Lola Juliana

She was the matriarch in the Burgos household. She held court right there in the dining room area naka-ammel itti sigarilyo. Apong- saan la kadi nga masinit dayta dilam? You see, she smoked her cigarette with the the lit end inside her mouth. Karaho - sungbat na. Umay ak no mapan ag-palengke. The mercado in Burgos was just a walking distance from the Amianan house compared to the Agno palengke - masapol pay nga aglugan itti tricycle.

The picture above shows Apong Baket with Uncle Porping, Auntie Rose, Uncle Renato & Auntie Concesa, the baby girl. She used to have a cabinet where she kept her linens - supot ti pungan ken akep ti pag-id-daan. She would bring these out upon arrival from Manila. Maimas ko nga anguten dagiti supot - since the cabinet was packed with mothballs ( vice at an early age). The "kumot abel iloko" was so stiff which eventually "softened up" after everyday use. Since the people from Manila arrived, then the spoons and forks were also brought out. Kasano met ket di mi am-mo kano itti ag-kam-mel. These utensils were shiny and I noticed that the letters JLR were engraved roughly behind the handles. I wondered why - no buluden dagiti kar-ruba da ti cuchara ken tinidor, ammo da no sinno itti pagsublian. It was a common practise to borrow utensils during big events - weddings, luwalos and the likes.
Below was her last picture taken with AJ, Jim & me. This was AJ's first visit in Burgos & was formally introduced to Apong.
I don't remember how old she was then when this picture was taken. Her facial expression barely changed compared to the first picture above. I want to think that there was an extra flicker in her eyes in the picture below. Or was it just the color of the picture?