The bittersweet meeting of Kap and his apo

Poolside rendezvous with Lolo Kap

Some ten years ago, my father reached out to me extending his wishes to see me and my son. Estranged as I have been for a good many years, I was overjoyed with the thought of the two meeting up for the first time. 

Their first meeting was bittersweet, because it would also be their last. Short of two years later, my father died from illness. 

Frail and ill as he may have been when they met the first time, they bonded like no other grandfather and grandson. They sat and talked like they have known each other for the longest time. My father looked at his apo with that twinkle in his eyes - full of love and warmth and adoration for this little man. Simply enthralled, mesmerised even. "I wish I could live longer to see him grow up as a young man", he said. My heart broke inside knowing though his heart meant it, his body was too weak to see this through. My son and I did the best we could to savour this meeting and I know for a fact it had a lasting imprint on my son - he remembers my father with great fondness and memory. He remembers his grayling white hair, white beard and white eyebrows - and his sad smiling eyes. At one point my son told me, "He hugged me so tight I couldn't breathe." I smiled and cried inside. 

My father's memory will always live - in me and that of my son. 

All systems go!

Finally! Summer activities identified and logistics have been taken care of. The flight tickets are booked! The hotel accommodations final and booked! And I am broke!

Where to? Take a  wild guess!

Going through the process of debating where to go, what to do this summer took some time before we all agree on our final summer destination. With passports renewed, the travel preparations begun without delay in getting the reasonable flight tickets, setting up detailed itineraries and identifying hotels along the road trip route. What a task to put together! I'm all too happy to get all these into its place and can now sit back and look forward to the day we all go away on a long and much deserved holiday.

Sun, sand and sea, here we come!

CHRONICLED: The Appalling Ills of the Marcoses

 Read more here

I read and re-read and read the nth time. I was disgusted. Angry. And cursed under my breath.

The stuff I got to read about the Marcos family in Caroline Kennedy's Where I Wander blog chronicles is simply beyond me and my sense of sanity. The generation of today need to know of these abomination.

FLASHBACK: Lego Madness

Lego, at one point of our lives, has been the centre of Alexander's everyday activities. He was nuts about building and creating stop-motion films - he lived and breathed Lego! Even in his sleep ...

Eventually, we decided for the hobby to egg out. But even as we buried it to its "grave", it left a lot of fond memories to us.

And so, we created a short film clip (click here or to the picture on the right).

Friday Do's

Fridays is always a treat. You look forward to getting things done at work and almost on a sprint to come home early. Today is one of those days … and I'm looking forward to one quiet evening with family time, food and treats - plenty of treats.

My hubby graciously offered to make some waffles. Who would say no to that? Definitely not me. I welcome the thought of just coming to the table to eat! And mind you, twas one delicious treat.

Sun's still up but the air is crisp as it should be on a March afternoon. For now, I will enjoy these yummy waffles and cream and cloudberry jam.

Cheers!

Scandinavian Blues is back!

And so a new blog was born … Scandinavian Blues.

It's one of those things ... I lost access to my first blog when Blogger "gave" its rights to Google. And me having a number of Google accounts as sorted for personal, business and network uses didn't make it any easier.

It was a bit weird, and a delightful consequence, to realise that it was to this day, 28 March, when I wrote my last entry on Blogger last year, 28 March 2013. After that, I was nowhere lucky to access nor open my blog files. I didn't think much of it until of late when a friend flagged me over the complete absence of updates. 

Also, one of the reason why there had been a lull is the fact that I promised my son, Alexander, now in his teens, that I will not write anything on my blog about him. He said he feels embarrassed to read them, and much so if his friends would chance on it online. Ain't that sweet? Well, I'm a Mom who supports his privacy and integrity. But hey, I'd probably still write bits and pieces once in a while. It wouldn't hurt, would it?

I hope to be able to continue my blog journey as I warp on my Scandinavian Blues - the highs and lows of my pretty ordinary but awesome life out here in Sweden … one I call my home away from home.

Come and get on for the ride! Follow me!