Dancing in Midlife Tune

Stamps! (banana dance)

Postcards! (banana dance d more)

All of these are from the one of the beautiful and kindest blogger i met in the blogosphere – Mommy Ebie! She is not my mom but i just like calling her mommy because she is one. Her one and only darling daughter Zeee is way way younger than me but i feel we are like sisters.

I know mommy E took the efforts of preparing these stamps to be shared to her online friends.  Then before they took a trip to Death Valley, i mentioned to her if she can pick some postcards for me, then i would really appreciate it.  The two cards here are from Death Valley and that Lone Pine was a place they visited some months back.

I will be scanning these cards for individual posting here in this blog, but will do so when the scanner is not so busy anymore and i also have the time to scan.   But it will be soon.!

Again, thank you Mommy Ebie!  You are the best!

I have dreamed of visiting places the past year. I even thought i could make it to China this year but did not make it. I also thought of visiting Manila and Cebu, but never made it in spite of the plans. Even then, i’ve been to some places for another visit and some are first-time visis which help made the 2009 more colourful.

The travels or outings I made the past year were to the following places:

- Cagayan de Oro City’s Mapawa Mountain Resort (1st time)
- Dapitan’s Gloria Fantasy Land (1st time)
- River Rafting area, Cagayan de Oro City (1st time)
- Agus 4 complex, Balo-i, Lanao del Norte
- 2nd Mindanao Bloggers Summit at Cagayan de Oro City
- Mountain View College, Valencia, Bukidnon
- Initao Midway Resort (several times)

One thing i love about MVC is the weather.  Spring weather all year round except on evenings and early mornings when the temperature really drops so low that you just would like to snuggle in bed and miss breakfast and morning classes.  I guess am a warm-blooded person that i love cold weather.  I think i won’t even mind staying up in the North Pole with Santa Clause.

I had the chance to visit MVC last weekend and Saturday morning was so cold.  We have to be up at 6 to join the sunrise worship at one of the Barangays.  It was really really cold that i felt my face puffy.  I was so comfy in bed because of my woolen blanket.  Good thing i remembered to bring it with me.

In China, during winter, when the temperature drops to negative high double digit numbers i use my electric blanket when sleeping. It warms me to sleep and when i woke around early morning i have to turn it off because the warmers can warm me enough.  I still have that electric blanket in my luggage I left in my friend’s house in Zhangjiakou, China.  I dunno when i could use that again but i have in mind to visit China during the winter time.

Just a short note to say am back from the trip to Mountain View College.  The trip was for my daughter as she was there for the whole week yet it also refreshes me of my college days memories.  It’s a weekend trip.  We left Iligan Friday morning and arrived just awhile ago.  So i missed the time checking out these promotional products for the Christmas holidays. I thought that mommy duty must come first before anything else.

There were only 22 schools that attended so the campsite was not filled with people.  There was not even a trace of campers or visitors in some common spots.    Mountain View College is situated in up the hills of Nebo in Valencia City, Bukidnon.  It’s around 30-40 minutes travel up the rough roads towards the top hills.

My last visit there was two years ago so am happy to be able to visit this weekend.  Luckily, i met one of my dormitory roommates.  She married her college sweetheart so we really had fun recalling our many college happenings.  We also met one of our highschool schoolmate and oh my we laugh just like there was no tomorrow.  Schooling years were so much fun in spite of the challenge of studying hard.

This is my first time to visit MVC as a parent and doing duty as a parent. It was a nice feeling yet it’s reminding me and my friends that we are not getting younger anymore.

photo credit: sunshineforlife

I love to travel either on private or public means of transportation.  But travelling privately can allow one to kill time on the road if needed.  One time i have traveled with friend on the road and it was a 13 hour trip with stops for meals.  Luckily we did not have any accidents nor any untoward incidents happened or else we would need a motorhome towing services. The weather that time was even great.

I checked out my travel horoscope and it says i should travel to Bali.  Do you know where Bali is?     Not just Bali really….but it says i should travel to the following places:

When you travel, you crave sun soaked days and warm nights.
You want a vacation where you can party hard and sleep in the sun all day.

Cancun
Miami
Bali
Saint Tropez
Key West

I will google some of those places because i still dunno where they are located.

