Of Easter Sunday, Meeting With Rose, Labyrinth Meditation and An Overseas Call From Carmen (From Bangkok With Love)

Click photos to enlarge*

Husband and I went to the 6 PM Mass tonight at St. Anthony of Padua parish in Manteca, CA where we attended the Easter Sunday Mass, followed by our weekly adoration from 7 PM- 8PM. We drove home from SFO yesterday afternoon and missed out attending Jovi's birthday bash. We were very tired coming back from San Francisco and had a siesta (nap). After the easter mass tonite, we were finally home at almost 8. 20 PM. At once, I started cleaning up the mess I left behind the kitchen after lunch and cooked "glass noodle pancit" with toasted Chinese chorizo as topping and fresh sliced onions, served with lemon and soy sauce for dinner. I was starving to death before I finally had dinner! Earlier this morning, I baked some cookies. After dinner, we had brewed coffee and "chocolate oatmeal-almond cookies" for dessert that I baked today.

We were watching Dr. Phil (we record all his shows so when we are back from our trip we could watch them) when the home phone rang and it was Carmen, my comadre from Bangkok. Surprise, surprise! Husband handed with the phone and said, "someone from Bangkok!" and I guessed it right!

I was delighted to hear Carmen's voice! Her daughters Weena and Wasinee spoke with me as well for a while. Both were my former students at the international school in Bangkok when they were in their lower school and middle school years. Both are creative and did well in art- particularly in sculpture and painting. Weena is now a reporter at the Bangkok broadcasting network while Wasinee is graduating from college where she is majoring in British and American studies. We catched up momentarily then Carmen was back on the phone. As always, I was ecstatic to hear Carmen speaking and with her perky and bubbly personality oozing with wit on the phone it felt like we were together again in 3-D! I just miss her! It has been a while since I last saw her and her daughters but our friendship grows daily though we are far. Thanks, Carmen for calling me this easter evening!!!

Last Good Friday, I hooked up with Rose, an old chum of mine from Montessori (Williams St. in Pasay), who was in town to meet her dad in SFO and a brother who flew in from LA to be with them. Rose* is a resident of Boowie, Maryland and teaches at a Montessori School there. To meet Rose in San Francisco, husband and I decided to walk from our hotel in Broadway to Post St. where Rose's hotel (Beresford Arms Hotel) is located. We did this for health reasons-walking mostly when in SFO. It was a half hour leisure walk. It was kind of scary as this part of SFO is really stiff and hilly, still- doing it did good for our much needed cardio vascular exercise! Finally, we were at Beresford but Rose was out of site. Later I found out that she was having dinner with her entourage (I called her on her cellphone) somewhere in Mason Street near Union Square. Husband suggested we go for a drink across the street while we waited for her (we earlier had Chinese food and had snacks of chocolates and chips while waking). But then we just felt hungry while walking! BTW, we had a stop over at Grace Cathedral where we went for our Good Friday church visitation. There, we joined the others who did the LABYRINTH MEDITATION inside the church. It was a powerful experince for us (more on this tomorrow). Our first time ever. It was so beautiful. A harpist and a singer accompanied our peaceful meditation while walking the labyrinth inside the church. Coming out, we finally found the outdoor labyrinth at Grace Cathedral.

LABYRINTH MEDITATION Photos taken by moi last Good Friday, inside the Grace Cathedral in SFO

At the Venezian restaurant, Rose came to meet us while we were having champagne. At last she finally met blue-eyed husband! We exchanged pleasantries and howdy's then invited her to join us for dinner since she didn't finish hers when she cut off her dining time with her dad and relatives to be with us. We thought we could have a nice meal together but it was a mistake. We waited for a long while (45 minutes) and got tired waiting that we canceled our dinner out of frustration and disappointment. The manager told husband that it happened because they had a lot of to-go orders! But it was crazy of her to cater first to all their "to-go orders" and to neglect diners like us who were there inside waiting. Que horror! Anyhow, we walked with Rose back in her hotel across the street then walked back to Broadway that evening. It was misty and chilly! Tonight, I am all set to sleep. Tomorrow, I'll write about the LABYRINTH MEDITATION and the LABYRINTH FINGER MEDITATION that they have at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Happy Easter! BTW, it was my sister-in-law's birthday yesterday- "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CEL!!!"