It's definitely summer

The temperature is back down to comfortable low 20s (C, of course), after a brief spell of highs in the low 30s, but the long days and the plant life all say summer. We have fresh peas and strawberries from the Greenmarket on Isham Street (which starts in late Spring and runs through December, so isn't really a season indicator); the locust and wild roses are done, replaced by privet, thistle, and dayflowers.

For some reason, as part of replacing the sand in the local playground's sandbox (an annual event), the volunteers, or someone, dug out and left lying around some clumps of plants, with their roots. I grabbed one of these--a mix of grasses and flowering clover--and brought it home. It is now, with water and a bit of extra soil (from a pile at the park entrance) planted in two pieces next to one of the street trees on Indian Road. All the trees along 218th Street got a mix of plants, including New Guinea impatiens and, closer to Broadway before they ran out, astilbe and coleus, planted by some more organized group. The super says that the building plans to (have him) re-landscape, meaning plant flowers and replace all the bushes killed by the roof brickwork repair, so I'm less inclined than usual to buy plants, but he hasn't done so yet, and clover is a good thing. If this takes, it will look patchy, but that's better than uninterrupted bare earth. (Well, not quite uninterrupted: there is a gingko tree at the center of the (small) plot in question.)

It's definitely summer

The temperature is back down to comfortable low 20s (C, of course), after a brief spell of highs in the low 30s, but the long days and the plant life all say summer. We have fresh peas and strawberries from the Greenmarket on Isham Street (which starts in late Spring and runs through December, so isn't really a season indicator); the locust and wild roses are done, replaced by privet, thistle, and dayflowers.

For some reason, as part of replacing the sand in the local playground's sandbox (an annual event), the volunteers, or someone, dug out and left lying around some clumps of plants, with their roots. I grabbed one of these--a mix of grasses and flowering clover--and brought it home. It is now, with water and a bit of extra soil (from a pile at the park entrance) planted in two pieces next to one of the street trees on Indian Road. All the trees along 218th Street got a mix of plants, including New Guinea impatiens and, closer to Broadway before they ran out, astilbe and coleus, planted by some more organized group. The super says that the building plans to (have him) re-landscape, meaning plant flowers and replace all the bushes killed by the roof brickwork repair, so I'm less inclined than usual to buy plants, but he hasn't done so yet, and clover is a good thing. If this takes, it will look patchy, but that's better than uninterrupted bare earth. (Well, not quite uninterrupted: there is a gingko tree at the center of the (small) plot in question.)

Feels like a long day

Bullet points a la athenais's lists:

• [Greenmarket and a bit of gardening, noted in earlier post]


• Dashed off a half-page apazine, "summary of the summary" of the last two months, after elisem's post reminded me of the deadline.


• Because of this, we were behind schedule. Unsurprising but not-entirely-expected subway stuff got us to BAM about 90 seconds before the curtain went up.


• There are reasons why Hecuba is not performed very often, despite being by Euripides. (If we had the man's complete works, instead of relying mostly on the epsilon-kappa volume of same, it would probably get even less play.) But Vanessa Redgrave could probably have done a good job with a far worse text. Also, the acoustics up in the balcony were poor, making it hard to follow things. Good choreography, uninspired translation.


• I'm not sure if it was my taste buds being off (which I suspected at lunch as well) or if the cheesecake at Junior's has declined from the days when it won its reputation.


• I yelled at sandial, first to stop pulling my cap down over my face in order to examine it, and then for denying he had done so. I can feel when someone is rearranging my garments, and I should not have to tell an adult that the appropriate comment at that point is "I'm sorry," not "I didn't do that."


• We got out of Sahadi's for about $15; I got one item from my actual shopping list, and two that would have been there soon (marjoram and basmati rice), plus the usual chocolate and pate and such. No teas this time.


• I was wiped by the time we got back to the A train, but cattitude took me home, and pointed out that I'd done a lot when I observed that I didn't know why I was so tired.


• It's a couple of miles from BAM to Sahadi, and then half a mile to Jay Street/Borough Hall.


• Damascus Bakery meat pies plus peas make a fine supper, and julian_tiger got lots of melted butter to lick up afterwards.


• I had a very nice chat with adrian_turtle before supper.


• I notice when I'm out for several hours and thus don't get to ice my shoulder.


• I couldn't deposit a check via ATM because that branch of my bank was out of deposit envelopes. Will try elsewhere tomorrow.


• It is very annoying to have ordered a style of jeans I have worn happily in the past and find that Lands End has decided to shrink the pockets so they'll barely hold my wallet and house keys. They're getting a letter asking why they've done this, when the only people it could benefit are pickpockets. They're also getting the jeans back.


• This was doubly annoying given that I discovered this while in a hurry, after finding that a made-to-measure salwar kameez that arrived yesterday somehow has too large a waist. I need to email the maker and find out what can be done about this, ideally without shipping things back to Pakistan.

Feels like a long day

Bullet points a la athenais's lists:

• [Greenmarket and a bit of gardening, noted in earlier post]


• Dashed off a half-page apazine, "summary of the summary" of the last two months, after elisem's post reminded me of the deadline.


• Because of this, we were behind schedule. Unsurprising but not-entirely-expected subway stuff got us to BAM about 90 seconds before the curtain went up.


• There are reasons why Hecuba is not performed very often, despite being by Euripides. (If we had the man's complete works, instead of relying mostly on the epsilon-kappa volume of same, it would probably get even less play.) But Vanessa Redgrave could probably have done a good job with a far worse text. Also, the acoustics up in the balcony were poor, making it hard to follow things. Good choreography, uninspired translation.


• I'm not sure if it was my taste buds being off (which I suspected at lunch as well) or if the cheesecake at Junior's has declined from the days when it won its reputation.


• I yelled at sandial, first to stop pulling my cap down over my face in order to examine it, and then for denying he had done so. I can feel when someone is rearranging my garments, and I should not have to tell an adult that the appropriate comment at that point is "I'm sorry," not "I didn't do that."


• We got out of Sahadi's for about $15; I got one item from my actual shopping list, and two that would have been there soon (marjoram and basmati rice), plus the usual chocolate and pate and such. No teas this time.


• I was wiped by the time we got back to the A train, but cattitude took me home, and pointed out that I'd done a lot when I observed that I didn't know why I was so tired.


• It's a couple of miles from BAM to Sahadi, and then half a mile to Jay Street/Borough Hall.


• Damascus Bakery meat pies plus peas make a fine supper, and julian_tiger got lots of melted butter to lick up afterwards.


• I had a very nice chat with adrian_turtle before supper.


• I notice when I'm out for several hours and thus don't get to ice my shoulder.


• I couldn't deposit a check via ATM because that branch of my bank was out of deposit envelopes. Will try elsewhere tomorrow.


• It is very annoying to have ordered a style of jeans I have worn happily in the past and find that Lands End has decided to shrink the pockets so they'll barely hold my wallet and house keys. They're getting a letter asking why they've done this, when the only people it could benefit are pickpockets. They're also getting the jeans back.


• This was doubly annoying given that I discovered this while in a hurry, after finding that a made-to-measure salwar kameez that arrived yesterday somehow has too large a waist. I need to email the maker and find out what can be done about this, ideally without shipping things back to Pakistan.