Last night, the husband and I took the mama to the annual Filipino-American Community of San Benito Christmas Ball. It was her night to dress up, eat Filipino party food, and make merry.  She even got up and danced twice. The husband describes her dancing as walking to the dance floor, moving to the music a few seconds, and walking back to her chair. We could tell she enjoyed herself, and that's what it was all about. The husband and I got up on the dance floor a few times. We needed to work off the overflowing plate of delicious pancit, lumpia, lechon, pinakbet, dinuguan, and other yummy food. It was probably a sight for the young ones, as well as the older crowd, to see two old fuddies twisting, bopping, and twirling. I'm not kidding when I say we danced with gleefully random abandon to the beat. Thankfully, we still can. Okay, I admit I wore both my ankle braces. Thankfully, again, I had bought a pair of twinkly Converses on sale a few days ago. They're pretty nifty don...

Since this week's Photo Hunt theme is "male," I thought I'd participate with a photo of my favorite male. As you can see, the husband is a lovable goofball who likes to bring merriment to my camera's viewfinder. I took this photo back in February on the steps of the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose. The exhibits obviously inspired his pose. Click here if you'd like to see more goofy joy from the male who is the husband of mine. Your Christmas song for the day is "Feliz Navidad," performed by, who else but, Jose Feliciano. For more PhotoHunter interpretations of "male," please click here .

I'm hooked up at two different memes today: Skywatch Friday and Follow Friday 40 and Over .   After listening to your Christmas song, come join me at both sites to check out cool stuff by other bloggers. Today's song is called "It's Christmas Time at the Railway Station." I heard it for the first time today. It's a pretty song, performed by the Juke Box Band, the puppet band on the Shining Time Station TV show. The song was sung in a Christmas special called 'Tis a Gift .

"L" is today's letter. Click here for other "L" posts. I'm rolling in luxury. Well, I shall be next week. The husband indulged me with a gift certificate for books for my birthday. That is my favorite kind of present. Thank you, sweet husband ! This year, I took my time selecting the books that would be lined up to be read in the coming year. I wandered around a bookstore first, checked out several book blogs, and glanced at a few book lists. Here's what I finally chose (If you want to hear today's Christmas song as you read about the books, scroll down and click on the video first): A Night Too Dark by Dana Stabenow . This is the 17th novel about Kate Shugak, a private detective in Alaska, who has a homestead in a national park. In this story she investigates the murder of a roustabout who works for a company that wants to open one of the largest gold mines in the state. Locked In by Marcia Muller . The author's Sharon McCone series has been ...

Today is ABC Wednesday featuring the letter V . When the husband and I cut all the hair off our heads (as well as the husband's beard and mustache) in January, we vowed not to cut or trim it for a year. The story about that is here , if you're interested. Here are our vivacious selves at the beginning of the year. Over 11 months later, our vow is still intact, with one allowance for the husband to trim his mustache so he can have full clearance to his mouth for eating and drinking. Here we are a couple of weeks ago. Believe me, there is lots of hair underneath those caps. And, here's your Christmas song for the day: "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" sung by the venerable Ray Charles. After listening to it, head over to ABC Wednesday to check out the vignettes of other "V" bloggers.

I grew up watching Shirley Temple movies on TV. The story lines were simple and basic. Little Shirley usually portrayed a child who lived with a loving father, grandfather, or another relative, or a waif who lived in an orphanage. She often played matchmaker to a wealthy man, woman, or couple who eventually adopted her. And, in most, if not all, of her movies Temple sang and tap danced her heart out. Perfect fare for a Sunday morning. I was probably a teenager when I learned that Shirley made her movies in the 1930s, during the middle of the Great Depression. Much later, I learned that the movies were very popular and brought hope and cheer to many people. I wonder if they still would. To learn more about the actress and person, who became a U.S. ambassador in her later years, check out these links: Shirley Temple, Wikipedia The Official Shirley Temple Web site Shirley Temple Fans Stowaway is a movie that Shirley did in 1936 when she was 8 years old. She played an orphan in China call...

Today's post is number 200! Yippeeeee! When I started at the beginning of this year, I didn't know if I could last a month.  :-) Another big number for me is 57! A prime number. The number of times I've traveled around the sun.  Zipping through the redwood trees with the husband and friends was a great way to celebrate the new year. It was the first time for all of us. At the highest points, we were about 10 to 15 stories above the ground. Didn't seem like it at all. The husband says the platforms on which we stood were about halfway up the trees. Didn't seem like that at all, either. By the time I got comfortable with traveling from tree to tree, we were halfway through the tour. Would I do it again? You bet! Want to check out where we went in the Santa Cruz mountains? Click here . Today's Christmas song is "Holly Jolly Christmas," performed by Mr. Burl Ives.  If you'd like to listen to the 12 other Christmas songs that I've posted thus far, p...