a walk through midtown and some swashbuckling

at the eye doctor's . . she spent an hour and a half with me. my eyes are crossing and i need to strengthen them. i'll go back friday for the therapy evaluation. 

back out on the busy streets after the appointment . . .

the schwarzman building of the new york public library.

fortitude the lion sits on the north side of the steps and patience on the south.

 

the newly renovated midtown branch directly across the street. korrina says there's a cafe on the roof.

back at home, there was a swordfight rehearsal happening across the street . . 

 

dinner was chicken soup, half of which i took to deychen as she came down with covid (on her birthday no less!)

and it's friday already . . again; or again . . already

i took an early morning walk to the health food store on sixth avenue for some A2 milk i discovered there just last week (lucia tried it and thought it was very good). i felt like making a cappuccino this morning, and i then couldn't resist stopping at mah ze dahr's for a pain au chocolat.

kendall came over this afternoon and helped me write up a blurb about the house for possible renters. i also listened to the final congressional hearing (at least until september) . . for the first time since 2016 i'm feeling that there might be a tad of hope for this country . . if we all keep working, voting and praying . . 

 

 dinner . . 

i listened to an outdoor jazz concert from our front bedroom . . 

 

i think it went up to 94 today . . supposedly sunday it will be 99 . . at least right now there's a slight cool breeze . .

nighttime concert

 i'm not sure what the celebration was across the street, but the music was certainly good. in this first video the band marches around the corner, and then returns in the second video.

a busy friday

i went uptown with chanda today while she took a ballet class at the steps school. 

 i looked around in fairway, one of my favorite grocery stores.

 i shopped here often when the girls took ellen's dance class on 68th street.

so many olives! fairway has everything!

 checking out the local residents on my way to the yarn store, knitty city, on 79th street.

this guy is hanging out on the sidewalk with all his bags while talking to a friend.

 i wonder if he moves everything at night?

they had an autumn display which featured all shades of red yarn.

 i decided on two skeins of organic cotton. it's the "verde collection" by classic elite yarns, called seedling. the colorway is "sunny field." yes, more napkins . . 

 more skeins of seedling . . 

 chanda met me after her class at irving farm coffee just up the block from the yarn store.

 she begged me to get an avocado scrambled egg sandwich.

 i love the old building that houses the coffee shop.

 on our way to central park we passed the museum of natural history.

it was such a gorgeous day . . 

 we met morgana in front of the met, working on her french homework . . 

 in the greek and roman wing . . 

 and in 18th and 19th century european paintings . . 

 with van gogh . . 

 morgana was touching up her duck sketch from the the exhibit paintings from india's rajput courts.

 morgana's picture is titled bakasura, the crane demon, disgorges krishna (opaque watercolor and gold on paper from 1690).

 my last sketch in this book. i'd like to make a new one similar to the one morgana and chanda have, which is from a birthday party morgana had several years ago. we still have the paper and cloth for the binding. 

 i sketched her face facing forward. i couldn't draw the profile in a way that i liked.

 this is title, the village beauty, and is attributed to the artist fattu, who lived from 1770 to 1820 (opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper).

afterwards, morgana went home while i went with chanda to her dance rehearsal. i picked up prune danish from the hungarian cafe, spaghetti squash from whole foods, and crackers and bread from one of our favorite health food stores next door to the ballet school where her rehearsals are held.

back home again . . 

where a new art exhibit is being presented and advertised at westbeth, one planet one future, photographs by anne de carbuccia.

evening walk

 we went out for a walk this evening and passed a gallery opening . . 

 we decided to go in as we thought the paintings were beautiful . . there was also free banana bread, nuts and dried fruits, seltzer and wine. we daydreamed about which paintings we would have liked to buy . . 

 afterwards, i received a text that my fitting services were again required . . 

 so we visited the costume shop . . 

my friend has been sewing and draping non-stop for the show she's doing. she used to work as a model and fitter herself. she said it paid well and she learned a lot from hearing how to drape and wrap the material from the designers themselves . .