From the garden to the kitchen.

 Foraging in the garden is heaven for gardeners like me. This morning, I thought of picking the broccoflowers that are almost ready. I did not hesitate to chop the flowers from their mother plants and planned for David’s favourite--“cauliflower au gratin” for our lunch, although it’s the freshly picked broccoflowers available for cooking . By the way, according to aunty google, the broccoflower is a hybrid of cauliflower and broccoli. The origin of this dish was from the  English version of boiled cauliflower in a cheese sauce while the ‘au gratin’ is the French method of baking--topping the dish with a browned crust made of cheese, breadcrumbs and butter, then baked until golden and crispy.  I tried to follow the recipe I found to the letters, so the result was not that bad according to my taste tester (David), who gave it a thumbs up sign, so I think I did it well enough for his approval. 

 

Filipino spicy pickled daikon and carrots.

 Being a gardener,  it's fascinating to harvest the fruits of your labor. It's summer here in New Zealand so vegetables sowed and transplanted in spring time are due for picking. 

The daikon raddish (white raddish) is one veggie that is not one of my favorites. Picking a few pisces of them gave me a bit of a thought: what should I do to make use of it? 

I consulted Aunty Google for any information about it. Voila ! I found something interesting: Vietnamese and Korean recipes for pickling daikon raddish. The ingredients are similar and the process is quick and easy. According to youtube, the pickled daikon and carrots is well-loved by the Vietnamese people for their sandwiches, called, banh mi plus other dishes. 

I experimented and followed the recipe to the letters. It's a different way to use the daikon raddish and it gave a different taste; but then, it tasted quite bland for me, so I added slices of ginger and a pinch of red chili to add a bit of zing. Lo and behold, I liked the taste so I did more and thought of sharing it as a food gift this Christmas season and ask for their feedback. If the receivers gave a positive nod, I will add this Pickled Daikon and Carrot with my Achara. Plus, organically plant more daikon raddish. 😋

  

 

Why do we go to Mass every Sunday?

 

In every celebration of the Holy Mass, we gather to hear the words of God and express our faith in Jesus. For us, Catholics, this is our way of giving thanks to God for the gift of life and all the blessings we receive every day of our life. 

 

This is also another chance for us to kneel and converse with God. When in great problem, we lie prostrated to voice out lamentations for the troubles in life we always encounter. 

 

However, in the year 2020, a pandemic (covid-19) struck the whole world and killed millions of people. To keep safe from the deadly virus, everyone was compelled to be in isolation--no physical contact even to family and friends who caught the virus. That was a harsh situation, physically and mentally. 

 

To add more anguish to that suffering, church doors were closed, and we were deprived of the comfort of solitude while listening to God’s voice inside the adoration chapel. Even just kneeling on church pews in times of trials became forbidden.  

 

However, God is good all the time and nothing is impossible with Him. To console and reach out to us followers of Jesus, the online mass was introduced via social media. It was indeed a big relief from that agony. We experienced the convenience of sitting on a couche facing the digital television screen and listening to the words of God from readers and the good news from the priests’ homilies. 

 

For over a year, we patiently watched online masses without receiving the Holy Communion and patiently prayed the Spiritual Communion as instructed, believing that this can replace physically receiving the Bread of Life. 

 

Somehow, attending online masses was convenient because we did not have to get up early, prepare properly, then travel or walk a long way to church. 

 

What’s more amazing was the conveniences of choosing times and parish churches from different parts of the world and experiencing the differences in how various priests officiate the Holy Eucharist. 

 

We even felt satisfied just sitting in front of the television set to attend the Holy Mass. Then a not-so-good habit developed in us—having a cup of coffee while the priest was expressing his homily. 

 

Fortunately, when the pandemic became under control the church doors were opened again with conditions of wearing a facial mask to keep safe or staying home when not feeling well. 

 

Those orders from the church gave us the complacency to choose to attend or not to attend the Sunday mass. We thought that reciting the Spiritual Communion was enough to fulfill our desire to get united with Jesus. 

 

Thank God, we were enlightened by online priests’ words, persuading us to attend the Sunday mass and physically receive the body and blood of Jesus. Once again, our yearning to be united with Jesus gave us the courage to face the challenges and bear the consequences of walking the right path to reach out to God hoping not to be hungry nor thirsty forever. 

