Eden's Wanderings and Wonderings

I am trying to post a blog with a picture.

I have been following Chris' Parisian trip and it sure keeps me dreaming of my next trip / return to Paris (soon, I hope). In addition to Chris' blog, I also check in the Destination Paris website on a regular basis. I must be some sort of a glutton for punishment!

The picture makes my heart ache for Paris. I stole this pic from Destination Paris.

Three of my colleagues called me up last minute and asked if I wanted to go wine tasting in the Livermore Valley. I have done these ages ago when the wineries were few and novel to the area. Some 15 years later, many wineries have cropped up and some produce wines tasting real good to my amateurish taste.

Here's our office staff, Sylvia and Georgia.

We started at Deer Ridge Vineyards. Tried and enjoyed some Viognier and various reds. The owner of the winery took us around his property which gave the tour a personal touch. He shared his plans with us on what he was going to do to make the place an event center. He even has a two-berdoom + place on the property that can be used by clients who want to stay close by during an event. This could make a nice little get-away too at $275 per night.

The group proceeded to Charles R Vineyards, a small family-owned and operated winery tucked away on some dirt road. Fun thing about these small places is that you get to meet the wine makers and enjoy their stories. The hometown atmosphere was so prevalent that we got to overhear soon-to-be exes discuss their divorce proceedings development. :)

Kathy (Teachick) had this idea of a GTG in SF while she was here for Yoga teachers' training. What a great idea! She even had this stronger vision of some decadent Ghiradelli ice cream sundaes along with this GTG... Yummm. Here is the mastermind of this great event wearing one of her beautiful SF designer indulgences ...

The evening became a "Progressive GTG" and I loved it. Marcia, David, and Kathy started out with some pre-GTG wine at the Wine Merchant at the Ferry building as I was getting off BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to meet my daughter, Tracey. We walked over from the Embarcadero BART station to the Fog City Diner. I am surprised that we did not see each other (Marcia, et al) walking along the Embarcadero. Maybe because we did cut across some parks... The ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) in me wanted to watch some birds at one of the parks but my daughter reminded me that we needed to move along to get to the restaurant at the appointed time...

So we got to Fog City Diner right on time. I noticed Marcia, David, and Kathy right behind us. Sharon was not far behind. The second phase (for M, D, and K) of the GTG began.

this is a very out of date post. I can't seem to get myself together after a few days in Hawaii... Is this a carry over of island paralysis???

I crashed (well, almost) a GTG that Susan (Girasoli) and Candi were planning. I sort of invited myself as I wanted to meet them both. They welcomed me with warm alohas anyway.

Susan made reservations at an Egyptian / Mediterranian restaurant near Waikiki. Great choice! Food was good and there was entertainment to add to the ambiance.

(food blog next post)

There was entertainment. The co-owner of the place provided entertainment and offered to take our pictures. Is that good service or what? ")

Belly dancing with sword balanced on her head. She invited Candi's husband to dance with her but he declined. :)

Second show.

A very nice evening, meeting new friends, and saying goodbye to Candi who left for Asia early the next morning.

Working in a school, I thought this should not be too difficult for me. Perhaps a picture of the library and the terrific librarian whose job is going to be cut next year due to the budget crisis! (ARRGG)....

Or these ... These are my recent acquisition. Why two books? I usually give away books that I love so others may enjoy them too... or even ones I do not strong feelings for. :)

But this one, I really enjoyed and plan to take my copy with me on my next visit to Paris so I can find some of the things David wrote about.... like the sinfully thick chocolate at that dive on the 5th! So I thought, if I am to share, I better order some other copy to give forward.

As the say in the kids' show Reading Rainbow, "Get a copy for yourself, read it, you'll enjoy it!"

No, not food in Egypt, rather ... Pyramids Restaurant in Honolulu.

I just got done reading David Lebovitz' link on photographing food - hmm - annoyance to some... LOL

Instead of shying away from it, I decided (shamelessly) to post some of the photos I took when we had the mini GTG in Honolulu...

