brunch and brooklyn

i persuaded greg to have breakfast at one of my favorite places this morning.

their food is very good and the servers are friendly . . 

and the space is charming and cozy.

they also refill your coffee which is a plus as greg is a diner - at least two cups of coffee - aficionado.

korrina is staying at a friend's apartment near the restaurant she works at tonight as she needs to be up bright and early to prepare for the brunch seating. she passed where we used to live and sent a photo . . it looks just as warm and inviting as ever - such good memories. my photos from this time are all on photo paper as it was pre-digital camera. i have boxes of these photos i would like to sort through . . one day!

hot weather, a card game, and a summer storm

 

greg went out to the museum of modern art today, chanda went to work and i sorted through outfits i'm considering wearing to morgan and harley's wedding. the pants i shopped for at the fancy store with greg ended up not fitting so i'm kind of back to square one. but i ordered a shirt that i'm hoping will go with a pair of pants i already have . . we shall see.

it's been incredibly hot . . so hot that when i stepped outside the other day, i was met with a wall of hot air that reminded me of southern california. it was sufficiently hot and sufficiently dry that i was transported back to my aunt's house on canoga avenue in woodlawn hills . . to when i would step out from the bedroom's sliding glass door onto the hot cement surrounding the inground pool. the sunlight was blinding, the water was sparkling blue and very inviting, and my feet burned from the hot pavement. i would always get blisters. they were lazy days of lying in the sun, floating on the water, and getting stung on the back of my knee by a giant wasp. they were summer days in between college days. i miss the people in the periphery of those days . . my aunt and uncle, my mom and dad . . mixed in with the smell of the pepper trees and the eucalyptus trees.

all of that swam in my head as i stepped into the courtyard from the back door on the ground floor with  two bags of laundry. one hundred degrees. thirty seven celsius. today was the same, except i didn't go out in it. i stayed in the cooler air from the heat pump we have. it's a welcome respite and i can get things done but it'll be nice to open up the windows again . . one of these days.

we played round six of may i this evening. chanda is leading with 20 points (much to her surprise), greg has 155 points and i'm last with 245 points. ah well!

as we were playing, we heard the wind begin to howl and something seemed to be rolling around up on the roof. the trees bent as we've never seen them bend before and the wind increased so that it felt like the whole apartment building would take off like the house in the wizard of oz. the rain pelted down and we could hear someone exclaim when the lightning flashed. and then it quieted down again. i've never been in a tornado, but that is what i imagine it might be like.

the sky glowed afterwards . . yellow, pink, purple and blue.

korrina put up a photo on her instagram story. she had been at work still. such striking colors in the sky!

i posted several days between june twelfth to the twenty fourth.

another busy saturday

 

it was slow at the cafe (where chanda works) in the morning so janet and i went to visit.

in london, morgan did some closet organizing . . 

lovely hand knits!

at 1 pm i listened to accounts from the bethlehem institute for peace and justice documenting the terrible situation there. i keep thinking i should send this to my sister . . maybe she could share with her church. they are asking for help in spreading the word to christian organizations in this country. i know of two churches in nyc that are acknowledging and fighting for oversight and change. i receive a newsletter from one in chelsea, and the other is the uu church in brooklyn that we've attended.

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now for the first big part of this day: chanda became a full fledged member of the food coop!

shopping at the coop again!

the first stop was to get a packet of her favorite treat from here: spiral black licorice.

together at the coop again . . 

we went for a walk past prospect park . . 

and past grand army plaza . . 

to fausto! where korrina is working.

the first course was delicious focaccia and cauliflower salad . . 

followed by meatballs and broccoli rabe . . 

followed by gnocchi, whole wheat chitarra pasta with mushrooms and montauk shrimp with calabrian chili and green garlic . . 

the chef! (she was working the pasta station so she made all our pastas.)

the gnocchi with spring peas, sheep milk yogurt and pancetta. there was also a new special pasta that wasn't on the menu yet . . we ate it so fast that i didn't get a photo. it was my favorite along with the meatballs, gnocchi and cauliflower salad.

pana cotta with blueberry and crushed pistachios . . another fave! (we were so full by now . . )

we also all had an espresso. it was a fabulous meal and so exciting to see her work place.

on our way home . . but only after we first did a shop at the coop! (which was fun!)

at the mets game

greg and korrina went to the mets game at citifield this evening.

it was a fun time even though the mets lost . . 

"support" pickles to get through a losing game . . 

homeward bound view . . 

a big day in brooklyn

today we drove to brooklyn to rejoin our food coop.

but first we stopped at the cafe chanda works at for coffee and a treat . . 

(we shared a scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam.)

over the bridge . . 

a little fellow waiting for his owner to come out of the deli . . 

back in the old neighborhood . . 

we were surprised in the office by the sight of a dear old friend who is now working there. it was a very happy reunion with lots of hugs and talk of how the children were doing. it was the best welcome back (and there was also some paperwork to get through).

and here's korrina . .

she's working in brooklyn now and we stopped by to say hello.

after rejoining, we could shop! it felt strange to be back . . many things were the same, but there were a few changes, such as there's no more childcare! perhaps that fell apart during covid.

i remember shopping with the girls when they were this young . . 

greg was incredibly happy to be back . . especially in the coffee aisle where you can pick out your beans and grind them yourself.

the grey awning on the left was the vet clinic from whence we adopted black cat xena (in 1995 i believe - she was a sweet little curmudgeon). they called her survivor because they were surprised she survived! she was seven months old and had been very thin and malnourished, along with ear and nose infections. she got right to work and scared the mice away that were in our ground floor apartment and they never came back. i was very thankful.

beautiful brooklyn . . 

it was starting to rain when we stopped for gas . . 

the reason why i wanted to rejoin . . it's time for the big boycott vote which will be tuesday.

back home again, i made a salad and quick marinara sauce to go with ravioli i had picked up from raffetto's. ron and andy came over for dinner. 

and we played a few rounds of uno.