rain and cat care and errands again

 

 this is harry. he's quick to come and say hello and rub against your legs. if you sit down, he'll hop right away onto your lap and stare at you with his puppy dog eyes. several of the cats in the second cat room were bullying him (specifically, peach and booker, which is strange as they can be very loving themselves) so he was switched to the first cat room. can you guess who tried to bully him there? yes, ridley. that darn ridley, whom i love dearly. it's like having a naughty child.

 

so half of my time today was hanging out with harry in the first cat room and making sure he ate the food specially brought in for him. he's a bit thin.

 

dreidel came by to say hello.

 

dreidel was fine as long as harry didn't get toooooo close .  .

 

here's ridley keeping a guard on his territory, ready to hiss and swat at any cat that comes by.

it was another rainy day for errands.

 

 i stopped for ravioli at rafetto's . . when i stepped into the store the aroma of marinara sauce and suasage took me back in time to my aunt mary's house, and also to my mom's kitchen.

 

so many goodies to choose from . . 

 

 (i also lost my list! but i think i managed to remember all the places i needed to stop at. so far, at least, i haven't thought of anything that was forgotten.)

a very rainy day

it was a wet walk home after vision therapy and the handle gave out on the paper bag i was using to hold several gifts that were picked up along the way . . so it was not easy carrying the bag home clutched in my arms while i held the umbrella in one hand . . or the other hand when the one hand got too tired . .

and the salvation army people have been having a lot of fun these past few days with the music they play.

lille julaften

it's little christmas eve day . . 

 

the morning was spent cleaning hot chocolate off the stove, folding towels, cleaning kitty litters, vacuuming and making a grocery list. oh, and then finally having a cup of tea and some oatmeal.

morgan went over to kendall's around 10:30 to help wrap presents for aurélien and extended family members. afterwards, we met at san ambroeus for our lille julaften celebration. normally, we go to ferrara's for coffee and sweets but i didn't want to eat inside before going to see my sister the day after christmas, so we chose to eat outside at the same place we went to last year. 

pasta carbonara and black lentil soup . . 

prosciutto and swiss cheese on a soft challah roll with a salad and delicious butter for my roll with the soup.

 

chocolate mousse with chocolate custard (this was so good, and also not too sweet . . the dark chocolate tempered the sugar). i also had a pot of coffee, chanda had a cappuccino and morgan had a mocha.

we're sitting under a heat lamp, but it was still quite cold.

one of my favorite corners (i always thought this was a pretty apartment building). afterwards, morgan and i did some christmas shopping at the yarn store, burdick chocolate and the doc martin store where she tried on a pair of shoes.

walking home with a stop at the health food store . . 

at home we had a simple dinner of beat salad with baked tofu . korrina was at work at the commissary today, but i think she was able to leave by 3 pm for a trip to a store in jackson heights before heading home.

last night's batch of moon cookies, dough made by chanda, rolled out and baked by morgan.

the best laid plans . .

morgan and i were supposed to see the new york city ballet's nutcracker this afternoon at 2 pm. we arrived only to find that all shows are cancelled through december 27th. i was so disappointed . . just really disappointed!

we used the bathroom at the performing arts library before heading downtown to rockefeller center. they had a photo display of the limon dance company from the 1960's and 1970's. morgana enjoyed seeing their dance teacher, betty jones, in the company photos.

betty is the smiling face in the center of this pic. they were visiting columbia in 1961 and meeting columbian president alberto camargo.

the company arriving in santiago chili . . 

betty is in the center with a scarf around her shoulders.

heading out to walk downtown to see the christmas tree . .

this year's tree is from elkton, maryland and is a 79 foot long norway spruce.

fortitude at the 42nd street library . . 

we then caught the fifth avenue bus downtown and i rode it to 10th street and made some shopping stops as i walked home (bigelow, the florist for paper white bulbs, pink olive and grove drug store). the walk home was incredibly windy and cold!

dinner was einkorn pasta with greens and shitake mushrooms.

the day before christmas