I joined a tour group which started in Tokyo. To help with jet lag, my daughter planned my trip from SFO to arrive at Tokyo two days earlier than my tour group. As such, I also planned a two-day Tokyo trip for myself: I bought a ticket to see the TeamLab Borderless light show; I am going to buy rare gifts and to catch special Pokémon at the Pokémon Centers in Tokyo； I am going to eat Wagyu beef, to drink sake, and to wander the streets of Tokyo; I am going to visit the Tokyo Iris Garden and many other gardens…

Tokyo’s humid and muggy weather challenged the carefully planned outdoor trips and its complex subway system challenged me more, as I don’t like to ride on subways and easily get lost. Plus, Tokyo’s parks close around 5 p.m., so I didn’t have time to visit many parks in Tokyo. As a result, I only visited Hinocho Park (which I stumbled upon) and the Tokyo Iris Garden.

When I learned about Tokyo’s Iris Garden during the pandemic, I imagined the irises, shaded by trees, along winding paths, and beside flowing little streams, would create a magnificent, layered sea of ​​iris flowers during their blooming season. I was eager to see my imagination come to life, so visiting the Tokyo Iris Garden was on the top of my 2-day Tokyo to-do list.

It turns out the iris garden is inside the Meiji Jingu Inner Garden. Although the iris season had passed, I still bought a ticket to see the narrow, winding garden nestled in a shallow area, lush with iris leaves. Strolling along the edge of the iris garden, which was so different from my imagination, I felt that I teased myself using overactive imagination and I laughed silently. When I saw the unique names of irises: Kamari Nishiki, Satsuki Haru, Wada Tsukai, Sunset Stream, Fukamado Beauty, Monkey Dance, and Okitsu Shiranami, I stopped to take pictures and imagine the shapes and colors of the flowers that matched the names, immersing myself in the virtual game of Flower Delight.

(Names of various irises in the lush, leafy little garden.)

While passing by a large bush of after blooming season kerria in a corner of the Iris Garden, I recalled how I first learned what kerria flowers look like during the pandemic lockdown, and the places I’ve seen them: on the side of the entrance of corridor pavilion in Zigong Park, outside the Brandeis University campus in western Massachusetts, in front of the Wall of Love in the Jehan Rictus garden square in Montmartre, Paris, France, and the lyrics “Clusters of kerria, misty morning, quiet waterwheel huts” in the song of “Spring in the North”. “Flowers delight me like a virtual pen, repainting vividly the previous sightseeing of flowers in my memory and bringing joys back again.” Thinking of the longer adjectives that will be associated with this bush of kerria in front me: the kerria flowers by the Iris Garden, in the Meiji Jingu Inner Garden, in the Meiji Jingu Shrine, Tokyo, Japan, I can’t help but smile. The striking beauty of Kerria is unforgettable for flower lovers, as I still remember the large bush of blooming kerria flowers I saw in Zigong Park in my childhood. As a flower lover with good memory, I felt even in their off-blooming season, flowers can still delight me.

(A bush of kerria flowers, past their blooming season, next to the Iris Garden, in Tokyo July 22, 2025.)

(Kerria flowers blooming in the rain outside the Brandeis University campus in western Massachusetts, April 29, 2021.)

(Single-petaled kerria flowers in full bloom in front of the Wall of Love in Paris. 04-18-2022.)

There is a thatched pavilion high above the Iris Garden. Its thick thatch reminds me of the line “The triple thatch on my roof blew away” from Du Fu’s “Song of the Thatched Cottage Destroyed by the Autumn Wind.” I suspected this pavilion might bear traces of Du Fu, as his poem “The country is broken, but the mountains and rivers remain…” is often found in Japanese junior high school language textbooks.

The Inner Garden has few buildings, but abundant flowers, trees, and mosquitoes. The interplay of cicada and bird calls creates a low-key, natural beauty. I read in the tourist brochure that Emperor Meiji admired this place so much that he wrote a poem praising it which reads: “Deep in the woodland of Yoyogi, the quietude creates an illusion of seclusion from the city.”
(The cover of a brochure of Meiji Jingu Inner Garen: the iris garden in bloom, a thatched pavilion, and lush trees.)

Kiyomasa Well

Because I wasn’t in a hurry, I wondered around the Iris Garden for a long time before heading to Kiyomasa Well which provides a constant source of water year-round for the irises who thrive in a moist environment. While lingering by the well, I bumped into a Japanese family of four: father, mother, and two school-age daughters. I watched the couple kneeling down for a bow, then stood up and gently faned the air from the well onto their faces. Curiously, I asked the mother, “Why are you fanning like that?” She explained that they were absorbing the energy from the well, as the well is famous and has magical, and that by fanning the air towards us we can absorb its energy. I thanked her and imitated her, gently fanning the air from the well onto my face. She was delighted to see this, and we stood by the well and chatted for a while. The two daughters stood quietly next to her, her husband facing her nodding and acknowledging her occasionally. I felt it was a picture of family harmony. Hiromi Oguribayashi, unlike typical Japaneses ladies, is talkative, she wrote her name in Chinese for me and told me that she studied economics at a university in Tokyo, that her family flew here to visit Tokyo Disneyland (she told me where her home was, but I didn’t understand) and will fly back home tomorrow. She also said and that her daughters are 11 and 8. After they left, I stayed by the quiet well, continuing to appreciate its magic. Then a young couple came, and the boy skillfully bowed and gently fanned the air from the well onto his face with his hands. I felt that the sincere look on his young face added energy to Kiyomasa Well.

After leaving Kiyomasa Well, I followed the signs to the exit and sat on a stone bench under the shade of a tree on the top of the Iris Garden. Two girls passed by and asked, “Could we sit here for a while?” I quickly moved to one side of the bench and said, “Of course.” We sat on the same bench and chatted for a while. They were from the United States, third-year college students majoring in accounting. Wendy, who spoke Chinese, was born in the United States, she will stay in Japan for a month; Victoria, a tall Caucasian, will return to the US after a week in Japan. They were planning to leave after resting for a while. I asked if they had visited the Kiyomasa Well. They said no. I repeated Hiromi’s words: “Kiyomasa Well is famous and has magical. We can absorb its energy.” I enthusiastically demonstrated to them how to fan air from the well onto my face to absorb its energy. After hearing my introduction, they stood up and walked towards the well. I was happy to put my newly-acquired knowledge into practice as a tour guide for people who had come from afar. Of course, I knew that Kiyomasa Well might not have magical powers. I remembered what the priest said to Eileen in the movie “Miracle Club” which I had just watch during my flight: “The real purpose of the pilgrimage was to sustain one’s faith even in the absence of miracles.” I felt that what I saw and did at Kiyomasa Well was a reflection of the priest’s words. The Kiyomasa Well may not has magical, but Hiromi’s family, the young boy, and I all felt its magical energy at the well. I also passed this magic on to the two American girls. The magic is human love.

