TRAVEL THEME: WHITE

For Ailsa’s Travel Theme this week, I am presenting two photos of places that are close to my heart.

The first one is of a neighborhood of white houses in the New England area which I now call home. We have been in this area for over 4 years now after God heard our prayer for a house that suited our needs and fitted our budget. Our house is over a hundred years old and needed a lot of updating. I am amazed at how long these wooden structures can last in this area.

The other picture is that of the Quezon Memorial. The Memorial, built to honor President Manuel L. Quezon, is located in the Quezon Memorial Circle, (once) a patch of green in the heart of Quezon City. For more than 8 years, I lived in the shadows of this monument when I was a college student in the nearby Catholic University and then a law school student of the University of the Philippines. It is the centerpiece of the park known as Quezon Memorial Circle. Around it is the Elliptical Road and government – national and local – offices. In the mid-eighties, the park was but trees and grass and the monument. Joggers (and lovers) were mostly the users of the place. In the mid-nineties, new developments – food stalls and restaurants, mostly – were introduced in the park. When I visited recently, Quezon Memorial Circle was a fully developed amusement park – with a zipline, playground, and other fun rides.