Monday Memories #9, #10 and #11

Monday Memories... ahhh.. It has been a couple of weeks since I last posted on my beloved open diary. I have been so busy on my daughter's first birthday that I have to sacrifice some of my daily activities just to make sure that every details of the party will be in the right place.

Now let me go ahead and do this..

Monday Memories - June 14, 2011

"You could write a memory you have about your mother's role in the family."

My mother. At most time since she passed away, I can't help not to cry whenever I talk about my mother. She's one generous woman. She knows the word sacrifice very well. She has been a mother and a father to us. She's a 'Jill-of-all-trade' as how some of our friends describe her. And I think, she CAN do everything - or maybe she just TRY to do everything for her children. She's very organized, she pack and put things very orderly. She will put all of her children's baby clothes in one box, she'll put all of our old books and notebooks in another box and even though there's no label on it, she still know what's in it. She cooks very good and she do it well. She never get tired of washing our clothes and folding it on the same day. She never get bored listening to our stories. she's a very quiet woman but whenever we have visitors, she sees to it that her role as the hospitable guest is shown. Ahh.. I miss her so much. And not a single day will pass that I don't.

Monday Memories - June 19, 2011

"This week's round of Monday Memories to stories about our fathers, our relationship with them, or about any male that played an important role in our lives."

I'm sorry that I can't write a story about my father. I have a very vague memory of him in my childhood days. But one thing that I remember about him was that, he's strict, and whenever he leave for work, he will hand on to my mother our "assignments" for a week. Please take note that at that time, I was only 3 years old. And yes I remember that moment. Those assignments are couple of activities that we have to answer like Reading, addition and subtraction. SO no wonder that I can read English and Filipino at the age of 3. And hey! At that time, I don't know whether to thank him or not. But when I became a teacher, I had been thankful that my father gave his time to teach me and my siblings to read and write at an early age...

Monday Memories - June 26, 2011

"You could write about memories from your table, or choose another item from your childhood home or your current home and share the memories connected to it."

Hahaha! You know I don't know what is on the table that it's more fun to talk while eating than while watching the television or before going to bed :) And my family is no different with any other family who love to talk over the table while having lunch or dinner. I also remember while growing up that my father will always remind us not to talk while eating, but we just can't help it. And we always do that when he's not around. We will talk about our classmates, school activities, crushes (haha! at most times we just live teasing each other), problems and other stuff. We also talk about some neighbors and their cooking and how our mother's cooking is better than them (of course that's my mother!) But it's true, my mother cooks very well.

Monday Memories #8

I feel very very bad today. Monday Memories decided to close this prompt..

Now this made me feel so bad. I wish I did not challenge myself. I wish I could say that I'm not crying so you won't think that I'm a crybaby or something but I do.

So now, I'd like to thank Josie, the owner of Monday Memories for taking time posting something that has reminded me and made me look back on the old times with my family, my childhood, my mother and everything that I have kept in my heart. Thank you so much :)

Monday Memories #7

What special memories do you have of summertime?

When I was young, my family (my grandfather's family on my father side) used to own this ancestral house in Laguna where we used to spend our summer, family reunion and other family gatherings. We had so much fun and memories in that house. It's where my father and his father was born. Most of the times in my younger years, I thought Jose Rizal was born there :) However the time has come for my grandfather's sister to take the house where he lived all his life, when he died. I learned that the ancestral house was given to my grandfather's sister by their parents. So the house was renovated and no longer will you see the old memorable house. My sister said it was painted orange or something to that hue. And there is a very high gate now covering the house.

This photo is from one of my sister's facebook account. That's the house in Laguna. The photo on the left was taken, I believe, in 1900 before it was renovated (picture on the right). It was again renovated and as far as my memory serves me right, the house then no longer has those green bamboo. Right now I have no idea what the house looked like except for what my sister has told me.

Back then, my siblings and cousins used to play hide and seek. It's our old time favorite game. There was a drainage (a wide, clean drainage though) there and it's the best place to hide. We also used to talk about stories of ghosts on a near by 'hunted house' where my cousins said they swear to see floating white ladies. Of course when you're young, you believe every ghost stories you hear :) 

Now we celebrate reunions and other family gatherings on my eldest aunt's house where I spent my 14 years. And of course my siblings and cousins made a lot of memories of games and stories again and as well, on my aunt's house. Now that I already have my own family, sometimes I can still remember those memories from Laguna. And sometimes I wish I could turn back time just to experience once ah=gain, the happy memories of my childhood..

