hurricanes & lady pioneer times

people, i haven't heard from julie turley today, but i know she's in lower manhattan, for sure without power, and maybe flooded.  i certainly hope not.  let's muster together and send her our vibes, prayers, and energy.

she might need us to send her a few pairs of new tights next week, too, to soothe the pain and trauma she's experienced from the flood.

i'm wondering what she's doing, eating, drinking, etc.  and wondering if she's having any interesting insights born from the pressure of the tight place only a super storm can bring.

she's already been through 9/11, and has weathered the hardcore New York life for something like twenty years, so you know she's a tough gal.

i wonder if she's thought of her pioneer ancestors at all, as she does without electricity.

one of our fabulous guest bloggers, anna gedal, a docent at the daughters of utah pioneer museum, is running their blog and wrote a post today about hannah andersson erikson, midwife, amateur dentist, centenarian.  i only learned about erikson recently, and found out more about her today in anna's post.

the lady's super, duper rad.  like our own julie turley.

so here's a shout-out to ladies who pull infected teeth by the side of the road, deliver babies in every kind of condition, overcome their fears and obstacles in all kinds of ways.

here's to ladies who weather the storm

a moment of calm

lantern night at bryn mawr.  they're singing a song to athena and  the frosh are getting their official welcome to the school.

 today i had brunch and a visit with one of my favorite people in the entire world.  i scored a huge zucchini, some tomatoes, and some green tomatoes on my way home from her house.  tomorrow i'm making a chocolate zucchini cake and fried green tomatoes for our jack o' lantern carving night.

the lanterns.

tonight julie's hunkering down in nyc getting ready for sandy, and i really, really hope the storm on the east coast turns out to be all hype.  right now, ingrid's participating in a stormy  bryn mawr lantern night, which sounds pretty magical.  one of the major regrets of my life that i didn't go to a magical women's college on the east coast.  i don't think i really even knew such a thing existed when i was in high school.

c.'s watching the end of the world series.

a full moon just rose over our beautiful, beautiful mountains.

cecily is telling moses a bedtime story.

we had dinner at bam's, which is our sunday night ritual during the six months of the year she's in the u.s.  the kids adore bam and their cousins, and usually grace us with the performance of an original play.  other traditions include a game of oh heck!, a a game of charades, and an episode of the simpson's.  it feels good to be back in our routine.  it kind of reminds me of those british novels when people go to london for "the season" in fall and winter.  with the arrival of bam, our season has begun.

love and good wishes going out to the east coast tonight.

xxoo

Dissing the Apocalypse

I keep wondering what else we need to do for storm prep.  We probably don't have enough water, although we did find our flashlights and two other boxes of matches.  

I couldn't even think much about the storm.  I had to ignore the apocalypse for awhile and think about making an H costume for S.  One our way to the art supply store, we turned on 2nd Street and ran into a little community garden having a rare open house.  A group of authentic looking hippies were on a circle of stone benches having an ersatz jam.  The Gerry Rafferty classic "Baker Street" was being covered as I came in.  It was so delightful that I went to the gallery next door to get A and bring him over.  

Btw, the gallery next door was having a fantastic exhibit called Mad Supper--"Halloween celebrated Japanese Kawaii Style."  I have no idea what that means--even after seeing the exhibit, but I hope to attend the closing party on Halloween night, if I haven't been too storm crippled.  (Photo below.)

After frustrating little small sandwiches at Mile End, we found the foam core we needed, and frivolous items that had nothing to do with storm prep.  

One of the Mad Supper pieces.

full draft

i finished a draft of my first paper of the semester.  so much anxiety, now gone!  it's so scary to write a critical paper after years away from the critical paper racket.  i sat on my bed all day in my nightgown, only going out to get our traditional saturday morning donuts (one chocolate frosted with sprinkles, two cherry turnovers, and a pecan sticky bun) and then in the afternoon for a fish taco from beto's with c., eaten in the car on the way home.

i forgot to eat dinner, so i'm making some popcorn now to celebrate the completion of the draft.

i also missed the neighborhood halloween parties tonight, one of which i've attended every year since we moved her ten years ago.  that party has a disco ball, strobe lights, and club music, and it's pretty much the one time a year i dance any more.  sad.  ingrid suggested i dress as isabella stewart gardener, one of john singer sargent's portrait subjects, and that c. go as john singer sargent.

alas, we are lame in the costume department.  one of these years i'll get my act together.  it's all i can do to see that the kids are outfitted.  i have to live vicariously through ingrid, who was dali parton this year. pictures to come.  last year she was babraham lincoln.  she's a halloween genius.

i'm sad i missed the parties, but so freakin' relieved to have pumped out that draft that i hardly have room for a second emotion.

legwear:  bare plus footie socks

inspiration: letitia landon, puffery, and phantasmagoria

looking forward to: brunch with a dear, dear friend

Tights to Lessen Hurricane Sandy Anxiety

Pink and cream ombre.  Stunning.  The wearer's hair was also died a color.  Someday I'll work up to asking if I could snap their photo from the front--although Cunningham rarely asks for permish.

serious seventies

his serious face.

date night:  argo & communal

argo, wherein ben affleck has his serious face on and his chest hair grown back in.

the story's compelling, but the film's a mess.  i spent most of it wondering a) if affleck was going to smile or if his character development/ acting technique was going to rest entirely on a lack of smiling and b) what artificial obstacles the script would construct to create artificial suspense and c) how many avacado-colored corded phones, televisions with faux-wood panelling, and typewriters the props master would pull from the warehouse (or where ever it is hollywood keeps it's '70's furniture.) i predicted all  answers accurately, though i won't give them away in case you want to see the film.  this is just to say that argo, while based on the really interesting true story of six foreign service workers who escape iran in 1979 by posing as a film crew, relies too much on faux suspense, underdeveloped characters, and too many references to '70's culture, just in case we forgot that star wars was popular, tom brokaw was on the news and young, dudes had long hair and ugly glasses, and people could smoke on planes.  there were some really good moments, particularly with alan arkin and john goodman, who rarely makes a misstep in anything.  and i will say that, even though i knew the suspenseful moments had been sorely trumped up, my palms were still sweating and i was pretty engaged throughout the entire film.

even during it's eternal denouement.

oh, and speaking of chicks, i'm trying to decide if this film passes the bechdel test.  this test asks the question: does the film have two female characters 1) with names and 2) who talk to each other about something other than a male love interest?

i guess i would have to say argo passes, just barely, because the canadian ambassador's wife, named flora, talks to her housekeeper, named sahara, about the six americans hiding in the embassy.  I believe they each have one line of dialogue in the scene.

after argo, we stopped by communal for dessert.  we had some cheese, a nice french cheese and a sheep cheese, with honey, cherry preserves, and bread.  they were out of the squash gingerbread with creme anglaise, which is what i really wanted, so we had a valhrona chocolate lava cake.  the cheese was delicious and the cake was pretty good, but i expect a lot more than pretty good at communal.

legwear:  black tights

inspiration:  cherry preserves

looking forward: to writing my paper tomorrow so i can stop worrying about it

failing, falling, finding

julie turley sent me these grey chevron with silver metallic fleck tights.  i busted them out yesterday. the dress is from julie turley, too.  one of my favorite dresses.

i had a lot of time to think today on my commute to the university of utah.  on the way up, traffic was so bad that it took two hours, door to door, and on the way down, a five-car accident made the commute at least ninety minutes.

so, while deeply breathing and trying not to feel too trapped or resentful at the universe, i pondered some of the gems i gleaned from michael lee, some of which i've been working on for a while now, and some that were new to me, and made me laugh at their delightfully absurd truths.

1) do today today.  why is it so hard not to live for tomorrow, or not to constantly hike back to yesterday?

2) look for excellence in bad things.  professor lee spoke of a really bad movie that he once saw, and of his decision to look for the excellence in it.  he found it.

3) embrace failure.  i even thought, hey, what about actually seeking failure?  what would that look like?  it could look like taking big risks, or maybe it would involve letting things go--enjoying and being rather than striving?  i can't totally imagine this, but it's something to think about.

it's blessed thursday night!  i'm so happy!

legwear: black pleather jeans.  wow.  so comfortable and warm.  who knew?

inspiration: stuck in traffic

looking forward: to yoga tomorrow

Clean, Well-Lighted Places

I was very happy to see that my bike shop finally got their adjacent coffee shop open.  From the outside, it looks like a spacious, low key place where I can write and grade.  I didn't have time to lock up and go in, but I'll let you know.

