I feel so much better today, after Mom's 9th anniversary dinner last night (a\k\a How I Always Spend Valentine's Day).
The Chinese have ghost meals on certain occasions (like the day they died) and offer food their ancestor liked. This year Mom's had dinner and a show, complete with a restored, subtitled Shaw Brothers upload on YT of one of her favorite Huangmei operas THE PERFUMED ARROW (1966)
https://youtu.be/-uP33g_WNG0?si=LatD_T6JVGujj5fN (91 min.)
Huangmei operas are more like folk operas. (I like listening to their cheerful melodies.) Peking operas are more like Wagner. After castration. (I run into the other room when they start.)
I clear off this bookcase [Sorry #AmeliaKatt!] which I already use as Mom's altar (incense holder & The Three Gods on the right) and light incense (+send prayers of course), while offering Squirrelmom food, water, and Johnny Walker Black.
(Mom never drank but what's a party without friends? and they might like some booze -- JWB was Dad's favorite.)
After the incense is finished burning, the living humans can eat (hello microwave!) and my friend Marci comes over every year to keep me company -- our parents even knew each other (hers have retired to Florida 😂)
So with Marci by my side, it was a fun evening of memories (and I introduced her to my favorite French mystery TV series, ASTRID, which she liked🎉) and new experiences: she said the plot of THE PERFUMED ARROW reminded her of Shakespeare's comedy TWELTH NIGHT. 🤣 TPA's main character was a woman disguised as a man, leading to romantic mishaps galore. 😆
