I heart…

THEME DAY: RED • Red packages filled with cookies on the red mahogany-stained shelves of Sugarhouse, which opened its first cake shop in Makati City in 1983. I remember the big fuss that everyone made about it because of its French Apple Pie, Strawberry Shortcake, Chocolate Mousse, Peach Walnut Pie and Blueberry Cheesecake—extremely rare treats in Manila back then. Competition is much tougher nowadays, but Sugarhouse is still around and doing quite well. In fact, they currently have sixteen branches all over Metro Manila, from kiosks selling only cakes, pastries and cookies to full-service restaurants with a wide menu. Cinnamon Twists or Chocolate Chip cookies anyone?



See red! Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

What's New Wednesday: A Look at Next Weeks New Releases

Pub Date: April 6th 2010

Format: paperback 352

Synopsis: (From the Publisher)

The author who "masterfully builds a dramatic story" presents another gripping novel of the women of Tudor England. 

As the bereft, orphaned cousin to the ill-fated Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard knows better than many the danger of being favored by the King. But she is a Howard, and therefore ambitious, so she assumes the role Henry VIII has assigned her-his untouched child bride, his adored fifth wife. But her innocence is imagined, the first of many lies she will have to tell to gain the throne. And the path that she will tread to do so is one fraught with the same dangers that cost Queen Anne her head. 

Pub Date: April 6th 2010

Formmat: paperback 400 pp

Synopsis: (From the Publisher)

A historical novel of the legendary Eleanor of Aquitaine and the one person she loved more than power-her rival for the throne. 

At only nine, Princess Alais of France is sent to live in England until she is of age to wed Prince Richard, son of King Henry II and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. Alais is an innocent pawn on the chessboard of dynastic marriage, her betrothal intended to broker an uneasy truce between the nations.

Estranged from her husband, Eleanor sees a kindred spirit in this determined young girl. She embraces Alais as a daughter, teaching the princess what it takes to be a woman of power in a world of men. But as Alais grows to maturity and develops ambitions of her own, Eleanor begins to see her as a threat-and their love for each other becomes overshadowed by their bitter rivalry, dark betrayals, conflicting passions, and a battle for revenge over the throne of England itself. 

Pub Date: April 6th 2010

Format: Hardcover 352 pp

Synopsis (From the Publisher)

Sometimes he dreamt he held her; that he would turn in bed and she would be there. But she was gone and he was old. Nearly seventy. Only cool paint met his fingers. "Ma très chère . . ." Darkness started to fall, dimming the paintings. He felt the crumpled letter in his pocket. "I loved you so," he said. "I never would have had it turn out as it did. You were with all of us when we began, you gave us courage. These gardens at Giverny are for you but I'm old and you're forever young and will never see them. . . ."

In the mid-nineteenth century, a young man named Claude Monet decided that he would rather endure a difficult life painting landscapes than take over his father's nautical supplies business in a French seaside town. Against his father's will, and with nothing but a dream and an insatiable urge to create a new style of art that repudiated the Classical Realism of the time, he set off for Paris.

But once there he is confronted...

Pub date: April 6th 2010

Format: paperback 480 pp

Synopsis: (From the Publisher)
An exciting debut: a vivid, richly imagined saga of ancient Rome from a masterful new voice in historical fiction

Thea is a slave girl from Judaea, passionate, musical, and guarded. Purchased as a toy for the spiteful heiress Lepida Pollia, Thea will become her mistress's rival for the love of Arius the Barbarian, Rome's newest and most savage gladiator. His love brings Thea the first happiness of her life-that is quickly ended when a jealous Lepida tears them apart.

As Lepida goes on to wreak havoc in the life of a new husband and his family, Thea remakes herself as a polished singer for Rome's aristocrats. Unwittingly, she attracts another admirer in the charismatic Emperor of Rome. But Domitian's games have a darker side, and Thea finds herself fighting for both soul and sanity. Many have tried to destroy the Emperor: a vengeful gladiator, an upright senator, a tormented soldier, a Vestal Virgin. But in the end, the life of the brilliant and paranoid Domitian lies in the hands of one woman: the Emperor's mistress.

Cool Street Art Graffiti: Graffiti Alphabet Letters

Graffiti art street cool with a golden brown color, graffiti alphabet letters like a gang that had marked their territory.

Woman Driver

Today's picture was taken in the 1910's, and shows a woman driving a car. In the early day of the automobile, I wonder if it was common for women to drive. I also notice that the steering is on the right side.

