Yesterday evening son sent me a greeting message on the phone thanks to the Father's Day. But I didn’t notice it until midnight. He has been absent since his departure to school in late February. We haven’t communicated with each other during this period. Mother decided not to make dumplings of glutinous rice any more without his presence. Instead, last night just before leaving our bungalow I soaked all the glutinous rice we had for cooking in the pot with dates this morning.

I learned on TV that the Buyi people living in Guizhou, southwest China, dye the soaked glutinous rice gray with fried ash flour of grain stems by lard before wrapping it. Ash is said to be an important traditional Chinese medicinal material that can bear down the fire in the human body.