十月琐记--枇杷花开、南瓜饼和红薯干 (w auto shop in English)

十一月了，日子飞快，很快又该是年底了。记一点十月的零星琐碎事吧。

继去年第一次枇杷结果(共十几粒而已)，今年的枇杷长势喜人。十月初就开始抽出不少花蕊，抽的早的现在已经开始开花了。中间我剪了不少枝条，希望能集中养分，让明年的枇杷硕果累累。

十月中突然来了兴致，第一次给自己晒了一些紫薯粉和红薯干。紫薯粉备着以后做糕点点缀用，红薯干当零食吃，健康美味。今天(11/2/2019)又蒸了，切了，晒了一些，虽然麻烦了些，但总说是比买的健康。这星期四公司的potluck做了应景南瓜饼，里面是红豆馅的，都一起来露个脸，show一show了:)

十月中的Santa  Ana wind曾经带来90度的高温，热风肆虐，干燥的空气好像划一根就会燃烧起来似的。紧接又是山火，三处火灾，包括Getty附近的大火。今年秋天异常干燥，期盼雨水的早日降临!

10/26去车行给旧车换了刹车和机油，希望这辆旧车能长长久久，再开上些年。

另外个人要加强锻炼，控制血压，同时督促某人一起锻炼。秋天了，虽然白天的气温尚有七十多度，早晚还是凉的，天日也短了，六点钟天就开始黑了。明天改冬令时了。

The auto repair shop was already open by the time I arrived there around 8:10 am. It is an old shop owned by an honest Chinese guy Henry, 16 miles away from where I live. Except for oil change that I would do locally, I’ve come here for any other mechanical problems for my old car for the past several years. This time I need a new brake, and a due oil change.

The shop is located on a roadside right after an intersection, with a dip before a battered wrought iron gate.  Inside the gate are a covered mechanical working area for about three or four cars, and a bigger uncovered open space clustered with old dusty cars, vans or SUVs that look like being there forever. Because of these stationed cars, the driveway is very narrow, only wide enough for just two cars to come in and back off.  Hearing my car’s rumbling noises, Henry, a median height guy of about 60-year-old, greeted me from behind the parked cars. He helped me back off the car, squeezed it to the side, and turned off the engine.  I entered a small waiting room, seated myself on one of the five chairs and started knitting.  

The waiting room is connected to an office by an open wall window, where Henry or sometimes his wife received the customers with questions and payments.  Ten fifteen minutes later, in came an old dark-skin Spanish looking guy and sat on the other side. He looked at the water stand by the door and asked about the coffee, and that’s how our conversations started.  We talked about the shop, how he was referred here as this was his first time. We talked about our car problems, models, and the years. He told me that the car that needed to be fixed today was going to be handed down to his son, as he himself has another one, an antique 1957 Bell sth(?) that is still worth $40,000.  He then took out his cell phone and showed me a picture of his house, in front of which parked his antique car, very new-looking, clean but old-fashioned. As the conversation deepened, he then talked about his youngest daughter, whose wedding was to be held at a beach resort, and that he was going to fund $30,000 for it.  I told him that in our Chinese tradition, it is the bridegroom’s family who pays for the wedding. He retorted that it was OK as he only has one daughter, and he was willing to pay. “This might be the last time I pay for the wedding. I don’t think I will have the chance to live to the day when my grandsons are married,” said the happy old man.

During our conversations, more people came in, talked to Henry, dropped the keys and left. About an hour later, the guy left too as his car was ready, leaving me and another newcomer waiting in the room.  Then came in a lady who looked like an old customer of the owner, talking to him gaily regarding her daughter’s attending Olympic next year in Tokyo as a softball player for the national Italian team.  We chimed in, congratulating her and asking her how her daughter, an American citizen, would play for the Italian team. Then a story about her mother-in-law being an Italian immigration, and how that enabled her daughter to be dual citizens was told. She then parted heartily among our good luck wishes.

Then alone in the waiting room, I chit chatted with Henry across the window, before my car was ready around 10:20 am.  A little long the wait was, I had a happy morning, meeting and talking to people that I may never have encountered, had it not been for the small room.