Seeing Home
I belong to a Yahoogroup of mostly women who spend a lot of their time on their computer – both on- and offline. A lot of them create tags using PaintShop Pro; they would then offer those tags up and group members can have their name put on them, for free. Like this one:
I am in three groups now. One is a group owned by a tagger, and I am just there to snag. The other is a sharing group where I get most of my freebie fonts and other graphics files. I joined that one so I can have something to share in this third group. Group number three is open to both taggers and snaggers, but tags aren’t the only things shared. There are sub-groups or committees in T4S, much like an organization. There are groups for people wanting to learn PSP, and a support group for those who want to lose weight, a recipe sharing circle, among others.
The first group I ever joined some three or four years ago was Friend2Friend. F2F was not just about the graphics files, it was really a community of women from all over the world. To this day, I’m not much of a forum person because I got so used to just logging on to my email and seeing all the chatter from women of all ages and from all over.
Although most of the women in the group were much older in years, and led very different lives from mine, I felt that I truly belonged there. That I had found friends. For the past three years, I always receive a lot of interesting Christmas cards posted from the other side of the world. I only resigned from the group because I didn’t have time to perform “duties” as a leader of one of its committees, and eventually I couldn’t be an active member. Perhaps it’s time to think about rejoining.
Anyway, it was through F2F that I first learned about PaintShop Pro. I signed up for the PSP Workshop and went through tutorials that taught me the basics of the software. There was always someone available to help you out with a software question, specially when you were dealing with the weekly assignment.
Whew, I had no intentions to reminisce about F2F. What I really wanted to share was this photo that I recently received from one of the groups. It reminded me of Auntie Nellie’s house in Bangaan (in Sagada, Mt.Province):
I seriously don’t know why I don’t have a picture of her house that shows her lovely front yard that’s as filled with color as this artwork is. Maybe I do but I’ll have to search for it.
I’m not sure that I ever had a picture in my mind of the house that I’d like to grow old in. But I think it pretty much looks like this. Mind you, I have no green thumb, so I have no idea how I could get a lovely garden. But since I am dreaming, it’s not impossible.
I’d always thought that the sala or living room would be the central part of my house, just as it is in my parents’ house. We are a family who spend their time at night gathered around the TV. We don’t hie off to our rooms until bedtime. Lately though, when Alfred and I discussed future homes, we kinda agreed that the kitchen would probably eat up a lot of the space. He would cook, I would bake. So maybe the kitchen will be the central space in this, our house. I can’t wait to map it out how it will look, and to pick the many appliances we’ll be needing. 🙂
When we were building this house at 19th street, where we all still live, everyone was involved in choosing the furnishings. There were times that we’d go to the builder’s depot as a family, just to pick out the bathroom faucets, kitchen sink, tiles and even paint. I actually enjoyed those times. I didn’t mind at all. If we do decide to move in to the condo instead of renting it out, I know I will have fun fixing it up. Unless the cost frustrates me, that is.