sleeping cats

i spent a lot of time decluttering my desk today. 

and organizing papers, photos, cards and books.

greg and i took a walk to soho to purchase kitty litter (we're completely out which i always find disconcerting because i can't properly clean the litter boxes), but the store had closed early. the open/close hourly sign on the door was actually taped over. i wonder if the owner might be ill. i have to walk milly tomorrow so maybe i'll walk over again and see what the situation is.

we ended up having dinner at pepe rosso . . we shared a caesar salad and then i had broccoli and salmon and greg had spaghetti. it was cold out tonight, and it's now 51 degrees which i think is the coldest it's been so far. it was so cold this morning that i was almost tempted to put the heat on . . but not quite.

trying on shirts with greg and the cats (with a cameo appearance from laura nyro)

wedding bell blues . . 

voting day and spring flower photos

pluto this morning . . 

and here are the three of them before chanda and i went out to vote.

it was a special election as our local council member was elected to the state assembly and we had to vote for his replacement.

look who we met up with . . it was a voting party.

the neighborhood is looking beautifully festive with all the spring blooms . .

and greg and i ate at tartine. we figured out that the last time we ate here together was when the restaurant had a different name, which neither of us could remember. we asked the current manager who also couldn't remember, though he knew that it was in 1991!! i have eaten here several times since then with janet and with morgan and chanda. one time we met a colleague of greg's from his work, which was interesting as i cannot remember how we figured out that she knew greg since he wasn't with us. maybe chanda remembers the story.

chalk 2026: triangle factory fire commemoration

it's march 25th and several weeks ago i had signed up to chalk the name of caterina bona giannattasio who died in the triangle shirtwaist factory fire in 1911. today chanda went with me and we carefully wrote in the information on bedford street where caterina lived. artist ruth sergel who began this chalk project has handed over the distribution of names to the tenement museum. (an interesting coincidence is that my childhood pediatrician was a giannattasio, and his grandson still practices in his old office space. i don't think they are related to caterina, however.)

caterina's older sister, rose, also perished in the fire. there is a photo of their gravestone in calvary cemetery here, along with a small article about them (click here for the article about rose). there were nine pairs of siblings who died in the fire. it's so very sad and tragic.

i have several past posts about chalking and the triangle fire which you can read if you like by scrolling down on the left to the labels list and clicking on the triangle fire label tab. but here's a link to one of our first experiences (in 2011) with commemorating the tragedy here in the city. korrina had read a lot about it and we went on a walk around the neighborhood, reading the names of the young women and seeing where they lived. (well, i see now we had an earlier encounter with seeing the names of the workers . . chanda and i walked by caterina's home in 2009 . . and here in 2015 is a post of chanda chalking for daisy lopez fitze on charlton street). this link goes to the tenement museum's youtube page that has a video of the discussion with historians from last year's commemoration, and this link goes to a list of the workers' names and where they lived. rose bona bassino actually lived just a few blocks from her sister at 97 west houston street.

afterwards, chanda and i treated ourselves to coffee, an omelet and a scone at buvette's . . 

and i had my class today at noon, and we finally integrated the cats . . below is zuzu with pluto . . 

i had been keeping zuzu separate from the other two as when she came home from the animal medical center she had a strong odor of soap and surgery antiseptic. cricket didn't even recognize her and would hiss (once he looked at her and then turned to me and hissed, as if it was my fault!). then when he finally stopped hissing at her, she began hissing at him! everything seems to be back to normal now, however, and zuzu is only doing her occasional hissing at pluto.

cat sleeping spots, signs of spring, and an evening show

 

i think zuzu enjoyed having greg work from home today. it was nice for her to have continuous company.

this was her favorite spot to rest and sleep on . . and where were the other two sleeping?

cricket chose to snooze on the dining room chair . . 

and pluto curled up on the big bed.

the courtyard is finally free of snow and we can see our little yoga man statue again.

on my walk today i stopped at the garden at st. luke's . . the sparrows were having a grand time! they were fluttering and chirping and hopping and singing . . 

it was fun to watch them. their cheery mood was much appreciated.

in the evening greg and i went to see one of our favorite singers from past days . . 

this is one of my favorite songs (i never knew she had made this music video - greg only just mentioned it to me) . . i get chills just listening to it right now . . probably because it brings me back to when i lived in southern california. i've found that lately when i watch video clips or old tv shows like taxi, i can feel that 60's, 70's, 80's time period . . and it's very different. i don't know how to explain it. i've actually been trying to figure that out for the past year . . looking for the words to describe the sensation. is it like stepping into a sepia colored photograph? maybe. and it's related to places . . like new york city or los angeles, santa barbara, san francisco . . and places in connecticut and on long island . . past personal settings. anyway, it was really fun to see her in person singing an old song and new songs and talking in between. it was a fun night.

peacemaker cricket

 

zuzu doesn't always get along with pluto and it can get tense when they both like to sit on the bins by the window. this morning zuzu was happily relaxing on the bins when pluto asked to go up (having cerebellar hypoplasia, he's unable to jump high enough on his own, though he's capable of jumping down). i don't always lift him up, as i want to avoid confrontation, but this morning i did . . and immediately cricket jumped in between them! he settled down and snuggled up to them both. 

that little nose bop at the end!!

department get together

it's chanda's graduation week and i met her at the school for a get together with her interdisciplinary science department.

the students' teachers gave them each a gift . .

cleo and chanda received robin wall kimmerer's the serviceberry and ed wong's an immense world. it was wonderful to meet her teachers and to exclaim to them about how much she loved the program, and to hear how they enjoyed having her as a student. through the past four years i've heard from chanda how her teachers have helped her and inspired her, and it felt good to hear from them how her thoughtfulness and curiosity contributed to the class and to the program.

another student joined the gathering near the end . . 

and one more photo with a friend who graduated two years prior.

the lab where they took many of their classes . . 

now i know what's behind the windows when i walk by.

it's been a wonderful four years . . of hard work!

----

steaming the stole . . 

are the rascals keeping an eye on things?

family recipe

 
this is my dad's recipe from actor tony danza from 1996 or so. i remember him making it for us when out at the house when the girls were little: angel hair pasta with clams, tomatoes and arugula. you sauté garlic in olive oil, add the tomatoes (it calls for plum tomatoes, but i used very flavorful and large cherry tomatoes from canada that were available at trader joe's), a little clam juice, the clams and then the arugula. you can cook the pasta while these items steam. i used thin spaghetti from raffetto's as i always overcook the angel hair pasta so that it falls apart. it was my first time using the thin spaghetti and we really liked it (of course it was homemade pasta from raffetto's which made it extra good).

(cricket had to be put away before i opened the jars of clams - he is ridiculously incapable of keeping his nose out of fish or meat).

chanda and greg were very hungry and couldn't wait to dig in.

missing my dad and mom just suddenly comes over me unexpectedly. i was watching abbot elementary a few weeks ago and two of the characters were discussing their grief over missing their mothers, "it's just the unexpected random moments . . "

cats and milly . . and morgan and friends in london

 
the cats were happily lounging when i was ready to go out and walk milly . . 

i took photos to send morgan . . 

cricket was on the prowl . . 

i never did send these to morgan . . !!

(here's sweet milly, ready for her walk.)

but i did receive this lovely photo from london . . which put a smile on my face. so glad you all got together eva!