soho

a new mural on houston street . . 

(i added yesterday's and last weekend's adventures.)

at the ballet and a recital

this is the coat check at lincoln center. i was waiting along with twenty other people to be ushered into the first ring for a rehearsal of a midsummer night's dream with the new york city ballet. my friend is a member and wasn't able to attend so she offered me her ticket. it was fun watching the dancers mark their places on the stage and run particular sections of their pieces repeatedly. the artistic director and ballet masters and mistresses stood along the edge of the stage watching and commenting and the stage hands adjusted the set pieces. the conductor was there but not the full orchestra. a rehearsal pianist played all the music. 

i met greg afterwards at the flame diner as we had a friend's daughter's recital to attend (after getting a bite to eat) at the school for strings. he's looking very happy as the verdict was just announced. it was the talk of the street as i walked downtown to meet him . . everyone was feeling a little bit chipper and there were many conversations about what it might mean and how the punishment might work out.

getting all the latest tweets . . 

at the recital . . a few of the songs that were sung were:

wer hat dies liedlein erdacht (gustav mahler), five melodies populaires grecques (maurice ravel), bei mir bist du shein (sholom secunda) and the light in the piazza (adam guettel).

walking home afterwards we passed a mounted police officer. we had just been talking the other week about how we rarely saw them these days. you can read an interesting article about the full new york city police department mounted unit here on the noelle floyd website.

the sky was beautiful this evening.

the weekend

the operator arm for the broken window at the house arrived during the week and greg installed it saturday. i am so relieved because now we don't have to get a whole new window.

cricket always has to investigate . . 

we also had a visitor . . a little fawn was born on the side of the house a few days or so ago and ensconced itself in the sprinkler well. i observed it nursing with its mother from the bedroom window and then she went away and he settled down. i found information online about the habits of white tailed deer and we avoided mowing the lawn where it was resting. i only did a quarter of the front lawn as i didn't want to cause stress or spook the mother into abandoning it. 

tea with cricket . . 

dinner at the inlet . . (fish and chips and shrimp tacos).

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sunday afternoon we had a lovely visit with korrina, josh and josh's mom (at her place in the next town over). we had a delicious salad with grilled chicken along with italian cookies that we had brought and pastries from his mom's local bakery. the weather alternated clouds and sun and fog . . 

so much fog!

korrina went for a swim and sent two photos of the foggy shore:

back at the house with the little rascals . . 

i also finished the lawn mowing as the fawn was no longer in the well. when we first got back i had noticed  the mother deer heading into the little wooded area . . i figured she must have moved him there.

it was a cool foggy evening . . and the mowing and subsequent raking up of the grass clippings was very meditative.

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we headed home early this morning . . hoping to beat traffic. we stopped at the bakery where the delicious pastries came from yesterday . . 

olive oil bread with raspberry jam . . 

it was another grey and foggy day . . 

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a photo of drying chamomile flowers from morgan in austria . . 

sunday morning poem

may

a white shower falls from the apple tree,

good-bye good-bye, sweet may!

i will not mourn at beauty lost,

for there comes as fair a day;

but such a wealth of sweets is thine,

such blooms of flower and spray,

we can but sigh that gaining june,

we still must lose our may.

by edith willis linn (1865-1945)

spring or summer?

we went on an early morning bike ride. it's been really warm these past few days and went up to 81 this afternoon (80 yesterday). since there hasn't been an evening breeze, the cool morning air was a relief and felt so refreshing. i think it might be a hot summer. 

this was a fun and interesting art installation. 

it sparkles as you move by it . . 

pet store cat . . (greg and i were in search of kitty litter . . we also stopped for cookies at veniero's where there was a long line that moved quickly). the cat lying behind this beautiful tabby is named princess. i can't remember this fellow's name.

chanda made dinner while we were out chasing kitty litter and cookies . . pasta carbonara . .

and a mini cannoli for dessert (from the bakery).

i'm also keeping up with making phone calls to representatives with american friends service committee (at noon) and jewish voice for peace (at 3pm) calling for a ceasefire.

