construction work continues

so the construction work has once again begun and cricket and pluto are obsessed with watching the workers drilling and rebricking on the other side of the window. it's not pleasant for chanda and i and we have retreated into the bedrooms. the waterproofing smell has also returned so the air purifier is running.

here is a photo of a truck hauling away furniture ruined from the fire the other week. chanda says she's noticed them hauling away several truckloads. i only caught this one . . and was surprised at the debris.

snowdrops i found today at the garden of st. luke in the fields when i was on my way to help ellen.

sick day, construction work and photos from morgan

i went to sleep last night with a sore throat and woke achy and tired. it was good i didn't go anywhere as they finally got to our windows for the facade work that has been happening on our building and i was able to make sure to close off the bedrooms so the noise wasn't as disruptive. the blue tarp you see in the window is on a suspended platform the workers use when drilling.

the cats were a bit confused and did not like the noise . . 

especially zuzu.

cricket took a nap with me . . i sent this pic to morgan . . 

and i received these photos of austria in return . .

do you see the chickens running around in the grass?

cats, dinner and apartment work

 
lounging in the afternoon . . 

pluto's siesta . . 

we finally re-grouted and re-caulked the bathroom shower tiles . . 

greg scraped out all the old caulking and some of the grout that was the most mildewy. i then filled everything in . . except i forgot to use painter's tape to keep the caulking from spreading too far, and will have to re-do the corner on tuesday after it dries completely. thankfully, i remembered in time for around the tub.

zuzu kept an eye on things.

we had dinner out our local japanese restaurant and i had something different for once: shrimp yaki soba (soba noodles with shrimp and vegetables). greg had vegetable tempura and two sushi rolls.

someone passing by was interested in our meal . . 

monday afternoon

 

our neighbor was having some very loud construction going on today. we brought the kittens into the living room with us as it was happening directly over the room we keep them in. it was quite loud and in the pic above finn is hiding from it in his little house. 

pluto playing with finn before it began . . 

and here andy is running around with his toy carrot which he was quite possessive about . . 

you can hear him growling as finn teases him . . 

lunch during the construction noise . . chanda mixed up her weeks for when she was supposed to get a covid test for school (students report to a particular building for the test and then it clears in a day or two), and was locked out of in-person classes for two days. while the construction was going on, she worked at the table in the living room.

getting some  help from finn . . 

little andy hid under the bed and came out when i called him for a photo.

pluto hid under the chair.

the new desk

chanda's desk, all assembled . . 

sun bathing and a new desk

 pluto likes to sit next to greg in the sun in the morning.

 chanda's new desk arrived today. we carried it together up the stairs (it was heavy!) and opened it in the foyer. there was lots of styrofoam to discard, and then we broke up the box and put it in the recycling. i wiped all the pieces down with castile soap and water. they were rather dusty; much dustier than the ikea furniture that we've purchased in the past (this desk was from home depot).

 there were lots of pieces to put together . . i guess pluto thought he could help.

 too confusing, pluto?

 almost done! (she did have to re-do one part.)

we did taco thursday this evening, rather than taco tuesday. i needed to sauté spinach on tuesday, with pasta, otherwise the spinach would have gone bad. (my sister and my friend maryann have been having tacos on tuesday for the past few weeks.)

presidents' day afternoon

 after greg pulled out all the old caulking in the shower, i scraped out old grouting, re-caulked and then re-grouted. pluto kept me company for a good part of the day.

 it was hard work. the grouting is very thick and i ended up "painting" it on . . in between each tile. not all the tiles needed to be redone, just enough of them to wear me out! i also had to consult youtube videos again. i did this work about two years ago, and had forgotten the details, such as using painters' tape for the caulking to keep it straight and neat, using a spoon to spread the caulking (or a finger dipped in water) and wiping the grouting off with a damp sponge after painting it in between each tile (and doing that quickly before it got too dry).

my problem is keeping it clean. i don't like to use bleach as it's so unfriendly to the environment. one website says that spraying periodically with white vinegar can help keep mold away (or spraying with white vinegar and baking soda when cleaning?) i may just give in and use a little bit of bleach mixed with water in a spray bottle when cleaning. korrina says she has to use that to deep clean certain areas in the kitchen at the restaurant, otherwise black mold sets in.

breakfast, books and dinner with friends

saturday morning breakfast: stollen and earl grey tea.

reading my book about louisa may alcott and the march sisters that i bought at the radio show on the 17th. i've really been enjoying the essays.

is pluto getting ready to read some important papers?

here he is getting ready to watch greg put up a window shade . . 

and is making sure everything is done correctly . . !

i made red bean and quinoa chili this evening, from the cookbook feeding the whole family, for our friends sacha and family.

morgana taught us a new card game, three blind mice, and then we taught our friends may i, which we used to play all the time with my parents, and which our friends really enjoyed (which is great as i look forward to playing it again with them). chanda came home before they left and was able to sit down and say hello.

sunday advent breakfast

the first light of advent is the light of stones,

light that lives in seashells, in crystals and in bones.

the second light of advent is the light of plants,

plants that reach up to the sun and in the breezes dance.

the third light of advent is the light of beasts,

light of hope that shines in the greatest and the least . . 

by mary thienes-schunemann 

from the christmas star, singing with children

----

greg and i did more re-organizing and de-cluttering this afternoon before i met my friend for dinner and the nutcracker show. greg said that it's more like re-arranging deck chairs on the titanic.

reorganizing and cleaning out bins

 i tried going through bins and getting rid of things yesterday. things such as worn shawls and scarves that were made by me, the girls and friends. it's not easy letting these handmade items go . . however, they were all very worn with wear.

 we had three of these beautiful crocheted hats from a handwork class we took years ago with a fellow homeschooling mom, who wanted to practice her waldorf teaching skills on us (she had just taken a workshop). i'm hoping i didn't get rid of the other two hats, but i may have because i know they were small and i think they went to good will.

 i remember very clearly when my mom bought this scarf for me out on montauk at one of our favorite local shops . . .

 and i remember the year i made these ruffle scarves for all three children . . i remember trying to hide what i was doing when at the playground.

 and i made these potluck scarves another holiday year; all were patterns from the knitpicks catalog.

 korrina wove this on a loom she received for christmas . . ages ago. well, i kept all the above items! i didn't do too badly, however, as i now have two empty bins.

 the bin cleaning was yesterday . . today we had a major project as we needed to replace our hot water heater, which was over fifteen years old and was leaking.

 this is our new one. it was installed by our coop's maintenance workers, and it was quite a project, as was the cleaning up i did afterwards.

 this evening greg and chanda are dismantling the bunk bed in chanda's room and exchanging it for the single twin bed in morgana's room. 

pluto attacked me right after i took this photo. he's still a very young cat . . we've been reminiscing about how little and cute he was last christmas.