Marlon and I walked to Farmers Market on 2nd St. to purchase some fresh herbs and veggies. We have invited Audy and Greg over for lunch and needed a few items. I found some cherry blossom blooms and Marlon bought them for me.
After we got home I showered and when I got out and dressed Marlon had put my cherry blossoms in a bottle he had washed out. I was so surprised and happy, they are not sitting out on the front porch of our apartment. Made me think of our upcoming trip to Japan.
Audy and Greg are here for lunch that Marlon has prepared. Yummy he is such a great cook. We had tortilla soup topped with sourcream and tortilla chips, salad and beverage. After lunch, we walked to their Honda Element and the view of all the sail boats on the water made us stop and enjoy the scenery. So peaceful and relaxing.
I'm so glad they are driving thee traffic is horrible and it doesn't bother them at all. They know short cuts we don't. Before we reached the Chinese Lantern Festival there was this big piece of metal art. Can't we all just get along is what this meant to me. Can't tell you what it means to the people in LA since we were not close enough to read about the metal carving.
The Lantern Festival occurs annually on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month to mark the closing of the Chinese new Year festivities. On the walk from the parking lot there was an entire square filled with homeless people who had put up tents along a wired fence. This their homes. I saw 2 ladies fighting over a container of food that someone could not eat and had thrown away. So very sad. I'm anxious to reach our destination.
Upon arriving there were lots of tents set up to learn about Chinese culture. Each of us took a turn at learning how to write using calligraphy technique. So very hard to do but also allot of fun. Marlon's paper says "longevity" and Audrey's says Love.
2016 is the year of the Red Fire Monkey. People born in the year of the monkey: 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, and 2016. Those born this year are intelligent, witty, and creative. They are problem solvers and work well in groups while also demonstrating and independence and inventiveness associated with achievers. Gentle and honest, they are often rewarded with deep love relationships.
Entertainment at the square. Chinese are sharing their culture. The man of so many faces was amazing quick change artist. I think I captured 10 of the many face changes.
This guy was amazing with so many talents. Teapot balancing on a stick hanging from his mouth. He would flip the pot around and never dropped it once.
High school student in the 10th grade plays this instrument with so much grace. The sound of the music was so relaxing.
Time to walk to Little Tokyo. I was never so amazed of this place. It was like walking the streets of Tokyo. Lots of people, Japanese stores for shopping, small Japanese grocery stores, lots of places to get Japanese food and just sit and people watch. Audy showed me this cool bookstore with all the things I expected. HUGE variety of pens, pencils, art supplies and tons of cartoon Japanese stories. I did buy me a package of mechanical colored pencils that came in a case. I have never seen mechanical pencils that had colored lead. I bought an extra package of lead since I have taken up coloring.
Traffic again was unbelievable with cars as far as you could see. Audy is a fabulous driver through it. Once we got back to the apartment, Marlon and Audrey walked down to a pizzeria and brought back to pizzas and a 6 pack of Goose Island. Nice way to end our day.
