Nate’s Graduation In Kinder 2

via Nate’s Graduation In Kinder 2

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Sunday Musings

An old blog post which I wrote back in August 2009 resurfaced from my notes on Facebook. A former office mate and a friend again commented why she is not seeing new posts from me. I actually stopped re-posting them to Facebook because I  find the site so messy and noisy.

I’ve often said before that this blog came to existence  because of my journey as a cancer patient and survivor almost ten years ago. The years in between have been good and blogging has become a hodgepodge of daily happenings and adventures. Way to go, it’s a lovely journey.

For two consecutive Sundays now, Josef and I have attended  the 6 am masses at our parish, St. Francis of Assisi. It’s a ten-minute walk from our place. Mass schedules are a bit earlier than those at the town proper.  It’s a good thing we get to have Sunday morning exercise.  Compared to our subdivision, this part of the town still has plenty of vacant lots which used to be rice fields. Imagine listening to rooster crows and  chicken crossing the road to find their morning meals.  It’s like being in the province once again.

Sunday.

Time to relax, catch up on reading. Watch the world go buy and play with  Oreo in between.

Happy  Sunday all.

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Here And Now And Then

 

This book is simply “it”. Amazing, lovely,interesting story line.

The last time I read about time travel was when I encountered The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. We have two copies in the shelf, one is a mass produced book and a trade paperback.

I understand this was published lately back in January 2019. A science fiction fantasy that takes you to two worlds, century apart and how life was then and now. An adventure-filled story in the life of Kin Stewart, his family back in the 21st century and his future in the year 2142.

I really hope there would be a movie adaptation someday. I gave this five stars at Goodreads. It’s my 46th book by the way for this year’s challenge.

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Friday, Here We Go

It’s been a while since I trimmed our carabao grass. The last time I did was early  January. Since it is super hot here, the grass grows slowly and some areas have dried patches too. Yesterday, I started trimming  the grass and clearing the cemented stone path. Afternoon gardening is not really that conducive, there is no breeze to speak of. What I usually do is bring out a small electric fan and my transistor radio to listen to the afternoon music while gardening.  It is officially summer here now and you can’t stay outside that long without something to cover your head from the heat.  And I have to water the plants sometimes twice a day for them to survive. I save on water.   I save the water used for washing dishes and vegetables for cooking to water those I have planted at the back of the house. So far, so good, they’re thriving.

Every Friday for the whole season of Lent is Abstinence for us Catholics. We are all required to abstain from meat on all Fridays of Lent.  Sometimes it’s hard to think of something you can eat on a Lenten Friday. I prepared pasta for lunch but I used Spanish sardines instead of meat. The olive oil in the sardines is good enough to use for the pasta. I  added lots of garlic though, carrots and red bell pepper. Seafood is also allowed but I eat it in moderation.

Summer fruits are in season again but some still cost so much.  I guess there is nothing in the market that is cheap nowadays.  Even veggies are pricey too. I highly recommend to plant your own vegetables in your backyard to save a little.

Happy weekend everyone!

 

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Things To Ponder

I had a brief chat with my friend Grace early this morning about the latest situation in our country. She’s now back in Canada.

We talked of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict and Pope Francis even comparing the two of them. I told her Pope Benedict is a better writer than  Pope Francis and she replied, “At mas totoo sa Catholic faith si Pope Benedict”.

We touched on the present political situation here in our country. That the Philippines turned into having the most corrupt leader of all. His war on drugs has resulted on thousands of poor Filipinos killed.  And why is it that before drug comes at the back door while these days the Bureau of  Customs has become inutile in preventing these drugs to pass through their agency? Harap-harapan na. Wala ng tinatago. 

“Sometimes you ask, why is God allowing all these to happen?”, I said.

“Sometimes, we tend to pass the blame on to the generous and loving God who gave us free will. Freedom which people abuse.” Grace answered.

Abuse of power, abuse of their given mandate by the people. When will this end? This is is why the coming mid-term election is so crucial to us all. Dutz has the backing of Congress, the  Supreme Court, majority of the presently elected senators, the PNP and some local officials of the land.  We need to have the opposition win so we would have a voice in the Senate.  You are not here to serve one man, you are here to serve the Filipino people.  The ship is sinking fast. The government is getting out of control. Everyone who opposes is an enemy. I often ask myself, “where are we going?” 

When you are surrounded by lies, you’ll believe it is the truth. There is a saying that goes, “ang sinungaling ay kapatid ng magnanakaw.” And when you think about it, the thief is like a liar. If you lie, you are withholding the truth.

