...dancing (and some other cultural stuff) in September
* On Dads' day down under, and we get the hero adulation we deserve. This is the way.
ba-dee-ya, never was a cloud (city) daaay
* At a Lady of Peñafrancia fiesta, the sunglow comes into the church perfectly, the dancers perform passionately, and a singing priest has coins magically appear at his feet
ba-dee-ya, golden dreams were shiny daaays
* At the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the whole consulate visits a Filipino's big, beautiful provocative painting...
...which as it turns out is the gallery's remaining Philippine showpiece, as the other Fil-artworks that were there have already finished their run, and new fan favorites have since taken their place
After years of waiting and LOTS of hard work, our Sydney Trade Office finally got to deliver the most awaited Fil-food news in Australia
(non-Jollibee division)
Yebba! Look at all that golden-yellow goodness! Now, they were supposed to arrive months ago in time for the start of the Australian winter, and some technical hitches kept them at bay for a while...but that only made us want them even MORE!
and oh, Trade Office, you were such a tease about it =)
And then...Christmas in spring suddenly arrived!
with a world-record flex to boot!
I was, however, still a good little boy and merely hoped but did not fully expect fresh fruit Santa to bring me the presents I wished for -- as far as I knew, these things were completely sold out even before they cleared customs. But the Trade Office once again delivered...literally!
for those few wonderful minutes when the box wandered the aisles like a bayong sa palengke, everything in the office looked and smelled - as they say in Aussie slang - Sweet As.
In an accompanying news report, one of the importers said bringing in the mangoes was "more about that nostalgia and having that family atmosphere with the taste of what they grew up with." Mismo! When I brought home and served the two precious pieces I scored, the LLDD-Baby's unfiltered, unplanned reaction to once again tasting the Philippine mangoes that - as she dramatically but accurately put it - "I haven't had for half of my life" was...emotional
Spring has finally sprung down under, and this year's our last chance to see Floriade, the largest flower festival in the southern hemisphere. Sure, it will take a three-hour bus ride to the nation's capital to get there, but as Cyrus herself might say: can love Can-ber-ra, I can love Can-ber-ra baby...
uy, blooming!
BONUS TRACK: After finishing Floriade, we were still able to swing by Cockington Green Gardens, a Model Village (with, alas, still no models) famous for its own unmissable flower beds...
...a gorgeous Philippine installation among the "Homes of the World" display ...
...and, of course, lots and lots of little hidden jokes
