Treasures from China

A trip to the other side of the world ... and what do we have to show for it? 

Well, we don't have any photo mementos. The husbands phone died in Hong Kong with whatever photos he took locked inside. One of the students he taught emailed a couple of photos of the groups of students he taught. I would like to have seen a photo of the monastery situated up a steep hill on an island, where they met for class. The photos on the old sim card may still be recoverable. He got a new phone after he was told his phone indeed had not survived hospice.

The husband's two companions took plenty of photos, however.

Photos (if we ever look at them again) do bring back memories, or may even create them in our minds. I think that I often remember old photos more than the actual events they depict.

When did you last get out your wedding photos? The baby books? And those were the important life events. Most events are forgotten all too soon. We move on to the next thing. That inspiring conference you attended 10 years ago is probably now only a vague memory. The great sermon you heard last week is but a fleeting impression.  

Last week I heard a defense (in a sermon--not from my pastor) of my denomination sending representatives to Paris for a global warming conference. I was not happy with the attempt at justifying that expenditure. Sometimes I wish I could forget.

In my spare time this winter I have been going through some old photos and photo albums stored in bins in the basement. I have mixed feelings about the boxes and boxes of albums I created over the years. 

I still hoard photos, but now they are all being stored on that new 16 GB SD card (and in the cloud) that I bought recently for my phone. Getting 16 more gigs on my failing phone (for lack of space) for about $20 was one of the happiest days of January! And yes, an exclamation point! I shared my experience with daughter R. who has the same phone. She went out and purchased a 32 gig card. The guy told me you cannot do this for an i-phone. Yay Android.

Anyway, I am certainly not ready to toss out the boxes of photos just yet.

BUT...we are trying to get into a mindset of not accumulating more stuff. Two scarves, a mug (thanks, E.) and a small coin purse (thanks, M.) do not take up much space. The husband traveled for 10 days with only a carry-on bag, so there was very little room for treasures from China.

The students (including a number of women who likely did the shopping) presented him with a scarf for each of us. His scarf is very fashionable and he has been wearing it every day.

I thought it could be re-purposed nicely as a table runner:

My scarf never made it to Michigan. It is in Florida...

It was replaced with this Pashmina wool scarf, which the husband actually thought might be a tablecloth.

A few years back, on a trip to Jakarta, the husband was gifted with these lovely silk shirts, large shirts to be found within the Chinese community that he was associated with there. One is plenty large, but with very short arms! Any ideas for re-purposing these shirts? They hang unworn in a spare closet.

We already do have more than enough mementos from China, collected over the years, including a tea set and panda tea mug that have already made their appearance on the blog. I have art work from trips the husbands parents took to mainland China 30 years ago.

Here is one more lovely silk number depicting "100 children" which doesn't really fit in anywhere (except in a linen closet):

There are many opportunities for shopping bargains and fake brands in China which we probably have missed in the multiple trips taken (at least 9 trips in our immediate family of 5).

But let me end with this old truism: YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU!