new year's eve

 

 we had such a fun time welcoming in the new year. morgan prepared all the shrimp cups,

 

while i baked the pigs in a blanket and the potato puffs. i'm glad i bought three boxes as we had enough for chanda and her friends who came over to celebrate with her. we also had enough shrimp for everyone. we just kept sending dish after dish to her room. she and emily would bring out the empty dishes and we would load them up again. i don't think she expected them to eat so much as supposedly they just had dinner, but they did.

 

i really enjoyed watching the times square crowd this year. greg found the 42nd street alliance's video presentation of the event which did not have any commercials, just very nice commentary and streaming of kt tunstall's performance (she's very good). everyone was having a lot of fun in their sectioned off street pods and masks.

 

sparkling cider and potato puffs.

and then it was time for the count down! happy new year! wow! i can't believe it's 2022. 

it was a very festive and happy atmosphere, and they played our iconic song, frank sinatra singing new york, new york. which the white horse tavern used to play late every thursday night when i would be there with my acting friends (it is one of my favorite songs . . i used to also always hear it when i lived in dyker heights in the late '80's when greg and i first moved to nyc, as we had a neighbor who would blast frank sinatra on his stereo in his backyard on weekend afternoons).

"all the wishes . . " i hadn't realized that the confetti that rains down on the revelers are wishes that people have written and shared. you can read about it at this link. i think it would be fun to do.

morgan said i had to see how pretty the empire state building was. it did look nice twinkling in the distance. we also banged pot lids like i used to do with my folks, and listened to the shouts of people in the street.

greg called from the living room that the mayor was being sworn in. i never realized that it was done right after the ball drop. perhaps the major networks never covered it, but tonight the local 42nd street alliance did. it was exciting to see. i hope he supports all the issues that are important to me! (yeah, well, i don't think he does, but i can still wish.)

good luck to our new mayor, eric adams. he's going to need it. it's a tough job and everyone is a critic, including me.

friday morning

this morning morgan and i were out early to visit with reina and sacha at maman on university place. i had never been to this cafe before (i think it came in just before covid), but had seen photos on instagram. chanda suggested it as a meeting place and it did not disappoint. their pastries and cookies were delicious and they had good coffee (and such pretty cups!)

it was actually a warm day, but after sitting outside for several hours i was a little chilled! it was so nice to see them though. we walked to the green market afterwards as morgana was going to kendall's to help with aurélien and i wanted her to take some vegetables with her that i knew kendall needed. then reina and i walked to strand books and said good-bye there. we get so busy with our lives that it's so nice to catch up during the christmas holiday. morgan plans to meet again with them next week to see the children.

after strand, i walked home and took a nap . . after the nap morgan and i watched a few episodes of the ted lasso show which my sister and brother-in-law and nephews have been enjoying. i get three months of apple tv free on my ipad.

a walk in the park

we met our friends by central park this morning.

it was an incredibly grey and brown day . . 

but also incredibly beautiful . . the air and the trees felt so clear and different since it's the fifth day of christmas and we were all in a holiday mood.

coffee was the order of the day. we had gotten ours at joe on columbus avenue, but our friends bought theirs at the le pain kiosk in the park.

sweet nutmeg . .

chanda fed the birds some of the crumbs from her muffin. they were all very plump from eating everyone's pastries!

she was having a lot of fun . .

(passing by the alice in wonderland statue)

and morgan was having a lot of fun walking the dog.

heading south on fifth avenue, past the zoo.

morgan and i said good-bye to our friends at 59th street. they walked home westward, chanda went home via the subway, and we decided to see some of the holiday windows. (olga had left earlier for a lunch date in westchester.)

bergdorf goodman's colorful windows.

we walked downtown past sak's fifth avenue's windows (which were very sweet with drawings by school children which they then expanded) and over to madison avenue to escape some of the crowds. we walked all the way home, passing through madison park to 23rd street and stopping at trader joe's for groceries (including three boxes of savory parmesan pastries, frozen shrimp and sparkling cider for new year's treats).

we also stopped at the donut pub for boston cream donuts. i shared mine with greg. my favorite donut is actually a chocolate cream filled one, but it's rare they have that one.

we also had a lovely package from san and family awaiting us (such pretty wrapping!) 

the best grocery bag (it has wonderfully wide straps which makes it so much easier carrying everything home) and special holiday coffee.

and a special book with inspiring and philosophical words of alpaca wisdom. thank you so much, san, it was a festive fifth day of christmas afternoon.

our dinner of holiday leftovers . . 

and dessert with tea and a card game (with chanda's new cards).

figaro has the funniest sleeping positions . . 

(the suits were different shakespeare characters)

a visit to the shops and home again

gingerbread and tea this morning.

and a trip into the next town to visit a few shops (after a walking dunes morning hike which i stayed home from to read and have my tea as i had gotten up late, and to pack things up to go home in the evening).

a very pretty jacket in a store window that we found out was handknit and cashmere . . take a guess at the price . . i'll post it at the end.

ordering hot chocolate at jack's . . 

adam found a berry on the holly bush while trimming it in the afternoon . . you need a male and female tree for berries  . . we didn't think our second holly bush was big enough to help produce berries (if you didn't know it was planted amidst the other shrubs, you would never see it), but i guess it was.

and then it was time for morgan, greg and i to return to the city after a delicious dinner of sausages and peppers that my sister had brought. we had a happy and wonderful christmas this year. (oh, and the jacket was $3,250!)

breakfast and beach visits and dessert

 

 we made up for our lack of dessert last night by having delicious french toast with strawberries and fresh maple syrup made by morgana.

 

figaro had to settle for canned cat food.

 

a morning walk along the cliffs leading to ditch.

 

 

about the hoodoos . .

 

posing for a "serious" record cover . .

 

and the happy one . .

 

and the sun comes out!

 

rock balancing . .

 

the mushroom . .

 

oops!

 

back to the car . . 

greg at work . . 

afternoon rest . .

and an afternoon beach visit to gosman's on the sound . . 

so many slipper shells!

sandpipers? the semipalmated sandpiper? i actually think they are sanderlings because of the black spot on their hind feathers and the black shoulder patch and their white winter plumage . . sanderling information . . sandpiper information.

a tiny little whelk morgan prodded from the whelk casing.

we walked along the back of the restaurant to the shops we used to visit in the past for their winter sales, but they were all closed this year.

back at the house . . the wood was laid out to dry after the early morning's rain.

figaro is very comfortable on the rocking chair . . we had chicken pot pies for dinner and then got ready to see the town's christmas lights at night.

we drove out to the point to see the lighthouse . . 

and on the way back stopped at the community church . . 

and then it was time for dessert . . (we made sure to leave room at dinnertime and not eat too much chicken pot pie).

figaro's favorite toy . . 

norwegian krumkake with whipped cream that warren, jason and adam made.

time for a game of bowl . . 

bowl has three rounds. the first round you use as many words as you want to describe the phrase (except for any word within the phrase). the second round is the silent charades round, and the final round is pared down to just one word that will elicit a correct response from your team members. often this one word is the result of the absurdity that has occurred in the prior two rounds. for example, greg had trouble pantomiming a word in the second round which had us all laughing, so that when i picked out the word in the final round, my one word description was just "greg."

and it's a tie!