(The isolated and tranquil Kiyomasa Well.)

Visiting Tokyo’s Iris Garden, I once again experienced the feeling of “following my interests, obeying my physical strength, exploring foreign lands, and being enchanted by all the beauty, it’s like a dream come true.” How wonderful!

Tonight, I closed my door, sat in my room and watched the 2024 presidential debate live.

When my daughter’s family of four came home from a walk, I heard my grandson Ben running towards my room, standing outside the door, and calling “Grandma, Grandma”. I opened the door, and Ben ran into my room with two colorful plastic spoons in one hand and a Super Mario Princess Peach plush doll in the other.

The live debate ended quickly.

While walking Ben to the dining room for his dinner, I asked him: “Who bought you the spoons?” “Mom.” I asked my daughter: “You guys went shopping tonight?” My daughter replied: “No, we went for ice cream, and the spoons were from the ice cream.” I couldn’t help but sigh: “Wow, eating ice cream so late.”

Because he ate ice cream, Ben had no appetite for dinner.

After a while, Ben’s friend Mateo and his father along with his younger brother came over to watch Pikachu on the TV together. No one mentioned tonight’s debate. It seems that parents with young children don’t have time to listen to the 90-minute debate.

I went back to my room and thought about how Ben, who was just over two years old, liked ice cream as much as his mother did，which made me remember a memory about her moving from the East Coast to California. In early 1997, in cold West Virginia, I told my three-year-old daughter who loved ice cream: “We are moving to California where we can eat ice cream in the winter.” After hearing this, she longed for California.

More people and scenes of eating ice cream slowly emerged in my mind.

A long time ago, I enrolled in an adult night school in California. During the first class, the instructor asked students to share about their favorite food. The girl in front of me said: “I like ice cream the most.” I followed up with: “I don’t like ice cream because I don’t like cold food. I like rice the most.” After hearing what I said, the girl turned towards me, opened her eyes widely and said in a surprising tone: “Wow, there are people who don’t like ice cream.” When talking about their favorite food, even adults are easily excited. The rest of the classroom was also excited on that day.

In 2016, I sent my daughter to Wurzburg Germany for graduate school, we had a chance to chat while savoring a plate of light yellow ice cream, and I talked about the light yellow ice cream made by my mother in 1982. That year, I was a sophomore in Sichuan Normal University in Chengdu. My mother wrote to me and said that our family bought a Changqing single-door refrigerator. She learned how to make ice cream and made a big jar of ice cream waiting for me to come home to eat during my summer vacation. The memories awakened by the food are vivid. I remember my mother who doesn’t like sweets watching me eat her ice cream with a long lasting smile, in our dining room on Fort Hill, in the hot summer without air conditioning in Zigong. It was a pleasant thing to eat ice cream in summer when I was young!

However, I recently heard an unpleasant story about eating ice cream. A grandma who likes to wear flowery clothes just like me flew to the East Coast this summer to visit her son, daughter-in-law, and grandsons. She originally planned to stay for a week, but the ice cream caused trouble and she only stayed for three days. She and her son’s family of four went to an ice cream shop and she ordered a large size of chocolate ice cream for herself, because she liked sweets very much. She shared some of her ice cream with her grandson, because the boy wanted to try everyone’s. After returning home, the grandma went to the bathroom and noticed from the mirror that there was a line of brown left by the chocolate ice cream on her flowery clothes, which is one of her favorites. She suddenly got angry, felt that her son and daughter-in-law did not take her seriously because they did not point out that her clothes were soiled in the store, which showed that they are tired of her now, so she left early. This story made me want to step into the case, because the grandma said that her son did not know that she left because of the ice cream stain.

I thought about her story again tonight, thinking about our two-year-old Ben who is quick and full of ideas, and someone always has to pay a good attention to him when he goes out; thinking about my daughter, son-in-law and the young parents of our neighbor who have no time to care about tonight’s presidential debate, I guess the son and daughter-in-law in that situation were too busy taking care of two children who probably like ice cream and might not have noticed her problem. I think I will not make the same mistake as the grandma now. Also I think listening to this kind of gossip is beneficial. First, I can be a bystander and comment on it without suffering, and second, I can step into the case to think about and understand the problem more deeply.

In 2016, I sent my daughter to Wurzburg Germany for graduate study. I chatted with her while sipping a light yellow ice cream, a long lasting memory.

Last night, I went to the monthly neighborhood meeting organized by Victoria，one of my neighbors.

Victoria prepared the agenda for the meeting. In addition to residents, local officials will also attend the meeting. Because many residents only speak Spanish, and officials mostly speak English, and I don’t understand Spanish at all, Victoria naturally became a bilingual translator. She translated Spanish into English and English into Spanish to facilitate communication and understanding among attendees. Later in the meeting, District 7 Councilor Bien stood next to Victoria and praised her many times: “You did an awesome job translating!”

Families Children Services

Before the meeting, during the self-introduction phase, the lady who sat next to Victoria said that she came from the county to serve families and children. I wanted to listen to her speech because I thought we (people with families and children) are her service targets. She did not speak during the meeting, so I looked for her after the meeting to learn about her work . I saw her standing and chatting with an African American lady and went over to ask her: “You said you provide services for families and children. What department are you in?” She replied: “Oh, I’m in the County Department of Family Children Services.” I asked again: “I have two grandchildren. What kind of services can you provide for us?” She said: “We provide services to protect children from abuse and neglect, to ensure that no child is left behind.” I nodded and thanked her by saying: “Thank you for your explanation. Now I know it provides services for children in special cases.” I immediately apologized to the African American lady standing next to me, “I’m sorry, I interrupted your conversation because I want to know more about family and children services I just heard tonight.” She smiled and said, “It’s okay. We are colleagues. I’m glad to see that you are interested in our services.” I said, “I’m also glad to hear that the government has such a service to care for children in our community.” Then, we exchanged names and family situations to extend our conversation. I’m Jean, and I have two grandchildren; Lina, who is of Burmese descent, has two children; Sinora, Lina’s African American colleague, has three grandchildren. They all grew up and work in California. After hearing their introductions, I guess that mothers or grandmothers who are working in the Department of Family Children Services would be easier to put themselves in the shoes of children in special cases, and perhaps provide more appropriate services for children in need. We talked about the responsibilities of taking care of children and grandchildren and some other things. I suggested taking a photo together and they both agreed.

