Palin Finally Takes on Media

In a very dispassionate way, though at least one time showing some uninvited emotion, erstwhile GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin answers some of media's blistering take-downs of her, her family, her administration, and her entire candidacy.



I say she speaks very eloquently in a very disarmingly simple and unaffected way.

God bless you, Sarah!

Pastry Bliss

Enjoy a bit of local pastry bliss, albeit deceptively fattening and cholesterol-laden.

For for a pittance ranging from three pesos to ten pesos a piece/slice, one can savor the guilty pleasures of snacking with delicious pastries.

Nature Strikes Back

A local eco-system long ignored and grossly violated reacted quickly and without notice. Unleashing flashfloods fueled by torrential rains, and as some feared coupled with the deadly effects of a waterspout crashing into denuded mountainous areas close to the city.

The usually lazy river traversing through the city becomes a roaring and rushing blur of dirty brown water, curdling and ripping through everything standing on its way and angrily catapulting flailing catches into the sea.

And the hapless human victims are those who live close to its banks, including those squatting on government lands technically part of the riverbanks. And worse for those who had allocated for themselves the underside of bridges and anywhere close to them that provided shelter and privacy. These areas for the meantime are no more, but merely annexed parts of an overgrown river.

The rustic scenes pictorialized in a previous blog entry have turned watery and ugly, with the makeshift structures mostly underwater and their occupants scampering to higher ground with their meager belongings on their backs.

After revisiting the same areas, here are the results of the flooding and the devastation wrought as seen in pictures.

CDO Night Café: Post-Mortem?

When the two-day night bazaar has ended and the weary purveyors have all packed up and gone their separate ways, those with hefty profits having driven away a-celebrating while whose who lost in their enterprises are content with nursing their hurts, what is left at the scene?

These random shots in and around the plaza, scene of the excitement the previous two nights, starkly reveal an ugly underbelly of a city grown beyond its capacities to take care of many of its dispossessed citizens, many now reduced to being nocturnal denizens of the dark and seedy corners of the city and eventually uninvited tenants to the plaza.

Taken at about 7:20 am Sunday, the occupants of the plaza are shown in various sleeping positions allocating for themselves whatever little comfortable niches they can find, dead and unmindful to the flexing flurry of activities typical to an awakening city.

One elderly gentleman though asleep looks decently dressed and ready to travel, with his neat bundle of luggage serving as props to his arched body cozily adapted to the size and contours of a smallish plaza bench. A spot to sleep for!

Others in literally hard places – cold, dirty, and rough sidewalks, or concrete plaza benches not even comfortable enough for sitting in. Others go for the more spacious concrete benches near or surrounding the several statues of famous men revered locally and nationally.

Surprisingly one still senses the self-same stubborn peace and serenity we always associate with sleep, especially deep sleep, viewing their arched bodies and unwashed faces. Overall, showing the unmistakable signs of how hardy life is on the streets –deeply dirty clothes, badly sunburnt skin, and unnaturally aged faces showing even among the younger ones.

In other areas, clusters of neatly dressed young adults looking well rested and refreshed occupy the unused benches, happily giggling amongst themselves. Definitely not residents of the plaza and more like students waiting for their rides or friends to some happy excursions. The area is noted as a meeting place for those who signed up for white water rafting in the city’s now famous river.

Thus, everything appears well and good. And the city moves along to another day.








And lastly, another stolen shot - shooting back at yours truly:


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Nite Cafe Revisited

CDO Nite Cafe - Still

Scenes Around Divisoria Park - 2

Scenes Around Divisoria Park - 1

Princess – A Full-grown Lady?

Though not quite one year old yet in our best estimation, our resident mutt (a ShihTzu-Terrier mix) appears to be full grown in physical appearance. A truly mature bitch (proper in dog language) appearing ready to take on maternal responsibilities. Since she has not been neutered, there is nothing that can prevent her from exercising those – except with our firm and solicitous intervention.

She has been kept apart from the other noisy dogs in the neighborhood, getting only as close to them from our side of our grille gate, no more no less. No outside walks to fraternize with the neighborhood heavies. Her travels so far have been done as a passenger in our pickup truck.

We may have to learn more about the proper caring of mature bitches.

We will take it for now one day at a time.

Suffice it to say that all this time she has been a good dog – a good stay-inside guard dog and quite animated in her treatment of house residents. A high jumper and a definite enemy of neighborhood cats who stay outside our reach by roaming around rooftops. Some may even be stray or feral cats, but sight or smell of them turns Princess into a ferocious protector of hearth and home. At times jumping toward our perimeter fence to elevate herself even higher. Quite a neat move or trick for a dog quite challenged in size.