at the beach

 

greg and i drove to the house for a short visit. we left in the late morning after his zoom work meeting and were out east in time for a late lunch. we were at the beach by 3 pm . . blue sky, cold water and a nice breeze. it felt so wonderful to be swimming again.

dinner at our favorite place . . 

i had fried clams with the bellies and cole slaw; the others had fish and chips and fish tacos. at night i watched the knicks game with warren and adam . . and they won! i couldn't believe it! the game went late so kathy and greg had gone to bed but said they heard my joyous yell. nyc went wild. korrina and deychen sent me videos of the boisterous cheers heard from their apartments and the mayor posted on instagram: thursday. parade. manhattan.

from korrina . . 

and from deychen.

such an exciting night!

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my aloe is doing better now that i added one of the babies to the pot. 

we went to church this morning and said good-bye to pastor bill. he's retiring and moving to michigan to be closer to his daughter and his wife's family. we'll miss him. 

the beautiful stained glass window . . 

we then had another lovely afternoon at the beach before heading home. the water was colder today than yesterday, which surprised us. it was so cold that i couldn't stay in as long as i would have liked. my hand started tingling and cramping. 

i've been reading the scarlet pimpernel as eva shared that she and flora were reading it for the second or third time together and i thought i would join them. i have never read it before and don't want to put it down. i highly recommend it!

the beach roses were all in bloom . .

all too soon it was time to head home . . 

8:18 at night . . chanda was home to help us bring up a few cat items from the house - two cardboard scratching posts and a large set of plush steps to help pluto climb onto the bed or the armchair.

sunday (mother's day)

we were out early in the morning to drive to the hospital in manhasset again. we first picked deychen up in brooklyn as she wanted to come along. it was so nice to have her and we talked over coffee and pastry in the hospital's little cafe while waiting for our friends to wake from a nap.

afterwards (and after we dropped deychen deychen home again), chanda, greg and i went out to eat at ayat in the east village.

we first stopped at abraço . . 

for their delicious frappe and olive oil cake.

walking past thompkins square where there was a concert going on . . 

special drinks at ayat (mint lemonade and hibiscus) . . 

and the amazing food . . 

there are so many beautiful gardens and trees in the east village . . it was fun walking through the neighborhood.

kathy sent photos of her day with warren and adam:

they first saw a play in hartford . . 

and then biked along the rail trail . . 

beautiful spring greenery!

cleaning house

my sister and i spent the weekend clearing out the basement at the house. (during my last visit when i peeked in the secretary i found little notes left over from when chanda was little. she remembers sitting at the desk and busily writing and folding and slipping the little bits of paper into the many drawers hidden behind the fold up top. i wish i had taken a few pics of them at that visit; instead i just closed up the desk top and left them as i am wont to do - procrastinate, leave it for another day, don't disturb the ghosts of days past, tuck the memory away into your melancholy heart. but, my nephew is coming to live in the house as he has a new job in town and it's time to clean things up and get on with the present. old greeting cards left by my mom, along with manila envelopes, lined paper, writing implements and chanda's childhood secret jottings were discarded and the secretary has been readied for donation, sale or family member's home. chanda has said she might like to have it when she gets an apartment. if only i could stop being such a disconsolate being and let go of wishing i had saved a few notes . . it's not like i don't have any mementoes of their art or writings from days gone by - i have many little pages here in the apartment tucked into books on the bookshelves and in between books on the bookshelves and in boxes in drawers . . still, it's too easy to mope over the sweet notes in green and blue ink on pink paper that i missed saving . . written while nana and i were making dinner on a rainy summer evening and nonno was napping in the den, with korrina reading on the captain's bed in the sewing room and morgana just flitting about everywhere. maybe jack was even snoring under the table in the kitchen with nana and i.)

tiring work . . 

sorting books and dishes . . there were four categories: trash, recycling, church thrift shop, library used book store. i think greg and warren did three or four runs to the dump/recycling station.

some books i'm keeping . .

and two that went in the trash pile (too worn and mildewy) . .  

dishes for the church thrift shop . . 

a gravy boat my mother kept with a note explaining that the silver spoon needed to be cleaned and placed in the glass boat when pouring in hot gravy or it would crack. we weren't sure who the recipients of the note were supposed to be . . was it meant for us, or did she mean to give it away? we were quite amused.

such a grey and cold day outside . . 

evening fun at the local art exhibit . . 

we had our favorite italian cookies for dessert that i brought from the city (along with italian take out from a local restaurant - we shared eggplant parmigiana and lasagna).

and the next day greg and i accomplished a long overdue chore: emptying the coleman cooking canister from a past camping trip so it could be disposed of at the dump.

i figured i may as well heat up some baked beans . . 

back to work again: clearing off the hutch and sorting through pictures.

and then kathy made a delicious irish dinner for us . . 

corned beef and carrots and i contributed the potatoes (from our green market farmer). greg and i then got on the road back to the city . . 

kathy and warren visited the beach . . 

and we had a nice ride home without too much traffic and a beautiful sky.

and we made it back before the heavy rain came.

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p.s. chanda ran a 10k race in brooklyn. here she is after crossing the finish line:

i think she ran it in 1 hour and 44 minutes.