lunch and sunbathing with pluto

i'm still getting used to having greg home for breakfast and lunch. he used to have these meals out, and not at home. we go through more food now, and we'll be out of cold cuts soon, but there's still plenty of peanut butter and jelly. greg is making lunch here, and chanda is working on a late breakfast. i guess that's brunch. she went out running first.

he's been enjoying making smoothies in the vitamix.

 i had the nicest afternoon sunbathing with pluto and chanda in the courtyard. fortunately, not many people were out and we were able to keep a good distance from those who passed by.

 chanda began knitting a scarf with yarn and a pattern she received two christmases ago. it's a beautiuful yarn from quince and co: owl tweet, which is half wool and half alpaca. the pattern calls for cabling and this might be the first time she's done so. i'll have to take a pic of the pattern tomorrow.

 getting back into the groove . . 

 these buds are so pretty. i'm not sure what they are, but that's a callery pear on the right.

 it's the height of the daffodil season.

 so . . when pluto goes out to the courtyard, he'll take a little while to begin walking around and sniffing, and he'll hide when he hears someone coming. today it was a little chilly and he crawled underneath chanda's sweater to get warm. he's very cute, and very different from most cats.

i was going to make a chickpea stew with kale, coconut and tumeric, but remembered i had ground beef, and thought it better to use that before the kale, so, i made italian wedding soup. i added some other vegetables (a celery stalk and a few carrots and half a parsnip) to the spinach that was called for. i also already had homemade chicken broth which i wanted to finish up. i was able to get 65 little meatballs out of a little over a pound of ground beef.

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i had a difficult time sleeping last night, as i was so stressed about the work the neighbor downstairs was doing, particularly since the board member greg and i had contacted wasn't able to help us. i could tell from the tone of her text messages, after first talking with her on the phone. she went from, oh, that's a terrible situation to be in, to "we are looking at the whole situation and understand how stressful it is for all shareholders during the pandemic." i knew then, that she wasn't able to change the other board member's minds. there had already been a vote taken that "current alterations could continue." (i had gotten that information early yesterday morning from one of the superintendents who was taking messages for the coop management agency manager, who was avoiding talking with me. i had been hoping it wasn't true.) oh! such a runaround i got! still, as i fell asleep, i was trying to be positive, as the board member i had been in touch with had assured me that there would be a building communication if the work was going to be continued. well, at 10:30 this morning i heard the sander start up, and we had NOT been notified. i wasn't surprised though. unfortunately, i was not surprised. to be honest, i was a little relieved that it was going to be today, as the sun was shining and it was warm out. i had read that tomorrow would be cooler with a chance of showers. if it was going to be done, it was best to do it today and get it over with. of course, i immediately sat down at the computer to type a letter to the board. i had it finished by 11:25.  i had wanted to write that i expected an immediate response, however, greg suggested that we follow up in a week or so if we haven't heard anything. 

right now it's 11:44 pm. i was surprised that the odor during the day from the sanding wasn't as bad as yesterday, but now the stain that they put down after the sanding is really wafting up through the bathroom and from below the kitchen sink, and through the closets. chanda has started sneezing and i suggested she curl up in her down blanket and open the window. my throat is sore, and i need to do the same in a minute. we had the windows open earlier, but it got too cool. it was fine until 10 pm. greg and i went out to check that the windows below us had been left open, and they were. 

i think i feel so calm about the situation right now, because i know i'm right, and all of them are wrong and incredibly stupid. these people should never have been permitted to continue with this work, but they had connections and they used them. the other problem is that our mayor and governor should really be restricting movement more than they are, because we're all roaming around entirely too much. the numbers are still going up. i wouldn't be surprised if these new neighbors don't even stay here. chanda and i think they must have a country home somewhere, and will go there. well, i'll have to keep you posted.

and this is monday

 today was a stressful day, as the new neighbor below us began sanding their floors. it was a long struggle to be heard and to try and get some answers. the management agency wasn't responding to me, so greg and i finally included a board member, whom we happened to once talk with, in the correspondance. while that board member has been helpful in listening to us, she hasn't been able to say anything more than that the work has been "halted for now." i think our neighbor must know more board members than us.

i did manage to make a beef stew and pluto relaxed with my little dorrit book.

sunday service at home

 we lit our candles this morning during our online church service. the one on the left was a gift from eva's charlotte which arrived yesterday.

waiting for it to begin . .

brunch . . greg made us feta cheese omelettes.

poem for a sunday morning

spring morning

o day--if i could cup my hands and drink of you,

and make this shining wonder be

a part of me!

o day! o day!

you lift and sway your colors on the sky

till i am crushed with beauty. why is there

more of reeling sunlit air

than i can breathe? why is there sound

in silence? why is there a singing wound

about each hour?

and perfume when there is no flower?

o day! o day! how may i press

nearer to loveliness?

by marion strobel (1895-1967)

too warm and too many

 greg and i went for a walk this afternoon and i was surprised at how many people were out, but maybe i shouldn't have been. it was incredibly warm and new yorkers are always out when it's warm.

it was a pretty day . .

 and the sunshine felt good . . 

 and it was nice to see the geese . . 

  there were actually too many people out for me. we didn't stay long, but instead left and walked along a few deserted blocks, stopping for angel hair pasta and clams at the health food store, and then home.

 walking home and passing some interesting signs . .

 we had a lot of arugula from chanda's cafe, so i made my dad's pasta dish that he got from actor tony danza: angel hair or capellini pasta with garlic, tomatoes, arugula and clams.

trying to stay hopeful . .

the situation for businesses and out of work new yorkers feels more hopeful today. news organizations, public radio hosts, congresspeople, state and federal representatives, are all talking about measures that can be taken to try and hold the economy together. korrina thinks her online application got through correctly to unemployment, though there was some glitch about being eligible next week and not this week . . she'll just have to see.

it's been a busy day of talking on the phone with friends and family. my nephew called and i found out that my sister and brother-in-law are only four hours from home (they've been in florida). i'm so glad.

