garden visit

i went with ellen to wave hill today. she picked me up with her car which she keeps in a garage near her apartment. we were able to stay in the shade which was fortunate as it did get rather warm and the sun always feels so hot.

 

 

mitrophyllum grande

dioscorea elephantipes

i heard a few birds that i could recognize - song sparrow and house sparrow and northern mockingbird (whose song was different from the mockingbird i hear in manhattan . . just more of a variety of birds out here to imitate).

hot dogs tonight, with cole slaw and leftover bulgur pilaf.

tonight's full moon, also known as the buck moon as the young deer are growing their antlers. it was larger than other full moons as it was closer to us . . definitely beautifully big . .

summer meal

it's july and it's getting hot . . tonight was a favorite dinner for summertime . . bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches.

lunch and a sunday dance performance

greg and i had lunch at west 11th street cafe and then i met my neighbor for a walk downtown to see the dance performance (which i thought was yesterday).

i didn't film much of it as it was a small crowd and since i was sitting directly in front it felt distracting to be holding the camera up, so i just enjoyed the show. two dance companies performed: time lapse dance (above is their american elm) and sokolow theatre/dance ensemble celebrating frida kahlo (whose birthday was july 6th) by performing anna sokolow's frida and magritte magritte. it was especially nice as i was able to say hello to two friends there (homeschooling friend sam performed in magritte which was a pleasant surprise). the piece above was beautiful with the wind whipping the dancer's costume, the pigeons flying about, curious people strolling by, helicopters overhead and the beautiful music they used (which you can't hear because of the wind distorting the sound on the camera). it all added to the experience of being outside with the warm sun and the trees and the cool ocean air blowing off the river . .

toni and i walked back home past penny park and said hello to the tom otterness statues . . 

(here's penny park in 2008.)

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chanda back at home with pluto. she had stopped by after work for some leftover salads i had for her and for meds that greg had picked up for her from grove.

veggies, cat care and a picnic

the greens at the satuarday morning market these days are phenomenal - sunflower, radish and pea sprouts, arugula, escarole, kale, thai basil, regular basil, red butter lettuce, zucchini, green beans, fresh garlic, frisee, broccoli rabe, radicchio . . etc!

the pet adoption center finally had a mentor session open for cat care training this afternoon. i attended along with three other new volunteers. (i've been checking the calendar for months hoping sessions would open up.)

the cat areas get swept and mopped, the litter gets scooped, fresh water is put out and the cats get a lot of attention and play time. above is nine year old nala who is finally napping after batting several toys around with me. i'd bop a crinkly red toy or a grey mouse toy to her while she lounged on her orange cushion, and she would bop them back to me. she was very sweet. there were three other cats in the same space with her, but they were so well hidden! i was surprised at how well they hid themselves for a nap.

afterwards, i met greg and we walked downtown for a dance performance in battery park city .  .

we stopped first for treats for me at duane park patisserie (tea and a small quiche and a prune danish) and at shake shack for treats for greg . . 

and also at barnes and noble for a particular football statistic magazine he likes to peruse (his alma mater is florida state).

here we are at the willows where the dance performance was supposed to be . .

but i only see a bunch of pigeons . . 

it turned out that i was mistaken with the day . . the dance performance will be tomorrow . . sunday. it was a long walk we had, but . . oh well! we ended up riding the citibikes back home which worked out well as i needed to make two salads for a picnic we had this evening with neighbors in the courtyard.

it's funny how the picnic came about. dawn said to karen one day, all the new people are always having dinners in the courtyard! and then karen said, we should be having dinners out there too!!

and so we (many of the old timers - we're talking about people who have been living here for 20 to 40 years!) finally did . . and we plan to have another again at the end of august or the beginning of september as this one was so much fun.

summer ice cream date

i walked to the hardware store to meet chanda after her work shift and from there we walked to morgenstern's to meet ellen for our annual summer ice cream date (chanda needed some wall anchors for hanging pictures in the apartment).

sunflowers on the avenue . .

we were fortunate in that the line didn't form until after we ordered . . (morgenstern's is very popular - remember the lines from past posts?). ellen and i both had chocolate hazelnut, but different flavors for our second choices. i can't remember her second, but mine was honey burnt vanilla . . and chanda had lavender and something else . .

and then, surprisingly, it poured! we did not have umbrellas but the shop workers came out to roll their awnings down.

(note chanda's blue ice cube trays - the second item she picked up from the hardware store) we talked with ellen about her last show and about a future meeting she's supposed to have with the directors of the theatre she rents out. they are always trying to get her to use their lighting technicians instead of her own.

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on the way home i stopped at rafetto's for spinach and cheese ravioli for dinner which we had with leftover marinara sauce . . always so good.