now it's the end of august

i succumbed to purl soho's advertising and bought their "sunshower" cotton and participated in their zoom knit-along. their yarn is expensive but they actually have very nice patterns that are all free. they also offer free online help. i'm amazed at the business they do. of course, not only are the patterns free, but all their yarn is very beautiful. this pattern is called the "double-thick potholder" and it was a lot of fun to make. whenever i needed a little technical help i could look it up online or check their last zoom meet up where they answered questions and explained everything in detail. i was impressed with the level of help and really happy with how this came out. i have a few more that i would like to make.

greg and i are getting ready to take chanda to the cape this weekend for her semester at the marine biological laboratory. i've been preparing the apartment for the cat sitter (getting canned and dry food, making labels for the cabinets as to where all cat paraphernalia is located, getting keys ready for the sitter, etc.) and had to run out for extra treats this afternoon as the two rascals managed to open the closet where their treats are kept and ate an entire bag. pluto is here too, so things are a little more complicated, and a little more worrisome as i don't feel that zuzu and pluto have completely settled in with each other. thus, i have the cat sitter coming twice a day.  

(the photo above was taken on my way to the pet shop on 14th street, walking west.)

the weather has been beautiful and surprisingly fall-like. nighttime and early mornings have had a very cool breeze, and today was not at all hot, even with the sun shining so bright and no clouds in the sky.

i'm preparing a post from last saturday when we moved chanda out of her apartment and back home . . she's been here just for this week . . though i haven't seen her much since she's been out seeing friends every day and night!

thursday (blue moon day)

i walked milly along the river today after talking with korrina in the morning . . it was nice to catch up. she's better, though still feeling tired from covid (i think i should pick up more florivital iron supplement for her from my health food store), and has been extra busy at work as they lost their head chef (but they're busy interviewing candidates for the position). 

today was very humid, but cloudy with a cool breeze . . 

pier 53 has been getting a make-over . .

it's very beachy looking . . 

waiting for her treat . . ("chicken chips") . . 

today morgan and i "zoomed" while sewing and knitting (you can see my double-thick potholder on the right) while watching ted lasso (for the nth time!).

chanda is running off to school (she's on the left, wearing shorts and a red shirt and wearing a big backpack).

and here's a photo of the second full moon of the month (i do have a pic of the first full moon . . but i think i have yet to post it):

morning meeting

 
marisa is getting ready to head back up to vermont. i'll miss having her around. we had coffee, tea and a cornetti this morning at sant ambroeus cafe. (we were both amazed at the size of the leaves on this plant we saw on perry street.)

cat company

is it getting better every day?!

monday night dinner . . fresh cod fish, arugula salad and summer squash (all from saturday's green market).

the cats and dinner at kendall's

 
i was happy to see all three resting and looking out the window together today. 

janine was in town and we met up at kendall's for dinner.

aurélien is three years old now.

moving chanda out of her apartment

 
greg decided to rent a van to move chanda's furniture, books, bags and boxes from her apartment back to our apartment.

he was pleased with the blankets they supplied and with the van itself. it was new and very clean and not too difficult to drive. i actually stayed home and did my usual green market run with kendall and aurélien. chanda had help from her friend nick and a roommate to bring everything down to the street and to watch the stuff in the van. it went smoothly and quickly. (and it's good i didn't go along, because there were only two seats in the van! where did chanda sit? on a box in between the driver and passenger seats!)

pluto seems to be right at home amongst all this . . stuff.

cricket and zuzu found everything very interesting to investigate . . 

and to claim ownership of . . 

for some reason these plastic bags were extremely sniff-worthy . . perhaps they had the scent of melvin the cat (chanda's roommate's cat).

we had dinner at our favorite ramen restaurant . . 

which we had never been to with chanda, though she had been the one to recommend it to us when it first opened.

it was such a pretty night . . 

and now we have a lot more stuff in our apartment again!

sunday and monday out east

greg and i left in the morning to visit montauk, check on the house and mow the lawn. our neighbor toni took care of the cats. 

i found that we had a mouse in the house on this trip, and i spent a large part of the time cleaning up after it . . wiping out kitchen drawers and washing all the dishes and silverware . . i did get to swim at navy road, which was nice.

i've also been reading the lost queen of egypt by lucile morrison. it's one of my favorite books which i discovered when about 12 or 13 years old in my local library (plainedge public library in north massapequa). it's an historical fiction novel about princess ankhsenpaaten. the copy i have is a fourth printing edition from 1939.

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at the beach on monday . . 

we spent greg's lunch hour by the water. he's working from the house today while i continue cleaning . . 

(knitting a napkin with cotton yarn bought from woolyn yarn store in brooklyn a few weeks ago - blue sky fibers organic cotton in color sundrop) . . 

in the evening at hampton chutney before getting on the road to home.

it's the middle of august already

my new computer is finally set up with my photo libraries and my email. we ordered it about two weeks ago and it came a week early, but it took time to back up the old computer, transfer all the photos to an external hard drive and sync my new gmail to the new mac's email program. i decided on a laptop as it seemed archaic to have a computer sit in one place all the time. i really like it! it's incredibly fun to work on. 

the photo above is of madison square park, this past wednesday, the 16th, when i was walking home from a check up at the dentist. it was a beautiful day, not too humid, and everyone was out enjoying summertime.

the new small dog run at the park . . 

and the large dog run.

milly and i took a walk to pet palace in soho where i bought treats for the cats.

and look who's here! pluto! chanda will be moving out of her apartment in another week, and she brought pluto over early as she plans on being away for a few days camping with a friend. pluto will be staying with us while she attends a special marine biology program for the fall semester at a different school.

cooking dinner with the three of them is certainly interesting! 

morgan directed a play (which a friend wrote) and it opened monday at the camden fringe festival. our good friend deychen flew in for the occasion. morgan was very excited about this visit and they've been having a fun time attending plays at the globe, taking tea at the wolseley, paddle boating on the serpentine in hyde park and swimming in the pond at hampstead heath.

i was happy that my friend marisa came down from vermont for a few weeks to check on her apartment and to visit her dentist for a check up - i guess it's just that time of year! i don't think we have seen each other since spring of '22.

and this photo is from chanda . . hiking and camping in the catskills.

oh! just a few more photos from aurélien . . 

enjoying his summer in a pond upstate . . 

picking blueberries . . 

and falling asleep over his naptime book.

oh! and in regard to korrina: she had covid for a week and was not at work! she was very hot with chills at the same time along with joint/body aches and had a terrible headache for several days. she's better and back at work now, but still feels very tired. hopefully as the days go by she will feel stronger.