"Flying T"

One of our "couple friends" were telling us that they were planning on buying a playhouse for their one-year old son. For someone who doesn't have a child yet, I have no idea how much these things cost. And I was really shocked that these plastic playhouses are quite expensive. This started our discussion about the "cheap" toys we had when we were growing up.

One of these is what we call the "Flying T". I have completely forgotten the name of this toy and was really happy (more of relieved) when our friend told me of its name. It's like a small helicopter blade made of plastic. You can get it as a free toy inside your favorite chips. All you have to do is just get the top part or the "blade" and insert the plastic that looks like a hard straw in the hole of the blade. Then in order for it to fly, you just need to put the toy in between your palms and in a rubbing motion, the toy will spin and just release it. Voila! The blades come in different colors and I remember asking my mom to buy the chips in stores where they sell wholesale products so that I can have a lot of those Flying T's in different colors.

Does anyone of you know what I'm talking about? I tried searching for a picture of it in google images but I can't find one. Just in case you're a kid in the early to mid 80's then you know what kind of toy I'm talking about.

(Gumamela) Soap Bubbles

Have you ever been scolded by your neighbors when you were a kid? I have. It was because I was picking out the leaves and flowers of their gumamela plant. If you were a kid in the 80's and 90's you'd know instantly why I did this. It was to make soap bubbles.

Honestly, I can't remember who told us or how we found out that pounding the leaves and the flower would help make the soap bubbles "last longer". Yes, I know, we were destroying mother nature again. Pardon the ignorance brought about by being young and with high resources and energy levels.

So we would be pounding the leaves and flowers (if there were any left) until we see a slimy greenish sap. Then we add the crushed leaves and flowers to a big tub of water with some laundry soap in it. We mix it well and voila! Soap bubble mixture. We'd then get a piece of wooden sticks that we can bend to make a bubble wand. But sometimes if there's time and if we have someone to make it for us (like my dad or uncle), we'd get a thin wire and we'd make a loop then wrap the loop with a cloth. This is way better than the wooden wand because it doesn't break plus there are more bubbles. :)

Now, blowing bubbles isn't that funny anymore because they're readily available in stores. The fun part in this is the picking of the leaves and flowers: you get to be dirty, you experience getting chased by or barked at by your neighbor's or (like me) get stung by a bee or hornet in the process.

Missing the Dragonflies

I was up early this morning. Shocking I know. I had to drop off A to the shuttle terminal and feed and walk the dog. While feeding the dog, I was looking at the different flowers looking fresh from the rainfall last night.

Then something distracted me. It was a bluegreen dragonfly. A tutubi in my native language. I was steady for a moment and observed where it landed. No, I was not scared but merely afraid that it might fly away. It's been a while since I've seen these flying in our garden. And I can only blame myself and my other playmates when we were still kids.

You see, when we were still kids we would catch these dragonflies and tie a string on the end part of their body. I know, I know... it's cruel. We were young and ignorant back then. My apologies to the dragonfly kingdom. But in my defense, I really didn't hurt them. I let them go after playing with them and they're still in tact -- they can still fly afterwards.

This is why I guess after how many years, it is only seldom that I see dragonflies in our neighborhood. I do hope they visit us again. I miss seeing them around. I promise I won't tie them up.