halloween and the kittens

 

here's the pumpkin pie we made last night. i thought we'd have some before heading out, but that never happened. morgan and i planned on leaving about 9:30 to meet chanda by her school in order to pick up the cat carrier (with pluto out of the apartment i don't have many pet supplies around . . such as the cat carrier and a kitty litter scooper) (lisa-lou left after us to visit south street seaport) . .

 

so we left on time but managed to walk further than we intended and had to retrace our steps . . maybe we were just a wee bit excited?

destination . . 

josé and alice were at the cafe and helped us get the kittens into the carrier. josé kept checking fern to make sure we had the correct cat as there was a new one who looked very similar.

and scary the cat made sure all was well too . . (there were three cats named spooky, scary and skeleton).

they were very content and didn't meow through the whole walk home.

we acclimated slowly as suggested by the cafe staff, and settled in the bathroom with beds and water while they sniffed about.

 

but they were investigating the living room in no time . .

watching out for the vacuum cleaner . .

intrigued by the birds on the fire escape . . 

greeting chanda . . 

getting comfortable on the cat tree perch . .

and on the bed by the window . . 

nap time.

 

 

ready for halloween night . .
 

 

lisa-lou got stuck in traffic on the bus due to the halloween parade and then walked quite a ways looking for an open cross street to get past the crowd and so arrived late for dinner. it had also started to rain . . it was a tiring end to her visit, but also fun to see everyone in costume and to see the puppets along the parade route.

early tomorrow morning she flies south to florida for a relaxing beach visit with a friend. it's a well deserved rest after all the sightseeing she's been doing here.

 

it felt strange going to sleep with cats in the house . . 

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neighborhood halloween photos taken by morgan:

flats and cats

morgana, lisa-lou and i visited the tenement museum today, and then meow parlour to spend time with the cats.

 

we hadn't been to the museum in several years and they have restructured their tours to include a walk outside which i thought gave a more encompassing perspective of what life was like in the early 20th century. for the tour we were on that meant 1933, and the story of the baldizzi family who came from palermo. you can read the full story on the museum's website.

 

rosaria baldizzi married her husband adolfo when she was 16 years old through an arranged marriage in sicily. he came over first in 1923 before the passage of the immigration act of 1924 which made it difficult for non-nordic peoples to immigrate. subsequently, adolfo came over with legal documents as himself, but rosaria entered the country under an assumed name and wasn't able to legalize her status until twenty two years later. the couple had two children here, and the story is told through the memories of the oldest child, josephine.

they lived on the third floor in a three room apartment (kitchen, living room/parent's room and small children's bedroom) with two toilets in the hallway shared with the other families on the floor.

other tour participants with our wonderful guide, shirley, peeking out from behind.

daughter josephine with her family in 1992 when the story was established at the museum.

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afterwards, we walked along orchard street towards hester where we would turn left for the cat cafe. we happened to pass a restaurant called sticky rice, which i recognized from a visit quite a number of years ago. we were hungry so stopped for lunch . . 

vegetable pad thai with dumplings (morgana and i had the same and lisa-lou had massaman curry with chicken).

 

on our way to meow parlour . .
 

 lightning jack fast asleep in a window bed . . 

 

this is little skeleton (his litter mates are called spooky and scary - litters tend to have themed names).

this is either little azul or rojo, who were waiting to be picked up by their adopter. they were quite young and very cute.

playing with cricket and little rojo or azul . .

playing with cute little ollie . . 

cricket and fern, who were very friendly with us on our last visit. they're up for adoption together as they are a bonded pair.

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in the evening i helped kendall with aurélien, as she had her port out today and was feeling woozy from the sedative. i hadn't helped with bedtime in awhile, so it was nice to be together again. lisa-lou walked to second avenue to get a ticket for the musical stomp, which she said was very very very good!

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(it was quite warm and humid today, about 69 degrees . . and very drizzly. )

rainy monday

it's been such a rainy and cold day today . . morgana and i walked over to meow parlor and had tea and cookies with several adorable kittens and a few older cats (such as pike who sat very majestically in a corner and looked much like a constantine; and cricket and fern, two young three month old litter mates who enjoyed prancing around our legs, bags and treats . . trying to sniff out a few bites; and little frida who had a cream colored paw as if she had stuck it in morgana's cappuccino). back at home i finally turned the heat on . . morgan has the cat photos but went out this evening so i have to wait to post them.

here they are:

playing with little cricket . . 

morning toast and afternoon cats

 

it was a quiet sunday morning with cinnamon toast and a cappuccino. 

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i had made reservations earlier in the week for chanda and i to visit meow parlour, a cat cafe on hester street.

this is cinder . . 

little moon who was so sweet and friendly . . 

loki and isabelle . . (and chanda) . . 

cinder and shadow . . 

moonlight (not the best photo of her . . i'm not sure she would approve - you can see a better pic of her here) . . cinder and shadow are her kittens.

saying good-bye . . it's funny how much i enjoyed just sitting and playing with all of them and watching how they interacted with the other visitors. it was relaxing and peaceful, like taking part in a yoga or meditation class. cats are very mindful creatures.

chanda and i stopped at the cafe next door for cinnamon buns and a mint sandwich cookie in the shape of a cat and then had a fun time walking home, stopping at several stores along the way. after picking up some coffee at porto rico imports, we stopped at minetta triangle, where there's several fish etchings indicating where minetta creek ran (or still runs beneath the sidewalks and streets). her teacher had taken them for a walk along its path during the week and had shown them the park where the etchings were. i've never stopped as it's usually closed, but today it was open, so we had fun exploring . . 

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back at home pluto managed to knock down a skein of yarn from the table and settle himself comfortably on it while i had a fun zoom call with my knit-a-long for denise bayron's grounded poncho.