After taking the photo, we exchanged contact information and I said to them: “I like to write stories about meeting new people and I am very happy to meet you at tonight’s meeting. I will write a story about tonight’s event and share it with you.” I also told them that the services they provide to our community make me happy as it shows our government really cares about children.

The residents’ meeting was rich in content and I felt deeply about a few of them.

Dumpster Day

One of the main topics in the meeting is planning the next “Dumpster Day” event. Before 2017, I lived in Almaden Valley in San Jose and enjoyed the convenience brought by “Dumpster Day” many times, so I like this event very much. Listening to residents and officials discussing: Where to park the garbage trucks? If there are not enough parking spaces where the garbage trucks are located, residents will spend a lot of time in the car lining up on the road to get closer to dump their junk into the truck, which means this event might cause nearby traffic jams. How to notify all the neighbors of this event? If the notification didn’t reach everyone ahead of time, the prepared garbage trucks could not be filled up which will be a waste of resources. How to prevent residents from piling up junk on the roadside instead of sending it to the garbage trucks? … I only now know that scheduling a “Dumpster Day” event is a big project involving both the government and the public.

Closing Schools

Alum Rock School District superintendent Manny addressed residents’ concerns about the District’s plan to close nine schools this year. Here are some Q&A I heard:
Q-Why do you want to close schools?
A-The government funds schools based on the student enrollments. In the past decade, the student enrollments in our school district dropped sharply, the funds received by schools also dropped sharply, but the cost of maintaining school buildings did not change, so some schools need to be closed to reduce maintenance costs.
Q-Why is student enrollments decreasing?
A-Because the birth rate is declining, high housing prices have prevented young families from settling here, and there is competition from charter and private schools.
Q-How to decide which nine schools to close?
A-The school district will set up an organizing committee, including principals of schools in the district, representatives of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), and representatives of four neighborhood committees. Your neighborhood committee can also apply to be a representative.

Concerns

Lieutenant Jesse, Foothill Division Commander of the San Jose Police Department, also came. He said, “Nancy Pelosi is coming to San Jose tonight. Many of my people are there now, and I will go there soon. Before I leave, do you have any concerns to tell me? ” Someone said: “I have noticed that there have been more graffiti on the wall and road signs in recent weeks.” Jess said, “Please use the 311 App to report the graffiti, and someone will handle these issues.” I am very happy that our area didn’t have concerns which needed the police chief’s immediate attention.

Beautify San Jose

Regarding graffiti, Tara, from the San Jose Mayor’s office, said that she and Victoria worked together to invite painters to paint beautiful pictures on the high wall next to the newly constructed children’s playground through the “Beautify San Jose” project:

Once I heard conversation about the children’s playground, I immediately raised my hand to say: “I hope to install a sunshade tent for the children’s playground so that children can play under the hot sun and utilize the playground fully.” Because I often took my grandchildren there to play, I noticed that the slides are too hot to play in the daytime on sunny day as they are exposed to the sun directly. This is a scene of I played with my granddaughter in the shade under the slides in the playground:

Someone also suggested that it would be safer at night by installing lights in the children’s playground. Someone followed the subject of night to say: “While driving at night, I saw more pedestrians wearing dark clothes crossing the road, it is very unsafe. Why was the law of ‘jaywalking is illegal’ repealed?” The official replied: “In over 20 years of relevant work experience, no pedestrians have ever crossed the road and been hit by cars. Pedestrians should be able to cross the road where they feel it is safe.”

Install a Speed Bump

An official also shared a case: “A neighbor suggested adding a speed bump on a section of the road where the speed is too fast. This is a good suggestion, but it will take a lot of time to implement. First, the relevant department needs to accept this request, then the task of installing a speed monitor equipment can be scheduled, and the actual installation will be much later. After the installation is done and the data is collected, the relevant department will analyze the data to see whether the conditions of adding a speed bump are met. If the conditions are met based on the data, then the relevant department will schedule and perform the task of adding a speed bump.”

This was my first time listening closely to the conversation between local officials and residents, after living more than 30 years in the United States. Not only did I learn a lot of knowledge which I had never been exposed to, but I also felt the people-friendly style of local government officials in the United States, which I felt grateful for. I hope more residents will come to attend this meeting in the future!

The photos from Monday’s residents’ meeting:

December 21，at home

On the evening of December 21, 2023, my daughter invited Grace and Lou for dinner as they were going out for Christmas. I feel very happy to host the friends we made in Massachusetts at our home in California.

While I was cooking fish, shrimps, and rice noodles for dinner (Grace likes seafood, Lou likes rice noodles), I thought of the good times we spent together in Waltham, Massachusetts. During 2020 COVID pandemic period, while my daughter was studying in Germany, I was alone at Waltham. Grace and Lou often stopped by our home to bring their home-made delicious dishes: stir-fried lamb, braised beef, Shandong pancakes, and Saqima, etc. also to spend time to chat with me. We climbed the Blue Mountains in Massachusetts together in the fall in 2020. My daughter later told me: “After you guys climbed the Blue Mountain together, Grace messaged me: ‘Your mother is in good health as she had no trouble at all with climbing.’ I was so happy to hear this news!”

It seems that the last time I saw Grace was in the summer, not long after my granddaughter was born. When I saw Grace this time, I felt she is even more beautiful and fashionable. She always reminds me of a good friend I used to work with.

During dinner, we congratulated Grace on passing her Ph.D. comprehensive exams and Lou on switching his companies.

After dinner, I gave a box of wedding candies that I had just brought back from my son and daughter-in-law’s Flower Moon Celebration in Beijing. Graces took the box and praised its festive color and beautiful design, then opened the box and poured the wedding candies on the dining table. She pointed to the pretty wedding candies and said: “Oh, many of the candies are my favorites in the past.” She and Lou then each picked out their favorite candies to eat.