We started with these appetizers - hummus and falafel.... great with the flat bread.

My dinner was rotisserie chicken. The rice was presented in pyramid fashion.... cute

At least, I only took pictures of my dinner. Hopefully the annoyance was at a minimum... I did not ask my dinner companions to hold off on eating before I could take pictures of their dinner choices... LOL

Food was great. Susan made a good choice on the restaurant selection. The place was packed, so it maybe a local favorite too.... Thank you, Susan.

Red is my favorite color.... and I was seeing them all over Waikiki...

Red Grass Skirts... The pregnant hula dancer looked beautiful!

Red Furla -

Red Hats -

Red Hat Ladies Society from Hilo. They asked me to take their picture... so I asked if I could take theirs - after the sneaky one above... :)

I saw some couples, people who tried to be "matchy-matchy" in Waikiki. It was later that I thought, 'this would make a great blog topic' :) .... much to the horror of my children as I was trying to be discreet when taking pictures of those in matching gear!

What is it with Aloha shirts that make people want to dress alike? Seriously!

I think the matchy-matchy looked good on children though ....

Why do people go matchy matchy in Hawaii? They really do not do it when they go other places. Tourists do not wear matching striped blue shirts in Paris, do they? Not matching Big Ben T shirts in London. Or even matching rebosos in Mexico... but they sure feel compelled to do so in Hawaii. :) I wonder...

Oh wait, maybe except for this group. LOL

I went through some photos and was ready to give up on this topic... until I found this. I have to apologize that this is a "rerun", as I posted this a while back...

I thought this was an interesting advertisement of what seems like a "one-stop-shop" in San Francisco...

Waikiki's French Touch -

Yumm...

Taking a week off from summer school, and do nothing was a perfect self-prescription for an overworked kindergarten teacher. Marriott villas proved to be the perfect place for it! Check out my home away from home this week.

Granting that I could not get away from the Michael Jackson craziness / media mania, I decided that I could put up with anything when I am at a pretend state of retirement. :)

Here I am at this hot place - perfect for sun and heat loving me!

It looks like a true place in the desert... but the desert scenery stops there, I think.

Is this a cool sign or what? :) ..> says it all for me.

I actually had forgotten about Saturday PhotoHunt because I have not been receiving the emails about the Saturday themes. It was not until I checked out Jerry's and Palma's blogs that I found out what today's theme was. Thank You, Jerry and Palma!

Early this month, I went to Palm Desert for a week and saw many sights there that were rock-oriented. The Marriott Resort had rock themed landscaping all over... here is a sample of resort rocks. (I actually took this because I was curious about the plant).

From Palm Desert, I went to visit a friend in Alpine, California. Mapquest took me through deserted desert roads... where I was the only human (it seemed that way) for miles and miles... So I would stop in the middle of the highway and take pictures... Not recommended! Some examples of photos -

This must be why they put the sign up. :)

Arriving in Alpine, I stayed with a former colleague who relocated there. Here is part of her 3-acre backyard. There are some rocks there too.

She seems to live in a resort herself... all in all a nice visit to the desert!

After a rather busy Saturday of three baptisms and a house blessing (will blog later about these), Tracey and I are on our way to Cebu, Philippines. So we start at SFO, leaving the Fremont home Saturday, August 1. We are taking Cathay Pacific Airlines. Our itinerary today is SFO to Hongkong to Cebu City, Philippines. We have a long scheduled layover in HongKong. Mike and Jessie took us to the San Francisco Airport arriving around 9:30 PM.

Our travel agent told us to be at the airport at 10:00 PM for a 12:00 AM flight via Cathay Pacific. We promptly checked in and when Tracey checked the boarding passes, she told me that our flight is leaving 1:20 AM. Bright side of the situation – our layover in HongKong will be shorter. Maybe. Hoping.

