Birthday, Wedding and Other Events

Hello! I am legally a senior citizen now. I celebrated my 60th birthday with a dinner in Davao City last Thursday with my husband Lucas, daughter Martha, nephew Eugene and his kids, and niece-in-law Carol and her kids at Garden by the Bay, Sasa, Davao City. The place was quiet and breezy and the food was good. It was a simple intimate dinner among family members and I love the serenity and normal atmosphere of the occasion.

Actually Lucas and I went to Davao for purpose of attending the wedding of Junie Ma and Honeylet Yap on November 11. They are officially Mr. and Mrs. Romeo Ma II now. Both the newly weds hail from Cotabato and both their parents are our good friends. The bride's father Efren Yap was my classmate at CCI and my late mom's first cousin too. (That makes him my uncle to the second degree. haha) The Ma's family on the other hand has been our long time neighbors and friends. The wedding was well attended. It was great to see the big contingent of Cotabatenios and those who used to live in Cotabato long time ago. It was some sort of a reunion of people from Cotabato. Two of my children, Emil and Martha enplaned from Manila to be with us for the occasion too.

Next morning, after the wedding, my family went to pearl farm resort for a day tour.

In general, my family loves the beach and we always take occasion to swim on the blue sea if ever time allows us. I have been to pearl farm with my family for more than 4 times already always on a day tour.

This time around I was pretty disappointed with Pearl Farm because their Mandaya beach was really murky. The other beach at the resort front, although better was itchy, swarming with jelly fish. I actually did not mind the little stings as I was used to beach swimming, but that day, I was painfully bitten by some sort of animal in the water. Where I was bitten, a spot on my leg became reddish and swollen. I swam in the pools too. The eternity pool was okay though, but I saw this slightly hunchback attendant supervising the pool and spitting on the water. That was around 3 in the afternoon when we were almost ending our swim and day tour. Next time I go to Davao for a swim, I would prefer to go to Paradise Island instead.

And one big sour note..............I booked my family for a 3 day stay at the Pearl Farm Marina Inn for the convenient location of the place. But the inn was under renovation when we arrived. Although I made reservation a month ago and I called them up for confirmation the night before our trip; yet they did not inform us about the renovation before hand, not until we arrived that very day. When the front desk offered to help us look for another hotel, we were just too tired from our long trip to go looking for another place to stay. By evening time, when they realized that we could not get any rooms around the vicinity for all hotels were fully booked that weekend, they decided not to give us any discount after the initial stay. Mind you, they did not even make any amends for not being able to serve us the package breakfast. There were also a lot of malfunction in the rooms and noise of renovation. It was too late for us to do anything anymore or our vacation will become a total wreck.

Lastly, this I would say to anybody..................................Don't stay at Pearl Farm Marina because the owners, the operating manager and the reception staff are vicious people. They are totally not customer centered nor customer friendly. I wouldn't want to go back there in 5 to 10 years time.

Cakes. Suman, Etc

I bake cakes for sale and prepare other food stuffs in preparation for the observance of All Saints Day which is tomorrow.

Long Weekend

It is the semestral break here in the Philippines, hence many families take the opportunity to go on vacation. Others take advantage of the long weekend (Oct. 29 to November 1) for a provincial haul. During these holidays, I observe All Saints Day on November 1st. My parents are buried in Manila and my parents-in-law in Cotabato. I visit the graveyards whether I be in Cotabato or Manila. This year I am baking cakes and preparing suman to take to the cemetery. At the cemetery, friends and relatives, priests and their retinues pass-by the graves to light candles and say prayers. I always prepare some refreshments for them. This year the weather is so hot. Don't forget to bring your umbrellas.

Life's Simple Joy

1. Writing letters
2. Looking at pictures
3. Creating silly comments
4. Eating meriendas
5. Cooking and baking
6. Sweating from exercises
7. Breakfast, lunch and dinner
8. Doing crosswords puzzles
9. Reading comics
10. Visiting churches
11. Sunday mass
12. Afternoon nap
13. Planning for trips
14. Playing simple piano pieces
15. Dancing
16. Green and dried mangoes
17. Young coconuts and coco juice
18. Coke regular
19. Christmas songs
20. Christmas decors and lights
21. Parties
22. etcetera, etcetera

Writing Letters

I have been writing a lot of letters lately. Last month, I sent a hand written letter to France through snail mail. Then I wrote 2 letters, one to Lisieux and the other to Prague care of my sister Helen. Since my daughter Marion is in UK, I email her now and then. As of late, I have been writing letters to my friends regarding our forthcoming reunion for 2012. I make use of the internet but for local dissemination, I use Microsoft Office Word, my Epson LX-800 printer and Sharp copier to facilitate a good memorandum letter. I use big font for we mostly have weak eye sight. Gosh....My printer's ink needs replacement, my copier's toner is running low and to top it all, I have been making typographical errors. This morning I accidentally spilled my breakfast drink on my keyboard and alas, it got short circuit. I have it quickly replaced with a new one, so I am using a new keyboard as of this moment. Despite all the clumsiness, I still love writing. Would you believed that I had secretly wanted to become a journalist or a writer in my younger days?!. Hahaha!

Friends

Yesterday, my friends Imelda Tan Bugayong and Corazon Te Taeza and I went to Greenbelt, Makati. Aside from shopping and eating, we enjoyed an afternoon of marathon talking, most specially plans for our forthcoming reunion next February. When my good friends and I get together, time goes really fast. We can't seem to have enough of it. Hahaha!
This time around though, we have one long time high school friend who missed meeting us. Anita Du Siy is currently in the Philippines on vacation from New York. We haven't heard and seen her for so long. I was able to talk to her though over the phone the night before, as her schedule was quite hectic. She left for Boracay yesterday, and I may not be able to see her when she gets back next week. Because she hasn't communicated with us for so many years and may not be that enthusiastic to meet us, still I want to revive communications with her again. In light of friendship, I remember a quotation which we used to write at the back of our pictures. (When we used to give away photos of ourselves to our friends.)
The dedication goes this way......
"Friends are like melons, to have a good one you must a hundred try..."

And I like to add some more:

- You can make more friends in 2 months by becoming really interested in other people, than you can in 2 years by trying to get other people interested in you.........Bernard Metzer

- We can not tell the precise moment when friendship is formed.......Drop by Drop

- In the sweetness of friendship, let there be laughter and sharing of pleasure....Kahil Gibran

- Your friend is your needs answered.......Kahil Gibran

- Wishing to be friend is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.......Aristotle

Devotion to Mother of Perpetual Help

The family devotion to 'Mother of Perpetual Help' started with my late mother. She was in Manila vacationing during the time when the 'Supermarket' of Cotabato City was in construction. In Manila, she was brought to Baclaran by her kins. They told her to make a wish inside the church. The story was...... before she went to Manila, my mother Mary Go Ledesma  made an offer to buy a lot in the up and coming market site. But the property being so hot, she was turned down by Mrs. Martinez the lot owner. So while she was asked to make a wish in Baclaran, my mother then prayed for a miraculous intervention, promising that if ever her wish would come true, she would light candles of thanksgiving. To her surprised, when she came back home to Cotabato from her vacation, Mrs. Martinez the lot owner had a changed of heart, came to see her, asked her if she was still interested to buy. My mom's prayer was thus answered and her wish came true.
Today, the devotion was transferred to her children. I have become a devotee of "Our Mother of Perpetual Help." I have come to her for help and intervention and thanksgiving. Not every prayer is being answered as I hoped it would, but somehow it has helped ease my pain and anxiety and in some instances, I have come to accept the will of God. The most important thing is....through her, I have come closer to my God and Creator. I hope to ever remain faithful.