The only way I learned about today being Grandparents Day was through the Restaurant.com coupons.
Anyhow, Happy Grandparents' Day to Daddy Ely and Mamang Luisa!
Left to right: Daddy Ely, the prized Camotes (hahaha), Mamang Luisa. Camote, or climbing potato, is used as an ornamental plant here in the US. Back in the Philippines, we eat the leaves and shoots. Those are rare here in the Austin Asian stores, I wonder why...
Anyhow, Daddy Ely bought one of those ornamental camote and have started planting them in pots in the backyard. Will post something on that later. Meanwhile, I hope they thrive.
I wonder if they can withstand the winter or not. Would it needed to be replanted in the spring? Do the pots need to be brought inside during the winter? Lots of questions. I'm sure will get to the answers when we need them. :)
Meanwhile, Happy Grandparents Day to all the grandpas and grandmas out there, too!
Al rocks because he is such a giving guy...He had the whole Labor Day long week-end planned out to learn more about PHP. It progressed some but he prioritized being with and doing stuff for family and friends.
Joey (BIL) was not feeling well last Friday so he was not able to come by himself for the Experiencing God study. Al called him up and volunteered to go fetch him. So at 10pm on Friday, he drives 10 miles each way to go get his brother so that he doesn't spend the night by himself.
As for me, I volunteered to help a church mate see what was wrong with her PC. Turned out to be beyond my competency to debug the problem. So my dear husband had an additional item in his to-do list. And he actually squeezed in some time for that! (And we got free dinner for that too! Cool!)
And that is why my husband rocks!!!
How about you? Why does your husband rock? Join us as we focus on our husband's (or husband, or husband-to-be, or wife-to-be) strengths and potentials. Write about it and go link to Katy Lin's blog on the latest "My Husband Rocks" Friday post.
I've scheduled this post for Monday because I didn't want to freak out the Blog Around the World ladies. However, yesterday Daddy Ely had an encounter with one of them. So I am posting this ahead!!!
"Black on yella, (that's yellow!) Kill a fella. (and that's fellow!)
Yella on black, Venom lack."
That's what Texans say about them snakes! It's a mnemonic to help identify whether a snake is poisonous or not. Frankly though, I have a hard time using the mnemonic to distinguish them.
Anyhow,I really don't like snakes, whether or not they are poisonous. I shudder when I see even a picture of them, so looking for snake images was a bit difficult. And I didn't really like to see them in my blog every time I scan through so I had to crop the images so that I do not see their faces.
So, if you are like me then, don't scroll down any further as I have photos of them...
This is supposed to be poisonous - "Black on yella, Kill a fella.". This is a rattlesnake. (Or at least part of it)
This is supposed to be non-poisonous - "Yella on black, Venom lack.". This is a gartersnake.
And yes, there are plenty of them here: - One of our neighbors have pet cats for the purpose of them being the frontliners instead of their children. (Yes, Miggy and Josh, that is Kitty Clap I am referring to.)
- Last week that same neighbor, their cat and their children were in the front yard huddled around a gartersnake! And Al even joined them ogling the snake. Yuck!
- 2 Sundays ago, a boy ran towards us while we were in our front yard and frantically (I thought) asked us if he can borrow a box. Turns out he was actually excited and he was going to use the box to bring home the snake he found on our next door neighbor's front yard. I told him not to come near me!
- Last December, we went to the Trail of Lights at Zilker Park. Parking was crowded so we decided to park somewhere where we would be walking on the dirt road. I thought we passed a twig, only for it to slither away. Yikes!!!
- And last but definitely not the least, Daddy Ely just killed one yesterday afternoon, as I was saying at the start. He was pulling out weeds from the lawn when he got startled by one snake! Yaiiikkksss!!! Perhaps it was adrenalin but he was able to kill the snake with some heavy thing which he typically will not be able to comfortably lift. And now, he's having some pains in and around the chest. Probably because he was unpleasantly surprised or perhaps he pulled some muscles. Poor Daddy! Poor snake too because it turned out to be a gartersnake - yella on black, venom lack!
This is one thing I don't like about warm weather places! In cold weather places like Boise, I only had one snake sighting in the 4 years we were there and that was at the Albertson Park during our fall photo ops!
Anyway, do you think the mnemonic is useful? Can you guess whether this is poisonous or not?
One more time, then... "Black on yella, Kill a fella. Yella on black, Venom lack."
Yes...we found another reason to go to San Antonio. And that is...
Mekeni is a Filipino restaurant in Universal City, 18 miles northeast from San Antonio and very accessible from the highway I-35. It is owned by a Filipina lady married to a Korean man. The restaurant used to be in the same building as their grocery store - MY Chock Dee - near the Randolph Air Force Base. The restaurant just recently opened in their current bigger location.
We arrived at the restaurant on Friday 6pm and we were the only party in there. The restaurant looks okay, nothing fancy. It smelled good, actually too good. I prefer the smell of food rather than the perfumy. Maybe we arrived (Although I think they were cleaning it too extremely because the interior smelled too nicely.)
The food was still hot and freshly cooked (we came at the right time!). They were delicious - uhmm, uhmm!!! Specially the sinigang and the shrimp halabos and the laing...everything!
Everyone working there were Filipinos. Based on the way they spoke Tagalog, they seem to be first generation here in the US. So the cooking and the hospitality was genuinely Filipino. They even had pan-de-sal for taking out - $2 for 12 pieces!
