Happy Chinese New Year!

Thursday was the Chinese (Lunar) New Year. To celebrate, I had lunch with some friends at our favorite Chinese Restaurant. The service (as always) was a bit slow, but at least there was a reason this time, the place was packed!

As always, Warren made a wonderful selection of things. (Today we had Dim Sum and Fried Rice.) We had a great time catching-up and celebrating the festivities.

Around two, the dragon dancers began to perform around two. Every shop, restaurant, and business in the Far East Center was festooned with garlands of Lettuce and Dollar Bills, an enticement for the dragons to enter and bestow their luck for the coming year.

Following the display outside in the parking lot, the dragon dancers wended their way around the plaza, being greeted by streamers of firecrackers, cheering onlookers, and of course, the lettuce and dollar bill garlands.

Once inside, the dragons danced around the patrons who fed them with more dollars to get their blessings of luck bestowed upon them as well.

With the exception of the past couple years (while I was living aboard) I have made it to the festivities each year with my friends, the Chins. I have great memories of their grandkids being in awe (and fear) of the dragons for the past dozen years. This year, Mark and Kelly’s kids got to feed the dragons and for once, the awe outweighed the fear!

It was a lovely afternoon full of food, friends, and festivities. We parted about four and went our own ways and onto our own plans for the day.

Wherever you are today, I hope you have had a lovely day with friends (and dragons)!

Don Bergquist – February 09, 2008 – Denver, Colorado, USA