figaro and hair ties, and the last of the holiday decorations

 

 figaro spends a lot of his time hunting down hair ties and knocking them about on the kitchen floor. this morning he also was playing with a metal fastener that goes to a glass jar which held chicken liver pate from the butcher, and which needs to be returned for the jar deposit. when the metal fastener disappeared, i decided to check beneath the bottom drawer of the oven which is used for pot covers. what did i find after pulling the drawer out? two cat toys, three kitty litter pine pellets (he likes swiping them about on the floor too) and ten hair ties! i actually took a photo of the booty, but won't post it as the dust surrounding everything is not a pretty sight.

figaro at work . .

pluto investigating the situation.

 

thursday's kittenlady calendar picture which i liked so much i stuck it on the cabinet door.

and the last of the holiday decorations which will be packed away as soon as i publish this post -

 

 

 

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dinner tonight was leftover spaghetti and meatballs. i tried burning the mushroom candle which has been sitting on a bookshelf for years. it burned for a little while, but then sputtered out. it's funny how long objects can sit around for on shelves without being used. it's disconcerting how many years constitute "long."

sunday morning

 

online church this morning . . this was so beautiful and sweet. several members of the choir played the ukulele and sang count on me by bruno mars.

i was supposed to put away several christmas scenes that i had left out after taking the tree down . . but talked with my sister on the phone instead, and reviewed a best friends online orientation video. they've begun in person trainings for several shifts in the center which now have open sign ups. we had leftover split pea soup with chanda this evening for dinner. it was another cold day, though the snow began disappearing on the fire escape.

a walk in the snow

 

we had a nor'easter blow in during the night, but chanda was still up early to help open the cafe. i wanted to get out for a walk before it stopped snowing, while the courtyard was still covered in white drifts with only a few footprints. 

christopher street, looking west towards the river.

the snowplows were out . .

the building porters were busy shoveling and snow blowing the sidewalks . . (shoveling snow in front of the cafe was a morning chore chanda had to do also) . . 

we had put in an order for a ham and cheese croissant, a dark chocolate cherry cookie and a mocha. i was planning on sipping the mocha as we walked home, but my fingers were so frozen from taking photos and videos that i could hardly hold the cup . . plus i continued to try and take more pics and videos on the way back, which was very awkward. 

 

 

greg was amused with how rosy our cheeks were. 

at home i made a split pea soup, and then went out again when it had stopped snowing, but it wasn't as pretty as earlier. i took photos with my camera then, but these were all taken with the cellphone.

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this afternoon:

split pea soup for dinner . .

our neighbor's puppy and a peppermint bar

delicious christmas peppermint chocolate from janet.

rebel, victoria's new puppy currently with her in snowy finland.

pichinku!

i've been following this fiber company on instagram for over a year now. it's a small company of several women in peru. they collect plant material from the surrounding countryside and boil it up in a courtyard in cusco. you can see their short kickstarter video here (scroll down), and their website here. they don't always have their beautiful dyed baby alpaca wool available but a few weeks ago they announced that the iskay dk weight was up in the shop. i took a few days to decide on a pattern and colors, and then finally placed an order. it came today and i am very excited! i'm really pleased with the colors i picked (it's not easy choosing from a computer screen) and am glad i took my time and thought carefully at how they would work together. i hope to make joji locatelli's odyssey shawl. i was first going to put the brown in between the greens, but am now considering having the greens next to each other. should the brown be the top color of the shawl, or the bottom?

i love how they include the plant on the label.

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greg made us an omelette for dinner.

i also had a wonderful book club meeting with homeschooling friends in the afternoon . . we'll be reading braiding sweetgrass by robin wall kimmerer for the next meet-up on february 23rd.

cats in the afternoon

just another monday but with a blue sky

it as nice to have such a beautiful sky on my way out grocery shopping . . 

pluto was very interested in my purchases (especially the ones from the butcher) . . chanda began school this morning on zoom, but went out after this for a covid test in order to get on school's campus. she had another zoom class this afternoon, but begins in person classes next week.

it felt cold in the morning, but had warmed up to 34 by the time i went over to see kendall and janine in the evening. aurélien showed off how well he's doing with his walking! it's very exciting how strong his little legs are becoming. i didn't get a photo today, but maybe i can tomorrow when i see them again.

now it's up to 37 degrees and it was a very pretty walk home with some snow flurries.

sunday poem and an afternoon walk

on the beach at night alone,

as the old mother sways her to and fro, singing her husky song

as i watch the bright stars shining, i think a thought of the clef of the universes, and of the future . . . . 

from on the beach at night alone, by walt whitman (1819-1892)

 

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sunday afternoon walk  . . 

 

i met greg at the museum for a walk on the high line . . 

 

 

the beautiful church of the guardian angel at tenth avenue and 21st street whose architecture was inspired by puglia's cathedral of bitonto. the exterior is a mix of brick, limestone and marble panels, and it's alter was built by the bermardini statuary company in italy. the church first began as a mix of townhouses on 23rd street and ministered to dockworkers and seamen and was an inspiration for the movie on the waterfront. you can read more about it here.