Ruby Tuesday: Rekindling Relationships

Originated by MaryT . Check her post today.



I've been in Manila for three weeks already.

Many things have kept me busy: daily household chores, tending the garden, meeting up with friends I haven't seen for some time...

And while doing these, I've had opportunities to take lots of pictures!

So today, being a "red letter ruby Tuesday day," I am posting some photos together with the stories behind them .

I don't want to simply post pictures; with the pictures are my sentiments, my emotions, my thoughts. my warm memories.

Relationships are precious to me. I believe there are no back doors to healthy, good, and God given relationships. (I put that qualifier down because there are relationships that are not meant for us by God, and will only drag us down, rather than lift us up.)

This is a picture of me with my good friend Violeta. She and her husband Lorenzo, and I, had dinner at a lovely Filipino restaurant near our home. Violeta, or "Bolet" and I went to university together. She was pursuing a degree in Psychology, I was doing Journalism. That was more than thirty years ago! Today, Bolet is a doctor in psychology who is involved in psychotheraphy and life coaching. She also conducts workshops and seminars on personal and workplace wellness.

This is a picture of Violeta and her husband Lorenzo.
Lorenzo is a theologian. A deep thinker, he is a man of few words but also a man of action. He engages social issues with the tools of theology. Lorenzo is also an artist.

Together, the three of us had a lovely time catching up, bonding, laughing, and enjoying good food together. Here are some more pictures of that time together last week:

I took this picture of the big painting near our table!

Lorenzo took this artistic shot of a lamp hanging above the place where we sat.

One of the dining tables in the restaurant. On the wall is a panting of three women sewing the first Philippine flag by hand.

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Last Saturday, my daughter Obedient One and I had lunch with my friends Charo and Aurelio, and their son Isaac. We went to my favorite restaurant in Makati City called Mom and Tina's. Shown above is a photo I took of the place. I love this restaurant for its serene, warm, and cozy atmosphere. They also serve very good food here!

This is a picture of the bottomless red tea that I ordered together with my food.

This is a picture of my dear friends Aurelio and Charo, and their son Isaac.

This is me, taken by Obedient One while I was waiting for my dessert to be served...

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Last Friday (May 1), my son Worshiper arrived in Manila. It was a hot day, so we treated ourselves to a Filipino delicacy called halo-halo. The word literally means "to mix everything together," which is what will happen after we mix all the ingredients together just before eating it. At the bottom of the bowl are some finely crushed ice, milk, and sugar. The yummy toppings you see in the picture are red palm kernels, green gelatin, rice crispies, boiled beans, some fruit preserves, grated young coconut, custard, and a scoop of yam ice cream.


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There's nothing more refreshing than a fresh young coconut, its soft meat and sweet water, on a warm day. This is the coconut vendor who passes by daily to deliver fresh coconut right at the gate. He opens it up, pours the water into your container, and scoops out the soft, tender meat using a sharpened carabao horn! All for US$ .55

Obedient One gave me this birdhouse, and mechanical bird that has a sensor and actually chirps and warbles each time it "senses" a movement around it! I have placed it on a counter top in my new kitchen.

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The last category of Ruby Tuesday pictures I'm posting today are random shots taken of red flowers and other plant parts (such as fruit, seeds, stems or leaves) found in my father's garden. My dad planted these plants and trees more than 40 years ago when we moved into our newly constructed house, and they are all still alive and well today!

A red candle plant flower just beginning to bloom.

A bromeliad bud...

...will look like this when it opens!

A red palm sapling

See the red edges of this leaf? A butterfly landed just as I was taking the shot.

Palm nuts aplenty.

Red hot chilis waiting to be picked

A heliconia bud...

...looks like this when it blooms!