It’s now barely 3 weeks to go and my friends are off to Bangkok for a three days tour.  I felt sad when i knew that i cannot go but after sometime i get over it thinking that maybe something better comes in the coming days.  One thing i always advice my friends is to get their camera ready and shoot spots and moments as much as they can.  So some of their are already planning to purchase an sd card of bigger capacity.  I am sure when they get back i got lots of photos to see.

Their up coming trip reminds me of a flight from Manila to Hongkong where i won something during their mini-game on flight.  First they asked for a boarding pass.  Then they asked for a camera.  Both are within reach so i won two mugs that time. 

My point is that if possible, if you have a point and shoot camera, make it very accessible to you all the time, anytime anywhere.

This horse is one of the horses for rides at the Mapawa Nature Park. The nature park is a great weekend getaway for anyone. You can go canyoneering, zip lining, swimming, camping, horseback riding and many more i am sure.

The faculty and staff of the nursing department in our school took a one day break from work and we went zip lining and river rafting.

We really had fun that day. One of the unforgetable day in the life of my daughter especially me who has a phobia for heights.

If a chance will come, id like to bring my whole family there.  Check out the next picture on how to contact the place for more inquries:

Skies as seen from Sarangani Highlands and General Santos City Fish Port — the hometown of the greatest Boxer in the world, Mr. Pacquiao.

Location: General Santos City
Date Taken: October 2008

BIG LOVE TO THE FIRST COMMENTOR OF THIS POST:

JBAR OF SYDNEY – CITY AND SUBURBS

One year ago tomorrow, me and some General Education faculty went off to Camiguin Island, around 4 hours travel from my hometown.  It was a very sunny day or it’s one of the typical summer sunny day.  So my sky photos here today will be of that trip.

After more than 3 hours travel, we arrived at Balinguan, Misamis Oriental where we would take the ferry to the main island.

On board the barge going to the island, i took the chance to shoot the sky of the mainland we were leaving behind:

We arrived the SDA church in Catarman in the afternoon.   Be We did not go out anymore because we prepared for the Sabbath.  We attend the vespers Friday evening then Saturday attended the church services because it was just a few steps away from our accommodation.  Afternoon it rained but fortunately after the AY program the rain stopped so we decided to go to the Walkway.  Several of our companions reached the end station but for me and other ladies, we walked just until the cemented pathway and then started to go down.  ON the way down, i tried to take some sky photos–

After that walkway, we had dinner and after dinner we went to the Ardent Spring. Sunday came and i have so many sky photos but will just share with you one of the skies — let’s say, it’s my favorite or one of my top three favorites:

Top photo – we rode one of those in going to White Island.

Middle photo – one of the sky photos i took while already at the white island.

Third photo – a sky photo above the Mt. Hibok Hibok.  Still taken from the white island.

These are all for now.  I hope everyone will enjoy the week-end.  We will have a long week-end over here because we don’t work on May 1 – Labor Day.

photo credits: sunshineforlife

BIG LOVE TO THE FIRST COMMENTOR OF THIS POST:

Regina in Pictures

The April month is almost over and i have not experienced a single travel even a quick trip to Cagayan de Oro.  I feel my foot are itching to go somewhere for the summer — even just a beach fun would be great.  Last year this month, Dimple and I had a chance to travel to Bohol with friends.  And we had a blast!  The sun was hard on me that i turned out like a lobster.  Oh well i thought of Bohol because i am missing the beach right now.

I checked out the hairstyle that will suit me and the result is this -

I like the result of the quiz but really i haven’t tried my hair into a ponytail for quite a long time.

BIG LOVE TO THE FIRST COMMENTOR OF THIS POST:

Joyoz

Valdia Gardens is located along the highway going to  Dipolog City.  It is just a few kilometers from the center of city.  I googled the exact location but it’s not mentioned anywhere in the web but i discovered that Dipolog City is the Orchid City of the Philippines.

According to the TourAgency that we used in that Educational tour, Valdia Gardens is the only place that can hold more than 200 guests.  I cannot confirm this info because i was not able to talk with the owner or the manager of the restaurant.  But all i can say that our group totalled to 320 and we filled up the main building but the wide loans at the side were unfilled.  So i think yeah, it’s a best place to hold big wedding reception or any big parties.

More shots of the place:

Related Post – LP Hardin

One of my favorite shots taken in Dakak Beach Resort, Dapitan City.  Taken first week of last month using an N73 phone.

More sky photos from all over the world here.