Wordless Tuesday: MEETING

The waters of the South China Sea excitedly embrace the mountains of Zambales province in this beach resort some four hours north of Manila.

Punta De Uian beach resort, town of San Antonio, April 2010, using a digicam.

Tree for Three

Whenever we travel, we try our best to live by this mantra-

Take nothing but pictures.
Leave nothing but footprints.
Kill nothing but time.

We try to be as less obtrusive as possible as regards ecology, whether we are in an urban or a real jungle. Taking public transportation or walking instead of bringing our private vehicles. Bringing our own food and drink containers instead of buying pre-packaged and bottled ones. Reusing hotel towels until they’re threadbare. I would like to think that many of the photos in this blog where taken during trips wherein we made discernible efforts to be, well, green.

However, I wasn’t too keen on the reality that the green points we’ve earned in those trips get used up as I consume kilowatts of electricity while I write my entries and share photos online! Good thing there is now a means for me to declare that my blog is carbon-neutral.

A German initiative via the website Mach’s green promises to plant one tree for each blog owner that chooses to sign up in this website. This endeavor is made possible in partnership with several non-government organizations and publications dedicated to saving the environment using the most creative yet practical means. A report of the trees already planted as well as the sites for the planting of future trees can be seen in the website, among other details, in the spirit of transparency and accountability. The steps towards making your own blog carbon-neutral are very simple and they begin by heading over to Mach’s green.

And so, I celebrate this photoblog’s anniversary number 3 by securing for it a tree to make it carbon-neutral. May this be an auspicious start to more adventures in and more photos of a safer, greener, grander planet.

Litratong Pinoy: PAMILYA (Family)

Ang mga Simpsons ang isa sa pinakakilalang pamilya sa buong mundo. Higit sa 20 taon na ito sa ere at mukhang mananatili pa ito sa ating mga telebisyon. Nakakatawa talaga ang marami sa mga kaganapan sa buhay nina Homer, Marge, Lisa, Bart, Maggie, at kanilang angkan: ang iba ay hindi kapani-paniwala, ang iba naman ay tila salamin ng lipunang ginagalawan ng marami sa atin.

Ang ating mga pami-pamilya ay para rin talagang isang tsubibo sa karnabal: minsan nasa itaas, minsan nasa ibaba. May mga pagkakataon na gusto mo nang kumawala subali't hindi maaari dahil patuloy ang pag-inog nito. Gayunpaman, sa dinami-dami ng magkakahalong sakit at ligaya, sa dulo ng lahat, sa palagay ko ay pipiliin pa rin natin ang ating mga pami-pamilya.

Minsan di ko kayang mabuhay kasama sila, pero mas mas madalas, mahirap mabuhay na wala sila.

PAMILYA = FAMILY

The Simpsons would arguably be one of the most popular families in the world. For 20 years, their eventful life has unfolded inside our TV screens and they're likely to have another season starting in the fall. The lives of Homer, Marge, Lisa, Bart, Maggie and the rest of their clan are just hilarious: some scenes are outrightly inane and impossible, some are mirrors of our own (mis)adventures as families and societies.

Life in most of our families are like carnival rides: sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down. There are times you'd want to jumpship but you just can't because it just keeps racing up and down its tracks. Be that as it may, for its mixture of hurt and happiness, at the end of it all, I'd bet my neck most of us would still choose to be born into the families we are in now.

Families: can't live with them, can't live without them =]

Universal Studios Florida, December 2009 using a digicam.

Wordless Wednesday: SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED

One of the highlights of my 24-hour stay in Sweden is the visit to its Postmuseum, a veritable treasure trove of postal as well a philatelic delights that stamp geeks like myself swim into gladly. It has exhibits that creatively discuss the history of the postal system, replete with priceless memorabilia like mailboxes, postal workers' uniforms, stamps, among others. The time I was there, there were also special exhibitions on the letters of famed biologist Carl von Linnae and the philatelic exploits of one John Lennon- with items from his own childhood collection as well as stamps the world over which The Beatles have graced.

I love how this museum is organized, into compact, discrete levels and areas that give the visitor a sense of "completion." Interestingly, the exhibits, though, are not that mutually exclusive, as they somehow flow coherently into the next. There was also an abundance of written guides and materials for intrepid museum explorers. I also liked that I can take photos inside the museum, something that is not welcome in many local museums here in the Philippines. (Just make sure you have a back-up camera in case your digicam conks out- like mine did! huhuhu This explains why this welcome mat is one of the very, very, very few decent pics I have of/ in the the museum!)

If you do find yourselves in Stockholm's Gamla Stan - Old Town- head on over to the Postmuseum and have a deeper appreciation of the beauty and complexity of the mail, especially now in the age of instant messaging, blogs, and Facebook.

Visit the Postmuseum at: Lilla Nygatan 6 T-Gamla Stan, Stockholm
Write to them: Box 2002 SE-103 11 Stockholm / postmuseum@posten.se
Call:+46(8)781 1755
Fax: +46(8)20 90 21

Stockholm, September 2007, using a digicam.

PhotoHunt: HALF

Should you meet a Prince, please tell him that we found Cinderella's missing shoe. No wonder she took it off: this footwear's five-FOOT-high heel must really be a killer. Prince, head on over to Finland to claim it. And claim her heart.

Shoe Museum, Museum Center Vapriiki, Tampere, August 2007, using a digicam.