a visit to the tenement museum

we took a tour of the tenement museum today with aunt kathy. the topic of discussion was sweatshop workers. we visited a jewish family's apartment where about four or five workers were hired to make ladies' dresses. there was someone to iron, two people to cut out the pattern and fabric, and two people to sew. the rooms were very small and had to be shared with the family that was living there. the windows gave the most light and air. the woman of the home worked from an inner room over a coal stove and hauled her water up several flights of stairs. well, the eldest child probably did that chore. they had a total of five children, if i remember correctly, and were eventually able to move out to brooklyn and then rockaway. the tour guide even had several pictures of the grandchildren and great grandchildren. it was very interesting!

 when the building was first put up, the outhouse was out in the yard, and shared with all families. 
 

afterwards, we went to a coffee shop just up the street (after eating our sandwiches on a bench outside of the back entrance). aunt kathy, morgana and chanda had the most delicious iced mochas!

 well, chanda had an iced decaf latte, and she just had to try morgana's iced mocha . . 

 

we showed aunt kathy our favorite neighborhood restaurant: bus stop cafe. she ate here once before with uncle warren, and korrina met them for dinner after a ballet class. she pulled up on the bus right outside, stepped off, and joined them for a meal. aunt kathy thought that was very fun.

 

 

there are now so many beautiful flowers blooming in abingdon square park . . 

 

 

 the hydrangeas are one of my favorites . . 

someone filled in hb theatre's windowbox!

 

back at the apartment, chanda worked on her poster with some suggestions from aunt kathy.

 

 voila!

and then we ate dinner until we found out we needed to be at the theatre spit spot in order to usher!

 at the theatre we found korrina and tyler mopping the stage . . 

here korrina is ripping off the tape after the extra genre performance.

 back at the apartment we celebrated morgana's birthday with aunt kathy and uncle warren. 

 we had picked up several cupcakes from magnolia bakery . . coconut cream . . 

 and my favorite, vanilla with chocolate icing . . 

aunt kathy had also brought back cookies from rocco's, where they had gone with greg for dessert while we were at the theatre.