Weekend at Home

               So many things to do, so little time. Did the laundry, cleaned the house, cooked the meals, did a few things in our yard and ate my favorite Ube Tart from Rosalie's Tagaytay. That made up my Saturday and now the day after it, is for church and groceries. I wanna make a little blog post before cooking lunch, we plan to leave early to watch a Filipino movie, Seven Sundays.

                I wanna share how I spent my Sunday taking photos of my beautiful surroundings. Little by little and with some help, I hope I can transform my own home to a beautiful haven.

Colorful Coleus

             Sunday is almost ending. And I'm stock at home. No mall or grocery for us today. Don't get me wrong, I am born a home buddy, maybe because I'm a hobbyist, I will never run out of things to do, to fill up my day. Be it the artsy things, gardening and reading (I've got three unread novels on the shelf) but of course before doing these things there's the laundry basket to kill my hours.

             So, what is so colorful then? Well, say hello to my Coleus! 

              A typhoon passed by our region and it brought a whole day of rain. The following day I noticed them so lively and lovely. They've grown about an inch or two too. It definitely brings color to my garden. I've got like five varieties as of now. I hope to add more of this vibrant beauties to my not-so-little garden.

The Secret to a Fruitful Papaya Tree

                Papaya is an easy to grow tree here in the Philippines. It needs minimal care. Mostly, you will just see it at the side of the streets growing on their own, but has one or two fruits only. Currently, I have four Papaya trees inside my yard. We call the fruit bearing "female" and the one that just flowers through out its lifetime a "male". So, I've got two females and two males planted close together. I did not actually plant these trees, one pair just grew from the plant my mom gave me and I transplanted it to a larger space where it can grow bigger, and the other was planted by our native birds I assume, lol. It just grew there, so I suppose it came from the birds which live inside our yard.

Red Lady Papaya, I suppose!

           I am surprise myself that every flower bud the female tree produces developed into a fruit, look how plenty each female tree bears.

Lovely Caladiums in my Little Garden

        Last summer my mother has given me Caladiums in pots but I transplanted all of it in some places in my garden because it is such a lovely accent. But then I realize summer is not their season cause they all just died in a week. However, during the entry of our rainy season, the leaves starts popping up from where I have replanted it. I realize they love water and hate too much heat, and they did not die, it just became dormant, I guess.

Landscaping Design: Before & After

          It's the hump day! How could the week passed by so quickly? I'm designating this day to be my gardening post day. So probably, you would knew well what this blog will be all about.

        I started a mini garden just before our stairway last May. So I could de-stress even in a few seconds before entering my home and upon leaving. It will also be such a good view for the passers.
This is how it looked like then. Sorry, I can't all give the name of the plants I planted, but the thing on the pots that bears beautiful flowers are called Adenium while the green is being called locally as "espada" or Mother-in-laws Tongue.

               After four months, and the entry of the wet season, they look like this now. 

My Little Pots

            Cacti is not my thing. I know now, cause I love watering and they just die. LOL. So, I'm back to some indoor plants I can take care of.

          I bought this pot (it's actually a serving dish) while walking home with a friend at the market but I decided to put an indoor plant in it which I hope will live long. hehehe.

My Ginger Harvest

                  Yey! It’s my first time to ever plant a ginger and I’m very happy with the outcome. I just threw away a part of the ginger used for cooking and after a while I saw the shoots coming out so I transplanted it in a squared-elevated dirt from my vermi-compost.

Fruits of Labor and More

Welcome back to me! I’ve been absent for a while I know. But I’m claiming 2017 to be a “blogful” year for me (hopefully). So many things have happened the past year, some beautiful memories were created and sadly, one of the most hurtful has happened too. But I’m leaving it all up to the Lord. A brand new year means a brand new start. 

Weekend Habit

Oh it's the precious weekend once again, I'm always kinda looking forward for these two rest days called Saturday and Sunday. I get to do my other engagements and hobbies during these days.

This is the view we have from the garage we built. We usually rise early morning on Saturdays and Sundays to eat breakfast there, fix and weed the garden, then relax.

Summer of 2016 at Phi Phi Beach Hotel

     We went on a beach trip at Morong, Bataan last March. There are several beach resorts and hotels to choose from but I was lucky enough to have chosen a good place to stay at PhiPhi Beach Resort and Hotel. I have a short memory and I can't remember what they call the room we slept in, but it was just near the beach front though it was not our view, but it was only a few steps away to see it. It was good for four and we just added Php500.00 for every additional person. We were like seven then.

 

   

         There's one big swimming pool and the other is a kiddie pool or you can choose to walk in the sand for a much larger swim at the beach.

        There's a place in the hotel where you can eat and bring food, and I highly suggest you bring your own because it takes forever for a plate of food to be served though there's a corkage fee of 100 per head, it's still "sulit." Our view here is the beautiful beachfront.

     This beautiful sunset has taken away all my stress.  I wish to be back at any beach right now. I swear.

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Lovely Sunflowers in my Garden

    I went to the City of Pines last February and I brought home a few sunflower seeds which I immediately sow. It was the tall varieties that bear flowers as large as our faces. 

   To make sure it will thrive, though I'm pretty sure it likes the sun, I made a separate bed for it covered with hollow blocks and filled it with compost. I planted it away from my other plants which at the time was covered with hateful aphids. And thank goodness it grew beautifully.

     Lovely yellow big heads filled my mornings for a few weeks, and now I've got more seeds to sow. 

      Happy gardening!

The Beautiful Sunset at Morong Bataan

Summer is the best time of the year! Living in the tropics becomes paradise during this hot season. Everyone's packing up during holidays and weekends for a lovely road trip going to the Philippine beaches. Turned out it was my father-in-laws birthday last mid-March and my husband and I treated him and the family for a two-day, one-night beach trip. The beach we went to in Morong Bataan is situated where you can witness a sunset too beautiful, I wanna stay for a week of sunsets. lol.

 The fine sand is gray when dry but becomes black when wet.

I played sand with my two nephews while waiting for the sunset.

 The lovely waves of the beach during the afternoon was very inviting.

 Finally, the orange ball is now coming down.

 I captured the jump of my nephew making it looked like he's surfing.

Even when the sun has gone down and black has eaten the sky, we went back to the beach just sitting at the sand after dinner. We were there with other groups too and one has a big bonfire. Sadly, my camera can't capture darkness. But it was a refreshing experience, hearing the waves, the warm ocean breeze on our faces and the big bonfire in front of us. I regret not bringing my favorite mallows there.  I will be back, the long drive is always worth it!!

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