a birthday celebration

chanda turned twenty five today and i was up early to visit the green market and to bake an apple pie.

ready for the birthday girl . . 

taking a photo of pluto with the very cute tardigrade bear her friend natalie had made for her at the build-a-bear store on fifth avenue. (tardigrades are what she has been studying and was the project she presented at wood's hole last fall. they are microscopic animals.)

i'm not sure how impressed he was.

korrina arrived to celebrate with us before going to work . . 

i also made popovers! they were so good . . i really should make them more often (along with garlic bread).

i thought i had filmed us singing happy birthday, but that was not the case.

morgana was on facetime . . 

meanwhile pluto turned his back on mr. tardigrade, who seems to have done the same.

hmmm . . someone would like apple pie?

one of her presents was the nutmeg's curse by amitav ghosh, an account of the very sad story of the conquest of the banda islands by the dutch east india company in 1621. chanda was able to meet the author through a presentation at school about a month ago.

is this another person flat on their back? yes, it was our neighbor victoria who stopped by in the late afternoon. she's been in town and staying at a hostel run by a finnish organization uptown. she had her bank account hacked this past week and has been very stressed trying to set things right. it was nice to see her and catch up on the films she has been making (one won a lovely award at a festival in italy).

dinner together with leftovers (roasted chicken, carrots and baked beans) before chanda left for a friend's party which just happened to occur on her birthday.

friday the 28th . .

listening to brian lehrer this morning . . 

 

such lovely books . . 

and beautiful crocheted artwork.

birthday morning for pluto

 
it's pluto's birthday today. he's five years old now.

turning twenty two on a tuesday

someone has a birthday today . . 

we had green tea and cinnamon toast before she ran off to class.

a hat she picked out at the cat cafe on sunday . . 

say cheese pluto . .

after the table was clear of food and glassware and she had headed out, the kittens were finally let out of the bedroom (thankfully, it hadn't been torn to pieces).

 

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we were all on different schedules so we zoomed with korrina and morgan at 7 pm, though it was a bit later (i was on a zoom meeting until about 7:15 with the best friends volunteer center where the foster kittens came from, while rolling out the dough and filling the birthday pie with apples). greg had been out at montauk as there had been a scheduled furnace cleaning with a technician today and was on his way home. we sang happy birthday and she opened one of her gifts (a pair of socks from meow parlour with astronaut cats on them) and then we said good-bye . . chanda went out to eat with emily and i cleaned up from pie making and put it in the oven (after checking with marisa about the timing she usually does for her pies . . i ended up putting it in at 375 for 15 minutes and then 350 for 30 minutes, though she got back to me later that she usually does 425 for 10 minutes and then 350 for 30 minutes, which is actually my mom's recommendation. however, my pies usually end up too mushy at that temperature - 375 for 15 minutes produced a good pie for me this time around . . i'm writing it down here for reference!).

 

happy birthday dear chanda . .

sunday morning birthday poem

sea fever

i must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

and all i ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,

and the wheel's kick and the wind's song

and the white sails shaking,

and a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking.

i must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

and all i ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

and the flung spray and the blown spume,

and the sea-gulls crying.

i must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

to the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;

and all i ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

and quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

john masefield, salt-water ballads, 1902

birthday cappuccino with oatmilk . . (we'll watch the unitarian universalist general assemply service this morning at 10) . . (and the royal ballet has woolfworks up on their youtube channel . . i watched it friday and posted about it here.)

birthday tea

 i met korrina for a cup of tea before she went into work this morning.

 there's a green market a block from her work now. this is different from the fresh produce box that we used to get, which was a set price for a bag of vegetables, but it's great to have local farms selling fruit and veggies so near her work.

 birthday gifts . . a cat spoon, like chanda's . . 

 and two skeins of cartref yarn's new color from jennie and zoe, independent yarn suppliers in wales.

it was nice to sit and chat before her work day began . . 

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another day in florida . . 

twenty . . today

happy birthday dear chanda . .

now that chanda is officially twenty, greg and i officially have no more teenagers in the house. it feels strange to suddenly be on this end of the parenting path . . !

 we celebrated this morning with a lemon tarte from duane park patisserie . . though i'll probably make an apple pie also. chanda will have dinner at korrina's restaurant with emily, and then come home for the pie . . we also are going to meet our friend marlene for lunch since it's her birthday is tuesday . . so many birthdays - friends and family - in november for us!

 a new mug and cute kitten spoon were two of the gifts.

pluto would like cake and bacon, but it's not happening.

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evening photos:

 chanda and emily came back from korrina's restaurant so full from all the courses that were sent their way. they had oysters, steak, carrot salad, pasta and three different desserts! it was such a busy saturday night with a huge birthday party happening at the table next to them, that korrina was practically a blur when they were finally able to say hello. it was a wonderful night for chanda and korrina and her co-workers made it a special birthday dinner.

 getting ready to have apple pie, made with my mom's recipe . .

 . . just apples, lemon juice and cinnamon.

unfortunately, it exploded in the oven and a quarter of the filling leaked out. i guess i didn't thoroughly prick the top crust. it still tasted delicious, however. my mom's apple pie is my favorite . . i realize that i'm not sure where the recipe is from. i wonder if it was her mom's recipe. only after losing my parents, do i realize all the things that i don't know, that i think i should know!