babysitting and dinner out

kendall was visiting aurélien's school this evening, so aurélien and i had dinner together and played with the new train switches he received for his birthday in june. afterwards, greg and i had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants that just reopened following some renovations. (i guess my dinner with aurélien was more like aperitivo.)

----

we went home with some soup for chanda . . 

morning poem and sunday afternoon

the trees

the trees are coming into leaf

like something almost being said;

the recent buds relax and spread,

their greenness is a kind of grief.

is it that they are born again

and we grow old? no, they die too,

their yearly trick of looking new

is written down in rings of grain.

yet still the unresting castles thresh

in fullgrown thickness every may.

last year is dead, they seem to say,

begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

by philip larkin (1922-1985)

----

chanda and i met marlene for brunch at hudson hound this afternoon at 1 pm. it was great to see her. she's teaching her teen class this semester at hb again.

i also met kendall and aurélien coming home from upstate and helped them bring their bags up to the apartment. she lucked out with a good parking spot!

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.

halloween day

morgan and i were out bright and early for a special halloween parade . . 

to see this special little firefighter . .

also, chanda, morgan and i met korrina at the local middle school for early voting . . 

it was nice having morgana here to vote with us (greg was at work and will vote on election day, tuesday, november 4th).

next up on the agenda was dressing up for janet's halloween party . . morgana and i were cats cricket and pluto and chanda was our vet . .

at the party we had a nice time talking with janet's friend about london, theatre and traveling.

korrina was at work where they all dressed up in different andy warhol wigs and korrina added her knitted gremlin hat . . 

and my sister and brother-in-law made a jack-o-lantern and handed out treats to the very many trick or treaters they had.

toby cat didn't quite understand what all the hubbub was about. 

meanwhile, greg was stuck in traffic after picking the car up from the shop and missed the party. he was very tired and simply made himself a sandwich and went to sleep.

good night! happy halloween!

heading home and babysitting

 
this morning i made my mom's german pancakes for jason, chanda and i for breakfast. chanda then went to class and jason and i took a walk around the neighborhood before he had to catch his train home. he stopped at our local italian lunch spot for a sandwich for his long ride, and i went to babysit aurélien for an hour (he was not feeling well with a bad cough and runny nose, and fell asleep in bed as i read children just like me to him).

i stopped at the butcher for several items and then came home and talked with morgan for awhile. morgan has been trying to make some important decisions in regard to a work program and whether to be in a free lance position or a permanent one. the photo above is of tulips seen in soho (london). i then fell asleep, though i meant to knit. we had leftover chili for dinner and now greg is asleep.

another grey day

 

today felt even colder than yesterday. kendall and aurélien came over for a visit bringing cookies from a local bakery. aurélien has had a large splinter in the palm of his hand for a week now. kendall was hoping he would let greg try to get it out, but he wasn't agreeable. greg thinks it might become sore due to working itself out and then aurélien might be more amenable to having kendall take a poke at it.

the azealeas are just breathtaking and help to cheer things up around here.

these roses do a good job at that too.

an art project and the latest book

i've started reading the heartbeat of the wild, by david quammen. it's a collection of his writings for national geographic, emphasizing how important it is to keep remote regions wild for the health of the animals living there, and for the health of our planet. i just finished three essays about walking through the jungles of congo and gabon with conservationist j. michael fay and the next essay is about walking in the forest with jane goodall.

the facade work on the outside of the building continues and cricket is always curious.

this morning began with an art exhibit at this little one's preschool.

he had fun explaining his fire house to us and all the important parts that comprise it (such as the fire pole, the hose, the garage . . ) it was fun to see all the children's projects that they had spent several days creating.

fourth sunday of advent

 
on our way to visit kendall and aurélien this morning, morgan and i passed this frozen water bottle . . !

their sweet christmas tree underneath which we sneaked a few gifts!

morgan brought three books from london for him, and i had picked up a book titled flow and a yellow taxi cab car.

we chatted and drank hojicha tea with slices of apple and delicious cheese from saturday's green market. kendall shared her thoughts about several schools she had visited for aurélien to attend next year. applications are due in january.

reading the paddington bear book . . 

some of their tree decorations . . 

back at home i had a cup of bellocq's christmas tea with stollen . . 

and chanda fixed the lights on the tree.

and trimmed some of the lower branches.

our fourth sunday of advent meal . . (faicco's chicken sausage with einkorn penne pasta and sautéed kale and fresh spinach from our favorite farm at the green market).

cleaning up afterwards . . (while i spoke with korrina on the phone. she had run several errands in the cold weather today and was happy to be home again, relaxing with dinner and hot tea . . and wash the cat.)

decorating the tree . . 

pluto kept an eye on things . . of course.

hot chocolate . .

and caroling . .

the fourth light of advent is the light of you and i,

the light of love, of thought, to give and understand.

we also sang good king wenceslas, people look east, and children go, where i send thee.

people look east, the time is near,

of the crowning of the year. 

make your house fair as you are able,

trim the hearth and set the table.

people look east and sing today,

love the guest is on the way . . 

angels announce to man and beast,

he, who cometh from the east!

set every peak and valley humming,

with the word the lord is coming.

people look east and sing today,

love the lord is on the way.