Today is the Eve of Chinese New Year (also New Year's Day in HK), also my sister's birthday (Happy B-day, ah por!!!). We didn't have much planned for the day, since the hubby has to work and Bryson has yet to be introduced to his Chinese heritage, although, he did receive his first ley see today from Auntie Irene and Uncle Jason all the way from Boston! Thanks! Gung hey, gung hey! And wish Brady "Fai Go Cheung Dai"!
Since it was nice and warm and dry today (70's), we decided to take Bryson out to an outdoor lunch with Uncle Henning at Cafe Cacao. While the food was yummy and the hot chocolate intoxicating as usual, the best part's gotta be watching the cherry trees in full bloom raining its delicate petals all around us. Bryson had a busy but enjoyable time licking off the pink petals that keeps sticking on his wet nose.
I know that I'm going to risk sounding totally American Idiot here, but back at Uncle Henning's place, I was intrigued when he showed me this bag of delicacy below that his mom sent him from Germany:
Who knows Heidi back in Deutschland enjoys a hearty bowl of mac and cheese as much as we big fat Americans do? (although the cheese used here is emmentaler, a Swiss cheese, as opposed to ours with cheddar) And who knows that Knorr is a German company? I didn't. In fact I thought it's Chinese and Jacques thought it was Thai as it's what we grew up with. Now that's a global brand (and 2 idiots).
After sending daddy to work, Bryson decided the best way to send Dog Year away is to wash all the bad stuff off at the beach. So with summer clothes on my back and sandals on my feet, we headed out with a lot of excitement and a tiny bit of trepidation- it's our first time visiting a large body of water, and Bryson's breeder wasn't sure if he's a swimmer; and I know I'm not. Our destination was the nearby Albany "bulb", a small sandy beach that sticks out like a light bulb from the somewhat controversial Eastshore State Park. The controversy= dog-lovers (no leash) vs bird-lovers (leash). The debate's gone back and forth for the past few years, and to my dismay I heard the leash law has come back to effect. But once you set foot on the beach, you quickly learn that common law (and common sense) rules here, as the brutally savaged "Leash Your Dog" sign lay in a sad pile at the bottom of a sand dune.
As soon as the leash came off and the first paw touched the sand, Bryson took off in the soft stuff and ran like the wind. He would run all the way out to greet the incoming surf, then dashing full speed back to me up at the dunes like a bobble-head with a silly grin on his face. I'm not even sure how many rounds he's made, but one thing I'm sure is if he giggles in his sleep tonight, this must be the reason why. You can just feel the joy oozing out from every one of his salty pores, and that sure was infectious.
Beautiful Albany "Bulb" at sunset (disclaimer: picture shamelessly pirated from Flickr)
We just kept lingering on and neither of us wanted to leave, and we only had to eventually when Bryson had ingested enough sand and salt water and seaweed (and other unidentifiable ocean junk) that he was gagging and ready to barf. Fortunately no vomiting occured and nobody drowned at this outing.
Now our dog is cleansed by Mother Nature, we can officially send away Dog Year and welcome the Golden Pig!
