Silent Sunday: Hollywood’s Desert


Part of Silent Sunday

Hello October 2025!


Continue reading “Hello October 2025!”

#WeekendCoffeeShare – Birthday Week


Happy Saturday to all! A big thanks to Natalie of Natalie the Explorer for hosting WeekendCoffeeShare this weekend.

Continue reading “#WeekendCoffeeShare – Birthday Week”

Hello September 2025!


I was supposed to do this yesterday but my brain was absolutely fried after a marathon of driving. I feel like long-distance driving is an absolute test of one’s endurance, just like running a marathon.

Anyway, hello September 2025! I am strangely looking forward to this month. Maybe because it’s my birthday month and even though I do not like the thought of knowing I’ll be another year older before the end of the month, I feel it’s something that’s inevitable for not only me but for everyone.

I mentioned in the intro I did a marathon drive over the weekend. Even after fulfilling the crazy idea in early August, my mom is still not giving up on her dream of winning the lottery. In my opinion, if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. I got dragged into driving to Evanston, Wyoming again on Saturday to buy lottery tickets. So round trip was about 140 miles and after running some errands, it was nearly 200 miles.

Then on Sunday, I got dragged again into driving to Crater of the Moon National Monument in southern Idaho with her sisters in the back seat. This time, we hiked the Big Crater. Along the way, as I drove, her sisters slept, missing all the beautiful scenery along the way. When they’re not asleep, one of the sisters would ask, “Are we there yet?” I just about wanted to kick her out of the car for asking such a question. When she’s not asking stupid questions, she’s stuffing her mouth with food.

It was the second time I did the 500-mile round trip in a day. The first time was early August. By the time I got home, I just wanted to get into bed and sleep off the giant headache I got from driving exhaustion. I typically enjoy driving but this was too much.

Anyway, I feel like I’ve spent every weekend in August driving to the border towns in Wyoming and Idaho and I hope this doesn’t repeat in September.

The garden felt very static in August, like not much happened, just watering and fertilizing. I began planting the fall and winter vegetables sporadically because I don’t want everything to come to fruition at once. I am trying to also practice succession planting, waiting for the plants to size up before planting the next batch as well as making sure everything is alive and well. If something needs replacing, then I’ll put a replacement plant in its place.

Here are a couple of my favorite garden photos from August.

As I mentioned, September is my birthday month and for the first time ever, I’m taking two days off for my birthday and not because I’m going somewhere special, but because I want give myself time to rest and recharge. The other thing I’m looking forward to in September would be the work activity I’m going to do with the department.

We are going to take a pottery class and make a cup, a bowl, or a vase. I haven’t played with clay since middle school and even then, I never got to make anything with the pottery wheel. So I’m looking forward to seeing what I’ll make.

Just a Crazy Idea


My mom and I spent the last couple of weeks making trips on the weekends to the border towns of Evanston and Woodruff in Wyoming and Idaho, respectively, buying up lottery tickets, hoping to play our luck – adult edition.

Continue reading “Just a Crazy Idea”

My Road Trip to Idaho’s Craters of the Moon


I had to take a break from everything yesterday because after driving almost 500 miles on Saturday, I was exhausted.

Where did I go?

Continue reading “My Road Trip to Idaho’s Craters of the Moon”

Silent Sunday: Strange and Beautiful


Part of Silent Sunday

Hello August 2025!


I don’t know whether you can feel it but July, at least for me, is one of the toughest months to get through next to, of course, December and January. So what the days are long, it’s hot to the point that going outside means getting charred by the sun’s UV rays no matter how thick of a layer of sunscreen I lather on my skin.

Continue reading “Hello August 2025!”

#WeekendCoffeeShare – Festival, Day Trip, and Summer Garden Update


Happy Saturday! A big thanks to Natalie of Natalie the Explorer for hosting WeekendCoffeeShare each weekend.

It was a strange week, in my opinion, being back at work on Monday after a 3-day weekend. I felt like my mind struggled to concentrate and needed time to get back into work mode. One of the reason of why I felt this way was probably because the long weekend was a busy weekend. My mom and I attended the Colonial Heritage Festival on Saturday and I got my day trip on Sunday.

Continue reading “#WeekendCoffeeShare – Festival, Day Trip, and Summer Garden Update”

My Wish Came True – A drive into the Mountain


I mentioned in a couple of posts since the beginning of the month that I want to do a day trip into the mountain. There’s a road I want to drive again since I never made it to the destination last time when I drove it 4 years ago in April 2021.

Continue reading “My Wish Came True – A drive into the Mountain”

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #345 – My Go-to Places


Happy Sunday! John is hosting the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week and he’s raised the question of “Go-to Places.”

Continue reading “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #345 – My Go-to Places”

#SundayStills: An Adventure about a #Stark Landscape


Continue reading “#SundayStills: An Adventure about a #Stark Landscape”

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #335 – Exploring Color vs Black and White


Happy Sunday! This week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge is hosted by Patti and we are exploring color versus black and white photography this week.

Continue reading “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #335 – Exploring Color vs Black and White”

#WordlessWednesday: Salt and Sky


Part of Wordless Wednesday, where a picture tells the story.

2024 in Review


As I mentioned in a previous post, 2024 will go down as the year of least travels. As of today – December 31, 2024 – there are less than 1,200 photos in my Lightroom library taken in 2024. That’s a over 50% in reduction from 2023, so that should tell you something.

Continue reading “2024 in Review”

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #318 – Finding Beauty in Unexpected Places


Happy Sunday! Patti leads this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge with a challenge to find beauty to unexpected places.

Continue reading “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #318 – Finding Beauty in Unexpected Places”

Silent Sunday: Hello Autumn!


Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #316 – Destination: Fun


Happy Sunday! This week, Egidio from Through Brazilian Eyes hosts the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge with a somewhat challenging theme (in my opinion) of Fun and destinations.

Continue reading “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #316 – Destination: Fun”

#SundayStills: Before and After


Continue reading “#SundayStills: Before and After”

#SundayStills: #Afloat


Continue reading “#SundayStills: #Afloat”

#SundayStills: #Wings


Continue reading “#SundayStills: #Wings”

Silent Sunday: Do you see the heart?


#WeekendCoffeeShare – The Feeling of Passing


Continue reading “#WeekendCoffeeShare – The Feeling of Passing”