were in a big enclosure together.

The white handed gibbon enjoyed posing.

The rhinoceros was all alone.

I think this was a squirrel monkey.

It seemed keen on getting something from outside its cage.

It would pick up a long stick or a branch, sneak it through the wire,

then scratch intently at the ground. 

MacGyver and I took quite a number of pictures of the silvery gibbons.

It was fun to watch them swing across the ropes.

I was particularly amazed at their furry bottoms.

It spoke heaps of how the animals in this zoo were cared for.

Check out this beautiful tiger,

Up, Up, and Away!

Works of art such as these never cease to amaze me.

I saw this one at the dental clinic last January.

It reminded me of this awesome piece I saw at a Makati gallery back in 2006.
(A Snoopy-loving officemate who shares my birthday was able to get some pictures of this tree for me before the artwork disappeared from the gallery.)

Pokémon GOne

I happened to find this photo of the two boys in an old flash drive.

GI was more into Pokemon when they were kids.

It is entirely possible that the shirt RD is wearing is a hand-me-down from GI.

But when the Pokemon GO craze started in July, it was RD that went Pokemon hunting.

For a time, he would go with me to the mall and the library just to catch Pokemon.

Gotcha!

None of the kids had brought their keys

so I asked them to pose for this shot 

before I let them into the house.

MyGirl commented, "Fake height for 2/3"

because she was wearing heeled platform shoes

and GI was standing on the step going into the house.

Spring is Here Ahead of Time

Goodbye Winter. Spring is almost here.

Gotta Catch 'Em All

We were leaving Bunnings Warehouse last Saturday 

when MyGirl asked if we could stop for a while so she could catch a Pokemon.

I asked her to take a screenshot with MacGyver in it.

I've Got My Eyes on You

MyGirl often shows me Snapchats she receives from friends.

The other night, MyGirl said, "Come, let's do the face swap.

I didn't think we looked THAT alike until she showed me her phone

and I asked her, "Have we swapped face already?"

I'm in a blue shirt and MyGirl is black.  She took the selfie.

Snapchat swaps the eyes and nose,

so I've literally got my eyes (and nose) on you, MyGirl.

This is neither me nor MyGirl.

This is the Snapchat's face swap version of the two of us.

Still in doubt? Look closely and check out MyGirl's fringe.

Double Rainbow Sighting

It has been raining for the past few days.

One nice thing about the rain is the possibility of a rainbow when the sun comes out.

Or better yet, a double rainbow!

This was the view on our side of the building.

(The second rainbow is quite faint in the photo.)

 At the far corner, the other end of the rainbows could be seen.

This was my attempt at the panoramic shot.

I went outside hoping to get a better shot.

When I got there, the double rainbows were not really visible.

In fact, it is possible that the people on the streets

didn't even realise the rainbows were there.