When we were kids, my cousins and I would pick gumamela leaves from our grandparents’ backyard and mash them with a stone. We’d mix them in a little pail with some detergent and water. Why gumamela leaves? I think it was to make the bubbles last longer.
Then we’d take a stalk from the kamias tree, shred the leaves, then fashion the end into a hole so the whole stalk looks like a letter “P.” We’d dip this hole into the bubble mixture and have hours of bubble-blowing fun in the backyard.
When we reached our teens, we traded in our backyard playtime for girl talk in one of the private rooms at our grandparents’ house. Gumamelas and kamias leaves were traded in for bedroom gossip and giggles, Bazooka Joe fortunes for FLAMES and Love Code, rubber shoes for sleek heels, screams for whispers. I did miss the bubble-blowing, Barbies, watching That’s Entertainment together, summer night slumber parties and waking up early to drink Milo and catch Uncle Bob’s Lucky 7 Club.
I miss my cousins. It’s been a long time since we all got together; most of them are in the States now, while the ones here in the Philippines I hardly see. Thank goodness for email and blogs, we still keep in touch with each other. And during those moments when I’m not connected to the net? Not a problem. All I need is a whiff of the summer afternoon air, hearing songs of the ’80s (like The Sun Always Shines on TV which we requested on radio a lot!) or the sight of pretty pink gumamelas and I’m back to ten years old, right there in our grandparents’ yard, chasing bubbles with my cousins all over again.
Hi! I'm Toni Tiu,
and I've been blogging at
at Wifely Steps since 2003. This started as a blog to help newly weds adjust to married life. It has evolved into a home and parenting blog. I write about things close to my heart -- good eats, good reads, family, marriage, and the little things that make everyday happy.
tintin
March 20, 2006 at 11:10 am (18 years ago)hi toni! my childhood friends and i used to make bubbles with gumamela, too! but we used the branches of the papaya tree to blow bubbles.
haha! and I watched That’s Entertainment too! 
jey
March 20, 2006 at 11:28 am (18 years ago)gumamela into bubbles is one of my all-time fave childhood memories next to my piko days.=)
kids these days don’t get to experience thos things anymore. sigh. they’re missing a lot.
Toni
March 20, 2006 at 1:32 pm (18 years ago)tintin: Papaya branches? Diba ang haba nun? Hehehe. Di ko yun na-try ha!
jey: I know! I have funny kwento. I was asking my 10-year-old cousin if she’s ever seen a typewriter. She gave me a blank look. And then I told her, “Well, it’s a machine you use to type stuff. Think of a keyboard, then when you type, paper comes out.” Then she goes, “Aaaah. I was thinking na nga what she [would be] wearing eh.” Hehehe, she thought a typewriter was a person’s job!
jher
March 20, 2006 at 4:46 pm (18 years ago)watching that’s entertainment together… ahahahahahah oh my gawd we’re so old coz i can relate. lol. fave ko ang thursday group! manilyn/janno, kristina paner/chris villanueva forever! LOL 😀
Toni
March 20, 2006 at 6:44 pm (18 years ago)jher: Kakaloooooka! Hindi ba’t Tuesday group si Mane?! Hehehe. Ako naman favorite ko si Wednesday group. Sheryl Cruz fan ako noon mwehehehe. Gusto ko rin si Jestoni Alarcon! And my favorite, Jojo Alejar (na kaibigan na namin ngayon!). Hahahahaha! Those were the days. LOOOOVED those afternoon. LOOOOOVED That’s Acting. Hahaha!
dexie
March 20, 2006 at 9:40 pm (18 years ago)i remember doing that with my friends too when I was growing up.
That’s Entertainment was cool. I loved the Thursday’s group. Vina Morales, Donna Cruz… they always had the best performances, IMO
annabanana
March 21, 2006 at 12:30 am (18 years ago)not a teevee person really, but i know that’s entertainment! uso nuon yung mga love teams di ba? i like janno and manilyn kasi they can really sing…idol ko yung mga magaling kumanta eh.
i miss my cuzins too, we used to spend summers in iloilo .(my maternal grannie’s house) my sister and i are the only ones who can’t really speak ilonggo, but amzingly language is not a barrier..we make do with broken sentences and lots of body language…haaay, nakakamiss!
pinayhekmi
March 21, 2006 at 12:31 am (18 years ago)I used to do the gumamela thing too! Memories….
barbara
March 21, 2006 at 5:29 am (18 years ago)oh my god! – seriously beautiful little things like that i’ve totally forgotten about!
the sweet joys of simple things – *sigh* i think it’s time for me to reminisce and think of the good old days of childhood – i remember playing a lot of street games too – what’s it called.. “pato” i think, you have to throw a piece of rock in one of those squares and jump on the others.
ahhh thank you for reminding me the good old days.
