last day of april

this is morgana's costume from a dance she did in 2012. it's in ellen's closet of possible costumes for other students and it needed a wash and a mending before being worn by another dancer. it's all set now and i returned it to ellen today. there are two more weeks of class for the five year olds. they've been learning "twinkle" and a spring poem dance. not everyone is there for each class/rehearsal, and several of them have missed two to three weeks in a row, so it's all a bit muddled, but they are having fun.

greg and i met up in soho to walk home together.

interesting artist with a box on their head . . 

another warm day

 
it was such a beautiful day that i had to go out for a walk. i met marisa again (with my knitting, but we did not knit) and we wandered over to the union square green market.

marisa ran into an old friend of her's on 11th street . . marisa is always running into an old friend or neighbor . . once (years ago) we were waiting for a bus late at night after a dance performance and when the bus arrived, the driver turned out to be an old acquaintance from her days living in the bronx . . anyway, above they are discussing townhouse issues . . prices and upkeep, not that marisa has a townhouse, but her friend does. he was pointing out a conjoined pair that went for 75 million in february. you can actually read about it online here. they call them frankenmansions . . this is the first time i've heard that term. i remember reading about a similar situation in hollywood where wealthy investors were buying up old hollywood homes, knocking them down and building much larger dwellings.

after saying goodbye we stopped to browse through a pile of old records someone had put out (in the blue bag). i tried to post it on the stooping account on instagram, but did not succeed.

at the union square green market . . (marisa was dropping off her compost)

andrew's honey . . andrew specializes in specific neighborhoods. his hives are on rooftops.

honey for korrina . . 

i was hoping to visit a new cafe/bakery i had heard about, but they were closed, unfortunately. we went to breads on 16th street instead.

for dinner we had scallops sautéed in butter, kale with minced garlic and a salad with a light vinaigrette that chanda made. it was a green market meal again (from saturday's market).

and . . it was harley's birthday today. she and morgan visited the lego store and picked out a rivendell set and a axolotl water park set. a few weeks ago i found the strangest little plastic serpent on the floor and it took me a few days to realize it came from a harry potter lego set morgan and harley had put together here. one of the cats must have found it and was batting it around.

this last photo is of cricket falling asleep on my knitting: on the teal green baby sweater i'm making for manu's granddaughter, and on my grounded poncho . . he looks very comfortable, doesn't he?

morning poem and a warm day

near the end of april

near the end of april

on the verge of may--

and o my heart, the woods were dusk

at the close of day.

half a word was spoken

out of half a dream,

and God looked in my soul and saw

a dawn rise and gleam.

near the end of april

twenty mays have met,

and half a word and half a dream

remember and forget.

by william stanley braithewaite (1878-1962)

----

it was such a beautiful warm day today . . flowers and trees all in bloom . . after breakfast we walked to the ice cream shop and then chanda went to see a friend and greg and i walked to the pet store in soho for kitty litter. marisa called me when i returned home and i ran out again to meet her for tea at tea and sympathy cafe.

the tulips by the laundry room

a white redbud tree . . 

dinner in chinatown

 
greg and i walked to chinatown this evening to meet friends for dinner at hop kee restaurant.

we walked along sixth avenue to church street and then turned onto franklin, walked through collect pond park to centre street and then along hogan place to columbus park, which we walked through to mosco street which took us to mott street. the photo above is looking across columbus park playground to the old five points neighborhood.

mosco and mulberry streets . . 

hop kee restaurant is on the right and down the stairs . . we had spring rolls, chicken with cashews and chinese broccoli in oyster sauce . . and tea. it was all very good.

walking home . . 

through little italy . . 

my neighbor said she walked 20,000 steps today . . !

pizza and pinkberry

at zazzy's for pizza . . 

and then at pinkberry for frozen yogurt . . 

(i like to get original flavor and greg likes to get pomegranate flavor)

walking home . . 

pluto and my yarn