by day the blue will pale down into white where it touches the white of the land, after sunset it has a new circumference-orange, melting upwards into tenderest purple. but the core of blue persists, and so it is by night. then the stars hang like lamps from the immense vault. the distance between the vault and them is as nothing to the distance behind them, and that farther distance, though beyond colour, last freed itself from blue. -e.m. forster (a passage to india)
greg and i traipsed out into the rainy day to see his high school friend who was in town. we were meeting her at chelsea piers as they were docking there after a boat cruise.
all the goldenrod!
on the left is the boat they were on (a beautiful boat called the "full moon").
we walked through the drizzle to la bergamot for a coffee and a pastry.
it was nice to catch up on how she and her daughters were doing (she has a new granddaughter only a few months old). (unfortunately, we were getting dripped on by sitting under the scaffolding - not torrentially, but enough that peggy had to keep moving her chair out of the way. we hadn't sat inside because they had the air conditioning on and it was cold, but of course by the time we left they had turned it off and the cafe was wonderfully warm when i went inside to pay the bill . . oh well.)
reviewing directions back to her hotel . .
we walked with her along 23rd to 7th avenue and then said our good-byes. she'll be flying back to warm and sunny florida . . well, maybe the sun will come out here too.
i was not dressed warm enough for this wet and chilly day and was so glad to get home again.
the anthem in church this morning was a beautiful rendition of the prayer of st. francis, which you can hear the first unitarian choir sing on their facebook page (start at around 31:00 to hear the congregation join in with them); and above you can hear the greater atlanta adventist academy choir.
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well, the rest of the day grew very exciting. greg's high school friend was in town and we made plans to see a play at new york theatre workshop.
just before heading out to meet her, greg received a text from the theatre that the 2 pm show was cancelled. he spent our walk cross town on the phone trying to get in touch with her and with the theatre (i took this photo because usually i'm the one texting or talking while walking, and he's the one telling me to watch where i'm going. of course i wasn't bothering him about being careful, because i was too busy taking pics). i was actually rather happy about the cancellation as i suddenly didn't feel like sitting in a dark theatre. the day was so beautiful with sunshine and a cool breeze. staying outside was the new reality. however, the 7 pm show was still scheduled, so they exchanged their tickets for that performance and greg was able to get reimbursed for my ticket (i decided to skip the later show). one of the performers was sick and they needed more time to prepare the understudy.
after the ticket rearranging, we visited st. mark's on the bowery . .
and walked by our friend lucia's old apartment building where she lived with her twins while telling stories about the neighborhood (lucia lived across the street from photographer peter hujer's studio).
and then a late brunch at veselka . .
blintzes, perogis and potato pancakes . .
veselka is love . .
and then over to downtown yarns.
after which i left them at thompkins square and started walking home . . past st. mark's again and over to the muji store to check on some sheets for chanda. they didn't have the correct size though.
things were really happening karaoke-wise at astor place so i ended up stopping and hanging out for a little while. i recommend watching these next videos even if the singing seems a big far away for true enjoyment, as it's the people walking by that is most fascinating (especially movie #3 with the group of young women and the elderly man - though #4 is great too as she ends up in a duet with a passerby . . and numbers 1 and 2 show my pigeon friend to good advantage).
when i made it home, chanda was cleaning her room, doing laundry and sorting through clothes. we had some leftover pasta and ate the pastries i had bought at veniero's, though greg finished most of them when he returned. he said the show was fabulous, and i'm not surprised (you can read about it here), but i enjoyed the astor place impromptu concert just as much.
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it's time for the photos from london. i think these are from saturday's adventures:
so, is there just one tardis doctor who box, or several . . or hundreds? and what is the meaning of the word "tardis"? (san, do you know? i suppose i haven't watched enough doctor who episodes.)
riding the new lizzie line which looks incredibly posh to this new yorker.
the pattern came with daughter of a shepherd yarn which i adore. the brown is such a beautiful deep, dark chocolate . . i get lost in it.
what a great day, but that's only half of it. i think they went to the docklands museum next. however, i need to get some sleep. i've spent too much time tonight working on old posts. when greg heard peggy was in town, he combed through his journal notes trying to figure out when we saw her last. i tried to help by searching my blog, but i actually didn't post about her last visit here, though i remember it clearly. (we ate at lombardi's pizza in soho with her and all four of her daughters.) after greg discovered the date, i looked through my photos and my blog and discovered lost adventures i had never recorded. here they are: morgan in tokyo; korrina and i at val-kill.
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