Tale Weaver/Fairy Tale – #175 – June 14th – Happy Ever After

Today we celebrate our 32nd Wedding Anniversary – yay!!! HRH the son and his beautiful K arrived yesterday and we are going to the fairy tale castle, Neuschwanstein this morning. In the evening we’re going to a posh Greek restaurant to celebrate it, the four of us! Tomorrow we invited some friends to be with us, too.

Wow, how time flies! To think that when we started we were both students or trainees, had moved from a studio in Birmingham, a maisonette with Mrs. Booth in Nottingham (we were on the top floor and every week we played cards with Mrs. Booth, bless her soul), a flat in Ramersdorf, a split house in Unterhaching, now a terrace house with a garden in the south of Munich. HRH the son was born two years after we moved to Germany and we have been living here for the last 28 years.

We’ve gone through thick and thin, through being fit and healthy to all the illnesses and now trying to be as healthy as possible. We’ve cried together, laughed a lot, sometimes ignored each other, accepted each other with all our quirks and idiosyncrasy, had a lot of tiffs, and so on. But at the end of it, we’re best mates, soul mates if there are such things and we don’t mind spending the rest of our lives together. Cheers everyone and thanks for letting us share our wedding anniversary with all of you.

Thirty two years of devotedness and love
All the experience and our adventure
With you it’s like a cooing of a dove
Together we try to find some answer

We’ve made our home and oh so contented
Our son and bride join us and tortoises
We’re grateful to all and feeling so blessed
Places we’ve visited give us real buzz

We’re so different and we argue sometimes
Each other’s quirks and idiosyncrasies
We have created our own paradigms
One thing for sure, the day we always seize

(c) ladyleemanila

For: Tale Weaver/Fairy Tale – #175 – June 14th – Happy Ever After, Tell Me Something Good #112

Tale Weaver – #173 – May 31st – Days Of Old

Hello everyone! For this challenge, I’m reblogging something from my archive.

“You’re it!” I didn’t see her as she pointed to me, called my name and said, “You’re it!” I’ve got to look for them hiding around our street. It was getting dark so it was tough finding them. However, I knew Thor would be hiding at his usual place, my brother kissing our neighbour in one corner and I’d managed to locate Bethcha. Before long we had to go back to our houses and ate our dinner. Other days, we’d play patintero (try to cross my line without letting me touch or catch you), tumbang preso (hit the can), piko (hopscotch) or luksong-tinik (lit. jump over the thorns of a plant). Sometimes we’d rent some bikes and circled around our neighbourhood.

Easter Breaks. The only time of the year when all of us cousins stayed in our Granddad’s house. The number of times we walked back and forth the house and the chapel for singing the passion plays. The afternoons we spent splashing in that creek while Granddad washed the carabao, the still warm fresh milk that morning and the mangoes we’ve picked on the way to the farm. We all slept on the floor, some snoring, some talking, and telling each other’s stories, jokes and secrets.

Dapitan. Our house in Dapitan was small – for our parents, 4 children, Granny, aunts and cousins. It was constantly full of people and activities. Our cousins from the province stayed with us once they started college. There were 2 bedrooms, one for our parents and one for all of us with 2 bunk beds; the rest slept on the floor. My classmates and I loved hanging out there; doing our homework and projects; lunch and merienda (snacks) were at all times provided. When I needed to concentrate in college, I’d wake up in the middle of the night to revise or just to have some peace and quiet.

Childhood memories
When life was full of roses
Snippets of my life

Snippets of my life
Full of innocence and fun
Summer spent with friends

For: Tale Weaver – #173 – May 31st – Days Of Old

Tale Weaver – #172 –Libraries – 24 May 2018

Leaning on an everlasting arm
Swarm of animals charming in a farm
It’s all about true grit and determination
Not to make myself anyone’s burden
Learning lessons from the books in the library
Relaxing, while having a nice cup of tea
Even though I’m still half-dressed, I’m reading
Basking in its glory, all brimming and breezing
I love to tell stories, make them up most of the time
Have a go, I’m sure you’ll love it in the meantime
It’s this feeling of creating something wonderful
Like first seeing a tiger in a jungle in Bengal
The world’s my stage, every person its characters
Every production is unique, and so are its bloopers
Interacting with each other, reacting to any situation
Everyone responsible for their own action and reaction

