cleaning and swimming and knitting

greg and i were out at the house on friday for rug cleaning. we rented a machine from the hardware store in a town on the way out and went to work right away.
 

i think he thought we'd just do the dining room and living room, but i wanted to do the hallway and bedrooms too. it was actually an easy machine to handle, and it was clean when we picked it up. the store keeps them in good shape (they instructed us on how to use it before we left, and made sure we understood that they would inspect it for cleanliness when it was returned!)

it made such a huge difference . . the rug had been very dirty and stained. i was glad it came out so well.

while i finished the cleaning, greg worked on getting tickets for us as we'll be traveling soon. 

and we made sure to eat in the kitchen as the rug felt too new and pristine! we had the simplest dinner because every place was closed by the time we finished work. we made grilled cheese sandwiches and opened a container of tomato soup.

the beautiful moon . . 

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and the beautiful moon the next morning at 6:30 am.

i made him come out and look at the blue, purple and pink sunrise with me.

on our way to return the rug cleaner . . 

and to meet korrina for breakfast. she was still staying with josh's family for the week and walked to the diner. i thought a big diner breakfast would be nice after our simple fare the evening before.

korrina was excited to show me the new yarn store she discovered in town . . 

the black sheep knitworks.

christine is the owner who also dyes beautiful fingering sock skeins from which i picked one titled "crushed pansy." i'll post a picture of it later.

we dropped korrina off and drove home and when we arrived we discovered this little fellow wandering through the yard of our neighbor and into our yard. we ended up walking around the neighborhood with margaret from next door and knocking on people's doors, asking if they had ever seen this little one.

greg and i were both very enchanted with her. she was so sweet and didn't bark when i placed her in the bathroom to wait and see if anyone responded to our queries (we had left our name and number with several people).

finally, i decided we needed to buy some dog food for her to eat, and a leash so we could walk her around the neighborhood looking for her owner. on our way out in the car we passed a woman walking along the road. greg stopped the car and we asked her if she had ever seen this dog. she said, "yes! i was just speaking with the owner!" she got in the car with us and we drove back the way we had come to two cars parked just a little further up the road. it was another neighbor we had spoken with earlier, and the owner (who was calling us at the exact moment we were driving up . . i actually have our conversation on my voicemail because my phone answered while we were talking). we learned that this cutie's name is chanel and she belongs to the neighbor just two houses west of us and she had wandered out the gate while several of their little children's friends were swimming in the pool. he was incredibly happy to have her back and we received a delicious watermelon later that day as a thank you (greg said it was the best he's had all season - since it was only the second watermelon he's had this season, that wasn't too difficult!). well, it was certainly a fun day meeting all our neighbors.

after the excitement greg worked on a special project . . 

fixing the outdoor umbrella so it would be more stable in the strong winds we get. i actually worked on my wave of change sweater for a few hours. i'd like to finish it soon. i'm on the first sleeve.

we went into town to pick up dinner at our favorite place and walked to the water while waiting for it to be ready.

 

fish tacos and fried shrimp . . 

and another beautiful moon.

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at the bay today . . we were going to head home but decided to stay and mow the lawn a little bit. the lawn is actually very dry and brown except for a spot beneath some trees. since it was sunday we didn't want to mow early in the morning so went for a swim and mowed in the afternoon.

it was nice to relax by the water.

dessert was mints from the diner.

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working early monday morning.

monday breakfast . . 

and an afternoon swim . . 

well, this one doesn't swim up north . . only in the bathtub water down south.

yes, that's someone's yacht anchored off in the distance.

 

you can hear the noon whistle in this video . . it goes off every day.
 

lunch . . and my current read - unbowed by wangari maathai, an incredibly inspiring book. she has a clear and honest voice and a deep commitment to her family and country and to making the world a better place. she was awarded the nobel peace prize in 2004.

i spent this day cleaning and getting the house ready for a possible renter . . 

books from my childhood . .

and the beautiful yarn from black sheep knitworks . .

and on the way home.

poem for a sunday morning

exultation is the going

exultation is the going

of an inland soul to sea,

past the houses past the headlands

into deep eternity

bred as we, among the mountains,

can the sailor understand

the divine intoxication

of the first league out from land?

by emily dickinson (1830-1886)

(photo by my friend jeanette - taken from her summer apartment overlooking the ligurian sea on august 11, '22)

lunch and tea with friends and the full moon

my herbs aren't really flourishing as their containers are a bit small . . pretty plant pots are nice to look at but don't always make the best homes. the mint on the right is probably doing the best. the rosemary in the middle seems to have stabilized and the thyme on the left is slowly dying; sadly. the two aloe plants on the left are fine . . and the larger one has another baby, i think. it must be a great, great, great, great grandchild from the one i bought many years ago in florida when visiting greg's family with the girls when they were little. i remember clearly that it was at a local health food store whose plants were arranged artistically around it's outside patio.

chanda stopped by after a counter culture workshop. her work uses counter culture coffee and they allow baristas from local cafes to learn more techniques at their training centers. i actually didn't ask her what she worked on today . . i guess we were busy talking of other things. (what techniques could there be? different lattes and cappuccinos?)

