We just had a spur of the moment trip to one of the maar lakes in our province. Twin I had cabin fever since school had been mainly online this week due to the extreme heat.

I wanted to keep my teenagers from malls so the best way is to be out in nature.

Twin I was in a bed and breakfast by the lakeside, buying suman with my sis-in-law, while her twin spent the time reading. She finally discovered the joy of reading books, thank God!

I proceeded to make sketches with my pencil. I was debating if I should use ink or just go straight to watercolor.

It was a lovely afternoon. The heat was dissipating and we have been spoiled by the wonderful lakeside breeze.

A lady who was jogging approached me and asked if I was a member of any Urban Sketchers chapter. I said no and this is my first time to sketch here by this lake. She said she used to be a member when she was in Metro Manila but since transferring to our province, she hasn’t done any sketching at all. She said she hopes to see me again by this lakeside sketching.

I couldn’t finish because it was already getting dark and the falling mango flowers are making my nose runny.

The beauty of where we live now is that places like this are just a quick drive away. It’s also far from the hectic vehicular traffic of the big city. I should do landscape/urban sketching more often and take advantage of the beauty of my province.