Senior's Alphabet- We are back in Sunny California

I found this on the web from an anonymous source, when I was checking my e-mail from an internet Cafe in Makati on our way back to California, after four and a half month of enjoying the sights and sounds of Chateau Du Mer, our winter residence in Boac, Marinduque, Philippines. If you are a senior citizen, like me, I am sure you can identify with most of the alphabets. If you are not, your time will come. You can not stop the aging process, but you could slow it down by exercise ( both mind and body), less stress, good food, good friends and a loving family and relatives. Good day to all, my on-line friends. From the Grand Pa Blogger!


Seniors' Alphabet

A for arthritis, B for bad back,
C is for chest pains. Perhaps cardiac?

D is for dental decay and decline,
E is for eyesight--can't read that top line.

F is for fissures and fluid retention,
G is for gas (which I'd rather not mention.)

H high blood pressure (I'd rather have low,)
I for incisions with scars you can show.

J is for joints, that now fail to flex,
L for libido--what happened to sex?

Wait! I forgot about K!
K is for my knees that crack when they're bent,
(Please forgive me, my Memory ain't worth a cent.)

N for neurosis, pinched nerves and stiff neck,
0 is for osteo- and all bones that crack.

P for prescriptions, I have quite a few.
Give me another pill; I'll be good as new!

Q is for queasiness. Fatal or flu?
R is for reflux--one meal turns into two

S is for sleepless nights, counting my fears,
T for tinnitus--! hear bells in my ears.

U is for urinary: difficulties with flow,
V is for vertigo, that's "dizzy", you know.

W is worry, now what's going 'round?
X is for X ray--and what might be found.

Y for another year I've left behind,
Z is for zest that I still have my mind.

How many of the alphabets, can you relate to?

Moriones Festival and Trade Fair, 2010

Crucifixion Scene at the Moriones Park at Boac River Bed


Moriones Parade in front of Boac Hotel and 4 Ed's Computer Shop-owned by my by sister-in-law

Today is Good Friday. The Moriones Festival is in full swing with Parades, Procession, Easter Pageant and the Life and Passion of Christ and traffic in Boac congested as part of our life here in sleepy Marinduque. This is the only time of the year when traffic is congested as if you in are Manila. Most of the stores are closed but the Trade Fair is open to buy native handicrafts. marble furniture, gifts and 100 other items of your desire. In my case, my purchase of the year are three marble tables and one matching marble table lamp. With the purchase I got a big marble mortar and pestle and a pen holder set. The above items cost me only about $300 ( a bargain if I purchased these items in US). The marble Company is from Romblon Island and comes to Marinduque only once a year during the Moriones Festival and Trade Fair. Next year we will not be able to stay for Holy Week here in Marinduque, so I am taking this opportunity to savor the pageantry of this island festival. Happy Easter to All! Here's a short video of the Moriones Festival-whole week of celebration. The video is a bit grainy, but it captures the spirit of Holy Week Celebration.

Fireworks, Live Band and a Haughty Decorator

Hall Decoration Preparation
Our first and second wedding receptions were just completed the other day. The first reception on March 18 ( Calbario-Mariposque) is historic in the sense that there were fireworks as soon as the newly weds arrive. Unfortunately, there was still daylight and the effect of the Fireworks was minimal. The Hall was decorated beautifully with rays of white flimsy materials, that flutters and hide the roof of the Hall. It feels like you are in Heaven. The Food was delicious with a salad, fruit and dessert bar. My compliments to the decorator and the caterer.

The wedding was at the Boac Cathedral officiated by Bishop R Evangelista and assisted by two other priests. The ceremony was 30 minutes late since the bride was late. The priest celebrant even commented that the celebrants are even more excited than the bride since at exactly 3:00PM, they were all dressed and ready for the ceremony. Any way, after the ceremony and photo shots, we all proceeded to CDM where the newly weds spent another 30 minutes for photo shots in the beach resort and in the ocean. The setting sun was an excellent background for the photo shot. As a whole the wedding reception was a success, both in the Hall decoration and in the food service.

