A Pleasant Surprise in La Union

Driving back to Manila last May 2011, we stopped by the Shell station in La Union for gas, breakfast and wee-wee.  (Thank you Auntie Rose sand Chayong for the Vigan longga bfast!) We usually pass through a back end road to avoid traffic in the main city. 

Ate Suzette spotted familiar faces: Uncle Ador and Auntie Siony ( all the way from Cebu!) 

They came from Laoag and Pagudpod to bring their family to see the sites. All of them are based in Cebu! And they had the whole family in tow in a rented mini-bus/van and a back-up fierra. 

Wonderful! 

Building a Garden for Papa

Papa bought a lot for Lolo Simon and Uncle Arthur's final resting place in Bislig. The original site (from what I heard) was in Piapi (sorry di ko alam kung saan yun). The intent was to reunite Lola Maxima and Lolo together.

From what I was told he loved the place. It had a view of the Bislig Bay and river and  of Mangagoy. Just a scene from Out of Africa. On a clear day you can see the steeple of the Mangagoy church and on a misty day, the mountains gets covered with fog and oh so picturesque. 

Sorry my camera could not justify the beauty of the place. 

Moving on,  when Papa passed on he wanted to be buried in the same place.  We bought the ajoining lot so we can have unobstructed view.  Running joke is to build a beer garden. 

We went back last summer to build a garden, not a beer garden. 

Before: 

Planting mode ( we used cuttings from different gardens of family and  neighbors)

After:

Ending the day with a prayer: