my friend cleaned up her garden plot on 48th street today. i tagged along for some pics. i'm not sure what the above berries are from, but there are black eyed susans, echinacea, pansies and squash curls. squash stalks are quite prickly and they grow very big! a lot was cleared to make room for the corn stalks which were tied up to poles. i look forward to september when the beans will be out.
we spent this one at the playground. the light was incredible. my friend janet and i sat under our umbrellas in our bathing suits and worked on our knitting. the children ran around in the rain. it was just a little . . chilly!
k came home last night from her visit to ferry beach, and her friend's grandparents' home in new hampshire. she was gone for 10 days and it felt quiet around the apartment without her. this morning the girls made a spinach feta cheese omelette together.
our friend's son had a reception at druid's on 10th avenue between 48th and 49th street. this series of paintings he did was of chairs. they are beautiful paintings and quite popular! he's sold about six of them! they have also been hanging at domus on 46th street.
our first stop at the museum today was a tour with a guide named iris who took us to the american wing to view john vanderlyn's "panoramic view of the palace and gardens of versailles." m and c enjoyed talking with her and she pointed out where the artist had painted himself into the picture standing near csar alexander I and the king of prussia.
finally, on the way home we stopped at lionbrand to look at yarn for m. she would like me to make her a shrug out of bamboo. they were so tired that we didn't last long there, though as you can see, m has the brown bamboo tucked under her right arm, just waiting to be checked out on her gift certificate.
walking home from lionbrand, we passed a restaurant on greenwich and west 12th street that i've always wanted to try, jarnac. however, it has closed, along with so many other restaurants in my neighborhood (mama buddha, alfama, mi cocina, valdino west, osteria del sole, hudson corner cafe, and some others whose names i forget as i didn't frequent them). my friend janet and i were reminiscing the other day about the owners of two of these restaurants we liked to eat at. they were very nice, hard working men who took pride in their establishments, and as they struggled to stay open, they became ill and tired looking, and began drinking more. owning a restaurant is such hard work, and if you go under you are left with nothing.
we made another summer visit to the met today, and visited roxy paine on the roof. maelstrom is such a beautiful piece. the girls had fun examining it and wondering about soddering all the parts together . . and how it would have been assembled . . how much was put together on the roof . . how much brought up whole . . how light was each piece . . how heavy . . ?
xena likes collecting pencils, knitting needles and crochet hooks. and she likes hanging out with my knitting projects. this evening her fave was my (almost finished) liesl.
here is c trying to get warm after a swim in the water on the beach in rockaway. i love rockaway beach on a weekday . . sand . . sky . . and sea.
we visited our friends' garden plot today. it's in the 48th street community garden. they had been having some trouble with rats, so my friend had to dig out all the dirt in her plot and lay down some new screening. it was quite a project. we helped her put in a bag of manure today. she and her daughter planted the three sisters, with the beans and zucchini growing around the corn. i'll have to take another picture in a few weeks and show how the corn has grown.
g suggested we go to the new york botanical garden today. it was sunny. it was warm. and it was very relaxing. we packed sandwiches and fruit.
these are some very hungry people at the garden.
