Gone North!

2009 Panagbenga Festival

...not yet, but I will tonight.

I am hoping to get an 11PM bus ride to Baguio City so I could take part of the 2010 Panagbenga Festival. The grand street parade will be tomorrow morning, so I will just spend the night on the road so I could be there as early as possible. I will be traveling alone, but it's okay... last year I traveled alone as well. When I get to Baguio, I will just send some friends messages so we could meet there.

From Baguio, I will be heading straight to our house in La Union, where I will be staying for nearly a week. I already drafted my schedule, and if it would go my way, here is how my week will be:

February 26 (F) - Travel to Baguio
February 27 (S) - 2010 Panagbenga Festival (grand street parade); travel to La Union
February 28 (S) - Bacnotan Church; Bacnotan Market; Lunch at Midway Grill; San Fernando Cathedral

March 01 (M) - Stay at home
March 02 (T) - Sunset watching at Paratong Beach
March 03 (W) - Balaoan Church; Nips Land; Forest Lake en Cielo cemetery (if sister would arrive in the morning); Bauang Church; Sunset watching at the shores of Bauang
March 04 (Th) - Stay at home
March 05 (F) - Dad's Death Anniversary
March 06 (S) - Sta. Maria Church; Vigan City

On days when I need to "stay at home," I will try to update my sites, and although I won't be going anywhere, I will definitely still do my best to take pictures of things. Sister told me she might take the night bus trip to La Union on March 02, I hope she would push through so she could also visit dad's grave, and at the same time I will be having a companion for the places I planned to visit.

Late February is also the time the City of San Fernando in La Union is celebrating their fiesta... I hope there would be programs so I could take part of it as well. I want to have a jampacked vacation!

I will be leaving by lunch time today because I still have to drop by the bus station to get my ticket, and attend the awarding ceremony for the Coke 2010 Resolutions this afternoon. Next update for this blog will be on Sunday.

Happy weekends!

*** Jenn ***

Husay (Skill)

Napakatagal ko nang hindi nakasali sa Litratong Pinoy - napakaraming dahilan... at inakala kong hindi ako makasasali ngayong linggo sapagkat kaaayos lang ng aming kompyuter at walang kahit anong paraan upang i-edit ang mga litrato. Masaya ako na kahit gamit ang Paint na kasama sa OS ng kompyuter, nalagyan ko ng pangalan ang litratong ito. Una ko munang in-upload sa internet ang litrato at pinalitan ang sukat bago lagyan ng pangalan gamit ang Paint.

{It's been so long since I last joined Litratong Pinoy - so many reasons... and I really thought I wouldn't be able to join again this week because our PC just got fixed and even if there seemed to be no way to edit my pictures, I was thankful that I was able to use the Paint program included in the OS to put in my name for this picture. I first uploaded the picture on the net, changed the size and pasted my name using Paint.}

Para sa temang "Husay" ngayong linggo, napili ko ang larawang ito. Isang imahe ng artwork na nakita ko sa gallery nang magpunta ako sa 5th Backdoor Ventures Arts and Music Festival. Napabilib ako sa mga likhang sining na gawa gamit ang iba't ibang produkto. May mga drawing, oil painting, potograpiya, at merong kagaya nito - na inilapat ang mga tiket na mula sa mga bus bago i-presinta ang larawang gustong ipakita ng pintor. Lubos akong natuwa sa likas na husay na meron ang mga Pilipino.

{For the theme "Skills" this week, I chose this image, taken from a gallery when I attended the 5th Backdoor Ventures Arts and Music Festival. I was in awe of the artworks in the gallery using different media. There were drawings, oil paintings, photographs, and there are artworks like this one - that used a collage of bus tickets as a medium before painting the image the artist wanted to do. I salute the innate skills Filipino people have.}

*** Jenn ***

F - Frog

Wow... it felt like I've been gone for a long, long, time! Having no PC to use for two weeks really brought me down, but I am glad to be back. PC's still not 100%, there were still problems left and right, but I can live with this - at least I got something to use.

I missed two episodes of ABC Wednesday, and it's now Letter F. I am sharing animals for this round, and here's my F... a frog. I captured this picture using my Sony Ericsson K800i cell phone, and this came as a surprise, I remember I was about to hang the clothes out to air, when I saw this little frog. I set my cell phone to sepia that time - just to minimize the icky part of the image - and I really liked how this came out. My cell phone's camera can be set to macro, but I really had to put the lens as close as possible, and I am happy the critter was a willing model for the shoot, and it didn't jump for the whole time while I was taking pictures.

More animals next week on ABC Wednesday. Happy midweek, everyone!

*** Jenn ***

Just So You Know...

Our PC died last Thursday, and I cannot update my blogs as often as I can. If you guys would want to reach me, you can always send me a text message on my cell phone. I hope the PC gets fixed soon, as I do have a lot of stories and pictures to share.

*** Jenn ***

Walk of Fate

This month on Ruby Tuesday, I will feature pictures related to "love."




This was taken from the choir loft of San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila last month. At that time, I was with shutterbug friends who invited us for a Church Architecture shoot. When we reached the church, people were busy preparing for a wedding, so thinking that it would look nice taking a picture inside the church as the bride walks down the aisle, we hurried to go to the choir loft and waited for the wedding to start.

I was thankful to my friend Halie, who lent me her superzoom camera. If not for her camera, I might not be able to zoom in the bride as close as this. Whoever the bride is, I am praying a blissful life with his groom.

*** Jenn ***

Pink Buds

Continuing with the pink flowers for this month on Today's Flowers...





When we celebrated dad's death anniversary last year, we went to Aunt Lorie's house after we (Aunt Julie and I) visited dad's grave. We cooked simple lunch we shared with the whole family, and seeing that I was roaming around their place to find subjects to take pictures of, my niece Louianne (cousin Weng's daughter) handed me a bunch of these pink buds for me to take pictures of. I found it really sweet of her to do that, but because they don't have a vase for it, I just placed it on top of my cell phone before I took some pictures.

Not sure what the name of the flower is, though.

*** Jenn ***

C - Caterpillar

Even before we could appreciate the beauty of the butterfly, we all know it was a caterpillar first. Different kinds of butterflies, different kinds of caterpillars. I am not sure how this caterpillar would turn out to be, but one thing's for sure - I wouldn't touch this one because I would be itchy all over if I do. Caterpillar of this kind have hairs that would enter the pores and would irritate the skin. Here in the Philippines, first aid was to apply vinegar in the part touched a caterpillar.

Like the butterfly I posted last week for letter "B," this one was also taken in the Butterfly Sanctuary of Baluarte in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.

*** Jenn ***

Sun Kissed

This month on Today's Flowers, I will be featuring pink colored flowers...




This was taken last November when my sister and I were in La Union. On the day this was taken, we thought we will be traveling back home that evening, so we decided to go to the church
just to take pictures. The grounds of the church weren't that properly maintained anymore (compared to the last time we saw it) - too many weeds and other dried up plants, but I was able to see this very cute pale pink rose. It has a bit of an orange tone to it because the sun sets fronting the church.

My sister and I didn't travel back home that night, but we were happy to at least being able to visit the church.

*** Jenn ***