The Guesthouse

C! Just returned late last night from my trip to the Orient, it was WAY too short, actioned-packed, and alot of fun.

(Yes, I brought stuff for you, I will bring it on my next visit to NYC this month!)

These pics illustrate the guest house on our compound in Tagaytay. We're happily hidden about a quarter of a mile away from the edge of the Taal Volcano, and the weather is cool and crisp and very clean. I had to wear a thick cable knit sweater the entire time I was in the mountains, can you believe it? (Most of the rest of the Philippines is about 100 degrees in the shade.)

For the guest house, my father chose a gleaming parquet floor in a filipino basket weave pattern. The floor is whisked every day with a wide grass broom. This house, and the main house at the bottom of the hill, have concrete walls and thatched grass roofs, tightly woven and tied together grass sheets lying atop gleaming mahogany beams. The first floor is studio-style, where rooms flow into each other without walls, and he used a few different levels and steps on the floor to delineate a dining area and a mid-story tea room, plus a platform for the boats my father built. My mother hung red Chinese lanterns from the beams, to celebrate Chinese New Year, and the rest of the home gives some nods to our spanish colonial heritage (mostly in the wrought iron lanterns above the breakfast table) and some Frank Lloyd Wright-style windows and seating areas.

We ate breakfast and dinner here at the guest house, currently hosting my Tito Butch, who is visiting from New Jersey. My favorite place to sit is the front parlor at the corner of the cottage, where we raised bamboo sunshades and took in a fantastic wrap-around view of the hills and valleys surrounding the compound, dotted with banana trees, pine, and vineyards.