to brooklyn

i met lizette today in brooklyn heights. we bought croissants from the bakery across the street from her and had them on the esplanade . . 

we walked around the neighborhood a little . . and then stopped at her favorite italian place for a salad and roasted vegetables (brussel sprouts) . . and also stopped in her local bookstore.

it's always so nice to see each other and to catch up on the news.

walking home . . 

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greg had stayed home to watch his florida state university football game. unfortunately, they lost.

the proper saturday for meeting lizette

today was the original and correct day for meeting lizette in brooklyn for brunch together. we went to a diner near her apartment (clark's) and had a lovely time together, walking around afterwards and visiting her favorite bakery and the new bookstore in her neighborhood. 

the one dollar water man (which i sent to greg as he always joins in with the chant when we pass by in the car) . . 

eggs hollandaise with avocado, potato pancakes and bacon. i couldn't finish it all and brought the leftovers home! lizette had a poached egg with potato pancakes . . all delicious!

we took a selfie in front of the health food store perelandra (the title is from a book that is part of a c. s. lewis trilogy which i read a few years ago). i also came away with some goodies (local kombucha, a favorite bar of soap, organic herbal tea and organic valley granola bars, all things i haven't been able to get in my neighborhood; health food stores, book stores and libraries are some of my favorite places).

heading home . . 

a new tourist attraction - you stand on a disc with a camera that rotates around so you have a 360 degree nyc background with the alicia keys new york song and which you can then post to instagram or tik tok.

i was very thirsty as it was extremely hot, so i stopped at billy's bakery where i used to go often with chanda when she took ballet class nearby at the gelsey kirkland academy. unfortunately, they didn't allow indoor seating (i was hoping to sit and cool off in their air conditioning) so i took my cupcakes to go and happily sipped at the ice cold lemonade the rest of the way home. it was very refreshing!

celebrating the brooklyn bridge, fleet week, london again and a recital

 

my local radio station host had documentarian ken burns on this morning to celebrate 140 years of the brooklyn bridge. it was wonderful to listen to and i'm a big fan of ken burns' films (and also of brian lehrer's radio program). if you click here you can listen to the program. you can also watch the short video ken burns made commemorating the bridge with ny times architecture critic michael kimmelman here. while walking across the bridge, they discuss its history and its construction. the same page has several other short videos that are all very interesting and informative.

 

 

 

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i read a good article on the local newspaper the broadsheet this morning about the ships arriving for fleet week. they began entering the harbor at 7:30 am with the fdny fireboats leading the way. greg had a wonderful view from his work building:

steaming past the statue of liberty . . 

i think this is the uss wasp, which the article talks about (the largest at fleet week this year, an amphibious assault vessel similar in size to the intrepid). i'm interested in visiting the hms scott, a british ocean survey vessel, and the usns newport, a non-combatant expeditionary fast transport vessel (!).  i understand they're offering free tours at specific times.

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meanwhile . . ! our friends (my cousin ron and his partner) are having a grand time with morgan in london! morgan was tour guide today around their neighborhood in soho and then all went to the wolsely for tea . .

their smiles make me so happy . . 

tea at the wolsely! (they had a full tea with finger sandwiches, scones and pastries!)

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while greg and i met in the evening at the school for strings at our friend's voice recital (my friend reina) (i walked and greg took the train) . . 

anika with her accompanist marina. she sang so beautifully and we were all incredibly moved. the program included songs by henry purcell (sweeter than roses), mozart (deh! vieni non tardar), franz schubert (du bist di ruh), johannes brahms (vergebliches ständchen), giaochino rossini (una volta c'era un re), rodgers and hammerstein ii (ten minutes ago), stephen sondheim (on the steps of the palace, green finch and linnet bird), j. bock and s. harnick (vanilla ice cream), leonard bernststein and s. sondheim (maria).

waiting for the bus on what turned out to be a rainy ride home.

brooklyn yarn crawl

 

 i rode citibike to warren street and walked to and over the bridge to meet korrina at the ferry landing at brookyn bridge park to attend the brooklyn yarn crawl event - visiting all four brookyn fiber stores.

 

at our first stop, woolyn yarn store on atlantic avenue.

there were four stores involved and if you found the crocheted/knitted flowers with their secret word and emailed all four words to the official yarn crawl website, you could win a special basket of yarn or a gift certificate. we found the flowers in the three stores we visited, but the day grew too late to visit the final one. it was still fun discovering all the flowers, however (woolyn's was the most difficult . . it's actually not easy to find amidst all the balls/skeins of yarn and other myriad of items).

 

walking to the next store . . 

wild plastic animals for sale on someone's stoop . .

 

at brooklyn general . . 

 

"lupine"

walking to our next stop . .
 

i always find it fascinating walking across the brooklyn queens expressway.

 

our next stop: delicious canolis and cappuccino at mazzola bakery!

 

our favorite canoli in all of nyc . .

 

walking through brooklyn to the bus stop which got confusing with the one way streets (we needed to take it east and had trouble finding where it turned around at the end of the line . . we ended up hopping in an uber).

 

here we are in windsor terrace at argyle, korrina's favorite shop.

 

"lagoon!"

i was excited to purchase a skein of esther's own hand-dyed luminous solar sock yarn in the beachcomber colorway.
 

walking to the bus for downtown brooklyn in our old neighborhood of park slope to return to the bridge and ferry landing.

 

cherry blossoms . .

admiring the redbud trees . .
 

 

korrina hopped on the ferry and i headed home along the bridge where everyone was having fun taking selfies . .

 

 

korrina's view at her ferry landing . .

taking a pic of her purchases in the sunset light . .
 

i decided to walk through soho rather than riding the bike home. here i'm passing burdick chocolate shop . . 

to meet chanda and greg for dinner at moustache . .

 

 

at home with another canoli for dessert.