wednesday walk

 

it was a walk milly day . . 

and it was very warm . . a little too warm for me, actually.

we walked by the chalking for daisy lopez fitze.

her information was still intact. it was written to the side of the main path, so people weren't walking on it and erasing it.

we walked into soho and to the fellini outdoor coffee bar where i ordered an iced latte.

isabella, age 17 lived here. her last name was too faded to read.

everyone was outside enjoying the warm air . . 

i love this time of year because all the shops and restaurants have their doors wide open. hot summertime hasn't arrived yet to force the doors shut, protecting all that cold air conditioning.

the magnolia blossoms are so beautiful . . 

waiting for her treat (we had a very leisurely walk).

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i made a big pot of chili today for dinner for chanda and greg (enough for tomorrow too) and then met kendall at the commerce inn. when we came out the full moon was shining beautifully between the buildings. can you see it above the red awning? it was the pink paschal moon - pink for the moss phlox flower which blooms around this time in the northeast, and paschal as it's the first full moon after the spring equinox which signifies easter to be on the following sunday on the gregorian calendar. eastern orthodox churches following the julian calendar celebrate a little later . . and then there seem to be exceptions to this rule which you can read about on the old farmer's almanac.

a sunny day and a retirement celebration

milly and i had a beautiful day for a walk along the river . . 

it felt so good to walk in the sunshine . . 

the tulips are everywhere now.

we walked all the way down to the park with the giant sturgeon before turning around.

we passed two enormous cranes on the way back.

may i have my treat now, please?

in the evening i met kendall and janine to celebrate janine's birthday and her retirement! she has not enjoyed her job for many years now so we're both happy she is finally free of it. she worked for a health plan company which never had enough nurses on the job, so janine constantly worried about her patients and could never finish the daily work load. it was very stressful. (her birthday gifts from kendall and i were socks! i thought it was funny we both chose socks for her this year without realizing it.)

pomegranate and radicchio salad . . 

grilled octopus which was incredibly tender (the restaurant is hav and mar by chef marcus samuelsson which you can read about in this ny times article).

singing happy birthday . . 

along with a dessert of glogg poached pear, rosemary pavlova (it looks like a beautiful geode), orange chutney and maple whipped cream.

tuesday night on the high line

 

the astronomy club was out on the high line this evening. kendall, janine and i were walking back from celebrating kendall's birthday at hav and mar restaurant on 11th avenue when we saw them. "have you seen saturn," one of them called out. 

they're always so welcoming and friendly, and it's always exciting to see the rings of saturn.

a zoom and voting day

family zoom today at 12:30 . .

chanda's photo of last week's strawberry moon . . 

photos from a hike she took . . 

(that's a deer in the top right corner . . )

protecting a piping plover nest . .

a newly published book she found at the library about tackling the problem of invasive flora and fauna around the world. 

voting with korrina today . . 

and pastry and a cold lemon yuzu soda afterwards . .

(at the sleeping cat cafe . . )

walking home i passed a city worker trying to fix a broken traffic light . . 

(car horns were honking . . people were not happy).

birthday dinner with kendall at balaboosta . . (they have such good food) . . 

(baklava with pistachio ice cream gone too soon.)

birthdays, diwali and sunset

this is the photo i sent chanda this morning to wish her a happy birthday. she said she would be working on the project that she will present to teachers, peers and family members at the end of december (as will her fellow students), but in the evening she was going to visit the aquatic brewery in falmouth with whomever wanted to go along (a list she said had grown as everyone was interested in going out to celebrate a birthday).

kendall's birthday was in october, but we never made it out to celebrate, so today we had lunch at a place nearby.

butternut squash soup, mushroom risotto, a cobb salad and vanilla ice cream for dessert.

greg sent photos of the beautifully decorated table at the diwali event at his work today.

the sky was beautiful this evening at sunset. i had gone to the fed ex place to print out a knitting pattern, but unfortunately the graph i needed from the print out came out in one solid color. i have to write the designer and see if she has a suggestion.