Tried to connect to the internet at SFO, but no free wifi; I was not willing to pay the $7.99 daily rate when I only have a two hour wait. What happened to Gavin Newsom’s free wifi campaign?

Finally, after much people watching, we board for our flight to Hongkong. We watch first class and business passengers board before the lowly and common passengers, like us, were asked to queue for boarding. In my next life, I am going to be rich and only fly first class, said she who does not have much leg room in Seat 38 B, next to her daughter on 38C. Cathay Pacific handed out a packet that contained socks, toothbrush, and toothpaste tube to economy passengers. Nice.

August 3, 2009 - Ok, I am really just at the airport for now.... HongKong airport.

Island 1 – Hongkong. We arrive at the Hongkong International Airport. We have a 9 hour layover. Yes, 9 hours! There is only a single flight direct to Cebu City from Hongkong and that is not leaving until 4 PM and it is only 7AM now. So Tracey and I wait. We checked with Cathay Pacific to find out about our flight. We have no gate assignment. Too early per the person at the check in counter. We wait.

We shop – window shop. I can’t afford to do any other kind of shopping. If I were a shopping addict, I would think I am at a buyer’s Disneyland. This can easily be one’s “Happiest Shopping Place on Earth”. Seriously, you can go to Chanel, Burberry, Tiffany, and pick yourself up a Prada all during a layover! I window shopped as I have to save my pennies for the Philippines. Besides, I am too beat from the 12 hour flight, judging from this photo.

Actually Tracey and I spent our money elsewhere. We decided to get a lunch at an airport restaurant called Wildfire. Tracey called my attention to the table setting. They had silverware but with a plastic knife place setting. They must worry about passengers taking butter knives on board and be a threat to society. Ok, works for us.

The food was awesome. We ordered a Duck Confit salad and a sampler appetizer. Everything was really good… well except for the smoked salmon which resembled raw to my simplistic taste. I passed on that. I loved the stacked grilled tomato and eggplant topped with mozzarella, basil, and tomato. I want to recreate this at home.

I wanted to blog regularly while on vacation but (vacation) fun gets in the way sometimes. :) So I am going to try to post some late entries. This one is 14 days overdue!

August 4, 2009 – The island of Cebu.

A few cousins were there to meet us. Good thing because I would not want to brave the streets of Cebu City and their daredevils called cab drives. We checked in at the local Marriott.

Upon arrival we went to dinner at a restaurant that featured Filipino food - Café Laguna. After a long flight it was great to see family and have my feet planted on Tierra firma and enjoy authentic Filipino food.

First full day in the island of Cebu… Visiting my 88 year-old Mom was the main agenda for this trip. Tracey and I went to see her on the first day. It is wonderful to see her healthy and looking happy. She seemed happy to see us too. She even asked about her other grandchildren, Shawn and Mike. She recognized Tracey. She is looking wonderful and she seems very content here.

Since I have been on an Island Hopping vacation, I thought I'd post some sea ripples we (Daughter and I) have seen on this get-away. My daughter took the picture of my cousin and I.

In my hometown, Samboan, Cebu, Philippines.... sunset on our first day there ....

Crossing the strong ripply sea from Kowloon to HongKong.

For such a small body of water, I wondered why the sea was pretty ripply. Larger seas in the Philippines were pretty smooth by comparison....

August 5, 2009.

We are off to my hometown, Samboan, today. My Mom and her two caretakers are coming along. A van is picking us up from Marriott at 1:00 PM. The photo below is shown with my cousin, Fe - who lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and my god daughter, Bem (standing next to my daughter, Tracey).

I started the day by blogging, but I am WAY behind when it comes to posting the entries!!! And it is going to get worse... blogging wise that is. For the next five days, I am not sure what or if there is even any type of internet connection at this town destination. I am sure, however, that my daughter and I will have our fill of swimming, eating, and sunning. There will be lots of sunsets too... I will be parked near some beach. YEAH!

