a lecture and a walk

 

i listened to an online lecture from hunter college at noon today. mychal denzel smith spoke about his book, stakes is high: life after the american dream, with author valeria luiselli. it was very interesting and i worked on my moving forward wrap while greg had a sandwich.

i went for a walk with janet at 4:00 . .

we sat by cooper union for a little while, waiting to check an apartment one of her tenants was vacating (she's a small landlord and has a building in the east village).

 

all was in good order. she was happy the man had it cleaned.

onward to new adventures . . 

we stopped by jefferson market garden on the way home. it's so nice to walk through.

our england is a garden that is full of stately views,

of borders, beds and shubberies and lawns and avenues,

with statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by,

but the glory of the garden lies in more than meets the eye.

 

from rudyard kipling's the glory of the garden

Our England is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye.


Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/the-glory-of-the-garden-by-rudyard-kipling

Our England is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye.


Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/the-glory-of-the-garden-by-rudyard-kipling

Our England is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye

Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/the-glory-of-the-garden-by-rudyard-kipling

Our England is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye

Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/the-glory-of-the-garden-by-rudyard-kiplin

michaelmas and a dance video, black is beautiful

 

 

 our dear friend daniel from the limon company dances in this beautiful video from folklore urbano nyc. he's the one in the hat dancing in times square with five other dancers.

----

today is michaelmas, when we acknowledge the struggle to vanquish the dragon that seeks to lay waste to our community. every year we make the harvest loaf, symbolizing the transformation of adversity into birth and resurrection with the help of st. michael.

 

st. michael's harvest song

 

in autumn saint michael with sword and with shield

passes over meadow and orchard and field.

he's on the path to battle 'gainst darkness and strife --

he is the heavenly warrior protector of life.

 

the harvest let us gather with michael's aid;

the light he sheddeth fails not nor does it fade,

and when the corn is cut and the meadows are bare

we'll don saint michael's armour and onward we'll fare.

 

we are saint michael's warriors with strong heart and mind,

we forge our way through darkeness saint michael to find.

and there he stands in glory; saint michael we pray,

lead us into battle and show us thy way.

 

anonymous

we had our harvest bread with kale and sausage soup. 

 

these are difficult days and i'm finding strength through faith, family and friends. i read an article from the nyc anthroposophical society which was interesting and helpful in putting the current chaos of this country and the world in perspective and is helping me to persevere. i watched the debate (greg didn't . . though he read along via the twitter accounts he follows) while texting about it with korrina and chanda (who is staying at emily's tonight). the current administration has allowed our government to become a circus, with the school bully running around, unchecked. the rest of us struggle to reinstate balance, logic and love.

happier days

 

last week, i was reminiscing how we never minded waiting for obama's cavalcade to pass by, and would always cheer. i was always impressed how everyone seemed to know which car he rode in.

sunday morning poem, ice cream with ellen and pluto's birthday gifts

 

 when i was down beside the sea

a wooden spade they gave to me

to dig the sandy shore.

my holes were empty like a cup,

in every hole the sea came up,

till it could come no more.

by robert louis stevenson (1850 - 1894)

----

after the service with first unitarian of brooklyn, chanda, greg and i started out to meet ellen for ice cream at morgenstern's. however, greg decided to skip the outing, as his toe hurt too much in his shoe. the apartment door ran over it yesterday when we were getting ready to go out, and it's going to take several days to heal.

ellen tried the yuzu yamazaki and loved the flavor. yuzu is a citrus fruit with a very distinct flavor. i first tried it at the maison kayser cafe on the upper east side. they used to make a yuzu tart. chanda had raspberry lychee, and i had burnt honey vanilla and caramel whiskey (which had delicious flecks of cinnamon). we took our cups and sat on the wall by the picasso statue at the i. m. pei buildings on la guardia.

we visited one of our favorite pet stores, located on thompson street in soho. they have the best cat toys and we were able to choose a long wand fabric toy out of several kinds they offered.

after walking ellen to her building, we wandered over to sullivan spice company. chanda had never been and it's one of my favorite places for tea and spices. 

waiting to enter . . they only allowed three customers at a time, so only chanda went in as there already was a couple browsing . . and trying to make up their minds . . (not easy to do with so much to peruse) . . but there was a line outside . . and we were getting impatient! ah well . . covid times . .

chanda went to meet emily and i walked home . . 

morton street looking east . . 

and looking west . . 

seventh avenue looking south . . 

and looking north . . 

bedford street . . chanda and i miss the store that used to be in this space. they left just last month. they sold handknit scarves and hats, jewelry, blouses, shoes and handbags. we never went in (it looked a little too pricey for us) but we loved looking in the window.

walking pass the garden at st. luke in the fields . . 

