walking milly and a film uptown

it was another warm day so we took it slow and visited soho . . 

i had peach iced tea again . . so refreshing on a hot day.

we stopped in at the pet store for cat treats and a treat for milly. do you see lulu lounging in the photo above?

 such a life! i sometimes see her sister, princess, lounging around.

i believe this is a london plane tree . . i thought its trunk looked so beautiful in the afternoon light.

the lincoln center film society was having a special program of "history italian style," showcasing twenty nine films examining the evolution of modern italy. i chose to see "the illusion," a film by roberto andò made in 2025 about two sicilians who join garibaldi's volunteers to liberate sicily, but then immediately desert, and the consequences that ensue. i was hoping it wouldn't be anything like the ballet . . and it wasn't! it was such a wonderful film - funny and dark and ultimately hopeful and inspiring in a somewhat fatalist way.  i loved it! it was fun to see a film on the big screen again too.

lincoln center had a big stage in the plaza for their summer events.

lots of dancing!

a dance performance and a movie showing

i attended two thirty minute performances of the ailey company at the whitney today. the first performance was the studio company dancing harmonic edge and the second show was an excerpt of several ailey works performed by the company itself. both performances were beautiful and uplifting. it was special to see the differences between the younger studio company performers and the older professional performers who embraced more fluidity and sureness. all were amazing and i walked home feeling like i existed on a different plane.

in the evening i met greg at the library for a screening of tennessee williams's night of the iguana, directed by john huston and starring richard burton, ava gardner and deborah kerr. i had never seen the film before and it was very good.

richard burton's character, shannon, all tied up in a hammock by maxine (ava gardner).

and then with hannah, deborah kerr.

walking home . . 

i sent this to morgan today as the 89% humidity was much better than yesterday's 97% . . 

and received this in return . . they're visiting the lake district . . it's so beautiful.

more meal photos . .

 this evening's meal featured a new risotto recipe. i found it online . . just through a random search for eggplant risotto.

 

 what made this recipe so good, was that i used four slender eggplants: two i roasted, and two i sautéed. meanwhile, i sautéed onion and garlic in olive oil in a pan and then added the rice and ladlefuls of broth. when all the broth was absorbed, i added the roasted eggplant, which i had scooped from the skins, minced lemon and parmesan. when dished onto the plates, i added the diced eggplant with parsley. i finally found the recipe again and you can see it here. it was incredibly creamy. i've never combined eggplant and lemon before, without tomatoes.

i've had this movie from the library for over a month now, and finally watched it while working on a sock i've been knitting. i had refreshed my memory of michelangelo's life beforehand so i wouldn't be wondering what was true and what wasn't when watching. they embellished the characters, but the storyline was rather accurate. i also enjoyed rex harrison and charlton heston's performances. eva had recommended it back in february.

the first monday in may

we had dinner a little earlier this evening as chanda and i thought it would be fun to watch a star wars movie since it was may fourth. for star wars geeks, may fourth has become a fun star wars day: "may the fourth be with you."

korrina joined in via whats app and we watched a phantom menace.

 i'm knitting socks with yarn from the olive yarn dye company which i purchased at the 2018 vogue knitting live.

pluto settled down in between us and watched for a bit before falling asleep.

a car excursion, movie documentaries and one of my knitting projects

 greg and i drove across the new tappen zee bridge this morning to meet up with several of his work friends for a hike and a brunch.

 that's south nyack in the distance.

 it started out as a very hazy day, but thankfully cleared up for our drive into harriman park and lake sebago.

 we didn't go on the extensive hike his friends went on, as he's been having trouble with plantar fasciitis in his left foot. lately, he's been icing it and doing special foot exercises. i hope it  doesn't give him too much trouble in london.

this is the town of sloatsburg's public library. it's in a lovely old building, and as we were leaving i was going to ask the librarian a few questions about it, but two police officers came in at the same time and started questioning them about someone who was either missing, or a suspect in a crime . . i'm guessing. i felt like i was in a tv show there for a moment or two . . 

it looks like it was once a church . . 

it was the book sale sign that really got us to stop, but the sale collection was not very exciting, unfortunately.

 these documentaries are wonderful! eva recommended the st. peter doc, which chanda and i are in the middle of (it's so fun listening to david suchet!), and i just happened to come across tchaikovsky in my library while looking for st. peter.

 my current knitting . . (one of several) . . line weight purl soho merino wool yarn . . 

for their confetti scarf, a simple garter stitch scarf whose pattern can be found on their website.

i was going to use their cream/pink/yellow colors that they did for their sample, but they were no longer in stock, so i had fun picking out new ones. 

and here's the la bien aimée mohair yarn (in the colorway "yellow brick road") that i added to give it a little "pop."

wednesday breakfast

chanda and i took our time with breakfast this morning, as she didn't run off to classes as she usually does. last monday she hurt her foot coming down the stairs at the dance studio uptown where she takes morning class before her private lesson. for a week now, she's been limping around and hasn't been able to point her foot. yesterday she went to see a physical therapist recommended by her private teacher, who confirmed that she has a sprain. the therapist gave her several exercises to do and suggested she refrain from dancing for another week, or at least until she can point the foot without any pain. it's very frustrating as she's rehearsing for a nutcracker and for her modern dance teacher's show in january (which she's also choreographing for). all her teachers are annoyed with her . . it's too funny! i even feel annoyed with her! and i think she does too. she was walking down the stairs looking at her cell phone and then slipped because it's an old building and the stairs are very steep. we're all much too cavalier with the cell phones.