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here's some more of the workers behind the scenes at the new york city ballet:

the drawing in the center is of christine redpath, ballet master:
 "i was a dancer with the company beginning in 1969. when we were on tour in 1972, we went to russia--kiev, leningrad, tbilisi, moscow--and to poland, to lodz, and warsaw. we went to the mariinsky school in leningrad. as we got off the bus, balanchine was really tense. there was a press conference and the russians wanted to claim him as their own. they were toasting with vodka and saying, oh, he's ours and how great that he's come back! he said, 'oh, no. i'm american.'
"when balanchine would choreograph, his eyes would get very black. the pupils were huge. he would have the pianist play a few bars. he'd think about it, take one person and say, 'okay, try this.' if it didn't seem to fit the dancer, he would give something else. even though we would be saying, 'wait! i can do this!'
"today, when i'm in a studio with the dancers, and i'm working on one of jerry robbins' ballets, or mr. b's ballets, i'm filled with joy. my whole life, i've been happiest in the studio."

on the right is suzy alvarez, hair and wigs:
"everybody's face is different. some people have round faces, some  people have long faces. obviously, if someone has a long face, i will not give them a middle part.
"you change according to the show. for midsummer night's dream you use a lot of glitter. glitter on their eyes, glitter in their hair. it's a fairytale. for romeo and juliet, you are in 15th century verona. i give the girls braids that they can wear in different ways. in the cage, by jerome robbins, everybody wears crazy hair. they're like cave people.
"sometimes in the middle of a show, a dancer has to take her hair down on stage while she's dancing, so i preset it. i use products. i use a curling iron and a flat iron. i put in two huge pins. then, when she's doing a turn, she pulls the pins and the hair comes tumbling down."

on the left is hank lavaia, stage carpentry:
"i was in vietnam for two years, 1968 to 1970. in 1970, right out of the army, i went to broadway for two months. worked at the majestic. then i came up here, and i stayed.
"george balanchine was a sweetheart of a guy. he was big on the crew. very efficient. he wanted no big scenery,  no big sets. towards the end of his life he had a problem with his equilibrium. i fixed a railing in his apartment and we did some work on his steps.
"i'm a blessed man. i love my job. i was born to this. my grandfather and my father were stagehands. i fell right into the groove. stagehands work in the morning and then at night. it's two full jobs. same with dancers. they rehearse all morning, and they're on stage at night. days and nights, days and nights."

vernal equinox

 purple crocuses are mute 

witnesses to the mockingbird's morning song

to the sun.

day eight

the new rush hour in manhattan, 5:49 pm of day eight, since greg began working at home.

i think we've reached, what the mayor is calling "shelter-in-place." everything is closed except groceries, pharmacies and hospitals. subways and buses are still running. greg and i went out when he finished work to pick up a few things from our local health food store, such as tortilla chips to have with the guacamole we'll make from all the avocados chanda's boss dropped off last night.

you can only see one of them here in this photo, just to the right of the feta cheese container, below all the juices and the chicken salad. peter worked all day yesterday, cleaning out his cafe; packing up food and emptying all the refrigerators. he divided everything up for his chefs and workers and himself. our take was so vast that i divided it up for my friend janet and for the neighbor upstairs (here's hoping that she eventually puts down rugs and pads). there was just so much and i know we wouldn't eat it all and i certainly didn't want it to go bad.

look at all the arugula they used for their delicious salads with pulled chicken . . 

we had four containers of milk and i gave two to janet and one to upstairs . . we kept the bananas for smoothies with the strawberries that you can see sitting behind them. what is in the big boxes?

croissants: chocolate, plain and almond, all shared again.

putting items away in the fridge . . i divided up the feta cheese also. i was frantically looking for containers to put cheese and chicken in. and i truly felt like crying. i feel like crying just writing about it. i just feel so sad that this wonderful business that this man had built, and who had workers who all loved their job and their boss, had to close. will they be back? will any of these places be back? how is italy handling it? chanda and i think they may just think of themselves as being on hiatus, and they will pick things up when the lockdown is lifted; that the landlords won't demand the rent. here, it's different. everyone considers themselves out of business and washed up. it's a devastating feeling.

 a band still plays in an empty washington square park, and a person meditates on a bench outside vesuvio playground on spring street.

st. anthony of padua on the left in a protective mask, outside the parish office on thompson street; and handbag sellers still out on canal street.

no fares for mohammed . .

even tougher times for ronnie g.

this afternoon at 1 pm, i did a live ballet class with tiler peck from new york city ballet. she's giving the classes on instagram tv, as so many other dancers are doing. there's merce cunningham classes, workouts with pascal rioult dancers . . all in everyone's living room, kitchen or basement.

pluto kept me company.

dinner  tonight was leftover corned beef and cabbage.