Dwarfed news.

The other day we were on the way to Dapitan to buy Christmas decors and Greenhills at La Salle was like a ghost town so we reached Araneta Avenue in no time and that's where the traffic nightmare began.

It took us 45 minutes from the corner of SM in Araneta to reach V. Mapa intersection. There were no warning signs and no word from traffic enforcers as to what was happening. Only the innermost left lane was moving, so we followed the cars and buses turning left.

That's how we found out that no car could go straight onto Sta. Mesa because jeepneys and other vehicles were  parked along R.M. Magsaysay, and they even faced the oncoming traffic.

Turning left was not an option, too. So we decided to make a U (the only option) and headed back home.

The reason for the humongous mess: a local religious sect had an evangelization/fellowship being celebrated in Manila. Holy Canoly!

We ended up at the Greenhills Shopping Complex.

Yesterday we resumed our trip to Dapitan. Being a Holiday, streets were almost empty but finding a parking spot became the problem of the day.

Dapitan Arcade had all sorts of Christmas fantasy bits: trees, lights, nativity scenes, religious icons and statues, vases, pots, plates, chairs painted into antique-looking pieces, all types of Santa Claus, wickers and baskets and more stuff which are all bargain priced compared to big department store prices. There were huge Citronella plants for sale, too.

But the thing I wanted to buy was nowhere to be found: real antique capiz windows, and pint-sized garden dwarf figurines. I saw a complete set of Snow White and her seven dwarfs which fetched for 5,000+ pesos but they don't seem to belong in the garden as they seemed too polished.

The news of the earthquake in Bohol and Cebu got to me only in the evening.

Walk in the Park.

When I was working at St. Claire in mid-town Toronto, we spent after- lunch hours either sipping coffee at Seattle's Best with our friend Alborz, taking a walk with a group of guys from the office who, like me, wanted to burn out sugar and calories, doing the grocery, browsing at the shelves of  Dollar Store for bargain tools and paint brushes and cables, etc, or browsing the shelves of  a rental video.

Summertime Salsa Dancing in St. Claire

In one of our walks, someone discovered a beautiful trail, which we soon frequented. The trail was full of lovely, Canadian houses with picture-perfect gardens. One will be fooled of its location; it was a rich man's private enclave within an old city neighbourhood.

Hidden gem in busy St. Claire neighbourhood

There were afternoons when we took a walk to a Portuguese bakery and had our coffee there and a purchase of a Lotto ticket.

There were other parks within walking distance from our office and sometimes, for no reason at all, we'd take our packed lunch and consume it at a park.

One of the many parks in the City of Toronto

Loblaw's at the corner of St. Claire and Bathurst is one of our favorite groceries. Then,  there's a Timothy's Coffee nearby and a few Filipino grocers and dine-in, take-out fast foods along St. Claire.

Our favorite Italian Restaurant in the area was Ferro's, and on Tuesdays, we'd cross to Kentucky Fried Chicken for their Toonie Tuesday offers.

Coffee was always overflowing in any meeting or function in Toronto; doughnuts and cookies were always present, too.

And during cocktails or parties, there was the ever present cheese - lots of it in different varieties.