Let me back track. I arrived to some awesome welcome. There are four relatives / families who want to host our stay here. My cousins are asking that we stay with them… Tracey said we each can have our own individual hosts! We just might stay at one different place each night so we do not hurt anyone’s feelings. Could this be something like too much of a good thing?

There are some wonderful views everywhere,,, so whereever we are, it will be great.

We decided to stay at my cousin, Fe’s home. My Mom and her two caretakers are staying with a cousin next door. Talk about some wonderful bed and breakfasts! How did I become so LUCKY!

These and the wonderful sight to wake up to. Retirement calls.

Today we swam, ate, caught up on the town gossip… well not all… as I find out more each day what, who, when, why, and where.

And the sunsets are beatiful too!

Tracey waiting for the sun to set on our first day in Samboan.

Fe and I joined her at the beach-

So we stayed and watched the sun disappear into the horizon. Irresistible.

Perhaps I should not wait three or four years between visits.

August 6, 2009

My daughter, Tracey, barely remember the town I was born and grew up in. Her last visit (prior to this one) was some 15 years ago. Time to reacquaint...

Samboan is about 150 kilometers from Cebu City. With road conditions, it takes one 3.5 hours to get from the city to Samboan... through some really funky towns.... and delightful sights. :)

I borrowed the two pics from Tracey... some creatures compete with pedestrians trying to cross a road well traveled. :)

Life is simple in Samboan... uncomplicated. No one hurries... My mother says that. That is one of the reasons why she abandoned California residency.

We started many a day in the sea ... swimming and / or snorkeling. Most mornings some little kids are up and early waiting for Tracey to get into the sea . They frolic with her. Happy children with not a care in the world.

The one in the middle, Kikay, really enjoyed visiting Tracey; made gifts for her and collected shells to present to her new friend, Tracey.

Reese and her sister Angel loved swimming early in the day as well.

PhotoHunt - Electric

When I saw this theme for today's photohunt, I immediately thought of the street outside my hotel in Kowloon from my recent visit to Hong Kong. To say that the show out on the street is electric, is an understatement. I wonder if they have power failures there. They just use so much electricity!!!

On a more subdued tone, here is a photo of an outdoor evening mass in my hometown, Samboan. Not too long ago, some 30 years, the town did not have all day electricity and now there is... WOW. :) This would not have happened 30 years ago. I was very pleased to see and attend this mass. And I was glad to be able to steal a moment or two during mass to take photos. :)

I follow David Lebovitz's blog... read his website deligently ... own his cookbooks... not that I really cook... but did you know that cookbooks are good reads?

So David is in town. I decided I have to see / hear him. His first appearance (that I know of) was in Emeryville. I ordered tickets. I talked my daughter, Tracey, into going to one of his appearances. Since Tracey now lives in Emeryville - the venue, Charles Chocolates, was in her hood, I thought it would be a great idea if she went to meet David too. :)

So I went to Tracey's apartment on Wednesday night, hurried her along as I did not want to be late for David's apparition. :) David's talk was scheduled from 6-8PM. So we get to Charles Chocolates around 6:15 PM... 15 minutes late ... to find the parking lot to ourselves. We went to the front of the building to check things out... What? Did they shut the door for late arrivals? Now, I am going to be p&@$ed.... Afterall, I drove up the busy freeway and fought rush hour traffic to get here!

So I shook the door which turned out to be locked... chained ... locked... Shook it again... Shhh, do not tell anyone what happened after...

Anyway, I was a day early...DARN! So we went to dinner... will blog about that restaurant one day...

I was determined to see him, so I went back the next day - yesterday, Thursday. Success!

Upon arriving at Charles Chocolates on the RIGHT DAY, I spotted David eating Charles' SMORES...a $5+ block of graham cracker, chocolate bar and marshmallow square. David says one can make a dinner of it!

David talking about his "The Sweet Life in Paris"...So casual and cool.

After his talk, he signed books... including my ... Sweet Life.. and Perfect Scoop.

This is part of the crowd lined up to meet the man.

