the important vote

at 7 pm greg and i were ready for the big online meeting with the coop. it was supposed to be a hybrid meeting - in person and zoom. however, there had been a few threats made so it was deemed better to just be online (to boycott or not to boycott - it's a very heated topic).

(chanda came in to order pluto's special canned allergy food diet . . )

there were a lot of technical problems to get through as over 7000 people had registered to be on the call, with 6875 actually finally being online. we had two practice votes to iron out tech difficulties and then the meeting rules (robert's rules) had to be reviewed. the first vote was to eliminate the 75% supermajority that had been voted in several years ago when talk of the boycott gained support and reinstate the 51% majority that has always been used for member votes. this passed with a large majority (i believe it was 69%). there was then a motion that the boycott should be a referendum for all members to mail in a yes or no vote which was voted down (past boycotts have always taken place during a general meeting which is what this was). it was then time to present the motion to boycott and i was incredibly moved by the presentation eloquently stated by four coop members. one couldn't help but be moved by the painful facts that have been playing out on the news and people's social media. finally, at 10:11 pm the poll showed up on everyone's screens and the vote commenced. 67% voted to boycott, 31% voted no and 2% abstained (the final number of members voting was 6772).

you can read the guardian's account of the meeting here. 

it was an exciting night!!

cold and grey

it was grey and cold today. i ran some errands to the health food store, picking up a few items to make minestrone soup for dinner.

in the afternoon i read books with aurélien in his tent while kendall attended a parent/teacher conference (of course we first had to wait for minerva to move off of it).

in the late afternoon i zoomed with morgan . . 

and pluto.

thursday (blue moon day)

i walked milly along the river today after talking with korrina in the morning . . it was nice to catch up. she's better, though still feeling tired from covid (i think i should pick up more florivital iron supplement for her from my health food store), and has been extra busy at work as they lost their head chef (but they're busy interviewing candidates for the position). 

today was very humid, but cloudy with a cool breeze . . 

pier 53 has been getting a make-over . .

it's very beachy looking . . 

waiting for her treat . . ("chicken chips") . . 

today morgan and i "zoomed" while sewing and knitting (you can see my double-thick potholder on the right) while watching ted lasso (for the nth time!).

chanda is running off to school (she's on the left, wearing shorts and a red shirt and wearing a big backpack).

and here's a photo of the second full moon of the month (i do have a pic of the first full moon . . but i think i have yet to post it):

sunday poem

come, let us plant the apple-tree.

cleave the tough greensward with the spade;

wide let its hollow bed be made;

there gently lay the roots, and there

sift the dark mould with kindly care,

and press it o'er them tenderly,

as, round the sleeping infant's feet,

we softly fold the cradle sheet;

so plant we the apple-tree.

from the planting of the apple tree by william cullen bryant (1794-1878)

----

church this morning via zoom . . 

(the second sunday of every month is jazz sunday)

----

and everything is laid out to go into my suitcase:

breakfast, knitting, gifts and the book club

oats soaked in kefir overnight (with honey, cinnamon, chia seeds and flax seeds) with a dab of peanut butter on top and rasa grain coffee in the cup chanda brought back for me from positano.

denise bayron's wave of change jacket knit with quince and co's linen kestrel yarn. i need to pick up stitches for the second buttonband and knit two sleeves. picking up linen stitches is not easy.

 

a pretty candle lucia brought back from dornach, switzerland (i think she bought it in dornach). she visited the goetheanum with tsamaret when they were there. it was very nice  . . with a lovely cafe. it was fun to see the photos.

and this chocolate was delicious!!!

i also had a book club meeting today . . except the three of us who were able to attend ended up discussing current personal concerns. my one friend has been traveling back and forth to new mexico helping her elderly mom who has been ill, and my other friend is preparing her daughter to begin college in september while also working, looking for a house to buy and packing up her apartment because her lease is up august 31st. my other dear friend was unable to attend today because she is also dealing with very, very difficult housing circumstances :(

 

i forgot completely what book we were reading, and only just a few hours ago did i find it on the library's website and put it on hold: unbowed, a memoir by wangari maathai.