anyway, we watched two dance documentaries today: wendy whalen's restless creature, and merrill ashley's the dance goodbye:

at the film forum

i bought two tickets about a month ago to see the movie crossing delancey at the film forum on houston street. chanda went with me this evening and she was surprised at the long line waiting to get in. i wasn't. the actors amy irving and peter riegert were scheduled to be there for a talk after the show and i knew it would be popular. we bought our popcorn before the line moved in and then ate almost half of it while waiting impatiently. once in the theatre, we looked around anxiously for two seats together, but it was already full. thankfully, a nice man called out that the row he was in could move down so we could have two seats together. we ended up sitting immediately behind the director on the aisle. chanda was impressed that the director was a woman, joan micklin silver. 

i think i enjoyed chanda's smiles and laughter during the movie more than seeing the movie again. it was incredibly fun to see the city in 1987, when it was filmed, along with the people who gave it it's character. most of the audience felt that that aspect hasn't changed: the city is still made up of so many eccentric people who consider themselves extremely normal. i find this reassuring even though i know my neighborhood has traveled in a more corporate direction that does not reflect the diverse arts community that i cherish. 

----

greg and i were in connecticut for saturday and sunday to see my mom and to visit with my sister and brother-in-law for a little bit. my mom had a bout of "gouty arthritis" in her wrist and we spent saturday in two different clinics trying to get it diagnosed. her wrist is better now after taking some medicine to help with the swelling, but my mom had trouble moving her legs and i couldn't help her in and out of chairs and the bed as easily as i used to. this was very frustrating for me, as i like being able to move her about. my sister has had the same experience, and had to eat lunch with her several times in the car as she couldn't move her in and out of it without help from the the aides at the assisted living apartments (she had taken her to a doctor's appointment and was hoping to have lunch at a restaurant in between the appointment and taking her back home).

may day on may third

i usually never buy lilacs as they're expensive, and i used to get armfuls of them for free from the colonel who lived on our block when i was ten. however, i'm not ten anymore and the colonel has been gone for years . . so . . i finally broke down and bought some lilacs yesterday. they smell so wonderful and look so beautiful.

 this is my april sock . . only one sock . . and now i've put it aside while i work on this:

another sock on size 1 needles (the april sock was on size 5). the yarn is by gregoria fibers, an indie dyer located in barcelona, spain. i'm hoping to finish it within the week so i can mail it to a certain someone . . hmmm . .

 on monday, may first, chanda and i went fabric shopping with a stop at the manhattan mall across from penn station as she wanted to try on sneakers. she settled on a pair of black converse and also picked up another black cotton sweat shirt from aeropostale (she lost the first one a year ago by leaving it at joffrey's long island city studio . . hopefully she has this one a bit longer). 

 we stopped at macy's to use the bathroom, and conveniently chose to use the one on the seventh floor by the pinkberry shop.

 here we're finally on 39th street in the fabric district (between eighth and seventh avenues) in front of one of our favorite stores: weaver's. she chose two yards of grey silk for the group modern dance piece titled fog. a third yard of a slightly darker shade was chosen from the store next door, amin's fabrics.

the days have been very warm and humid with intermittant sunshine.

dinner last night was fresh sole fish with cole slaw and steamed kabocha squash with angelica kitchen's tahini parsley dressing (i bought their cookbook years ago when greg and i first moved to the city).

and i made chanda watch disney's brighty of the grand canyon with me. it was one of my favorite books to read with the girls when they were little; brighty of the grand canyon, by marguerite henry.

field trips

 this morning we saw another show at the new vic: cambuyon from the canary islands. they were a fabulous group of dancers, drummers and singers. they used wooden crates, recycled glass bottles, a wooden matchbox, and their own bodies to tap out exciting beats that made you dance in your seat. the rhythms were a mix of influences from africa, spain, america and ireland.

 two of the performers were sisters from barcelona, one man was from athens, another from cuba and the others from the canary islands. besides the energetic dancing, singing and drumming, they had a great sense of humor and everyone really enjoyed the show. 

if you don't want to watch the whole extract, start at 3:29. it goes from tap dancing to drumming to hand clapping - three of my favorite skits.

then it was time to walk uptown to see a documentary called ballet 422, about a new choreographer at new york city ballet.

 passing the statue of liberty . . 

and stopping for a quick bite to eat at pret . . 

 i'm usually such a snob when it comes to chain stores . . but pret is pretty impressive in my estimation . . 

 they had a quinoa cauliflower stew . . not only was it delicious, but it was really hot!

 another aspect of pret that impresses me: they make it easy to sort your garbage.

 it was a nice day to walk uptown because it was actually sunny . . 

 the movie was being shown at the lincoln center film society, just downstairs from nycb's school.

 we walked into the movie just when it was starting, and walked out as soon as it ended . . 

 as we had to get back downtown for c's violin lesson.

 and then i finally went home to make dinner as she went to ballet . . we had hot dogs from our local butcher with mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts.