thursday

cricket actually startled me when i went to open the refrigerator this afternoon.

walking milly and other things on a tuesday

 

the halloween/fall decorations this year have included many gourds and pumpkins.

!!!

interesting dresses seen in soho . .

my sister sent photos of the trees changing color in her town . .

the rail trail looks especially beautiful . . 

we're still quite green here!

adam sent a pic of extra large clams at the hatchery.

and last, but not least, a pretty late blooming flower morgan found in their garden this week.

oh, one more photo: for dinner this evening we had salmon cakes, cole slaw and fingerling sweet potatoes.

the weekend

 

we went out to the house to do some straightening and cleaning for a rental that is coming up, and to visit the beach and attend the local firehouse pancake breakfast. pluto came along this time. we left the other two home with a very nice neighbor coming in to feed them.

fixing up the linen closet . . we had so many towels stuffed onto the shelves that i moved several downstairs.

finishing the kitchen clean up . . 

after vacuuming, scrubbing and decluttering we made it to the beach before dark.

pretty sea lettuce, ulva lactuca

visiting the train depot art gallery opening . . 

last dinner at our favorite place until next summer (they close for the winter season).

pluto was restless and wandered around meowing incessantly. we think he was unaccustomed to being alone . . and he hadn't been to the house in over a year.

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this morning we went to the pancake breakfast at the firehouse before getting on the road.

here is pluto asking for a snack before leaving . . we didn't want to get on the road too late as there was supposed to be heavy rain coming in later in the day.

and it did rain the entire way, but it was light (comparatively!)

i worked on my sock . . 

home again . . 

scallops and a birthday lunch

 

today was my nephew's birthday and kendall's birthday. i mailed adam's card last week, and today kendall and i went to eat at a local restaurant on waverly, a seafood place. we shared a fish stew and lobster roll, and kendall was surprised to find that she knew the owner/chef whose child goes to school with aurélien. i wrapped up an episode of sparrows by rumer godden which i had purchased in london and enjoyed reading. i think she'll like it too.

we also shared a key lime pie and a treat sent by her friend: a chocolate pudding with whipped cream and caramel sauce.

chanda volunteered at the hatchery her cousin works at and helped haul growing baby scallops to the bay where they're submerged in flats in the water. scallops can hop around in the water through opening and closing their shells with their muscles - which are the "lumps" that many people like to eat.

the bay scallops have beautiful blue eyes that help them to see different small objects. i was reading in an immense world, by ed yong, that these are actually quite complex and each one sits at the end of a mobile tentacle and each has a little pupil:

"light passes through the pupil and hits the back of the scallop's eye, where it is reflected by a curved mirror. the mirror is a precisely tiled array of square crystals that collectively focus light onto the scallop's retinas. that's retinas, plural. there are two per eye, and they are about as different as two animal retinas could be. between them they have thousands of photoreceptors, which gives them enough spatial resolution to detect small objects."

from page 65 in an immense world, by ed yong

so amazing, and they're kind of cute hopping around in the bucket. 

wednesday

 

i took milly for a walk into soho after my class today.

the weather has been nice . . cool in the evening and warm during the day - in the low 70's.

sleeping cats

i spent a lot of time decluttering my desk today. 

and organizing papers, photos, cards and books.

greg and i took a walk to soho to purchase kitty litter (we're completely out which i always find disconcerting because i can't properly clean the litter boxes), but the store had closed early. the open/close hourly sign on the door was actually taped over. i wonder if the owner might be ill. i have to walk milly tomorrow so maybe i'll walk over again and see what the situation is.

we ended up having dinner at pepe rosso . . we shared a caesar salad and then i had broccoli and salmon and greg had spaghetti. it was cold out tonight, and it's now 51 degrees which i think is the coldest it's been so far. it was so cold this morning that i was almost tempted to put the heat on . . but not quite.

a surprise visit

i was in the midst of updating photos on the computer and getting ready to do some italian homework when marisa called to say she was in town. she and tsering were here for a dental appointment and apartment decluttering. she also had a bag of apples for us from her tree! of course i invited her over for tea, and then (of course) we had to go out for a walk as it was such a nice day.

i'll post more tomorrow, as it's late right now and i still need to get my duolingo exercises in.

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we walked to the muji clothing store on 19th street as she wanted to check on a few items of clothing for herself and deychen. i ended up picking out a few things for christmas for some of my folks (can't say who). afterwards, we walked around the block so i could show her the levain bakery and then we walked back to sixth avenue and the container store which is now combined with bed, bath and beyond (which i'm happy about as the super large b, b and b store across the street had closed). marisa bought two containers to hold the clutter she is attempting to declutter.

we walked through the west elm store which i always like to do as it goes between 18th and 17th street (a lot of people probably do this, especially in the winter). we ended up admiring all the furniture and taking pictures of ourselves sitting in my favorite chairs and couch.

a nice salesperson (shawana) mentioned that we should check out the two discount rooms in the store. i was glad she showed them to us as i never knew they were there, and several items were decently priced. she also mentioned that there's an outlet store in brooklyn by industry city. i used to always find well priced gift items at the pottery barn outlet store which used to be on 10th avenue near 23rd street in the late 80's, so i look forward to visiting elm's outlet store one day. (my sister still has a set of mugs from there that i gave her for christmas one year.)

we walked home together and i left her at her apartment building and then called kendall to find out where i should meet she and janine for her birthday celebration . . 

. . it ended up being the commerce inn.