Seeing Grace happily talking and soaking the wedding candy inside her mouth, I asked her: “Do you think the Egyptian pyramids are really pre-historical?” My daughter immediately asked me: “Why are you asking this question?” I said: “Recently, I watched some short video blogs that were shared by friends who travel very often and I saw the videos showed evidence that the pyramids were built with cement and said they were built by later generations. I want to know whether this statement is reliable.” Grace said: “That statement is not reliable. I am sure that the Egyptian pyramids have a very long history!” Because Grace is a doctoral student who is currently working on her Ph.D. essay on the 3000 BC Akkadian at JHU (the abbreviation for Johns Hopkins University), I believed her words and said: “Thank you for the expert’s words!” She smiled and said again: “Aunt Jing, our JHU History Department has two professors who specialize in the history of ancient Egypt. If you have more questions, I can ask the professors to answer them for you.” I quickly said: “I have no questions, I just want to know that the Egyptian pyramids are worth a visit, because I want to see them. “Then, I turned around and told my daughter: “After I came back from Peru, you asked me where I want to go next year. Now I have the answer: I want to see the pyramids of Egypt next year.”

My trips in November to Peru to see Machu Picchu and in December to Beijing to attend my daughter-in-law and son’s Flower Moon Celebration enlightened tonight’s gathering and I felt that the joy of traveling was lingering in the air.

While traveling in Peru in my free time, I came up with a despondent desire to see the pyramids of Egypt. After looking through the photos I took in Peru, I realized that it was on November 21st, exactly a month ago. There is also a story about that day.

November 21st，in Peru

Today is the first day after our tour group visited Machu Picchu, one of the “New Seven Wonders”. The tour guide took us to a farmhouse in Pisaq to make and eat local, empanadas (Spanish pies). I still remember the lady boss of the farmhouse proudly introducing herself: “I am a descendant of the King who built Machu Picchu more than 400 years ago.”

Because this was a group activity with plenty of alone time, the tour guide suggested that we form a two-people team to make empanadas and take photos of each other. I teamed up with Vaida, an Indian girl who is a sophomore in Texas. While waiting for the empanadas dough, we chatted. I told her that my daughter had also traveled alone in a tour group when she was a college student at University College of London in London. She said she is the only child in her family, she will go back to see her parents in India before Christmas, and she loves traveling. I asked her: “Where is a place worth visiting in India?” She said: “Taj Mahal.” I was not familiar with the name, so I asked her curiously: “India has a long history of Buddhism. Is this a natural scenery or a historical building?” She was surprised to hear my question, she opened her phone and found the photos of Taj Mahal and showed them to me. As soon as I saw the photo, I said quickly: “Oh, I know this place! After Diana and Charles had marital problems, she went there to take the famous photo.” Vaida frowned and seemed deflated. It was obvious that she was not satisfied with my interpretation. I looked at the innocent expression on her face and laughed quietly. I guessed she might be thinking to herself: “How could Jean so keen on gossip?” She said that she had been there with her parents a few years ago, and it is also one of the “New Seven Wonders”.

We lost our two-people team concept once we gathered around a big table and started kneading the dough to make our own empanadas, and I made two empanadas with different fillings. Because the empanadas we make will be placed on a large baking pan and put into the fire stove.， we also used dough stick to shape the first letters of our names to patch on the empanadas for easy identification so we could eat our own empanadas. I felt my empanadas were so tasty, because I made them myself.

As tonight had no group dinner and I felt altitude sickness, I stayed in my room after checking into the hotel in Cuzco to learn about India’s Taj Mahal and related information online. The “New Seven Wonders” were introduced in 2007, including
1. Great Wall of China
2. Colosseum in Roma, Italy
3. Taj Mahal in Agra, India
4. Chichen Itza in Yucatan, Mexico
5. the ancient city of Petra in Jordan
6. Machu Picchu in Peru
7. Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

It turns out that there is another “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World”: the Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Olympian Zeus, and The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. Six of them have disappeared, and only the Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt remains.

I noticed that there are two wonders were built with legendaries of grand love: the first is the lost Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which was built between 604 BC and 562 BC by a King to please his beloved concubine and the second is Taj Mahal in India, which was build in 1648 in memory of a King’s beloved concubine. I guess the carrying force of this kind of legend held people’s desire for earth-shattering love. However, I have no interest in the Taj Mahal in India. I really want to see the Egyptian pyramids, a despondent desire, because I saw some videos saying that the pyramids are fake and were built by future generations with cement.

Little Episodes

1. 12-21-2023, Our dining ware, dishes, red wine, my son and daughter-in-law’s wedding candy box, wedding candy, and my granddaughter, being held by Lou, is about to be held by Grace.

2. 12-19-2023, On my first day back home from Beijing, Ben, my grandson, loved playing with his uncle and aunt’s wedding candy box, pouring out the shiny candies as toys and putting them back into the box.

3. 11-21-2023, In Pisaq, the dough for empanadas was made from seven or eight types of grains.

(The lady boss of the house wearing a black apron introduced herself: “I am a descendant of the king who built Machu Picchu more than four hundred years ago.”)

(The lady boss of the house held up the grain crops used in her empanadas one by one to show us and to explain.)

(The scene of everyone making empanadas around the big table for oneself and my two pies with the word “JS” in the rattan basket.)

Little Stories

A Story about Grace.
A Story about Lou.

In November 2023, I joined a 6-day group tour in Peru to see Machu Picchu (11-17 to 11-22) and had wonderful times：
a）The first day in South America by myself, I had a wonderful experience。
b）Unforgettable moment of chatting during Thanksgiving breakfast time in Cuzco Peru.

Last night, one of my daughter’s coworker S and her husband invited us to their house to have hot pot. S put a cooked cuttlefish ball in each of our bowls. My daughter and Alex didn’t eat it, so I ate three at a time. The cuttlefish ball was a very new thing to me and I liked the chewy texture and the seafood flavor. I looked at the black ping-pong sized cuttlefish balls floating in the boiling hot pot and gradually picked up and ate three more balls during the dinner while drinking a mango-flavored beer for the first time.

While eating hot pot, we were chatting casually about work and pleasure. S asked me how was my trip to Peru. I am happy to share my trip so I quickly said a lot: “This is my first time traveling in a group and I had a great time! Machu Picchu is spectacular and worth a visit! Most of our 30-people tour group were empty-nest couples over 50 years old. I also got to chat with many of them who were from South Africa, Australia, Romania, Greece, Malaysia, and Singapore.” These words refreshed my memory of my trip to Peru last November…

I spent the 2023 Thanksgiving in Cuzco, Peru.

On Thanksgiving, people who continued on the group touring left the hotel at 6 a.m., and rest of us who already completed the 6-day group tour needed to check out of the hotel before 11 a.m.

I went to the hotel cafe for the free breakfast buffet at 8:30 a.m. There were more than ten tables but just a few people dining in the cafe with many Christmas decorations. I poured a glass of fresh papaya juice, sat at an empty table and slowly drank my newly discovered favorite juice as I liked its soft thick fresh taste and its soft bright orange color.