the purchases from sullivan tea shop . . 

we shared two large pork chops for dinner, with hakurei turnips, applesauce, red potatoes and roasted delicata squash . . . 

and gave pluto his toys: cat nip . . 

and the fabric wand . . he also received a funny little mouse that vibrates when you pull a strong. he seems to like pulling out its fur!

marisa's pears

 

marisa gave me several apples and pears from her garden yesterday, they're sweet and deliciously juicy. i think i might make a compote with some of them.

greg went with me this morning to buy vegetables at the green market. i bought two porgie fillets for the first time, and sautéed them in olive oil for dinner. they were very good, and i'm glad we liked them as they're the most economical.

we bought: collards, cilantro, green peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, mizuna mustard greens and hakurei turnips.

 

----

pluto wanted to sit next to me and look out the window when i was knitting this morning . .

friday

i watched a little bit of justice ruth bader ginsburg's memorial this morning. her coffin was brought into the capitol to lie in state.

it was interesting to see how they handled the steps . .

 

justice ginsburg's rabbi, rabbi lauren hotzblatt, chanted what i think is el malei rachamim, a prayer about the merciful God traditionally said for the departed (my source was the pittsburgh jewish chronicle writing about wednesday's service; i'm making an assumption that it was chanted again today). you can read about the full service from the new york times here. they also have a short video of the coffin being carried out of the capitol.

 

----

 

 

at 11 am, my friend marisa surprised me with a phone call that she was downstairs in her car. since it's friday, the street cleaner comes by on my street between 11 and 12:30, and everyone must sit in their cars during that time to avoid getting a parking ticket. we talked until the time was up, and then she met janet and i ran several errands to two different health food stores.

 

on my way to the second store, i passed jefferson market library's garden . . and it was open! it's been closed for months due to covid, so i was happy to visit once again.

 

it was a very sunny and warm day, even though it's officially autumn . . 

i think i need to practice holding the camera more steady . .

field trip with ellen

 

ellen robbins invited me to wave hill (a beautiful garden in the bronx) as she recently purchased a senior citizen membership for the year. i've heard about wave hill and how lovely it is, but had never been, so i was really looking forward to the visit. she picked me up today around noon and we drove up west street and over the bridge into the bronx. nothing about wave hill was a disappointment, and i exclaimed over each tree, flower, path, arbor and pond. most of the flowers i took photos of were unknown to me, and there weren't any identifying tags, so i'm at a loss as to what i was snapping. below are the many photos.

 

this is a giant copper beech tree. i stood in awe for a full minute, if not longer, with my mouth agape. i think ellen thought i was a bit crazed. it was just so . . enormous!
 

a lone golden leafed tree . . i wish we had walked closer to see what the leaves were like, however, it was at the entrance and across the field, so we didn't stop.

i enjoyed hearing about the dance concert ellen contributed to in the late '80's, around the time she won a bessie (the new york dance and performance awards, awarded annually to nyc dance artists who show exceptional achievement in their work). remy charlip curated the event and ellen was one of about five or so choreographers who participated. (remy was a prodigious artist who wore many hats, you can read about him here.) ellen had three groups of students in three different areas: the boys came up over a hill, the girls ran in and out of the paths of the eastern most garden, and one student danced in the lily pond. i suppose these days the event would be filmed, but not in the '80's, so i can only daydream about the details.

 

 

 

 

 ellen's parasol was made by her mom . . 

 

 

 

 

 

 the water in the lily pond was the cleanest and clearest i had ever seen .. 

 

 the koi fish were plentiful and seemed happy to me . . if koi fish can be happy . . they were swimming energetically about, and there were even little babies! i have never seen little koi fish before . . 

 

 there's a little one here, right in the center . .

 

this little guy, hiding amongst the lily pads, is very cute and giving me the old side-eye . .

i think i would love to have a little pond with koi fish . . though i know it must be a lot of work . . 

this is a lace bark pine tree, pinus bungeana, native to northeastern and central china . . extremely large (!) and extremely beautiful.


the bark is greyish green and sheds in round scales that turn red when exposed to light.

these are the needles . . 

lunch at the cafe . . yogurt with a bag of mixed nuts and earl grey tea with honey.

there was a special exhibition of botanical artists . . 

just more amazement and exclamations from me! the artists worked with pencil, watercolor and oil paints. the pencil lines were remarkable to observe . . so fine and so colorful. my favorite was this one of lacinata kale, (also known as dinosaur kale, or dragon kale . . the latter was the official title chosen by the artist).

the view of the hudson river and the new jersey palisades . . 

 

and back out to the neighborhood where the car was parked (the parking lot was under renovation).

----

 

back at home . . dinner was einkorn pasta with tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and capers.