we each made our own sandwiches.

i met sacha and reina in the late afternoon at maman cafe . . but after they closed we shifted to the amorino gelato cafe where we sat and finished our coffee drinks (i had an iced peach mango green tea!).

the talk centered around college tours (oberlin a week ago and boston in two weeks for reina's son) and travels (sacha was just in switzerland) and higher realms - our human potential for spiritual knowledge.

reina walked with me cross town to the taco place where i picked up dinner for greg and i this evening . . unfortunately, their guacamole tonight was very poor. they usually water it down but tonight it was more watered down than usual and it looked like they had used a bad avocado. we're not feeling so inclined to patronize them any time soon again.

here's a photo of tonight's full moon (acutally i think it might not be completely full until 1:36 am tomorrow). i just read that it was a perigee moon (when it's path is closest to earth) on august 10th . . so yesterday's photo was the supermoon. earthsky writes that this bright moon falls in the middle of the perseid meteor shower . . so it'll be difficult to see those beautiful shooting stars. i saw a shooting star during the perseid shower in 2016 when out on the cape. it was very exciting and i wrote about it here.

(earthsky gives some tips here on how to still view the perseids with a full moon.)

birds and flowers and la bella luna

 

busy pigeons this morning.

thankfully, it's only 85 today and we had a cool breeze this morning. i finally made an appointment to have an eye exam next week. it's been too long and i need new glasses as mine are taped together. too bad i can't wave a wand and fix them. 

the hibiscus seem to always be in bloom everywhere around the city . . and all the cicadas are buzzing contentedly in the trees.

it was time to put the old mattress out on the street this evening for garbage pick up. we were able to re-use the plastic that the new mattress was wrapped in. it was a bit wonky as the new mattress had been rolled up and the plastic needed to be cut with a scissor and rearranged to lie flat, but we succeeded (with the help of packing tape).

of course getting it down four flights was not easy (it was difficult to get a grip on the edges since they were wrapped in plastic) but we rolled it it down and our neighbor held open the front door so we could push it down the last few steps. all done!

and there's a shining almost full moon tonight.

in the 90's

i was out at 8:15 this morning to visit with chanda at the cafe (where they were very busy!) and to get a coffee before walking uptown to my dentist. today i walked up fifth avenue to 34th street. this is marble collegiate church (dutch reformed protestant) at 29th street, whose original congregation was established in 1628.

two women just hanging out and trying to stay cool while waiting for a bus?

i arrived at the dentist at around 10 am. it was about 86 degrees by then i think. it was a rather warm walk and i always try to stay in the shade. i caught up on the news with the hygienist (carina - her son is 13 now!) and filled her in on the going's on of my three. doctor gerardi flew in and out very quickly . . they were busier than usual for a hot august day. things usually slow down in august, but this year feels very busy with more local people staying in town. i thought everyone was traveling . . we certainly have plenty of tourists visiting nyc. maybe it feels busier because the past two years were extra quiet. i think more people have finally moved back.

so . . on my walk home i passed this store at 29th and madison . . a brand new whole foods. it looked huge from the outside. i actually haven't been too enthralled with whole foods since amazon took it over (their decor at union square became grey and too dark and felt crowded and chaotic), but i couldn't resist walking in and seeing what this one was like.

 

i walked into an empty store. the crowds haven't discovered it yet.

i also was shocked to see my favorite cafe had a spot just to the right of the entrance (which you can see in this video). i had just walked by its empty chelsea shop on my way uptown this morning - they recently closed it and i'm sure a lot of neighborhood people share my disappointment about that.

cafe grumpy!!!!

cafe grumpy in cahoots with whole foods amazon . . so strange. i did have fun talking with the baristas. one had come from the chelsea cafe and she mentioned how much she missed it. they said i should check out the upstairs where the groceries were (the downstairs was mainly prepared food). 

wandering the downstairs (past salad and soup bars, a pizza counter, sushi counter and za'ater counter) with my matcha lemonade (cold, bittersweet and refreshing). 

scanning the upstairs . . since it wasn't overcrowded with customers yet, the atmosphere was very relaxed.

so much space! this section is all self check-out and to the right were the cashiers (i'm glad they still have cashiers - gourmet garage is only self check-out).

i had a fun time wandering around and seeing many items i used to love to buy . . 

 

such as these big dipper beeswax candles. (i didn't buy any today, they are a little pricey and it's a tad hot for candles lately.) i did get some simple oatmeal soap that my health food store doesn't sell.

 

my sister loves baking the thanksgiving turkey in plastic bags . . hopefully this extra large parchment pouch will be big enough for this year's bird? 

out again into the hot air and to madison square park.

and to eataly for figs and focaccia.

where to now?

trader joe's for butter and olive paté (the air conditioning in these places is also a nice break from the heat).

well, it was a very hot two days but it's cooler tonight (86) and tomorrow it's only supposed to go up to . . 82!

tomato and mozzarella focaccia with sautéed onions, green pepper, zucchini (summer squash) and two sweet italian sausages from the butcher.

(p.s. august 9th - dad's birthday . . he would have been 96.)