Finding fun.

When we were kids, it was easy to have fun.  Especially during summertime when vacation grande was on, we kids simply lazed about in and out of the house.

Breakfasts were late, lunches even later and dinners and snacks lasted until the following morning.

Our complexion grew darker, our hair grew longer, and shirts and shorts were constantly changed because sweat and grime accumulated into the skin while being under the sun for hours.

Kids playing under the rain.

And when the oppressive heat changed into a heavy downpour, we kids roamed around the neighibourhood shirtless and not a bit worried about catching pneumonia.

We were forever happy just waking up and finding the table full of food we loved to eat. And throughout the day, our mother and aunts supplied us with fresh fruits and juice which kept us even happier.

Favorite summer thirst quenchers, melon juice and watermelon

Because summertime also meant Lenten trips, fiestas and May festivities, our entire household of eight kids and later on, a cousin, migrated to and from two houses and our house in Nueva Ecija.

In Mandaluyong, kids joined fiesta "palosebo," and various parlor games, and in Sta. Ana, there even used to be a kids' boxing match complete with a roped ring.

Palosebo where kids try to climb a greased bamboo pole

When my aunt didn't have a refrigerator yet nor a cool box, my sister Jo and I were tasked with buying ice block from the roving ice truck, and we used to ask for "dry ice," which we played with and this almost daily chore added zest to our vacation fun. "Mababaw ang kaligayahan." Simple joys.

Other neighbourhood kids swam in the Pasig River, relatively clean during our childhood, but we were banned from doing so by our mother. So to cool off, we took longer baths and made our dirty kitchen cum laundry area into a big shower room.

We and our cousins played well into the night such games as taguan pung or hide and seek, tumbang preso and patintero.

In tumbang preso, the object of the game was to hit and down an empty can of milk can placed in the centre of a circle. Players tried this using a "pamato," usually a piece of stone, while an "it" or a guard prevented the players from doing so and immediately put the can back into the circle. The players stayed behind the toe-line while aiming for the "can" and when tagged by the IT as s/he recovered the pamato, s/he became the new IT.

In patintero,  players tried to reach the goal by passing through a series of lines guarded by an "it," and when a player got tagged, s/he was taken out of the game. It is the Philippine version of the American "tag" game.

Into an adulthood peppered with iphone, ipad, and other devices and gadgets, and lured by organized vacation and trips, one finds the menu too daunting and exhausting. The fun simply got too expensive and complex.

A weekend in private resorts are easier and cheaper to organize for big families

Empty mug at three.

My body clock wakes me up at two-ish in the morning, all the time. Ditto this morning, at exactly two.

So after the washroom break, I headed to the kitchen to prepare a cup of Swiss Miss dark hot cocoa.  The bread at Pan de Manila looked inviting so I got one and simply spread it with butter.

Hot cocoa at two in the morning without TV nor book to read was purely boring and the computer looked sad, so I quickly powered it up.

Thousands of netizens surely commiserate with my situation because as soon as I logged in and posted, someone posted back.

In three minutes, my mug of hot cocoa was empty. Unlike coffee which I love to refill over and over, hot cocoa fills me up quickly and I don't long for seconds.

Which reminds me of brunch at Pancake House; there's no coffee refill and they use small coffee cups, not mugs, which further reminds me of breakfasts at diners in Canada or the U.S.A where you get tons of refills. As soon as you put in your order, the waitress comes in and pours your coffee, and comes back over and over.

Soon,  my mouth ached for a cup of brewed coffee, but my stomach was still bloated with the cocoa beans.

I would have to wait for sunrise. My opened can of coffee now is the Canadian Nabob, which is really robust.

My stack of coffee is down to one big can of ground and two bottles of instant. I grabbed the opportunity at the recent S&R March sale and bought an extra large can of Folger's with almost 150 peso discount.

Falling in Love with the 20's.

Robert Redford as the Great Gatsby

Boys of the 20's

Prohibition years, liquor was banned and dumped

I must have been a baby of the Roaring 20's in my previous life; I just love the sight, sound, and scent of the Glorious Twenties.

Sure, I am connected to the 1920's. My father was born in 1921 and my mother in 1918.

My mother as a child of the 20's

A  dancer of the 20's

I am also connected to the 1920's era because I love the fictional character of Jay Gatsby, who lived in the romantic era of the Roaring 20's.

And I love jazz,  a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in black communities in the Southern United States and evolved into the distinctive style of New Orleans starting in the 1910's, and further evolved and was accepted into mainstream music from the 1920's and into the 70's.

The legendary Greta Garbo of 20's Holywood

We just hosted a Roaring 20's birthday bash and it was splendid.

Roaring 20's themed party held in 2013

Baseball icon Babe Ruth was the first player to hit 60 home runs in one season (1927)

Twenties' girl's volleyball team

Louis Armstrong, above, came to prominence in the 1920s, influencing countless musicians with both his daring trumpet style and unique vocals.  He recorded several songs throughout his career, including his well known song  "Star Dust."