a wednesday lunch treat and salmon for dinner

 

i love hot fudge sundaes and the van leeuwen ice cream shop had a special called "the new yorker," which was coffee ice cream with hot fudge and whipped cream . . so greg and i treated ourselves after lunch today.

my local fish store had fresh, wild caught alaska king salmon for sale . . 

i bought a small piece and it was delicious. we had it with sautéed chard and mashed potatoes (all vegetables that were in the vegetable box).

(we usually eat dinner between 7 and 8 pm and it's been dark these past few nights!)

hello again (with a link to the first day in london)

 

i finally finished a baby blanket i began a year ago. i had stopped halfway around while doing the i-cord border. (it's a purl soho pattern, their super easy baby blanket with their daily wool worsted yarn, and i think i used size 8 needles. they say the yarn can go in the washer and the dryer!)

i'm not sure who i'm giving it to! it was supposed to be for a neighbor's new baby who is now a year old . . but now we have another friend who just had a baby in june . . i'll have to let you know what i decide!

i just finished reading this book. it actually went all the way to london with me . . but i never read it. it just took up a lot of space in my suitcase; too much space! i have a thing about taking at least one library book when flying . . it's a superstition, but i should at least make sure it's a paperback. 

across many mountains is a beautifully written account of artist sonam dolma brauen's trek across the himalayas with her mother, father and little sister in 1959 when fleeing the chinese occupation of tibet. it's heartbreaking and inspiring and informative of how the tibetan people lived prior to the invasion and what they went through (and go through) during occupation. it's written by sonam's daughter and i couldn't put it down once i had read the first three chapters. (sonam dolma is the artist whose artpiece chanda and i participated in at the rubin museum a few years ago - there are four links here to the workshops and events.) the book also shares about their time as refugees in india and the life they created for themselves in switzerland.

this (the tree in the courtyard) was also a lovely book to read about the years that anne frank and her family hid in amsterdam during world war ii - all told from the perspective of the horse chestnut tree in the courtyard which was within sight of the building's attic window. (i think eva recommended this.)

chanda and i met ellen for ice cream today and were able to give her a party favor from the wedding (which she has in her hands - a vintage napkin holding italian candied almonds and an almond nougat).

we had homemade pistachio ice cream at the restaurant across the street from where ellen lives. they have such good food . . greg and i have eaten here several times.

and chanda made dinner this evening! we had vietnamese lettuce/rice rolls . . 

chanda is trying to get the rice paper out of the package . . 

she then soaks it in the warm water in the bowl to her left . . 

we sliced cucumbers, carrots and mint leaves and chanda made a delicious peanut dipping sauce. (she also warmed up very fine rice noodles that were wrapped up with the vegetables in the rice paper.)

then we played bananagrams and greg won as he was the first one to use up all his tiles.

i finally put up a few photos ("back in londontown") from our first day in london on saturday, july 18th (we flew out friday night, the 17th). i hope to be better at posting our days together on this trip than i was in 2022. 

it's actually thursday night right now and a cool front has blown through after a heavy rainfall. i actually closed the window next to my computer as i felt cold (and greg is in bed curled up with a blanket! so shocking!). every day and night has been hot since we arrived home on august 2nd . . and that's typical for summer in nyc!

sunday morning poem and a drive to long island

 

the end of may

the fragrant air is full of down,

of floating, fleecy things

from some forgotten fairy town

where all the folk wear wings.

or else the snowflakes, soft arrayed

in dainty suits of lace

have ventured back in masquerade,

spring's festival to grace.

or these, perchance, are fleets of fluff,

laden with rainbow seeds,

that count their cargo rich enough

though all its wealth be weeds.

or come they from the golden trees,

where dancing blossoms were,

that now are drifting on the breeze,

sweet ghosts of gossamer?

by katherine lee bates (1859-1929)

(photo from a family trip to the new york botanical garden, may 26, 2014)

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marisa, tsering, greg and i went to see lizette in rehab. she was doing much better and she's hoping to go home soon. it was so nice to be together and to also meet her sister-in-law, fina. afterwards, we had a late breakfast at the great neck diner, where greg had eaten last sunday.

heading home . . 

in the evening, greg and i had ice cream at julietta's . . 

. . lemon sorbetto and vanilla gelato.

friday

i met greg at the ice cream shop after my afsc action hour zoom call. i ended up not eating my strawberry ice cream with hot fudge because the hot fudge froze on the ice cream. it was too thick and chunky. i ended up getting a refund. so strange. it really wasn't very good. ah, well.

the rascals are searching for the bag of dry food which they had discovered in this closet a week ago. of course we moved it to a new location to keep their claws from tearing it to bits and eating all the food.

dinner tonight was leftover hot dogs with homemade pasta salad.

korrina sent me this photo when she got home from work this evening.

a beautiful skein of yarn she bought as a special treat.

baking and ice cream and ellen

i bought plums last saturday at the green market. i left them out all week on the windowsill hoping they would ripen, but they didn't, so my plum cake was a bit tart, but still very tasty.

so good . . 

ellen was excited because she had found a place that made their own ice cream. i was surprised to see that it was directly across the street from where she lives. we had peach, vanilla and chocolate . . all so good.

wednesday meet up

 
chanda and i had our annual summer ice cream get together with ellen this afternoon . . 

morgenstern's ice cream is incredibly creamy and delicious. i had honey burnt vanilla and coffee crisp. ellen had coffee crisp and bourbon vanilla . . and chanda had brown sugar mocha (a vegan ice cream made with coconut) and strawberry rhubarb sorbet. ellen has been busy doing exercises to help her balance, working on her computer with last minute class updates, and attending chamber music concerts twice a week. it was nice to see her.

afterwards, i walked to ottendorfer library for a louise erdrich book they had: the sentence. i'm not sure which category this fits into for my wnyc summer reading challenge . . "book recommended by a friend?" (though it wasn't . . ). 

i passed this cookbook shop which i've never been in . . it would be nice to peruse one day . . 

remember this house? i snapped a photo a few weeks ago of the interior . . now they have completed the landscaping, complete with window boxes, and i think it looks beautiful. i love the black wrought iron work!

and here are my nephews working hard on the house. they replaced a patch of deteriorated wood along the gutter.

morning poem and a warm 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 braithewaite (1878-1962)

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it was such a beautiful warm day today . . flowers and trees all in bloom . . after breakfast we walked to the ice cream shop and then chanda went to see a friend and greg and i walked to the pet store in soho for kitty litter. marisa called me when i returned home and i ran out again to meet her for tea at tea and sympathy cafe.

the tulips by the laundry room

a white redbud tree . .