a birthday excursion

i had to walk to the east village today, in order to get a few cans of dog food for jack. from 9th street and second avenue (whiskers pet store) i swung over to avenue a and 4th street to stop at downtown yarns. i bought several skeins of lamb's pride cotton fleece to make teva durham's ballet t-shirt (for me!). the yarn store owner is very sweet and asked how the girls were. the cotton fleece i bought is a special limited edition because it was a mistake. they call it "lavender smoke," and i'm pairing it with a lighter lavender color. it'll look pretty . . if i ever make it of course!

anyway, the above picture is gramercy park! it's been years since i walked by, and it's as beautiful as ever. it's an oasis in the midst of much cement and tar and steel and glass. i've never been in! it's a private park for the buildings immediately surrounding it. however, i once was in one of the apartment buildings years ago. it was the home of a vegetarian friend of greg and i. he grew up in this neighborhood, and his mom was still living there. it was a big apartment! the kitchen was the size of our whole place here on bank street! (at least it felt that way to me).

while waiting for korrina at eataly, i asked a server to explain all the food areas. they have different sections for pizza and pasta, fish, meat, crudite, and vegetables. i chose the vegetable place and had the most amazing bruschetta with mozzerella and corn and black garlic! the garlic is fermented for several weeks . . it's very good! i also began reading the third book of the austin family chronicles by madeline l'engle. i thought it was the second book! but the second book is called the moon by night, and it's difficult to find. i have books of wonder trying to order it for me. hopefully, it'll arrive in a few weeks. our wonderful librarian at jefferson market, rebecca, recommended the series to us.

 

greg sent me a picture of morgana and chanda at sturbridge today. chanda wore her dress and looked like she was working also. i'm sure she enjoyed that. in this picture morgana was squeezing cheese curds. they also called and sang happy birthday with aunt kathy. nana and nonno also called, and janet called with camille, her sister, lucien, gael and gabriel. i also received an email from ron and andy, kendall and lori johnson. i'm impressed my friends remember the date so readily! they are all so thoughtful! i think i should write their birth dates down in a book so i remember for the coming months.