This is one of my all time favorite poems, by Derek Walcott.

 

Love After Love

The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other's welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life.

20 - Iloilo's Dinagyang Festival draws local ....

Monday, November 20 2006 @ 05:03 PM GMT Provincial 20 - Iloilo's Dinagyang Festival draws local, international audience, in Manila The city government of Iloilo and the Dinagyang Foundation are all set to bring the country's best tourism event, the Dinagyang Festival, to international and national audiences on December 9-10, 2006. This was announced by Dinagyang Festival executive director Ben Jimena after preparations were finalized in bringing the Dinagyang tribe and dancers to Marikina City for special performances hosted by Marikina City Mayor Marides C. Fernando on December 9. The next day, the Dinagyang Festival and official mascot Dagoy will be at the Mall of Asia in Pasay City for the formal launching of Dinagyang 2007 and a press conference for international and national media exposures. Invited to the launching are Manila-based travel writers and news reporters of broadsheets, magazines, radio and television networks. Also invited are foreign reporters. The launching is timely since thousands of foreigners are in Metro Manila for the upcoming ASEAN Summit to be held in Cebu on December 11-15, 2006. The biggest shopping mall in the country is expected to be full of people to see the sights and hear the sounds of Dinagyang and Ilonggos who can not go home to Iloilo on January are invited to see the Dinagyang Festival. A photo exhibit and video presentation will be held the whole day at the Mall of Asia. Jimena said that thousands of foreign delegates would still be in Manila waiting for the arrival of 17 heads of states on December 12 to go to Cebu. The foreign delegates through their Manila embassies were invited to see how Ilonggos celebrate the festival and venerate the Sto. Nino as official patron saint of Iloilo City. Dinagyang's Tribu Atub-Atub will be focal performer to drum up the festivities slated in Iloilo City on the last week of January 2007. Mascot Dagoy of Dinagyang is also slated to go around the major cities of the Philippines to invite and show-off the Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo City. Jimena said bringing Dinagyang Festival, the recently recognized top tourism event by the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP), is supported by the Dinagyang Foundation chaired by Lee Chuan and City Mayor Jerry P. Trenas. (PNA) -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Balita MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

RUMOR

The Philippine Congress is planning to pass a legislative bill changing the name of the Philippines into 'PACLAND', with Manny 'the Pacman' Pacquiao as President as a tribute to the Pacman's latest victory against Erik 'El Terible' Morales of Tijuana, Mexico!

CABATUAN AIRPORT

Opening of Iloilo airport to boost tourism, economy of WV : Drilon
Visayan Daily Star. 11/14/2006

ILOILO CITY - Western Visayas' tourism and economy will get a big boost with the opening of the international airport in Iloilo next year.

The P8.759 billion-airport straddling the towns of Sta. Barbara and Cabatuan, around 24 kms west of Iloilo City, will be open to commercial flights on April 15, Sen. Franklin Drilon said.

Drilon said all structural and electrical works will be finished by the end of the year while testing of lights and navigational facilities will be conducted in the first quarter of next year. The facility will be formally turned over by the Taisei-Shimizu Joint Venture to the Department of Transportation and Communication on March 17.

The project is funded by the Special Yen Loan Package of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.The airport constructed in a 188-hectare area will help address the increasing number of passengers and cargo traffic in Iloilo.The current Iloilo City airport in Mandurriao District here is the fourth busiest in the country in terms of the number of passengers next to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, and the Mactan (Cebu) and Davao international airports.

The new airport will include state-of-the-art facilities including a modern terminal, control tower buildings, and landing and navigation systems. It will have a runway measuring 2,500 m x 45 m, a passenger terminal with 12,000 sq. m space and a 1,281 sq. m-cargo terminal.

The 54-hectare site of the old airport is being eyed to be converted into a commercial and light industry complex. The Department of Finance has placed the value of the site at P1 billion.Drilon said that after the opening of the new airport, the old site should be disposed to generate additional revenues for the government.

FAITH AND PRAYER

...IN THE EARLY MORNING 

THE GROTTO

....is on the left. 

LOURDES

Back view of the Basilica at the Sanctuary. 

THEY EAT

....RABBIT DON'T THEY?

PASTRIES PASTRIES

...brioche, beignettes, croissants - ALL GOOD!

THE BANKS OF THE SEINE

.. in late October.

REMEMBER THE GARGOYLES

...of Notre Dame?

PARIS OCT. 2006

Close up of part of the facade of Notre Dame 

BENEATH THE EIFFEL TOWER

October 2006 with my sister-in-law, Rosemarie. 

Mitsuwa - Little Japan

Bambi, Pinky, and I embarked on a new adventure to watch a 400lb tuna being sliced at a huge Japanese Foodstore in Edgewater, NJ. Pinky, being a glutton for punishment, drove all the way from Valley Cottage, NY to pick me up at Maplewood, NJ, which was further away from Edgewater, and then drove back to the place of interest. This, mind you, is after we stayed up to the wee hours of the morning waiting for people to show up for our weekly chat. The funny thing is that we ended up chatting with each other, which was totally unnecessary, especially at that time, since we were in the same time zone and we were going to see each other the next day. Where was everybody? Etic was in the conference but was totally quiet or just ignoring us. Tim tried to get in but couldn't. Meyen??? Belen???

Anyway, I posed, Bambi took the pictures and poor Pinky had to stay in her car because we could not find a parking spot. We ended up eating in the car. The food (Japanese, of course!) was delicious. We had the identical meal of fried dumplings dipped in soy sauce, good fried rice and Coke. That was the most rice I had eaten in a long time. Back to the tuna. It was not 400 lb but more like 200 lb. The head had a price tag of $20.00. Now let's look for the body.



Here it is, headless but still unsliced. I had a sudden craving for kinilaw just looking at it.