knitting and tea

i spent a quiet day at home with my online knitting group. they had a flower arranging workshop today with a woman who has a floral business. it was interesting, and i learned how to use florist's tape to help hold the flowers in the vase, and how to arrange the branches (and that it's good to strip the leaves from the bottom stems so they don't rot in the water). (greg actually went uptown to see the winslow home paintings . . i thought he had seem them already, but he hadn't!)

i first visited the green market for veggies and fish and the requisite chocolate croissant (and i actually had a grain coffee and not tea this morning).

in the late afternoon i went for a walk, looking for new jeans as mine are worn and splitting in various places. the sky was so beautiful.

a poem for sunday and a little about the day

 sunday shines again

with warm spring air and

st. veronica bells on christopher street.

tea sits on the table 

with past tea times not far behind

and passed souls 

sitting in my heart

while a persistent black cat

claws my leg

for tea too.

----

we listened to first unitarian of brooklyn's palm sunday service and then i spent the day knitting and connecting with denise bayron's wave of change shawl/blanket knit-a-long (both via zoom) while greg went for a bus ride/walk to the lower east side and chanda rested in bed (she's had the flu . . the home covid test she took turned negative). 

it's a pretty day with the sun hiding behind clouds and then poking out bright and cheery. i was inspired by lorraine on the knit-a-long zoom to write two poems . . which feels good as its been a long time . . and i'm writing while listening to a beautiful first u of brooklyn song from march:

breakfast, zoom and cards

 

sunday breakfast . . 

 

and a zoom visit with aunt kathy and uncle warren . . 

pluto has to say hello to toby . . 

and here is the final two hands of the card game we began at the beginning of mogan's visit. morgan went out both times, leaving greg and i with points to add to the final score, and since i wasn't able to set my cards down for the last hand, i had the most points (which is not a good thing). morgan won the game and greg was second, which made him happy that he didn't lose (i'm shaking my head and rolling my eyes).

wednesday meetings and a break in

it's been volunteer appreciation week with best friends, so meetings have been scheduled for each evening. i missed the vegetarian cooking lesson monday evening, but joined them for the documentary the champions yesterday evening. it was fun to watch with the volunteer and staff group. many have been to the best friends sanctuary in utah, and one person had met a few of the victory dogs when there. it's an inspiring movie, though sad to hear how people abuse dogs by forcing/training them to fight. the movie focuses on the rehabilitation of the rescued animals, and the love surrounding the families and the center who have welcomed these dogs into their homes. i highly recommend watching it. it's $3.99 to rent. there is no violence in the film (they don't show the dogs fighting), but they do show a bit of the compound from which the dogs were rescued (along with the dogs being evacuated from that space), and that might be frightening for younger children. you can decide if it's right for your family by watching the trailer.

this evening's zoom event was salsa and charleston dancing, which was a lot of fun, and then i joined greg for a meeting of our coop about selling a garage the coop owns, and other matters. this was amusing also as not all of us handle zoom very well and many kept forgetting to unmute themselves when speaking.

i then wrote out more letters with the sierra club while having dinner with greg, and chanda joined us when she came in.

 

around 10 pm, morgan called us with the frightening story that someone had punched a hole in their kitchen window, crawled through, collapsed on one of the chairs saying that the police was after him, and then ran out the front door. jenny was away, as was the upstairs neighbor. the second neighbor didn't answer his phone, and neither did two friends - it was 3 am in the morning there. we all stayed on the phone together and chanda helped talk morgan through getting dressed to go out for a walk to the precinct. when morgan opened the front door, there were the police with the young person who had broken in, along with the person's guardian, who took responsibility for the broken window and promised to have it fixed. the police took down a report and morgan went with them to the precinct to stay until the sun comes up (and received a welcome cup of tea, too). this is all very crazy.

saturday get together

 

we actually had leftover chicken soup for dinner this evening . . this is last nights taco dinner. i ran a lot of errands today as greg and i will visit montauk for a few days. i took the compost to the green market, picked up groceries for the trip, and washed my warm down coat from lands end. it's finally very cold here and it'll be warmer than the short down jacket i've been wearing.

 

this evening was special as we had a get together of old nyc homeschooling friends. i was so happy to see all of us together on the screen . . everyone was in and out over three hours - one friend leaving and another just coming on . . it was fun and we got to wish two of our group happy birthday. four of us are turning 60 this year . . actually, it might be five of us . . we were all born in 1961.

it's supposed to snow tomorrow night, and all day monday . . !