I thought it would be a quiet Thanksgiving breakfast alone, but thanks to like-minded people, I enjoyed a chatty Thanksgiving breakfast with three of my tour group members.

After drinking two glasses of papaya juice, Leann who is from South Africa came over. We exchanged names on the first day of the tour and got to know each other through casual chats over the past few days’ traveling and eating together. She is single, a doctor, a lecturer at a medical school, a great cook who enjoys cooking and entertaining. After saying good morning to each other, she sat next to me on my right side. While I was drinking papaya juice and eating scrambled eggs and baby potatoes, she was tasting her plain coffee. She said to me: “Have you noticed that the coffee here is very strong?” I replied: “Oh, I haven’t had any coffee yet as I only drink fresh papaya juice.”

Then, Mag and Paul, a tall couple from Australia, came. Mag is lean with light brown shoulder-length straight hair and Paul is muscular with a white beard. I haven’t had a chance to chat with them yet, but Leann knew them well and invited them to join us at the same table. When they went to get their food, Leann told me: “Mag runs a wedding ceremony service（not a wedding planner service), and when they travel, they put their house on AirBnb for rent.” Hearing this, I said with admiration: “I can imagine they must be very good at management!”

When Mag and Paul brought their food and drinks sat down on my left, I turned my head and introduced myself: “I am retired and on vacation from taking care of my two young grandchildren. Do you have any grandchildren?” Mag said with a noticeable British accent: “We have five children and four grandchildren and our eldest grandson is 14 years old.” At this time, a familiar song was playing in the cafe and I asked hesitantly: “Is this Adele’s song?” Leann firmly replied: “Yes, it is hers!” Mag said: “It doesn’t sound like Adele is singing.” I also said: “Yes, it is not her voice.” Leann smiled and said: “That’s not surprising, re-singing a famous singer’s songs is common in South America.”

There was no wine for breakfast in the cafe, but the well-known Adele brought us closer together and also made me want to chat. I showed them my grandson and granddaughter, the cover photo of my phone. Mag also showed us photos of her four-year-old granddaughter dressed up on her phone. I looked at Mag’s doll-like granddaughter and said, “Her pink dress is so pretty!” Mag said, “This is the dress I made for her and she also asked me to make a small flower basket of the same color.” I looked carefully in the photo and saw the little girl is holding a pink basket. I said to Mag: “You made pretty dresses and nice flower baskets. Unfortunately, I can only make short skirts.” I found a photo of the three short skirts I made for my daughter a few years ago on my photo and showed it to Mag. Mag looked at the short skirts on the photo and said: “The patterns of the skirts are very unique, especially the one with angel pattern.” I said: “My daughter also likes this angel pattern skirt. But I haven’t touched a sewing machine for a while now as my eyesight is getting worse.” Mag said: “After I had my eye surgery, I have no trouble using a sewing machine and often use it.” She talked about the eye surgery she had done. I smiled and said: “I’m afraid of pain and surgery. Because of this, many years ago, I didn’t get a laser surgery to correct my nearsightedness.” Mag laughed. Leann was not interested in sewing so she and Paul were chatting about our travel experiences.

After chatting about sewing, we all talked about afterthoughts of our six-day group tour. Leann said: “I think the people in our group are very nice and we had a good time together for a few days.” Mag said: “The tour guide also said that our group is a easy one to handle as everyone agrees on the trip schedule.” I said: “This is my first time join a group tour, I had great time chatting with people from many different places.”

At this time, Paul looked in front of him and said, “That lady is about to collapse.” I then turned my head and saw three people sitting around a table on my right. One of them, a young lady was swaying her upper body, seemingly about to lose consciousness. One of her friends fed her something, I guess some medicine, and she quickly stopped swaying. After watching this realistic short drama about altitude sickness, I asked casually: “Have you experienced altitude sickness?” Leann said: “No, because I took medicine in advance.” Mag said: “We didn’t take medicine and didn’t feel much discomfort..” I said: “My altitude sickness is much worse than I expected, so this trip to Machu Picchu is my first and last.” Mag said: “Oh, I wouldn’t mind visiting Machu Picchu again.” She turned to look at Paul and said, “We wouldn’t mind visiting Machu Picchu again, right?” Paul nodded with a sweet smile. Mag said again: “We may not come again. The world is so big and there are so many other places we still want to visit.” I thought for a while and said: “The world is big and I had wanted to visit Machu Picchu for a long time. I brought the photos of my late parents and nanny with me on this trip. After visiting Machu Picchu, one of the seven wonders of the world, I realized that even if they are still alive, they would not be able to visit Machu Picchu in person as they cannot bear the altitude sickness and the bumpy journey.” Mag said: “The tour guide also said that you brought the photos of your late parents with you to visit Machu Picchu. Would you mind showing me the photo?” At this moment, Leann’s phone rang, she said it was her mother calling and left the table to talk on the phone.

I took out the color photo of my late parents and the black-and-white photo of my late nanny from my small satchel and handed them to Mag. She looked at the color photo of my parents and handed it to her husband. She looked at the black-and-white photo of my nanny carefully and asked curiously: “How many years ago did your nanny pass away?” I said: “More than ten years ago. Oh. Recently, my brother went back to our hometown and visited her grave. We found on her tombstone our names were side-by-side with her sons’ names and we were treated as her children on the tombstone.” Mag asked carefully after thinking about it: “Was it your nanny’s idea to put your names on her tombstone?” This was the first time I heard this question. I thought about it and said, “It was probably not her idea as she had Alzheimer’s disease a few years before she passed away. Maybe it was her sons’ idea.” I explained more: “My brother was just half a year old when my nanny came to our house. She lived with us for more than ten years, and she left after my brother and I went to college, so she had taken care of me since I was born.” Mag commented: “You are a family!” Mag asked those questions because she was really interested in my nanny on the photo. I hope my nanny in heaven is satisfied with what I said about her.

On Thanksgiving Day, thanks to bumping into like-minded people in Cuzco, Peru, in South America, a couple from Australia got to know my late nanny from China during our casual conversation at breakfast.

Before saying goodbye, we had a photo at the cafe to remember the happy moment far from our homeland in Cuzco Peru.

Little more

11-16-2023, The story about I had a great time on my first day to Lima Peru.

