family in town

 

greg and i walked uptown to meet his sister who is in town for a birthday bash for her mother-in-law. we passed these church bells along the way . . 

and then going past bryant park . . 

i walked right by the american woodcock everyone has been flocking to see. (i only got a picture of his backside as there was a large crowd surrounding him.) (there's a news blurb about it here from channel 4.)

we met up with greg's nephew, his sister and her sister-in-law at st. patrick's cathedral where she had lit a candle for her mom.

brian and denise then went to see the musical oh, mary! while greg, christa and i walked to the museum of modern art on 53rd street.

this was the first painting i saw when stepping off the elevator on the 5th floor . . paula modersohn-becker's self portrait with two flowers in her raised left hand (one of eva's favorite artists). (the painting is jointly owned by moma and the neue gallerie which is where i last saw it a few years ago.)

christa likes to do paint by numbers on her phone to relax and decompress and she was excited to see many of the paintings this evening. (she manages a tractor supply store and just received a special award this year as manager of the year for her district.)

(starry night . . since it was a free admission friday night, the museum packed!)

monet's water lilies . . 

we made it in time to sign up to see the special frida and diego exhibit. they took down the sign up qr code as soon as we had downloaded it! the museum closed at 8:30 and we finally entered the exhibit at 8:00.

the exhibit was in partnership with the set designer for the opera that is currently playing at the met. i'd like to go but tickets are very expensive . . unless we sit up in the nose bleed section.

we walked to apple jack diner for a bite to eat afterwards . . 

and i was able to see the splash down of the artemis crew on the diner's tv.

i had a bowl of very good manhattan clam chowder and a garden salad . . 

and then we walked back to times square to meet up with denise and brian who had waited to have the actors sign their program after the show (which they said was wonderful). it was a nice evening together.

visiting with family

greg, korrina and i spent a few days at the beach with my cousin and her family. it was a very nice time with pleasant weather (humid, but not too hot) and wonderful swimming. we had delicious meals (steamers, prawns and lobster) and relaxing days at what i like to call "dog" beach.

a dog named teddy came to sit with me for a little while.

the first night's dinner . . 

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breakfast . . 

our second beach day . . 

my cousin treated us to a delicious lobster meal.

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we woke to a (much needed) very rainy tuesday.

daisy white chrysanthemums . . 

trying on the outfit for the wedding they will be attending at the new york botanic garden.

at work . . 

checking her email (after which we watched several jackson galaxy catdaddy videos).

time to say good-bye and head home . .

a family visit

 we had a little family vacation with my sister and brother-in-law this weekend. we picked up korrina and josh saturday morning and arrived at the house around 2 pm. we settled in and then met everyone at the beach for a walk. it was a chilly day so no one was intrepid enough to go swimming. i stayed huddled in my sweatshirt.

wash the cat came along for the visit.

dinner saturday evening was homemade chili with butternut squash and turkey which kathy made in connecticut and brought along (a new recipe from her friend which was very good) . .

and a game of bowl.

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sunday morning began with more sunshine, but was still very chilly. surprisingly, it was even cooler than yesterday. after breakfast we did some yard work and then headed to the beach for the afternoon. dinner was grilled chicken, fresh salad from our green market farmer, along with potato salad and corn salad from the local grocer. before we ate, jason cleared off the deer droppings from the lawn for a game of bocci ball.

adam had brought fresh mangos from the trees in his florida yard which were incredibly juicy and sweet . .

 

and were a larger variety than the usual mangos i see in the stores.

very clear but cool out . . i wore my sweatshirt all day (and wished i had brought a warmer long sleeved shirt for underneath).

quiche for breakfast . . from the baker at the green market . .

we transplanted a large grass plant from the backyard to the front, and moved the lilac bush from the front to the back . . 

our poor lilac was getting too much shade beneath a pine tree  . . and currently looks like a truffula tree from the book the lorax.

relaxing at ditch . . 

tonight's game was may i . . which kathy won (we played two hands).

there were some hilarious moments . .

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this morning was significantly warmer and sunny so it was a perfect beach day and i had high hopes on getting in a swim. we had a quiet breakfast first, and i read a little from my book by konrad lorenz, king soloman's ring (which i had once read quite awhile ago).

 

everywhere the sea roses were in bloom.

at gin beach . . 

and korrina and i did get in for a swim which felt wonderfully invigorating. i wish i could swim every day in salt water. (korrina knitted her top with yarn from lionbrand).

after swim snack (some people were getting hungry . . )

heading home after packing up at the house  - we stopped in east hampton for coffee and korrina showed me where the new yarn store was located (we arrived just as the owner was closing up).

driving into a beautiful sunset in queens . .

and crossing the bridge into manhattan.