at the library and flat pics from london

greg and i decided to visit the mid-manhattan library today, but first stopped to say hello to patience (the lion) at the schwarzman building before crossing the street for our destination . .

the mid-manhattan branch is now called the stavros narchos library.

this is such an interesting rendering of the library's layout . .

puzzles!

we took the elevator up to the 7th floor to the cafe . . 

and then took our coffee and iced mocha out to the terrace . . 

it was our first time visiting the terrace cafe. we had heard how nice it was from korrina.

(the blanket i'm working on for milly's owner as she's having a baby . . this month!)

it was quiet and peaceful . .

afterwards, we returned to the schwarzman building for an exhibit about the new yorker magazine.

poet dorothy parker had a column for the magazine in its early years called "reading and writing."

one of her lists for the column included "unattractive authors whose works i admire."

we're accustomed to computers now, but so much was done then by hand.

fiction editor katharine white's letter to harold ross requesting that he do away with the practice of logging and describing every single manuscript that arrived for solicitation as the office girls were threatening to quit (!)

(the "genteel" piano player the workers are hollering at is on the center left side).

(the maid grabbing a smoke at the window)

the cover of the new yorker in june of 1962 when rachel carson's silent spring was promoted through a serialization in the magazine. the book came out that september.

we took the bus downtown and shared a salad and sandwich at waverly diner . .

(shrimp salad . . not easy to find these days . . )

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morgan and harley's apartment is beginning to show the benefits of their hard work. morgan sent photos today of the place all spruced up for a gathering of friends this evening:

now they finally have a kitchen sink! (morgan made red bean and quinoa chili in a newly bought pot.)

tomato plants?

i think this is chard.

an afternoon in queens

 
greg and i drove to queens today to have lunch with korrina.

i'm still in the amazement stage that spring is here . . 

the queens' trees are all turning green . . 

and queens' flowers have been planted in all the sidewalk gardens . . 

one of our favorite places . . 

jasmine green tea and coffee . . 

korrina is teaching herself to crochet lace which is not easy as she's left handed and there aren't many left handed crochet tutorials. i remember trying to teach her to knit when she was a child . . she managed to take my instructions and invert them for herself, but i think that was easier with knitting as you're using both hands. 

we began with the citrus salad . . 

my chana gwaramari - spiced black chickpeas, sunnyside up eggs, tomato achar, chili oil.

greg had chicken sekuwa - nepalese style chicken bbq served with bara, pickled radish and tomatillo sauce.

korrina had a whole baked eggplant which i cannot find on the online menu and so cannot supply more detail. it looks like it has a yogurt sauce. it was very good and she had it with a slice of their homemade sour dough toast. they sell loaves of their bread and we bought one and sliced it in half back at her apartment. 

going for a walk around the neighborhood after lunch . . 

oh . . the lilacs!

a photo korrina took during the week of patience and fortitude, nypl's lions, amidst the pale green leaves at the schwarzman research library.

heading home on the bqe . . 

reading house of the seven gables . . 

working on a baby blanket for milly's owner (she's due in may).

zuzu on her special perch . . 

and wash on his.