For: Tale Weaver – #172 –Libraries – 24 May 2018

Tale Weaver- #171- May 17th – Light

Image: © Mara Eastern (Use with permission)

Starlight, star bright, I wish I may, I wish I might
Find my own knight, he’s there to fight for my plight
I’d like to go to places far away, roving great distances
Riding buses, aeroplanes, ships, jeepneys and cruises

Over the hills, to the depths of the seas and sandy shores
Learning my lessons, writing my memoirs, being outdoors
Acquiring new things, seeing the world, adventures galore
Understanding about them, they’re all there in a brochure

Meeting you and the others, oh what fun it would be
Dancing the night away, footloose and fancy free
Away from this tumultuous and rotten world with flees
As long as I don’t transgress and make you displease

Enable to scramble over the wall to the summit ridge
I’ve got my suitcase ready, don’t care about the mileage
Swelling with smugness in this upbeat biosphere
The atmosphere has thicken from the exosphere

Having the key to your heart, be as charming as can be
I always see the world as somewhat peachy or pearly
Starlight, star bright, these are some of my wishes
Hope they come true and I’d be happy, such a buzz

(c) ladyleemanila

For: Tale Weaver- #171- May 17th – Light

Tale Weaver – #167- First Kiss – 19th April

Tree that was there when we first kissed
We felt awkward but sweet
Late afternoon, there was a mist
My God, I couldn’t eat
Tree that witnessed our growing up
Put lipstick on, I felt grownup
Tree that witnessed
Tree that witnessed
In the meadow with buttercups

Tree that was there when we first kissed
We etched our initials
We listened to Chopin and Liszt
As well as the Beatles
A shooting star we wish upon
We spoke for hours until dawn
A shooting star
A shooting star
Hope we’re together from hereon

Tree that was there when we first kissed
There when we said goodbye
It hurt and you are dearly missed
I would never know why
Cried, broke my heart, learned my lesson
Life changed and I felt abandoned
Cried, broke my heart
Cried, broke my heart
I’ve moved on and enjoyed the sun*

(c) ladyleemanila 2018

* Trijan Refrain

For: Tale Weaver – #167- First Kiss – 19th April

Tale Weaver – #163 – Aging – 15th March

old woman portrait vietnam three tamarind m’nong

I was rummaging through the attic
in the filth, searching for some documents
old memento, toys and games of our antic
brown faded photos of our descents

I found an old photograph of a woman
she was beautiful, I save it as my keepsake
lines on her face tell us experience she’d done
her eyes conveyed her joy, hope and ache

an enigma, seducing me to deconstruct
I can feel her wraith in my zone
enlightening me of proper conduct
her past mistakes to atone

her alexithymia makes me want to express
something she wasn’t able to do
perhaps she was in distress
if only I could have a cue

like colouring her life with crayons
through the convex lens the search
looking for truth, spending aeons
thinking of it as my research

We’re nearly there and we have to keep going
Praise the Lord for managing to continue
Look, I could see a glint of assurance at the end
The overgrown garden with herbs is my witness
Hush, don’t feel guilty for not doing other things
As the leaves sway with the winds, be happy
Our sense of woe slowly disappearing
We are compelled to continue until the end
To give us some sort of satisfaction and hope

For: Tale Weaver – #163 – Aging – 15th March, Nurt Thursday – Rise and Soar

Tale Weaver – #159 – February 14th – The Coming of Spring

 

Painting – Stars of Spring by L Diane Johnson

birds sing before dawn
like musical orchestra
they brighten the day

peepers are small frogs
peepers emit mating call
melody of night

fragrance of flowers
air of spring brings health and life
rain comes on the wind

hello there spring
first flowers are peeking out
goodbye cold winter
two Marias in spring
Mother Nature at her best

nice to have colours
yellow, green, purple and red
instead of just white
enough snow for us all
anticipate what’s coming

For: Tale Weaver – #159 – February 14th – The Coming of Spring