Speaking of food, and catering here in MDQ: We have four good food caterers that served the clients of CDM. I will discuss the Pros and Cons of each caterer and just called them Caterer A, B, C and D. A and B are in the business for quite some time and are located in downtown Boac. C is located in Laylay and D in Mogpog. "A" catered the Thursday reception and "B" catered the Saturday reception. C and D had been catering at CDM since last year and my four employees love them, since after the event, C and D always reserved extra food for them to take home as well as to partake during the event after all the guests had eaten. A and B never offers my employees food, so that when they are the caterers, I always instruct my manager to feed them first in the house, so they would not be hungry. A has an excellent record of service with us, except in one occasion, when of the dishes was spoiled ( Panis) yet it was served. On that occasion frequent brown outs occurred in MDQ,so there was probably a problem of proper refrigeration.

B has only catered twice at CDM including the one last Saturday. It has excellent food but more expensive than A, C or D. The first time B catered was about 5 years ago, before the CDM Hall was constructed. On that occasion, the food was insufficient. When Macrine confronted the owner, she said her food crew told her that the reason why food run out was that our household help also eat the food. Macrine was furious, since this was not true. Later when the food crew was cleaning up, I saw that one big dish of food was not served and the food crew was planning to take it home. From that time on, I had doubts of recommending B to our clients.

Another incident worthy of blogging, is the attitude of the interior decorator during the Saturday event. When my workers informed him, that one of the placement of on table and food tent was not proper, he ( may be a she) that no one should tell him what to do, since the decoration of the Hall was his design. So my workers left the table and tent on its original location. When I saw the table and tent placement, I was also mad. The table was blocking the handicuff access and the tent was blocking the driveway. The decorator was not there, so I ordered the table and tent removed to a better location. Speaking of the Hall decor, It was not exemplary but very ordinary. The church decor however was excellent.

In general the wedding reception and ceremony of my nephew was a tremendous success. There were about 16 guests from out of town ( Manila and suburbs). Eleven of the guests stayed with us in the beach house. They had fun swimming in the ocean and partaking Macrine's homemade cooking of sardines, sweet and sour tangigue and mango pancake. I had fun talking to them. Associating with young adults also made me feel young. We hope they returned to Marinduque and stay longer to see more of the island.

Two Grand Wedding Receptions at CDM this Month

Jambalos-Anonical Wedding Invitation

Two grand wedding receptions are scheduled for this month at CDM. The first one is the Calbario-Mariposque nuptial on March 18 ( Thursday). The wedding ceremony will be officiated by Most Rev. Reynaldo Evangelista, Bishop of Boac. It will be an afternoon wedding at the Boac Cathedral followed by reception at 5:30PM until midnight. There will be a live band for dancing. The bride is the daughter of Pedro Mariposque( deceased) and Aida Jao. There will be 10 principal sponsors. Three of the sponsors are active members of Marinduque International, Dr Rodolfo Jao, Mrs. Conchita Jao-Manalo and Mrs Vivian Jao-Herrera. The wedding is formal requesting men guests to wear a barong and the women a formal dress. The newly weds will spend their honeymoon night in the beach house adjacent to the Conference Hall-the reception venue.
I do like their invitation as it specifies the number of seats reserved for the invited guests. This will hopefully solve the problem of the Filipinos bad habit of bring extra guests to parties such as wedding reception and birthday parties.

The second wedding is scheduled for March 20 ( Saturday). The groom is Macrine's nephew( Edgar Jambalos-aka Nonoy). The bride is Yvette Anonical also a native of Marinduque. The wedding will be officiated by Fr. John Jovel Luna- a high school classmate of the groom, and also at the Boac Cathedral. The wedding will be at 10AM and followed by a reception at CDM Conference Hall. There will be only five principal sponsors, Macrine and I are two of the sponsors. Food will be catered by Mita Rejano Reyes of the Boac Hotel. I heard the wedding budget is closed to a quarter million pesos. Who says there is a recession in Marinduque? Two hundred fifty guests are expected with another 20 extra plates for those that tag along even without an invitation.

The Jambalos-Anonical wedding invitation also provided for the number of seats reserved for the invited guests. However since most Filipinos had a tradition of bringing extra guests( bad manners in US), the caterer was instructed to provide 20 extra plates just in case.

I am looking forward for this two wedding receptions at CDM.Good day to you all!