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morgan sent photos from the space in austria where the workshop is happening:

the room is as beautiful as the view . . 

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there's a nice breeze coming in through the window right now as i type . . .

 have a good holiday weekend.

projects and books and the moon

i'm trying to finish a baby cardigan for the oldest daughter of morgan's host family who had a child last summer. morgan is knitting a onesie and we're both hoping our sizes come out a little bit bigger than a one year old. 

i finished crying in h mart by michelle zauner in april. i started it one day while sitting on marisa's steps waiting for greg to meet me for a walk after work. a young man walking by with a woman stopped and asked me if it was good. yes! i said. the book begins with the author's intense sadness over her mother's death from cancer . . she finds herself crying in the korean-american supermarket h-mart; the korean food items bringing up memories of her mom cooking specific delicious comforting recipes for her. as she goes through the years leading up to her mom's illness you learn the struggles of their relationship - the disagreements, the attempts at understanding, the visits with aunts, uncles, grandparents that bound them together and the personal growing up memories that are unique to every mother and daughter. it's a warm and heartfelt memoir of their journey together.

this is another beautiful memoir by massoud hayoun who takes you through the journey of his maternal grandmother and grandfather from egypt and tunisia to the united states where he grew up with them and his mother in los angeles. along the way you learn about the colonization of north africa by france and britain and how it affected the jewish arab community living there - leading ultimately to the exile of so many. massoud hayoun writes with much love about his grandparents and their painful struggles in a society that doesn't respect their culture or history. i learned so much and appreciated the author's footnotes that lead you to additional reading. i finished this on sunday and greg is now beginning to read it. both books came from the library.

last night the flower moon shone full and bright . . the clouds managed to slip away so i could see it. greg had fallen asleep already, though he did see it trying to peek out.

a birthday and a bike ride

 
i woke this morning to photos from morgan of the birthday gift i sent via a neighbor who was traveling through londontown. it's a tea towel of bees and the word "dance dance dance" that i purchased from the rubin museum. half a pound of coffee from porto rico imports was sent along too. it was nice that my neighbors were passing through and could drop it off . . 

 (they met up last night at victoria station - photo above is proof as i kept bugging morgan asking if it had been picked up.)

view out the train window of m's morning commute . . 

on the home front: greg and i were out at 7 am this morning for a bike ride . . i love riding my bicycle now that it has a new seat, new tires and new brakes!

there's a cormorant out there . . the ripple in the center . . diving for fish.

back to morgan . . dinner with harley at dishoom, one of our favorite places to eat . . 

lots of good food . . 

including rice pudding, (a favorite): caramelized basmati rice (cooked "nicely!") with vanilla infused coconut milk, cardamom and cashews . . !! oh, also topped with blueberry compote . . 

and the requisite birthday candle pic . . .

sunday morning poem and a bird rescue

pansies

i love the pansies, meek and mild;

they sooth my nature rough and wild,

they breathe a perfume in the air,

which drives away all doubt and care.

in winter's season when you go

to sleep beneath the ice and snow,

i'll wait and watch 'till sun and rain

shall bring my pansies back again.

oh pansies rare, with varied hue,

my heart shall ever yearn for you;

i'll treasure you through life, sweet flower.

and love you every day and hour, --

and when i leave this world of care,

and make the journey over there,

i'll know 'tis heaven, when i see

my pansies, looking up at me.

by e. f. hayward (1866-1927)

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greg and i were supposed to attend a poetry reading today at south street seaport (poets afloat), but a fledgling robin interrupted our plans.

two neighbors found him on the iron grating of our garbage bin and brought him to the courtyard hoping he would eventually be able to fly away, but when i saw him he looked very distressed. another neighbor noticed that his feet didn't look good and he wasn't able to stand properly. we decided to take him up to the wild bird fund. i hope to hear from them in about a week as to how he's doing.

afterwards, we went for a bike ride . . 

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and lastly, this morning chanda attended her friend's graduation at mt. holyoke: