Chasing The Skies Across England

I first noticed the skies on that glorious first day in London. We were walking around Covent Garden, just off of a well-deserved buffet at Mr. Wu after a 16-hour flight. As we were strolling around the Piazza looking for the perfect red photobooth, I looked up to see the sky with nary a cloud in sight. London is notoriously known for its bleak weather. It's "grey-ness" and dreariness. But on that first day, it was the opposite. The skies spilled with my favorite color as if welcoming me home. It was a vast space of perfect seamless gradient blue blanketing the city, the color progressing from electric blue to a muted shade of cornflower. It was akin to staring at the ocean if it were hanging above you instead of beneath you. Back at Ludgate Hill, the cross-topped dome outline of St. Paul's Cathedral poised against the cobalt blue. The English baroque church stood pale and resplendent, with its stonework looking incredibly whitewashed by the afternoon sun. 

St. Paul's Cathedral viewed from King Edward Street

Setting the Scene: Back To Hogwarts

I approached the scarlet steam engine, my trolley trailing behind me. Dazed and overwhelmed at the sight of it. The last time I saw the Hogwarts Express was at the start of my 7th year many years ago.

© Bobbie Rebultan

The platform wasn't crowded yet; only the early and earnest few were around. My hands quivered, and a queasy feeling made its way from my stomach to my chest. I realized I was having a panic attack. Automatically, my senses keyed in to where my wand was tucked inside my coat pocket, ready whenever I need it. I took a deep breath and tried to slow my breathing. I took out my ticket, desperately clutching it with clammy hands, afraid I'd loose it along with the chance of a lifetime.

Setting the Scene: The Trolley-Lady

© Bobbie Rebultan

She stacked a fresh batch of cauldron cakes atop her trolley, releasing a fresh smell of caramel and cinnamon. She strolled down the corridor, occasionally taking a peek inside the compartments. She was careful. With years in this job, the students are happy when they see her, but she doesn't want to be intrusive. Oh she loves these kids and they are well-behaved, but teenagers are capricious!

Setting the Scene: Luna Lovegood

© Bobbie Rebultan

She stumbled and fell down on her knees, gasping as her stockinged legs came in contact with the snow. The warming spell she cast on her toes was starting to wear out. She remained seated on the crisp snow and looked up. The world was coated in frosting. The ground reflected the skies, she thought. It felt like she was sitting inside a hollow snowball. Luna Lovegood sighed again and laid down on the snow, her disheveled blonde hair fanning out under her. Her silver eyes on her pale face blended with her surroundings. She feels like snow herself. She reached up, her gloved hands outlined against the clouds. All around her fell a flurry of flakes--frozen stars, soft and sighing against her hair.

Setting the Scene: The Smell of Safety

© Bobbie Rebultan

The gargoyle looked down on me with distaste. In a huff, it stepped aside and admitted me to a room brimming with wonder. The walls were lined with huge, dusty tomes and moving portraits. Numerous tables--some seeming to hover, some seeming to gently rock back and forth--were strewn everywhere. Atop them are various devices puffing, whistling, and popping.

At the center, raised by a platform, stands a large wooden desk bathed in warm light. It was in disarray, but filled with curios--silver pendulums, more devices that whirred and twirled, a bowl with contents that glitter, and moving miniatures of each of Hogwart's founders arguing with each other. Perched over one end of the table is a beautiful bird--a phoenix, with dark eyes that watched me languidly. In the middle of the table rests a large open book. Intently poring over it was Albus Dumbledore, an elaborate quill poised in his hand.

When Fawkes blinked, the headmaster looked up and peered at me with twinkling eyes. "Ah! A visitor!" He exclaimed. He reached over the bowl and offered it to me, "Lemon drops?" I was greeted with a feeling of what I can only describe as 'safety'. ❤

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To practice my writing, I will start randomly creating scenes out of photographs. I may use the subjects of my photographs repeatedly, but the write-up will always be different. See label: "write".

Disclaimer: The words and pictures are mine (if you want to borrow, please read my Content Usage Policy here). :) The world is J.K. Rowling's. I'm simply borrowing from her.

Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2 by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This review is also found on my Goodreads profile here! :)
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Actual Rating: 3.8 stars
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First of all, I am very aware of the fact that I bought this book four months ago and have read it only now. YES. I am fully conscious of that fact. In my defense, I have so many books on queue; books that have been on my shelf waiting patiently for a long time. It seemed very unfair for my other books to delay them just because a Harry Potter book came out. (No, I'm not weird.)

1. Because the book is in a screenplay format, it became hard for me to appreciate it. It became hard for me to take it seriously. No! I do not mean this in a way to offend or demean the laborious and precise art of screenplay writing! I only meant that I was so used to reading narratives in novels, especially when it comes to Harry Potter. Even the fanfiction I read are narrative in form. So TCC (The Cursed Child) definitely strayed away from that tradition. I was so unused to reading a new story of Harry's life in a format so unfamiliar and...well, trimmed.

My Cloud Nine at Mt. Cloud

Mt. Cloud Bookshop

Books have fed my never ending thirst to nourish my imagination. Books have inspired my dream of writing. Reading has been my escape; bookstores, my heaven. Reading has been my reprieve, my perfect dose of medicine.

My friends and family can attest to how much I love books and how I much I love reading. Ever since a little girl, my eyes always light up whenever I have a new fairy tale book. Sure, I never had many friends or playmates when I was a kid but, I was happy enough with my stuffed toys, books, and imagination. Even when I started school, a bookstore is usually where I spend my time after school, looking longingly at the books I cannot afford. That was why when I first learned of a quaint bookshop in Baguio, I immediately included a visit on my list. 

Mt. Cloud (Mountain Cloud) is an independent bookstore located in the renovated Casa Vallejo in Baguio City. It started on 2010 and is owned by sisters and fellow book-lovers Padmapani Perez and Feliz Perez.