-miss b
Pao
March 21, 2006 at 7:28 am (18 years ago)i used to do the gumamela & bubble-blowing with my “kalaros” too! kami naman, we used the smooth end of the walis tingting to make the letter “P” for dipping into the mixture & blowing bubbles.
i also remembered that we used to fashion necklaces out of the leaves & stalks of kamote. hee!
jey
March 21, 2006 at 8:11 am (18 years ago)kids these days! hahaha! namiss ko tuloy yung piko!=)
Boo
March 21, 2006 at 8:33 am (18 years ago)Kami rin Toni! My brothers & I would play the gumamela-bubble-blowing thing too, with matching gathering Santan flowers in pink, yellow, red & white, then make ‘sip-sip’ whatever nectar that would come out, and climb Aratilis trees and see who could collect the most fruit. I remember endless summers playing with family and friends. Never mind that it would be 1:00 in the afternoon – we would play like there was no tomorrow. Haay, the Memories! Haven’t thought about those good old days in a while. Thank you for reminding me!
eye
March 21, 2006 at 9:15 am (18 years ago)pag 80’s kid ka eh makaka-relate talaga sa post mo hehehe! naaaliw pa kami pag iba’t iba ang kulay ng gumamela flowers. i wonder ngayon kung may mga bata pang gumagawa nito, given the popularity of PS2, texting and the internet 😀
BabyPink
March 21, 2006 at 12:01 pm (18 years ago)that made me feel nostalgic. hay.
we also made bubbles with gumamela mixed with soap (but, not very often for me), and we also used papaya branches. they were long, but we cut them. hehehe:)
i never got to watch that’s entertainment, though. tsk.
Lissa
March 21, 2006 at 12:30 pm (18 years ago)I think I used to do that too although I don’t think I did it right cause it never worked. hahaha…
jennie
March 21, 2006 at 12:37 pm (18 years ago)aww… namiss ko bigla childhood ko. hahahaha!
my sister, our cousins and i used to do all that, too. children of the 80s unite! :p
Toni
March 21, 2006 at 7:07 pm (18 years ago)dexie : Thurs group daw laging nananalo sa mga Saturday production numbers! Sabi ng kaibigan ko! Hehehe.
annabanana : Iba talaga ang buhay bata noon ‘no? Simpleng-simple pero saya-saya!
tintin: Sana when we have our own kids we can teach them that too!
barbara : I think it’s called “piko” and you use the stone or the “pato” to mark the squares you’ll jump over. Yeah! I miss that game! I miss having to look for chalk just so we can play that too!
Pao : Tama! Pwede nga ring pala ang dulo ng walis tingting. Resourceful talaga ng mga bata ‘no!
jey : Chinese garter! Habulan upo! Hide and seek!
Boo : Ooooh the Santan flowers! Yes I loved sipping their nectar. I haven’t done that in ages. And yes, aratilis! I don’t remember seeing one in the past couple of years! These are great memories indeed. Thank you as well for reminding me about those beautiful moments!
eye : Hahahaha oo nga kung ’90s kid iba na ang mga laro-laro eh. Dati kahit city kid ka, narararanasan mo pa ang mga kaaliwan na ito. Pero ngayon, puro TV na nga. Dapat siguro turuan ko ang ten-year-old cousin ko na gumawa ng bubble solution the old way.
diane: Kaya pala di nagsink in agad si Jojo Alejar sa ‘yo when we were talking about him!!!
Lissa : Hahahahaha are you sure they were gumamela leaves?!
jennie : Yeah! Unite! Hehe. Napaghahalata ang mga magkakahenerasyon!
watson
March 21, 2006 at 8:31 pm (18 years ago)walang kamias tree yata sa baguio so we use alambre. Mas eco-friendly ang bubbles nyo.
*sigh* sarap i-reminisce ang childhood days. Mukhang iba na ang hilig ng kabataan kasi ngayon. Video games. And more video games. No time to go out and have fun. Or am I generalizing?
Toni
March 22, 2006 at 9:34 am (18 years ago)watson: Hmmm, siguro among the AB kids totoong mas ma-video games sila. Actually sa Broad C pwede rin pala; ang dami kong nakikitang nag-co-Counterstrike at Ragnarok sa mga net cafes!
jdavies
April 17, 2006 at 5:05 pm (18 years ago)Double, double toil and trouble; / Fire burn, and cauldron bubble eerrrr gumamela bubble pala =)