last minute meetings, chores and travel preparations

i began the day having breakfast with greg at 7:15 am at our local cafe. i'm usually not out this early and certainly not eating breakfast until much later . . however, since we had eaten much earlier than usual yesterday evening, i was hungry this morning and they also have really good oatmeal . . 

i was surprised to see the owner . . it's been years since i've seen her . . probably because i'm never at the cafe this early.

chanda and i met ellen for our annual summer ice cream visit to morgenstern's . . however, morgenstern's was closed today (they were painting and giving the shop a deep clean) . . 

so we walked to "the dutch," a restaurant i've passed multiple times but have never eaten at . . their food is so good! i think greg would like their hamburgers (the table next to us had ordered them and they looked quite appetizing), and also the homemade ice cream chanda, ellen and i had. well, chanda had french fries.

chanda is holding last minute purchases for her semester at woods hole . . including a new bike helmet (she walked with me and my old bianchi bike to the shop to have it repaired, and picked out a much needed new helmet).

chanda also managed to spill her plate of spaghetti and meatballs on the wall to wall carpeting which greg subsequently pulled up (it took us two hours) as it really was rather old and disgusting and not worth trying to clean (cricket would have just licked it to death - he's very dog-like when it comes to food).

the old parquet floor beneath it needs to be re-finished. we covered it with some comfortable throw rugs for the time being. it actually feels good to have this section of the decrepit carpet gone . . we'll slowly pull up the rest as the year goes by. slow and steady!

(the courtyard is wonderfully shady and cool in the summertime.)

veggies, cat care and a picnic

the greens at the satuarday morning market these days are phenomenal - sunflower, radish and pea sprouts, arugula, escarole, kale, thai basil, regular basil, red butter lettuce, zucchini, green beans, fresh garlic, frisee, broccoli rabe, radicchio . . etc!

the pet adoption center finally had a mentor session open for cat care training this afternoon. i attended along with three other new volunteers. (i've been checking the calendar for months hoping sessions would open up.)

the cat areas get swept and mopped, the litter gets scooped, fresh water is put out and the cats get a lot of attention and play time. above is nine year old nala who is finally napping after batting several toys around with me. i'd bop a crinkly red toy or a grey mouse toy to her while she lounged on her orange cushion, and she would bop them back to me. she was very sweet. there were three other cats in the same space with her, but they were so well hidden! i was surprised at how well they hid themselves for a nap.

afterwards, i met greg and we walked downtown for a dance performance in battery park city .  .

we stopped first for treats for me at duane park patisserie (tea and a small quiche and a prune danish) and at shake shack for treats for greg . . 

and also at barnes and noble for a particular football statistic magazine he likes to peruse (his alma mater is florida state).

here we are at the willows where the dance performance was supposed to be . .

but i only see a bunch of pigeons . . 

it turned out that i was mistaken with the day . . the dance performance will be tomorrow . . sunday. it was a long walk we had, but . . oh well! we ended up riding the citibikes back home which worked out well as i needed to make two salads for a picnic we had this evening with neighbors in the courtyard.

it's funny how the picnic came about. dawn said to karen one day, all the new people are always having dinners in the courtyard! and then karen said, we should be having dinners out there too!!

and so we (many of the old timers - we're talking about people who have been living here for 20 to 40 years!) finally did . . and we plan to have another again at the end of august or the beginning of september as this one was so much fun.

summer weather

our normal summer weather is here . . it's hot and humid. today's thunderstorm missed us, but the humidity crept in. i'm glad it has waited until july to really hit. our courtyard is beginning to look wonderfully green and overgrown.

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it was so hot today, that i decided to give pluto an ice cube:

after batting the ice around until it melted, he settled on chanda's bed for a late afternoon of bird watching.

pluto's courtyard visit

 chanda took pluto into the courtyard today. he enjoyed looking around at the trees, birds and squirrels. he also wandered around a little, exploring beneath the tables and along the path. when he returned upstairs, he felt calmer to me. it's good to get fresh air and expend some energy.

a squirrel ran out onto the dogwood tree and began chattering at pluto.

he or she certainly had a lot to say.

 the star magnolia is beginning to bloom . .

a view from upstairs . . 

i've been feeling so sad today, partially because i haven't slept well the past few nights. hopefully, tonight is different. i always get so melancholy when i'm tired.

a magical night: morgana's play

beth, or william shakespeare's macbeth, adapted and arranged by morgana, (who also goes by morgan and the pronoun "they" - i will be taking turns with both names and pronouns in all future blog posts) opened this evening on a very rainy day. the day was so grey and rainy that barbek (morgan's lead actor) suggested morgan pick up several umbrellas in case the skies opened up during the performance. the wet trees and damp air made for a perfectly wonderful and dismal setting for macbeth. (for this production morgan rearranged several scenes, included scenes that are often omitted, and omitted scenes that are always included, and also wrote a monologue for lady macbeth at the end.)

these are the only photos and movies i have of the production, and they are so poor that i'm not sure you can get a good sense of the cohesive energy and ensemble work of the actors. morgan did a wonderful job bringing everyone together, and i thought the casting choices were innovative and impeccable. i think the age range of the show went from eight years to forty five years. it was fun having our young friends in it.

i filmed this section at the very end, when the skies finally opened and a fine drizzle grew into a steady rain. everyone watching opened their umbrellas and the patter of the drops blended in with the gentle pounding of the drums and the last words of the actors. as our friend steven said, it was a magical night and the best performance of macbeth he had ever seen.

brava, morgan - director, scene designer, lighting designer, props master, writer, stage manager and . . actor! (on the last minute morgan had to step in as lady macduff).

 pics from wednesday's final rehearsal (waiting for the moms to pick up the younger actors) with (from left to right) lucia, hudson, anika, charlotte, morgan and jenny, morgan's girlfriend. it was so nice that jenny could be here for the rehearsals before returning to london. she was in the states for a maths conference in ann arbor, michigan, and visited with us for almost two weeks.

 i think they were discussing aspects of the rehearsal in the courtyard . . 

while having a little bit of ice cream i found in the freezer.

the assistant director and dance instructor/choreographer, amelia.

beautiful days

 the weather has been so beautiful, warm but with a light breeze. it hasn't been too humid and the evenings have been cool (middle 70's are cool these days!). 

 unfortunately, greg wasn't feeling well today and stayed home from work. he was worried that the fever was from a tick bite, but the doctor he saw thought the symptoms sounded more like flu, which can flourish in dry air.

everything is so lush and green . .

chores

 i've been cleaning and doing a lot of laundry as my sister and brother-in-law are coming to visit for a few days.

 

 the laundry room garden is cheery and the birds are out singing every morning. the mockingbirds and cardinals are back.

 i have the table set for a homeschooling moms get together this evening . .

 and the beds set up in chanda's room for my sister and brother-in-law.

here are a few pics from sarasota, florida, where chanda and greg are.


chanda is considering the sarasota ballet company school for september.


a funny selfie . .

 kathy and warren visiting with the homeschooling moms and me . .

it was fun to reconnect again.