STORYBOOK FOR A CAUSE: Artwork & Life Stories

Mystical Properties: Agate is said to enhance one's perceptiveness and to stimulate analytical capacity, and to provide balance between one's physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual states. Agate is also said to alleviate hostilities and promote goodwill. Agate is believed to help discern truth, accept circumstances, and is a powerful emotional healer. Legend says that Agate improves memory and concentration, increases stamina and encourages honesty. It is believed to prevent insomnia and ensure pleasant dreams, to enhance personal courage and protect one against danger. Agate provides a calming influence, improves perception, concentration and helps to develop and increase one's analytical talents. Healing Properties : Agates are among the oldest good luck and healing stones. In general agate enables the wearer to choose between true friends and falls ones. It is said to avert storms and lightning, protecting children from danger, especially in prevent...

;) I wont forget the balut , exotic pinoy delicacy that was used more to frighten the students to finish their work, or else. ;) 5 pm, it was yummy dunkin those fried gizzard (my favorite!), fishball, and the other tinuhog in spicy sweet and sour sauce. I agree, this guy has the best sawsawan so far. And yup, the odux : 4 1-day old chick on a stick was not only filling but really tasty.

Helping out in a kinder class. Awesome!  I am posting my cakes, and cakes, and everything nice from the kinder class of Miss Teacher Gorgeous. I got warm hugs from little hands, and smothered with kisses. I will remember you. Thank you very much! I love you all! -------------- Gladiola Building, la Trinidad, July 2008. It was certainly fun and productive being a teacher, even if for me, it was an accidental teaching stint. It was delightful meeting very energetic young people who love to teach!

Sunsets do take my breath away sometimes. They come different each time. What is mesmerizing is when they slowly fade away into the dark night. Like Anais Nin, I look at sunsets and remember The Little Prince in his tiny planet. He is in his own world, teetering at the edge, counting his sunsets... It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. Below are photos of beautiful sunsets. Sunset 01 by Chyt Daytec-Yangot Sunset by  Paz Awingan Aptimes "This is a beach summer sunset at Williamstown, Victoria, Australia. I left home a bit too early one evening for work so I detoured to the beach. I got rewarded with this scenes ..." Sunsets 02 & 03 by Paz Aptimes, Australia When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator. Mahatma Gandhi  

This set of wood whittled stickfigures was given to me by a woman woodcarver from Ifugao way back 1998. I affectionately called her Malya . Well, I actually bought them in a way. I was working for the Women's Program then and she was one of our clients. She came seeking me out in my office one weekend at dusk. I called her in for coffee but she said that she just needed to leave her bag of curio wares for safekeeping. I asked that she give me a list of her inventory. I sat with her as she brought out 15 pieces of woodcarvings. I inspected the figures as two pieces of the set had broken arms. Malya sighed. She said that her son would surely get mad of her carelessness in handling her wares. She continued to say that both of them had worked all night finishing this set so she would have something to sell the next morning. She needed to go see her ailing mother in the Province and she was hopeful that she could have cash that day. S...

Shadows of them fall In prints of colors and grays With lights and shades on the pavement. Shadows are like life's etchings Making impressions on life's pathway Maybe here now, but gone tomorrow Leaving memories as shadows that fall..

It was a misty December morning. Fog settled everywhere creating a canopy of whiteness -  an invasion of sort by puffs of cloud. Sunbeam pierced the blanket of opalescence. Etching rays of sunlight. Creating a highway to heaven, and an illusory portal to the universe. The rings of sunlight drew focus to tinges of pinks & purples... Beckoning for attention. And how could one ignore? Such mesmerizing astral beauty. A visual interpretation of the saying, Behind the clouds is the sun still shining. Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; Thy fate is the common fate of all,Into each life some rain must fall- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,The Rainy Day, 1841  Snapshots by Russia Lei G. Egmalis 12.2007   Picture Story by ~Lepan ♥ 2007 Heck Hall, Brent School Compound, Baguio City Philippines

Exhibit: October 15, 2008 Rumours, Session Road, Baguio City

"Always remember that the time to love is short." Love is a gift. It may come in fleeting moments. It is a seed that comes through our senses, nurtured by the thumping of the heart. It gnaws the soul for nourishment, and bears fruit in our spirit. Such other trivial passions would just wither in time. But when you find love, savor it.     Opening up one's self to the universe with it milieu of probabilities is liberating. There may be a hundred and one offerings. But we have to choose which one. To be, or not to be. To hold on, or to let go. Holding on meant getting stuck in one's comfort zone which may get bereft of insecurities and convert to pain. But if it is not for you, then letting go is sweet. You get washed up with myriads of feelings. It is like a beam of sunlight hitting a prism. From there would sprang all the colors of the rainbow. It makes one really happy with all its lightness ...