cousin maria visitis nana

 my cousin maria from arizona was in boston for a work conference, and so drove south to my sister's to have a visit with my mom.

 she has four grandchildren now, and always comes with photos to share.

 

 this one is of her youngest grandchild, philip, in his baptismal gown which our grandmother josephine made maria when maria was a baby. actually, it might have been made for grandma's own children: maria's mother and my father and their two sisters. i think our cousin joanne fixed it up for philip and maria and her husband, tom, flew to salzburg with it for the baptism. morgana visited philip and his dad, maria's son michael, in march, which was before the baptism in may. you can see that post here.

 all of us with mom . .

 my sister put together a delicious dinner that we had in the assisted living's private dining room for residents and their guests. she had soft foods that my mom could eat (my mom has lost her top teeth) which consisted of manicotti, soft italian bread (i took off the crust to make it easier), and antipasta with soft olives and mozzarella cheese and cut up ham and salami slices. one of the more difficult things to eat these days for my mom are bits of salad like arugula. it's easier for her to eat small bits of cucumber. she still has some teeth on the side of her mouth, top and bottom. it's not easy getting old!

 they're discussing a photograph of my dad when he was about two years old that my mom has hanging in her room. i'll try and remember to take a close up of it next time i'm in connecticut.

 picking out clothes for my mom for the next day when we'll take her to the dentist (oral surgeon) to discuss extracting the roots of the teeth that fell out.

 we weren't sure what this was all about . .

 nighttime reading material . . the carlos acosta book was very good, and it's been made into a movie.

 the next evening, after the dentist visit, we took mom out for dinner at a neighborhood restaurant. 

 it was a fun night . . 

and mom did very well with eating. she had meatballs and antipasta with us, and even italian bread without the crust again. for the time being we won't do any extractions, but we won't be getting her dentures either. neither dentist thought she was in a position to take care of them properly. both had experience with dentures getting lost at assisted living residences and nursing homes, and since she has memory loss, they thought she would forget that she can't bite into hard foods, like apples, which could cause problems. as long as she can be served soft foods, all should be well.

red roses and cooking experiments

roses from the weekend's show . .

plum cake made with plums from last thursday's vegetable box . .

and salsa verde, made with tomatillos from the same box. i had never made this before. i roasted the tomatillos with an onion, garlic and a hot green pepper (no seeds, so it wasn't spicy), and added lime juice, cilantro and some sea salt after pureeing the cooked veggies. we had it with melted cheddar cheese on a corn tortilla for dinner last night.

strange tea

janet and i had tea at a new place on west fourth street: bao. the earl grey tea was very good, as was the bun. however, i found both a little strange as the tea was supposed to be sweetened and flavored with honey and lemon, but it only tasted like sugar, and the bun was black . . to be fair it was called a lava bun . . but i'm not a big fan of food coloring and that's the only thing it could have been colored with. inside was a sweet custard which i enjoyed (and, yes, it was orangy yellow, as if it was lava--i should have taken a pic of that . . ) very artistic!

performance weekend

 chanda had two shows this weekend for km/dance music. i went to the saturday night show (pic above) and the sunday afternoon . .

 

with victoria and greg . . here we are heading to the theatre . .

 a backstage pic from her director . .

 heading home on sunday after the show . . 

 

 sunday night dinner: beet salad with spring mix and goat cheese, and leftover sausage and kale soup.

 here's korrina's selfie of the day: she was happy that it was, once again, sweater weather!

poem for a rainy sunday morning

the rainy day

the day is cold, and dark, and dreary;

it rains and the wind is never weary;

the vine still clings to the mouldering wall,

but at every gust the dead leaves fall,

and the day is dark and dreary.

my life is cold, and dark, and dreary;

it rains and the wind is never weary;

my thoughts still cling to the mouldering past,

but the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,

and the days are dark and dreary.

be still, sad heart, and cease repining;

behind the clouds is the sun still shining;

thy fate is the common fate of all,

into each life some rain must fall,

some days must be dark and dreary.

by henry wadsworth longfellow (1807-1882)

breakfast and dinner with victoria

breakfast this morning was a kefir mango smoothie. chanda's has coconut flakes sprinkled on top.

our neighbor victoria has been back in town. she came over for dinner tonight and regaled us with stories about paris and shooting her film at a chateau just outside of orleans, france. she loved the people she worked with and really had a great time.

coffee with korrina

 it was a warm day and a warm walk to bellevue hospital to get the vegetables and meet up with korrina. the air conditioning at little river cafe is always ice cold so i brought a sweater with me today, and my knitting (taproot magazine's summer rain shawl).

 korrina's shisui grows and grows . . 

tomatillos today . . i've never made tomatillo salsa before.

election day

 today was election day for me as since i'm going to be away for the actual event, i filled out an absentee ballot at the board of elections and voted a week early. i took the photo above when we were walking back uptown again, as i love seeing the empire state bulding's spire poking above all the other buildings as i walk around the city.

 i made sure to wear my "i voted" sticker . . which had a motif of the subway system on it.

 i enticed chanda to accompany me with the treat of stopping at the little owl cafe on our way home. it's in the "friends" building, and is a restaurant we've been wanting to visit for awhile now.

 this is strawberry rhubarb crumble with vanilla whipped cream. it was incredibly delicious.

i walk by here often on my way to soho, and it had been quiet last summer and all winter without the crowds of tourists we saw today. i was surprised that it was busy again, but chanda says that netflix is showing the friends tv show episodes again, so it's once again a popular place to visit.

i'll have to take a pic from the outside next time i go by.