Rows and rows and rows of tulle, rows and rows and rows of tulle...

Tuesday, August 31, 2010 Jonette 7 Comments

Such a long title for such a short post!

First off, The past two weeks have been positively grand. I still have news to share with you about our experience at the Metro ComiCon last, last week. I can certainly promise you that one will be a picture-heavy post.

I'm just really glad that about 20% of my personal everyday petticoat is (finally!) sewn, after much self-inflicted bum-kicking. Pro-cras!-tination. The culprit? Facebook games, specifically, City of Wonder.

I really must be off to bed now -- the learners are coming back from their summer vacations in droves, and have a ton of stories to tell -- so I'll leave you with a stolen shot I took in my managers' office on last Friday's after-shift.

To greater heights

Thursday, August 19, 2010 Jonette 0 Comments

See Mink. See Mink climb. Climb, Mink, climb, and oh my, don't you dare go somewhere I can't reach because Mummy needs to go to work now and she needs you to sit still for a few seconds, and don't you dare scamper out of  the house, young lady! you come back here, right this instant!

Ah yes, kittens. Before having children of your own, I really do recommend getting a kitten or a puppy. See if you have the patience, the fortitude and the staying power to keep your sanity intact after keeping it from chewing computer and phone wires, clambering all over the keyboard or a book you're reading, or sampling your breakfast. If you manage to keep yourself together after all that and more, congratulations -- you just might have the slightest chance of surviving parenthood.

Not that I've known. I just have the faintest idea of what it's like to raise a kid from my aunts and uncles.

In hindsight -- Wow. What I must've put my own parents through those formative years!

Le sigh.
Anyway!

I am most pleased to say I am writing this blog  post from the wriggly, cozy comfort of my home. (I say wriggly, because Mink is quite adamant about inspecting and padding about the keyboard as I type.) The telephone installation crew came over this morning to do what they do best, and now I am officially connected to the rest of the human race via internet and a landline. Huzzah! 

So, this ought to mean more frequent blogging. This also means I ought to be sewing and cooking more. A-hmmmmm.

Speaking of cooking, James and I have finally secured a decent grill-pan! Huzzah! I fully intend to christen it with a recipe from Meream's book soon.

Then of course, there's the everyday-petticoat project for moi. Oho. Ohohohohohohohoho.

Rain sometimes makes it better.

Sunday, August 15, 2010 Jonette 2 Comments

Hi, everyone.

I'm writing this wee post from James' place. He's dressing in the bedroom, and we'll be stepping out into the rain to get him a new video card for the computer.

The real treat of it all, I think, is (and I hope) the rains will be light, there'll be faint thunder rumbling ahead, and we'll be travelling by rail. It's been a while since we rode the MRT to anywhere, really. It'll be just like college again, with going anywhere, playing hooky sometimes just to explore places, eat together, and simply spend time in a remotely foreign place.

Ah.

We're both grown up now (or at least, some folks think we are or ought to be), and I'm still really glad we can enjoy simple things like these.

What simple things do you enjoy on rainy days?

Callooh! Callay! 8-14-10

Saturday, August 14, 2010 Jonette 0 Comments

Well, well, well. Look do we have here. Ha!

Callooh! Callay! will henceforth be a new segment of this blog featuring fun stuff all over the interwebs, courtesy of my friends and yours truly. Horray for discoveries and distractions!

Six panels of roses...

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 Jonette 0 Comments

... to wear flower trails on your hips.

How am I supposed to be/ I don't have my thorns now -- Regina Spektor, Baobabs

The skirt I'm working on is slowly making progress, slowly, slowly. When I go home tonight, I'll attach a bit more to the waistline to cover the rest of the skirt and to give it a few more inches for the hook and eye.


I reckon once this skirt is done, I feel I might need to make a petticoat for it... Or maybe not. Ample hips make for nice and natural panniers too. Well, we'll see when we get there.

We keep our memories longer than our names. -- Neil Gaiman

Tuesday, August 03, 2010 Jonette 2 Comments

Death has a way of making the days and weeks vanish in a breath. Just like that.

In truth, I have no idea of the best way to begin this post, but beginnings happen by themselves eventually, just like endings do.

It has been two (three?) weeks since James' dad passed away. It happened so quickly. Thinking of it still makes me feel the inertia of emotion.

In all honesty, Tito Vangie and I did not get to talk very much. I knew very little of him. The short conversations we had were few and far between, and often occurred over drowsy breakfasts, the smell of dried fish, tomato and omelet coaxing my senses awake.

He once reminisced by the breakfast table about forming a band with his cousins when bands were still called combos, and how getting to Cubao seemed terribly easier (albeit in a roundabout way) back in the day. His deep rumbling voice, his eyes lost in their private reverie while we young'uns tucked into eggs and tomato and fried rice. Remembering bygone days made his eyes smile, among many other things.

I remember that.

There'd be days, James said, that whenever Tito Vangie's grand-nephews and grand-nieces would come, he'd scoop them up in his arms, and carry them through the house as much as his back and his legs would let him. He'd remark (as I observe) on the smallest things they'd point out to him in sheer wonder, and somehow, just somehow, the scars and scabs and grizzle of old age would melt away from his face. His cheeks grew pink, and clear. Being with his grand-children made him younger.

I know very little of him, but the little I know, I still remember, and fondly.

It is said that we children are the best parts of our parents put together. Everyday, there is a little bit of Tito Vangie I see in James. It gives me a sense of wonder, and I smile quietly, wistfully. There are parts of James -- his face, his demeanor, his smile -- that say they have secrets, riddles from his father. Secrets I see that I do not understand, but perhaps am not meant to, but to wonder about.

A part of James is a koan, a riddle of his father. I am thankful.

Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.