In early 2019, The story about I made three short skirts for my daughter who just lived in the winter in Massachusetts for the first time.

https://puddleofgold.org/?p=2850

We live in East San Jose, where has high population of Spanish speakers. In late October, several small tent shops appeared on South King Rd, a main road in East San Jose. The shops were close to the houses on the street, and there were many golden, orange, and dark red flowers outside of the tents, in the open spaces between the sidewalk and the street. They looked like Halloween decorations from a distance. One day, my daughter and I were driving by this area and I commented: “So many flowers on sale on the street, are we starting to decorate for Halloween using real flowers now?” After hearing my question, my daughter said, “These flowers are used to celebrate the Day of the Dead in Mexico, it’s not for Halloween. Do you remember the movie “CoCo”? It was about the Day of the Dead, and there were a lot of golden flowers in the movie.”

I like the movie “CoCo” very much, and I also learned from the movie “Death is not farewell, forgetting is” which I used often nowadays after both of my parents passed away. However the movie did not help me link the Day of the Dead to the name of the gorgeous flower.

Knowing that the dazzling flowers on the roadside were sold for the Day of the Dead in Mexico, I curiously walked from home to the tent shop to take a closer look at the flowers, because I like flowers but I don’t know the names of the flowers for the Day of the Dead.

On a warm and sunny autumn day, while walking to the shop, I played Pokemon Go on the way which made my trip more interesting. Crossing several streets with sidewalk traffic lights, I arrived at the first tent shop. There were many five-gallon plastic buckets filled with flowers on the ground inside and outside the shop. Looking down at these brightly-colored flowers, I felt the enthusiastic and excited. The bucket was crowded with golden, orange, and dark red flowers, exuding heart-warming enthusiasm; looking closely, each flower was clustered by cascading and curved petals, appearing chaotic and lively.

The golden and orange flowers are marigold and the dark red flowers are celosia (cockscombs). The sales lady in the shop pointed to the golden marigold said: “This is the angel.” I found the tales about Mexican Day of the Dead flowers online: “With the bright coloring and potent fragrance, marigolds are thought to attract the souls of the dead to the ofrendas prepared for them. Decorating the altar with dark red cockscombs will bring vitality and joy, and reduce the gloomy atmosphere associated with death; another saying is that cockscombs symbolize mourning and the blood of Christ – a prime example of the syncretism between catholicism (Spain) and ancient Aztec (Mexico) Day of the Dead traditions.” It seems that these flowers convey unrestrained joy when paying homage to the dead in Mexico, unlike the commonly used white flowers which pay homage to the dead in China, such as calla lilies, white chrysanthemums, white lilies, and white carnations. These flowers convey subtle sadness.

Looking at so many brightly-colored flowers, I thought of my late mother who loved flowers. I guess my mother in heaven will say upon seeing these flowers: “Too colorful too crowded.” Because my mother liked simple, elegant, fragrant, and dignified flowers. I don’t really like these kinds of flowers either. I remember after watching “A Little Chaos”, a movie starring Kate Winslet and about the construction of the Gardens of Versailles, I sighed: “ I should go to some real gardens to enjoy real flowers, instead of watching a movie.“. Now I also realized that to enjoy the sight of flowers, you need to be immersed in them to have a personal feeling.

There were also many hanging paper-cuts on the wall and colorful skull decorations and small altars on the shelves in the shop. This was my first time seeing such decorations and I asked the lady in the shop: “Could I take some photos here?” She smiled and nodded her head to show her approval. I took a few photos in the shop and asked the sales lady: “When is this holiday (Day of the Dead)?” She said, “November 2nd.”

I walked from my home to the tent shop on the street for sightseeing. Although the distance was short, it felt like I had gone far to Mexico and experienced the local customs there, because I could more intuitively see the gorgeous flowers and colorful memorial offer the festive atmosphere during Mexico’s Day of the Dead. I didn’t know marigolds when I was a child, but I knew cockscombs as they were common household flowers in my hometown. Now marigolds are more vividly associated with cockscombs, the Day of the Dead, and the movie “CoCo” that I watched with my children in February 2018.

Little Episodes

1. Marigolds and Cockscombs for Day of the Dead：

Medicinal effects of marigold:
It can cure dizziness, colds and coughs, whooping cough, mastitis, gills, etc. Marigold is rich in lutein, an antioxidant that can inhibit the risk of cancer and heart disease. Ingesting foods containing lutein can prevent and treat cataracts and delay eye degeneration caused by age.

Cockscomb flower can be used medicinally and edible, cooling blood and stopping bleeding.

2. Various commemorative items for Day of the Dead sold in the shop：

3. Small tent shops on the street opened for the Day of the Dead：

On Saturday night, my friends and my family had a dinner at a western style restaurant.

It is only the beginning of December but the restaurant is already filled with holiday spirit: dress-up guests took photos next to the Christmas tree in the hall from time to time and the walls of the restaurant were decorated with Christmas ornaments.

We were led to a separate room with two rows of long tables. A long table was already filled with food, and a group of people in casual holiday clothes were eating. They looked happy and talked very loudly.

After we sat down at another empty long table, a tall man in a Christmas hat at the next table got up and came to us. He put his arms on the backs of two chairs and bent down to greet us: “Happy holidays! We are graduated from Overfelt High School in 1970, and we are here to celebrate the 50th anniversary of high school graduation. Because of COVID, our celebration was postponed for two years. We may be a bit loud so please forgive us.” Hearing what he said, we immediately felt the noise at the next table was like entertainment to us. We started to guess the age of the people at the next table: they graduated from high school in 1970, based on how people usually graduate from high school at the age of 18, most of them should have passed age 70 already. Watching the old classmates of more than 50 years ago together, talking, laughing, singing and applauding, a few of us who were born in the 60′s in China couldn’t help admiring the passion, vitality, cohesion and organization of this group of old classmates.

The waitress who served us was a tall and fit middle-aged beauty. She quickly sent our orders to the kitchen and appeared to be very efficient. While waiting for the main course, we finished a basket of free bread, and asked the busboy for the second basket of bread. When we finished the second basket of bread, the waitress came to tell us: “Sorry, because there are many small parties tonight, and the kitchen is busy and your orders will be late.”

While waiting for the food, I was not hunger because I ate a lot of free bread; I didn’t feel bored at all because of the singing, laughter, and applause at the next table. After chatting with my son sitting next to me and my friend Ann sitting across the table for a while, I looked at Ben, my grandson who was sitting on the high chair at the front of the long table from afar. I, in silence for a long time, enjoyed the sight of him behaving calmly while being exposed to a group of strangers with loud voices. Attracted by the singing and applause at the next table, Ben looked around curiously from time to time, and the ladies sitting against the wall at the next table praised the curious and quiet Ben with thumb-up from time to time.

