My Hibiscus Collection in the Gardens of Chateau Du Mer in Marinduque

I was looking at my old blog files and stumble on this article. Time to enjoy the beauty of nature for this typical and magnificent Indian summer day here in Northern California.














Aside from orchids and bougainvillas, I also collect Hibiscus, known in the Philippines as gumamela plants. I have a dozen varieties in a rainbow of colors both with single or double flowers. My favorite is the canary-yellow variety (second photo). Above are some of the hibiscus in my garden. The most common variety is the single red, but the flowers could grow as big as a small plate. The white and yellow varieties are susceptible to white molds and aphids. I have to literally hand washed each stem with soapy water as well as spray it with anti-aphids pesticide. Most of these plants, I purchased locally, but the white variety I purchased from a nursery in Manila. Enjoy my hibiscus collections. Here's a short video about Hibiscus, I am sure you will enjoy the flowers and the guitar background music !

Prayer Room at Chateau Du Mer Completed

Outside with new landscaping
and the Sacred Heart statue at the entrance.

Last January to April, I watched with excitement the construction of my sister's-in-law Prayer Room. here at the Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort compound. The design of the open cross was the idea of our architect and builder from Laylay and probably inspired by a similar design of our first cousin chapel in the next barangay in Cawit When my wife and I left Amoingon in mid-April this year, construction was 95% COMPLETED.

Today my sister-in-law posted in Facebook three recent pictures she took last week during her vacation/retreat in Amoingon, Boac, Marinduque. My sister-in-law is a nun and member of Order of the Cenacle, nuns who specialized in giving retreats and spiritual renewal to men and women who are Roman Catholics.

Since pictures are worth more than a thousand words, I will not waste time describing the prayer room. See it for yourself in the following three photos as well as the one photograph above. A quiet place for meditation and prayer, indeed.



Inside-close-up view-notice the cross on the wall



Garden at back of the Prayer Room. There is a small creek by the side of the garden feed by spring water as well as rain during the rainy season.

Heaven and Earth Movie

It is time to enjoy a good movie. I have seen this movie twice and yesterday. I saw it again but still enjoy it very much.



Heaven & Earth is a 1993 Vietnam war film directed and written by Oliver Stone, and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Haing S. Ngor, Joan Chen, and Hiep Thi Le. It is the third and final film in Stone's Vietnam War trilogy, which also includes Platoon (1986) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989).

The film was based on the books When Heaven and Earth Changed Places and Child of War, Woman of Peace, which Le Ly Hayslip wrote about her experiences during and after the Vietnam War.

Joke of the Day-The Photographer

photo from Rachmad666 deviantart.com
Let us start the month of October with a joke. This is titled The Photographer as posted in Sandee Comedy Plus blog

"His request approved, the Bulletin Newspaper photographer quickly used his mobile phone to call the Townsville airport to charter a flight.

He was told a twin-engine plane would be waiting for him at the airport.

Arriving at the airfield, he spotted a plane warming up outside a hanger.

He jumped in with his bag, slammed the door shut, and shouted, 'Let's go'.

The pilot taxied out, swung the plane into the wind and took off.

Once in the air, the photographer instructed the pilot, 'Fly over Mount Stuart and make low passes so I can take pictures of the fires on the hillsides.'

'Why?' asked the pilot.

'Because I'm a photographer for the Bulletin' he responded,' and I need to get some close up shots.'

The pilot was strangely silent for a moment, finally he stammered, 'So, what you're telling me is... You're NOT my flight instructor?'

Hat tip: Willy of Hillbilly Willy

Iloilo-An Award Winning Film from Singapore

My Personal Review

The film Iloilo is an award winning Singaporean movie named after the province where the nanny Terry in the movie came from in the Philippines Teresa or Aunie Terry is played by Filipina actress Angeli Bayani from Manila. This.nanny who was hired by the Singaporean family (The Lims) the protagonist in the film happened to be from Iloilo. She is one of the more than 500 thousands Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) working for a better life abroad.

This movie has a special place in my heart since I was born and raised in the province of Iloilo. Iloilo is located in the Western Visayas Region in the Island of Panay. It has lots of tourist attractions,such as old churches as well as white beaches. Residents of Iloilo are called Illongos.

