school work and nelly bly day and pics from austria

it's been quite warm for early may.

my aloe plant baby, from the aloe i brought back from a visit to florida awhile ago.

we had lemon curd on homemade sour dough bread and green tea in the afternoon . . 

and chanda worked on her essay in her lesson book about the magna carta, the royal charter of rights agreed to by king john of england in 1215, guaranteeing church rights, protection of barons from illegal imprisonment and limitations on feudal payments to the crown.

today we read about nelly bly (born on may 5 in 1864), an american journalist known for her record breaking trip around the world (72 days) in 1890, along with her investigative reporting about mental institutions by going undercover and spending ten days in a women's asylum on blackwell's island, now known as roosevelt island.

we had a cold salad for dinner since it's been so warm.

morgana sent a few photos from austria . . beautiful alpine flowers . .

and one of manu's chickens taken in her yard.

tomorrow is nana's birthday . . we sent off a card in the mail with our love and good wishes and we'll call in the morning and sing happy birthday to her.

nana's birthday

 nana's breakfast . . strawberries and cream . . and peach jam 

 the morning was spent with korrina . . 

in the afternoon aunt kathy came and we went for a walk on the beach . .

at ditch . . 

 for dinner we had sauerbraten, with homemade red cabbage!

 and strawberry shortcake!

nana's birthday

 today morgana, chanda and i drove out to montauk to celebrate nana's birthday. it took us over an hour to get out of manhattan because of a five borough bike tour. we took the brooklyn bridge to ocean parkway, and then got on the belt. we had to avoid the gowanus expressway as it was closed off. there was another bike marathon on long island, but luckily the parkway was not affected!

 we found sunflowers on sale at whole foods before we left. they're a little droopy! no wonder they were on sale . . glumflowers. they're cute, though.

 for dinner we had breaded chicken breasts, potatoes and parsley, and peas with butter.

the night before, greg had walked downtown to duane park patisserie to pick up a mixed berry tart for her birthday cake.

 morgana and chanda and nana (nonno is ready to clear off those candles and cut the birthday cake) . . greg stayed home with korrina. korrina had work this evening (play rehearsal for hb studio) and greg has work in the morning.

 my dad has been doing well with his treatments. my nephew drove him for part of this past week, and then he drove himself for friday, and will do so again tomorrow morning. my sister will come out for the last week.

 the tart had a butter breadcrumb topping.

 raspberries and blackberries . . 

she received a dark mint chocolate bar and two homemade items: two knitted napkins and a crocheted blue doily.

happy birthday nana

it's nana's birthday today

it's late and i need to get some sleep as i'm getting up in just a few hours to travel to my mom's for her birthday with m and c. this is the strawberry shortcake we decided to get for her. i hope it survives the train trip, and that i survive carrying it in the bulky cooler it will be keeping cool in.

i spent the morning at the vet's with xena. yesterday she had such a difficult time going to the bathroom. she kept going in and out of the three kitty litters we have. i thought she had a bladder infection, but after examining her this morning, my vet announced that she was constipated. we've been feeding her laxatives all afternoon and evening. poor dear, but i think the medicine is doing it's job and she is feeling a little better now.