Before the end of the party at the next table, someone suggested that everyone stand up and say a sentence begin with “I am thankful for”. At this time, our food was not served yet. I turned my attention to these old classmates and watched them stand up and say, “I am thankful for…” one by one: “I am thankful for my family and children.” “I am thankful for your friendship.” “I am thankful that my parents are healthy, my mother is 104 and my father is 96 this year.” “I am thankful that the Lord is with me.” “I am thankful that I still have love in my heart.” “I am thankful for my children, my grandchildren, and my great grandchildren.” Everyone got warm applause before sitting down. When the waitress started to serve us food, she overheard “my mother is 104″ so she asked me curiously: “Is that 104 year old mother here tonight?” I said: “No, tonight is her son’s high school reunion.” All of us were amazed about having great grandchildren around age of 70, because there must be a generation age gap less than 20 in these four generations.

After finishing their round of “I am thankful for”, a lady came by and said to me: “Sorry, we are so loud tonight. Do you want to know why we were so loud?” I nodded immediately. She smiled and said: “If we didn’t talk so loudly, many of us will fall asleep while sitting.” I laughed loudly after hearing what she said. I couldn’t help looking at this thoughtful and witty intellectual lady. Her body is full, she is dressed in a low cut tight black sweater, wearing a double breasted pearl necklace with a pair of matching pearl earrings; her face is round, she is wearing a pair of black rimmed glasses with brown and yellow short hair, sweet and elegant.

When we left our table, there were still many people chatting at the next table. Before we got out of the restaurant, we saw several people who had left their table earlier were drinking and dancing at the bar. They were really a group of living old urchins. I can’t help thinking of their jokes at the dinner table. A man asked the man who got up and ready to say “I am thankful for” to turn around, then slapped the man’s butt that was towards the table and said: “Look at this. This was the cutest butt in our yearbook that year.” The man seems to proud of himself and said:”I used it well.” There was a burst of laughter. A man recalled an old time story: “I had a motorcycle at that time. I wanted to take the pretty girl who always wore a miniskirt, but I took you.” The man then put his hands around a woman’s shoulder and said: “Before we arrived to your house, you asked me to turn off the engine, because you didn’t want your mother to know that you came back on a motorcycle.” Another burst of laughter. Because I have learnt that this was a high school reunion with family members or partners. Listening to the interesting memories they shared, I feel that this reunion with family members or partners told the ordinary oldness wanted to share their past happiness with people close to them.

After back home, I thought about how “I am thankful for” at the age of 70′s reunion was all about ordinary things. I guess it was the common mentality of ordinary oldness: to thankful for their family, their friendship, their healthy family tree, and their firm beliefs.

Little Episodes

（Celebrate the 50th anniversary of high school graduation. Because of COVID, the celebration was postponed for two years. ）

（The dinning room was filled with holiday spirit.)

（The dinning room was filled with holiday spirit. While Hearing “Jingle bell time is a swell time”, Ben is following his daddy clapping his hands.）

（Christmas decorations on the wall at the restaurant.）

Ben, my grandson who was born during the 2021 Lunar Year, is more than eight months old now.

Recently, Ben started to express more emotions than just laughing out loudly. On Sunday yesterday, I experienced the bodily reaction of Ben being frightened when he saw a balloon for the first time.

Last night, after seeing that the birthday balloon with many dinosaurs had been placed in the bathtub, I asked why. Alex said: “Ben was afraid of the balloon so we hid it here.”
I immediately asked: “Really?”
Alex answered: “This afternoon, while video calling my parents, we told them: ‘Ben is afraid of the balloon.’ They didn’t believe it either, so we had to show how Ben reacts to the balloon again, and then my parents believed it. If you don’t believe it, you can try.”

Curiously, I brought Ben from his playroom to the bathroom where the balloon was hidden. When he saw the balloon, Ben cried loudly and turned his head away, at the same time, my arm and chin felt that he was hunching up his shoulders as if he wanted to hide his neck and head inside his body. This was the first time I felt Ben hunching up his shoulders, shrinking his neck, and turning his head while crying loudly, so I knew Ben was truly afraid of the balloon!

I asked why Ben reacted like this. After analyzing for a while, the young parents said that perhaps the balloon was round, similar to a human face. A human face has two eyes, one nose and one mouth. The pattern of a human face was simple, symmetrical and easy to recognize. On the other hand, the balloon had many dinosaurs along with Happy Birthday letters, which makes for a confused shining moving face. Ben probably thought the balloon is a terrible face, so he was afraid.

This morning, at 8:00 AM, Ben and I were playing on the wooden floor in his playroom. I was lying down and he was crawling and playing with his toys. I remember his fear of the balloon and the reason was that the balloon was like a terrible human face. According to the my reasoning, if Ben knows the balloon is not a human face, but just a new toy he has never seen before, he will not be afraid of the balloon. So I put Ben in a corner of the playroom, and went to the bathroom to bring the balloon to another corner of the playroom far away from Ben. I played with the balloon by hugging it, touching it, folding the rope that tied to the balloon to let it touch the ground, and releasing the rope to let the balloon touch the ceiling. Ben looked at me nervously from afar, but he did not cry. I hid the balloon on my left side, crawled over to Ben and let him lie down on my right side.

While lying on the floor, my left hand released the balloon to hover over my body so Ben could see it, my right hand across my body then touched the balloon gently and then I pointed to the dinosaurs on the balloon and said: “Those are dinosaurs, your uncle loved dinosaurs when he was little.” Then my left hand pulled the balloon back so Ben could not see it. I repeated the same pattern of movements so Ben saw the balloon, Ben saw me touching it while talking, and then Ben could not see the balloon. Slowly, my right hand grabbed Ben’s hand to touch the balloon on my left side, but Ben firmly refused by pulling back his hand. I let his hand go, continuing my movements so Ben saw the balloon, Ben saw me touching it while talking about it, then Ben didn’t see the balloon, and I grabbed his hand to touch the balloon again. This time, Ben didn’t pull back his hand, but he was afraid of touching the balloon, he even hid his face on my right side. I started to hold his hand, let the balloon on my left side closer to my right side; while saying: “This is a balloon with lots of dinosaurs on it, your uncle loves dinosaurs when he was little.” Then I pulled his hand over to touch the balloon. Ben started to touch the balloon. Ben and I repeatedly touched the balloon to let Ben feel even a gentle touching causes the balloon to make big movements, I repeatedly said: “This is a balloon, it flies. Lots of dinosaurs are on the balloon, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.”

At 9:30 AM, Ben began to chase after the flying balloon that he was afraid to see earlier.

