sunday bike ride

i made my mom's pancakes for breakfast this morning. it has been awhile since we had them. i think it's really my favorite breakfast to have - just flour, milk and eggs, and then we roll them up with jam (red raspberry this morning), maple syrup and butter . . and also fresh strawberries. greg and i then went for a bike ride . . it was such a beautiful day and i just wanted to feel the breeze by the river. the trees along the bike path form a beautiful canopy lately, and the flowers along the path were so fragrant. the sun was very warm, but the air was cool. we rode all the way down to the battery. there's been construction for the flood mitagation and they have been building up the land with ramps, but some areas have re-opened. 

the fountain by castle clinton (it was a fort from 1808-1811) . .  

the couple sitting next to us on the bench was having their caricature drawn. the woman sitting with the sketch pad on her lap (to the right of greg's face) worked part of the time, and then her partner took her place and finished the drawing. i thought that was interesting.

the water just glistened today (in the distance is the statue of liberty).

then suddenly we were at "the willows." the girls and i would ride our bikes here when homeschooling. we would read and work on whatever knitting project we currently had. sadly, the two willow trees are no longer here. they slowly died off after being inundated with sea water during hurricane sandy. i was glad to see that a lovely birch tree (seen on the right) had been planted in a willow's place.

(here's a 2009 willow visit . . greg is with us here, as it was labor day weekend . . korrina isn't. she was often off at a ballet class or a stage managing gig, a group homeschooling class, or just with her friends, which is probably the case here since it was a holiday.)

looking southwest toward the statue and ellis island.

we next passed a favorite monument - the mother cabrini statue . . 

"maria francesca cabrini, mother frances xavier cabrini, 1850-1917, italian american who dedicated her life to helping children and the needy in new york and around the world."

and then it was time to pick up a citibike for greg and head back home (i had my bike with me).

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morgan called when we returned and sent a photo of the current craft project: a child's size quilt is being sewn with leftover charity shop fabric and liberty fabric (from the wedding napkin favors). i love the jumble of colorful prints.

we watched an episode from the new ted lasso season . . 

(cricket is eyeing my italian cookies that were supposed to be for adam, but since the car broke down we never made it out to the house for him to have any. by the way, the car has been fixed - the mechanic replaced a "sensor" and it is now running very well!)

sunday (mother's day)

we were out early in the morning to drive to the hospital in manhasset again. we first picked deychen up in brooklyn as she wanted to come along. it was so nice to have her and we talked over coffee and pastry in the hospital's little cafe while waiting for our friends to wake from a nap.

afterwards (and after we dropped deychen deychen home again), chanda, greg and i went out to eat at ayat in the east village.

we first stopped at abraço . . 

for their delicious frappe and olive oil cake.

walking past thompkins square where there was a concert going on . . 

special drinks at ayat (mint lemonade and hibiscus) . . 

and the amazing food . . 

there are so many beautiful gardens and trees in the east village . . it was fun walking through the neighborhood.

kathy sent photos of her day with warren and adam:

they first saw a play in hartford . . 

and then biked along the rail trail . . 

beautiful spring greenery!

excursion to the lower east side

breakfast in the morning with chanda before meeting ron and andy in the afternoon for a tenement museum tour.

the weather is starting to warm up and people are walking about in short sleeves and sweaters.

today we viewed the apartment of the moore family, immigrants from ireland in the 1860's. bridget moore arrived in 1863 when she was just 17 years old and met her husband joseph a year or two later.

they moved to 97 orchard street in 1869 with three young daughters. prior to being on orchard street, they had been in the five points neighborhood which was notorious for crime and poorly maintained buildings. orchard street had been built in 1862, and was a step up for the family. 

here is a map of the neighborhood in which they moved three times. after being on orchard street for one year, they moved to elizabeth street, which was just a block from the church they attended: old st. patrick's cathedral. prior to orchard street, they lived at 65 mott street (the five points neighborhood) and then 150 forsyth street. (a map of these residences along with more information about the moore family can be found here on the tenement website.) 

sadly, not too long after moving into 97 orchard street, bridget and joseph lost their youngest child at the age of five months. of the eight children they had together, only four survived into adulthood and joseph lost bridget when she died in childbirth at age 36. 

here is a photo of a granddaughter of bridget and joseph, with her husband at their home on long island, and if you click on the tenement museum website above, you can see a photo of their great great grandchildren.

after the tour we began walking to a restaurant on mott street for dinner, and passed 65 mott street where they first lived. we think it would have been an older building.

laughing together over ron's use of an artificial intelligence voice (which he named james) for his phone requests. 

restaurant hop kee.

after dinner we ended up walking past their church on mulberry street . . 

and then we all headed home.