whoa, July.

This is strange. I haven't blogged in almost a month! It's not for want of events, or gatherings, or family affairs--there have been plenty--but I think I just generally let my Twitter timeline speak for me. Oh, and Instagram. No, I haven't gone all digital (I'm still wishing I could take out my film cameras more often) and surrendered my purist, traditional sensibilities to the Instagod. Let's just say I'm trying to understand more about social media, to get myself in the groove/mindset for a research project. Which hopefully would turn out to be interesting enough to be considered a worthy thesis topic. Anyway!

The highlight of my July would probably be the Fountain Pen Network-Philippines' Anniversary Penmeet at the Malacanan Palace, complete with a tour of the Presidential Museum & Library and a sumptuous merienda, all thanks to Undersecretary Ronnie Geron, one of the members (who collects yellow pens).

Showing off some of our pens! It's in one of the rooms that's still used for meetings. ("And since this is a penmeet...")

We really enjoyed the tour! You can schedule your own tour of the Presidential Museum and Library. They can be reached at (632) 7844286 (4945), and e-mail [pml@malacanang.gov.ph].

Yesterday I scanned a few old photographs of our pets. As long as I can remember, there have always been family pets around, many of which have passed on. The dogs have been laid to rest in our backyard or at the empty lot across our house; most of the the old cats, being cats, simply disappeared. But we think of them fondly, and sometimes exchange stories about when they were still with us. I'd like to share a few of them with you.

One day my dad came home from Batangas with a small Mercury Drug plastic bag. Inside was this cute and chubby dog--my dad said he got her from s street vendor for 250 pesos. My mom called her Balbina.

Balbina grew up to be a large dog! Well, larger than most aspins. Here she is with my mom and the brother-sister dogs that came to us later--kind and gentle Bamba (light brown) and handsome sweet Bruno (dark brown).

This is Dobie. He's part polar bear.

Tickling a relative's black daschund. 

Our dogs have always been afraid of new year's fireworks. So we decided to let them stay in.

Before Maru, there was my cat Moezee, who would make himself comfortable in any box he could find.

This is Pepper. She dragged her hind legs. She was the one who got a big bite out of my head when I was about two years old. My cheek scars are still very visible, but I don't mind. :) I'd like to think I have this affinity for animals because of the bite! (I've also been bitten two other times, but on separate occasions and by a different dog, haha.)

This is my brother with three cats. The cat on my brother's left side is currently our queen, who rules over two households (ours and the neighbor's).

You can tell when I've shifted from a point-and-shoot to a manual SLR camera. This looks like a studio shot! Say hi to Winter and Summer.

We picked up rescued Maria Sophia Isabelle Belle ("Pipip") from a funeral parlor where one of my grandaunts was interred. As we went to the car to go home, I heard this tiny mewing underneath. I shooed her but she wouldn't leave, and I was worried she'd get run over. It didn't look like she had brothers or sisters--she was the only kitten there--so I picked her up and got her in the car.  She was a great masseuse.

This is Moo. Sadly he got sick. Dysentery I think, and never recovered. We'll always remember him as a puppy.

My younger sister came home from school one day with two abandoned kittens in  a paper bag. We named them Adolf and Trixie. We didn't know then that Adolf was actually a girl and Trixie, a boy. My parents used to bring Adolf along when picking me up from late-night literary events (I was in high school).

Adolf gave birth in the piano to Moezee (after Mozart) and Beatty (after Beethoven).

Aside from boxes and paper bags, Moezee especially loved washbasins.

Here's my youngest sister with my favorite dog, Bruno. He usually sat down next to you and touched you, ever so softly, with his paw, just to let you know he's there. :)

There are more photos in my Multiply album here, which I'm sure I'll add on to by and by.

Gatherings and events this month have mostly been spent with Ige's family, and he has an excellent camera that takes all the nice photos which he uploads on his blog soup migration. So if you'd like to see more of me (ha-ha, ha-ha), do head on over to his little corner of cyberspace. He's also got some pretty cool sketches on  Moleskine and Field Notes notebooks. Which reminds me, I haven't done anything "visually creative" in a while. This will change soon--August is just around the corner, and there's plenty of stuff to do in August!

See you then, then. :)