Monday Memories #6

Most of the time, I think I don't like rainy days. I had quite a number of rainy day bad experiences in my college years. There has been a time when the storm was so strong that it pulled the umbrella top out of it's shaft. I was walking in front of the many students who don't have an umbrella and were on the shade to protect themselves. Haha! Whenever I remember that incident I can't help but laugh so hard. I had a presentation that day and while doing it, I was also drying my hair :)

Another experience that I thank God my family was one of those people who was not affected, was the typhoon Ondoy here in the Philippines. A lot of people where affected especially those that live on the lower part area. It happened four days after my wedding in 2009. According to Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Service (PAGASA) typhoon Ondoy was the worst in history. Many homes were affected and damaged seriously by the typhoon.

picture source

picture source

picture source

These are some of the photos of the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy.

Monday Memories #5

"It's funny how many different things trigger memories for us as we grow older, isn't it? Maybe you can share a story of one of your grandparents or any relative that holds a special place in your heart."

Just this morning when my husband, my daughter and I are about to go out for breakfast, I saw my land lady's coffee cup on top of the bench under the mango tree where she always sit in the morning and in the afternoon to have a cup of coffee or two. It was a white ceramic cup with flower details and blue lining on the rim. The same ceramic cup my mother used to make her coffee as well. My mother just love collecting mugs, glasses, plates, figurines and pictures. Although we already know that she love to make collections of those things, my siblings and I were still surprised to see all of those when she passed away. He has a huge collection. We just don't know what to do with those collections, I mean who or where we will keep them. They are precious to us because they are my mother's. A lot of memories are on her things. It's just a pity that today, some of her collections especially the display cabinet was already damaged. Nostalgic..

picture source

Monday Memories #4

What memories of a special meal or gathering do you share? Was it at a fancy restaurant or was it toast and juice served as breakfast in bed by chubby child-size hands?

Before, we always have a family meal every Sunday because it's the only time that we can all be together coz most of us (siblings) are working far from home so we need to rent an apartment. My mother will cook our favorite Sinigang (it's a pork or milk fish with radish, water spinach, tamarind and string beans).

Sometimes we are watching a movie while eating, sometimes we'll just talk about the thing had happened to us within the week, or we'll talk about my mother's favorite tv episode. Sometimes we'll talk about my mother's cooking, she's really good at it. She's a woman of all trade. I miss her so much especially that we are celebrating mother's day this month. She's the strongest yet vulnerable woman I know.

Monday Memories #3

"Why don't you join me in writing about some place different or special that you've visited at some point in your life."

Well I remember when my husband and I went to Palawan (Philippines) for our honeymoon last 2009, one thing we did there which was unforgettable was the underground river also called bat cave, sight seeing. It's my first time on a place like that. The only light we have was the flashlight attached to the hard hat of our tour guide and the light from one of the tourist's camcorder. It was fun really, because you won't see anything like that on ordinary days. But you have to be careful looking up with your mouth open or you'll have the taste of a bat's pee, yay!

that's us inside the Bat Cave

view outside the Bat Cave

Monday Memories #2

"This week at Monday Memories let's write about a dream we've had at some point in life. It can be the sleeping variety or the dreams of our desires."

When I was young I used to have a reoccurring nightmares that I sometimes wake up with a fever. My mother used to tell me that it's because I watch Twilight Zone and other scary movies that I always have a bad dream. At this time, I can still remember it very clearly I don't know why. 

And then there are times I dream of things that happens in real life and then I will just burst, "hey, this has already happened!" Some of my friends tell me that maybe I was reincarnated and that that dream was from a long time ago. I don't really know what to believe. But it actually made me become fascinated in reading stories and novels about reincarnation. But at times, I believe that dreams are where our souls would want to go and visit so to escape from reality.

Monday Memories #1

I found this blog/meme on one of the blogs I follow which posts all (or maybe not all) of the blog memes she can collect everyday. Take note. EVERYDAY. Wow. I think she has this thing for research you know. Oh! Go ahead and check her blog so in case you'd like to do some memes everyday as well. Here's her blog:

So today, Monday Memories is a new meme I'm joining because I really, really love to travel back in time. Back in my childhood days where everything is simple and full of fun and my siblings and I (and don't forget our favorite cousin Mina) used to play and enjoy.

"What shopping experiences did you had when you were young, or in recent years?  Have you had a nightmare experience you want to tell us about, or a clerk that went the extra mile to be helpful? Did you purchase something special, or have a store you just loved to visit?"

picture source

Honestly, we seldom go shopping when I was a little girl. And the mall (I mistakenly thought it was a mall then) near our village then was the one in the picture above. That's Liana's Supermarket. That big actually. You can buy your grocery needs, clothes, hardware stuff, name it. That's why i thought it was a mall back then. Haha. But I love that store. In recent time I've had so many bad experience with some cashiers and sales lady/men. They're a bit rude and kind of lazy. I try to understand them especially if it's past six pm because maybe they're already tired for working the whole day. But I don't think that should always be their excuse.

By the way, I saw this article about "The Mall Driven Society" and you might want to read it. Happy Monday everyone!