Would he think I am a stalker if I go see him in San Francisco on Monday? hmmm. I need a copy of The Sweet Life in Paris for Tracey... who incidentally want to temporarily relocate to Paris...

This is one fun theme. I had lots of photos to choose from. Most of the photos are from my summer trip to Asia... so there are some literal mishaps included. :)

I am glad for Bilingual signs... I wish I were more than tri-lingual... I would have been lost if it were not for the considerate bilingual translations.

On a wall of a construction site in Singapore. I am sure the sign was intentional... sure caught my attention.

A hotel perk in Hong Kong.

"Do not weap slippers in the bathroom to prevent slidng"

A sign in the Philippines... At first my "English-speaking" brain read this and questioned "What???" Then I realized as I reverted to my "Tagalog-speaking" brain that "IWAS" meant - prevent... Duh! (on me)

The following were taken to satisfy the self-centered me... LOL ... Somewhere in the desert between Palm Desert and San Diego.

Cebu, Philippines... I wish I spent sometime here... :)

I kept thinking that I need to continue writing my blog about my visit to the Philippines, Singapore, and Hong Kong but life and work get in the way --- Arrrggg.. so here is another attempt- With the recent typhoons that hit the Philippines, school children there have been in my mind lately.

One of the highlights of the trip to Asia, was a visit to the elementary school that Mattos School sent school supplies and literature books as part of our Service Learning project. The children at Mattos learned a little bit about the Philippines as the project implies.

August 7 - Visit to Samboan Central School, the elementary school here which Mattos Elementary adopted for our service learning project a couple of years back.

When I arrived in Cebu, the Philippines was mourning the death of Corazon Aguino, celebrating her life, and everyone was off work and schools were closed to comemorate the event. (Is that a right term to use?)

So I waited until Friday, August 7th to deliver three boxes of school supplies, books, etc. that I had mailed in June... donations to Samboan Central School. In June, Larry Olson and Paula Tressell, Mattos School first grade teachers donated numerous literature books that they no longer use. I sent the boxes via LBC freight hoping they will arrive before my arrival for my Philippine visit and hoping that I'd be able to personally deliver them to the school we adopted some years back.

Back when we started this service learning project, Mattos students voted that we send school supplies to Samboan Central School as our service learning project. The school is in dire need of supplies, or any help anyone can extend.

Friday morning, I hired someone to deliver the heavy boxes to the school. The children and teachers were excited to see the boxes or pencils, papers, books, etc. Faces and smiles all around. One can really feel the warmth and sincerity of the welcome and gratitude we received…

(One of the teachers getting the children together for a Thank You, Mattos photo.)

I visited some classrooms.

39 kindergarten students crammed into a small classroom. I am not complaining about my work conditions any more.... although I miss the classroom of 20! :)

There must have been a scouts meeting that day as I spotted this group and asked them to pose for me. :)

My wish is to someday bring a group of teachers to this area and see for themselves how needy some students in these parts of the world are. Yet, their faces reflect happiness and joy for every little thing we donate.

Maybe Greg and MorningStar will go back with me next time. :)

I thought I'd post some vacation pictures... a time when I felt FREE from work, FREE from the hustle and bustle of the big city and lead a few days relaxing and enjoying the FREE and fun things a small town, Samboan, Cebu, Philippines had to offer.

These photos are from an almost undiscovered ... ok recently discovered fun place we enjoyed. We had it almost to ourselves. Except for the couple of local boys who volunteered to be our tour guides... How freeing is that! Ok, ok... I am taking "FREE" literally here... :)

My daughter and I and some cousins spent the day at the Aguinid Falls... undeveloped, non commercial yet enjoyable and naturally beautiful! At the beginning of the path from the main road, a welcome sign was posted.

The mayor's photo was on another sign. We had just met the mayor whose family invited us to dinner the night before.... So here is Tracey being silly with Raymond's photo.

