Skip to main content

Happy Thanksgiving

How terrific to be invited to Thanksgiving dinner. We spent a leisurely day free from worrying if the thermometer has been released by an overstuffed roasted turkey. On our way to dinner, we passed by Best Buy and saw people camping outside the closed store. These people must have had their dinner early or at the store's parking lot. They are serious shoppers who want to be the first to enter the store tomorrow when it opens at 5 a.m. and avail of the bargains on the first and biggest shopping day of the holiday season. It's been a cold night and it's unimaginable how they can sleep at the parking lot on Thanksgiving evening.

Our dinner table was filled with all the trimmings and more but before digging into the turkey, honeybaked ham, prawn cocktail, mochiko with Chinese sausage, cranberry, cheese and crackers, mocha cake, leche flan, apple pie, cashew nuts, and an assortment of chips, we said a little prayer of thanks. And it was this:
"Thank you Lord for this wonderful opportunity to celebrate together
Thank you for all the good things you've given us and for the bad
Which makes us appreciate the good things all the more
And thank you for the feast we are about to partake."

I might add a prayer of gratitude that Thanksgiving comes around just once a year else I'll grow out of my denims if I ate anymore.

* * *
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Carlos Botong Francisco - Progress of Medicine in the Philippines

Pre-colonial period Pag-unlad ng Panggagamot sa Pilipinas (The Progress of Medicine in the Philippines) is a group of four large-scale paintings depicting healing practices in the Philippines from pre-colonial times to the modern period. Carlos Botong Francisco was commissioned in 1953 by  Dr. Agerico Sison who was then the director of Philippine General Hospital (PGH) together with   Dr. Eduardo Quisumbing of the National Museum, Dr. Florentino Herrera, Jr. and Dr. Constantino Manahan. These oil on canvas paintings measure 2.92 meters in height and 2.76 meters in width (9.71 ft x 8.92 ft) and were displayed at the main entrance hall of PGH for over five decades. Owing to its location, the artworks were in a state of "severe deterioration" at the beginning of the 21st century from exposure to heat, humidity, dirt, dust, smoke, insect stains, grime, termites and an oxidized synthetic resin used in an earlier restoration. These canvases were restored three times, the last was...
Read more

Filipino Struggles in History - Carlos Botong Francisco

In 1968, Antonio Villegas (then Mayor of Manila), commissioned Carlos "Botong" Francisco to paint the history of Manila for Manila City Hall. The series of large scale paintings was called  Kasaysayan ng Maynila  (History of Manila).  The paintings deteriorated over time and no attempt was made to preserve these historical canvases until 2013 when Mayor Amado Lim sent them to the National Museum for extensive restoration. Four years later, in 2017, Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada and the Manila City Council signed an agreement with the National Museum to leave the paintings at the museum so they may reach a larger audience in exchange for museum grade reproductions to replace the originals. Kasaysayan ng Maynila was later renamed Filipino Struggles in History and is now on display at the Senate Hall of the National Museum . Carlos "Botong" Francisco died in March 1969, a few months after completing the paintings. He is one of the first Filipino modernists and...
Read more

The Painted Monasteries of Bucovina

Church of the Beheading of St. John, Arbore Monastery Tucked away in the northeastern corner of Romania lies the enchanting region of Bucovina, home to a treasure trove of stunning monasteries. The Painted Monasteries of Bucovina, collectively a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are a testament to the region's rich history, spirituality and artistic genius. One of the most visited monasteries in Bucovina is Voronet. It was commissioned by Stefan the Great, Voivode of Moldova and one of its most admired rulers. Moldova was  a medieval state that once encompassed parts of present-day Romania, Ukraine, and Moldova. Voronet  was built in 1488 to commemorate his victory over the Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Vaslui and it was miraculously completed in three months time. Succeeding  princes of Moldova continued the construction of more magnificent monasteries. The exterior walls of these structures were adorned with intricate frescoes, depicting biblical scenes, saints, and...
Read more