No last word.../SWF

Doubt requires more courage
than conviction does,
because conviction is a resting place
and doubt is infinite;
it is a passionate exercise.
We've got to learn to live
with a full measure of uncertainty.
There is no last word.
That is the silence under
the chatter of our time.

~ John Patrick Shanley

Linking to Sky-Watch Friday

Resilience/SWF

People who soar are those who refuse to sit back, sigh and wish things would change. They neither complain of their lot nor passively dream of some distant ship coming in. Rather, they visualize in their minds that they are not quitters; they will not allow life's circumstances to push them down and hold them under.

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Dusty pink dream/SWF

In a Wonderland they lie, 

Dreaming as the days go by, 

Dreaming as the summers die:  

Ever drifting down the stream---

Lingering in the golden gleam---

Life, what is it but a dream?

~ Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

Remembering my father on his 71st birthday.  Happy birthday, Tatay!

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Dreams/SWF

The fresh, tangy scent of the sea gently lures you to this spot---the peace and solitude takes your breath away.

Photo taken in Cauayan, Negros Occidental

Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.  I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead. ~ Louisa May Alcott

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Beach house/Monday Doorways

A beach house facing the sunset in Punta Bulata.

Linking to Louis la Vache's Monday Doorways

Banca/Blue Monday

A favored local form of transport has always been the banca, a type of outrigger boat native to the Philippines.  Bancas are used for fishing,  transporting produce and people.  This is just one of the options we use in getting around the islands.

Linking to Blue Monday

Makeshift bridge/Sunday Bridges

A makeshift bridge at a beach resort crossing a small creek that leads to a mangrove.  Various vehicles crossed this bridge---a motorbike, a tricycle, a pick-up truck, and a carabao-driven carriage.

My contribution to Sunday Bridges

Quiet Cove/Watery Wednesday

A quiet cove in Punta Bulata.  

No man should go through life  without once experiencing healthy, even bored solitude in the wilderness, finding himself depending solely on himself and thereby learning his true and hidden strength.  ~ Jack Kerouac

 

Get virtually wet at Watery Wednesday

A canvas of glory [SWF]

The moon is like a mystery novel, the sun a motivational self-help book, and the stars a coffee table book of photography.  The sky is a whole library, and God the librarian.  ~ Terri Guillemets

Linking to Sky-Watch Friday

Two [Photo Hunt]

Two islands at the background, two kids on the foreground and too many good memories of this place by the beach.  

It takes two to put this boat in the water.

And two makes a good team.


Taken in early March during a family vacation.

Join us at Photo Hunt

Still hour [SWF]

Twilight:  A time of pause when nature changes her guard.  All living things would fade and die from too much light or too much dark, if twilight were not.  ~ Howard Thurman

...dusk is the time when men whisper of matters about  which they remain silent in the full light of the sun.  ~ Simon Raven

Join sky-watchers from around the planet at Sky-Watch Friday

Shelter [Watery Wednesday]

@ mirandablue

 "Weeping Willow with your tears running down, why do you always weep and frown?  Is it because he left you one day?  Is it because he could not stay?  On your branches he would swing.  Do you long for the happiness that day would bring?  He found shelter in your shade.  You thought his laughter would never fade. Weeping Willow, stop your tears, for there is something to calm your fears.  You think death has ripped you forever apart, but I know he'll always be in your heart."

Join us at Watery Wednesday

Before sunset [SWF]

@ mirandablue

 "Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day.  Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down.  And this is all life really means."  ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

More sky photos from around the planet at Sky-Watch Friday

By the bay [Watery Wednesday]

@ mirandablue

A serene morning by the bay in Punta Bulata.  A couple of bancas, a type of outrigger boat,  berthed while fishermen were checking their nets in preparation for the day's  fishing expedition.

@ mirandablue

"Surely a man needs a closed space wherein he may strike root, and like the seed, become.  But also he needs the great Milky Way and the vast sea spaces, though neither stars nor ocean serve his daily needs." ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Get virtually wet at Watery Wednesday

Morning walk [SWF]

@ mirandablue

After 3 storms this past week, we experienced a bit of sunshine this morning and it's gloomy all over again.  Many places are still half-submerged in water, villages were alerted for signs of a landslide.  So I'm sharing this photo taken during a family vacation last summer.  I am not a morning person but my body clock seems to change when I'm on vacation.  A morning walk at the beach for me is as rare as a total lunar eclipse.  But being here early in the morning was energizing---I had the beach all to myself and the sun was not too intense.  It was a great way to de-stress.

Beautiful sky photos from around the planet at Sky-Watch Friday

Stillness [Sky-Watch Friday]

@ mirandablue

 Health, contentment and trust

Are your greatest possessions,

 And freedom your greatest joy. 

 Look within.     

 Be still.  

     

~ Buddha

Tropical storm Juaning (international name:  Nock-Ten) left a trail of devastation as it ravaged the Bicol region, central Luzon and the northern provinces.  35 lives were lost and millions of pesos worth of crops and infrastructures were destroyed.

@ mirandablue

"The sound of  'gentle stillness'  after all the thunder and wind have passed will be the ultimate Word from God." 

~ Jim Elliot

More sky photos from around the world at Sky-Watch Friday

Fishing [Watery Wednesday]

@ mirandablue

A fisherman getting ready to go out to sea.

Get virtually wet at Watery Wednesday

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter... to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life.  ~John Burroughs

Bright, clear/Maliwanag [LP and T2Q]

@ mirandablue

Ngayong panahon na ng tag-ulan, di ko maiwasang magbalik-tanaw sa nagdaang summer.  Nakaka-miss ang matingkad na sikat ng araw, maliwanag na kalangitan at ang masarap na bakasyon.  Kahit maalinsangan, sana laging summer na lang.  Ayoko ng walang katapusang ulan!

Join us at Litratong Pinoy

Now that the monsoon rains have started, I can't help but look back at the joys of summer.  I miss the bright and delicious sunshine, clear blue skies and delightful vacation.  Even when it's hot and humid, I wish it's always summer.  Rain sniveling endlessly is not my favorite thing.

@ mirandablue

For Thursday 2 Questions - you are invited to answer and join the fun.

1)  Why spring/summer/autumn/winter is your favorite season?

2)  What do you normally do on a rainy weekend?

Fallen/Tumba

@ mirandablue

Mga natumbang puno ng niyog sa dalampasigan ng Punta Bulata.

Join us at Litratong Pinoy

Fallen coconut trees along the shores of Punta Bulata.

@ mirandablue

For Thursday 2 Questions - you are invited to answer and join:

1.  What are the green initiatives you do at home?

We recycle--water from the washing machine and plastics, reuse glass bottles, aluminum foil, plastic cutlery;  consolidate daily errands to avoid unnecessary driving, switched to paperless bills, save electricity by air-drying clothes, limited use of AC, turn off unneeded lights; we are also trying to reduce food waste.

2.  What are some of the most damaging things we do to the environment?

Irresponsible disposal of garbage, illegal logging, wasting water and energy, over-fishing, dumping of motor oil, paints, pesticides and other toxic chemicals down the drain, air pollution, indifference.

Dusky glow [SWF]

@ mirandablue

The last glowing moments while the quiet stillness of dusk weaves music from light and water.  

Weightless as the warm breezes, I watched this poetry of silence cast shadows over the shore.   I held hands with darkness until only the music of the waves remain.

@ mirandablue

Punta Bulata, Negros Occidental
March 2011

Posted for Sky-Watch Friday