Today is Christmas in Marinduque, Philippines

Last nigth Macrine, Sister Guia, Fe Jambalos (my sisters in-laws)and I went to the suppose to be midnight mass (10PM) at the Cawit Chapel. The church was overflowing. Luckily, we were able to locate a place in front of the side entrance of the church where we placed our two small portable plastic chairs. I notice a lot of children, teenagers and some of the mass attendants were drunk and a few of the teenagers were sleeping instead of attending and listening to the masss. My sister-in-laws informed me that half of the crowd probably attend church only on Christmas and Easter, that is why the church was so crowded. Speaking of Christmas here in Marinduque. The temperature is in the 80's and instead of snow we have almost like summer weather. The past week, Macrine had been busy with cooking by mouth, while I had been doing gardening by mouth to prepare the Gardens of Chateau Du Mer for some guests this New Year at the beach house. My orchids are in bloom, so are my hibiscus,bougainvillas and euphorbias. If this is your first time to hear the phrase cooking/gardening by mouth, let me explain. Macrine has a full time housekeeper and cook, when we are here in Marinduque. So all Macrine does is tell the cook to do this, do that and wow, the past week, we had Banana Nut bread, macaroni-chicken salad, chicken relleno and many other Filipino delicacies. We even had brocolli sauted in oyster sauce with Prawns. The brocolli is imported from Baguio and is more expensive than the chicken. The Prawns cost 450 pesos per kilo, but still is cheap when compared to the price in US. The mangoes cost 80 pesos per kilo, but I buy it even though it suppose to be expensive to the locals. Speaking of vegetables, I like to go to the Farmer's Market every Saturday morning near Amoingon, where prices are about 50% cheaper when compared at the town's market in downtown Boac or Gasan. This Christmas, we received about 2 lbs of walnuts and pecans from a Balikbayan relative. We also brought with us 2 lbs of pistachios nuts, so last night after church, we had San Miquel beer and pistachios. Today, we will have Ham, kari-kari, queso de bola, suman sa ibos, chicken macaroni salad, embotido and pork adobo for lunch. We will have also banana/walnut bread and for dessert we will have mangoes and papayas. So, you know why, I have already gained 3 lbs in my equator after only 20 days here in Boac. I think I am talking non-sense now, so it is time to close and extend my Christmas greetings to all! Cheers and Have a Good Day to All!

Today is My Diamond Birthday

This is our third week in my island Paradise, where life is simple, warm and slow, including my Smart Bro internet connection. But there is no way, I will exchange this life style to the winter of Northern California this time of the year. You would not believe it, if I tell you I am writing this blog on the beach, where only the sound of the waves and my heartbeat are the sounds I could hear with an occassional interruption of chirping birds and the distant sound of the roosters crowing. Today is also my 75th birthday. The party will be tomorrow after my sister-in-law arrives from Manila with the goodies, birthday cake, etc...However, this morning Macrine and I attended a thanksgiving mass at the newly constructed Gasan Cathedral. The church is located on the hill with a panoramic view of the western Marinduque Sea. The station of the cross are made of glass stained windows donated by Marinduquenos from the US at the tuned of about $900 per window. There is a Meditation Garden at the side and back of the Cathedral. The fund raising for the building of this catehdral was spear headed by Mrs Linda Sevilla Sotto, a balikbayan and a resident of Gasan. This is must site for tourist to see and visit in Marinduque. As far as location, it beats the location and architecture of the old Boac Cathedral in downtown Boac. My fellow bloggers, please wish me more years of healthy blogging as I celebrate my 75th today. Merry Christmas to all my readers and fellow bloggers.

We are Now in My Island Paradise

We left Sacramento November 29 and did not arrived in Manila until December 1. We missed our connecting flight in Honolulu because Hawaiian Air left two hours late. We did received a hotel and meals vouchers from the airline. We stayed in Somerset Olympia in Makati until Dec 4. In Makaati, we did our regular shopping in the malls. We also received a free lunch invitation from Yong Nieva's ( Macrine first cousin) at his new restaurant in Quezon City, The Romulo Cafe. The food was delicious and reasonably price. Zest Air did gave us a hard time when we check in for our trip to Marinduque, since our tickets were purchased using my sister-in-law credit card. They wanted a copy of the credit card and they had to wake her up at 5:30AM. What an archaic way of ticketing and verifying credit card purchases. Any way, it was worth the hazzle since the trip was only 30 minutes versus the whole day if we took the car and ferry ride.
Life here in rural Philippines is quiet, slow and the weather perfect. Wishing all my blogger friends and readers an advance Happy Holidays. From the Grandpa Blogger.
Above is the recent photo of the Clan taken on Thanksgiving Day, 2009.