shakespeare on the run

 we met our friends ron and andy, along with clyde and korrina, at castle clinton for a shakespeare on the run performance (the tempest) with the classic stage company.

 you follow the actors from scene to scene throughout battery park . . 

 sometimes you do have to run to keep up with them . . 

 afterwards, we walked to the shake shack at the new fulton subway station for a late night snack . . 

 french fries, turkey hot dogs, mushroom burgers and regular burgers . . and milk shakes for some of the folks . . 

 it's so wonderful to be home again and doing things with friends and with korrina . . 

 after we said good night to everyone, we went on a hunt for special eclipse glasses . . 

but there were no longer any available!

the week flies by

it's already thursday. i saw my friend kendall yesterday, and we sat outside on the 8th floor of the whitney museum at their outdoor cafe, which i had been looking forward to doing with her for awhile now. korrina came by for lunch on monday and i was incredibly happy to see her and talk with her again. she has a vacation coming up and will visit her cousin in burlington, which she's really looking forward to. chanda has been sending out her audition videos, and i've been unpacking and doing laundry.

it has felt incredibly strange to walk around such familiar sights, and to once again have cats crawling all over me whenever i sit down and when i'm sleeping. hermione was happy and affectionate. madeline was miffed and standoffish. we're all settling into our nyc rhythms again.

home again home again jiggity jig

we rolled into town around four o'clock this afternoon and met our friend clyde at veselka's for dinner. 

i'm never sad to come home to new york, but i have to add this song to this post:

getting on the road again

 i'm not sure what time we finally had the car all packed and ready to go . . maybe around 11 am? i had told our hosts that we would be out by noon . . so perhaps it was noon on the dot. i did a last minute cleaning of the empty refrigerator and of the bathroom, and we all took a last walk around the space to make sure we had everything.

 another last check . . 

 good-bye house . .

and cul-de-sac . .

good-bye bernal heights (i think we were fortunate that our street wasn't steep).

 we made one last stop at a green market in the noe valley neighborhood as we wanted to see about getting extra strawberry jam for korrina and aunt kathy at home. we didn't find the jam, so we settled on homemade raspberry vinegar. the chef is pictured above.

 it was the sweetest market with a band and children's story hour.

there was also a group selling delicious indian food for a donation. we got several plates along with a hot cup of freshly made chai tea. it was so good!

 

 it was also fun seeing another san francisco neighborhood. the view was so beautiful.

 

chanda is trying to figure out the recycling . .

the tea was so good that chanda had to go back for another cup (we had been sharing one). greg and i waited in the car . .

as we were driving towards the golden gate bridge along divisadero street, morgana called and we spoke with her while stuck in traffic, and then while finally crossing the bridge to marin county. she had just gotten my postcard and was having tea in a cafe in paris, while doing her french homework:

 and then we were finally out of san francisco and heading north to our friends in ukiah.

last day of ballet class

 greg had work this morning, so i represented the two of us at the summer intensive's class presentation.

these two pics are from yesterday . . 

 i sneakily took two pics before class began . . 

warming up . . 

so i watched two classes today: one technique class and one variations class. i really enjoyed the latter, as the teacher, lola de avila, was very good and i felt that she had a large respect for the students' abilities. at the end she commented on how they were all ready to go out and audition and they should have confidence in themselves. she had them work on the dulcinea variation from don quixote.

lunch afterwards at the pizza shop around the corner, which also had our favorite kombucha on tap (revive, craft cola redux). we then walked to the whole foods on california street for some last minute travel food items, and then caught the bus along van ness avenue to market street . .

where we just happened to run into greg on his way home from work. he's hiding behind the chamomile flowers i bought for the woman whose house we rented. i left them in a vase by the front door. (they had the loveliest aroma.)

on market street looking west towards van ness.

everything was packed up at home so we ate at our favorite mexican restaurant on cortland street, taco las altos.

(i miss this delicious mexican food so much!)

tacos and rice and black beans.

walking home along ellsworth street . . 

good-bye cortland avenue . . until next time!

cable car ride

 yesterday (i'm writing this friday morning . . ) was an incredibly fun day. i don't have time to post all of it, but here's the highlight: the cable car ride! i loved it and even though these little videos don't do justice to the fun of it, i'm posting them anyway!

above is a pic of powell street where we began (at market).

chanda and i stood and hung onto the side!!! it was the best!!!

 we went up powell street, past union square, and then turned left onto washington . . 

you pass so close to the cars . . and to the apartments . . !

 and then turned right onto hyde street.

 we passed lombard street, the crookedest street . . 

 and ended at fisherman's wharf . . 

at ghiradelli square where we just had to have an ice cream sundae and a milk shake! 

there's a lot more to the day that i will have to post at a later date. we leave tomorrow and there's still so much to do in terms of packing and cleaning, but first we have observation day at the ballet school.