sunday poem

come, let us plant the apple-tree.

cleave the tough greensward with the spade;

wide let its hollow bed be made;

there gently lay the roots, and there

sift the dark mould with kindly care,

and press it o'er them tenderly,

as, round the sleeping infant's feet,

we softly fold the cradle sheet;

so plant we the apple-tree.

from the planting of the apple tree by william cullen bryant (1794-1878)

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church this morning via zoom . . 

(the second sunday of every month is jazz sunday)

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and everything is laid out to go into my suitcase:

sunday poem and song, books and dinner

 

 the new colussus

not like the brazen giant of greek fame,

with conquering limbs astride from land to land;

here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

mother of exiles. from her beacon-hand

glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

with silent lips, "give me your tired, your poor,

your huddled masses yearning to breath free,

the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

i lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

by emma lazarus (1849-1887)

friday, july 22nd, was emma lazarus's birthday. read an essay about her poem and the statue of liberty at this link here.

 

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the first unitarian of brooklyn congregation sang blue boat home during the service this morning. it's one of my favorite songs (sung to a welsh hymn, hyfrydol). (i've posted this before . . it's really lovely.)

 

it's been very, very hot . . just a day for lying about and reading . . i read jane austen's persuasion in half a day, which i was happy about as it took me over a month to finish mary taylor simeti's on persephone's island. of course the former was a story that rolled easily from page to page and the later was stuffed with an immense amount of cultural, archeologoical and botanical information that i was trying to understand.

fresh tomatoes and leftovers tonight for dinner.

a song for sunday and an afternoon walk

pain au chocolate and a cappuccino . .

 

 my favorite song this morning from first unitarian of brooklyn's service was when our heart is in a holy place (sung by first unitarian church of baltimore above). the first U choir sings it with the congregation at 1:18 on the video on their facebook page here.

gifts from korrina and morgan . . rose flavored turkish delight, russian caravan tea from fortnum and mason, postcards for the nature table, a family cookbook and two crafting items i found online in the u.k. and had sent to morgan's flat: buttons and mohair (five skeins for $18!).

brunch with greg . . 

chanda's room is slowly taking shape . . morgan has been helping from afar with the furniture arrangement.

 

 

a little cat house with shoe racks above (and out of pluto's reach) that chanda's roommate (who also has a cat) thoughtfully installed after hearing how he likes to eat shoelaces.

the cute shower curtain chanda chose at bed, bath and beyond.

 

pictures from an afternoon walk:

allium flowers in the park . . the weather has been so beautiful lately, with a cool breeze and warm sunshine.

in the morning greg and i had helped kendall park the car and unload aurélien and all the bags from her trip upstate, and then i met her for a grocery shop and a short visit . . 

after which greg and i had dinner at tavern on jane (they finally set up their outdoor tables again).

cobb salad with a baked potato . . 

sunday . . a song, a walk and dinner out

 i watched first unitarian's service on zoom this morning with greg - it was their coming of age service and it ended with the above hymn which is one of my favorites (the video above is from the kitsap unitarian universalist fellowship in washington - they shared this on youtube . . fuub's zoom service can be seen here on their facebook page.)

 

heading out after the zoom service and breakfast . .
 

to first stop at merriweather cafe so i could get an iced "detox," which is sparkling water with cayenne pepper, lemon, honey and a cinnamon stick.

where did we walk to?

the mcnally jackson bookstore on prince street in soho . .

greg was reading a book about DNA testing . .

and i picked out two cards and a small notebook to keep in my backpack, (after checking to see if they had any cookbooks by olia hercules - they didn't).

do you spot greg . . he waited for me while i checked out the beautycounter store across the street . . 

i'm sure i'll be hearing about DNA testing in these next few weeks . . 

we had dinner at a local restaurant i've been wanting to try for years . . this time there were empty tables for us to choose from (they're often always full).

huge portions! greg had eggplant parmigiana and i had the venison ragu with paccheri pasta (half of it came home with me).

the evening light is always so beautiful. we thought it was going to storm, but it missed us and blew north to yonkers instead.

a poem for sunday and a little about the day

 sunday shines again

with warm spring air and

st. veronica bells on christopher street.

tea sits on the table 

with past tea times not far behind

and passed souls 

sitting in my heart

while a persistent black cat

claws my leg

for tea too.

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we listened to first unitarian of brooklyn's palm sunday service and then i spent the day knitting and connecting with denise bayron's wave of change shawl/blanket knit-a-long (both via zoom) while greg went for a bus ride/walk to the lower east side and chanda rested in bed (she's had the flu . . the home covid test she took turned negative). 

it's a pretty day with the sun hiding behind clouds and then poking out bright and cheery. i was inspired by lorraine on the knit-a-long zoom to write two poems . . which feels good as its been a long time . . and i'm writing while listening to a beautiful first u of brooklyn song from march:

sunday morning

 

online church this morning . . this was so beautiful and sweet. several members of the choir played the ukulele and sang count on me by bruno mars.

i was supposed to put away several christmas scenes that i had left out after taking the tree down . . but talked with my sister on the phone instead, and reviewed a best friends online orientation video. they've begun in person trainings for several shifts in the center which now have open sign ups. we had leftover split pea soup with chanda this evening for dinner. it was another cold day, though the snow began disappearing on the fire escape.

cappuccino, church and more zooming

morning cappuccino and panettone . . it was so dark this morning that this photo looks like it was taken at night.

church is back on zoom for the congregation, though they're holding it in the sanctuary (with only four members of the choir, the choir director, a few readers and reverend ana).

figaro has the funniest sleeping positions. he's also starting to outgrow his little house.

helping morgan clean nana's old ice skate case.

looking good after a little bit of walnut oil.

zooming with our friend marlene (their acting teacher from hb studio).

