mowing with the new mower . . and other chores

greg's much more methodical than i in terms of our lawn mowing styles.

 i knew i would eventually have to pull the stove out and clean along the sides, as i had noticed during our first visit after the tenants had left, that a lot of food was stuck in the cracks. unfortunately, since i had procrastinated, summertime ants found the stash and beat me to it. so i not only had food to clean, but ants to . . get rid of, to put it gently. lesson learned: clean food immediately before the ants arrive and have to be decimated.

 the town was so crowded with the summertime weekend visitors that we decided to cook for ourselves, and stopped for supplies at the local health food store (which, thankfully, wasn't too busy).

 breakfast this morning: greg is finishing his saturday night ice cream treat!

 yellow blooms on the dusty miller plants . . 

 when will we finally leave the refrigerator on with food inside?

 laundry, again!

 all the towels used during the stove cleaning (i used a LOT of soapy water).

 all packed and ready to head back to the city . . 

 with a stop by the sea for a photo . . today the seaside was breezy and the air was cool, though the sun was very hot.

home again, home again, jiggity jigg. 

(it's raining as i write this, with that lovely rainy, earthy aroma floating in through the windows.)

out east

 greg, chanda and i drove out to montauk to check on my parents' house and to sign a new lease for the year with the current tenants.

 chanda hadn't been out since my dad's funeral in may of 2016. it makes me feel sad to write that, as for years we made seasonal pilgrimages to see them. in the summer we would go and spend time at the beach, in autumn we would go apple picking, in winter we had christmas together, and in february we always went out for greg's birthday. in between we would always find time to pop out for a night or two . .

 the bittersweet vine at the beach overlook,

 lunch at the health food store,

 beautiful ditch plains . . 

where some surfers were out catching the waves,

 and where we found an entire hotel had disappeared and had been replaced with beach grass. usually it's always the other way around!

 please keep off the dune!

 

in the evening we met a friend whom we hadn't seen in years at a restauarant called the point. it was really fun to catch up and share what our children are busy doing. above is his instagram pic of the selfie we took.

here we're having breakfast this morning at the health food store where i saw our neighbor with his home health aide, mila. she once had helped me with my mom and dad. she's very sweet and i find it amusing and interesting that she's now taking care of our elderly friend next door. she kind of ran away from helping me. my mom and dad were too much for her to handle, and it was also a very stressful time in my relationship with them (they were in denial that they needed any help and were giving me--and mila--a very difficult time). this was about two and a half years ago. i'm glad that i've seen her again and had a chance to talk with her and exchange phone numbers. 

 chanda is working on a pair of fingerless gloves to match her hat.

 the mess that is the basement floor of my parents' house!

 in order for the current tenants to be upstairs, we emptied closets and drawers and moved furniture downstairs: the dining room table and chairs, the small kitchen snack table and kitchen chairs, the king size bed from the bedroom, and both twin beds from the second bedroom.

 this has always been my favorite room in the house: my mom's sewing room.

greg put up a new smoke detector for me.

unfortunately, everything is a bit moldy. i don't think they ran the dehumidifier during the summer like they said they did. it's very worrisome and i need to figure out a game plan for next summer.

 a bookshelf with my redwood bear which i brought back home with me.

 one last visit to the beach before going home: hotel beach in town.

 it was so cold!! i think it was in the upper 20's this morning and we are definitely not accustomed to it. in the past few years, winter doesn't usually arrive until december or even january.

 it was also extremely windy.

 we had lunch in amagansett at the chutney company. it's located in the town square.

 ordering our dosa sandwiches which are made with chickpea flour.

 this picture was taken right after we had finished cleaning up an entire carton of soup that i had spilled. fortunately, i was able to scrape it all off the table and back into the carton without spilling any on the floor, and we were given a new soup free of charge. greg's expression immediately after i spilled it was so funny. he just heaved a big sigh and stared at the mess without any loud exclamation. chanda was quick at getting me napkins to wipe it up, and then he replaced the messy trays with clean ones . . and we were good to finally eat our lunch! as you can see, we are eating inside. it's not often i've done that. usually it's always warm enough when i'm there to eat outside.

 the lovely amagansett square . . 

 we used to like to shop at some of the stores when they had sales after the summer crowds had gone. unfortunately, all the stores we liked have left and been replaced with different stores that don't interest us as much (much too pricey!).

 our last stop before the last leg home was the starbucks in bridgehampton.

 here i ran into an old friend from my karate school days. we hadn't seen each other in . . twenty years or so. i happened to be leaning against the counter you see on the left in the pic above, waiting for my coffee, and when i looked up i saw a familiar face. it took me a minute to remember her name, but i managed it while yelling hello and how are you. it's been quite the weekend for running into old acquaintances.

a trip east

greg and i went out to help my mom and dad pack up for connecticut.

we stopped at the beach overlook. the weather has been so beautiful.

american bittersweet vine.

it always grows here . . 

and i always try to take pictures peeking through . .

jiggity jig

we returned home this afternoon in time for acting and ballet classes. chanda and i had a snack before she ran off . . and i had a cup of decaf earl grey, which i don't think i'm actually supposed to have. but it was very good.

 here are some pics from the past two days. 

 it was very cold, so we didn't go for any long beach walks.

 

 we managed a peek from the overlook.

 

 for dinner the first night we stopped at the fish store for flounder and (a special treat) sea scallops. we also roasted a kabocha squash and zucchini.

 

 we've been craving sweets. morgana and i can't have sugar because of the diet, and chanda gave sugar up for lent. we tried baking a pecan pie made with a honey coating and coconut flour crust. it was very good, though we'll shorten the baking time for the next try.

 

 we played a game of cards with nana.

 

 we played only a few hands each night . . and i think chanda won with the lowest score.

 

 we were fooling around with nana's magnifying glass as we couldn't find the cards with the large print numbers.

 

 it was a busy two days as we cleaned and straightened, visited the recycling center/dump, and i helped my mom with some paperwork.

the girls were a big help with sorting glass and plastics, vacuuming, cooking and folding laundry.

it was nice to visit the library and celebrate st. patrick's day with a book about ireland, along with corned beef and cabbage for dinner. much information about this meal was gleaned from the st. patrick's day parade commentators on nonno's tv. corned beef and cabbage is supposedly an american dish concocted in hell's kitchen, nyc. however, cabbage was used by the farmers in ireland to cover up the cooking meat aroma from the lords of the land . . or so the story goes.

driving home today was pleasant with a blue sky and little traffic. there was so little traffic that it felt strange. thinking back on it, i can't believe we didn't hit one traffic jam.

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back at home i heard from greg about his two days: that jack was very good and stuck to his old routine, which means that greg didn't have to walk or feed the old boy before 6 am, and was able to get some sleep; and that he and korrina had dinner monday night at a nice noodle shop in the east village. it sounds like she's very happy with her new job and is enjoying learning how to cook the restaurant's signature dishes. she had her last day at the old place yesterday, and is looking forward to a day off on thursday. she worked every day these past two weeks: two days for the old job, and five for the new.