 

 

 

 

 The Assumption of Mary

 

 

On 1 November 1950, invoking his dogmatic authority, Pope Pius XII defined the dogma: By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. --Wikipedia.

The Assumption of Mary, Mother of God is a holiday of obligation for us, as we commemorate it on August 15.

This Catholic church’s dogma about Mary’s assumption to heaven imbedded in us  a strong devotion to the Mother of God. This devotion is an essential part of the Catholic faith, because we firmly believe that through her own body and blood, Jesus was begotten by the Holy Spirit, and God the Son was born human. 

 

As a mother, Mary has a strong relationship with her son. With love and devotion she raised and nurtured Jesus from birth to adulthood, like ordinary mothers do. However, Mary’s obedience to God’s will, made her bore the pains of witnessing her son’s sufferings due to men’s savagery that led to his painful death on the cross. 

Then as the Scripture said, the fruit of all her sacrifices was brought forth by Jesus’ glorious resurrection on the third day of his death. 

 

Jesus showed love for his mother, when prior to breathing his last, he entrusted her to one of his disciples John: ‘Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then, he said to the disciple, ’Behold, your mother!’ and from that hour the disciple took her into his own household. (John 19: 26-27)

 

As mother of the church Mary lead all followers of Jesus to the right path through praying the rosary and meditating on the mysteries of Jesus’ passion and death. With “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus..,” we ask for Mary’s intercession and protection.

 

In our hearts, we have a sincere faith in Mary as our mother too, whenever we need help as we pray:  “Dear Mother of Perpetual Help, from the cross, Jesus gave you to us for our mother. You are the kindest, the most loving of all mothers. Look tenderly on us your children, as we ask you to help us in all our needs specially this one...” 

 

*The Philippines experienced Mother Mary’s powerful intercession during the four days People-Power-Revolution in February 1986 against a dictator. 

 

With strong faith in God and holding rosary beads, the people, faced the government soldiers who had received orders from their Commander-in-Chief to gun down protesters. 

 

That was a historical event because an ocean of people with their religious leaders, nuns, priests and their parishioners stormed heaven by continuously praying the rosary with the image of Our Lady of Fatima held on the stage and the melody of Ave Maria sounded after each decade. 

 

When the soldiers were preparing for an assault, they saw a beautiful woman covered in bright lights, dressed as a nun, standing in front of the tanks. She  extended her arms and spoke clearly. 

 

“Dear soldiers, stop! Do not proceed. 

Do not harm my children. I am the queen of this land.”

 

Awestruck, the soldiers dropped their guns and withdrew. On the part of the Military Commander, he realized that if he’d do what the dictator commanded, the blood of millions of unarmed civilians would be in his hands, so he ordered his troop to stop.

 

That was indeed a divine intervention. Those soldiers claimed that it was the Virgin Mary they saw. The late Cardinal Sin vouches for the accuracy of the apparition and said: “Yes, my heart was telling me that this was indeed Mary. And since they obeyed this woman who appeared to them, and did not follow orders, then President Marcos had nobody to give him power or support. That was the end of him.”

 

                                                                        *Reference : Divine Mysteries and Miracles. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 REFLECTION : THE MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

 

The month of July is dedicated by Pope Francis to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.  

 

Jesus made it certain that his sacrifice of giving up earthly life and shedding blood on the cross was done for the atonement of humans’ sins, and whoever believes will not perish but will have an eternal life.

 

The scene during the Last Supper was a communion with Christ with all the blessings of his blood on the cross and his glorious resurrection. This is the strong foundation of the Holy Eucharist celebrated by the Catholic church.

 

In Matthew 26: ²⁶ While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying: “Take and eat; for this is my body.” ²⁷ Then he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, ²⁸ “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

 

During the communion rite of the  Holy Mass, we sing the mystery of our faith; ”When we eat this Bread and we drink this Cup, we proclaim your death Oh Lord, until you come again.”

 

As Catholics, this  devotion to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus may be  another chance for us to meditate and ask ourselves: Am I truly worthy of Jesus’ sacrifice of shedding his blood on the cross to show His unconditional love and save me from sin?

 

Thinking about Jesus’ unending love, memories during the younger days came rushing to be able to compare then and now. At seven years old the time for me had come to answer God’s call and receive my first communion. The thought of receiving the bread of life and the blood of eternal life, was not that clear to me.

