Growing up and spending summers at my maternal grandmother’s house meant regularly seeing vehicles headed out of the town dragging along large amounts of tall bamboo plants. I distinctly remember this because my grandmother’s house was located on a corner so when these vehicles turned, it was more than likely that these bamboo plants would […]
Last year my family and I had such a good experience “staycationing” (if there is such a word) that we decided to do it again this year. For my birthday I decided to take the family out to stay overnight at a hotel again. I had originally wanted to do it at Taal Vista Hotel, […]
Do you ever find yourself looking back on things in your life and wondering, “What if?” Do you ever find yourself questioning the decisions you have made and wondering if you did the right thing? Are there moments where you wonder how life would have been different if you had chosen to do things in […]
These quarantined times have allowed me to do some reading and I found myself going back to some old favorites, one of them being the YA vampire series Blue Bloods by Filipino American author Melissa de la Cruz. Writing a book that involves fantasy, action, and adventure is something I have wanted to do for […]
It is all over the news: temperatures keep getting hotter and hotter. Every year has become the “hottest year on record.” The UN says that we are getting closer to the threshold where we can no longer avoid the effects of climate change. To me, climate change equates to extreme heat and humidity, and all […]
White hat. Gladiators. Command. These are the words that come to mind when the TV show Scandal starring Kerry Washington is mentioned to me. I remember being a fan of this show when it was on TV, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was available to stream on Disney+. Scandal started in […]
On one of the off-season episodes of the Fandesals Podcast (episode embedded below), my co-host Judith shared her book lover origin story. As someone who loves to read books myself, I thought it would be great to share my journey with books. I hope people can relate to it and remind them of their book-lover stories […]
My name is Clare. I am a writer and a podcaster, and I work as an Administrative Manager for a water utility company. I am from a (somewhat rural) province in the Philippines. The online name Clare Henney is something I have been using as a blogger for a while now. It is a combination […]
Here’s the thing about me and writing: people seem to think that it’s easy, that it just flows out naturally when a lot of times, it’s not. Yes, there are moments when you get that moment of inspiration and you can write on and on and it will just keep going but for the most […]
One of the shows I used to watch on TV that I recently found available on Disney+ was the supernatural show called Sleepy Hollow. It’s a story that is loosely based on the short story of the same name and is set in modern times. In the show, the main character of the story, Ichabod […]
One thing that I miss about the pre-pandemic life is visiting coffee shops and just enjoying the coffee and ambiance with my family and friends. As much as I love coffee, it is not just about the coffee, but about the social experience too. There is a local café that my family and I often […]
The month of May is Mental Health Awareness month. It is the time where people raise awareness about mental health and mental health issues. It’s the time where several groups try to help erase the stigma of having mental health problems so that help can be given to the people who need it the most. […]
Netflix has recently come out with a series that re-imagines the story that revolves around Excalibur and the legend of King Arthur. Titled Cursed, it revolves around the character Nimue, who, as the series insinuates, will eventually become the Lady of the Lake in the stories of King Arthur and Camelot. Based on an illustrated […]