to the cape

we were up early to prepare the cats for the sitter, make sandwiches for the trip, pack the car and stop by merriweather cafe for one last good-bye to chanda's work colleagues and to pick up coffee for the road (and one last breakfast toast with avocado and poached egg). chanda's bike was loaded in also. driving to the cape is one of my favorite trips. i was very excited.

waving for a photo to korrina, morgan and aunt kathy.

our rest stop was mystic, connecticut (our favorite pit stop on any cape cod excursion) where we ate our sandwiches and visited two favorite shops . . 

though first we talked with the musicians who were getting ready to serenade the lunch time crowd. they were discussing what songs to play, one of which was lullaby of broadway, but were worried nobody would know it. however, we knew it, and even knew the show it came from and i'm sure many visitors there would know it too. musical theatre fans are everywhere! i had seen the show years ago . . on broadway . . 42nd street ran from 1980 to 1989 . . and somewhere in those years kathy and i went to see it. the guys were happy we were familiar with their music and gave us one of their cds (i assured them we had a cd player). 

bestamors . . a scandinavian gift shop . .

munson's chocolates . . 

the line inside didn't deter us . . 

we shared a chocolate dipped banana with peanuts.

it was such a busy place for labor day weekend . . there was even an art show which we walked through on our way back to the car.

we drove through connecticut and rhode island to massachusetts . . 

passing several windmills which i obsessively filmed . . they looked so elegant to me . . spindly metal egrets, winding round and round . . 

the bourne bridge which takes you over the cape cod canel.

chanda checked in and we unloaded and helped her unpack . . 

greg even did a little cleaning in the kitchen.

and then it was time to explore the town . . 

chanda ran ahead to see if the statue was who she thought it was . . 

 "those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts," rachel carson. she's posed with pen in hand and her notebook reads silent spring.

looking at a map to see the lay of the land.

we came across the ferry terminal. we were looking for a place to eat that wasn't too crowded or too expensive . . 

and we found the leeside . . 

which was perfect, and the food was delicious.

my new england clam chowder soup . . and a stuffed quahog . . 

looking out at the cars lined up for the ferry.

walking back after dinner, we passed folks having a fun evening contra dancing in the community hall.

good night!

moving chanda out of her apartment

 
greg decided to rent a van to move chanda's furniture, books, bags and boxes from her apartment back to our apartment.

he was pleased with the blankets they supplied and with the van itself. it was new and very clean and not too difficult to drive. i actually stayed home and did my usual green market run with kendall and aurélien. chanda had help from her friend nick and a roommate to bring everything down to the street and to watch the stuff in the van. it went smoothly and quickly. (and it's good i didn't go along, because there were only two seats in the van! where did chanda sit? on a box in between the driver and passenger seats!)

pluto seems to be right at home amongst all this . . stuff.

cricket and zuzu found everything very interesting to investigate . . 

and to claim ownership of . . 

for some reason these plastic bags were extremely sniff-worthy . . perhaps they had the scent of melvin the cat (chanda's roommate's cat).

we had dinner at our favorite ramen restaurant . . 

which we had never been to with chanda, though she had been the one to recommend it to us when it first opened.

it was such a pretty night . . 

and now we have a lot more stuff in our apartment again!

moving day

we were all up early getting ready to move chanda to brooklyn. i had made muffins last night, and this morning i made sandwiches for greg, chanda and her friend who helped with moving boxes, furniture and bags into the new space. i'll be holding the fort down here with pluto until he goes with her in the second or third trip.

pluto was very interested and sniffed every bag and box until i gave him his second breakfast.

a new month . . they seem to go by so fast.

greg went to get the car and then i sat with it while everything was carried downstairs and loaded in. i really have not gotten far on this project (napkins for chanda from the cascade pima cotton). i think i'm going to change to a size three needle from the size four.

when i came back upstairs pluto was being his usual doorstop self so that i could hardly get in . . and had to squeeze through a very narrow opening.

 

as you can see, family and friends are forewarned when entering.

at least the weather is much cooler today. in fact i needed to wear a sweater.

together in the news space . . 

the rain poured down in buckets on the way home and the thunder is rolling through as i write this.