Watching The Super Moon

     As we all have known, the Supermoon started at 2 am Sunday, March 20, 2011 (Manila time).  A supermoon is a full or new moon that coincides with a close approach by the Moon to the Earth. The Moon's distance varies each month between approximately 354,000 km (220,000 mi) and 410,000 km (254,000 mi) due to its elliptical orbit around Earth. Lunar Perigee is what we call it. Super moon was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979. It is being said that with the combined effect of the Sun and Moon on the Earth's oceans, the tide is greatest when the Moon is new or full. At lunar perigee, the tidal force is even stronger resulting in more extreme high and low tides, but even at its most powerful this force is still weak.
     At 2:45 am, looking up in the sky, I took pictures of how the moon is closer to the earth. I was worried then if I could take a shot of it since I only have my Sony Ericsson Cybershot 3.5mega pixel cellphone..but..wow... it's very clear, to think I'm not even on top of a roof. That night you could even see the clouds slowly moving underneath because of the shining moonlight affecting the sky. According to some reports, this same phenomenon occurs every 2 decades.

The Sunflower, My Fave

     It's always been my standard-bearer, from email add, chat, IDs, my house, and decorations. Aside from the fact that my fave color is yellow (maybe one reason why I love this flower), the sunflower is very cool to the eye, whose shape and image depict the sun. It's like saying sunrise is here again for new hope and a new beginning. Sunflower for me symbolizes summer and spring, a bright day ahead, and, rarely, you couldn't see it in almost all commercial flower shops nearby.
     The sunflower got its name from its huge fiery blooms forming like a sun. Sunflower or Helianthus annuus is an annual plant native to the Americas that possess a large flowering head.  Sunflower has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves,  and circular heads of flowers. The heads consist of 1,000-2,000 individual flowers joined together by a receptacle base. Sunflower leaves can be used as cattle food, while the stems contain a fiber that may be used in paper production. With sunflower, what is usually called the flower is actually a flower head also known as a composite flower of numerous florets, (small flowers) crowded together. The outer petal-bearing florets are the sterile ray florets and can be yellow, red, orange, or other colors. The florets inside the circular head are called disc florets, which mature into seeds.

Head displaying florets in spirals of 34 and 55 around the outside

     Despite the common belief, mature sunflowers do not track the sun. The mature flower heads typically face east; only young sunflowers exhibit heliotropism or sun turning: the leaves and buds of young sunflowers follow the sun so that their orientation changes from east to west during the day. The movements become a circadian response and when plants are rotated 180 degrees, the old response pattern is still followed for a few days, with leaf orientation changing from west to east instead. The leaf and flower head bud phototropism occurs while the leaf petioles and stems are still actively growing, but once mature, the movements stop. These movements involve the petioles bending or twisting during the day and then unbending or untwisting at night. Members of the sunflower family are popular with butterflies because the wide flower head makes a good landing platform and the numerous individual flowers make for a high probability of finding nectar. Monarch butterflies are commonly seen nectaring on sunflowers during their fall migration.

     It's amazing to know the characteristic of the sunflower, my favorite flower. It signifies coolness and new hope. A flower that can make you smile, rarely seen but delightful to look at and amazing to know...hope you have seen one..(",).

Mesmerized by Baguio..

     City of blooms! The summer capital of the Philippines! whatever you may call it..it's the place I've always wanted to come back to.. the mountains, its landscape, her flowers, the wind, its people. It's been a long time since my last visit to Baguio, 12 years ago..but still the memories, all that is in Baguio lingers. A happy family back then, it seems. I have 2 kids then and we went boating in the man-made lagoon in Burnham Park, took our walk up the 100 stairs, and took pictures with the Mines View Park behind us and The Mansion. Sweet memories..we even experienced a tremor at 2am.  Earthquake!   at first, I thought there was a monster opening the door since our room is connected to the other moving through a common bathroom.
Traveling 6 hours from Manila.. always excited to get there.. remember my first visit when I was in college for a leadership seminar sponsored by one of our student societies I was a member of. Six months after the July 16, 1990 earthquake when Baguio, one that was badly hit at that time.. though we could still see the ruins, its natural beauty can still be seen despite the tragedy. The warmth of the native people living there, and the rich culture, would also make you back and even wanted to live there. I think this is the place where I can really be one with nature, be what I am, be with other God's creation, It's a beautiful place..being tired of the suburbs' polluted air, the noise. it's one place that will bring you to your senses. Though I know there is a far better place than Baguio, still, her flowers leave their color in my eyes.
     One day, two days, or even three days are not enough to see the marvelous splendor of Baguio..and maybe after all these tedious days, I would go back and experience once again the different colors and blooms of Baguio.