Taking a Stroll Down Sonya's Garden

Wow!  It's been over 2 months since my last blog entry.  Anyone still out there?  If you are, thanks for your patience or indifference, whichever the case may be :-)

So, I took a mini break and flew to the Philippines for a 2 week vacation.  Nothing crafty to report.  The Philippines isn't a big crafting mecca (unlike Japan or Korea) but don't feel too sorry for me.  I ate so much and had spa treatments and even had some time to work a little bit on my Redwork.

But, I wanted to share some photos of my travels. It is called Sonya's Garden and it is a restaurant/ bed and breakfast/day spa located about 1 1/2 hours outside of Manila.  

The restaurant serves a buffet (one set menu daily) highlighting the vegetables grown in the premises.

Some of the beautiful china.

It is a tranquil (no unruly children allowed) and calm oasis where you can get away and just unwind, enjoy a spa treatment,  maybe do some embroidery or learn the art of doing absolutely nothing!

Sonia's Garden reminds me of life around the turn of the century- when people ate foods from their garden served on fine china, take siestas outdoors under a canopy or shady tree, play cards or do some embroidery and listen to the vitrola record player at dusk and enjoy a sangria and dance an the evening lit by fireflies, candles and the moonlight.

If a picture paints a thousand words, then I will just allow them to do all the talking.  

Here are a few of the daybeds located around the garden for a quick nap or Tete-a-tete.

Here's one of the little cabins for overnight visitors.  Sliding windows are made of Capiz (windowpane oyster) shells.

Back in Manila, I spied a kalesa (horse drawn carriage) in the old district of Manila.  When I was little, my mom and I would take a kalesa ride from my dad's office in the textile district called Divisoria to Chinatown for lunch and a movie.  

You could fit 2 adults in the carriage.  The little seat upfront is for the kutsero or driver.  Some of the kalesas are brightly and beautifully decorated and they definitely all have a waste sack so the horse does not leave a mess around the streets.  Not a lot of kalesas are around anymore.  Like any big city, people are in a rush and riding a horse carriage isn't the most time efficient.