Monday, March 24, 2008

A delayed day

Every year on Holy Thursday, my friend Tom and I, and usually Rebecca attend the Morning Praise service and then walk to Chinatown for lunch. Sadly, this year I was sick (for all the Holy Week services) and so I thought, “That is that! We have missed our annual outing!” I have the idea that if it is not done on Holy Thursday, it can’t be done at all. The more practical Tom said, “Let’s go on Monday.” At first this idea seemed outrageous to one so tradition bound as I, but then I realized that it was eminently sensible. So off we went this morning. Our route takes us through the Danny Woo garden, which is on a steep slope and divided into small plots for the nearby resident gardeners to plant vegetables or flowers, or usually, both. This year, Easter being so early, there was not much vegetibular progress, but the cherry blossoms were exuberant. We had lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant, Hing Loon, and as usual, it was scrumptious. You can see past outings when the gardens were more plush here.

We stopped in a sort of art gallery which occupied the site of our favorite variety store, Higo. Over the years, we went to Higo’s frequently. It was the place to find what you could not find anywhere else – from lovely handkerchiefs or exotic Origami paper to Asian dishwashing scrubbers. If we brought Leslie, my Cairn terrier, with us, the lady proprietresses would titter in delight, caress him, and rush into the back of the store to get him a cookie. Here is a picture of some dolls on display in the gallery today. And a picture of lovely greens from one of our previous – later in the season – walks.

No comments: