Good day, everyone! How are we all doing today? Me? I'm good, doing well, too. Thank you. And thank God, I'm alive and well. Thank you, Mother Mary and Jesus! Thank you, Holy Spirit!
One of the news reports or articles today, Thursday, that captured my attention is the return of the students in school in Monroe, not Newtown, in Connecticut after that December school shooting massacre that claimed the lives of 20 school children and six educators and the 20 year-old shooter, Adam Lanza, and his mother.
Yes, they're back to school today, Thursday. The students and educators, and staff of the Newtown, Connecticut's Sandy Elementary School resumed school not at the Sandy Elementary School building (where the shooting rampage/massacre took place weeks before Christmas last year) but in a different school building, miles away from Newtown. I wonder what reaction/s do these students and staff have. And how do they feel now that they have celebrated Christmas and New Year's Day with their loved ones, families and friends, but without those fellow students and their principal and some other educators who became victims of the deadly mass shooting in their (former) school. Anyway, I pray and try to continue to pray for those victims and their families, and those volunteers who worked tirelessly to help in the healing and grieving and bring back normalcy in Newtown. May the soul of the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. May the families and all those affected by the tragedy have found comfort and peace, and joy this holiday season. May God bless them all.
This morning, while I was praying the Holy Rosary, meditating on the Luminous Mysteries, I invited my Facebook friends to pray along with me. Afterwards I listened to John Michael Talbot's music on YouTube while reading The Blue Book from our parish, St. Paul's Catholic Church.
I was about to write my blog post then but something wasn't working. I found out later on that we didn't have internet connection. So I went downstairs and ate my breakfast. I tried logging on and on and on but to no avail. Disappointed, of course, I was! But, I didn't feel bad. I asked myself, "what will I do then?" That's when I realized, aha, life is not what it used to be without the internet! But, on the other hand, I thought: I can manage my day without it. My life goes on and so does the world. I just continue to live the present moment simply well, sans internet today.
To keep myself busy, I listened to music that I've stored or uploaded (is that the word?) on my laptop months ago. And, re-visited the personal pictures or photos I saved on my laptop, too. So delighted to see those pictures. You see, pictures remind us of past events, what we did, who we were with, etc. Just like the ones we had last year's Christmas and New Year 2012. What a big difference compared to this year! I mean, the way we celebrated Christmas and New Year's last year, then and now. Simplicity is the word for me this time. Yes, it's not much the glitter and funfare but the spirit of the heart and faith that matters to me.
I resumed my cooking, this time, too. Previous days, I've been eating left-over food in the ref, matter-of-factly. I don't mind, though. I just don't want to waste food especially if they're still edible after two to three days. So, this afternoon, I boiled a bag of frozen black-eyed peas with snap beans. I added frozen collard greens and those left-over baked chopped pork, with a tablespoon olive oil, and when it was about to be done, I added those left-over three pieces of baked boneless milkfish ("bangus" in Filipino). For flavoring, I added a pinch of garlic salt since I don't have that oyster sauce. (I thought I still have a bottle of it from the Commissary.) And then when I was finished cooking, what else to do but to eat, to taste what I've prepared for dinner. Good, simple vegetable dish, using all left-over food. I ate it with a left-over steamed rice. I ate half of that pomegranate. ( I don't know about you, folks and friends, but I love to nibble this fruit, especially if it's ripe and sweet.) Yummy!
Four hours past, I had a snack of pita and a simple plain mashed avocado (guacamole dip?) with a small glass of Reunite's Lambrusco red wine, while watching the news on TV in our living room. I shared some to Freny when she arrived from school-work. She also ate dinner from the dish I prepared. For dessert, I had a slice of that left-over cassava cake that Freny and I bought at Felynn's in a neighboring city on the morning of New Year's Eve. I had to nuke it for a minute and a half. Freny had another slice of it, too.
Now, I got lucky to have our internet back. I don't know what happened this morning between ten in the morning to two in the afternoon that we didn't have internet connection at home even if we're supposed to have wireless internet connection. We have wireless internet for a year or two now? Anyway, we already have internet and, hence, I'm here blogging and about to finish it or sign off now.
Well, this is it, folks and friends, for today. Until next time around. Thanks for your time reading this post. Thanks for those readers who may have accidentally come across or visited this blog. Do appreciate it. Take care and have a nice day, everyone. As always, I pray, "May God bless us all!"-chris a. quilpa, 03January2013.
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