traveling with figaro

greg and i took figaro with us out to montauk sunday morning as we needed to be there for the delivery of a new furnace this morning. we stopped at home depot in shirley as i wanted to get a wreath and lights for the house.

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sunset . . 

the lights look pretty in the phtoograph, but they are actually a bit too bright for me - a cold LED blue . . 

 

 and i think the sparkles are too fast . . too . . too something! i actually didn't realize they would  blink. in the morning i'll look to see if my dad has anything different downstairs . .

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monday morning . . 

looking for bugs . . 

it's a rainy day . . 

the furnace people never came . . the technician's truck broke down . . we had to reschedule for after christmas . . (ay yi yi).

does this man seem unhappy to you? he is . .

because of this fellow . . 

who chewed right through the cords to his headset . . and totally destroyed it. nope . . greg was not a happy camper and figaro was officially in the doghouse. 

i left them to their ruminations and hung the wreath and investigated the christmas decorations in the basement, where i found two unopened boxes of colorful christmas lights! i wrapped these around the railing and couldn't wait to see how they looked after the sun went down. but first:

i also went through ten to fifteen photo albums looking for old pics for my "caption this!" holiday game . . here are several that i found:

christmas in california in 1981 or 2, (i think) . . 

visiting the japanese deer farm or knott's berry farm . . i think! (from that same christmas holiday time).

in my dorm room, january of 1981/2 when my mom stayed with me on campus (such a fun visit!) (the afghan i'm lying on is one she crocheted for me. i picked out all the colors and the pattern.)

my parents relaxing before dinner in the 1970's. the afghan in this picture was crocheted by her friend greta, i think. (there are many details i'm not sure about!)

my dad working on the car at a rest stop during our 1990 cross country trip with my mom and my sister and nephews. (he was an auto mechanic supervisor with the nassau county police department.)

my nephew ryan having a sponge bath from his mom when we were in california for his christening.

korrina and my dad at the beach . . 1995 probably . . morgana was not born yet.

 she was such a yummy dumpling of a child!

back to 2021 now . . after decorating, doing laundry and some cleaning and rummaging through old photos, i had time to sit down and watch a movie, knit and have tea and my st. nicholas chocolate before it was time to pack the car and head home.

 

figaro joined me . . he's getting better at accepting that he cannot play with my knitting project.

the movie of choice today was when harry met sally . . (i love romantic comedies that take place in nyc . . . see the twin towers in the middle of washington square arch? and the bell tower belongs to judson memorial church, built in 1888.)

has someone had a hard day?

here are the lights! happy st. nicholas day! (i put them on a timer - i love thinking about them going on every night.)

thursday rumination

morgana keeps this photo on the windowsill of the room when staying here. it was taken in 2007 on the ferry to new london when we were traveling to my sister's in connecticut for our summertime two week swimming lesson visit. jack bulldog was with us. i thought it had been taken when we were returning from cape cod to pick up jack at my mom and dad's. consequently, i've been obsessing over cape cod memories and missing our visits there. the photos in my photo library for the years 2001 to 2010 are a jumble, and it seems many of the memories in my brain are the same.

 

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greg has been on an all clear liquid diet. yesterday it was smoothies which i made for him (peanut butter, blueberry banana and date oat milk espresso). yesterday's diet was fun and tasty, today's has not been. tomorrow he has a colonoscopy and i'll be glad when it's over. of course he will too, even more than me. 

we have to be out early tomorrow as his appointment is at 9 am and now with all this perusing over old photos it has grown way past when i should have gone to sleep  . .

i put up a bunch of old posts dating back from yesterday to september 10th.

off to florida

chanda and greg left today for a visit to florida! greg's family is having a reunion in sarasota in memory of his aunt joanne who passed away last fall. i drove them to 42nd street to catch a bus to newark airport in new jersey.

morgana came along.

eating bagels and cream cheese in the car . . along with rosa and a chocolate bar.

back at home . . jack slept in the chair and i ironed linens. oh!! yes! how do you like the ironing board on the wall? greg finally put it up for me. my dad gave the board to me many years ago, but it took ages for me to decide what wall it should go on, and if the wall was sturdy enough. we have cement block walls, brick walls, plaster walls, and wallboard walls.

in the evening, morgana and i went to the new york state theatre to see the new york city ballet perform serenade. she's been anxious to see this, as she has been learning it with her teacher deborah wingert, who used to dance the piece with nycb.

we found the perfect seats in the back of the orchestra. 

we also were able to see ashley bouder perform firebird again. we saw her many years ago when korrina used to take class at the school of american ballet. she has the most beautiful arms. chagall's opening curtain is exquisite, and everyone always claps to see it. i had warm memories of watching this show when korrina performed in it as a little flowerpot.

korrina is on the right. these pics are from 2006.

korrina's good friend at the time is emma sameroynina, who is in the middle. i remember korrina making her a dress for her birthday; driving to the birthday celebration in queens in the car, and morgana getting carsick in the birthday gift bag!!! (luckily, the gift was taken out in time!)

 dancing "ballet" backstage!

playing little grey rabbit . . one of my favorite card games to play with the girls when they were little.

 the sign-in sheet . . 

i've forgotten the young lady's name in the middle. i'm sure korrina will remember. she and emma were enchanted with her.

well, that was a nice trip down memory lane! back to the present:

out on the balcony . .

observing the fountain show . .

our last glimpse before hopping in a cab home . . it was a fun night.