 

Even then, I had to follow instructions to have a taste of the Holy Communion:

First, to confess  all sins I committed. Then ask for forgiveness and listen to the priest’s sermon. Finally, wait for the priest’s command to do penance.

 

Forgiven after doing penance, I was given the opportunity to receive the Holy Communion, but with more requirements: 1.Go to mass in the morning without breaking the fast to maintain a pure heart and cleansed soul. 2. Before receiving the bread of life and the blood of the covenant, pray, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you under my roof, but only say the word and my soul will be healed. Amen. 3. Walk through the aisle and kneel on the row facing the altar. 4. When the priest put the host into your opened mouth, say, Amen. 5. With the body and blood of Christ into your body, walk back to pew, kneel and give thanks for the bread of life and precious blood entering into your own body to be with you through eternity. 

 

I often ask myself: What are the difference between Then and Now? What more should I do to gain eternal life? Do I deserve God’s love? 

 

 

 

 

 Reflection: The Holy Trinity

As promised in Ezekiel 36:26-27 “I will give you a new heart and put a spirit in you: I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.  

 

“How many Gods do we have?” 

That was the first question I heard from the catechist when at seven years old, I attended a weekend Catechism class with some of my friends.  

My underdeveloped mind got confused with that very serious question. The life-sized images inside the church whenever we attended Sunday mass came to mind. How many were they? 

My friends had answered that question and every one of them heard a No! reply from the catechist. 

“What about you?” she asked pointing her finger on me. 

 “S-seven?” I mumbled, my fingers twitching. 

 She shook her head and said “No!”. 

“Now, seat and listen. We have only one God: that is, the Holy Trinity. Three divine persons in one God--the Father creator of the universe, the Son, the redeemer of the world, and the Holy Spirit, who is God’s gift to the creation he loves much. 

Words I heard from the catechist are all mind-boggling, so I kept telling myself to understand what they all meant. 

As maturity crept in, I accepted and believed whatever I heard from our church leaders about the Holy Trinity.  

Finally, I had the opportunity to join a Life in the Spirit seminar. Lo and behold, I personally felt the God touching me as I was undergoing a baptism in the Holy Spirit. 

That event gave me a personal and intimate relationship with God. Now, I can hear Him speaking in my heart and guiding me always.  

BROAD BEANS

It’s harvest season for broad beans here in Featherston. With smile on our faces David and I stepped down from the back porch to pick the fruit of our labor from cozy cottage's vegetable garden.

Broad beans, also known as fava beans is a species of the flowering plant in the pea and bean family, fabaceae. They are a good source of lean protein with no saturated fat nor cholesterol. Also rich in thiamin, vitamin K, vitamin B-6, potassium, copper, selenium, zinc and magnesium.

Planting and growing your own is no hard work for keen gardeners because these beans can look after themselves once the seedling plants are established and the stakes that will protect them from gale-force wind had been provided. They are frost tolerant and will germinate in temperature as low as 2C. Unlike other trees and plants that become dormant during winter, broad beans are sown from early autumn up to late winter to develop buds, flowers, and pods and be harvested in late spring to early summer. They can make the garden look alive and green no matter how cold the temperature gets. Another good reason for having   broad beans in your garden is the fact that it is a soil-improver. While growing, the plants take nitrogen from the air and store it in the plants. After harvesting the beans, the plant can be cut down and the soil dug in to release the nitrogen from the roots. The nitrogen released will enhance the soil condition for nitrogen hungry brassicas--cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale etc.

Best way to cook and enjoy your broad beans? 

In our kitchen, broad beans are the 'green' part of our main meal that consists of boiled or mashed potatoes and beef steak. If you have a different taste for beans, there are other means for your palate to enjoy these beans. You can either nibble them fresh after picking or boile/steam them for a few minutes to complement your meal. Last year, we had a bumper crop of this nutty beans, so the freezer really had a lot to work on to make them last for the next season. So as not to bore our palate with the same boiled/steamed beans, I did some research as how to use surplus produce in some other ways. Luckily, I discovered a recipe from a Pasta Cookbook that used broad beans as one of its main ingredients. I followed the recipe step by step  (except I used freshly picked broad beans so no boiling nor peeling was done). What would be more flattering for a cook than see the dish prepared and served appreciated and  enjoyed by choosy tastebuds and tummy? So here is a very inspiring recipe that will give you a really delicious pasta dish: 

Spirals with broad beans sauce

Ingredients

500 gms spiral or penne

2 cups frozen broad beans

4 rashers bacon 

2 medium leeks

2 tbsp olive oil

1 ¼ cups cream

2 tsp grated lemon rind 

salt and pepper to taste. 

