spaghetti and meatballs

another rainy grey and chilly day . . it only went up to 69 degrees.

i ended up making all this marinara sauce . . 

and meatballs . . 

i blame the weather . . it felt so much like autumn . . 

hint of fall

with it only being 66 degrees today, you can feel fall around the corner . . it's such a nice break from 91 degrees and the dew point in the 70's. the sun is hidden and there's a cool breeze. (photo by chanda.)

i met kendall and aurélien in the hardware store to return a set of keys to her and to get lemon oil for myself for dusting the piano. they were searching for a specific tool to fix their sink faucet . . funny because our sink faucet is a problem too . . we just haven't bothered to fix it and so keep a bucket underneath . . !

knitting and dinner and rain

almost done with this baby sweater . . today i set the second sleeve in. tomorrow i'll sew it up along with the left side seam. the right side is already completed; then i'll block it and sew on the buttons. it was such a hot and steamy day! i went shopping for taco fixings (it just happens to be taco tuesday) when it began to rain and did not stop. greg came and helped me carry things home as they weren't delivering and i had a lot of jars and cans.

chanda is helping greg beautify his taco for the photo . . 

chanda's friend was here for dinner (they both helped get dinner on which was nice) . . it felt good to have a guest. she was interested in borrowing a fun and light book to read. i recommended jacobin's daughter since she said she liked history and felt like reading a romance. it's a book my parents gave me for christmas when i was about twelve or thirteen years old. it's fun reading these old books again . . i just finished re-reading a beautiful, early edition of black beauty that my sister gave me for my birthday. 

it's still raining and i can hear thunder in the distance . . there is a very cool breeze wafting through the window . . tomorrow it's only supposed to reach 72 degrees . . today it was 91! it'll feel chilly if it isn't too humid.

lunch with greg and a photo from london

greg and i had lunch at a local pizza place i've been wanting to try. their pizza was delicious! so flavorful with a thin crust. they also had delicious italian sodas.

we shared a pesto pizza and a caprese salad . .

looking out the window to the museum across the street . . 

harley and morgan heading home on the elizabeth line last night . . they had cleaned out the outdoor storage areas at the new place. it sounds like it was not an easy task . . very dirty and dusty. they showered at the soho flat and had noodles for dinner.

saturday and sunday (a poem too)

summer

and it grows, the vain

summer,

even for us with our

bright green sins:

behold the dry guest,

the wind,

as it stirs up quarrels

among magnolia boughs

and plays its serene

tune on

the prows of all the leaves--

and then is gone,

leaving the leaves

still there,

the tree still green, but breaking

the heart of the air.

by carlo betocchi (1899-1986)

translated by geoffrey brock

latest books

listen, about evelyn glennie was interesting and informative; the sentence by louise erdrich was fun and mornings in jenin was heartbreaking. the latter two were compelling and i read them through in two weeks.

group meditation

so quiet and contemplative . . 

i really like the geese that waddle around the river park and often feel that we are in their way . . we have built so much along their migratory path and left them too few green spaces for foraging and resting.

(it was an early morning bike ride . . )

dinner this evening . . finishing up last saturday's green market veggies . . 

hot again

it's hot and humid again and very uncomfortable.

morgana sent a pic with uncle jeff in london (my cousin is visiting for a few weeks).

i really enjoyed watching the women's all around gymnastics today . . very exciting and moving! such incredible routines . . especially the floor exercise routines . . the height the gymnasts get on their flips is astounding. 

chanda was visiting her friend natalie this evening, and natalie's very elderly cat, sylvester (who has a friend named joshua).

natalie's cat when he was a kitten . . so tiny and adorable.