Biba's Boston: 3 -Tita Gigi's Ranch

Number 3: Tita Gigi’s Ranch

For the longest time, I never thought I’d enjoy the country life. I swore up and down that I was meant for the city, though most of my life was spent in the suburbs. But spending time in Rochester, Mass. with my aunt and uncle on their pseudo-ranch has been a huge blessing and may have even opened me up to the country life a lil bit...a lil bit, I said.

Tita Gigi's house in the winter

My aunt and uncle are the epitome of City Slickers living the country life now. They’ve travelled to cities all over the world as architects specializing in aquarium design -spent a lot of time in Italy and Portugal. They used to own an apartment in one of the brownstones in the Back Bay, right on Comm. Ave. As urbanites, they dressed in sleek, streamlined clothes always in shades of black or grey. Their apartment in the Back Bay was that version of upscale, authentic minimalism that one hopes to achieve through purchases at the Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, or Restoration Hardware.

Tita Gi in the Back Bay with her old dog, Baci

Tita Gigi always loved animals and nature, though. Amongst the few pieces of Italian or Portuguese décor in the apartment there would always be a real bird's nest, some twigs and branches, a dog leash or some other horse or dog paraphernalia thrown in there from her pets. We tease her that her horses, dogs, and cat are our cousins.

Tita Gi with Sonny Boy (left) and Iabony (right)

Carlos and Juni with Mona

With Iabony

A few years back, she and Tito Michael decided to buy an old farmhouse in Rochester, MA. It’s super beautiful and super old, was around during the 1700’s and has so much history to it. They have a few acres of land that now hold two areas for their horses Iabony and Sonny Boy.There’s a beautiful pond behind their house and they live next door to a huge cranberry bog.They’ve made the house both simple and beautiful. It reminds me a little of Leigh’s Haven, only bigger.

At the farm in 2006, Laloo and Tita Nita visiting from the Philippines and Georgia

Mom, Tita Sandy, and Tito Sherm lounging

If you read about Leigh’s Deck in my last entry, you know that her place cultivates love and family. That’s why I love Tita Gi’s place so, so much. In the past few years, I’ve spent time with my aunt and uncle and the rest of our extended family on their “farm.” Mom has six living sisters and Tita Gi always says that the house is good to bring together the family. It’s torturous for Tito Michael –all gajillion of us there at once, but he’s such a good sport, as long as we don’t force him to be in photos, which we do anyway.

The Stateside sisters

I have memories of huge meals with my aunts, uncles, and younger cousins (I’m the oldest of the Castro clan’s grandchildren and have seen these moments longer than any of our generation). We cook and buy food for days and just hang out -playing badminton, going out in the canoe, skyping Laloo or Tito Boy in the Philippines, or Tito Al, Jenny, and Ingrid in Sweden; playing with the horses or dogs (not so much the cat since he does wonders on our allergies), playing Cranium for hours, looking at old pictures, or just talking about life and our family.

Ben and Carlos playing badminton

Our Davaoenos visiting from the Philippines

It’s been in this space that I’ve been able to learn and appreciate my mother’s family with a depth I haven’t known anywhere else. Like I said, Mom came from a cast of seven sisters and while all of the living sisters are extremely educated, have dope families, and are living pretty comfortable lives, they didn’t always have it easy. Tita Tootsie died of leukemia at the age of 7, leaving the family at 6 sisters. Lolo Frank died two years later when the girls were super young. The oldest was 13 and the youngest, barely 1.

Mom's family before Lolo died. Mom is all the way to the left.

Laloo ended up having to struggle hard to raise six girls on her own. In spite of the challenges of raising six girls, in the Philippines, in the 50’s, Laloo, once a beauty queen, was able to send them to some of the best schools in Manila by becoming a seamstress and eventually running her own business. But those material comforts didn’t come without some gaps. There was life without a father, a lot of affection that wasn’t expressed, a culture of tough love, lots of pressure to be the best, lots of time with a mother stressed from work, finances, and loss. But there was also family support, time in the province at their Lolo’s farm, lots of titos, titas, and pinsan.

Castro family reunion, 1965

Castro family reunion, 1966

It’s been there at the farm where I’ve heard so much of what life was like for my mother, her sisters, and my Lola. I have developed a deep respect for my mother’s family, an incredible understanding of family dynamics and Filipino history, a deep love for my family, and an undying confidence in the women around me. Each of the women in my mother's family has a story that I've learned from. In some of my most difficult moments, they've been there with advice, or have just been there -no words, but maybe some key lime pie. I don’t think I can truly express how much these times at Tita Gi’s farm have meant to me, especially not at 3:15 in the morning!

No, country girl I may not be, but I’m a family woman for life and Tita Gi’s is a place where I’ve learned what that means and how to live it.

July 4, 2010

Here are some HILARIOUS videos from HappySlip that totally remind me of my family:

Pahntee:

Peephole: