Thursday, December 31, 2015

Whisking Back to Fall

We're now in the middle of winter but I still have some cherished fall memories to keep. I don't want to leave out this chapter of my life's chronicle. As I've said before, my life is interwoven with the seasons, and thus flows with them.

I won't fill this page with a thousand words, just pictures which  can be more eloquent in certain subjects such as this one. I originally meant to post separate blogs according to location, but since I'm posting way behind, I settled on putting them all in a nutshell.

My first post about this year's autumn  is  Jaunting Through the Countryside. But this is beyond the perimeters of the main city.

This time, I'm treasuring up my photographic memoir of the golden season that has slipped by.

Fall in our former neighborhood (we've moved to a nearby area last Nov. 25):

















Around the university hospital:
















By the city river:















Some parks:















Other places:









Frost-laced autumn leaves:









Fall visitors - the waxwings:





Autumnal skies:








"Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile."
-William Cullen Bryant


It's been a colorful autumn and definitely a vibrant memory! It's another of the countless reasons to be grateful to our generous Creator who has "made everything beautiful in its time."

More pictures can be viewed here: Recalling Autumn

Have a great weekend!


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Thursday, December 17, 2015

New Home

My heart is sighing for not being able to write here for over a month. After my previous blog, I've been occupied with packing our stuffs in preparation for our moving to a new unit that we've finally found after years of waiting.




Our contract was supposed to start  Feb. 1, 2016, but then, the tenants of the unit that we signed up for had to move to another city as early as mid-Nov., we we could start occupying the place by Dec. 1. That meant that we had ample leeway to move our stuffs little by little with our car. On Nov. 25, though, a couple of friends helped up in hauling our furniture in  a borrowed truck and carrying them up to our fifth floor unit. 

That same night, we slept in our new home for the first time. Our boxes remained unopened for some days. Now, most of our stuffs have been in place, save for some ornaments and pieces of furniture which we couldn't decide yet where best to put them. That can wait.

Sure, everything in our new apartment unit is just perfect for us. We've checked out many units before which the housing company offered us, but this is the only one we really liked right from the moment we laid eyes on it, like a love-at-first-sight. We said yes to the offer, not sure if we could get it since we were only fourth in a queue of prioritized applicants. I prayed for it, and then, when the decision came, we were overjoyed to know that the unit was ours! Woo-ho-ho!!!! Another prayer answered, another blessing!

The apartment compound consists of four Toblerone shaped buildings. Our unit is on the fifth floor.





The interior is not photo-ready yet, but I want to include here some pictures of the empty unit, just a memory of how it looked like then.





Every apartment flat/unit in this country has a veranda, and ours offers a good view of the parking area and the woods beyond,






...a partial sunset,




...a view to the closest buildings in our compound,





...and an almost perfect vantage point for viewing the northern lights!




Now we are happy with our new home. It's quite luxurious according to our SIMPLE lifestyle, and that's what makes us truly happy and blessed.

Here's one of our first dinners.




More updates later. I still have several past memories to store here.

Have a wonderful weekend!


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Thursday, November 12, 2015

Tangerine Clouds Across the Auroras

The first half of October was again arrayed with northern lights.  Sounds like they're really becoming more and more common. Common sights, yes, but not common beauty and wonder. My eagerness and fascination at seeing them have never waned at all. They still hold me spellbound.

Everyday I check the forecast. Every night I go out of our veranda door and check the sky. Sometimes, the overcast sky hide them from view. At times, they're too low on the horizon even though they're active.

On the night of October 6, the forecast showed high activities. The night was windy with patches of clouds drifting across the sky. Would they spoil my aurora viewing that night?

My camera went into a frenzy. Something different (specifically for me) was underway! Look what I beheld!










Clouds floated across the green lights. As the minutes glided by, the clouds gradually turned colors, yellow, peach, tangerine, burnt sienna, red.













The sky was painted with splashes of green, purple, blue and tangerine lights.






 


Subsiding....




And the stars regained the limelight.





Once again, I blissfully bathed in these awe-inspiring celestial colors!

This proved to be a prequel to the following night's awesome sky show, which I'm going to post in the near future.

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