more birthday celebrations and other things

janet treated me to a lovely birthday tea today.

salmon and avocado tea sandwiches and egg salad tea sandwiches, along with olives, pickles, crackers with several cheeses, a sparkling peach cordial and hibiscus tea.

i think my favorite were her homemade, gluten free lemon curd tarts with blackberries.

she finds the most interesting books . . this one is a biography of artist ruth asawa. i'll have to take a pic of the cover later. i know i'll enjoy reading it. 

 

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chanda had stopped by earlier as she was in the neighborhood checking on the neighbor's cats. we watched ketanji brown jackson's swearing in ceremony together.

greg came home very dusty and tired. his workplace volunteered with habitat for humanity for the day and they all worked on a house together: putting in insulation, planting a garden, breaking up a driveway and hauling rocks from one end of the property to another where they were needed as filler. it sounds like they all had a lot of fun working so hard.

last, but not least, it was this little one's birthday today! he's now two.

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my gift from janet:

a beautiful biography of artist ruth asawa

peonies, pastry and soup

birthday peonies . . 

birthday baklava . . 

wedding soup.

on the 28th

korrina and chanda came by today around 1 pm so we could go across the street to vote together. korrina walked in with beautiful peonies from a florist in her neighborhood (from both of them) and chanda had made a card. it was such a nice day weather wise - i don't think it went over 80, and since it was my birthday we ended up walking to chelsea market for fish tacos and then to the high line for paletas . . and then home again for their things and then two errands (the hardware store for a hammer for chanda's new apartment and the italian pork store for semolina bread, mozzarella, soppressata, olives, etc., for korrina) before they got on their separate trains.

actually, first i had several lovely text messages from friends and this message from aurélien . . 

and a gift from my cousin that had arrived via korrina and that i had saved for this morning . . 

i didn't know this card meowed happy birthday until chanda arrived and squeezed it . . 

new $50 doc martins from a new thrift store in chanda's neighborhood that they are sharing. today was korrina's turn to wear them.

ralph lee's puppets . . 

it's a very large dragon . . 

los mariscos, the mexican seafood taco spot . . 

their aquarium . . 

a shrimp taco on the left, and an especial ceviche with shrimp, clams, scallops and octopus (the corn tortilla is crunchy rather than soft).

chanda ordered the cucumber agua fresca for us and it was very good, not at all too sweet as i thought it might be.

admiring the echinacea and the honey bees on the high line . . 

hibiscus, strawberry and mango . . (i think)

wild quinine - identified by chanda with her phone (!)

astilby . .

purple smoke tree . . 

for some reason i really love this fountain. i find it funny and sad at the same time - kind of whimsical but buffoonish - and it's exactly how i feel . .  (the artist is nina beier)

faicco's . . 

korrina and i dropped chanda off at her subway entrance and then stopped at lifethyme health food store before heading our separate ways. i stopped at mah ze dahr for a blackberry basil spritzer . . and wandered home as it was dinnertime and greg was wondering where i was.

 

dinner with greg . . 

since i wasn't all that hungry we shared an ouzi: filo stuffed with basmati rice, almonds, golden raisins chicken, carrots, sweet peas and spices.

the best was the dessert . . 

saffron rice pudding and turkish coffee.

greg laughed at me because i first asked for espresso . . it was very good with just a hint of sugar.

. . and that was today.