wednesdays can feel full of woe

 we had a thunderstorm today . . 

 pluto had fun watching it from below the window (he's unable to jump onto the sill due to his cerebellar hypoplasia).

 we both miss madeline today. yesterday we all decided we had to let her go as she seemed to be suffering too much . . pluto went to look for her today beneath the bed in morgana's room . . i feel so very, very sad.

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i put up three posts from this past week: thursday, saturday, sunday.

at the met and dinner at home

 amelie and i took the bus up to the metropolitan museum of art today.

 the main entrance was so crowded that we walked to the education entrance instead. the line to enter was much shorter.

 our first stop was the greek and roman rooms which she loved . . . above are two portraits from a funerary relief, which would have included likenesses of other members of the family: roman, ca 13 b.c. to a.d. 5.

 three marble funerary stele that belonged to a family in rome around a.d. 69 - 80. the head on the left is of gaius vibius felix, aged 49, made in his honor by his daughter; the head on the right is of gaius vibius severus, aged only 23, probably the grandson of felix. the hairstyles on both stele reflect the time period in which they lived, which is a little different from when the monuments were commissioned. felix's hairstyle reflects that of the julio-claudian period (a.d. 14 - 68) , and severus' that of the emperor nero (a.d. 54 - 68).

a marble funerary alter of cominia tyche: roman, flavian or trajanic period, a.d. 90 - 100. her hairstyle reflects the court of the late flavian period, and the latin inscription below her reads: to the spirits of the dead. lucius annius festus [set this up] for the most saintly cominia tyche, his most chaste and loving wife, who lived 27 years, 11 months, and 28 days, and for himself and for his descendants. she was young!

 marble statue of a seated muse . . roman, from the 1st or 2nd century a.d., a copy of a greek statue from the 3rd century b.c.

marble statue of the three graces, a roman copy (2nd century a.d) of a greek work (2nd century b.c).

after the greek and roman wing, we picked up an audio guide for amelie and then made our way to the ragnar kjartansson exhibit of a film he made just after midnight at the height of the summer in iceland, which greg had recommended seeing and which i think i enjoyed more than amelie. i then went home and amelie explored some more before returning and making a delicious dinner of spring rolls . . 

rice paper is wrapped around tofu, carrots, avocado, mung bean sprouts and cucumber. we dipped them in a peanut sauce. her cousin matt joined us as he lives on the lower east side.

after dinner pluto watched madeline drink water from the tub . . madeline isn't doing very well and is slowly dying from kidney failure.

door knobs and kitty cats

my guy is such a guy and my cat is such a dog . . greg did a great job at attempting to fix our door knob and lock today, and pluto did a great job at keeping watch by the door. since he can't jump up on furniture and book shelves like most cats, he is always lying by the door (very much like a dog) and doesn't move as the door pushes into him when opening. we constantly worry that he'll get paws or his tail caught, which actually happened once when greg pushed too quickly. he's a kitty cat door stop. morgana suggested we make a sign for the outside of the door warning that a cat is on the other side and to open slowly . . maybe i can do so this weekend. (in the photo above since the apartment door is open, the little monster was forced to move to the outer door in the foyer that leads to the stairwell in order to be near a closed door . . or in order to guard the castle properly i suppose.)

poem for a sunday morning and everything else

                                                                         the cat

                                                                                    the cat

                                                                                              licks its paw

                                                                           lies down in

                                                                                              the bookshelf nook
                                                                                                                           she
                                                                                       can lie in a
                                                                                                 sphinx position
                                                                  without moving for so
                                                                                                 many hours
                                                               and then turn her head
                                                                                         to me and
                                                                                                 rise and stretch
                                                                   and turn
                                                                               her back to me and
                                                                          lick her paw again as if
                                                                                              no real time had passed
                                                                             it hasn't
                                                                                         and she is the sphinx with
                                                                                    all of the time in the world
                                                                                               in the desert of her time
                                                                    the cat
                                                                        knows where flies die
                                                                                 sees ghosts in motes of air
                                                                                               and shadows in sunbeams
                                                                     she hears
                                                                                   the music of the spheres and
                                                                         the hum in the wires of houses
                                                                                    and the hum of the universe
                                                                           in interstellar spaces
                                                                                                           but
                                                                                prefers domestic places
                                                                                             and the hum of the heater

