Day Off

It is almost 2 pm, and I am finishing off my breakfast with a small dish of ice cream. (My breakfast also included a piece of applesauce raisin almond bread and some sunchips.)

This day is not going the way that I had planned.

Well, I better shower and get ready to go the the laundromat.

A Lemon and a Star

A friend lent me a wonderful book, A Lemon and a Star by E.C. Spykman. It's about four siblings and their adventures, set in the early 1900s, which is when my great-grandmother was a girl. The friend who lent it to me said that it is based on the author's childhood, and is the kind of children's book that adults often enjoy more than children. (I did read some to my teenage sister, and she thought it lacked plot. I enjoyed the rambling quality.)

Here's an excerpt from the second page:

"Her intention had been to climb up to the middle of the old maple at the lower end of the barn field, unpack, and set up housekeeping in a place of peace and quiet, where in the cool shelter she could concentrate on hating Theodore. It had seemed a good idea. The maple stood alone and the approach of enemies could be seen from all sides. The brook ran along one side of it for water and Aunt Charlotte's vegetable garden stretched away on the other side for food. But now she was on her way home, because it had not worked. Living in a tree was quite impractical. Nothing would stay where you put it."

Later, something said by the 8-year-old Hubert:

"Nobody'll marry me," he said, "till I've got a mustache and that takes years."

And:

"She liked sitting with Hubert doing a rather risky thing thought up by Ted."

Sping Preview

My windowsill in full bloom.

The last few days have been sunny and warm. On Thursday J and I went to Central Park. It was beautiful. We ended up at the Bethesda Fountain. On the terrace was a group of break-dancers with a large crowd, and along the other side of the fountain was a cellist. There was no water in the fountain, so we climbed in and sat at the base of the statue. It was nice to bask in the sun and watch the cellist and a little girl who was playing nearby. J said that being inside the Bethesda Fountain was probably the best place that anyone could hope to be.



Here is a photo of the fountain when it does have water in it (and a bride & groom in front. This is the photo I could find, from a wedding I photographed.)

Soon the cellist packed up and a saxophonist started. J was hoping that they would play a duet.

Later we saw a couple under a tree standing facing a woman with an open book. We stopped to figure out what was happening, and decided they must be getting married. (Although we didn't see any witnesses.) There was another couple standing near us, also watching. They turned to us and the man said, "we're next, then you!" It's always interesting to see who assumes that we are a couple and who assumes that we are siblings. It did seem like the perfect day to get married--early spring, one of the first really beautiful days, in a park teeming with happy people, under a tree, privately.

We headed back toward the temple, where I was volunteering that night.

Here are the other plants on my windowsill:



The bonsai elm from J & W.



An orange seed that I planted.

The bulbs that I planted around the trees outside the community garden are also coming up:





It's nice to walk past them and realize that I helped!

We'll see how long the weather holds.

Suspend your disbelief

Every once in awhile, living in New York City, I'll come across a location film shoot. It doesn't happen often enough to cease being a novelty, however. It's even more amazing when the film set comes to me! Recently I looked out the window at work to see this site:



I recognized the cars from a previous filming session from a few months ago. It's for an HBO drama, set during prohibition in Atlantic City. Apparently the rector's home next to the church down the block is one of the houses in the show, although probably not a frequently shown location.

We got to watch a couple of guys drive the cars off of the flatbeds. It was quite a contrast to see the antique cars juxtaposed with the modern trucks.



Last time they were filming, we got to see some of the actors, dressed in period clothing. This time, they were doing a night scene, and weren't starting to film until 8 pm, so I didn't get to see anyone.

Even more impressive, to me anyway, than the cars was the giant softbox light they were hoisting up. Imagine being able to light up the sky!

International Baking Party

A few days ago, my sister and I had a baking party via skype. It was Friday night for me, and I made peanut butter cookies in my kitchen in nyc. It was Saturday afternoon for her, and she made cheesy biscuits in her kitchen in Thailand. They were both delicious, although my cookies were a little dry. I added some milk and some applesauce, which made them less dry but more biscuit like.

We both got a kick out of this illustration from my vintage Joy of Cooking that my brother got me one Christmas:



I don't think that it really describes how to press cookies with a fork.

Hooray for skype!