vicksevents

Sunset in Manila Bay Sometime In February 2015

2015-03-03T08:55:00.001+10:00

My sisters, a nephew and I spent the weekend in Manila

We stayed in a famous Manila Bay Hotel

It was in front of the American Embassy

Unable to book my favorite, The Manila Hotel as our stay coincided with the Lunar New Year

So, it was The Bayview Hotel which is just a walking distance to Luneta, Intramuros and Fort Santiago- The Rizal Shrine

And we were able to watch some brief fabulous sunsets. This was one of them in an overcast afternoon

I am in the middle of my studies....

2013-08-22T00:58:00.001+10:00

I started in April and hopefully it will be finished by November this year.

I am now on the 5th out of 10 modules. It's been a grueling time as apart from the readings and assessments there is a presentation of role playing for each module. Everytime I do this it's like defending a 'PhD thesis.

Anyway, I am here to update you with some random photos here goes:

Cherries are in season, and I ate a bowlful of my favourite fruit

One of my dinners out in the veranda

By the bayside near where I live

Product of my guava tree

Autumn tree at the ACT

Watched Prof Brian Cox PhD live at the Canberra Convention Centre

Gingin my playful cat he is actually fast asleep here

Visited Graceland in 2006 and Elvis was buried there

Elvis's Mansion in 2006

I was on my way home last year in 2012,

Treating myself with capuccino and donut while grocery shopping

The cat gingin still sleeping


I had a doll like this as a little girl. I love this giant kewpie doll, graced the Olympics 2000 in Sydney

Sometimes we have Convenient Food

2013-07-25T01:40:00.002+10:00

Studying (again!) makes it hard to fulfill cooking chores that sometimes I have to resort to what I call 'convenient food'. These are either 'fast-foods' or left-over food.

For today, after picking up some bread/milk/vegetables and fruits from Costco in Majura Park in Canberra, just 10 minute drive from home, I bought some Pizza. I should have bought just a slice as it was so big! Oh well, we had some left overs which will still be good for tomorrow.

The Pizza was nice and floppy, very American- like the pizzas we had from Dominos in Joseph's house in VA USA. We remembered him and family as they were also the first ones to show us Costco USA in 2000, 13 years ago now.

Sometimes we just have recycled left over food. This saves a lot of time and money too. I hardly throw away food. I am lucky to have housemates who are not all that fussy and sometimes there's our pet ginger cat Gingin who shares our food too, for a change from his typical cat food.

Gingin our pet cat

Big floppy pizza with all the vegetables and some meat

Cost $15 for a real big one, and we had left overs too

Recycled lean mince meat with a lot of vegetables on toasted bread

Baked beans with cocktail sausages added, left over corned beef

Same one with steamed cauliflower with cheese sauce (yummy)

Aldana girls and boys visited the Bencab Museum in 2010

2013-07-18T14:25:00.000+10:00

These photos were taken in 2010 actually, after we attended the wake of dear Auntie Loring in Pangasinan. We set out to visit the BENCAB MUSEUM .
It was a great experience looking at his art and his farm. His museum is located in Asin Road, around less than an hour's drive from Baguio.

Located in Asin Road within one of the mountains

He has a fishpond there and sometimes seen doing his YOGA

A very relaxing place...

With family members in Baguio

donna, june, cynthia, rr, moi and dolly!

with brother mike this time with the Man himself


So happy to meet the National Artist, very gracious likeable and kind!

Dad's words of wisdom

2013-07-18T00:30:00.002+10:00

I miss my dad but his words resonate..
I published this post on my Facebook page and it was copied and shared by some of my friends...happy to share...

....vicky aldana....17 july 2013 ..ACT Australia

Summer Breeze

2013-07-16T22:13:00.002+10:00

Love this song from Seals and Croft Summer Breeze Makes Me Feel Fine...

Will come back soon, as just too busy with the vicissitudes of life.

Stay happy and take care!

The Grand Canyon in winter, photo from my son

Just testing the 'paint' feature of Windows 10 and it works!

Happy Mother's Day to the best mother in the world, Mine!

