milly, deviled eggs, wash the cat again, and pics from vermont

 

it was another warm day. milly was not happy that she had to wear her sunshirt, but her fur is thin on her back and we don't want her to get sunburned. she looks quite pitiful here, doesn't she? povera milly!

i don't have any other photos of our walk. no tulips, magnolias, or daffodils today. i noticed that the redbud trees are beginning to sprout, and the cherry trees went from bare to bursting! i think i should get out with my camera tomorrow . . 

i did buy a delicious and refreshing peach iced tea at fellini . . and milly was not neglected. she snacked on the treats i had in my pocket while i sipped my tea.

greg made deviled eggs from the leftover dyed easter eggs we had brought back from connecticut. it was the perfect night for a cold supper (i remember many cold suppers with my parents and my sister on our screened in porch when i was little and it was too hot to sit inside). we also had a kale salad with pomegranate seeds.

(i think it went up to 89 today!)

he dusted the eggs with smoked paprika - so good!

here's another photo of wash relaxing in his cat stand. i don't think korrina has been able to move it to a different area of the room because he's always in it.

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kathy and warren have been in vermont having a belated birthday celebration with jason.

it looks like his birthday gift was a beatles album and a paul simon album. they probably went together to pick them out at the used record store.

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.

a guest in the house

 

jason came in last night for an allman brothers concert at the garden where korrina joined him. tonight he and greg are there. i'm watching via online streaming and it's wonderful. they are really jamming and it's taking me back to the very different time period of when i was a teen.

this afternoon jason went for a walk along the river with me and milly. the sun did not shine, it was windy and it felt very cold! afterwards, we had lunch at las mariscos and then visited the whitney museum (specifically for the amy sherald exhibit and christine sun kim).

in the evening we had chili for dinner  . . 

and celebrated his birthday which was april 5th (he picked out a nice t-shirt at the show with the cash gift enclosed in the card).

as you can see the cats sat on my lap while i watched the concert (zuzu was curled up on my right).

field day . . family history day

jason, korrina and i had such a fun time walking around the village and the lower east side and attending a tour of the baldizzi apartment at the tenement museum today. and it was a very hot and humid day . . stopping in places with air conditioning was a welcome break.

(jason and i first stopped at merriweather on our way east to say hi to chanda who was working-

and to get an iced coffee and iced mocha.)

our tour guide was named annie and she was a good speaker and kept our attention with warm anecdotes about adolfo and rosaria baldizzi from palermo, sicily.

photos of family members who lived in the buildings decorate the walls . . 

korrina is looking at a photo of josephine baldizzi, adolfo and rosaria's daughter, who grew up in the tenement (she was born the same year as my dad, 1926, and lived in the building until 1935).

looking through the window of the kitchen to the small living room which was also a bedroom.

josephine remembers her mom always busy moving around the kitchen, never sitting down . . cooking, cleaning, keeping everything tidy. her dad taught her and her brother how to play checkers and rummy . . 

and they would listen to the radio together.

this is a photo of rosaria at the garment factory she worked at. she was undocumented until 1948 when she finally became a citizen (many undocumented immigrants first had to travel to canada and then re-enter to begin the naturalization process).

annie is pointing out baldizzi family members who attended the museum on the special night in 1992 when their story was established.

many family members still visit the museum to share stories with their descendants and with museum visitors.

the iron stove that josephine would cook on with the coal bin to the right on the floor . . 

and with a large enamel coffee pot and white enamel bowl sitting on the burners.

afterwards, we walked through essex market and then . . 

along essex street to the pickle store (on our way to hester street) . . 

korrina and i had full sour pickles and jason a hot sour pickle . .

on hester street . . 

at meow parlor . . 

where we said hello to this sweet one in the window . .

we were on our way to meet greg and chanda for dinner at moustache on 7th avenue. we stopped at ferrara's on grand street, between mott and mulberry to show jason our favorite spot for little juleaften, and then stopped at mcnally jackson bookstore on prince street (both places cooling us off wonderfully with their cold air conditioning).

by bedford triangle park, i ran into sacha and charlotte who were walking east along houston street. they finally were able to meet korrina (all these years i've known them and they hadn't met her), and they were also able to meet jason. charlotte had been in italy and both were going to visit sacha's aunt in new jersey, so hopefully in two weeks we can get together, maybe with reina and anika too.

back to dinner with greg and chanda at moustache restaurant . . 

they served us delicious complimentary baklava for dessert.

showing jason our library which was once a courthouse designed by frederick clarke withers and completed in 1877.

korrina heading to the union square train station and home . . 

jason and greg with 120 fourth avenue in the background; once the site of my grandfather's tavern in 1911.

now everyone has gone to sleep and i still need to go rinse off in the shower. zuzu has been sitting on my lap, licking my salty right arm as i type. i also need a glass of water. it's been a fun day.