The Lizard

As she was preparing to do the laundry this morning, our house helper called for me and said, "Sir, you are not afraid of lizards." That was her way of telling me that there was a lizard out back in the area where she cleans our clothes.

I went out back and did not immediately see the lizard. "It's under the rag", she said.

I pulled back the rag hanging below the window, and spotted it. I went for my camera and called my son to come and see the creature.

We frequently see little geckos around the apartment, but they are usually about the length of my finger and a lighter color. This one is the largest one I've come upon.- approximately eight inches long.

It didn't care for us, so it quickly made its way to the roof. I'm glad I was able to get these two shots before it escaped.

Eliminating Plastic

It has been reported that, when it comes to the volume of plastic making its way into the ocean, Philippines is one of the worst offenders - just behind Indonesia and China. In response to these reports, Philippines has put forth an effort to address this problem.

I'm also attempting to do my part.

On my morning walk, I will frequently stop at various vendors to purchase what I might need for a day or two. This morning, I stopped to purchase a loaf of bread from the Birdie's Bakeshop near the Sibulan Public Market, and inside the market, I stopped at three different vendors to buy bananas, a few vegetables and chicken. Normally, each of these vendors would have put their wares into plastic bags. This morning, I decided to make the change and bring a canvas tote bag with me.

Of course, the chicken still had to be put into a plastic bag, but I didn't need plastic bags from the bakeshop or fruit and vegetable vendors.

It's a small start, but we have to begin somewhere.

Google Plus Photos

I've mentioned before on this blog that I have, on occasion, posted photos onto Google Maps. As it stands now, I've uploaded more than 1500 photos, which have garnered more than 4.5 million views. I haven't mentioned, on the other hand, that I've also uploaded photos to Google+, particularly to the Street Photographers community.

My latest upload to the Street Photographers community was the black and white photo (taken in Sibulan) shown on this post. I've noticed that - for whatever reason - black and white photos usually manage to receive more "1 ups" in this community, which is why I modified this photo from the original color photo.

At the time of this writing, the B/W photo has received 32 one ups.

After posting the B/W photo, I uploaded this color photo of a street in Dumaguete.

Posting the color photo brought this comment from one of the community's moderators:

Thanks for your post. Just a gentle reminder that per our guidelines we're looking for as strong a human element as possible. This seems the intent was more of a cityscape [sic] shot? You have some great people on the Street shots in your portfolio! Look forward to seeing more of those. Cheers.

When posting this photo, I made a point of posting one that did have people in the photo. Obviously, this particular moderator felt this was not enough. That's fine.

VW Beetle #51

Roaming around the city on foot, I came upon this VW Beetle at the corner of Predices and Luke Wright Street, catty-corner from New Jupiter Enterprises (which can be seen in the background of one of these photos.

At first, I thought this might be a convertible model, but after looking at photos of the VW Beetle convertible online, I've decided that this one isn't. I just can't explain those bars going across the top. Perhaps it's some sort of dune-buggy modification.

I don't believe this Beetle has been driven in quite awhile, so of course, it isn't among my previously photographed Beetles. Therefore, I'm calling this one number 51.

Due to the lighting, in some of these photos the Beetle appears to be an almost cream color. The actual color has a greenish tint, which is more apparent in photo #5.

Beetle #50

For the second day in a row, I've come upon a VW Beetle parked along the road while bringing my son home from school. This time, I was taking an alternate route in hopes of avoiding traffic.

As always, I checked my collection of Beetle photos to see if I had photographed this one before. It appears I haven't, so this one will be labeled #50.

An Olive Colored VW.

Headed home from fetching my son at school, and driving along Rovira Dr., I spotted this olive colored VW Beetle parked in front of Ms Ann's Foodtown. No explanation as to why it was parked there or why the rear was open.

Looking over my photos of VWs, I could not find one painted this color. So, I'm naming this one #49.