Giveaway Winner!!!

A big thanks to everyone who participated in this giveaway, it was a great turnout! I will not hold you in suspense any longer...the winner of Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran and an authentic Roman coin is:

Congratulations Helen, you are going to love it! I will send an e-mail shortly, please respond within 48 hours or I will draw a different winner.
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Be sure to check back soon everyone, I have a couple more great giveaways coming up in the coming week! Have a great day everyone :)

Beat the heat

The waterfall feature of Sofitel Manila's lagoon-shaped swimming pool. Exceptionally tempting right now since the Philippines is in the middle of summer, which usually begins in March and ends in May.

Natural or man-made, take a refreshing dip in Watery Wednesday.

My New Knitting Basket

Here is my new knitting basket. After looking at various web sites (thank you so much for all the recommendations!), I ended up going with something from Pottery Barn anyway. This is the Havana model I think. There's also the Savannah which is the same style basket in a lighter color.

I chose it for the size (actually I was even hoping for something larger) and the lid. In magazines you always see these perfectly organized knitting baskets with color-coordinated skeins of yarn all exactly the same size but my knitting collection tends to be much more chaotic so a lid is appreciated. So far Bubbles the rabbit seems uninterested in chewing it.

I'm getting very excited about Easter. I've always loved Easter but this year it is even better because it is also the first Major League Baseball game of the season. Those four hour Yankees/Red Sox games are great for getting some serious knitting done.

3D Graffiti Alphabet Letters Purple Style

3D Graffiti Alphabet Letters A-Z Purple Style | Graffiti Fonts | Graffiti Alphabets. Examples of cool design 3D graffiti alphabet A-Z.

Horseless Carriage

This picture was taken in 1909, and shows a US Senator in a car. I do not know what type of car this is, but find it interesting. I wonder why he has what looks like two drivers up front? Also interesting is that the car is designed very much like a carriage.

What would you have done?

Aside from the motorized tricycle, another way of going short distances in Metro Manila is the pedicab, a bicycle with a customized side car for passengers. I was going to a place where I've never been to before and the barangay tanod (village law enforcer) I asked directions from told me that it was quite far and suggested that I take a pedicab. Aside from the fact that the place turned out to be only about 300 meters away, I felt sorry for the poor man who was huffing and puffing by the time we got there (the road was on an incline and I am heavier than a sack of rice). Needless to say, I walked on my way back, but the thought that I deprived someone of the fare I would have paid does not sit well with me either.

Masterpiece Monday

Pierre Auguste Cot. Spring 1873

Taxis

Today's picture was taken in Washington DC in 1914, and shows a line of taxis parked in front of Union Station. I wonder what cab rides cost back then?

Writing Graffiti Fonts By Hand | Graffiti Alphabets

Writing Graffiti Fonts By Hand | Graffiti Alphabet Letters

The art of making graffiti alphabet a-z in the paper as an example of the letter when making graffiti street. Letters alphabet graffiti style cool.

Live!

Friday, March 26, was the awarding of the 2009 Gawad Buhay!, the Philstage Awards for the Performing Arts, at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. This is only the second year of the award, which recognizes and pays tribute to Filipino artists in theater—plays, musicals and dance. Depending on how it's accented, the word buhay can mean life, live or alive; in this case, the name of the award refers to the fact that the award is for live performances.




The awarding was broken up into several sets, with various groups performing excerpts from their 2009 season. The most electrifying performance for me was that of Ballet Philippines. Candice Adea, who won a Gawad Buhay! for Best Female Lead Performance in Dance, and Angel Gabriel danced an excerpt from Evacuation, choreographed by Bam Damian. (Please pardon the noise and fuzziness of this photo; the conditions were almost too much for my little camera and I was forced to maximize the ISO.)




To showcase the works of Filipino visual artists, and also as an added incentive for theater groups to strive to garner awards every year, the trophies of Gawad Buhay! will always be different. The 2009 trophy is created by Don Salubayba from Davao City. It portrays a dancing bulul, the rice god of the Northern Philippines' indigenous peoples. The three faces of the figure represent music, dance and theater.




A notable difference between this year's awarding ceremony and last year's is the number of artists who attended. Last year, it was easy to organize the small group onto the stage for their photo. This year…




Chaotic is a mild word to describe what happened during the photo opportunity, but I love it. Half a dozen performing arts groups on one stage, happy faces showing pride in their awards, and a gaggle of friends, relatives and colleagues trying to get photos. As a scriptwriter friend told my husband after the ceremony, the artists now own the awards. And that can only bode well for Gawad Buhay!, Philstage and Philippine performing arts.

For those interested, Gibbs Cadiz posted the complete list of 2009 Gawad Buhay! winners in his blog.

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Old Car Week

Welcome to Old Car Week here at OPOD. I love old cars, so we are going to spend some time looking at a time when cars were simpler, and life moved a little slower. I don't have a date for the photo, but I would guess it was in the 1920's or perhaps 1910's. Perhaps some Old Car buff could identify the date from the looks of the car.

Domestic Update:

Haven't' talked much lately about my year as a school teacher. Things are going very well, and I really enjoy the students I have. They pretty much have very limited resources, but they are all working very hard. My multimedia class just launched their class WEB site. In this class, I have one project they work on all year. The project for them was to build a WEB site that has inspiring posters. This last week, they got the first edition of the WEB site published, and it is called Inspiring Posters. They made the posters by finding old photographs, restoring them, colorizing them, and then adding an ispiring quote. If you visit the site and like it, you might drop them a note of encouragement at the email address at the bottom of each page on their site. I think they did a nice job. Also, they are offering prints of their work for sale on the site. Proceeds from any sales go to buying new equipment for the class. I am trying to show them that if you do good work, people will buy it.

Speaking of WEB sites, those of you that have been with the blog for a while remember my multimedia class last year. This group of students was a very troubled group of students who had convinced themselves long ago that they were all failures. In the class, there was one particularly troubled student named Dustin. Dustin had been in, and was in all types of trouble. In the class, I taught them that they could be excellent at something, and they built the Picture Indian WEB site. As they built the site, they got thousands of emails of encouragement, many from followers of this blog. This gave them incredible confidence, and really changed their lives. Throughout the year, I saw amazing changes in Dustin, as he began to see that he was not a failure, and that he could escape the mistakes of the past. At the end of the year, Dustin actually approached me that he wanted to enter an essay contest. He entered, and his essay "Into the Clouds" won, and he won a trip to Washington DC. I shared with you guys that Dustin did not have very nice clothes, and had no pocket money for the trip. You all responded overwhelmingly, and $1,400 was donated in under 24 hours. Dustin did not know that I was trying to find help for him on the trip. The principal called Dustin into his office, and had his mom, and the school councilor there at well. He presented the envelope with the money in it to Dustin. Dustin looked in, and had never seen that much money in his life. He took the envelope, and handed it to the school councilor, and asked her to create a scholarship fund for other students. He kept none of the money himself. He worked chopping wood on the weekends to earn what he needed for the trip.

Dustin was successful in getting into college, and now is in his second semester. He is working on becoming a Certified Wind Technologist, to work on the big Wind Turbines. He has done well and is making all A's and B's in college. I got an email from him last week that I wanted to share with you all, since you were such a big part of his "turnaound" in life, and you helped show him that there could be a bright future.

Last week he made his first "Climb", where he actually went up and worked on a wind turbine. This is especially meaningful if you read his "Into the Clouds" essay. These pictures below truly show a dream come true for this young man.

I love the smile on his face. It is not a skin-deep smile, it is smile that comes pouring out of a joyful heart.

Dustin gives a thumbs up to all the people who encouraged him, and wants you to see that he did finally make it to the top.

I share Dustin's story with you, because your notes of encouragement to the class, and your financial support really changed this young man's life. Also, I share it to remind myself that we can never give up on a student. No matter how bad the situation, no matter how "hard case" a student appears to be, there is always hope, and I need to constantly strive to help the next Dustin find his way.

Unique Fonts Graffiti | Graffiti Alphabet Letters Cool

Unique Fonts Graffiti | Graffiti Alphabet Letters Cool. Design and graffiti style alphabets amazing. Graffiti styles suitable for example to make graffiti letters on the street. Graffiti sketch examples alphabet a-z.

12ozProphet.com

Check 12ozProphet’s video about Brazilian graffiti in 1997, including Os Gemeos, Vitch, and Herbert Baglione ...

