Day 199 - Jasmine

Thought of the day: This afternoon, when Jasmine and I were having lunch at Zhou Mama's, I saw Zhou Mama outside of her restaurant.  She was sitting on a bench along the side walk and taking a break.  And then I saw a cleanly dressed man walked over to her, gave her a kiss and handed her a beautiful bouquet.  I could sense a gentle, loving connection between these two and it turned out that he was her son and the bouquet was for Mother's Day, which would be tomorrow.  Zhou Mama has always been very warm and welcoming to guests in her restaurant.  She often offers me special treats like freshly made Chinese sausage, Goji berry rice cake, scallion cake, etc.  She is always alert and attentive and it's hard to believe that she is actually quite a bit older than my own mother.  I have a lot of respect for her and feel a certain affinity with her.  After watching the touching gesture by her son, I decided to get her a Mother's Day gift too.  Jasmine and I found it in a fair trade store on Pearl - a metal watering can hand-painted by a Bangladesh rickshaw driver with a beautiful sunflower on a green background.  It's now sitting in her restaurant serving as a vase for her son's bouquet - I couldn't be happier with the arrangement.

Photo of the day:

Jasmine got a new hat today.  It's a perfect hat for the spring!