celebrating morgana's birthday

 since morgana was away in thailand on her birthday, we decided to have a small belated celebration today. we worked together on making a flourless chocolate birthday cake.

 here she is making a special fennel and arugula salad with feta cheese.

 chopping up the garlic and red onion and swiss chard for the frittata.

 the birthday dinner.

 we had greg run out to the store to get powdered sugar for the cake.

it's best to add the sugar right before serving before it's absorbed by the moisture in the cake.

 lighting the candles . . 

we called korrina on the phone so she could sing along with us.

i found the tin tin bag and the frog post cards at the rubin art museum.

the birthday card which is from the health food store in middletown, connecticut, where they have the best cards.

making kombucha

 morgana received a "scobie" from an acting friend and has begun making kombucha. here she's adding sugar to black tea that steeped for 24 hours.

 the scobie mushroom is in the jar to the left. after adding the sugar to the black tea, she adds the scobie.

 it then ferments on the counter from three to seven days, at which time one can begin a new batch and drink the old batch (we store it in the fridge).

jury duty

 i enjoyed an early morning walk along with my free birthday coffee from starbucks, but i wasn't happy that my perambulations would take me to . . 

 the courthouse . . 

and jury duty!

 coffee and pastry was served outside the jury duty room until 1 pm.

 it ended up working out that i had two hours for lunch so i walked west to battery park city.

 to a supermarket chanda and i recently discovered this summer. we've always passed it when on greenwich street by duane park, we had just never gone in. now whenever i'm in the neighborhood i like to stop by for a kombucha or a chocolate bar; or just to get a tasting of whatever tidbits they're offering for the day!

a new and interesting building that has been going up for the past year. it's being built by the swiss architecture firm herzog and de meuron. they like to describe it as "houses stacked in the sky" and it's now the tallest building in tribeca. people like to call it the "jenga" building after the game by parker brothers ("jenga" means "to build" in swahili).

sunday morning

it's so nice to have cooler weather now. yesterday morning was grey and breezy and this morning the sun is shining but the air is comfortable and it's not humid. greg has been in florida where it's been unusually hot with 110 degrees. 

from tis the last rose of summer, by thomas moore

tis the last rose of summer

left blooming alone;

all her lovely companions

are faded and gone:

no flower of her kindred,

no rose-bud is nigh,

to reflect back her blushes,

or give sigh for sigh.

little bird on our wall this afternoon.

saturday

 this was my green market purchase for today.

 we decided to use the peppers in this recipe.

 morgana helped get it all together.

 we also had it with chicken with olives and rosemary.

 morgana has slowly been adding to her room.

lunch with korrina & brian; dinner on the waterfront

 we had a delicious lunch today with korrina and brian.

 korrina's knitting project that she worked on while traveling.

 this is a brochure from the yarn store where she bought the yarn for her project. she used about four skeins in graduated colors that were locally dyed.

 we had so much fun hearing about their trip. they traveled on quiet, country roads; beautifully green and strewn with creeks and forests. it reminds me of driving through upstate new york when i was a child with my mom and dad. my memories have a fairy-like, magical quality. it's so beautiful up there.

 a highlight was fort ticonderoga where they also ran into a dreadful rainstorm that they had to drive through as they were returning home to brian's parents' house at the end of their trip.

 roadside flowers (coreopsis?)  pressed in her travel journal.

 maybe yellow alyssum?

i think these are aster cordifolius.

 she had fun picking out a few lovely gifts for us. from a watkins glen yarn store i received a bag and sugar 'n cream yarn. i love this yarn for napkins.

 chanda received a two-peas-in-a-pod necklace,

and morgana a sunny zippered pouch. so nice!

 in the evening everyone went their separate ways. morgana and chanda went to see a movie and korrina and brian went to work. i met our friend clyde and we walked downtown to meet greg for dinner.

 greg showed off his new work neighborhood.

 and then we decided to eat at a restaurant along the waterfront that i've always wanted to try. it's a chinese place that isn't too expensive.

greg and i both had asparagus and chicken in garlic sauce and clyde had a traditional sautéed chinese dish with pork belly.

sunset over new jersey . . 

we had a breeze until it was blocked by the buildings at pier 40 . . it got hotter as we walked uptown . . 

a new bedroom

 when morgana got back from vermont i had finished moving boxes and bags from one section of the second bedroom to another. the cleared section was ready for her to fix up. (chanda's face reflects her feelings that she would like to move into this room now that it's fixed up!)

 but it's morgana's now. she and greg did the major clean up.

 william the hippo is set in a comfy place to keep an eye on things.

 see the green curtain on the window? it felt like a miracle that i found the unopened package from when we first moved in fourteen years ago! it was on top of the closet.

it's all set and very cozy.