in my FB Memories folder this morning: frozen ice images from January walks over the years...the overnight forecast for Seattle was 30 F. That's 1.111 C

One of my favorite things to do in Cebu is to visit my sister-in law's house and take photos of her many plants...

I walked along the beach when we visited Talisay recently. I remember walking here in April of 2022. There was a beautiful sunset that day. I also saw these moving dark areas where I thought the breeze was causing water ripples. As I got closer, I realized it was hundreds of tiny little crabs moving away from me as I walked along. They were trying to get away from me. Instead of hundreds of tiny crabs this time, there were hundreds of little holes. The tide was out. Maybe they were taking a break.

back in Bothell WA, some of my walks along the river were foggy walks...

I'm looking forward to going back to the Fuente Osmena Circle this evening with my good camera. We went inside the circle's park last night for the first time since they put up this year's xmas tree. New years Eve tonight, and non-stop Sinulog Festival happenings for the next month or so. Live music, barbecue, bright clored lights, smiling faces and picture takers. I love being in the center of the city like this, with our island in the sky. Just go downstairs, and there are so many things to explore and do close by. Crossing the road and getting into the circle park was interesting. I felt like a Wildebeast in a gathering group of many waiting for a few of us to step out first into the circle's traffic, making eye contact and and waving our hands in front of the cars and motorbikes..., and when we were in the middle of our thrust forward, out comes a guy with a yellow vest from the other side putting his hands up in front of the traffic. Haha. One thing here though, is that there are very few accidents. If you hit someone, off to jail you go, immediately. Swift punishment. My personal strategy, just like when I'm walking at home: I'm like a bobblehead, with my head looking right and left, again and again, making eye-contact with the drivers, and putting up my hands, etc. Insert praying hands emoji here...

We have a NW view from our place, and since we have a corner, our side windows are looking WNW. Sitting and/or standing and looking out through our windows are the bookends for my days in Cebu. I think the upside down "L" pole in photo #4 is/was a communications antenna for the Metrobank next door. It stood straight up before Typhoon Odette. I got out my Canon recently, so these shots are not cell phone photos.

from a walk around the neighborhood in Bothell WA 25Nov2019

Sagwa, in the background, left us not long after these photos were taken, 15Dec2015. I like how his eyes are glowing in the picture with Neo. Sad, but part of life. Sagwa joined our family when Nate was a toddler, and Nate is now 27yo

"I think I'll give up living, and go shopping" :) I'll find and share a video of BB King's full song another time, but I wanted to share this clip from one of his later concerts. I saw him perform at a rock festival somewhere in Illinois or Indiana when I was on a road trip back in the 70s. I thought about those lyrics when we were shopping at our local Mr DIY store yesterday. It's a home improvement retailer with more than 1,500 stores across Southeast Asia, including the Philippines. I love that store! All kinds of things we could use, mostly good quality, and excellent prices. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9vcEThQ1-I

I took these photos 4 years ago. on one of my early morning walks. Apple Fritters have always been my favorite pastry, just edging out the Croissant and cafe au lait breakfast I remember from Paris. The Hillcrest Bakery, "family owned and operated since 1934" is right across the street from our first place in Bothell. Their specialty is their apple fritter. They have three small booths, their coffee is good, and they open at 6am!

from 9Dec2015 the old guy Phil, and my umbrella sword: Phil - I didn't know his name for the longest time. The old man Phil was this old guy walking along the street every morning when I passed by on my way to work. He had this angry look on his face, and I thought "angry, old man". I retired in Jan 06, and I continued to see Phil on his morning walks... Around 4 or 5 years ago, I noticed that he was slowing down. Visiting with a neighbor, I realized that he wasn't angry so much as just fighting off old age, and death. I watched as he moved from a slowing pace to one cane. Then two canes, followed by a walker... Then no more Phil. I miss that old guy. He was one of my heroes. Sword - Yesterday morning, the rain stopped halfway through my walk. It was a heavy rain when I started walking, but like many North-westerners, I don't like using umbrellas unless it's REALLY raining! I rolled up my giant yellow and blue Ikea umbrella, and realized that it turned into a sword like thing. I thought to myself, "I can now protect myself against those Muslim Terrorists!" re - one of the Donald's latest proclamations...

You don't get this in Bothell. We're walking home from shopping, and we stop at a cart filled with coconuts. "Two please". One of the guys knock on a coconut or 2 with his knuckles before he hears the sound he wants, and using his small bolo knife, hacks an opening in the top of it. He pours the coconut water into a plastic container and hands the husk to his partner, who then scrapes out the coconut shavings and dumps them into the water. Ditto the second coconut. p45 each, and we give them a hundred. Probably less expensive in the countryside, but we're happy customers! 45 peoso is 81cents US$ today. I'm having a glass now, as I go through my morning computer routine.

3 years ago on this date (11Dec2020) - me, reflecting on a cold Bellevue WA street

I love this photo of the twins working on/figuring out how to connect the straps of their booster seats. They're 6 years old now...

Dinner Date - We decided around 5/6pm yesterday to go to Banawa for a dinner date. Google said it was only 1.5 km and 4 minutes away, but yesterday was a holiday here, and it was a Friday, so the Jeepney Buses were full. Jeepneys too of course, but I have to watch my head when we get into one of those anyway because of my height. We hailed a taxi, and we had one of those meandering early to darken tropical evening taxi rides. I'm going to get out my GoPro one of these days and record one of those rides. We wandered around the Paseo Arcenas Center after our ride to Banawa, which took longer than Google said it would take of course :) We had a Vietnamese meal, missed out on the yummy looking Empenada's I wanted to get (they sold out and closed uo their booth before we returned), and bought some groceries at a newly opened Metro Gaisano grocery store there. We then proceeded to look for a taxi. That's when we realized that we were in a Filipino version of suburbia? Most of the cars parked in the Paseo Arcenas Center parking lot were privately owned cars, and taxis here were far and few between, even up on the main road. It took around 20 minutes or so to flag an empty one, but I enjoyed the people watching, and we had Ronald NcDonald behind us on the sidewalk. All and all, another pleasant evening in Cebu...

5 years ago SeaTac Park, Seattle WA 10Nov2018 My walk that day had me walking along some paths with more leaves, because there was a bicycling event happening...