I look forward to little openings in my city, new spaces--clean, well-lighted places where a girl can sit among her fellow humans and maybe channel something worth putting on the page.

Something to look forward to and meditate on in the face of a possible bad outcome in the presidential election AND a possible "perfect storm" that may be hitting my city.

Tights to Wake Up For

In Tompkins, this woman wore tights emblazoned with Apple's apple.  

Do you see the leaves in both pics in different parts of the city?  It's fall, L.

Because it's fall, I've been on a tights spree.  Really, I must be stopped.   Today I bought khaki tights and red houndstooth weave tights.  

I finally stopped outside of Cookbooks.  All vintage cookbooks all of the time. Next time, I'm going in.  This photo doesn't capture its charm.  The second story windows have flowering window boxes!  A dreamscape!

Truth be told, I'm dragging myself through the week.  I blame the debates, and most particularly Mittens, for agitating me so much I couldn't sleep.  Still trying to catch up/  

disorder & sublime

michael lee, "the traveller"

last night we performed c.'s extracts from the fall of the house of usher at byu's madsen recital hall.  it was a great crowd, and the piece received enthusiastic response.

max steiner's baton

c. conducted the piece with max steiner's baton.

everyone painted their nails black backstage.  this is the clarinetist.

the musicians painted their fingernails black, donned eyeliner & black lipstick, getting into the gothic vibe.

violinist

today we say good-bye to our good friend michael lee, here from the university of oklahoma to perform as the narrator in the piece, and also to do research in byu's special collections in the max steiner papers (he scored the films king kong, casablanca, and gone with the wind, to name a few).

flute player

mike is a musicologist who specializes in film scoring.  he's also a horror buff, and edits the international journal horror studies.  i'm trying to get him to put together some sort of horror post for halloween, but i'm not sure i can persuade him.

pianist

yesterday michael gave a lecture on the merits of disorder and disorganization.  on the importance of losing and failing.

the traveller makes his entrance

i love a person who comes along and makes you examine and shift your paradigm.  it's been a good few days with a great friend, great ideas, great music, great artists, and people of intensely focused enthusiasms gathered together for a short & fruitful time, making their contributions to the world.

i improvised some black lipstick with an eyeliner

what more could a girl, pulling out her fall tights collection in october, ask for?

luxuriant horoscope

do you follow rob brezsny?  i love his advice, whether or not is truly dictated from the stars.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): An avocado tree may produce so much fruit
that the sheer weight of its exuberant creation causes it to collapse.
Don't be like that in the coming weeks, Cancerian. Without curbing your
luxuriant mood, simply monitor your outpouring of fertility so that it
generates just the right amount of beautiful blooms. Be vibrant and
bountiful and fluidic, but not unconstrained or overwrought or recklessly
lavish. Halloween costume suggestion: a bouquet, an apple tree, a rich
artist, or an exotic dancer with a bowl of fruit on your head.

Weird

--that we are closing in on the end of this year-long experiment.
--that my Frye boots have abraded my new silver tights.  Was the leather that . . . abrasive???
--that next week is Halloween.
--that I have to construct a s'more costume.
--that I forgot I have to put up a midterm exam for my students tomorrow.
--that I biked home in the dark, and it was so warm, I took my topcoat off.

rad sahd, guest blogger kevin jensen

& often rocking a fabulous colored denim. . . . 

it occurred to me a month or two ago that kevin jensen was maybe the only true stay-at-home dad i've ever met, both in terms of the quantity and the quality of the time he spent at home raising small children.  he told me about some of his experiences and i realized kevin is definitely a dude deft at navigating tight spaces, and that i really wanted him to blog for us.  kevin's a fantastic dad who seems to have the energy of two and a half people--he manages play dates, coaches his kids' soccer teams, performs massive home improvement projects, now has a full-time job, owns a collection of fabulously colored jeans and somehow always has time left over to party and hang out with friends.