 

leftovers for dinner (morgan and i watched being the ricardos on the free apple tv i have. it was very good.)

(i think i better take a few pics of pluto! he's been sadly neglected in that department.)

sunday poem and celebrating earth day

near the end of april

near the end of april

on the verge of may -

and o my heart, the woods were dusk

at the close of day.

half a word was spoken

out of half a dream,

and God looked in my soul and saw

a dawn rise and gleam.

near the end of april

twenty mays have met,

and half a word and half a dream

remember and forget.

by william stanley braithwaite (1878-1962)

 

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zoom church begins with this song each week . .  

 

and to celebrate earth day this morning (which was actually thursday), the first unitarian choir sang ombra mai fu (largo from xerxes, an opening aria from an opera by handel):

 

 

 we also sang blue boat home again, like we did last year . . here's the author of this version, peter mayer, singing for last year's earth day. (the tune is a hymn passed along through the years - known in the christian church as alleluia, sing to jesus, written by william dix around 1885).

though below me, i feel no motion,
standing on these mountains and plains.
far away from the rolling ocean,
still my dry land heart can say,
i've been sailing all my life now,
never harbor or port have i known.
the wide universe is the ocean i travel,
and the earth is my blue boat home.
sun, my sail and moon, my rudder,
as i ply the starry sea.
leaning over the edge in wonder,
casting questions into the deep.
drifting here with my ship's companions,
all we kindred pilgrim souls.
making our way by the lights of the heavens,
in our beautiful blue boat home.
  i give thanks to the waves upholding me,
hail the great winds urging me on.
greet the infinite sea before me,
sing the sky my sailor's song.
i was born upon the fathoms,
never harbor or port have i known.
the wide universe is the ocean i travel
and the earth is my blue boat home.

 

greg and i took a walk to merriweather cafe afterwards . . passing all the redbud trees which are now bloooming . . 

 we both ordered the "big brekkie" which we took home to eat . . (that's chanda and co-worker chris behind those masks)

the beaver believers documentary was reshown this evening . . i watched it again and chanda joined in also. they had a trivia game at the beginning which was fun, and i thought we did rather well.

sunday easter celebration

easter

remember the sacrifice to the trees

and break off with care a small bouquet of leaves.

take indoors the great countryside!

between the breaking buds a few bright

roundnesses prick out the crumbled bark --

such tiny corbels underpin that edifice of light and dark.

 

by david kuhrt 

 

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happy easter!

 

there were six dyed easter eggs to find this morning . .

which didn't take long, though some hints were needed.

the moon and heart cookies that we baked last night . . (1/2 almond flour and 1/2 wheat flour).

 

before church began, i divided the challah dough into three coils and braided them into a loaf, and then set that to rise for the third time.

we had a breakfast of hard boiled eggs and hot cross buns . .

 

and coffee.

easter sunday organ music with music director emeritus william peek, performed at first congregational church, west tisbury, massachusetts.

it was wonderful to watch him play, as i've never been so close to see how a person operates the pedals and how their hands flow over all the keys.

 

afterwards, the challah bread was ready for the oven after another coating of egg wash.

 

it came out beautifully . . i was surprised as i've never used this recipe before, though i have made challah bread in the past.
 

afterwards, greg and i went for a walk along the river (after i prepped the chicken to go into the oven) and chanda went to visit the little girl she babysits for and then to meet up with emily.

 

it was such a beautiful day that everyone was out riding bikes, jogging, walking, bringing children to the playground and dogs to the dog run, and just lying out in the sunshine.

 

fixing his sock . .

 

brant geese in the river . . 

 

hyacinth . . 

little bluebells and daffodils . . 

the walk took longer than i thought, so the chicken was put into the oven a little later than planned . . but it eventually all came together.

it was so nice having korrina with us . . 

and emily too.

setting up for the family zoom meeting at 5 pm . . 10 pm london time. greg has a camera for his monitor now, so we could use his big screen.

toby and pluto had to say hello . .

jason held up his caption for our holiday "caption this!" photo . . which was:

a photo from 1995 when korrina was around two. she used to cover her head all the time and then walk around giggling beneath the cloth. yes, she did manage to get a black eye once from pumping into the bookcase or the wooden edge of the bed because she couldn't see where she was going. i thought everyone's captions were clever and funny:

 

bad hair day! - cindy and jeff

 

even as a young child, she knew she wanted to be an undercover agent - jason  

 

who turned out the lights? - the subject of the photo herself 

"i just want to be left alone" - ryan

i haven't quite mastered hide and seek yet - adam

who put my invisibility cloak in the dryer? - kathy and warren

 

life hack: when you mess up your make-up, just cover your head with a blanket - chanda and emily

 

i can't see where i'm going! - dorina

 

don't mind the demonic pikachu in the corner! - morgan and jenny

 

modeling factory defect halloween costumes for fun and profit - greg

 

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after most everyone signed off, greg showed kathy and warren some of the fun hats and faces and screen backgrounds that you can play with when having online meetings. he likes using these fancy backgrounds, rather than our apartment. i find them a little distracting.

dessert was coffee chocolate chip ice cream with the moon cookies.