  

1. Add pasta to a large pan of rapidly boiling water and cook until tender. Drain and return to pan. 

2. While pasta Is cooking, plunge broad beans into a medium pan of boiling water. Remove immediately and cool in cold water. Drain and allow to cool. If the skin of your (frozen) beans had turned a bit tough, do the peeling.

3. Remove and discard rind from bacon. Chop bacon into small pieces.Set aside. 

4. Remove and discard outer leaves and dark green section of leeks. Wash leeks thoroughly to remove all dirt and grit. Using a sharp knife slice leeks finely.

5. Heat oil in a heavy based frying pan. Add leek and bacon and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally for 8 minutes or until leek is golden. Add cream and lemon rind, cook for a few minutes. Add prepared beans, salt, and pepper. 

Add sauce in pasta and toss well to combine. Serve immediately in warm pasta bowls. 

Awakening

Good bye winter, welcome spring!

Springtime means longer days and warmer weather. So it’s time to get up and about, enjoy the view and feel the warmth of the sun shining bright.

I will describe the springtime as the season of hope and new life. During this season, newborn calves and lambs are seen frolicking in green and grassy farmlands.

Around us, deciduous trees that were bald and were ‘sleeping’ during wintertime now start to come alive again and grow new shoots to become green again.

Deciduous trees starting to sprout new leaves

Native New Zealand evergreen trees and other garden plants show their buds starting to burst, giving us the joy and pleasure  of smelling and seeing flowers in different colors.

Kowhai tree (kowhai means yellow in Maori language)

In our own garden, the seeds sown recently start to germinate and are now getting ready to be transplanted. What’s another amazing scene at springtime is waking up early morning with a cacophony of birds’ songs that starts our day with a smile. Needless to say, the sun that shines bright calms the freezing winds giving us all the warmth to live and breath. 

Yes, springtime means longer days and warmer weather compared to freezing cold wintertime. For us who miss the sun so much, it’s a wonderful time of year that we can take off layers of clothing and be ready to jump into the spring sunshine. However, there are some not-so-pleasant things that springtime brings like the season of allergies. It’s the season when plants release their pollen causing hay fever to those who are allergic to it. And as a consequence, sniffling and sneezing become unavoidable. All we can and have to do is live with it and enjoy the season.

Now I am trying to revive my old blog spot, The Kitchen Hand’s Stories. This had been in a deep slumber since 2011 because of writer’s block that kept it inactive.

It started in 2006, originally meant to be a repository for my manuscripts and articles, but reading amazing food blogs, I was encouraged to include topics of interest to women like me, who love gardening, fine foods and good cooking. It was also a means to keep in touch with my family and friends who got far away from me when fate brought me to New Zealand. 

I would compare welcoming the spring time with the reviving of my own blog site. When I woke up after a deep slumber, I pressed on the keyboard of my computer and was quite puzzled that I found everything in the world wide web different with what it used to be! 

So I decided that now is the time to keep track of the modern technology to keep myself updated and  be informed on what is really happening around and inside the world wide web. 

I hope you would enjoy the new posts and photos I share. Let’s keep in touch more often via your comments that will inspire me to tell you more about life here in the land of the long and white clouds--New Zealand! 

Blossoms of a plum tree

Kowhai

Tulip

All photos © Mel Wood

    

Bitter melon

Flowers are really a good and wonderful sight for eyes like mine. The good color, the shape of their petals, and the scent they share to us is really amazing. I couldn't help but wonder how wonderful the hands that make flowers to bloom and get pollinated by nature and make them turn into fruits and veggies to feed the world.  

