on the esplanade

the past few nights i've wakened to the moon

shining its light around myself

did you see its fullness before

or after you closed your eyes?

for lizette

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 . . 

----

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!

christmas eve

 we had another busy day of baking and errands before we left for christmas eve service at korrina's church in brooklyn heights.

 greg is always studying these days for his recertification with cisco systems. he leaves his job at the end of january and has a month or two off before beginning the search for a new job.

 madeline has been quieter than usual . . i'm not sure if she is miffed that there is a new cat in the house, or that she finds it calming. it's comforting that she doesn't meow as much. her meowing was very loud and unnerving. we think she is hard of hearing (thus the extra loud meows).

 sweet little kitten! he is fast! several times he's run out of chanda's room and almost bumps right into madeline. her hisses are a little less belligerent, so that's good.

 at 4 pm, chanda and i left to meet korrina and morgana at first unitarian universalist in brooklyn. morgana came from work. it was fortunate that we left so early, as the church was already very full at 4:30 for the 5 pm service. we were also fortunate that the trains were on time as we traveled there in only half an hour.  

 as we entered the church we ran into our friend kendall (who lives in our neighborhood). she was meeting her sister and nephew for the service. she gave us two pairs of special holiday glasses that turned flickering lights into santa claus faces and candy canes. they were fun!

 so many people in church this evening . . 

 and it was such a beautiful service. the choir sang . . the congregation sang . . there were beautiful intstruments: harp, violin, oboe, and piano . . there was candlelight and we all sang silent night.

 after talking with kendall and her family and two friends, morgana, chanda and i returned home and korrina took the train to celebrate this evening with brian's family. she and brian will return tomorrow to celebrate with us.

 linguini and clam sauce!

and the night before christmas . .

a trip to brooklyn

 chanda and i took the two train to borough hall, brooklyn, today. first we visited a new yarn store korrina has been telling me about called woolyn. 

chanda liked this hat and bought a skein of yarn in blues and browns to make it. the yarn was dyed by a woman on long island. i'll have to take a pic in the morning and check on the name. i love how there are all these independent dyers and spinners and designers! i also love how some are now from my home area of long island. this store carried yarn from north light fibers, which is a small indie dyer on block island (the island we can see on a clear day from montauk). i almost bought a skein, but thankfully i didn't! i have so many projects as it is (and i'm behind with my monthly sock knitting!)

 we were in brooklyn to have dinner with our friends sacha, charlotte and buddy. they have the sweetest and tiniest apartment with two cats, a bunny and a fish (i'm fascinated at how the bunny gets along with the cats!) sacha made a delicious meal of pasta with pesto sauce and the tastiest cinnamon butternut squash soup. we also looked at pictures of their trip to paris in july when they met up with morgana (i also got to meet stuffed animal pals lion, bunny -and in the photo- star or etoile).

buddy always has a special reading and writing project that he likes to work on while we look at photos, or play a game he's not interested in.

beautiful brooklyn heights

 greg and chanda didn't want to drive into brooklyn heights for my friend's orchestra concert so since i still insisted we take the car, i was pleased when we were able to find a parking spot just one block from the church in very little time. in fact, we found a spot in front of one of the prettiest houses . . see the stairs going up to the blue house with the windowboxes? chanda and i found it incredibly pretty. well, all the houses in brooklyn heights are worth exclaiming over. chanda hadn't been in years. she was surprised at the beauty of the neighborhood, in part because it has been protected from unchecked development since 1965, and has been a prominent, affluent area of the city since 1834.

 brooklyn heights has one of the most breathtaking views of manhattan from it's esplanade . . 

 which runs along the waterfront and above the brooklyn queens expressway.

 i used to bring the girls to the pierrepont playground when they were little. it's nice that chanda does still remember this (she was only two and a half years old).

 we walked along the esplanade to the playground and then to montague street to find a place to eat.

 we settled on "pinto," a thai restaurant which chanda was very pleased with.

it was really nice and we sat at the table i had seen from outside . . 

 greg had garlic chicken and vegetables . . 

chanda and i shared curried vegetables and curried chicken . . it was spicier than i thought it would be, but very good.

 my friend's concert was at plymouth church, a congregational church founded in 1847.

 waiting to begin . .  the brooklyn conservatory community orchestra played khachaturian's masquerade suite (1941) which was my favorite. they also played brahms' symphony no. 2 in d major (which was jeanette's favorite) and ravel's tzigane for violin and orchestra (with an amazing emerging violinist named alice ivy pemberton, who is currently in her first year at julliard's four year program).

  jeanette and her husband tony, whose mom was also at the concert. it was nice to meet her after hearing so much about her delicious cooking!

 after the concert, i went upstairs with jeanette to get her coat and viola case. i had never seen the sanctuary before. it was very large and old and dark! and very new england. it felt much like the quaker meeting house on 15th street and third avenue where greg and i used to go in the 90's. of course it might feel very different in the daytime.

henry ward beecher was the church's first minister and spoke openly against slavery (the church was a stop on the underground railroad), also hosting speakers such as sojouner truth and frederick douglass. in 1860, abraham lincoln attended church twice during his campaign to be president. a plaque marks his place on a pew.

the aeolian-skinner organ installed in 1904 and restored in the 1990's.