The Dining Room

The rehabbing of the dining room happened in phases --the first phase, just to get it ready for the town fiesta. The windows had to be re-paned and realigned. The table was hauled back from Pulang Lupa after years of storage, its hardiness withstanding termite assaults that feasted on lesser wood.

It's a grand table, with its one piece top that is always a cause for marvel, especially with people keen on wood. I always thought it was narra, but was told it's dao. The chairs are new; the old ones divided among kin a few years back.

I remember it well from the long ago childhood days, weirdly memorable because I don't remember ever dining on it. It was only used for those special occasions and special guests. Well, now, whenever I dine in, I sit on one end of this long grand table, in the forlorness of it all, in a place-setting for one, in-between bites pondering on some morsel of the past.

On one end, I added a display cabinet that eventually took on a small collection of antique candle holders. On the other end stands a fabricated round table-bar with chairs, a result of fun-and-frustrating five weeks of design and redesign.