flats and cats

morgana, lisa-lou and i visited the tenement museum today, and then meow parlour to spend time with the cats.

 

we hadn't been to the museum in several years and they have restructured their tours to include a walk outside which i thought gave a more encompassing perspective of what life was like in the early 20th century. for the tour we were on that meant 1933, and the story of the baldizzi family who came from palermo. you can read the full story on the museum's website.

 

rosaria baldizzi married her husband adolfo when she was 16 years old through an arranged marriage in sicily. he came over first in 1923 before the passage of the immigration act of 1924 which made it difficult for non-nordic peoples to immigrate. subsequently, adolfo came over with legal documents as himself, but rosaria entered the country under an assumed name and wasn't able to legalize her status until twenty two years later. the couple had two children here, and the story is told through the memories of the oldest child, josephine.

they lived on the third floor in a three room apartment (kitchen, living room/parent's room and small children's bedroom) with two toilets in the hallway shared with the other families on the floor.

other tour participants with our wonderful guide, shirley, peeking out from behind.

daughter josephine with her family in 1992 when the story was established at the museum.

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afterwards, we walked along orchard street towards hester where we would turn left for the cat cafe. we happened to pass a restaurant called sticky rice, which i recognized from a visit quite a number of years ago. we were hungry so stopped for lunch . . 

vegetable pad thai with dumplings (morgana and i had the same and lisa-lou had massaman curry with chicken).

 

on our way to meow parlour . .
 

 lightning jack fast asleep in a window bed . . 

 

this is little skeleton (his litter mates are called spooky and scary - litters tend to have themed names).

this is either little azul or rojo, who were waiting to be picked up by their adopter. they were quite young and very cute.

playing with cricket and little rojo or azul . .

playing with cute little ollie . . 

cricket and fern, who were very friendly with us on our last visit. they're up for adoption together as they are a bonded pair.

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in the evening i helped kendall with aurélien, as she had her port out today and was feeling woozy from the sedative. i hadn't helped with bedtime in awhile, so it was nice to be together again. lisa-lou walked to second avenue to get a ticket for the musical stomp, which she said was very very very good!

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(it was quite warm and humid today, about 69 degrees . . and very drizzly. )