Since it’s really cold in the morning these past few weeks, my wife and I decided to do our regular exercise in the afternoon. We normally brisk walk from our home to a nearby memorial park. It’s about 1.5 kilometers all in all from home to the park and back. And as usual, I also bring along my camera. I was able to take a good shot of the sunset at the memorial park. It looked like a huge fireball about to hit the earth from right to left because of the cloud formation. What a fantastic sunset view!
This is an arch at the Sanctuario de San Fernando, a memorial park near our home.
I also was able to take a good shot of an arch at the park. Natural lighting was perfect for photography during that afternoon.
This is the Santo Rosario Church in Angeles, Pampanga. (Click to zoom.)
Old church buildings fascinate me as well. It’s amazing that buildings last for centuries and these old churches built during the Spanish times somehow interest me. I used to live in Ilocandia for 5 years and there are a lot of old churches in each town but I never really did have a chance to take good photos of those. I only had an instamatic camera during those days. I’d like to go there and take photos of those old churches if I have the chance again. If I’m not mistaken, some of those churches were built way back during the 17th century.
This is a photo of the Santo Rosario Church (or, Holy Rosary Church) in Angeles City. It was built in 1877 to 1896 using forced labor. It must be tough being a Filipino under the Spanish colonizers during those times. From what I have learned, the backyard of this church was used by the Spanish colonizers to execute Filipino rebels.
The building on the left by the way is the old city hall building which has been turned into a museum. Every day, I pass by this place to send my daughter to school which is just across the street from this church building.
The other day, I took several shots of my wife while we were brisk walking in the park early in the morning. This evening, she surprised me by showing me her work of merging two images of herself in one photograph. She definitely has gone a long way in manipulating photos using Photoshop! It used to be that she did not even know how to start a computer haha! I now have a family of Photoshop artists!
My two daughters learned Photoshop way, way ahead of me many years ago. When I first began to learn Photoshop—and I’m continuing to learn more—I normally would ask my two daughters how to do it. And now my wife is beginning to learn it quite well too. Hmm…
Last night, we went to the giant lantern festival. It was our first time. It’s a big event out here in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga every year. From what I’ve learned, this has become a tradition in this locality where a contest of really giant lanterns with a diameter of about 20 feet are held each year among the barangays of this city. These lanterns are intricately designed with all the dancing lights with thousands of bulbs and intricate electrical wirings controlled and operated by expert electricians and lantern designers. I understand that last night, the grand champion got One Hundred Twenty Thousand Pesos if I’m not mistaken.
Click to zoom.
Too bad, we did not have a good vantage point for me to take good photos. There were just too many people eagerly watching and we were stuck behind where the TV production crew and their monitors were placed. We were stuck and squeezed unable to move! Oh well, I just watched the TV monitor instead once in a while haha! It was fun though as my daughter enjoyed it as she really wanted to see the TV production crew do their thing because her college course, Animation, is related to that kind of stuff.
I once knew an old man. He was about 96 years old when we first met. Having spent all his life in the construction business, he was a strong and healthy man for his age. I admired the man for reaching that age and for having accomplished a lot in his life. But years later he got sick as everybody does. The last time I talked to him, I asked how he was doing. And he answered me in Tagalog, “Heto, buhay pa” meaning, “Here I am, I’m still alive.”
I thought that was an amusing answer coming from him but that was the last time I talked to him. He passed away already a few years ago. But I do remember him from time to time because of an abandoned rocking chair. What is left now is just the metal frame of a rocking chair once owned by a man I once knew and learned to admire and respect.
Life has Meaning
Thankfully, life is not just “here today, then gone tomorrow.” It’s more than that. God has created us to live a life of love, joy and peace not just here on earth right now but also for all eternity. The Lord Jesus became one of us to bring us into union and communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Isn’t that great?