Walking up towards the falls was literally walking through some jungle like path. My daughter who I thought was a real city girl... lived in SF, Sta. Monica, Sta. Barbara... etc. actually enjoyed tripsing through the river at the end of the falls, and the jungly (is that a word?) walk...

The falls had three tiers from what I could see... Tracey and her cousins went up the rocky climb and proclaimed FUN!

I was chicken to go up the upper portions of the falls... esp. in flip flops... so I stayed down... and enjoyed the scenery just as much!

I have been so behind in my blogging.... I thought PhotoHunt post will be a good way to get back in the groove... Bags... easy... :) Bags, bags, bags

I bagged these for my 30 kindergarteners... Each bag contained, a Halloween pencil, some erasers, candies, and some hokey toy. 5-year olds are so easy to please...

One student came in with more fancy bags.... not sure what the bags contained but they sure looked spiffy.

These bags I bought and brought home from the trip to the Philippines, Singapore, and Hong Kong... Not even sure when I would be able to use ALL of them... so far, I am using one and Tracey uses one ... :)

Birds- The month of November brings "birds" into my Kindergarten classroom. On November 1st, I take this bird out of my overstuffed classroom storage and put him on display... (I can not even recall where I found him, but it is a good prop for a kindergarten classroom, yeah?)

The children learn about this type of bird... that the young ones are called poult, that they can change colors when they are agitated or mad, that they roost, and one smart aleck 5 year old said, they can also be roast.... :), etc.

Then the children make their own rendition of the bird....

One parent made these "bird" cookies for the students....

But one of my favorite birds is this - one that can take me places. :)

I had a trying time finding a photo that fits into the "Bulky" theme. Here is a photo taken some years back... 4 years perhaps. I traveled with a group of educators, family, and friends to Paris and London area. Fun. Time to go back.

Stonehenge... has to be Bulky.

The local paper here has a practice of publishing travel photos if a copy of the newspaper is featured in the picture... hence the periodical that I am holding. :) (Do not call the fashion police... I am so mismatched... LOL)

Jiggly

Starfruit at an open market in Singapore. I think the starfruit is kind of jiggly once they are sliced...

Summer of 2009, my daughter, Tracey and I went on a trip to Asia. We visited Singapore. We enjoyed a day at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. There is an area that has the largest collection of orchids. The demonstration lab , visible to the public, shows the Shaker room where orchids get a start... a jiggly procedure.

Here we are at one of the orchid gardens. A second look at my photo... I am jiggly in the middle... LOL

On that same trip, we visited Hong Kong. While there we visited Lantau island where the biggest Buddha is located. If this were not made of metal, it would have been jiggly. :)

Up close.

From afar....

Have a great weekend, everyone. It is a 3-day weekend for me. YEAH!

Balanced

Prior to our (my daughter and I) visit to Asia this past summer, my daughter researched things she wanted to see, visit, and eat while in Singapore. Lazy me went along with all she wanted to do.... I enjoyed that way of traveling -have someone else plan everything. So one of the things that she really wanted to try while in Singapore was Chili Crab, a seafood dish that originated in Singapore. Thus the balanced crab - the life of which hang on a balance.

Ok, backtrack... on how we got to the crab.

One of the days spent in Singapore , we headed to the Merlion area, as we, actually she read it was one famous tourist spot.

Here it is.

My daughter took this photo of me. I tried to take one of hers in a similar shot.... but I failed (miserably) to get that effect. Wonder how much balancing was necessary to get his shot. :)

From the Merlion area, we took a cruise to see the sights from the water.... or of the water.

The boat had this Warning Sign. Each infraction looked like the moves involved lots of balancing. I was not going to try any of those shenanigans. LOL.

We decided to have lunch away along the way and we were on the hunt for Chili Crab, My two cousins were with us on this holiday.

So here we are. Poor Crab before... balancing to determine how much he or perhaps she was going to cost us.

Midway.... looking delicious... and balancing on its claws.

After.... :( he had to give up the ghost for us.