sunday poem and dinner with friends

pastoral

something in the field is

working away. root-noise.

twig-noise. plant

of weak chlorophyll, no

name for it. something

in the field has mastered

distance by living too close

to fences. yellow fruit, has it

pit or seeds. stalk of wither: grass-

noise fighting weed-noise. dirt

and chant. something in the

field. coreopsis. i did not mean

to say that. yellow petal, has it

wither-gift? has it gorgeous

rash? leaf-loss and worried

sprout, its bursting art. some-

thing in the. field fallowed and

cicada. i did not mean to 

say. has it roar and bloom?

has it road and follow? a thistle

to prick, fraught burrs, such 

easy attachment. stem-

and stamen-noise. can i lime-

flower? can i chamomile?

something in the field cannot.

by jennifer chang (from new jersey, teaches at u of t, austin)

----

after much straightening, organizing, cleaning, shopping, cooking and setting up, we were ready for guests. 

trying the cheese, i believe . . i picked up a challerhocker which is a swiss appenzeller, and old farmdal, which is a gouda (from murray's). i did not get a photo of the lasagna! and it was such a project, but it came out very well. i did a mix from my giada delaurentis recipe and samin nosrat's "the big lasagna," so it was vegetarian: spinach with a mix of fresh parsley, basil and oregano, lots of ricotta and parmesan with a mix of béchemal and marinara sauces. i followed giada's baking time (45 minutes, 375 degrees). 

it was nice to catch up with victoria and to see vjosa and her son, who were supposed to visit several years ago, but there was sickness or plane delays and they didn't come. none of us could remember what the situation was, so it must not have been dire, thankfully. actually, victoria is staying at janet's, so she's just around the block.

they brought the cutest cake . . it's called a jellycat fresh cream cake from the ann tremet bakery. for years i have not understood what this store is about, as the cakes have a very different flavor and texture from other local bakeries, so i searched the name online and this is what i found.

i'm not sure what the filling was, but the icing was fresh cream.

and they brought lilacs, which the cats have (so far) left alone (knock on wood). (oh, and i did not go out to brooklyn for the yarn crawl.)

it was a nice evening.

a birthday celebration

chanda turned twenty five today and i was up early to visit the green market and to bake an apple pie.

ready for the birthday girl . . 

taking a photo of pluto with the very cute tardigrade bear her friend natalie had made for her at the build-a-bear store on fifth avenue. (tardigrades are what she has been studying and was the project she presented at wood's hole last fall. they are microscopic animals.)

i'm not sure how impressed he was.

korrina arrived to celebrate with us before going to work . . 

i also made popovers! they were so good . . i really should make them more often (along with garlic bread).

i thought i had filmed us singing happy birthday, but that was not the case.

morgana was on facetime . . 

meanwhile pluto turned his back on mr. tardigrade, who seems to have done the same.

hmmm . . someone would like apple pie?

one of her presents was the nutmeg's curse by amitav ghosh, an account of the very sad story of the conquest of the banda islands by the dutch east india company in 1621. chanda was able to meet the author through a presentation at school about a month ago.

is this another person flat on their back? yes, it was our neighbor victoria who stopped by in the late afternoon. she's been in town and staying at a hostel run by a finnish organization uptown. she had her bank account hacked this past week and has been very stressed trying to set things right. it was nice to see her and catch up on the films she has been making (one won a lovely award at a festival in italy).

dinner together with leftovers (roasted chicken, carrots and baked beans) before chanda left for a friend's party which just happened to occur on her birthday.

coffee get together

this morning greg and i were out early to have coffee with the different schools (parsons school of design, mannes music and theatre school and the lang school of liberal arts). they offered very good local coffee from the joe coffee shop directly next door, along with blueberry muffins and chewy chocolate chip cookies. we met a lovely couple who were there from colorado. their daughter was in her first year.

the different deans spoke today . . highlighting the camaraderie amongst the departments and how they encourage the students to take classes from all areas. it was fun and i'm so glad we participated. i think it's the first family get together they've had since covid. i really feel that the pace has accelerated and we are back to how things were before the pandemic arrived. it feels hectic to me! i have to make an effort to keep things simple.

i spoke with morgan today. they are very busy in london with working for the society for the blind and with a preschool. they've also been working on the new apartment that is a little damp but is slowly improving (two dehumidifiers have been installed and plaster has been taken down from the walls to allow the brick to breathe and dry out better). they are still waiting for a heat pump to be installed so they can have hot water. it's supposed to be done this coming week.

victoria is in town. she came by to pick up her keys for the storage unit. she has a friend coming in from texas to help clear things out. she's staying at a finnish friend's residence hall uptown. they're supposed to come for dinner next saturday.

here's korrina with grimace the mets unofficial mascot (you can read about how he became the mets good luck charm this summer here). she was on her way home from work and is wearing her latest hat and shawl knitted pieces. you can see them better here:

we've been following the mets and yankees games . . game six for the mets is tomorrow in california. the dodgers lead with three games to the mets two.  the yankees are playing game five right now with cleveland and the score is currently tied at 2-2 and it's the bottom of the ninth.

a wet day

i was uptown for an acupuncture session . . and then i walked halfway home before catching the bus.

i made a meatloaf this evening, in the pan kathy and warren gave me for christmas. it came out very good (according to chanda and greg . . and me too) considering i haven't made a meatloaf in years.

---

morgan is in paris helping victoria sort through her photos and journals . .

(sweet rebel)

sunday afternoon walk

greg and i rode the citibikes downtown and then walked around the area he works in . . where he showed me his favorite haunts (all the different places he likes to have coffee in the morning and lunch in the afternoon). when we first began our walk, i noticed this couple each taking a video of the area with their phones, ending with filming each other . . 

and then they compared notes. i thought they were very sweet together.

we stopped at the mcnally jackson bookstore . . 

and at the restaurant where we ate with morgana in december of last year.

----

and in the evening . . 

victoria got ready for her trip . . 

and sent a photo of when she arrived home just in time for sunset (3 pm).