                                               by lawrence ferlinghetti, born in yonkers, new york, march 24, 1919

breakfast with greg, morgana and chanda this morning: german pancakes and bacon and english breakfast tea and espresso.

the little monster is growing, but he's still kitten enough to spark gut wrenching ohs and ahs and cuddles.

tea with sock knitting . . sweet sparrow knits yarn in colorway hedwig.

last tuesday i cleaned out all my drawers and started a new bag of salvation army give away clothes . .

and i enjoyed having this honey all week in my tea . . greg enjoyed it on his yogurt. it's all gone now.

last day on the job

greg walked in the door at around 1:30 this afternoon with the rest of his tchotchkes from the office and his cell phone empty of all work emails. i took a pic of him with the little monster.

no more work for greg for a little while!

he looks very pleased to be through in this pic, but he actually spends a lot of his time at his desk by the window . . studying networking on an online course whose re-certification exams he will take in the following months . .

 that is: he's studying when not napping with the little monster . . oh no! i said i wouldn't post this pic . . but i did!

 we did celebrate his last day by going out to eat at chumley's, an old speakeasy in our neighborhood that was founded in the 1920's by socialist activist leland stanford chumley (it was originally a blacksmith's shop). it's nothing like it was during its heyday when it was frequented by a myriad of writers, poets, journalists and activists, but it's still around with wonderful photos on its walls and very good food (this article in the ny times points out that the old time writers wouldn't even be able to afford one drink at the bar these days).

it was a very cold night! i think it was 11 degrees fahrenheit.

the entire building was renovated several years ago as it was (literally) falling down.

my photos aren't very good . . i was taking them with my cell phone and it was quite dark, but you can see behind greg's head, several of the photos they have up on the walls.

we sat at a cute round table in front of the fireplace (non-working) in which sat an iron english bulldog. very apropos! (you can see him clearly in the new york times article).

i thought this plate was incredibly beautiful! i was looking forward to eating from it, but it was removed by the server when our appetizer soup came out. i really, really wanted to turn it over and see where it was made . . but i didn't, which i regret! i'll have to return with more chutzpah to do so. (update on june 12, 2020: kathy read this post on january 5th of this year, and recognized the plate from her visits to the villeroy and boch store in southampton. its pattern is called audun ferme - autumn farm - from villeroy and boch.)

 i had "hemingway" chili which was delicious, but slightly salty. it was minced white fish and octopus. i did not expect the minced part and was a bit confused for awhile, thinking it was meat (though it certainly smelled fishy!).

the amazing dessert: a chocolate, chocolate chip cookie cooked in an iron pan so that it was like liquid chocolate with vanilla ice cream on top.

playing with the little monster

solstice kitten

chanda has been asking for a kitten for a long time now, so for her birthday we said we would get one for her. we went to the soho best friends pet adoption center in november where she saw this little fellow. at the time he was too young to come home with us, but today he was old enough! he has cerebellar hypoplasia from having feline panleukopenia while in utero. his two litter mates didn't make it, but he survived and we're happy to have him be a part of our family. when he's excited his head trembles slightly, and he flops about a bit when walking. these are all normal symptoms from the disease which will stay with him as he grows, and shouldn't get any worse. he has adjusted well and is a curious and sweet little kitty. he has the loveliest purr. i can't wait until he and madeline have adjusted to each other. i think madeline will find him wonderfully fun to be with (all of us think she's very bored these days, without any other four legged creatures to commune with).

the adoption center family called him jelly, but i think chanda will find another name for him in these next few days. i'm partial to sol for solstice, but she's considering espresso. he has lovely brown tiger stripes mixed with his black fur. he's very handsome.

happy winter solstice!

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here are a few photos from dinner this evening:

 morgana, greg and i are finishing dinner here. chanda  and her friends had just left the table to go see the new cat in the bedroom. we all shared spinach ravioli and sautéed zucchini. (i was relieved that morgana had bought a big box from rafetto's on her way home from work.)

 we also had two different sauces with it, all for a good price. rafetto's is one of the last neighborhood places to go to in a pinch for a pre-made dinner that is homemade, delicious and affordable.

 chanda and her friends with the new kitty . .