2013-05-11T17:05:00.001+10:00

Today, I think of Mama and feel so grateful for the gift of life and the chance to enjoy the beautiful life I've had so far. It was a challenging year for her last year as she had an ailment that she kept from us to save us, her children, from worrying. Being a mother myself, I tend to do this and help myself first before I tell my kids.

It all came to a head early this year and we nearly lost her. She was near death when she was admitted to the hospital sometime in January. After my overseas trip I had to dash home to Baguio City, Philippines after my brother told me about her situation. She gave me a chance to show her my love and care by letting me nurture her back to health. It also united us her children as we all came together from other parts of the world to be with her. Mama had 8 children and 7 are still here alive and kicking, so to speak.

Mama is responding well to her chemotherapy, is back to her normal self and is keeping up with her food and medications.

Happy Mother's Day Mama Lourdes (Unding to her close family and friends). May you have decades more of Happy Mother's Days to come. God bless you and I love you!

Mama, the 'blushing bride"

Mama is waiting for her turn to be given a pin as an Alumni of the Outstanding Citizens of Baguio

With her co awardees. So proud that she was awarded an Outstanding Citizen of the City of Baguio, the summer capital of the Philippines 3 years ago, for her achievements as an education innovator in the fields of home economics and her services to the community of Baguio

Her very proud children, 4 boys and 3 girls

Taken at her home in Loakan

During her 'recovery' undergoing the painful effects of Chemotherapy, with brod Joseph and myself. She never ceases to have fun with us even in her ailment.

Beethoven Moonlight Sonata 3rd Mov

2013-03-28T00:13:00.003+10:00

I had a pianist in the house and he used to play this Beethoven piece incessantly-

He used to do it as soon as he wakes up in the mornings, still wearing his pajamas and it goes on and on and on...'twas hard going on weekends where I wanted to sleep in after a hard week's work. It used to drive me crazy. I tolerated it of course as he happens to be The Son -you see...

Now he is working full time and seldom has time to play this sort of music. It's strange because I now miss his 'concert' like practices on the weekends. He is busy reading books like Shares for Dummies or Chemistry for Dummies. He would play sometimes but not as long as he used to.

I've been a Blogger since 2006!

2013-03-26T23:13:00.000+10:00

It's been seven years since I first started on this online journal called BLOG which was inspired by my kids.

I haven't been a regular blogger as it's been 3 months since the last post. But then, there are no rules as to how often I should blog.

Blogger is good - as it hasn't set a quota to post per month to be able to maintain this site.

On this my 7th year therefore, I thank Blogspot/Blogger for hosting my writing and photographic efforts. They have modified and changed names and even acquired Google, or Google acquired them but all my blogs are here.

From my last post, I was raring to post an update and my recent travel adventures here, however I have just unpacked my suitcase I received news from home in Baguio, Philippines that my mother was seriously ill in hospital. I dashed home on the next available flight to be with her and to look after her for 3 weeks until she was out of danger and her condition stabilised.

Having said that, it's time to blog about my recent travels and adventures.

I have to yield to a distraction - housemates are watching a qualifying match for FIFA World Cup in Brazil 2014 with Australia (Socceroos) vs Oman and it was a tie, 2-2! I like both teams because I am now an Australian and Oman well, because 2 of my siblings used to be OFSs in Oman.

Therefore the travel adventures will start next blog post.

For what it's worth here are some advance photos...

Anaheim California USA

Met with friend, Ana and had brunch at Ihop in Anaheim

Met with former UP dorm-mate, Tess and visited the Getty Museum in Los Angeles

From Anaheim we travelled by bus to Las Vegas. We stayed at the Luxor before transferring to the MGM Signature

Met Manong Sam and Manang Adel who treated us to a sumptuous buffet and the Martin Nievera Concert

Enjoyed the Strip in Las Vegas Nevada, especially the dancing fountains in front of the Bellagio

Caring for Mama with my sister June in Baguio Philippines

One of my brothers found a wig and goofed around with it, now on Mama with my pair of sunnies to match hahaha!(Photo courtesy of Sam The Man)

My brothers and I at the bakery

My siblings and I were united to be with Mama in March 2013 (photo courtesy of Mary Jane)

A big trip to the northern hemisphere

2012-12-09T23:08:00.001+10:00

The original plan was for David and Ray to go to Las Vegas while I go to France to visit Vivian. When Beth called and spoke to Ray, a commitment was made that we will all spend the Christmas with them.

I was a bit hesitant to travel with them as I have just made 2 trips to the Philippines this year. However, David and I made some impulsive decision to spend some of our 'retirement' payout on a big trip to the United States and a bit of Europe. I like to go to Europe as I haven't been there before.

Ray deserves a big break too as he had been working nonstop, sometimes close to 75 hours a week since he started with the National Gallery. It's been 10 years since the last time he saw his cousins in the US. He is 22 now and according to him, he has a totally different perspective of the Museums he had visited in DC before.

I think that this will be the last big trip that I will do. It's becoming physically challenging and stressful but I must admit that I enjoy the days in between airports, trains and bus stations.

These are the places we are going to visit as soon as we leave Australia:

California - Anaheim, San Francisco, LA, San Diego (the last one is pretty tentative)
Nevada - Las Vegas particularly the Hoover Dam
Virginia and Washington DC
Florida- Jacksonville and Orlando (my choice to visit Walt Disney World, my favourite place!)
New Jersey - New York
Europe - London in the UK , Lille and Paris in France, maybe Belgium and the Netherlands

I hope to meet up with friends, family and former primary and high school friends.
I also hope to see other places that I haven't seen before.

We are flying with different airlines like Virgin Australia, Frontier, United, Iberia, Icelandia. We will also be going on the Amtrak train and the Lux Coaches to Las Vegas.

It will be an ADVENTURE of a lifetime. I am also looking forward to the Christmas decorations of every place that we see. For now, waltzing matilda will be traipsing in snow while singing "White Christmas"

Until my next update, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR !

10/11/12 The Royal Episode

2012-11-16T09:34:00.001+10:00

I thought that it will be just an ordinary day on 10/11/12 but the eventful day turned out to be a British Royalty episode. As soon as I heard the news that Prince Charles and Camilla will be at the Australian War Memorial, I quickly left my ironing chore, unplugged the iron of course and hysterically grabbed the car keys, the camera and the hubby(who wanted to check on the Duchess of Cornwall) to head off to the venue, a 15 minute drive from home. Let the photos do the talking. Unfortunately these are just some of the photos that I have published on the day on Facebook. However my attention was called by some friends and family who are not on FB that they can no longer access the album even if I send them the link, unless they also sign up on FB...ah social network, they try to capture everyone. Not to worry, I have some of it here, so sharing my 'dream' come true episode with the Prince of my young dreams...unfortunately HRH is now with Camilla and I am with David, so I went to see him for 'closure'. And... he shook my right hand too and said 'Hallu" and Camilla said "Hallo" I apologise for the photos as I am a budding paparazzo and a keen fan....

Flowers, Ray just arrived from work and on the way to the War Memorial

The car park was packed so I parked on the side streets and walked/ran to the place and took photos of these lovely sculpture and trees

There will be a big event for tomorrow, Remembrance Day 11/11/12

One of the top War Memorials of the World,the venue, waiting for the HRH's

I can see the Parliament House from the War Memorial

Here they come, Prince Charles and Princess Camilla

I will be honest and was not keen on Camilla however life moved on for the Prince

She was a very lovely lady, so natural and down to earth.

Beautiful in her own right.

Camilla's pretty personal assistant

And here he comes, the Prince of my dreams hehehe!

So overwhelmed, just savouring the moment.....

It was an enchanting moment!

They actually came on a Holden car, an Australian original with the British Royalty Flag in front

With a Toyota escort car.

Going In

Coming out

Security is 'average' just the ACT Police, they seem to know that fans are well-behaved

Prince Charles, walking towards ...US!...

HRH the Duchess of Cornwall. I wonder why she is not the Princess of Wales ?