Are you in a tight place?  If so, what are you doing about it?

Hmmm . . . I guess that depends on how you define being in a tight place.  I define it as being in a place that is outside your comfort zone.  With that definition in mind, I feel like I live in a tight place.  As a father of four children and the husband of a university professor, I generally feel like I am moving from one tight place to another. 

What am I doing about it?  I have learned to live in tight places and embrace them. 

In order to understand my tight places a little better, let me back up a bit to 2001.  I was happily working for a company that was quickly growing. My wife had recently finished the course work for her PhD and given birth to our first child.  Life was good, really good.  Until it wasn’t.  A few months later, the company I worked for started to fall apart.  We tried to keep our dying business alive for several months, but in the end the whole industry completely collapsed and we had to walk away.

Meanwhile, my wife was busy being a new mother, writing her dissertation, and teaching an evening school class at Brigham Young University.  As I was trying to resuscitate my career, she was offered a full-time tenure track position at the University.  Suddenly we had a big decision to make.  At that point we knew she would take the position, but deciding what I would do was the most difficult decision of my life.  In the end I chose to put my career on hold and stay at home with our children.

Being an “at-home dad” in Provo, Utah has been the ultimate tight place.  I could fill a book about the challenges of stepping into this role when I did and where I did.  From the beginning I was thrust into uncomfortable situations, almost daily.  I found myself learning the skills I needed to run a household, but was never taught as a young man preparing for a career.  I found myself in a community where I was accepted by some and completely shunned by others because of my lifestyle choice.  I found myself crossing both real and imagined societal and religious boundaries all the time.  For years, living this way drained me emotionally, but over time I started to recognize the new person I was becoming because of the pressure of constantly being in tight places, and I liked the changes.

A couple of years ago, after a decade at home, I decided to go back into the workforce.  Again, this was a tough decision to make.  I had found comfort in my role at home.  Things were going well, but I felt myself slipping into complacency as an individual, so I went out and created a tight place for myself.  A place to change and grow.

As the years have passed, the uncomfortable situations have changed, but I have found that being in a tight place is part of being a parent, a spouse, and an individual.  Stepping away from where I am comfortable, to where I need to be to feel happy and fulfilled is always challenging, but the most rewarding way I have found to live my life.

What do you want to get done this year?

This upcoming year I want to be more creative.  For years, being creative was what helped me feel comfortable in my tight places.  It was how I felt freedom and individuality as an at-home parent of young children. The past couple of years, because of changes in my career, I have exercised that creativity less and less.  I need to get my groove back.  I need to be me. 

What inspires you?  

Passionate people.  I am admittedly an emotional person.  This has gotten me into trouble at times in my life, but over the years I have become quite comfortable being the guy that wears his heart on his sleeve.  Nothing inspires me more than people who love what they do and are comfortable being themselves and pursuing that passion without regard for what others think.

What's your favorite legwear? 

Oh, this is easy.  Denim for sure.  Right now, my employment requires me to dress up and conservatively every single day.  When I get home I tend to embrace dressing in the exact opposite way and nothing is better than a great, colorful pair of jeans.  

birthday partay

why are birthday cakes so beautiful?  

eva's birthday party was great, thanks to lots of helpers and fantastic guests.

beehive cheese--barely buzzed.

but i'm too wiped now to write, so some photos will have to do.

anna and lula made the cake, the tables, the mojitos, and brought the magic.

grandma beth and bam, flim and lula.

cecily favored us with "cruella deville", as per eva's request.

if you have an event, call anna and lula.

awesome guests.  my favorite people.

the kids' table.

legwear: black tights, blue suede shoes.

inspiration: family & friend time.

looking forward: to a good night's sleep.

Kind Words/Good Soup

I started the day with some good meetings and kind words.  Our family afterward convened along the counter at B&H.  Four adjacent counter seats?  A miracle.  This was the first hot borscht of the season.  Look--cabbage!

This week, I teach two one-shot classes.  Why am I so anxious?