This year's produce of bitter melon was quite disappointing. I don't really know what the problem is regarding the production. Knowing that they really are hard to plant and grow them in here because they are tropical veggies, they were planted inside the hot house to make sure that they wouldn’t be affected by the strong gusty winds during any time of the year. However, there were days when the sun wouldn't be that cooperative to them as the rays would just be on the open space, although there were days when the sun would be so harsh, that they also get affected by too much heat and no fresh air to do their photosynthesis. Aside from that, the summer season became too harsh and drought was the very harsh enemy of all plants and gardens. As all living creatures know that water is the 'life providing thing for anything in this world. No water, no life, that's a fact. That is why we should really be careful using water, as wasting it would mean devastation for anything depending highly on it to remain alive. 

This season, realizing that there is nothing we could do against nature's decision, we just have to endure it and live with it. Do what we can do and enjoy and appreciate what had been provided for us. So these tiny, tiny bitter melon were this year's produce. I did not mind about their size as nothing could be done to help them develop, other than feeding the vines with organic fertilizer--the comfrey brew and the sheep pellets--when needed. 

As we always and should always learn from our past planting and garden experiences, it would be worth our while to adjust whatever nature necessitates for us to do to accomplish our objective --to produce food from our own garden, do as nature demands--that we make sure that whatever is produced in our garden is from organic elements--using only nature's fertilizer and to beat the enemies, (the insects as you know), from destroying what you have worked hard for. Most importantly, never use anything with any chemicals as the effect would just harm the air that you breath. 

Surplus Tomatoes

What to do with surplus tomatoes from your garden?
Well, there's tomato preserve, tomato ketchup, tomato jam...

Back when I have never seen nor heard of tomato paste and tomato sauce (and therefore, spaghetti sauce in tins), I would see my mother slice, deseed and boil tomatoes in a huge cauldron. (This she did when at harvest time, the prices of tomato would be too cheap, like, a bushel weighing eight to ten kilos would cost only Php2.00 to Php5.00. She would then decide to just cook them or feed them to hogs as picking and bringing them to market would cost more.) When the pulp is nice and soft, she would pour everything on a bamboo sieve (bistay in Pilipino and bikse in Pampango) to remove the skin. What remained was a watery tomato concentrate, which she would then pour back onto the huge cauldron, add a little rock salt, then bring to a boil again for several hours until a desired consistency is reached. By this time, the tomato concentrate has turned into dark red, almost brownish color and would be very thick in consistency. It looked very much like what we now use as tomato paste, which she poured into sterilized jars. Since we had no refrigerator back then, she would keep it in the wooden cupboard. She called it tomato preserve and we would use it in place of fresh tomatoes long after harvest season in May was gone. One time, she also experimented on "tomato jam" which she did by doing the same procedure for tomato preserve, except that she used sugar instead of salt and added grated young coconut to it. But we, her children did not really like it, preferring star margarine and a sprinkling of sugar on our pandesal or hot monay. The thought of using "sweetened tomatoes" as a spread on bread was something that simply did not appeal to us as we would always regard tomato as a vegetable.

Last spring, David dug more plots for our veggie garden, so I was able to plant four different varieties of tomatoes--Russian red, Moneymaker, Beefstake, and Gardener's delight. Harvest time, we had more tomatoes than we could consume, harvesting an average of one kilogram per day. Seeing so much ripe tomatoes on our kitchen bench, waiting to be processed, I did what my mother did with our surplus tomatoes. This time however, I froze them whole, halved and quartered. I also made that tomato preserve. However, I did not have to use a sieve to separate the skin and the flesh. Plus, I did not add any salt as I would be freezing it anyway.

I learned how to skin tomatoes from a neighbor, so it came in handy when I had to do the tomato preserve and ketchup.

Here's how to skin tomatoes:

Pour enough boiling water on the tomatoes.
Then cover for two to three minutes.
Drain. Wash with running cold water.
The skin would break and should come off easily when peeled.

Searching for more ways to preserve the tomatoes, I found a recipe for ketchup from a book, "The Cook's Garden" by Mary Browne, Helen Leach and Nancy Tichborne (Mary Brown, Helen Leach and Nancy Tichborne, Published 1980) I altered some of the procedures to make it easier.

You might find it useful too, so I am sharing it with you.



