i was out early this morning to watch aurélien while kendall sat with her car (street cleaning day). the little one may not look too happy at this moment, but we were having fun. he smiles so easily and enjoys having me sing to him. he's also beginning to hold up his back when i place him on my stomach, propped against my knees. he's getting wonderfully sturdy and chubby.
this is the first presidential election that has had early voting . . all states are different in regard to when early voting begins. for new york state, it began last weekend and ends sunday. monday is off, and then tuesday is election day. there have been lines at most of the polling places every day this week . . except for today! it's been pouring and i was sopping wet by the time i met up with chanda and we walked over (after babysitting duty).
our early site was at st. anthony of padua . . we were ushered immediately into their large basement, set with so many tables and with so many helpful poll workers. even though there wasn't a line, the workers were in true nyc mode and the pace was fast! no lollygagging about! everyone was friendly, however, with lots of smiles being shared and a sense of the enormity of the situation hovering overall. we had a nice conversation with a worker while waiting to slip our election sheets into the computer. i shared that it was chanda's first presidential election, and she shared that it was her son's also (who voted via absentee ballot). many of the voters made sure to thank the poll workers for the service they're doing during this covid time.
here's the photo korrina sent me yesterday . . she had visited the same polling place before going to work.
all done and ready to meet ellen (she lives right across the street so we met her for brunch . . )
we actually ate indoors! i made sure to wipe everything down with a wipe that i carry around on me these days . . though i saw the servers clean the tables very thoroughly . . there also was only one other table with customers that was a good fifteen feet from us (and they left a little bit after we sat down), and there was air circulation from the servers going outside every few minutes.
chanda and i had oat milk cappucinos and ellen had a latte . . i think the main difference was the glass they served the latte in!
ellen was telling us about her visit to the audubon society in greenwich, ct, and about finding a philharmonic concert on youtube that her dad had performed in with leonard bernstein from january 31, 1960. you can see that here, or just watch below.
he comes on at 1:27 and is all the way to the left of leonard bernstein (he has dark hair and a wide forehead). you can also watch igor stravinsky conduct his firebird suite at 40:09.
i couldn't finish all of it (!) and brought the rest home for tomorrow.
walking home . . i was such a wet mess by this time . . and was really looking forward to taking a hot shower and curling up with a book or my knitting . .
the trees are so beautiful now . .
i was glad i had cash on me when passing by raffetto's . . i was able to buy ravioli (roasted red pepper with mozzarella and basil) and a tomato/basil sauce . . so good!
