Laguna is the province of my ancestors, the place I hold closest to my heart after Manila. It is to me a province of tall coconut trees, rice, sugar cane and all manner of fruits. My grandfather’s sister lived in San Pablo with her two daughters who married brothers. Each daughter had many children, a minimum of nine plus a few adopted.
My grandaunt owned a lot of property in San Pablo. I think the movie house was one of them because the summer I spent there she would send us all to watch the movies, double programs all. We would leave the house early and stay until lunchtime. At around 10 the maids would bring us trays of food. Merienda, they said. Now when I look back I think it was my grandaunt’s way of getting us out of the house because we must have been driving her mad. Can you imagine having twenty children of all ages under your roof?
On the Day of the Innocents last year we drove down to Tiaong to visit Ugu Bigyan, the prominent potter. There are two ways of going there. You can exit at Sto. Tomas and go through Batangas or you can exit at Calamba and go through Laguna. I don’t know which way is shorter. I think they are almost the same except one feels eager on the way to anywhere so the going part always seems longer.
We were a group of five. Richard and Sarri, my daughter and her English husband, Maribel, her brother Joselu and me. Sarri and Maribel are the good friends. The rest of us made friends with each other on the way.
We passed the little towns of Batangas. Joselu asked me if I had seen the silver places, gesturing at the rows of aluminum ware along the road. He made me laugh. Then we passed the Villa Escudero, which brought back memories. I remembered going to balls there in May, during the feast of the Ascension. I wore my first strapless gown there, participated in a Santacruzan where I played the role of Cleopatra, borne by eight young men on a dais with a stuffed cheetah.
After that parade I was walking with a young man. He tried to make a pass at me. I decided to avoid that by descending a slope in the formal garden in my very flat sandals. I slipped and fell awkwardly on my rump.
Ugu’s house is still the same but it has grown wonderfully. Porches run into each other. Pavilions are now made out of small bricks, rejects, he says, from his many projects. The walks are paved and inlaid with glazed ceramic fish. There is a lovely little pond with real fish. At the back there is a bed and breakfast — one room big enough for four or more and another room for two. Lovely atmosphere, beautiful fittings. Ugu’s place is really an artist’s haven.
I have not been here in around 12 or more years. The last time I came was before my stroke and I spent a lot of money. But this time I just bought small things but was full of admiration for his big things. I love his ceramic chimes. His trays with rattan handles. I wish I were 20 years younger and looking forward to more life instead of being an old lady looking forward to fewer things.
In the store to the left I liked very much the folk art belen and Last Suppers made by Ann Mercado Alcantara, who I knew as a fresh graduate at the old Manila Chronicle. She has grown into an artist now. You should see them and buy them. They are so charming, look like Mexican art.
In that little store I couldn’t resist buying a hair ornament that looked like a tiny peacock feather. I bought it and will use it as a shawl pin. Then suddenly I saw my cousins, Marlene, Maricel, Esther, their families, all relatives of mine, descendants of Paciano Rizal, while I am a descendant of his sister, Maria. Imagine seeing you here, we all exclaimed. We don’t see much of each other in Manila but run into each other accidentally in Tiaong. And I saw Heidi again, Ugu’s sister, looking wonderful and wrapping seamlessly still.
Typically, lunch at Ugu’s was wonderful. Maribel brought wine. We chatted, joked, laughed, enjoyed ourselves immensely. It is almost magical to see how much Ugu has grown through the years, how fine his work is, how charming he is. This visit to his place took the drag out of my post Christmas holidays.
If you want to know where Ugu Bigyan is, please look him up on Google.
By the way, will the gentleman from close to Alabang who ordered Stem Enhance from me please text me again. I inadvertently erased the text with your name and address on it.
Also I am teaching “Joy of Writing” again. For details, please visit my new web page, twee.life.
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