Life, Day by Day

Where you there when St. John Paul II (then Pope) visited Bacolod in February 1981? What do you remember about this historic event? The Papal visit came at a time when Bacolod and Negros Occidental needed it most. The sugar industry was in a deep crisis, militarization in the island was at its highest, farm children were starving, and then there was the Don Juan tragedy. People were excited, there were such high hopes about the visit. The place in Bacolod where the Pope would be saying mass was at the reclamation area. This place is now where SM City Bacolod, Bacolod Pavilion and Resort and the Bacolod Seaport can be found. But in 1981, this place was just a huge and vast field of cogon grass. For the Pope's visit the area was cleaned and cordoned off.

How did we spend Holy week this year?  When I was growing up, Holy Week was always a pious occasion for the family.  The children would play quietly during Holy Thursday and Good Friday while the adults would spend the time in silent reflection and speaking in low voices. We would religiously join the processions during these two days and join in most church activities. I'm sure the motivation for doing so was not the same for all of us kids, but even so, the meaning of Holy Week was not completely lost on us back then.   I miss those days.

Last March 18, 2014, Victorias Food Corporation (VFC) went beyond ordinary, launching their signature recipes created by Bacolod Academy of Culinary Arts (BACA) chefs, led by Chef Guenther Sanin from Austria and Chef Marcel Haessner from Germany.  These are easy to make mouthwatering dishes that can be used not only for fine dining but for dinner tables at home as well.  

Shhhhh...I just discovered a secret most women would love to know about. I stumbled upon a Facebook Page called MUA Secrets, (MUA stands for make up artist ) where trends, trade secrets and hard-to-find make-up products can be found. They had this eyebrow gel which I had been searching for the longest time ever, and was resigned to the fact that I will never be able to find one. You can just imagine how happy (ecstatic is a better word) I was to see that they had it!

The rain started two days before the last day of 2013 and it continued to drizzle on and off since then. There has been a low pressure area (LPA) hovering in the country which seems to have no intention of leaving anytime soon. In fact, the air in most of the country has gotten colder today with temperatures between 20 and 24 degrees centigrade and the wind chill can go down as low as 17 degrees especially during early morning. In Baguio, it is even colder! Some people are enjoying the cool weather saying that it is just like that of San Francisco. Since I've never been stateside, I wouldn't know. Although I like the cool breeze too, and I'm happy that I can wear my cold weather clothes everyday now, I can't help but worry about this drop in temperature. We are a tropical country, located near the equator, where there are only two seasons (dry and wet) in a year! So, how can this be happening?

A friend posted on Facebook that they for the first time, will be spending Christmas in the hospital. It brought to mind our own hospital Christmas experience in 1976.   My brother Ted who survived a freak airgun shooting accident in July had been in the Iloilo Doctor's Hospital for the past 5 and a half months, slowly recovering from 6 major operations.  My brother and I who were both studying in Manila would be spending the holidays with him, our parents and Culing, my Lola's ever loyal cook cum helper. 

The year 2013 will soon end...and I suddenly think, where did all that time go?  In fact, it's more like...where did all those years go?  Like the song Sunrise, Sunset in the musical Fiddler on the Roof (with a little twist)..."I don't remember growing older...when did I? Wasn't it yesterday, When I was small?"