Thank Heavens for Girl Children

Leslie is out shopping for dinner. She will also correct the woefully inadequate state of my nonexistent tool kit -- I have a hammer and a few screwdrivers -- by purchasing a pair of pliers. I got out of the house with her yesterday to see a movie [THE QUEEN, recommended] and to buy a hand held shower which Leslie is going to install once the pliers are on hand. She is also shopping for dinner. So I have shown a picture from a market in China with an unknown fruit -- prickly and off putting. No such thing exists in our markets and no one had a name for it. When I traveled in Thailand a couple years ago we had many tropical fruits no available here - it was part of the educational aspects of the trip. Some were very delicious but they were presented so often and in such a variety of guises I remember almost nothing except that it was a delight to eat new foods.
So I'm rambling, covering three "topics" in the above paragraph which would drive a grade school teacher mad -- a C- if not a D for that effort of composition. But all thought bits could work in a modern poem ... maybe. I will not try. The thought I started with was none of the above. I wanted to say that I would wish all mothers the good fortune of finding, when their daughters are adult that they are can-do, competent people who also happen to be good cooks. It's very nice that they have interesting lives and ideas ... which are not necessarily the same as mine. When one does not live very close to one's children, and time spent with them is limited, a few days of togetherness is revealing, rewarding and just really, really nice. One does not HAVE to have a hip replacement to enjoy time with adult children -- I do not recommend it. But to know they come through in a time of need is also a wonderful thing. Somewhere I did something right but I could cogitate a very long time and only come up with guesses. I won't take 100% of the credit, they have a good father as well and they have their own inherent intelligence and that oxymoronic quality "common sense" which is really so uncommon.
Of course I should have a picture of them here but I don't, I'm still adding Chinese pictures This another market. Perhaps NYC is the only US city where a significant part of the population can shop each day for their fresh food. I love the spontaneity of seeing a bundle of asparagus at the corner market and decided I'd like it for dinner. And I especially like being able to good fresh bread, never the stuff with preservatives. Leslie has just returned amazed that one can very many basics packaged in small containers in NYC because people like me do not cook a lot and do not need quarters of cooking oil or a dozen eggs -- half a dozen is enough at one time. So dinner will be delicious and I can begin looking forward to my first shower in a month!!! It's the simple things one misses.