December in Sindalan 1

Donna and I were on our way to Guagua yesterday to pick up her 'school' mate Pat when we got a text message from Ned saying our classmate Juliet Carreon has passed away. Juliet was my elementary school mate in Panlumacan and she was the secretary of the JASHS Class '70 alumni association here. Myrna said she's heard Juliet died due to complications from diabetes.

Arrangements are currently being done right now on how classmates will go about attending the wake and stuff. I've been communicating with Myrna through text messages and we'll probably go on ahead to pay our respects.

I met with Ruston Banal Jr. yesterday. He's also a member of ANASI. We went to Betis and he showed me around the church convent where they've renovated the basement/warehouse into a museum looking structure. He's created a lot of graphic displays of the history of Betis and its church. His work is actually pretty impressive. I didn't take any pictures because by the time we got there it was already dark. I figured it'll be better to take pictures during the daytime. He said he'll give me an invitation when they award Gov Ed Panlilio as one of the outstanding citizens of Betis on December 27. He's a Catholic priest who took a leave of absence to run for and become governor. Ruston said the museum would have been completed by then. He also showed me around the church who's ceiling reminds me of the Sistine Chapel. An artist named Victor Ramos, who used to work with my brother Rafael in his art gallery in Angeles City by Clark Air Base, reworked the paintings of the church ceiling.

We got a visit today by friend and classmate Alan Sanchez who was pretty surprised when he googled me, found my blog and read about our arrival last Tuesday.

I'll post another blog later and will tell you about Juliet some more, hopefully with pictures.