Palm Sunday at home

One of the things wonder | wander | women love about our haven in Union City NJ is its small town barrio ambiance that reminds us of our childhood home town. 

Andrew Altarejos photos for Digicast Negros  Parishioners attend Palm Sunday mass at the San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod City.

Being back here in the Philippines after a four year hiatus brings this all back home to us. Alleluia! Lent and Holy Week in our native island home is yet another immersion into our childhood. 

writes of spring

The skies go grey, then bright, then grey again - British spring is not so much a season as a series of false starts. This week we're going through another cold dip after the brief period of warmth in March that is meant to get a Londoner's hopes up before the April windstorms drench our spirit again.

"real" British seasons, from Reddit

myth & malice

We celebrate Saint Patrick, Ireland's patron saint on March 17. Even as we consider all the tales, mysteries, unknowns, and superstitions perpetrated in his name - holy or otherwise.

Credited by myths with bringing Christianity to the Irish and driving the snakes out of Ireland - does us all a disservice.

good old St. Patrick

According to legend St. Patrick (circa 387–460 or 492 AD) banished all snakes from Ireland, chasing them into the sea after they attacked him during a 40-day fast atop a hill. 

Today we suspect that snakes never lived in Ireland, likely because Ireland is an island surrounded by a frigid ocean inhospitable to these creatures. 

home land, home sky

It was nice to be back in the Philippines! From the moment the fields and flats of Negros Island emerged from the storm clouds...

to the moment I murmured a teary goodbye to the lights of Manila...