And so here we were on Saturday, we spent some money towards some much needed office supplies, binding equipment for presentation packets to be exact. He drove me to Staples and like a little girl let loose in a toy store I filled up our cart. He paid for all the purchases hoping to get reimbursed without loose canon Lissa, another board member, squawking about the expense. Good luck with that.
As we walked down his courtyard when we got home, his girlfriend Shu-shia (Susan), head sticking out the second floor kitchen window (she was busy violating house rules by feeding the birds) waved at us and urged me to come up and have coffee to which I gladly obliged. We sat and enjoyed the coffee at the table which in Philip's words “is cluttered with Susan’s stuff”.
Little did I know that Philip was dying to get rid of all her pile of stuff and I felt he was egging her to donate or dump them elsewhere. And yes she did, she offered them to me, one by one. She called it a goldfish plant and if you look closely at the flower, its pouch-like petals with a small opening resemble the little goldfish complete with eyes. Now I have another plant to study and care for. Like I need to.
Bubbly and personable, Susan is so full of life and nice to talk to. It's as if she doesn't have any bad moments. How enviable. I discovered some of her hidden talents – she showed me some photos she snapped and I was impressed with some of the artistic compositions.
Shown below is her business card – the photo is that of clouds (on the left side) in the shape of Buddha as shot gazing from outside the fence of a sewage treatment plant. Did she camp out there just to take this, I wonder? Hmmmm. She also fished out of her bag some pictures she had taken like the white bleeding heart flowers (Dutchman’s breeches) and her favorite white roses, a symbol of honor she said. Those I acquired too.
Chinese paper folding (origami in Japanese), she termed it something like zhe zhi, is one of her many hobbies. Sitting inside a plastic food container in the shape of a globe were paper-folded horses glued to a shocking pink colored post-it note. That too was handed to me, but only the horses. Thank goodness for little favors, I could do without the plastic bowl. Bring them on, Susan.
A bagful of loot and still not satisfied. Philip has a collection of woodworking implements, a pair of beautiful Chinese antique lamps which could be ivory or jade, an original edition of Gangs of New York recently bought for $10 at Amazon, a set of cherry custom-made bookshelves. Those I'm dying to have, but none were offered. Aw shucks!
Such gracious hospitality can only come from someone like Shu-shia. She always has a bag of treats from her bakery, for me and my mom. Philip, you're a lucky man so please don't sweat the small stuff and I promise not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
