families belong together

greg and i attended the families belong together demonstration today. it was very warm and we waited for the march to begin in the shade at foley square. everyone is so creative with their signs! (i  finally put up the pics from the march for our lives demonstration here).

i loved the special dance this aztec family performed before everyone stepped off to march.

i think everyone found it especially comforting and energizing; good positive and loving energy.

 i didn't make it over the bridge. the sun was too hot and i didn't have my hat, but greg did. it's never too hot for him (maybe that's from having grown up in florida without air conditioning).

 i met him in the park at 12th street and 7th avenue at around 3 pm.

leftovers from last night for dinner . . greg was tired and fell asleep immediately after eating (though he's up again now, and contemplating a trip to the grocery store for ice cream!)

strawberry moon . .

a setting strawberry moon, taken at around 4:30 am this morning.

cafe sevilla

 greg and i had dinner at a spanish restaurant in the neighborhood last night--one i've been wanting to go to for years (i'm posting this in the morning, though dating it at night . . running out now to the keep families together demonstration . . so will write more later).

so . . we had dinner at around 6:30 on friday night. i had gone in earlier to make a reservation for that time and to request a booth by the window. however, it's good we were early as i'm not sure they would have kept a booth for us if it was busy.

as we were looking out the window, we noticed four or five young men dressed as mariachi musicians. hmm, we said, are they coming here or is there a party somewhere? well, they did come into the restaurant! it was fun and wonderful to listen to.

they passed a hat around afterwards. it was funny, because first i thought the restaurant had hired them, but they must go around to all the mexican and spanish restaurants in the neighborhood. it was nice.

i had mariscada in green sauce . . 

and greg had paella a la valenciana. we always have this at a spanish restaurant. we would order the same when el charro's was open on charles street.

flan and coffee and espresso with a small twist of lemon peel.

they still have an old pay phone on the wall. we wondered if it would ring while we there, but it didn't. we didn't see anyone use it either.

i asked the server to take a pic of us. the servers were all older than us and must have been working there for years and years. that felt so nice. lately, places in the city don't last very long. the rents go up too high and businesses can't afford it. it's so sad and . . stressful!

birthday thursday

 it was fresh food box day, so chanda walked with me to meet korrina and to have a salad at little river cafe.

 korrina's gloves that she has been working on. she needed to redo two or three fingers this afternoon. they were just a little too short (though chanda gleefully showed that they fit her perfectly).

 korrina has been slipping beads . . they look so pretty . .

 it's nice to have chanda knitting again. she began a summer top . .

and my shawl is slowly growing bigger.

 korrina had marinated tofu with a ginger tahini dressing, pineapple and white rice. chanda had grilled salmon with broccoli and a tamari sauce, and i had a kale salad with roasted almonds. little river always has good food.

 it was incredibly hot and steamy today. the humidity was in the 90's, as was the temperature; a typical birthday for me.

 where am i now? washington square park with my friend janet.

 just watching the world, or the bulldogs, go by . . 

 she treated me to banana cream pie and a flourless chocolate cake, after trying her current favorite restaurant: pokéspot on fourth street . .

 i don't think greg and i are going to make it to sevilla this evening. it'll have to wait until another day.

 but i did come home to a strawberry rhubarb birthday pie, and a birthday card from morgana.

 while i was out, chanda had put away the vegetables and put the sunflowers from korrina in my favorite vase.

 my birthday gift from korrina: an april cornell bag she had found on sale at the store in burlington when she was there last summer.

 the amazing pie from duane park patisserie that greg brought home. we had some with chanda before she ran off to catch a ride to new jersey with her friend's mom. she's staying at their country place for a few days before heading to sarasota for a week's ballet intensive.

chocolates from burdick from chanda . . 

it was quite a day and (actually) i was too full for the pie. now i can't wait for morning . .