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Some Funny Moments

I remember the event we had last Saturday,  Nate’s graduation from kindergarten.

We had our lunch at Dampa Seaside in Pasay City, a more than an hour trip from our place. We were fifteen in all including Obet’s parents, brothers, sister and in-laws plus the grandkids.  Obet and Nissa rented a private room in one of the restaurants complete with videoke. This is the second time that I ate in this place. The idea is you have to buy fresh produce from the nearby wet market and the staff of the restaurant would cook them for you anyway you want. Most of it of course are fresh seafood and meat too. If you love seafood, this is the place for you. Dampa Seaside is perhaps the largest seaside market in Metro Manila. One good thing is, the place is very  near hotels and shopping malls.

 Seaside Dampa Macapagal in Manila, Philippines. Photo culled from the net

We brought Oreo along.  Nate and the other kids had a grand time playing with him.

“What’s his name?” Hermie asked.

“Oreo”, Josef said.

“Oreo  parang yung biscuits na Oreo?” Hermie asked further.

“Yap”, Josef answered.

We all laughed.

Josef and I tried the videoke too while Nate was busy playing with his toys, gifts from his mom and dad and Nissa’s sis-in-law. More Lego toys….haha!

cousins

Funny moments, precious hours bonding together. Lovely  time with family.

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Today’s Quote

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Forty-Six Years And Counting

Yes, it’s been almost forty- six years. We met for the first time back in 1973 when I reported to work as student librarian at the University of Santo Tomas. We both worked at the university library until I was in my third year as Economics major and she finished her Library Science degree.

The friendship has come to a point when we would write each other daily on date due slips of the library.  She was Nissa’s godmother during her baptism and again one of the principal sponsors during Nissa’s wedding. She migrated to Canada sometime in 2001.

The last time we saw each other was almost eight years ago until yesterday. A happy reunion between friends, a lovely tête-à-tête updating each other on what’s happening in our lives, non-stop smiles and laughter. Her husband showed me their photos when they were in Japan before coming to Manila a week ago.

And a happy reunion would not be complete without some photos, right? Although Mark took photos of Grace and me, I had a couple of shots in my phone taken by one employee of the hotel where they stayed.

Mark, Grace and I

She gave me two books, a copy of Thomas Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain and a trade paperback of Maya  Angelou’s The Heart of A Woman. We developed our love for books when we were both assigned at the Humanities Section of the UST Main Library. Can’t wait to read these two.

Friendship is a lovely thing. When you find true friends, being apart for so many years doesn’t really matter. It feels as if you’ve seen each other only yesterday.

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What A Delight….Congratulations Nate!

Can’t wait to share this. Josef, members  of Obet’s immediate family and I attended Nate’s graduation blow-out after a two-hour ceremony where he garnered  almost all the awards given this school year for Kindergarten 2.  Nonna is so proud of this little guy. He led the prayers of the graduates earlier.  Nissa took lots of pictures and videos but I just love these two. Will post some of the pictures later on my blog about Nate. Next school year, he’ll be in Grade one.

• Top 1
• With High Honors
• Best English Speaker
• Star Reader
• Best in Writing
• Best in Arts
• Batang Maasahan
• Busy Bee
• Joyful Thanskgiver
• Perfect Attendance

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Halo-halo

It’s not officially summer yet but the sun gets hot so early in the morning. More so in the middle of the day. Any day now though, PAGASA says they will declare it’s the summer season.

Summer.

Time for tropical fruits that abound in every nook and cranny of the  country. But one authentic summer offering by those in high-end restaurants, carinderias and resto bars, and those enterprising homeowners who sell them in the afternoon in front of their gates during summer is halo-halo. 

Halo-halo.

culled from the net, Pinoy Food.

You might just laugh at its English translation. It simply means mixed.  There are so many variations of halo-halo depending on the available ingredients. Ingredients include the following:

• sweet red bean (munggo)
• sweet white beans
• coconut gel (nata de coco)
• macapuno (gelatinous coconut string)
• Fresh or canned jackfruit, cut into chunks
• Shaved ice
• Evaporated milk
• Ube ice cream

You can even mix boiled sweet potato, boiled Saba bananas and top it with slivers of cheese and small slices of leche flan. It’s one summer dessert that you can  prepare on your own.

One thing I’ve tasted so far and it was so good was Kuya J’s Ube halo-halo. Bits of ube ice are mixed in the recipe so even if the ice melts, it does not change the taste. It’s melt- in-the-mouth goodness.

Refreshing halo-halo, anyone?

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