Auto insurance quotes have never been much of a concern for me as I have never owned a vehicle. Well, not a four-wheeled one anyway. Years back I did drive a motorcycle, and a scooter, sometime around 20 years ago. While I never got insurance for either of those vehicles, I also remember having a lot of fun driving them, even with the few mishaps I’ve had on the road.

What I do miss most is my bicycle. I think if I hadn’t gone into photography as a hobby I would probably have bought myself a bicycle for Christmas. Especially so because I need the exercise and I need to lose weight.

Having said that, I probably will have no need to know where to obtain cigars online, but I’m putting it here for the benefit of those who do. Cigars remind me of my late grandfather. He smoked Alhambra Coronas if I remember correctly. Days after he died the house would smell of it every now and then. That was him, checking up on us

While there is nothing left to do but lament its demise, I must also say this to the Nayong Pilipino Foundation:

Newer does not always mean better.

And in my heart there will only be one Nayong Pilipino.

I remember every other weekend my aunt would weave through the maze of Zurbaran with me in tow, shopping for the latest in fabrics. We would then take our booty to her mother’s dress shop at the corner of Taft Avenue and Nakpil, where my grandmother would conjure a design with a pencil on a corner of her pattern paper, and by next weekend would bring out the finished product with a flourish. My grandmother, well-known among students (and their mothers) who went to the Philippine Women’s University across the street from her shop was considered to be one of the established women’s clothing designers in her time.

I’m rather disappointed that I never got to spend my teen-age years with them. If I had I wouldn’t be the fashion wreck that I am today. Back then neither my aunt nor my grandmother would allow me to attend a wedding in my denims, much less go to the office in them. The office always meant formal clothing, sensible skirts or slacks and Dansko shoes. And makeup. I am helpless in all of that, preferring to wear the office uniform (dark blue polo shirt with the company logo on the sleeve) and either loose slacks or denims and my trusty pair of Converse moccasins. If they were here with me now I’d bet they’d be dropping magazines that offered style resources for women and tut-tutting at me for the way I dress.

If you happen to :

1. be at least 39 years old at the time you are reading this
2. have gone to school in the Philippines, whether in public or private school
3. have worn white Spartan canvass rubber shoes when you were a kid

I would like you to play the video and then close your eyes. You don’t need to watch guitar icon Chet Atkins play the guitar as cleanly as only a virtuoso can. But I want you to close your eyes and try to remember when you heard this song for the first time.

That’s it … just close your eyes and think back. You remember now? Good.

I would like you to write what you remember as a comment to this post. Tell me everything you remember.

You’d be helping an old woman get through the first years of old age. There may be some entrecard credits for you too, if you’re an entrecarder.