flowers and cats

 

i did laundry today and passed by these leaves in the courtyard. i'm curious as to what plant it will turn out to be.

our coop employee who takes care of the laundry room and several of the building's lobbies posted a notice requesting not to overstuff the laundry room's bookcase (yes, a frequent problem).

i met greg after work at st. luke's to see how the buds were doing . . 

daffodils but no crocuses yet . . 

zuzu sunning in one of her favorite spots by the window looking south . . 

pluto sunning below her.

birds in vermont and a performance

 

zuzu doing yoga with me this morning . . 

marisa sent a video of the birds chattering about her place . . if you watch to the end you'll be able to see a hairy woodpecker at her feeder. 

this evening greg and i had a free performance to attend at st. luke in the fields. it was a "work out" from new york theatre workshop, created by kristina wong (actor, comedian and performance artist). 

she took us through all the emergency food distribution programs, when they were created and why they were created and how to be eligible (why are there so many hungry americans?). having experienced food insecurity and also having worked in the system, she had many interesting things to say about it in a fun and dynamic way. the audience learned the history of food distribution in the states thoughtfully and humorously (there was audience participation via karaoke!) and she had so much energy that she held our attention unwaveringly. it was a fun and thought provoking night. we all gave her a standing ovation at the end while also singing along.

it was the last performance and the canned and packaged food that made up the set was distributed to the audience.

above is a cartoon that i read this morning that felt apropos.

st. patrick's day

 
snowdrops in st. luke's garden . . 

greg worked from home today and kept zuzu company . . (chanda worked a buy out event at king cafe and also found out that the cafe will reopen easter weekend . . which is soon!)

i walked to raffetto's for tortellini pasta and pesto sauce, stopping at the market for broccoli and julietta's for pistacchio ice cream. (it was cold out again; i even needed to wear my hat.)

we ended the evening with a game of bananagrams.

chilly days

i met greg after work today and we picked up some groceries before making dinner.

the black eyed susans are beautiful at st. luke in the fields' garden.

it's been very cool! late at night and in the early morning i can feel fall in the air. it takes me back to when the girls and i would visit nana and nonno in the first week of september when everyone else was starting school and we would sit on the beach at south lake and watch the geese fly past, or greet nana and nonno in the evening when they would come down to gin beach to sit with us before heading home for dinner.

i'm sitting at my desk by the open window and i can hear the leaves rustling in the wind outside.

walking home tuesday evening

it's just such a beautiful springtime that we're having . . 

i love the scent of these flowers . . i think they're a lily of the valley?

these last four photos were taken in the garden of st. luke in the fields . . 

and i love hearing the evening calls of the sparrows and robins.

in the garden

 
at 6:15 pm the bells tolled in st. luke's garden . . 

i had been sitting and reading and listening to the crows and blue jays . . 

alexandria! by islam issa . . so good! i've been exclaiming at odd moments to chanda and greg with: "alexander laid out the plans for alexandria and then never returned until after he died and ptolemy the first intercepted his body which was bound for macedon and brought it to rest there!" and "ptolemy the first and second were obsessed with having the best library in the world! they wrote the rulers of other countries for precious books, paid money as insurance that they would be returned, but then never returned them! they sent back copies and kept the originals for their libray!" 

today the prophet daniel street is still lined with booksellers, just like thousands of years ago . . here's a photo from 2023 . .  (but . . hmm . . i wonder how it's going with the renovation that the article mentions?)

greg met me after work and we ate at moustache. he tried my ayran (salted yogurt) drink and did not like it! his reaction was funny.

moussaka . . of course. we brought home a falafel sandwich and hummus for chanda . . 

la bella luna . . a tiny half moon in the sky.

a walk about town

 
after picking up eggs, greens and fruit at the green market, i stopped by kendall's to sit with aurélien while she did the same. (she didn't want to bring him out with her today as they had a special school event to attend at 11 am.) we played with trains and read a book and then i helped him get dressed for his school party. kendall had beautiful pink peonies sitting on her table today.

ready for the party . . 

mr. photographer . . 

i had the first strawberries of the season after babysitting before going for a walk with greg (a surprise thank you gift from kendall).

we walked to the east village and visited two bookstores, a yarn store (downtown yarns where i picked out a mohair yarn which i may use with some sea silk yarn i have) and popped by korrina's work to say hello (as we were walking right by!) . . 

we then walked to soho for kitty litter . . and then home again.

with a stop at the health food store and the garden at st. luke in the fields . . 

a typical saturday night dinner: fresh fish (cod) and potatoes . . 

and now that it's warmer out and there are fresh greens again at the market: a salad with radish and pea sprouts, walnuts, apples and feta cheese.

and a game of bananagrams since chanda's school load is lightening up. she only has two more classes this week (and two papers to put the finishing touches on).

looking up some words, such as "li," a chinese unit of distance and also a syllable used for the semitone between the sixth and seventh degrees of a scale . . !

flowers and tea

 
the weather has been beautiful this week . . i walked through the garden at st. luke's today . . 

tea with victoria in the evening. she attended her friend's special dinner celebrating receiving a rockefeller grant. the book on the table is the friend's latest publication, pricing the priceless. i thought it might be a little too technical for me, but after perusing it i could see that it's filled with interesting personal anecdotes. i thought chanda might be interested in it also.

victoria has been very busy organizing her storage unit. each visit here she begins by saying she will clear out the cubicle, but then decides to keep everything where it is. there's a lot to be sorted as she has all her photos and journals stored there.