Welcome!

welcome to our house
fence surrounded by roses
such a lovely day

(c) ladyleemanila 2016

Home Thoughts
by Claude McKay

Oh something just now must be happening there!
That suddenly and quiveringly here,
Amid the city’s noises, I must think
Of mangoes leaning o’er the river’s brink,
And dexterous Davie climbing high above,
The gold fruits ebon-speckled to remove,
And toss them quickly in the tangled mass
Of wis-wis twisted round the guinea grass;
And Cyril coming through the bramble-track
A prize bunch of bananas on his back;
And Georgie–none could ever dive like him–
Throwing his scanty clothes off for a swim;
And schoolboys, from Bridge-tunnel going home,
Watching the waters downward dash and foam.
This is no daytime dream, there’s something in it,
Oh something’s happening there this very minute!

What are you thankful for today?

I am thankful for our home, home sweet home!

For: Mundane Monday Challenge #85 : Learn Photography, 30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 21, Tell Me Something Good #32

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 7

Home Thoughts
by Carl Sandburg

THE SEA rocks have a green moss.
The pine rocks have red berries.
I have memories of you.

Speak to me of how you miss me.
Tell me the hours go long and slow.

Speak to me of the drag on your heart,
The iron drag of the long days.

I know hours empty as a beggar’s tin cup on a rainy day, empty as a soldier’s sleeve with an arm lost.

Speak to me …

What are you thankful for today?

I am grateful for my two homes, the Philippines where I was born and bred and Germany, where I am happily living with Him Indoors.

The shore that call us home
Was the title of the poem
By Samuel Hazo in 1949
Makes me think about my life
Every time I go home and meet my
Family, friends and relatives again
After some time when I’m here
And they are there living differently
Yet parallel to each other, there’s this
Nostalgic feeling, of being home again
This land or these islands I miss so much
It doesn’t matter where I am now, and
I’m building a home with my family here
But over there where I used to call home
Full of childhood memories, of school,
Of college, of my first experience at work
First love, first kiss, first of everything
These experiences made me and taught me
They gave me a solid foundation of how
It is to be me, all the trials and errors
They gave me the confidence to try and
Explore different things and I have proved
That I can do it no matter where
So even when I’m happy here
I’d still be a girl with a fringe
I’d always go back to the shore
That calls me home, the Philippines

(c) ladyleemanila 2016

yacht

lavender

tortoises

home is happy
home is cosy
home is warm
home doesn’t regret
home doesn’t mind sharing
home grows with love

it doesn’t matter
where or what is home
home is with Him Indoors
and HRH the son
our three tortoises
our flowers in the grden
things we share
experience and memories
I love our home!

(c) ladyleemanila 2016

For: 30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 7. Also for: NaNoPoblano Day 7

Him Indoors’ Supplies

This week’s photo prompt is provided by Maria with the blog, Doodles and Scribbles. Thank you Maria!

Once a year we drive to Britain. We usually stay the night in Maastricht and then carry on driving to Calais, take the tunnel to Dover and drive to the Midlands. HRH the son and his beautiful bride meet us and they also visit Granny and Grandad for the week. It’s also an opportunity for me to visit my brother and family. On the way to Britain, our car is full of our suitcase, some beers from Bavaria as we have the best beers, as well as boxes of wines and Sekt, as they are cheaper and we’ve got a better selection of wines. On the way back, we have to fill the car with Him Indoors’ British supplies, as I call them – HP sauce, Worchester sauce, cheddar cheese, salt and vinegar crisps, malt vinegar, Branston pickles, Patak’s curry pastes, ginger snaps, teas, boxes and boxes of black tea, etc. He made shelves in the cellar and we usually fill them up when we come back from our drive to Britain. Him Indoors and his supplies – love him and them!

For: FFfAW Challenge – Week of October 11, 2016 by Priceless Joy

Last Night – Objects in a Box (#4? 5?)

Just had our chicken and mushroom pie and that was lovely. Him Indoors went upstairs to watch Big Bang Theory and I went to the study to finish a poem that I was working on before dinner. After that, I went upstairs to watch telly with Him. I took the large throw blanket from the couch and made myself cosy and warm. The reclining armchair was really comfortable. Him Indoors was lying down the other couch. We shared a nice bottle of Chablis while watching Sheldon and his mates. I’ve seen that episode, so I wasn’t really concentrating. My eyes wandered around the room and I noticed a small decorative box which I’ve done in one of the hundred courses that I took. It was a paper mache one with colourful flowers. Some board games we played when the son was here were still on the table, the Monopoly money still stacked. I also found a packet of seeds which Him ordered for next year’s planting. I guess more chillies, the hotter the better for Him. After some time, I needed the car muffler as I couldn’t hear what Sheldon and Leonard were saying anymore. Him Indoors was snoring away, typical at this time of the night, so I came prepared. The emotion that night? Cosy, typical night in our house and feeling warm.

For: Objects in a Box (#4? 5?)

RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #116 Home & Leaves

back from school
autumn leaves drowning down the creek
kids happy at home

wet colourful leaves
relaxing at home with you
ah! feels like heaven

(c) ladyleemanila 2016

For: RonovanWrites #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge #116 Home&Leaves

Our House by Madness

Father wears his Sunday best
Mother’s tired she needs a rest
The kids are playing up downstairs
Sister’s sighing in her sleep
Brother’s got a date to keep
He can’t hang around

Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our

Our house it has a crowd
There’s always something happening
And it’s usually quite loud
Our mum she’s so house-proud
Nothing ever slows her down
And a mess is not allowed

Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our

Our house, in the middle of our street
(Something tells you)
(That you’ve got to get away from it)
Our house, in the middle of our

Father gets up late for work
Mother has to iron his shirt
Then she sends the kids to school
Sees them off with a small kiss
She’s the one they’re going to miss
In lots of ways

[Instrumental Interlude]

Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our

I remember way back then when
Everything was true and when
We would have such a very good time
Such a fine time
Such a happy time
And I remember how we’d play
Simply waste the day away
Then we’d say
Nothing would come between us
Two dreamers

Father wears his Sunday best
Mother’s tired she needs a rest
The kids are playing up downstairs
Sister’s sighing in her sleep
Brother’s got a date to keep
He can’t hang around

Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our
Our house, was our castle and our keep
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, that was where we used to sleep
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our street

For: Song Lyric Sunday Theme for 9/4/16

Tale Weaver #82: out my kitchen window

Outside my kitchen window, birds singing
Dogs running, children cycling, people passing

Hear the baby bird cries for his food
Among the branches, doves cooed

Unfettered that he’s bigger than the mother
It doesn’t matter, as I hear my cat purr

Check our flowers and ferns, all thriving
A neighbour, all about her holiday babbling

I’ve just twisted some weeds off the plants
And harvested some tomatoes and eggplants

An old grill, for our family’s delight
Always handy, when the sun is bright

Still hoping summer is not finish yet
Make the most of it, without any fret

Outside my kitchen window, an old bench
Where the son used to study his French

Where I stop and think, train of thoughts
Dreaming of mangoes and kumquats

Reading and writing, pages and pages
Reminiscing the past and accepting changes

(c) ladyleemanila 2016

For: Tale Weaver #82: out my kitchen window and Wordle259 Jul 31 by Brenda Warren

Share Your World – 2016 Week 34

Young Adults Watching TV

What is your favourite comfort snack food?
Salt and vinegar crisps or a bar of dark chocolate

Is the paper money in your possession right now organised sequentially according to denomination and with the bills right side up and facing the same way?
Not at all organised. They were popped in and out of the wallet as they came.

If you were a mouse in your house in the evening, what would you see your family doing?
We’re in the kitchen preparing and cooking our dinner, then in the dining room for the meal, complete with a nice bottle of white wine. Him Indoors goes upstairs to watch TV, while I do a bit of blogging before I join him to watch the news or Big Bang Theory. Some nights we’re watching some old dvds if there’s nothing worth watching on TV. We’re both on comfortable sofas and eventually fall asleep.

Would you rather not be able to read or not be able to speak?
Not be able to speak – I read a lot and I just love reading.

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 
We have just got back from our trip to India for HRH the son and his beautiful bride’s Hindu wedding, followed by road trips to the south of India. We had a great time!
A friend from Canada is coming to visit us on Thursday. She’s with her cousin at the moment and they drive here. On Saturday we’re invited for a dinner. Looking forward to it.

For: Share Your World – 2016 Week 34

The Ultimate Blogging Challenge: Day 4

The topic for today is “recommendations”. Now for this, you can recommend anything from beauty products that you love, books you’ve enjoyed, music artists/songs that you’ve recently discovered, a place you’ve visited… You could even recommend another blog that you enjoy reading.

The girl on the train looked out
I’m mad about the boy, she sighed
The little prince, need to know more on him
I need help so she asked the rogue lawyer

On writing well, Don Vicente from the firm
He followed the boy till dusk
Found out the missing piece
He’s the third twin of the West End Girls
One the ice-cream queen of Orchard Street
The other one was the funny girl

The boy, who no other than the alchemist
Quite a profession she was impressed
And so the love story began
Never let me go, she urged him
As you like it, he answered

our house

Of all the places in the world, my favourite is my home. Where is home? Home is where Him Indoors, I and HRH the son live. It’s full of love, affection and fun. Ideally it is here in Bavaria, but it could also be anywhere. OK, HRH the son has left us but he still comes back from time to time, and he comes back with his beautiful K.

home is happy
home is cosy
home is warm
home doesn’t regret
home doesn’t mind sharing
home grows with love

it doesn’t matter
where or what is home
home is with Him Indoors
and HRH the son
our three tortoises
our flowers in the grden
things we share
experience and memories
I love our home!

Him Indoors and I
HRH the son and K
happy together

in the garden
Gin, Rex, Nik – our tortoises
eating lettuces

flowers, herbs and trees
butterflies, hedgehogs and birds
garden full of fun

he loves gardening
I love writing and cooking
we love cycling, too

stir-fried beef

pancit

My favourite meal is adobo and rice. It’s basically any meat (chicken or pork) marinated with vinegar, soy sauce and garlic. The secret is to cook it slowly. And with steaming rice, it’s perfect! I also like pancit (noodles for long life!) which we usually have to celebrate our birthdays or any occasion. Anything grilled is also fine, as well as any fish or seafood. For dessert, I like leche flan, which is like creme caramel, and also bibingka (rice cake). I also like making our own pizza with all our favourite ingredients on top. Anyway, I’m looking forward to my coming trip to the Philippines so I can eat all my favourite food! cheers!

For: The Ultimate Blogging Challenge: Day 4

#AwakeAugust – small stones

Back to the gym after a long hiatus

Normal routine after the holiday

Nice to be home again

(c) ladyleemanila 2016

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During the month of August, I will be joining Satya and Kaspa for their Awake August 2016 and write small stones throughout the month. If you’d like to join us, simply write small stones during the month on your blog and/or post them on their Facebook page. Use the hashtag #AwakeAugust in your title to share with others on Facebook and Twitter. If you are unfamiliar with what small stones are, you can find out here. I do hope you will join in. It is a beautiful mindfulness tool.