Ben and the balloon

Before getting my booster shot on Monday morning, according to the guidelines, I first drank 500 ml of water. While giving me the Moderna booster shot at CVS, the nurse said: “If the arm which received the shot hurts, you can take some painkiller.” “Do you think I will have a fever?” I asked. The nurse said, “Probably not.”. For the sake of safety, I rested at home for a day with no fever but a sore arm.

While resting at home, I thought of the almost-forgotten memory of this year’s Thanksgiving and the vivid details of it after recently chatting with my daughter, I suddenly felt that this forgetfulness might be because the aged memory easily sleeps during daily activities, but once we start to talk about the past, the almost-forgotten details of the past will appear. Perhaps chatting about sharing time helps with forgetfulness, because sharing time together is often one of the happiest activities in life.

While chatting with my daughter about our Thanksgiving this year, I remember she cooked new Thanksgiving-related dishes: roasted turkey, roasted pumpkin, and roasted sweet potato. A friend bought two bottles of white wine, one of which was Riesling. After we finished drinking the bottle of Riesling, Lucas, a German Ph.D. student, joked: “Of course I should have tasted the Riesling flavor that I am familiar with.” After finishing two bottles of white wine, we opened a bottle of red wine. Simon, Alex’s former roommate who came back to Boston for holiday from New York, brought a bottle of Japanese whisky, but we had no chance to open it. After finishing three bottles of wine, the alcohol in the air and in our stomachs inspired our conversation on the dinner table. Lucas wanted to experience the capsule hotel in Japan. He also showed us online photos of dozens of neatly stacked “capsules”, which can each accommodate one person, similar to a spaceship capsule. Alex wanted to visit the Romantic Road (Romantische Straße in German) in Germany, a road, from Würzburg to Füssen and about 350km. Romantic Road is rich in cultural landscapes, my daughter and I visited in September 2016. I was delighted to see Lucas’ authentic German fruit salad on the dinner table, as I really enjoy tasting authentic homemade food afar without leaving my home.

The holidays often paved nice ways in our memories. After relieving 2021′s Thanksgiving, I recalled the story of 2020′s Thanksgiving party. While in Germany, my daughter encouraged me, who was alone in Waltham, to hold a Thanksgiving party, as we were particularly isolated to avoid being infected by COVID-19 virus during the pandemic period of 2020. She suggested that I invite Rachel and her twin children and Grace andLou for Thanksgiving dinner. She also suggested that I roast a turkey. I had never roasted a turkey before, so I was planning to go to a Chinese supermarket to buy a roast duck instead (many Chinese families used roasted duck instead of roasted turkey on Thanksgiving). But she insisted that I roast a turkey. In order to please her, who was far away from home in Germany where Thanksgiving is not celebrated, I went to Costco and bought the smallest turkey home. Unexpectedly, my first roast turkey was very successful, everyone liked it. Lou’s specialty, braised pork belly in brown sauce, is also very popular. After Thanksgiving dinner, we played a Clue board game and ate delicious turnover desserts made by Rachel with different fillings such as blueberries, cranberries and apples.

Little Episodes

1. Thanksgiving in 2021: Walden Pond scenery, roasted sweet potato and roasted pumpkin made by my daughter, Lucas’ homemade German fruit salad, and other dishes.

2. Thanksgiving in 2020:
Colorful pepper, green asparagus, Clue game, our princess Kara, my roasted turkey, and Rachel’s turnovers.

Wine, tea, and Lou’s braised pork belly in brown sauce.

3. In September 2016, my daughter and I took a tour bus to visit the Romantic Road in Germany:

The COVID-19 pandemic has lasted for more than a year now, so conventional social gatherings have also stopped for more than a year.

In the middle of May, the weather is getting warmer but not hot, and the school spring semester will soon be finished, well-respected Professor W commented about the more than 2-hour long gathering celebrating his retirement as “the most pleasant surprise” this year. These words, the time, and the weather stirred a longing for a gathering among my daughter’s friends, including the retired professors. Everyone was enthusiastic for a recital. Professor A prepared an opening speech for the recital, Professor W will bring his own sound system and saxophone to play, Grace and Shirah practiced together for a piano and vocal piece.

Due to COVID-19, the originally planned indoor recital moved outdoors, in Rachel and Carey’s backyard, and it is called “A Garden Recital”. Rachel invested lots of time and resources on this garden recital by planting many flowers in their backyard. My daughter bought a big tent, as the weather forecast predicted rain on Sunday afternoon. Rachel prepared cheese, fruits salad, and baked cakes ahead of time. She also bought a few 2-Tier or 3-tier cake stand fruit plates.

At noon on Sunday, Alex, Carey and I set up the tent in Rachel and Carey’s backyard. Their four children brought the food, drink, and utensils to the garden and set up the chairs too. Grace and Lou brought their electronic piano from home. Shirah brought home-made self wrapped sweets too. A few of us were busy working from noon to 2:00 pm to stage the backyard for a garden recital of sixteen attendants. This preparation experience helped me realize that the hostess who is hosting a family garden recital is indeed a warm-hearted capable organizer. Thanks Rachel!

The early summer family garden recital was very successful. Professor A’s opening speech was focused on his research area, Grace played the piano, Shirah sang a few Italian and German opera songs, some with Grace playing piano, some just by herself. Rachel and Carey’s twin played the instruments that they will be playing in their school concerts soon. Professor W. brought his own sound system and played a few pieces of music on his saxophone. After the garden recital, we all enjoyed the delicious food prepared by Rachel, chatted about little episodes with keeping social distance during this pandemic, and little stories of family members.

Today, Rachel showed me the new additions to her garden, I learned that a white flower is called bleeding heart and wondered why a white flower got such a blood name. After the recital, Martha and I enjoyed the beautiful flowers in the garden and she pointed to the bleeding heart and commented: “The shape of this flower is like a heart, a small drop of red from the heart shaped flower, so it looks like the heart is bleeding.”

Little Episodes

At the opening of the garden recital, Professor A gave a speech. Rachel and Carey’s children were sitting outside the tent. Here under the tent sat: Maratha, Professor W and his wife, Lou, Alex, my daughter, Grace, Shirah, Carey, Justin, and Rachel.

The chairs in the garden recital:

The food prepared by Rachel:

Rachel was chatting (from left to right):
Shirah, Grace, Rachel, Professor A., Lou, Martha, Professor W. and his wife:

Alex, Rachel, and Lou:

Shirah, Grace, Rachel, and Lou:

Pretty Shirah and Grace with Lou:

Two days later, I found the bleeding heart flower described by Martha: