A little show'n tell: re my post about our Mall excursion, I've been looking forward to visiting one of the Kultura Filipina stores here since our arrival. They always have a variety of shapes and sizes of plates and trays made out of Monkeypod (Acacia) wood: cured, sealed with whatever so they're safe for serving food, etc. And perfect for me and my xacto knives and carving tools. My supply was dwindling in Bothell when I was carving the 4 pieces from fragments left over from larger pieces. I like to carve wood when my eyes get tired from other activities. Not the best photos, but the large round piece (12") was from last year I think, and the rectangle tray was something I started just before leaving Bothell. The three plates I purchased yesterday are 10" in diameter, and they were p349 (pesos) each, $5.92 each in US. A little pricey I guess, but nice grains and perfect for what I want to do right now. "Visit Kultura Filipino stores across the Philippines and immerse yourself in the beauty of Filipino culture." I'm hoping to network over time and find some other sources.

It's been 2 weeks now, and we went on our 1st big mall excursion today. The Malls here are special because of what malls offer everywhere, but being in a tropical country, the AC is a big draw! We went across the city to SM City Mall, which is the oldest large Mall in Cebu City proper. Opening in 1993, it has around 2,906,256 sq feet (270,000 sq meters) with over 500 shops and stores. It's the 8th largest mall in the Philippines. Compare that to the Westfield Southcenter Mall in Tukwila WA with it's 1,682,961 sq ft (156,352.2 m). The newer (2015) SM Seaside City Mall, by the seashore SW of the city proper, has 470,486 sq m, a whopping 5,064,269 sf! Seaside is the 4th largest mall in the Philippines. A lot of numbers I know, but I wanted to illustrate how big these places are. We always get lost when we're trying to find a specific store or shop. You have to have a game plan, take photos with your phone, and take notes like "it was near the huge xmas tree by the such and such store where you turn left and..."

I wrote about our morning walk to the Carbon Market on Saturday and how it reminded me of the Pike Place Market in Seattle. These images were in my FB Memories this morning, from an early morning, foggy walk 7 years ago, 19Nov2017:

My MapMyWalk app tells me that we walked a little under 2 1/2 miles this morning, in 58 minutes, but that included some short stops at local Carinderias. "A carinderia is a common type of eatery in the Philippines that serves affordable and locally-inspired dishes." They have freshly made, home cooked mostly, pots of Good food...at a price a lot less than what you would pay at a traditional restaurant. We also stopped to take photos of shops we hadn't seen before. We try to vary our different walking routes. Like I wrote recently - a feast for the eyes... The highlight today for me was finding ourselves walking through a labyrinth of meandering walkways and paths at one point. It reminded me of a film with the Filipino actress Cherry Pie Picache we saw at a film festival in Seattle, at the little Harvard Exit theatre. Back in the late 90s or early 2000s. ps - I just remembered. We met Ms Picache's sister there. She was living in Seattle then. It was fun visiting with her a little after the movie showing.

I saw my first moonset the other morning. Cebu City has been shrouded in a haze recently, and morning clouds have been hiding it. The paper said the haze "may have come from the continued degassing of nearby Mt. Kanlaon in Negros Island". I clicked off a few photos with my cell phone when I first noticed the white/orange orb. The pipes and wires in the 2nd photo are on top of the bank next door. It sort of reminds me of the rigging on a ship, but it's a telecommunications pole that was mangled by Typhoon Odette 3 years ago. While the clouds didn't give me much of a moon shot, the pinkish orange light from the later sunrise was nice.

Our walk Saturday morning took us to the Carbon Market (pronounced car-bone) down by the waterfront. It took over 30 minutes to get there. That's our average RT walk time, but what a treat! The colors, the people, the smells, the fruits and vegetables, everything...we got some fresh coconut, some small sweet potatoes, 3 guava, some papaya, and several other things. A full backpack and several bags later, we hopped on one of the Jeepneys going through the market and headed back up to our place. That was my first regular Jeepney ride since our return, and I only bumped my head once as I did my crouched duck walk in to sit down :) Carbon Market is old, but not as old as Cebu. It reminds me of Seattle's Pike Place Market. They're both over 100 years old. Cebu City is the oldest city in the Philippines. Magellan, the Spanish explorer, is credited with discovering the Philippines in March, 1521. That was one month before he was killed by Mactan Island warriors led by their chief Lapulapu. Mactan Island is the island next to Cebu , and it's where the airport and a bunch of resorts, etc are located.

"It's like those little cars in the circus. This tiny red car comes out, hardly big enough for a midget, and it putters around, and suddenly its doors open and out come a thousand clowns, whooping and hollering and raising hell." I thought of this line from Herb Gardner's "A Thousand Clowns" when I read the paper this morning - more announcements of prospective Cabinet nominees...

a Fall walk in Kirkland WA, 5 years ago on this date, 14Nov2019, after some overnight winds...

It's cooler in the mornings when we go on our walk, 80° today. Yep, it's warm/hot, but my body likes it. They talk about how it used to be a Dry Season, and a Wet Season here, but now it's sort of mix of everything throughout the year? March-April-May are still nice though, and the best times for island hopping, etc... It's around 5pm in Seattle right now, and 51°. I do Not miss my early mornings walks in Bothell in 40° dark.

17Jun2018...there was a line of these trees along the Green River near our place in Tukwila WA. I loved the subtle changes in color during the Fall months.

One thing I like about being away from the US right now it's easier to ignore the political news. It's yesterday there now, the 11th, and Veterans Day. It's the 12th here, and my FB Memories feed had these photos today. The little girl is my niece, Kelly. Happy Veterans Day... The last photo is "Invisible Dad, Result of War", by Evaldas Ivanauskas, 1926

I like getting up early and watching the sunrise. I also like the city lights coming in through the windows before the sunrise, ...and the shadows they create. I took these photos with my iPhone yesterday.

a few more shots from our Cebu Covid quarantine stay in Nov 2021, but the next day?...

These images were from one evening during our 5 day Quarantine stay in Cebu, Covid time, 7 Nov2021. The last photo, with the Fall leaves, was shot in the US one year earlier, 7Nov2020

apartment interior reflections yesterday, at night...

These shots were from a Sunday morning walk in downtown Seattle 4 years ago, on 4Nov2020 - the Washington Convention Center, upper level, just off of the Freeway Park...