Scenes for Karmi

Karmi is such a wonderful lady, very expressive in her articles, honest with her feelings, kind in sharing her thoughts and views. To pursue her dreams she traveled places and is deposited in Chile to make a life with the man she loves. I knew her through her blogs and i like them from then on. It will be her wedding this month, and i wish her all the best. More power to you Karmi.
I live on the fourth floor and the sunsets sometimes tell me it really is nice to be at home. Even on the rooftop of our office the sunsets are also good but communication towers from other buildings hinder the view. In my lobby i also see fireworks even from far places. I really love living on the fourth floor. (best viewed large, pls click to enlarge)

Quezon City sunsets

Fireworks at the Quezon City Memorial Circle

Tuguegarao sunset
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More Bohol Scenes

Panggangan Island is connected to the Bohol mainland via a reclaimed bridge. I felt sorry for the marine animals trapped at both sides, the concrete bridge stopped the continuous flow of genetic stocks through once was an open channel. However, along the bridge were vigorous growths of mangrove forests providing sanctuary and multiplication areas for these marine organisms. One side was declared a sanctuary protected area. The picture below was a walkway done by Peoples' Organization as a viewdeck and shelter for the sanctuary guards. These are the members who take turns in safeguarding the area. This walkway extends to the sea by more than 200 meters (picture below). They also converted it as an educational tourism area mostly for children from different schools who come here by batches. Donations from visitors also provided for the expenses of the caretakers.

Some Japanese high school students also come here annually for their practical ecotourism classes, which has been continuing for the last 4 years. Through this function the Japanese government also provided some funds for the maintenance of the sanctuary. A PO artistic member made a boat with glass bottom for viewing the marine organisms at closer range. I particularly was excited to see planted giant clams through the glass-bottom boat.

newly planted mangrove seedlings in the sanctuary

Small fishes (left photo) and sargassum (right photo) clearly visible from the platform

Market scenes in Tubigon public market

Bohol longanisa looks enticingly delicious

Kulasisi for sale

Above shows the old Dauis church and the monastery, which houses the famous Cafe Lawis and Handumanan crafts. Locals say the renovation of the area is managed by the Zobels.
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Bohol Revisit

We stayed in a seaside resort in Panggangan Island, Calape. It was owned by an Ilocano wife and a British husband. This is a very common partnership in most resort establishments in Bohol.

The cottages look simple outside but clean and great inside the rooms. We enjoyed the big bathrooms. Here i am contemplating on my photos on a convenient hammock under big trees.

My travel buddy at work

idyllic scenes from the viewdeck

While Marlowe was contemplating on his lecture on social science researches and community development, i was contemplating on the smell of this squid delicacy, hmmm!

We also visited the broodstock fish culture in cages. We have to ride a small boat to the cages in the open sea. At the first cage are milkfish broodstocks. At the right is Marlowe's photo of me looking closely at the big mouths of meter-long groupers (lapu-lapu). I love seafood and lapu-lapu is my favorite fish. I wonder what happens when one accidentally plunge into the cages of these voracious cannibals. I asked the caretaker if i was the only one who looked at them in this position, he said 'yes'. hehe.

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To Isabela Province

The Intellectual Property (IP) Management Training Workshop for the Cagayan Valley Agriculture Resources Research and Development (CVARRD) Consortium is the first joint IP Activity of BAR and PCARRD. Our trip to Echague, Isabela took us 12 hours, lower back pain and really tired body. We stayed in the only hotel in Alicia for 2 nights and decided to leave on the 3rd night for a better place in Nueva Viscaya State University.

A videoke night capped the 1st night, tired body and minds did not hinder the desires to sing their hearts out.

Cordillera Mountains viewed at the opposite end

Triangular 'suman' at the boundary of Nueva Ecija and Nueva Viscaya

Tugui root crops and turmeric or 'luyang dilaw' sold in that store-restaurant at the boundary

Rattan fruits and the very blue sky on the way back to Manila

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Animals among us

I am introducing..... Britige

Engelbert

at... Si Manok

A reptile hiding under dried leaves

A lizard on the roof. Notice the branched tail.

If our 2 kids already gave a name to a chick, it will not be made to 'tinola' at all, even if you beg! When i really want 'tinolang native chicken' we choose the nameless ones or better buy from the neighbors. Engelbert is the son of a black Japanese rooster ang a native hen. However, he is susceptible to disease and died young.

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my newest butterflies

I have long been chasing and shooting butterflies. These are the most common in our yard this time of the year.

The 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th are variations of each other (maybe Ideopsis sp.), but the 2nd i dont know yet. 1st - completely transparent white portions; 3rd - bluish hue on the upper wing, transparent white portions; 4th - greenish hue on the upper wing, not transparent white portions; 5th - bluish hue throughout the wings, not transparent. Now, Sept 09, i learned that the transparent ones are Glassy Tigers.

The 2nd is completely unknown to me, but it definitely have very hairy body even in the mid-portion of the wings. The white marks in the forewings reflect white light. Ideopsis sp. prefer to suck drying dill stems than nectar from the flowers.


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A Plea for ALL!

Please comment on my blogs, whatever you say is welcome! Thank you.

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Success with the counter

I really am not good in reading computer instructions. Earlier i tried to get counter but not successful. Yesterday i tried again, hurray, successful! Today i looked at it and it registerd 202 views! Less my 2 views that means i got 100 views that fast! Could it mean someone tampered on my counter! Dennis maybe, hoy, did you add numbers to my counter!!!!

How come nobody put any comment at all. I am totally surprised! Are there ghosts in counters too?

Our place in foggy mornings
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Mayon Volcano Escapade

We were one day early for the IP Awareness Training for BFAR 5 Network agencies, so we gallivanted for a while. Mayon's destruction can be seen everywhere, buried a barangay due to the eroding lava carried by heavy rains. More than a thousand died in that last typhoon. Aside from that Tabaco City was flooded for about 7 ft. The heavy rains and flood from the mountain occured during high tide which prevented the incoming waters to flow freely to the sea.

The Mount Mayon Resort is high up the foot of Mayon Volcano. It could have been a good viewers' site for the lowlands, but dense fog prevented us from seeing beyond 5 ft. Even the mountain itself did not allow full view even at noon.


Big stones are scattered everywhere, prompting two enterprizing brothers to manually make stone sculptures.


The Kagsawa Ruins, with only the belltower left from the 1840 eruption. An enterprizing photographer planted cosmos seeds in the site and use them
as background for his art.

Lani and i made so small versus Dennis, huh! Can you beat that!



Finally, Mayon gave way and peep thru the clouds (captured by Dennis' lens).




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