My son just told me that the Princess of Wales title goes to the late Princess Diana as the mother of the future KING (William or Harry). On a happier note, I got some goodies for my birthday- stuff toys to be used as a backrest and a board game called 'Upwords". It was a great pre-birthday royalty episode. Couldn't ask for more....

Satellites in Canberra

2012-11-09T02:51:00.003+10:00

Satellites, anyone?
On of my son's interest is Astronomy. He heard about some satellites in Tidbindilla which were used during the moon landings so off we went to see them. It was an hour's drive from home into rolling hills and beautiful roads.

The Road to the Space Centre

Can see these giants from afar

overwhelmed by the enormity of it

The son loves them

Viewing a space model

Map of the world

Photo gallery

President Barack Obama is re-elected

2012-11-07T15:57:00.004+10:00

photo is from Facebook's Vote Obama page

The photo says it all. Call it Loyalty but since he ran for his first term, I've always rooted for him.
I can't vote for him of course, because I am not a US citizen. I am happy that he won his second term.
CONGRATULATIONS Pres. Barack OBAMA and of course, I will be seeing more of the First Lady, Michelle Obama as well.

When retirement is studying

2012-10-23T17:28:00.001+10:00

I 'retired' from my 9 to 5 grind to supposedly enjoy some fun things around me but NO! Somehow I got myself in some study program that I thought will be as simple as completing forms online and getting to know how to provide services by just navigating the complicated website. However, it was called Migration Law and Practice and I should have paid attention to the word LAW as it is indeed a subject that I've been trying to get away from all my academic days. The struggle started as it is also a postgraduate program.

It looks like I'm deep into it now and there's no way out at the moment so I am burning midnight oil most nights just to get on with my law-background classmates. So, help me God! Yes, this is a whine :)

coffee to survive

staring at this on campus

solace in food

hubby's sunday roast

as if surrounding myself with books helps

I should get inspiration from the national hero

Dr Jose Rizal

His bust proudly stands near the Trains

In Sydney's Central Station

During one of my lectures over at the UTS

The amazing Floriade in Canberra the ACT

2012-10-14T01:24:00.001+10:00

The son is the security officer - so proud of him!

I have to make sure where the toilets are!

My favorite landscape artist Jamie Durie shared his talents here

I love you Tulips and Co!

Yahoo360gone and now Multiply will be gone on 1December2012

2012-08-30T20:39:00.000+10:00

Another sad news for those bloggers who used to blog on the defunct Yahoo360 where I have met and established friendships with new and old friends and family. Remember how we all migrated all our blogs from 360 to Multiply before the former got deleted? Now Multiply will be closing from the first of December 2012. I know that I am guilty of neglecting my Multiply account as I became more active on Facebook. I found it a good site especially storing precious photographs and a few music composed by son Ray and the simplicity of changing pages 'challenged' my creativity and I found out that I could actually be creative and I could also write simple insights about life as I see it.

I through some of my Multiply blogs, I must have repeated some from this Blogspot site but some are quite original. I started my account there in April 2006 and it was a good 6 years..Thank you Multiply!

Here is the letter that was published in our Multiply accounts-

Hello.

Stefan here, writing you from Multiply HQ in Jakarta, Indonesia.

As most of you are probably aware, Multiply's mission has evolved over the past year and a half to become the biggest and most beloved ecommerce marketplace in two very exciting markets, Indonesia and the Philippines. As our focus has shifted, we have reviewed all of our operations, and made some decisions that will affect everyone here. •From December 1st, we will unfortunately no longer be able to support Multiply in its current form - notably we will be removing the social networking and content sharing part of Multiply (photos, videos, blogs, social messaging, etc.). We have decided to discontinue providing and hosting these services, as we have concluded that other Internet sites who are committed to social networking services will do a better job serving you than we can.

•For our existing users of social networking features, we will be providing easy ways for you to either download your stuff (photos, blogs, content, etc), or migrate it to other online services. We'll announce the precise details shortly. It will be your choice whether to download, migrate or just let your content lapse (and get deleted).

•For our existing ecommerce users (both buyers and sellers) in Indonesia and the Philippines, there will be no action required.

