Birthday wishes

It’s good to be back after a short break and to enjoy a lovely lunch with two dear old friends. My birthday is coming up in a few days and they wanted to celebrate it with me

I was greeted with three beautiful stalks of pink bromeliads, from Yu Ling’s garden and a birthday card with wishes for good health and happiness. Sigh….. what more can a person want? Good old friends who remember your birthday with flowers, good wishes and a tasty lunch with longetivity
noodles ( a must for birthdays ) plus dim sum. ( literally translated as touch the heart )

We had steamed fish balls, yam pastries, sesame balls with sweet filling and pau filled with lin yung. The pau were shaped like bunnies,so very cute!

Companionship and trusty friends of long standing are a must in one’s life especially as one gets on in years. Sometimes it is only with bosom friends that you can share matters of the heart. Yu Ling and I go back a long way, ever since her daughter was a tiny baby in her arms and early next year she will be getting married. Time has gone past, like the water under the bridge flowing out to the sea. What has transpired is gone, never to return, so we should enjoy the present and happily anticipate the future.

Our children, once small, are now adults with their own lives, away from us but the precious bond of our friendship remains, to paint rainbows in our lives. I will have another one soon, in the form of line dancing, which Yu Ling has initiated at her home and I look forward to that.

I remember when I was a young teacher, fresh out of college, posted to teach in a convent school that had high walls enclosing it. No cars and no men were allowed to enter the grounds and the headmistress was a very intimidating Irish nun who wielded iron discipline and control over teachers and students. She didn’t believe in outdoor sports and I was given physical education (PE) classes to teach. She said I had to teach folk dancing and if I didn’t know how to dance, I had jolly well go and learn!

Luckily there were folk dancing classes in those days at the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur during the weekends so faithfully I learned a few folk dances, largely Scottish and Irish and taught them to the girls in school during the week. So I’m looking forward to learning line dancing, beginning tomorrow afternoon.

Thank you my friends for a lovely lunch, good wishes and the beautiful flowers. You made my day!