Royal Botanicals.

What better way is there to celebrate the waning days of summer than a visit to the Royal Botanical Garden.

The RBG, located in the Burlington/

Hamilton areas is just an hour's drive away from Toronto.

When visiting royals, got to tread carefully..

The weather was on the cooler side, with a slight drizzle, which required a light jacket and a baseball cap.

Back in Manila, the weather report talked of a hazy and blurry day. Too many crossed signals in the Universe; confusing forecast in the horizon.

Of course, I am hoping to see clear skies when I visit Manila this September. I don't want to be grouchy, just happy.

I love the twisted..

Where art thou Sunflowers?

by Gener

Around the bend in Oglebay

I drove years and years ago,

To deposit the boys in a boarding school, such a place near Ohio,

Then I got into a plane, slipped away in a hurry

Boasted 'was in Big Apple's neigbour

In many years before.

Whence I moved to Toronto

On a red Isuzu,

The border patrol looked at my visa

And said you, there go,

I drove past the line, yelled on top of my lung

Here, I am past Buffalo

'Thee dream just finally came true.

Why, here, just now

I'm 'bout to fly again in 'morrow,

'Am taking a Northwest jumbo

my body's got used to,

Tho' still sick to the stomach I must

bid an adieu,

My momma waits for me

she's sick,

Momma is, you know.

Must this fellow be a huge clueless

In a scheme he 'tempts to,

Sleepless, directionless

how can it be so,

So?

'Fortnight he told himself, alas

Surely I must go,

To recite a lovely song

In commune with divin'in pro.

But the wind changed its course 'ruptly

and hit like a hurricane,

On this eve of my sail

I hope to surmount 'tis will,

My compass has jammed ill

My map's a bit wet

My boat's stuck in the mud

Better be back on a plane.

Lead 'ee to a point, where I go,

In the mountain

Or train depot?

Across a tall building, in a mall,

In layers of condo?

Under a bridge,

In a meadow?

Surely gotta know -

Could it be below a pass?

Beneath a hospital, perhaps

Along a racetrack,

Within hotels?

Past a church, near a bank

Beyond the north or the south,

In the hills or the mound?

Ain't it funny,

Oh no!

My clock runneth low.

Simply mind the woes I wrote

Which received 'ee promise of gold,

Take the words which kept aflowin'

And got the future clearer,

The omen 'ee once told

Thine be pursued with an amen,

The passion of 'mee poems

Shall be lived in soul of 'thee each other.

Clueless. Sleepless. Honest.

Without a clue.

Without sleep.









Without a doubt....not wild.

Where is the new Luneta or where do folks meet in Manila?

LEFT - Not Luneta.

Pinoy Balikbayans visiting Manila find it hard to resist the urge to go to Luneta. The last time I saw Luneta was in 2005, during the tail end of the Holiday Season, when we stopped briefly by the Bay, on the way home from an evening at Intramuros.

Relatives boasted of the new and improved Intramuros where, during our incursion there, a "rondalla" was playing Filipino classics by an old Church, and a mini fair of food, art works and "parol" display was taking place.

One time when a sister and her son from Ohio came visiting, I took them to Luneta and Fort Santiago and gave my Fil-American nephew some lessons in Philippine history.

But my precious memories of Luneta are those from my childhood. Those occasional early Sunday mornings when my father drove the whole family in his 50's Pontiac so we could " maka- sagap ng hanging dagat."

Yes, if anyone in the family had a serious cough, then a trip to Luneta to breathe and savour the salty air from Manila Bay was the solution.

And it was really very pleasant and cold to stroll at the Luneta those years. I remember Luneta being a vast expanse of trees, clear blue waters, and a whole wide stretch of clean highway, then known as Dewey Boulevard. There was even a ferry ride in the Bay (we called it lancha) that I remember taking as a child.

Farther from the main Luneta, one could see the night club strip, there was the original Aristocrat's Restaurant and the once famous Bayside.

The next time Luneta entered my consciousness was in early high school when the Japanese Garden had been constructed; it became a main attraction at the Park, together with the fancy skating rink. My cousin who acted as my father's driver would sneak us out in the evenings and we would watch grown up guys and gals do their tricks at the rink.
Then, Doroy Valencia made Concert at the Park happen.
We saw it live occasionally but watched it regularly on television.

When Imelda Marcos built the Cultural Centre and the Folk Arts Theatre, these structures and their countless productions became the new reasons to visit Luneta

But for some young folks who owned cars, the area around the Cultural Centre became an attractive place for trysts with the beloved. And of course, there were the ever present "balot" vendors.

When one reminisces about Luneta after a long abscence from the Philippines, one could not help but hear Rico J. Puno's Tagalog version of "Memories....Namamasyal pa sa Luneta, kahit walang pera... "

I think Rico J. was singing about a Luneta which later deteriorated into a cheap, sometimes sleazy park, where vagrants slept, where illegal vendors peddled, where lovers settled for few stolen moments - the time when the "classic" memories of Old Luneta had faded away.

But in 2005 and more so now, Luneta had been resurrected and reinvigorated, so I heard.

But for folks who only frequent the sassy cafes and resto of Makati and Bo-Glo, where is your new Luneta?

Tale of Irony.

About six months or so ago, I discovered the pleasure of reading. I was not looking, I just stumbled upon a beautiful book and I started gazing, then seriously taking upon the new found love.

I became a different person. Inside me there became an excited being, ready to read more. I was slow, I was choosy. But I started to dream again - to live once more, as the book(s) became alive in my mind.

But I was scared. Reading was not my passion nor I profess to being highly literate in the ways of writers and lovers of great literature. An ordinary person, I just wanted to enjoy, to discover new words and minds and merge them into my own world. I was not being pretentious, and saying, I am a great reader or lover of literature.

But, I found another happiness, at last. Could it go on? I sure wish it would.

As reading is new in my heart, poetry is something I've always loved.

THE ROAD TO A HEART
by Gener












They say it is laden with ice, your heart
Because it doesn't bleed,
But it pumps wild at prose and lit
Even bloats at the sight of knightly tales
Or future Gods.

How can one reach a bosom tool of life
Encrusted in diamond and gold?
Or weaken the veins that make them bold,
Warmth the red cells and make them drip
Bit by bit,
Until they coalesce into a new fruit of love?

It is paved with glory and aches, the road to a Lady's heart,
The trenches and spikes you've erected
Are high,
The moats and bridges
And guards carefully laid,
While you gaze from your castle's tower
A demeaning smile
In your lips.

A Nobody.

I don't claim to being anybody. I am just an ordinary being. A nobody. Being ordinary, I feel happy and sad, elated and downtrodden, at various times in my life.

I have expectations and dreams. I have failings and dejection.

I have faith and I have weaknesses.

I have revelations, rejections, reprisals, reprimands, rebuttals, rejoices.

In writing this blog, I have had discoveries, dismays, delusions, distant-ness, devotion.

I am someone. To myself. To those who love me, perhaps, I pray.

I am sad, for many reasons, I won't tell. Sadness is part of my being. I exist because there is always something missing. If we have everything, we will not continue to dream, then we live no more.

I wish I understood clearly.

Nothing can come between us.

by Sade

I always hope that you remember

We'll never really learn the meaning of it all

What we have is strong and tender

So hold on

In the middle of the madness

When the time is running out and you're left alone

All I want is you to know that

It's strong still

Can't pull us apart

Nothing can come

Between us

Nothing can pull us apart

Can come

Between us

I always hope that you remember

What we have is strong and tender

In the middle of the madness

Hold on

So it truly is a good thing

And I always wanted you to know

There is always this

And this is everlasting

Hold on

It's about faith

It's about trust, yeah yeah

It's about faith

It's about trust

Nothing can come

Nothing can come

Nothing can come between us

Nothing can come

Nothing can come

Nothing can come between us

Can come

Can tear

Can pull

Us apart

Can come

Can tear

Can pull

Us apart