Lifestyle Blogs (2,465)

I had my back to the door when someone came in the showroom with orchids he's selling from his truck in the parking lot. I ignored him and my associate got into a conversation and went out to see what he had to offer. While she was checking all the goods in the truck, the woman from the neighboring business also went out to check the merchandise.
My associate made several trips back and forth as she purchased a few things. One of them was a Ponytail Palm.
I've seen large plants but the one she bought was small, less than a foot tall, it had a thickened trunk and (to me) appeared dwarfed almost bonsai.
Okay, I was curious and went to the truck to see what else he was selling. His truck had signage as a landscaping company who does plant maintenance and leasing for corporate environments. Mostly orchids... I declined having killed a few I received as gifts.
He said everything on the truck is $20 each so I looked around and steered to the Ponytail Palms.
Most were all green and 2 had some red coloration in the center. I chose one with a flared base similar to the photo below.
That brought smiles as I brought it home. I'm told it's good Feng Shui.

about 4 years ago i was travelling from my house in bulgaria back to my apartment in the south of turkey,
which is a two day journey by coach , and for the first leg of the journey a fellow traveller an elderly dutch man sat in the adjoining seats ,and as the refreshments were served we struck up a conversation ,,
just the normal chit chat like where are you travelling to and the like ,
when we reached the turkish border control we had to leave the coach to have our passports stamped or purchase a visa for those that had not done so prior to travelling ,
which it turned out that the dutch guy had not done , and the turkish border control officers are not the friendliest people you will ever meet ,,my passport was stamped no problem then the dutch guy handed his over ,only to have it thrown back at him with a grunt of no ,,
and he just turned to me with a smile and said oh i seem to have a problem , i said do you have a visa ,,no was his reply ,,ok i said and took him over to the visa office to buy a visa which only took a few minutes , i will see you at the coach i told him as i was going to have a smoke ,,back at the coach we reached the final police check for passports and the officer looked at his passport shook his head and said no ,,still smiling the dutch guy looked at me and asked what was wrong ,i looked at the passport and he had not got the visa stamped at the border control ,so with a smile he walked back to get the stamp and all was well ,,when we stopped in a small town for a short break we were chatting and i said you do not get fazed by situations do you ,and he smiled as he told me that he had been on the road for 12 years with his suit case and just enjoying life and seeing new places,,
we arrived in istanbul at 7 pm and we said our goodbyes as i had another coach to catch to the south of turkey, and the smiley dutch man walked across the concourse to book into the hotel there,,,,
i often think about that dutch man and think what an amazing man he is ,,,,the world is his oyster and he is living it .....

The flow of life has been disrupted. For some, they will have no choice and to make a new path given all of the newly realized light they have been blinded from of the hustle and bustle of life. While others, have yet to recognize this light. But, in time, it will shine. However, there are those that want to remain blind. They have chosen to become distracted whether it through alcohol, drugs, or something else to have their minds pre-occupied. But what we all must realize we are all in the same boat.

Love is a powerful healer.
We are the makers of our destiny.
...we must first see where we are before we can steer our ships correctly down beautiful roads...



just a thought


Happy Saturday night/Sunday all.

i was talking with a friend that was on holiday here for two weeks ,,and now that most countries require a pcr certificate to enter ,, he explained that it would now cost him an extra 500 pounds to go back as he and his family needed to be tested before being allowed to cross the borders as they are driving ,,,
and the pcr test rules are that it has to have been done within 72 hours of travelling ..
so if you decide to go on a holiday that lasts for more than 4 days then you will need a test to go and then a test to return and for a family of 5 that works out at an extra 1000 pounds on top of your holidays costs ,,,
so i can not see many families taking holidays outside of their own countries in the very near future ,,,

in many ways.... Much calls for adaptability in life styles. Many are often technological or social, and many commercial.
On this last issue, my manual cork screw opening of a bottle of wine for a dinner beverage, got me thinking. Ever a risky event.
Many will remember real lead foil cork covers, as well as real (Portuguese) tree bark corks. Still present in costlier wines, but sadly, even here are evolving toward less expensive and fossil fuel alternatives. Even to boxes, and to screw off caps. What next?
We all hear that the horse dress and saddle industry died with the motor car, and that soon other work became available. With a corresponding general improvement in life for all.
But I'm not so sure. On both points. However.....
Gotta use my gold plated, 5 speed, bimanual, doubles as a fly swatter, rechargeable electric back scratcher, for a spell. Buzzzzzzzz. Ahhhhhhhhh! Now there's the rub.
Oh no, snow storm on the way with power outages. Whatever is one to do? Wait, there are rumours of machines called generators.

As many here know, my home is in the Philippines, sadly, due to the pandemic, and being British, I was forced to return to the UK when flying back to The Philippines from Sri Lanka, where I was working.
I arrived in the UK at the end of March 2020 and had assumed (stupidly) that I would be flying home in maybe a month or two.
So I asked one of my sons if I could stay in his granny flat, he agreed thankfully. I have remained in said granny flat for 10 months now, self-isolating for the first month was not so hard, I had time to catch up on paperwork, refine some of my lecture materials and create/modify PPT’s used in my lectures.

Then around May it slowly dawned on me that this pandemic was not going to disappear as fast as I had initially thought, I considered buying a car to gain some independence as until that time was using my son's car when available.
So I searched around and decided a hybrid was the way to go and would give me an idea of what owning a duel fuel car would be like.
As is my usual wont, I spent hours researching and comparing vehicles, eventually ending up with a choice of two, after test driving them both for a couple of days, bought the one with a buyback scheme attached.
The freedom and independence this car gives is indescribable, I could go out into the countryside, other towns and visit family and friends, even going to a pub or restaurant when they reopened was an adventure. It was truly heartwarming to visit my children who are all over the country, and meeting up with old friends was a delight.

But, as much as I enjoyed this new found freedom, there was always this constant nagging in my head, that I missed my true home, missed my Pinoy friends and the ex-pats who descended on my home most weekends with their families to make use of the swimming pool.
As the weather started to get colder things rapidly changed my outlook on life, I found myself missing things that had not appeared important previously. I missed the warmth of sitting on the porch in the evenings with an icy beer chatting to my neighbour and as always, putting the world to rights. I missed my early morning swim and my walks along the beach, idly looking at the flotsam washed up the previous night, I often took a large bag and collected plastic that I found there, not for any environmental reason but because I just hated to see the beach looking so dirty. I miss so much regarding my home and way of life in the Philippines, it is a truly glorious country with wonderful and amazing people, I have definitely found my paradise here in The Philippines.

Now some may question why I chose the Philippines and not somewhere closer to the UK like Spain or Greece. The answer is simple, I love Asia, love Asian people, and the Philippines is an ideal location to use as a stepping stone to visit all over Asia and Oceania, it has always been my desire to spend time in Australia and New Zealand exploring these outstanding countries, There are (were) regular flights to these countries from my local airport.

Now, we are under a stronger lockdown, I rarely go anywhere other than one large supermarket to buy food. My days are spent giving online lectures to groups of students in universities all over the world, usually in anti-social hours due to time differences, but at my age sleep is not a problem and I don’t require much more than 4-5 hours a day.

I smoke so have limited myself to just 6 a day at this time, it gives me a chance to get some fresh air and have a short walk on a regular basis. I am also slowly trying to reduce that 6, as my intention is to have stopped by the time I book a flight home
All in all, I suppose I’m lucky, as I’m healthy and I am alive, as and when this lockdown decreases in its strictness, I can hopefully, reclaim my independence again. But returning to my paradise will always be first in my mind. I can't wait, the first thing I will do is have a swim, I miss that more than pretty much anything else

for the humans it is a happy new year tomorrow being jan 1st,,
but for thoroughbred horses in the northern hemisphere it is happy birthday no matter which day they were born ,
and for the southern hemisphere august 1st is their birthday ,
and as for myself i do not celebrate birthdays , i just celebrate each day that i awaken ,,
may 2021 be a better year for every one .....

Well, it's here. Go out and be merry.
Don't eat too much. Cholesterol is no longer an issue... watch your sugar intake.

...likely a more important event each year in the far North and South. What with cabin fever, SADS, and the rest of it, not to mention the cold, it's arrival seems to lift many a spirit. More sun.
Of course, at least for us few living in the heaven that is the developed world, comparatively speaking, life is softer, than that of ancestors, only some few generations ago.
When Bravo and I take our walks, I'm keen to come upon centuries old homesteads, all in rubble states, mostly over grown, and we often enter what's left for an historical inspection. It's common to find items to aid daily life, if one sniffs about some, and a dog's nose/curiosity never hurt in these regards. Old storage container items, utensils, rarely a piece of material with scribbles on it, things long replaced with more convenient 'necessities'---all make for feeling of gratitude, when I think of those shorter and much harder hard lives.
I've been poor, and I've been rich---rich is better. Or?

.tag.} color ©Ordinate code.} of pOp.
Piper at the Gates of dawn./ Pink Floyd
.. sunrise, sunburn,sunset./ Bryan.
Listen,learn & read ON./ deep Purple.
....part 2.} as above....
..so below... ....g o l d./ Interference.
..R E D./ Swift..... . Agent orange./ R E M.
...$pirit in the sky./ Greenbaum.
...... yellow./ Coldplay.
.blue lines.. / massive attack.
Stormbringer / deep Purple...White horse / Laid back
... synthesis:} Temple of the King./ Rainbow.
....P A R T . 3... Coming Attractions
964..) ball point physics 101...
964..) mathematics is truth
1928.) The mathematical probabilities of Gematria & Strong's Concordance.
.......337..s n u g. // Guns.
.......627..by the book.) Scripture
..964..) Deuteronomy. ) Love & Light.