The movie reminds me of the pains and trials of all OFW in adjusting to their new working conditions and environment abroad. In the case of Teresa or Aunt Terry, at the beginning of the movie she was very patient and submissive as expected. However, later on, I was so glad that she exercised her authority over the 10 year-old brat,Jiale (played by.Koh Jia Ler).

I like her when Teresa said to Jiale," Although I am just your maid, I did not come here just to be bullied". After this incident the two bonded to the point that in the eyes of Jiale,.Teresa is more of a mother to him that his real mother, Hwee Leng ( played by Yeo Yann Yann). This of course created jealousy, exemplified by the statement of Jaile's mom to Teresa, that she is still the mother of Jiale and she maintains the authority and discipline over her son.

The movie has some funny scenes as well as scenes brimming with love and affection and at the end heart break..The story was set during the late 1990's when the Asian financial crises had affected the financial status and lives of thousands of middle income families in Singapore as well as in other Asian countries.

The father, Keng Teck Lim ( played by Chen Tian Wen) has lost his sales executive job, but hasn’t had the courage to tell anyone even his wife,.Hwee Leng. Hwee Leng is pregnant, but still works so hard as a secretarial clerk in a private company. Their son, Jiale wants attention and has problems with other kids at school, The Lims decided to hire a domestic help. Luckily Teresita or Terry was there to help them .. Teresita hails from the Philippine province of Iloilo (the title of this movie), Her duty was not only be a housekeeper but also to be Jiale caretaker..

Personal Recommendation

I recommend this film to all who loves good movies. Special recommendation to all overseas Filipino workers, their friends and families. In addition I recommend this to all Illongos all over the world.

The film was written and directed by Anthony Chen. The director of photography was Benoit Soler and edited by Hoping Chen and Joanne Cheong. The sound design is by Zhe Wu and the art direction is by Michael Wee, The film was produced by Ang Hwee Sim, Wahyuni A. Hadi and Mr. Chen. The film was released by Film Movement, In Mandarin, Tagalog and English, with English subtitles. The Running time is 1 hour 39 minutes. The film is not rated.

Other Reviews-From Variety.com

The movie is brimming with love, humor and heartbreak. “Ilo Ilo” centers on the inseparable bond between a 10-year-old Singaporean boy and his Filipina nanny while the boy’s parents struggle to weather the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Anthony Chen is remarkably astute in his depiction of the class and racial tensions within such a household, his accessible style enabling the characters’ underlying decency and warmth to emerge unforced. This small but immensely likable gem should find a cozy spot at fests as well as niche European distribution, following its Camera d’Or win at Cannes.


Teresita Sajonia and her ward-Anthony Chen video

Some of My Favorite Quotes on Poetry

Photo source from searchquotes.com

There are several hundreds of quotations on poetry in the Web. However, the following are my favorites

1.The smell of ink is intoxicating to me — others may have wine, but I have poetry. ~Terri Guillemets

2. Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted. ~Percy Shelley, A Defence of Poetry, 1821

3. He who draws noble delights from sentiments of poetry is a true poet, though he has never written a line in all his life. ~George Sand, 1851

4. Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement. ~Christopher Fry

5. Perhaps no person can be a poet, or can even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind. ~Thomas Babington Macaulay

6. To have great poets there must be great audiences too. ~Walt Whitman

7. You can't write poetry on the computer. ~Quentin Tarantino

8. God is the perfect poet. ~Robert Browning

9.Science is for those who learn; poetry, for those who know. ~Joseph Roux, Meditations of a Parish Priest

10.Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words. ~Robert Frost

11.Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood. ~T.S. Eliot, Dante, 1920

12. A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman. ~Wallace Stevens, Opus Posthumous, 1957

13.Poetry is ordinary language raised to the nth power. Poetry is boned with ideas, nerved and blooded with emotions, all held together by the delicate, tough skin of words. ~Paul Engle, New York Times, 17 February 1957

Personal Note: I heard the following phrases in TV today. Photographic memory versus phonographic memory versus pornographic memory. Which one is your favorite phrase and can identify with?

Harrison Ford, Indiana Jones and Me

The above photo was taken in Las Vegas about 25 years ago. Do you recognized the face of Indiana Jones from the movie Temple of Doom? I looked good and young then! Photo Memories down memory lane indeed!