•Regarding any existing Multiply Premium subscriptions we will refund any unused balance, and apologize for any inconvenience this will cause. Please contact customer service to request a refund. Note that this is for Multiply Premium, not the ecommerce related Multiply Trust product.

I am aware of how disruptive this news may be, and understand the disappointment that it may cause. Ultimately this was a business decision, critical to our to success moving forward. Instead, we are excited to pursue our own mission to give the 350 million consumers in Indonesia and the Philippines a great way to buy and sell items online. Our singular focus now is for Multiply to retain its status as a vibrant e-commerce destination in Southeast Asia in the years ahead.

I suspect that many of you will not like this news, and am sorry to have to deliver it now. I hope that you will be able to understand the reasons for our decision and thank you for being a part of the Multiply community over the past eight years.

Stef

There you go....
Here is a link to my Multiply http://vfa11.multiply.com/
For those of you who were my friends, you can click on my list of friends and you may revisit your accounts there too.

13 March 2012

2012-03-13T01:26:00.000+10:00

Maybe I should just publish the date when I blog...Anyway, I can't get the wifi connection in my Vaio laptop so I brought it to the place of purchase. The kind young guy was able to fix it without sending it to the Sony service centre. It's just fixing the 'setting' he says. Before taking it to HN (Harvey Normans) I frantically saved majority of the photos on the disk.
Here are some of the photos-

the demise of a loyal bag- i had this bag in 2000 and it was the handbag that I brought to the first visit to the USA, (nyc, dc and jax fl)

I nursed a fractured foot for six weeks from the end of November 2011. It's all well now but the soreness of the ankle is still there..

This is the balloon that Vivi received from Neil and Alicia on her birthday 2011

26 February 2012

2012-02-26T08:12:00.002+10:00

Seems like I am posting once a month...
Just realised that I had a twitter account as well. I have forgotten my PW but again it was easily reset, updated some and maybe I will start tweeting regularly, so watch out followers, be ready to be bored haha!

Been raining in my part of Southeast QLD. Very good for the plants but not good for the clothes that's waiting to be washed and be dried under the sun on a clothesline. Yes...I moved the dryer to the flat in Queanbeyan NSW as the weather there is more gloomy than here.Great to note that on my return from ACT/NSW the Welcome sign for QLD and the ensuing road back to home looks sunnier. This will not deter me from moving over to the cooler part of Australia. I say this because every time I tell someone that I am moving to the ACT they either say "it's boring out there' or "its so cold down there"..That will remain to be seen. I was born and grew up in a cold city called Baguio (it's the official Summer Capital of the Philippines) so I like being cold than being hot. At least I can wear a scarf, leather jacket, boots, etc. but it will be a hassle if it's cold and raining as I don't like this combination of weather. Anyway, we are Homo Sapiens and we adapt to our environment. I do anyway..Have a great Sunday!

26 January 2012 Australia Day

2012-01-26T07:00:00.002+10:00

Happy Australia Day to AUSTRALIA! I was sworn in as an Australian citizen on this day in 2001, 11 years ago! We were New Zealand citizens when we immigrated to this great country in 1998.

Life had been like a Waltzing Matilda and a Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport, ups and downs, shaking it sideways left and right, but thank you for the Fresh Air, beautiful beaches, great fresh food and all the opportunities you don't normally reveal but challenged me to seek for it. From a proud Pinay and now a proud Australian! Thank you Australia, and Happy Birthday! By the way an Australian passport is welcomed without so much visa hassles when travelling as a tourist in most if not all countries of the world. But please, do come here legally as I did, less hassle, stress and freedom!

along the darling harbour in Sydney

on a ferry ride in Sydney

Sydney on the way to the airport

in a bus stop in the middle of Sydney

Queen Victoria Building *namesake queen*

my place of work in Brisbane

then back to the darling harbour in Sydney

each city is just a plane ride away haha!

