2013 In Blogging (Annual Report)

I decided to make this public since I am proud that I’ve reached this far. For the past three years, I’ve looked forward to the year-end report of WordPress on my four blogs. I am sharing this with you. And I would love to thank all those bloggers who made comments and visited my blog. Thank you all for sharing with me and making everyday something to always look forward to.

Thank you WordPress 🙂

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Happy 2014

Here’s a toast to more inspiring blogs for 2014. Looking forward to meeting more inspiring bloggers too. And I promised myself last night, I’ll take another challenge of writing and sharing my thoughts every day here.

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Finding Meaning Just Being Here

I wish I could sleep a few more hours and dream of something nice and lovely but I’ve been awake since 3:30am, same time that I wake up on the days that my son has to leave for work at 5am.  On second thoughts, waking up early has a lot more advantage than staying late in bed.

Gosh, hanging amihan is really here, signalling cold nights and occasional cold winds outside. I went out for a while to sweep in front of the house, cigarette butts, candy wrappers, plastic with straw in it, so annoying to see them every morning and I can’t stand clutter. I wish our neighbor who has a sari-sari store would find it in his heart  to place a trash bin outside his store and tell his customers not to throw garbage haphazardly. And I wonder why passersby can’t discipline themselves to dispose of their garbage properly, they never learn and maybe they never will.  Enough said.

The sky is clear but still dark and the quarter moon makes star-gazing lovely. I used to spend time star-gazing every time I go home to our province in Pangasinan. The silence and quiet sip into your bones and  you feel at peace with the world. There is something so fresh and untouched,  unmarred by the noise of cars and motorcycles passing by. For one thing, the best time to write  (at least for me) is always in the quiet of early mornings. Thoughts come chasing each other waiting to unfold. Sometimes though, when you put them on paper, they go away  and you can never recover those fleeting thoughts the way they should be written and the way you want to write them. Does that happen to you?

I think I need a hot cup of coffee and go back to the garden to watch the day unfolds – something precious, something meaningful, something to look forward to. It’s a new day after all.

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Bonne Année

Would love to try another language to say Happy New Year.  In Tagalog we say, Manigong Bagong Taon. Whew, Christmas has come and gone and I am stuck here with so much to do, fixing things here and there, cleaning the house and getting rid of unwanted items that are no longer in use.  Just wanted to greet  2014 not just with a trimmed garden but with  lesser bits and pieces in my  cabinet. I’ll be hosting a party for a small group of friends on January 11 including two priests who are also members  of my Catholic group at Facebook where I am one of the admins.  We have decided on a potluck lunch and snacks so we could concentrate on sharing news and tidbits  about our individual journeys in life.  My co-admin and creator of the online group Fr. Louie Coronel, OP used to say, ” you can share anything under the Catholic sun except sin”. Believe me, in all these years that we’ve journeyed together, some members have become real friends. And that’s something to be thankful for, finding friends in social media and bonding with them and we’re like brothers and sisters who have found a home through our page.

How was your Christmas? It was another peaceful, joyous and happy celebration for us, just the family with Nate (my grandson) grabbing the limelight sharing what he has learned the last month since his birthday. The joys of being a grandma, more greatly felt with Nate’s generous kisses that made my day and   the celebration of Christmas a happy one for me. He is walking on his own now and beginning to touch things that his hands could reach. I told Nissa to say goodbye (in the meantime)  to small objects that  he could grab and play with. He was amazed when he discovered the knob of our CD player and turned the sound off while we were listening to some Christmas carols of old.

I made a video of our Christmas pictures at OneTrueMedia but I forgot that I can’t listen to the music that I chose as a background since my son detached the defective speakers of my PC a month ago. Anyway, I am sharing some pics I took in a photo box so as to save on my allowed limits here at WordPress.

I baked lots of chocolate chips cookies that I gave to friends and neighbors. I think there are two or three more left in the cookie jar.  I received cash gifts from the kids but one thing that I really love is one of the additional gifts from Nissa, a lovely infusion bottle which I could use later. Kev brought a bottle of Novellino red wine.

Christmas was a simple celebration but it was one of the best ever. What about you, how did you celebrate  Christmas? And before I forget, let me greet you Bonne année  . Let 2014 be a happy, peaceful and a fruitful year for all of us.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: One

A single rose can be my garden…a single friend, my world. – Leo Buscaglia

It’s been a while since I participated in the Weekly Photo Challenge. I haven’t even been taking pictures lately. It’s an activity that I truly miss. There are so few blooms now in my garden but I still enjoy the peace and quiet that it brings. Life could be stressful at times and I need to see just one lovely bloom  and my day would be complete.