Construction and Santino-Child Actor of Amoingon

While driving from downtown Boac to downtown Gasan, I noticed there were more than a dozen building construction in various stages yesterday. This is in spite of the high prices of cement and building materials. The price of cement is now 235 pesos per bag, one truck load of sand is 1000 pesos and a #4 hollow block is 7.50 pesos each. So where is the money coming from? I believe from OFW ( Overseas Filippino Workers) and from Balikbayans like me. One of the most talked construction here in Amoingon is the vacation home of Santino, Sanjee Jaranilla, child actor of the soap opera "May Bukas Pa", which just recently finished after being #1 TV show for the last two years. Last Christmas, Sanjee spent a couple of days of vacation here in Boac. He was mobbed wherever he goes. He was in Macrine's newphew computer shoppe for an hour, but I was not able to meet him personally. Sanjee's Dad and my nephew were classmates and Sanjee is very closed to my nephew. I have not seen Sanjee's vacation house, but I heard it will cost around a million pesos. This is an average price for a modern home in MDQ. So, Santino is not showing off or "mayabang". I also heard that Sanjee's parents have now reconciled and his younger brother is being trained/groomed as another child actor by TV producers in Manila.

The other construction that is now almost complete and very impressive is the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Gasan. Construction started about three years ago and mostly funded by balikbayan donation from US and Canada. My dear friend Linda Sevilla Sotto is spearheading the funding and management of the construction. The location of the cathedral at the top of the Hill is perfect. The meditation garden at the side of cathedral is fantastic. The Gothic architecture is beautiful and appropriate for a cathedral. So, if you have not seen the cathedral yet, I suggest you visit it even for just 10 minutes. It will be worth your time.

Lastly, as in the past, I have been encouraging all my balikbayan friends to invest their retirement funds here in Marinduque -my Island Paradise. Have a Good Day to All!

Sarswela- Filipino Musical Play or Drama

The Sarswela Flyer

Last night Macrine and I attended a Sarswela, Walang Sugat ( Not Wounded) in the open-air amphitheater at the Moriones River Bed Park in Boac. This event reminded me of the first filipino musical (in Ilonggo) that I had attended during my childhood years in Iloilo. It also reminded with of the Starlight Theater in Kansas City, Missouri in the late 1960's when we had annual summer subscriptions to Broadway musicals, such as West Side Story, Bye Bye Birdie or The Sound of Music.

For those of you who are not familiar with word Sarswela. It is just a musical play or drama in Tagalog or any of the major languages in the Philippines. It is sometimes a comedy, sometimes a tragedy, but usually had a happy ending. Last night "Walang Sugat" was written by Severino Reyes, The Father of the Sarswela. Below is Eli Obligacion posting regarding this event.

"Severino Reyes' sarswela masterpiece goes on stage in Marinduque. Performed by Barasoain Kalinangan Foundation, Inc., awarded CCP Gawad para sa Sining as Best Theater Group in the country.

A component of the Philippine International Arts Festival 2010. Directed by Armand Sta. Ana. It stars Rey Clement Maaliao as TENYONG, Karren Uaje as JULIA, Ron Mariano as MIGUEL with Maria Ireen Crisostomo, Rowel Escalante, Crystal Mendonza, James Dimagiba, Joseph Rejoso, Melandro Pascual, Wilfredo Alberto, Christopher Adriano, Lemuel Galman, Egie Boy Galman, Ryan Managbanag, and 12 koro members.

In the production are Joseph Cristobal, Armando Sta. Ana, Estelita Dela Cruz, Consolacion Gamboa, Jose Ruel Paguiligan and Glen de Jesus. Lights and sound by the CCP Technical Crew.

The BKFI "Walang Sugat" production was originally mounted as part of “Sarsuwela Festival 2009” held at the U.P. Theater. It was the Father of Filipino Sarswela's statement against imperialism and oppression.

It depicts the cruelty of the Spanish friars and the experience of Filipinos in their hands. The story revolves around the hero Tenyong and how he outwits people trying to separate him from Julia, his love interest. The many twists and turns of this sarsuwela, made into a movie twice, has made it very popular among theater audiences.

This sarswela returns to Marinduque after 108 years, when "Gran Compania de Manila" the original production, presented it in Boac on Dec. 8, 1902 in celebration of the town fiesta with future president, Manuel L. Quezon as special guest".

The actors and actresses had beautiful voices, but sometimes the background tape orchestration music was so loud you could hardly heard the words and lyrics. I enjoyed the patriotic song, Ang BAYAN KO ( My Country). The costumes and scenes were beautiful depicting the time during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. The show opened with the shooting of Dr. Jose Rizal, Philippine National Hero. The play had several comedic moments which made the crowd laugh. The duets of the lead actors were beautiful and their voices blended harmoniously. Macrine and I enjoyed the evening very much. Thank you Eli for inviting us and seating us in the front seats. My congratulations to the commiteee for starting right on time.