Friday the 13th (13 Jan 2012)

2012-01-13T21:30:00.003+10:00

For those who are superstitious where I sometimes am, I take special care and mindfulness when it's Friday, the 13th. I am not sure why some people consider that 13 is an unlucky number. Even in the cruise ship on a cruise, there is no level 13 and some tall buildings do not feature the no 13 on their floors. I am not sure what it is but I just observed that people always state, 'it's Friday the a13th! bad luck..." will take extraordinary care as it is Friday, the 13th, etc. For this day though, I had some glitches however I'd say that the day went well after lunch, after having some little hiccups in the morning. Now I can rest my case and wait for the result. I am expecting 2 positive results then I will have the dilemma to choose which one. The basis of my decision is the one that will cost less in the long run. But if I don't have a choice, I will just be happy with the outcome. Someone out there knows best and I will have faith and follow of His wishes. Confused? Well, I don't blame you as I got so confused myself.
The photos were taken in Graceland, Memphis Tennessee in the home of The King Elvis Presley. There was a building there with his car collections and this special pink Cadillac number was a gift to his beloved mother.

happy new year 2012

2012-01-10T03:49:00.002+10:00

2011 was an eventful year and the highligh was cruising the eastern side of new zealand on remembrance day, my birthday 11/11/2011. really enjoyed the cruise and this is now my preferred method of sightseeing.

it's 2012! this year is full of hope -intentions- changes. will keep us posted.

yey I found the time to reset my PW on this blog

2011-03-29T00:28:00.005+10:00

Somehow I felt like I abandoned this blog.
Somehow today I found the time to recover my password.
For awhile there I forgot what email addr i used
Then...suddenly it came to me!
It's been more than a year now since the last blog
I tried an email...it worked
I tried the PW ...it did not work
I reset it.....several attempts to retrieve it later, then one worked!
It takes only one password....to make it work!

Now- on with the show...and I hope it will be a regular show.

My situation...still the same, more years in advance, still the same job the same hubby.

Several aunties and uncles died. My mom is the last among her siblings, not counting uncle ric and auntie annie.

Reunited with my godson Nel who is all grown up now and his young family Abby and Nixie

Reconnected with some elementary, high school, and college friends and met some new ones in social networks - mainly Facebook. I met some (EB) in person already and with some I follow them sometimes in Twitter, too.

Several tsunami, floods, earthquakes and bush fires later..

Yes indeed..even if this blog went on a standstill my life went on being lived and still here and kicking every obstacles and savouring every accomplishments...life is GOOD!

happy birthday vivian and the wedding!

2009-12-01T03:26:00.000+10:00

vivian's birthday today, my only surviving daughter and so happy that she is enjoying her life to the hilt...cheers..but she is presently with her uncle sammy and family in jacksonville. FL bonding with the cousins and family there!

and here are some photos, courtesy of vivian from the wedding of rebecca from a previous blog.
enjoy your day and the countdown for christmas begins....

link to vivian's blog

http://viviacious1.blogspot.com

enter at your own risk..LOL
a beautiful shot of a typical hawkes bay landscape where we used to live in New Zealand

have a great day everyone!

The story of Vivi and Bec today the 14the of November 2009 Bec's Wedding Day

2009-11-14T05:44:00.000+10:00

and vivi is her maid of honor..in hawkes bay new zealand

they met in reignier school or taradale high school in hawkes bay new zealand.
they became best of friends
they went their separate ways in high school but still communicated
vivi left new zealand to immigrate with her family in qld australia
bec stayed with her family in hawkes bay nz
they finished high school
she studied nursing and she also did
she became a dancing nurse
she became a rowing nurse
they both went on with life becoming achievers in their chosen fields in their own separate countries.
thanks to myspace, blogs, facebook, they continued communication in all media possible.

Now they are brought together in Bec's Wedding...moving on to a more serious business in life. Today is the big day to be with their family and old and new friends. Have a great one both of you and have a lot of fun. Love you lots!

mum..vicks

updates

2009-03-08T05:55:00.000+10:00

I've been busy at work at home and at play.
I hope that all of you are happy and fine and enjoying your lives at your corners of the globe.
I am watching a concert tonight, COLDPLAY's viva la vida concert at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
Until then..will soon update! take care all!