poem for sunday morning . . and a year of zoom services

soft as the fall of a beautiful thought,

or a leaf on the stream,

white as the robe by purity wrought,

bright as the flow of a dream.

calm as a sleeping infant's breath,

cold as the brow just touched by death,

falleth in many a graceful wreath

gently, the beautiful snow.

from snow, by mary t. lathrap (1838 - 1895)

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 i miss going to church with korrina . . 

this morning reverand ana talked about how it's been a year since first unitarian began zooming church services . . one whole year . . march 15, 2020.

 

food photos: my snack today consisted of tart cherry kombucha and a wallsée pretzel . . which i warmed up in the oven.

and dinner was cod fish with caramelized onions, a salad (greens from saturday's market) and purple yams.

out and about

 

minerva had a vet appointment this morning so i stayed with the baby while kendall took her over . . we then tried out the new stroller which kendall's mom had bought for them . . (the lovely music was from the local restaurant!) . .

a nice rest in st. luke's garden . . and then we picked up minerva and strolled home . . (it was an event to be out without icy sidewalks and streets . . )

warmer weather and dinner

i popped over to kendall's this morning as alternate side parking regulations were put back into effect, even though there's still snow in the street and no street cleaner came by. kendall sat in the car and read her book while aurélien and i sang a few songs and talked to minerva. her knee is better and the weather is warmer (48 degrees today), so life is looking fairer for the two of them this week. she ordered a stroller as he's grown quite heavy lately, and it will be good to keep the weight off her knee . . though getting down her steep front steps with a stroller and a baby could be tricky. tomorrow i pop over again so she can drop minerva at the vet for a thorough exam of her hind legs . . they seem to be bothering her.

dinner above is stuffed cabbage leaves from the smitten kitchen website. i mixed italian sausage with ground beef, some leftover quinoa, a grated carrot and parmesan, along with a simple marinara sauce. i steamed twelve cabbage leaves from a beautiful cabbage chanda brought home two weeks ago. cabbage keeps very well in the fridge in those green bags.

i watched an orientation video from the best friends website this evening, (for in house volunteering when they re-open as i'm hoping to eventually work in kitten care); and signed up again via the "on deck" survey for our next kitten foster. i should really work on making the back bedroom more kitten friendly; something similar to kittenlady's set up with a plastic panel fence arranged in a square. it looks so much easier to clean . . kittens can be very messy.

evening meeting

 

 tonight was another letter writing evening with the sierra club; this meeting focused on protecting public lands. i've begun a pair of socks with the hope yarn from san, from last year's yarndale. i've been meaning to take a photo in the daylight, along with the book i'm reading . .

tuesday's dinner

this evening i sautéed sea scallops that i had bought from the fishmonger on saturday, along with quinoa and broccoli with garlic.

it's been very cold and icy, and on friday kendall pulled something in her knee, so it hasn't been good for her to go out with the baby. she's been missing walking in the fresh air, and having aurélien out and about. i went over yesterday again to play with him while she did several exercises and took a hot bath. i think it's supposed to warm up for the rest of this week.

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lawrence ferlinghetti died today. he was a poet and the owner of city lights books, one of our favorite book shops . . here's new york one's account of his life (he was 101) and here's the new york times' account (they've put together an informative, yet short, video). here's our visit to city lights in 2017.

sunday poem, breakfast and a walk

to winter 

stay, season of calm love and soulful snows!

there is a subtle sweetness in the sun,

the ripples on the stream's breast gaily run,

the wind more boisterously by me blows,

and each succeeding day now longer grows.

the birds a gladder music have begun,

the squirrel, full of mischief and of fun,

from maple's topmost branch the brown twig throws.

i read these pregnant signs, know what they mean:

i know that thou art making ready to go.

oh stay! i fled a land where fields are green

always, and palms wave gently to and fro,

and winds are balmy, blue brooks ever sheen,

to ease my heart of its impassioned woe.

by claude mckay (1889 - 1948)

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i was inspired to make pancakes after our zoom church service this morning. we haven't had them in quite awhile . .

and greg and i really enjoyed a sunny walk along the river afterwards, even though it was incredibly icy and we had to walk carefully.

dinner was codfish and potatoes with a few fresh tomato slices.

birthday cards and cake and babysitting

from my mom-in-law . . 

my alloted birthday cake and banana pudding from greg's leftovers . . 

i've had this card sitting around for years and finally remembered to give it to him . . it says, "a little birdie told me it's your birthday right before i ate him."

happy photos with aurélien . . (taken while mama was having a relaxing bath and after i had done a green market visit) . .

one of these days those little teeth will break through . .

let it snow

pluto is entranced . .

