weekend excursion with the cats

greg and i drove out to the house early friday morning with cricket and zuzu. as you can see, the grass is very dry . . we haven't had any rain. it was a beautiful drive out . . we left by 8 am and zuzu hardly let out a peep for the entire trip (it was a very different story coming home!).

trying to catch bugs . . 

a very interesting and very large spider.

they love having so much more space to run around in. (and i think zuzu enjoys having a break from pluto.)

the rascals and i took a nap before we went into town to have lunch at a place we hadn't been to before -  sammy's out by gosman's dock.

it was wonderfully empty and quiet and the food was very good (greg had a burger and i had fish and chips).

gosman's is closed for the season.

getting a few supplies . . 

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greg and i had oatmeal for breakfast saturday morning (cricket would love to have some, if i let him).

the cats' breakfast . . (i always put them in another room as they try and eat the food from the can before i can get it in their bowl).

taking a walk along the water . .

someone was out on their paddle board . . 

it was such a beautiful day and a few of the stores were still open . . 

unfortunately, the local pharmacy has closed . . now everyone has to drive to the next town which is not convenient for the older folks.

driving to a late lunch, early dinner, at the inlet . . i love the colors in the clouds juxtaposed to the sky and trees.

a scallop po' boy sandwich . . 

and local catch fish tacos . . (i'm not sure what the local catch was for this day . . i'll have to ask next time!)

the fishing boats were all coming in with their catch . . the sea gulls were having a grand time.

there was another gallery opening this weekend.

this is called "montauk winter" by anne raymond.

"the embrace" by fanyu lin (greg and i had a discussion about what constituted abstract art).

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sunday morning . . green tea and a molasses spice cookie.

getting ready to go home today . . greg ran the rest of the gasoline out of the mower and i vacuumed and dusted, washed some sheets and towels, and wiped down the bathrooms. 

(the train yard at coney island) there was a little more traffic going home, but nothing like during the summer. however, zuzu was not happy with the bumpy roads. for some reason the roads heading west are bumpier than those heading east . . !?

an october poem for the first sunday of november

 

october

o hushed october morning mild,

thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

to-morrow's wind, if it be wild,

should waste them all.

the crows above the forest call;

to-morrow they may form and go.

o hushed october morning mild,

begin the hours of this day slow.

make the day seem to us less brief.

hearts not averse to being beguiled,

beguile us in the way you know;

release one leaf at break of day;

at noon release another leaf;

one from our trees, one far away;

retard the sun with gentle mist;

enchant the land with amethyst.

slow, slow!

for the grapes' sake, if they were all,

whose leaves are already burnt with frost,

whose clustered fruit must else be lost--

for the grapes' sake along the wall.

by robert frost (1874-1963)

voting on halloween

 
i was feeling better today and walked with chanda to the voting site. they were giving out special stickers for voting on halloween.

(a photo with her sticker . . you can see the keith haring mural at the carmine street pool to her right. he painted it in 1987. read more about it here.)

she was able to get one for me too and i've stuck it onto my ipad cover. isn't it cute! the nyc pigeon is wearing a witch's hat and holding a jack o'lantern in its beak.

i walked home along sixth avenue which had all the barriers out for the halloween parade this evening.

halloween decorations along the walk home . . 

it was so warm today (i think it went up to 79 or 80) that i wore my sandals and a short sleeved shirt. it felt like spring or summer.

i never did bake the butternut squash and "pie pumpkin" i had bought for a pumpkin pie, so i made joe frogger cookies for dessert. the recipe is from sturbridge village and they are baked with flour, sugar, butter, molasses, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. the story is that they were named by joe brown and his wife lucretia who operated a tavern in marblehead, massachusetts. you can read about it on the yankee magazine website, which also includes the recipe. an interesting and more informative account can be found on the smithsonian website.

happy halloween!

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(morgan called while i was making dinner. they had just returned to london and both travelers were very tired. i was sent additional photos of the chickens . . this one was my favorite)

sick day, construction work and photos from morgan

i went to sleep last night with a sore throat and woke achy and tired. it was good i didn't go anywhere as they finally got to our windows for the facade work that has been happening on our building and i was able to make sure to close off the bedrooms so the noise wasn't as disruptive. the blue tarp you see in the window is on a suspended platform the workers use when drilling.

the cats were a bit confused and did not like the noise . . 

especially zuzu.

cricket took a nap with me . . i sent this pic to morgan . . 

and i received these photos of austria in return . .

do you see the chickens running around in the grass?

voting, a halloween dance and dinner

 
korrina and i voted today at our early voting site on clarkson street.

today the children presented their halloween dance to their friends and families. ellen first rehearsed with them for thirty minutes before everyone was let in for the little performance. all went well and everyone was enthusiastic - children and parents. they did wonderfully and it was a lot of fun.

walking home . . 

chanda spent the day at school and at her school related work for which she has a fellowship this semester (urban systems lab where she researches stories about how urban areas can become more resilient in relation to the changing climate in terms of planning, community engagement and nature based solutions). i think she was relating a funny anecdote here about her class.

monday

 
i mainly did laundry today . . and washed our warm blanket for the bed (it's finally cool enough at night).

morgan and harley are visiting austria this week and sent this beautiful photo of the mountains.

dinner tonight was sautéed zucchini, cod fillet and potatoes.

sunday morning poem

 

in praise of mystery: a poem for europa

arching under the night sky inky

with black expansiveness, we point

to the planets we know, we

pin quick wishes on stars. from earth,

we read the sky as if it is an unerring book

of the universe, expert and evident.

still, there are mysteries below our sky:

the whale song, the songbird singing

 it's call in the bough of a wind-shaken tree.

we are creatures of constant awe,

curious at beauty, at leaf and blossom,

at grief and pleasure, sun and shadow.

and it is not darkness that unites us,

not the cold distance of space, but

the offering of water, each drop of rain,

each rivulet, each pulse, each vein.

o second moon, we too, are made

of water, of vast and beckoning seas.

we, too, are made of wonders, of great

and ordinary loves, of small invisible worlds,

of a need to call out through the dark.

by ada limon (u.s. poet laureate, born 1976)

 for nasa's europa clipper set to explore jupiter's moon (read about the launch here).

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greg and i went for a walk in the afternoon as he wanted to vote (i decided to wait and vote with korrina on tuesday). we walked back through the park across from the voting site. the gingko, maple, oak, and locust bean trees are at their peak in fall color, i think.

we passed this entourage . . i liked how the skeleton person was walking their skeleton dog . . 

we ran into kendall and aurélien on their way to vote also.

we had a delicious dinner tonight of salad, sautéed kale with onions and porgie fillets (breaded).

reorganizing summer and fall clothes

 
today was a day of reorganizing, mending and discarding clothes that don't fit or are no longer worn (they're in bags ready for the salvation army or the housing works store).

the funny thing is, my sister was doing the same chore!

her basket of items for the church charity shop.

cricket antics . . 

cricket and pluto antics.

zuzu lying next to the fall nature tableau (and staying out of pluto's way).

greg and i finally made it out for a walk and to buy coffee.

large skeletons are a popular decoration this year!

dinner was leftover sausage and kale soup. chanda went out to a halloween party. she has another one tomorrow, and the upstairs teen is having one tonight . . though she left a note saying that it's just some "friends over" and they will be leaving at 9 pm.