When we were finished at 6:30, there was a group of Filipina elderly ladies in one table, a Caucasian family of about 10 in another table and a group of 4 young military-looking folks (just basing on their haircut) in another table.
The place gets packed on Saturday and Sunday with the peak on Sunday lunch. The variety of food is also wider on the weekends, so we heard, and as yummy as ever. So... we just found another reason to visit San Antonio!
Our main reason, however, was to attend Beth Moore's Living Proof Live event for the ladies at Alamodome. Beth Moore talked about us being heiresses of God. We forget that easily when we are enmeshed with the daily challenges of life. We got reminded that it is God who assigns our portion, that our lot is secure, and that we have a beautiful inheritance. We were urged then to go fight the beautiful fight!
Travis Cottrel led the singing. I closed my eyes and I thought this must be how it sounds in heaven when everyone praises the Lord! Wow! And here is the sound of 10,000 voices singing.
It was our first time for us in-laws (MIL, 2 SILs, moi) and a good friend Marisa to go to such an event together. It was fun inasmuch as it was refreshing.
Meanwhile, what is a trip to San Antonio without going to Sea World? The men and the boys were there since it opened at 10am. We just joined them at noontime after the event.
I got to see Shamu again but missed the Beluga whale because it just gave birth. So I finally went and saw the world famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses and got to see Busch, Bud and Diamond who were in the front stalls while the rest were behind the cordoned area. They are biiig and beautiful!!!
There was heavy rains for about 20 minutes in the middle of the afternoon. Other than that, the day was perfect - not too hot because of the cloudy skies.
I felt strange saying that... having been here for some time but still just less than a year. Oh well, I in Texas now, so let me try that one more time and give you a proper Texan welcome...
Blog Around The World guests! I think you know US history and how Texas came about better than I do so I'll probably avoid that. Perhaps the other Texan bloggers will cover that. :)
Instead, let's just have a little Texan geography here and hear towns called Turkey and ranches called Deep Sh*t:
Isn't YouTube great? I would have not known of that song if it wasn't for YouTube (and of course, the maker of the clip who travelled 10,641 miles so that I do not have to!).
I dug more on the song "I've Been Everywhere" and it seems that it has been adapted to a lot of places - the original being in Australia.
Anyway, I digress. Let me continue with my welcome ...
Just to make sure that the previous clip did not give you the impression of Texas being just all roads, here's a Tribute to Texas:
Anyway, I live in Austin - the capital city of Texas. But I have to admit I am beyond city limits where you see miles and miles of live oaks, cedar and pecan trees; and where you see large birds always flying above. The Hill Country, as Texans lovingly say.
Anyhow, Austin is also the "music capital of the world". That's where you get all that live music shown in PBS :) And on the last weekend of this month, the Austin City Limits Music Festival is on!!!
If you cannot make it, here are some photos of the 10-feet guitars around town which were installed as public art last year. They were made by local artists, sponsored by companies and signed by supposedly well-known folks!
There are supposedly 50 of them but I have 35 here only. (I hope I don't get into trouble pulling these stuff from the net!)
And here's a sampling of Austin places to go visit!
Meanwhile, enjoy a little taste of Texas today and come back soon!
Did I just day little? That's not acceptable in Texas, so...
We biked to the gym at the Amenity Center. While on the treadmill......we realized that we could see our house partly.
Our house is the one in the middle.
We also played a little basketball.
And we even bowled on late Sunday night to avail of their $1 promo.
Al and I had some beginner's luck on a few (really few) frames. Take a closer look at our scores. Hahaha!!!
I should have just programmed my turn as a child so that I can have those wonderful bumpers (or rails) on the side of the lane to prevent my throws from going to the canal! Anyway, it was fun, specially to see the kids bowl!
MENTALLY... I, as usual, was on the computer - worked on different blog post ideas and made a few minor revisions to the church website.
Al continued reading his PHP book and explored Joomla so that he could map out the plan on how to make the desired changes for the church website.
SOCIALLY... We were refreshed with our visits with people in church last Sunday and over Friday dinner before our Experiencing God study.
I wrote (yes, handwritten) letters and read up on fellow Lousiana bloggers who are contending with Gustav. (Do these count?)
And oh, Monday dinner with the Herrons after making their PC work!
That's how the long weekend went! And it went too fast. I need more hours in my day!!!
However, Lumpia was a few votes shy of the top 3. It was #4 at 166 votes versus Cauliflower with 175. It's still a great experience though - I did not imagine having this many votes at the end of the week because there were only about 50 votes by Friday. And there were a hundred more in the last 2 days! Awesome!!!
So, even if lumpia did not make it to the Finals, I leave this Soulja Boy-inspired Crank That Lumpia song I found. Go groove with it!
Funny where the song starts with this Tagalog statement (translated) - "You are eating all the lumpia, those are for the visitors." Just goes to show how special lumpia is in the Philippine household - it's typically reserved for the visitors!
Once again...My many, many thanks to all of you who voted because every vote counted. And those who forwarded the "cry for help" to others.
Special thanks to Gladys for tirelessly campaigning (disturbing? :) ) all her relatives, friends and IM-mates to vote for the Lumpia.
For Joey too for the opportunity to make an error of judgement :) I've learned and have come to know myself better for that.
I can't say thank you enough... but again, THANK YOU!!!
PS. I researched the "movie" beyond that song and I had high hopes for it ... but I was disappointed. So don't bother googling it - it is amateur and juvenile. Sorry if that hurts, but that's my opinion.
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