I love any excuse for a celebration, and this was the one for today. In years past I would prepare a feast for the day, but this seems too much like work, so I opted instead to see what was going on in town.

The first decision was, what to wear? I had purchased this good luck charm the last time I went to the big city, and I thought golden toads were the perfect choice for a necklace. This went well with the red tassel on my mask of the day (there were hoards of people tightly packed together for the celebratory event).

The official celebration was held at the vintage city auditorium, and there were vendors and demonstrations of Chinese culture, like martial arts and acrobatics. One could buy tee shirts and various tchotchkes, which I was able to resist (it is hard though). But, there was some young man who had made a bunch of dragons of various sizes on his 3D printer and I had to have one. (Yes, it’s not a rabbit, but I like dragons too.) I thought it made a nice zipper pull on my jacket. They also had food, which smelled delicious, and as there was a long, long line, I decided against this (even though I still had 18 minutes left on my parking meter.)

I popped over to the city museum, and I noticed this vintage wind-up toy in their collection. If I had to guess (and of course I’m guessing, I didn’t bother to read the label) I would estimate that this toy was from the 1920’s. There was certainly a different attitude towards Chinese culture at that time.

I still wanted some food, so I stopped in a nearby Chinese restaurant. The building looks like it was originally built as a diner, it’s on old highway 85, but it was tarted up as an American version of what a Chinese restaurant should look like, probably in the 1970’s. It has a precarious future because the entire area is getting gentrified, but it’s still there for now. So I enjoyed one of the daily specials for the holiday, then it was off home for dumplings at my house.

Just a reminder: the next holiday this month is Burn’s night (January 25th), a celebration of the Scottish poet Robert (Rabby) Burns. This can involve reading a poem about haggis, possibly eating a haggis (this is always very optional in my humble opinion) and of course a wee dram of Scotch whiskey (mandatory). Perhaps this year’s toast will include a salute to rabbits.