Suddenly Sunday

Since The Sunday Salon is closed to new members, I have created my own weekly event of Suddenly Sunday! Feel free to join in the fun, just link back to this blog :)

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Good morning everyone! I hope you have all had a wonderful week and relaxing weekend. As I write this post and reflect on this past week, I once again am in shock that it is yet another Sunday. Not only is it just Sunday, but the last Sunday in March! There are so many things that I need accomplish this week (besides my crazy reading schedule) since Easter is only a week away. Even though this week might be hectic, it will all be worth it on Easter morning to see how excited my daughter is. She's now 2 1/2 so this will be the first Easter she kind of understands :)

This week, I posted two reviews:

The Highest Stakes by Emery Lee
O, Juliet by Robin Maxwell

In addition to my review of The Highest Stakes, Emery Lee was kind enough to bestow Confessions and Ramblings of a Muse in the Fog with an enlightening guest post which you can read here:

The Sport of Kings from Genesis to Zenith by Emery Lee

My mailbox was happy once again with a couple books for review:

You might have noticed toward the top of my blog, there are now tabs! They are still a work in progress but after a few more tweaks, they should be a delightful and helpful addition.

It has come to my attention that the comment feature for my posts has not been working 100%. I have gone back through my settings and hopefully fixed the problem, so please comment away everyone :)

It has been another fun and eventful week over at HFBRT! They just wrapped up their "Elizabeth Chadwick's The Scarlet Lion" event yesterday. As usual, there were creative posts, giveaways and an excellent interview with Elizabeth Chadwick. If you have not had the opportunity to see everything this event entailed, you can visit their website: historicalfictionroundtable.com.

And if you still cant get enough of The Scarlet Lion, here is my review: The Scarlet Lion by Elizabeth Chadwick

Don't forget to enter in my giveaway for one signed copy of Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran and an authentic Roman coin! Hurry the giveaway ends March 29th @ 11:59PM. 

Giveaway: Cleopatra's Daughter & Authentic Roman Coin!

Have a excellent week everyone and happy reading!

Glory

The beautiful stained glass window of Pinaglabanan Church, the Church of San Juan del Monte, under the peak of the ceiling between the narthex (entrance hall) and the nave (where the congregation sits). The biblical passage written on it is from the letter of Saint Paul to the Philippians, chapter 2, verse 10: "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven, on earth and under the earth."

Lensbaby

Spring has arrived! Temperatures here in Maine have been amazingly warm, such a wonderful and unexpected thing, as March is typically a winter month here. More seasonable weather is expected this week (i.e. cold!!), but I managed to shoot some Snow Drops and Crocuses while it was warm last week. Because I didn't get my hands on the Lensbaby Soft Focus optic until I beta tested it late last summer, I was anxious to see what it could do with the tiny spring flowers in my garden. The optic provides an all-over softness, but you can still control the Depth of Field by manually changing aperture disks, as you can with all Lensbaby optics and lenses. I was easily able to softly blur the backgrounds, yet keep a focal point where I wanted it on the tiny flowers. I love this optic more all the time!

All of these images were taken with the Lensbaby Muse , which is my favorite Lensbaby model. I always advise photographers who are new to Lensbabies to start with the Composer model, . It is the easiest Lensbaby to use, because the ball and socket design allows you to lock the focus. The Muse resembles the original bellows models, it's quick to focus and adjust and works well for what I do. You can use extension tubes with Lensbabies, but for these images I used the Lensbaby Macro Kit

I shot these images with the f/5.6 aperture disk




These images were made with the f/2.8 aperture disk, placed on top of one of the special aperture disks that comes with the soft focus optic. The images are softer, with less depth of field, which is a lovely effect when photographing flowers.



I hope there are spring flowers blooming where you live, go outside and make some photos! Happy Shooting!

Kathleen Clemons
PPSOP Instructor and PPSOP's Director of Student Happiness

Friday Finds at the Bookstore....One Day Later

Pub. Date: July 2007 (In Stores Now)
Format: Paperback, 288pp

Synopsis: (From the Publisher)

Regency heiress Philomena Wellesley-Clegg has rather strong opinions about men and clothing. As to the former, so far two lords, a viscount, and a mad poet have fallen far short of her expectations. But she is about to meet Inigo Linsley, an unshaven, wickedly handsome man with a scandalous secret. He's nothing she ever dreamed she'd want—why then can she not stop thinking about how he looks in his breeches?

A delightful marriage of Pride and Prejudice with Bridget Jones's Diary, Janet Mullany's The Rules of Gentility transports us to the days before designer shoes, apple martinis, and speed dating—when great bonnets, punch at Almack's, and the marriage mart were in fashion—and captivates us with a winsome heroine who learns that some rules in society are made to be broken.