Aubrey and Mom in Japantown
Leaving Dane and Mick at the dental school, Aubrey and I spent the morning in the city. We walked down to Fillmore to get hot chocolate and then on down to Japantown. On the way, we "shopped" in boutiques. In her "black clackin' shoes" and new sundress from Grammy, Aubrey shopped for silk scarves, ceramic dishes, specialty soaps--basically anything that looked like she needed to be especially careful with them.

In Japantown, we spent most of our time watching the West Coast Lion Dance Troupe. The first dance was a group of eight lions (two dancers per lion) who danced in a giant circle to drumbeat. Most of the lions were adult, but there were a couple of young lions (cubs?) that Aubrey kept her eye on. In the second dance, a great big red lion kept us in suspense, rearing up on his hind legs (which means the front dancer was on the legs or shoulders of the hind dancer), taking several approaches to the platforms ahead, and finally jumping catlike (arching, slinking) up onto one table and then onto the table atop that. The audience seemed to hold a collective breath as the lion eventually stood up on hind legs on that final, rickety platform.