 

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janet and i took another walk today by the river . . 

the pier paths were especially icy and we had to be careful how we stepped. it was actually easier to walk in the snow.

someone was out cross country skiing . . 

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i made red bean and quinoa chili for dinner and we celebrated greg's birthday . . the two children not at home called him on the phone: one in the morning on the way to work and one in the late afternoon after classes had ended.

this one brought home cupcakes and banana pudding from magnolia bakery . . 

which were . . so sweet and good.

greg and i watched another live streamed show this evening. a week ago i bought a ticket to patti smith's evening of poetry, song and stories - celebrating fifty years of work and friendship with lenny kaye (fifty years ago they had their first job together on february 10, 1971 at st. mark's on the bowery - she tells a bit of that story in the snippet i caught above). it was his birthday present from me.

cover up

it's turning out to be quite a snowy february . . everything is back to being pretty and picturesque for a day or two . .

i walked to the cafe for pretzels, strudel and a linzer cookie. matthew put in another pastry that was a passion fruit mousse with coconut and egg . . kind of like a flan. all were delicious.

there were two online events this evening that we watched. above is the curtain call from ron brown's evidence dance company's live performance at the joyce soho, sans audience! (so moving and beautiful!) and after that was the annual concert for tibet house (which actually occurred on wednesday - but was available for 48 hours) and which you can read a little bit about here on their facebook page. the sound via the mandolin platform was very good and i loved seeing so many of my favorite musicians, along with other incredibly talented persons i never knew of before.

frozen

any leftover snow is now completely frozen and a solid stack of ice.

sooty and icy . . 

i still love it though . . i'm used to winter; to a windy, cold day when you have to bundle up in layers of long johns, warm bulky socks, two sweaters, a down coat, gloves and woolly hat. the past few years that have been warm have left me feeling unbalanced and empty, as if i didn't prove my mettle well enough for the reward of spring and summer.

late afternoon cafe date

in the distance is the empire state building, lit up in a beautiful bright red tonight as seen during my walk home.

i met ellen at la durée this afternoon. it was great to catch up with her . . tomorrow she heads uptown for her second covid vaccine dose. she's been teaching two students a little ways upstate every saturday morning. one of the children's father is a chef with a big barn in which to have dance class . . allowing for good social distancing.

chanda, deychen and morgana love this restaurant, but i'm usually left a little disappointed. this was a cafe viennois: espresso with chantilly cream. the espresso was more like weak coffee and the chantilly cream was fresh, but a little too sweet for my taste. i also had a slice of pound cake which was a little dry.

it was still worth being there, however, as the garden area is peaceful and pretty. we sat next to a woman visiting from boston with her daughter. they were picking up the child's norwegian passport. the mom grew up in oslo and is hoping to visit again in the summer or fall. they were leaving soon to visit the father's buildings on the upper west side - he was a real estate developer. i cringed inside myself, as i'm very critical of developers . . they're usually demolishing beautiful old buildings which i believe should be renovated instead. glass and steel monstrosities go up in the place of these historic brick structures. steel and glass structures into which migrating birds often crash. (sigh.) well, while i was unhappy with the woman's husband's occupation, the woman and her daughter were lovely, and ellen shared about george deem's paintings in boston - one of them being in a law building the woman was familiar with. 

it was a wonderfully warm day to sit outside and chat with nyc visitors. it went up to 52 degrees, with no breeze and just warm sunshine. the walk home at 6 pm was a different story as the wind came  up and the temperature began to drop  . . i think it's supposed to go down to 23 tonight.

i have another sierra club zoom meeting tonight that will discuss the next round of letters we're writing to the biden administration, this time requesting that they support the thrive agenda which you can read about here.