’21 September

YAY Lilly, she got her first covid vaccination on her Birthday!

And it was a great one.

I didn’t think we had a theme for this day beyond HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROME but it turns out a side-theme was Fire. Fired up cheese at the Greek restaurant which we both agreed was among the most delicious tastes we can remember, then the imagining of fire in the tail pipe of our Go Kart adventure (first time for us both) and then Knott’s Berry Farm and a handsome mushroom necklace from the glass blower.

Covid Birthday Candles. Lilly and Rome are born one week and four years apart so D&A had a family party for both of them and me and Liz and Gary, so I could come (I’m leaving on Wednesday) and so Liz and Gary could drive in from the desert just once. It was lovely! We -blow- out candles these days with a wave of the hand.

.

My lucky fall with just a scraped up knee. Liz had a fall too, not so much different from mine, and had to have surgery and months of recovery. NO FALLING!

.

And then I made it back to Santa Monica, to Bergamot Station, to catch one of Jo Ann’s art openings and to meet her new beau Alan. I had a good day!

Sisters.

The far-away view from our lunch at the Malibu Pier.

ENDLESSLY

But wow look at all that floor space!

.

Coming attractions! New York New York and a visit with Paul and Gretchen. After a week or so I’m going to take the train to Boston/Lexington for a visit with Les and Elizabeth. (I might even be able to catch up with one of my Persian Poetry Pals!) Then L&E and I are going to spend several days at a nice house in Cape Cod. WOW, right?!

All the inside venues in NY require vaccination status and masks and there are so many outdoor opportunities to enjoy, not that I haven’t considered the risks of travel.

Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face…

.

Brooklyn Bridge

Central Park

Grand Central Terminal

Oculus

9-11 Memorial and Museum 10-5

One World viewing platform

Little Island then look at the Jane

High Line

Hudson Yards (and The Vessel) at the end of the High Line

Wall Street

The Battery

Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty

St Patrick’s

New York Public Library

Tenement Museum 10-6 closed Wed

Whitney 10:30-5:30 closed Wed

Frick 10-6 closed Mon-Tue-Wed

Morgan 10:30-5 closed Mon-Tue free Fri so don’t go then

MoMA 10:30-5:30 every day late on Sat

Guggenheim closed Tue-Wed

When Lona and I went to the Polish restaurant and got the borscht we felt the need to give making it a try. Windy joined too. We found a recipe that seemed to have the same ingredients as the one in the restaurant. We made two kinds, one from scratch like the recipe and one using canned beets (like I made a few days ago).

We wore aprons to protect our clothes from the beet juice but the one Lona loaned me was far cuter than my clothes so I admired it but didn’t want to wear it during the process!

We split up the soups between the three of us so we could take them home for complete chilling. I tried them both this morning and let me say YUM.

Palisades Park, endlessly entertaining.

Lilly likes to put together the most interesting food combinations. Here she made an exciting beverage.

And here’s a tableau from Rome’s room.