minerva and shopping and essen

tiny star shaped flowers from the trees on bank street . . 

breakfast for minerva . . 

breakfast for us at la bergamot . .

(greg's french toast)

shopping for pants for me for morgan's wedding at one of the fancy stores we pass on the way home.

dinner . . 

we had a delicious wheat berry/lentil and vegetable salad for dinner. the lentils and wheat berries are a package mix from olive odyssey (an online company), from whom i've also bought olive oil.

good night minerva. your family will be home tomorrow.

get together on juneteenth

 

greg and i began the day with a visit to minerva as kendall and aurélien are visiting friends on cape cod.

we then walked downtown to square diner to meet ron and andy for brunch. i took this photo because as we approached the turn off for the tunnel, a potent waft of linden blossoms pervaded the air! we think it came from the tree directly behind the tunnel sign. i love linden blossom season.

(i had buckwheat pancakes with fresh strawberries and maple syrup . . they were very good!)

for years i've been telling ron that patisserie lanciani (where we would go for pastries on west 4th street when working at listro associates on west 11th street) had moved to duane street and was now duane park patisserie. since we were only a few blocks away, we walked over. 

but, oh no, there was a closing sign on the door . . 

she's closing her wonderful bakery. the landlord found someone to pay more money and i think he broke her lease. i am so sad!!!! 

i can't believe we were finally here together and it was closed. but . . it was nice to show him the spot and to remember how much we've enjoyed her delicious cakes and pies. i'm not sure if she will open up another place.

after that sorry situation we walked to the federal houses on harrison street . . 

we admired the lovely secret garden areas . . 

it's a quaint spot in the midst of the big city.

we walked along the river and sat and talked awhile on a bench before heading home to our separate neighborhoods. 

greg and i visited minerva again to give her dinner . . 

and kendall sent a photo of the beautiful cape.

many places on a saturday

 
taking care of minerva this morning . . 

minerva likes to come say hello, but she doesn't like to be coddled.

this morning i woke and said that i'd like to visit cafe habibti (which i first went to with morgan and ellen in january) and greg woke and said he'd like to visit the met museum . . so we combined the two.

on our way to the bus on lafayette . . 

the museum was very, very busy today!

figuring out which way to go for the special raphael exhibit . .

through the new oceania wing . . 

two canoes from west papua, new guinea . . one is a spirit canoe used for initiation rites:

and the other is a fifty foot long canoe carved from a single tree trunk by chief chinasapitch of asmat, per village in 1961:

the raphael exhibit was so crowded! it was also quite extensive, comprising six or seven rooms with paintings, sketches and tapestries. above is: the virgin and child with the infant saint john the baptist in a landscape, 1509-11, oil on canvas, transferred from wood.

greg admiring the tapestries from madrid . . 

head of an apostle by raphael, 1519-20, black chalk on paper, drawn freehand over pounce marks  -spolvero underdrawing (and i have no idea what that means). 

we then wandered into the asian wing. this is the head of a bodhisattva, northern wei dynasty (386-534) late 5th century, sandstone with traces of pigment. the card states: "this head is reportedly from yungang in the northern shanxi province of china, where caves with colossal buddhist sculptures were constructed under the patronage of turkic-speaking tuoba rulers."

(can you imagine visiting those caves?)

the astor court which we've visited often with the girls . . 

this is the first time i noticed that you can see the clouds through the skylight . . actually, when i first looked up i saw two seagulls flying by.

now we're in nepal, kathmandu valley, with a yaksha relief, made of stone, 8th or 9th century. the yakshas are nature dieties and in buddhism they serve as guardians of the underworld treasures. this piece may have been a caryatid supporting a religious structure such as a shrine or pavilion.

one last figure which was very tall:

from cambodia, pre-angkor period, late 7th - early 8th century, stone, female diety - according to the explanation - probably a representation of the goddess durga in her role as the slayer of the buffalo demon. 

finally . . lunch and dinner rolled into one . . we walked to a diner on madison avenue . . 

and then took the bus home along fifth avenue (stopping in one last time to feed minerva).