Old Photo of Cecilia and Lauren

Cecilia and Lauren Brainard

Dear Readers, I have been very busy so please forgive my short blog entries. I promise to do better as soon as my work clears up.

For now, I'm sharing an old photo that I had to dig up and scan.

I hope you enjoy it.

P.S. I'm adding a cropped picture of me and a photo of my mother. Someone said I look like her. I never saw the similarity in the past, but now I do.

 

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

 Concepcion Cuenco before she married and became Concepcio Cuenco Manguerra 

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• Tags: photos, pictures, family
• This is all for now,
• 
  

He Has Risen! Happy Easter!

Chef Cecilia

Happy Easter!!


Read also

• Travel Cambria California - Painting by Clarence W...
• Travel, Mexico: Night Cafe, Version by Mexican Cer...
• Getting Ready for Easter 2016!
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• Travel - Masai necklaces from Kenya Africa
• Guest Blogger: Ralph Semino Galan, Ode to My Mom

     Tags: Easter, holiday, cooking

     This is all for now,

      Cecilia

Travel Cambria California - Painting by Clarence Weiss

Things that Surround Me #3

We have an acrylic painting of a peacock on a barn-house by Clarence Weiss who does Plein Air Painting.

We had been admiring his work of local Cambria scenes at the Moonstone Grill. Finally we contacted him to look at his other paintings. We acquired this peacock, which is a depiction of a real peacock and barn in the area.

Whenever I see this painting all of Cambria and the surrounding area of the Central Coast of California come to life.

Travel, Mexico: Night Cafe, Version by Mexican Ceramic Artist

Things that Surround Me #2

We have this ceramic art that Jessica Vasquez Castro created; it's based on Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night. We got this in San Miguel Allende, Mexico, and every time I see it, I am reminded of the good times we had in San Miguel Allende.

Getting Ready for Easter 2016!

I'm getting ready for Easter 2016!

Here are some pictures taken last year. Instead of an egg hunt, we had a pinata, and we'll do that again this year.

Travel: Walk in Marina del Rey, Venice, California

Sunday was a a perfect day for a walk at the Marina del Rey in Venice, California.

Spring is here!

Travel - Masai necklaces from Kenya Africa

Things that Surround Me #1

I have two Masai women's necklaces hanging on a wall in our house. The memories behind these items are rich -- of our 2010 safari to Kenya,when one could still visit Kenya without worrying.

Here are some pictures taken during that safari.  These were taken in a Masai village. I bought the neck decorations at the grounds of a hotel where some Masai were selling their handicraft.

Guest Blogger: Ralph Semino Galan, Ode to My Mom

Ode to My Mom

(for Annette Semino Galán)

by Ralph Semino Galan
Copyright 2016 by Ralph Semino Galan

Mother, who is pushing seventy,

smiles at me, cracks a joke, laughs. 

She has weathered all sorts 

of tragedies: my grandmother's 

early widowhood and her childhood

deprivation; her college years 

in an industrial city after the quiet

of her hometown's somnolence;

her early and latter career battles 

with principals and superintendents; 

the sudden death of her husband,

my father, after the Great Flood.

I am awed by her cheerfulness 

and her resilience, though sometimes

a chink in her armor shows, a tear

running down her plump cheek 

as she remembers a certain event,

with or without regrets: the death

of a family member, both near 

or far; the births of her six children;

debuts and weddings; her desire

to have a host of grandchildren...

Mother smiles, cracks a joke, laughs,

while I can only gift her with this poem.

BIO- Ralph Semino Galán is Assistant Director at UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies and Associate Professor at UST Faculty of Arts and Letters

Reprinted with permission of the author. Thanks, Ralph!

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• Tags: poem, poetry, mother, son, Filipino, Filipina, UST, creative writing, Ralph Galan

      This is all for now,

      Cecilia

Preparing for the Second Literary Symposium in Jackson, Tennessee

The Friends of the Jackson-Madison County Public Library in Tennessee have invited me to give a series of talks at their Second Annual Literary Symposium in Jackson Tennessee, in late April.

Lunch with Linda Nietes and Robert Little of Philippine Expressions

I had lunch with Linda Nietes and Robert Little in San Pedro, California. Linda Nietes owns the iconic bookshop Philippine Expressions, which has been selling Philippine and Philippine American books for over 30 years.

Easter Bunny Ears for Che and Tesla? #catpics

I was in a pet store and saw these Easter bunny ears for cats. I thought of buying them for Che and Tesla.

Cebu, Philippines: Then and Now, Plaza Carlock Hamabar

Photo courtesy of John Allert, great-grandson of Judge Lyman Carlock

Photo courtesy of the Southeast Asia Digital Library

My friend, Louie Nacorda, took pictures of the park in front of the Cathedral that used to be dedicated to US American Judge Lyman Carlock Monument - see above.  

The park, which has been renamed, is now called the Plaza Hamabar. The centerpiece is a statue of Datu Hamabar. There is an obelisk in the back, which has a dedication to Hamabar at its base. 

Cebu, Philippines: Felicidad Climaco, Filipina Suffragette and Nationalist #womensrights

I blogged about the accomplished Cebuana, Ines Villa Gonzalez. Here is another suffragette from Cebu, Felicidad Climaco.

From the Heritage Cards, "Cebuana Trailblazers Sugboanang Tag-Una",  a 2008 Cebu Provincial Government's project. I quote:

Dona Felicidad Climaco, whom some considered "the Tandang Sora of the Revolution in Cebu," continued supporting the cause of nationalism during the American period.

Che and Tesla Checking Out the World from their Cat Tree - #catpics

Saturday morning and my cats are checking out the world from their cat tree.

Cebu, Philippines: Ines S. Villa Gonzalez, Filipina Woman Suffragette #womensrights

A researcher, Tichie Carandang, was recently in touch asking for information about Cebuana Ines S. Villa-Gonzalez, a supporter of the women's suffrage movement who had accompanied the 1922 Philippine Commission to the US.

Cebu Philippines: 1914 Historic Photographs re Judge Lyman Carlock

Here are two more antique historic pictures from the great-grandson of Judge Lyman Carlock, the first American judge in Cebu, Philippines.  

The top picture shows the name of the street on the house: Carlock Street. According to a Freeman April 23, 2014 article, "It is the street where the San Nicolas Elementary School is located within the jurisdiction of Barangay San Nicolas. It intersects at Tres de April St."