KETCHUP INGREDIENTS
6 kg ripe tomatoes
6 medium sized onions
6 cloves garlic
25 g pickling spice
1 tsp celery seeds
basil (a large stalk and leaves)
marjoram (a large stalk and leaves)
2 bay leaves
6 Tb salt
6 cups sugar
30 ml glacial acetic acid

Skin tomatoes. Deseed if you like. Chop roughly and place in a large preserving pan. Add the sliced onions and finely chopped garlic. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring until there is sufficient liquid to prevent the tomatoes from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Tie the pickling spice and celery seeds together. Add the muslin bag and herbs. Add the salt and sugar. Stir until dissolved.

Puree in a food processor. Pour the sauce back into the preserving pan. Add the glacial acetic acid and bring back to the boil. Boil until the desired consistency is reached. This may take from 5-30 minutes depending on the variety of tomatoes used, the degree of ripeness and the season.

Heat clean jars in a slow oven. Pour the boiling sauce into the hot jars and seal immediately.

If you're curious how sweetened tomato tastes here's how to do it:

Tomato Jam

1 kg ripe tomatoes
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups coconut milk
(You can try adding shredded young coconut)

Skin and deseed tomatoes. Chop coarsely then place in a preserving pan. Add brown sugar and coconut milk. Bring to the boil until the desired consistency is reached. Pour in sterilized jars.

Prawns and Celery Salad

Is your tummy tired of take-aways and greasy foods? Give it a break! Here's one interesting dish without the grease. Served with steaming white rice, it is nice and light on the belly.

Prawns and Celery Salad with Ginger Dressing
500 grms prawns, raw
2 large celery stalks and leaves
15 ml (tbsp) rice wine vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
1 tsp finely grated ginger

Steam the prawns until they turn pink. Drain and remove shell.

Cut celery stalks into 2 inches long, then cut each length into very thin length-wise strips.

Fill a small bowl with iced water. Add celery strips to water and sit for 5-10 minutes or till they are crisp.

Drain celery and discard water. Dry with paper towels to remove as much water as possible.

In a large enough bowl, combine prawns, celery leaves, vinegar, sugar, salt, and ginger. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Transfer to a medium plater and serve with steaming white rice.
Enjoy!

ALL SOULS DAY

Appreciating Cemeteries

IT’S another All Soul’s Day. And as our faith and tradition dictate, we are again trooping to the cemetery to honor the dead and our dearly departed. 

For many people perhaps this resting place is one eerie place during ordinary days--when white mists seem to float in the dark night air, and the round reddish moon illuminates the white painted tombstones. The spookiness of the place is one scary sight. 

It may sound strange, but the cemetery means different things to me--a tranquil resting place, a vast playground, a refuge, and more. Of course, this mindset has something to do with the fact that our family house in San Jose, Santa Rita, Pampanga where I grew up is very much adjacent to our town’s cemetery. So near that from fence to fence, the distance is measured at less than ten meters. That probably explains why I can be comfortable inside it and have actually become so used to its “eeriness.”

Fact is, I have a lot to thank this cemetery for. In my childhood, it served as a vast playground for my playmates and I. Here was where we flew kites in the afternoon when the wind was favorable, where we ran for cover, while playing hide and seek, where we gave vent to our surplus energy as kids, climbing its high fences and hopping from one tombstone to another while chasing each other. 

I remember too, that whenever a funeral was held, we would position ourselves atop tombs and made sure we had a good view of the deceased inside the coffin, and the wailing and weeping relatives. And mind you, we even commiserated with those who fainted while the coffin was being lowered into the grave. I would say, it was that exposure to funerals that taught me about the inevitability of leaving this world and the sadness of being left behind. 

In 1993, this same cemetery saved our homes from being completely wiped out and buried in fifteen feet deep steaming lahar. Its high fences served as our community’s fortress, which prevented lahar from flowing into our neighborhood, sparing us from further damage. 

Today, I have all the more reason to go and visit the cemetery, as it just recently embraced to its fold, my own parents. They are now under its care. 

Good for me and the rest of our family, we need not travel far and brave the heavy traffic (as people from the city have to endure to get to the cemetery where their dearly beloved departed are resting). All I have to do is to climb its not-so-high fence now to get inside. Or if I can’t climb that fence anymore I still can look out from my bedroom’s window and from there see where my parents' physical bodies now lie in eternal peace in preparation for the resurrection as promised by our Lord Jesus Christ!

                                                                                - 30 -