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Ah, Three More Days To Go

Before you think I am super excited about  Christmas, I am. Since  December 21 is about to end in a few hours, let my count be, it’s  three days to go before Christmas.

It was a busy day for me  (weekends are always busy days). We went back to the wet market to buy last-minute things that we need to prepare for Noche Buena. I’m finally done cooking embutido, our Filipino version of meat loaf. My son requested that I put whole hotdogs inside so I also bought Purefood’s tender juicy hotdogs. I normally don’t put hotdog in my embutido recipes  but it’s Christmas anyway so I let my son indulge a bit.  This afternoon, I made a lightning visit to the grocery store to buy confectioner’s sugar since I am also planning to bake  chocolate crinkles  (another request from my son)  but I was a bit disappointed when the sales clerk told me that he doesn’t know what confectioner’s sugar is. They have baking supplies in their shelves and  he pointed to the baking powder lined up there, such a shame because they clearly lost a customer because I am not going back there.  I am reminded  a few months back when I was looking for  baking soda in another supermarket and the sales clerk told me that it was quite sometime since they had a box in their shelves.  I asked how could they sell all those baking goodies when the ingredients are not even complete. On my next visit, I was surprised to see small boxes of baking soda   prettily lined-up along with  all-purpose flour, cake flour, rice flour  and boxes of baking mixes. I smiled. At least they listen to the needs of their customers.

Christmas time is a perfect excuse to make those sinful and calorific sweets. I don’t eat much of them anyway because I usually give them to our neighbors and friends. There is nothing like a home-cooked  food to share, right?  I am planning to bake  chocolate chips cookies with cashew nuts. Yes, you heard it right, cashew nuts. Although there are plenty of cashew nuts here, they don’t come in cheap but compared to other nuts like pecan or walnuts which cost an arm and both legs, they are more practical to use.  Come Christmas Eve, I’ll make carrot squares to go with the traditional pancit bihon and fried chicken.  I usually spend my time laboring  in front of the stove after the holy mass come Christmas day.  This  will probably  be the only time that I won’t do it because I can always prepare the Callos    and macaroni salad the day before.  Would love to spend my time playing with Nate when they come over to celebrate with us.

And Christmas will always be the best time of the year to share love and joys  and make peace with those who may have offended you at some time in your life.  I remember  a  year ago, I posted this message on my wall, Happy Birthday Jesus!  And a child of nine, a relative asked me, “why happy birthday” so I told him, He is the reason why we celebrate Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone!

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Learning To Walk And Loving It

Our Precious Bundle of Joy

It must be really, really good to finally feel your feet touching the floor and walking on your own.  It must be really nice to see the world as far as your eyes can, curious about  everything. The baby steps finally turning into joys of discovering you can stand on your own two feet….what bliss! And I know you are excited. One of these days, you will hold my hands and we will take those precious walks and see what nature has in store. Can’t wait baby, I am as excited as you are.

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Our Baby’s First Haircut

Our Precious Bundle of Joy

I’ve meant to post these pictures yesterday but I was a little busy. It’s another milestone in our baby’s life, having his first haircut, that is. They brought him to Cuts 4 Tots Hair  Salon at Robinsons Ermita before his first birthday and Nissa took some shots. Someday, when he is old enough to read and see his pictures, he would surely appreciate them all.

Look at how long his hair is.

Good boy Nate, love that barber’s chair…….

Looking good baby, gone are the long bangs.

And it comes with  a cute certificate with his lock of hair inside.

And here’s a closer shot of “before” and “after”.

See you soon baby. Love you so much. Nonna could not get enough, right?

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Life

Sometimes –

the hurts linger

and the pain is like an open wound

that throbs.

But life gleams –

and it alters the horizon.

Though the shadows lurk still

the beauty of the day begins.

And there is a ray of hope

for those who still believe

that dreams come true.

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Someday

One day

You would finally understand

the endless struggles

and the painful journey.

When you get to the end of the road

And you  finally see the light

welcoming you home,

you’ll smile and say,

I am blessed after all.

And you utter a silent prayer of thanks.

Someday,

There would be other places to explore

and  you know deep within

that you’ll be ready to journey again.

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