Legwear:  New grey tights

Looking forward to:  Writing in Croissanteria for the very first time.
Looking forward to:  Wearing my new silver tights (if it's cool enough--if I'M cool enough)

Inspiration:  Family members getting work done.
Inspiration:  The music of Bonnie Prince Billy

Still basking in the Tea Party afterglow

happy birthday, baby girl!

picnicking in kingston, ontario.

it's a special day today, julie.

eva as kate in taming of the shrew, 6th grade.

22 years ago, eva snow was born.

i promised her she could get a dog when she grew up & got her own apartment.  hard to believe that day has come.

i love this girl.  she's unspeakably beautiful and talented, kind, smart and funny.

legwear: tomato colored skinny cropped jeans

inspiration: the beautiful eva snow.

looking forward: to celebrating eva's birthday tomorrow.

The East Village is Not Dead (in Case You Were Wondering)

 

This morning was the dog Halloween parade and in the late afternoon, the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, both in Tompkins.

I have many pictures still on my phone from both.  

It's hard to accept the dire assessment of a dead EV.  L, I wish Ingy had been here this weekend.  She would have loved it.  

 

What I Was Doing When You Were in Your Leopard-Skin Print Dress

After school, S and I attended the opening day of this new croissant cafe!  Another place to write and grade.  

L, the fact that we have only two computers (one near death) and four people is a real prob.  (Also, no TV, so one of the computers serves as that.)

So, last night--no blogging.  Today, I'll blog twice.

So, I hope you read this, L.

Last night, S and I went to Cocoa Bar for the free Internet so she could watch a show on this computer.    (Our Internet was spotty.)  I wrote in the candlelit dark in a notebook.

As I wrote, I wondered if my friends in Salt Lake City were having a good time at Dennis' art show.

Shelley and I texted back and forth.  NYC to PDX.

I also wondered what it may have been like to attend my high school reunion taking place last night in this place.  I've never been to a single reunion.  Have you?

At home, I crawled into my bed.  It had been a long week, but not the longest week I've had recently.  To rest my aching, typing hands I read:  Michael Chabon's new novel about a record store in Berkeley and Jonathan Lethem's novel about a former child stare living on residuals in NYC while his astronaut girlfriend endlessly orbits the earth.

I was not wearing a leopard-skin print dress.  I was not wearing anything worth writing about at all.

what are you doing right now?

my baby!  her birthday's tomorrow.

i'm

1) reading rough stone rolling by richard bushman.

2) discussing the outcome of this season's rather tepid project runway.

3) hanging out with one of my favorite people, university of okalahoma musicologist michael lee, here for a performance and to do research in byu's special collections library, home of the max steiner papers.  and then to perform christian's fall of the house of usher on tuesday.

4) trying to push thoughts of how many papers i have to grade from my mind.

5) feeling uber-relaxed after scalp massage from lula.

6) experiencing both anxiety and anticipation for the next two busy days, including a very special birthday tomorrow.

legwear:  black tights

inspiration: going overboard with leopard

looking forward: to saturday morning donuts & farmer's market

new poem

news for today:

1) equilibrium has been restored.  i'm not falling apart any more, for the moment.

2) new poem today at yes, poetry.  hope you like it.

Time and Sunshine

Polka-dot pants as tight as tights

L, how was your day?

This week has passed fast.

Nice fall weather.  Sunshine.

The MJ Cafe, however, was closed today, so I browsed their books and handled  Camille Paglia's latest, which came out this week.  I remember her first book, pub in 1991.  I used to talk about it in the class I taught at the U.  I kept the book wrapped in a scarf so it wouldn't get damaged in my bag.  Weird how long ago that was.

I ended up going to Bowery Coffee for like 40 minutes--a tight span of time.  I wrote two paragraphs, then it was time to go.

Tights High

Tumeric?  Or marigold?  What color are these tights?

I was so excited to put them on this morning, brand new, and the right size.  Brown boots.  Fall and stuff, Lara.

This color, these tights on my legs, got me through my day.

coaching

houndstooth check shift from julie; i wore it for two consecutive days because i miss julie soooo much!

at the end of the artist's way, you commit to continuing morning pages, artist dates, and to checking in weekly with an artist's coach.  (i love morning pages; i hate artist dates and just can't make myself do them.)

i'm super glad i have a coach to check in with, because the past few days have been some of the hardest, the tightest, of 2012.  and yesterday i thought i might fall apart completely.  it was one of those days where i had to talk myself through every breath, every step, of the day.

anyone else ever have those days?

i talked to my coach last night and she told me a bunch of stuff i kind of already know (except for number 3--that's new and i'm gonna try it), but it's different to hear another voice telling you besides your own inner voice, which under difficult circumstances can get muddled and confused.

my coach told me:

1) you already know what to do.

2) ride the wave.  hard times and good times both are fleeting.

3) draw your story on a whiteboard. (i need to do more investigating on this.  it seems like something my whole family could use!)

so,

do you have a coach?

if not, you should.

my coach is one of my dearest friends, a relative, and a person who has unofficially helped me through more difficulties than i can possibly count--including being a labor coach at two of my births.  she's just super talented at coaching.

i also have a few people i think about when specific problems arise--i try to imagine what that person would do when faced with a challenge i know that person is good at handling.  i think about my very organized and practical sister when i'm getting too complicated.  i think about julie when i'm getting dressed and i know my outfit isn't quite right.  i think about ingrid when i want my life to be more magical.  i think of c. when i'm trying to find a workaround for a seemingly intractable problem--he's a genius at that.  i think of eva when i feel like i'm not entitled to ask for what i want or need.  i think of bam when i'm trying to infuse my day with structure, fun, and meaning.

i could go on and on with this list.

the point is, i guess i've used self-coaching for a long time, unconsciously, but it's really interesting to do it more deliberately and with more awareness.

i also did s.o.l.e. on monday and tuesday to try to get through those days.  i'm sure it made me feel better, like, merely horrible rather than completely hideous.  & i wore the houndstooth shift julie sent back from nyc with c. BOTH days.  it just made me feel good to wear something from julie, since we're so far apart geographically.

on monday i wore it with burgandy tights from h&m, the only tights purchase i've made this year, and on tuesday the charcoal tights from last winter, my go-to tights.  with a putty colored crocheted scarf/shawl because it was chilly and overcast yesterday.  i think i liked yesterday's look a little better than monday's.

it's time to fire up every last coping strategy in my tool bag to get through the next super tough eight weeks.

i'm open to ideas, ladies.  or gentleman.

Mini-Blogging--the Presidential Debate Edition

I hate when I get so wrapped up in something ultimately so stupid that I forget to blog.

And I also forgot to call me niece in AZ and wish her a happy birthday.

The stupidity has to do with becoming involved in a Fb exchange on my brother's page with someone who is so rabidly right wing, well . . . it was just an impossible conversation.

What I asked? 

Nevermind.

Meet Graphic Designer, Bulgarian in New York, Maria Petrova

Editor's Note:  When I first met Maria several years ago, she inspired me with her great outfits, design sense, and cool Bulgarian accent.  But soon I learned that I had reason to be even more impressed by her:  Maria is one of the kindest, most open and warm people I've ever met.  She once spent the middle of one day in my kid's class, telling her immigration story (plus teaching Bulgarian dance and culture) to augment the students' year-long Immigration study.  I have had long, meandering talks with Maria around our city, including one at the floating restaurant on the Hudson, which she introduced me to.  It can be hard to make a new friend in this town, so I am lucky to have found Maria. 

 About Maria:
Maria Petrova is a graphic designer living in NYC. She enjoys the blessings of the body more so than the mind, despite being raised by a very academic father who wouldn't let her take modern dance classes. It's been a slow evolution towards honoring femininity in all its aspects, and integrating body and soul. Maria is a student of BodyTalk, a complimentary healing system that treats the deep emotional archeology of the body to bring healing and balance in all aspects of the present.

 1.  Are you in a tight place?  If so, what are you doing about it?  I'm in a tight place whenever I believe my fearful thoughts. It can get very crowded in there, up in my head. I have to exhale and clear the clutter. Meditation is my survival mechanism. Loosens things up
.
2.  What do you want to get done this year? I want to have a solid yoga practice, and I'm getting there. It's not daily yet, but I'm respecting my body's limits. Patience & persistence together.

3. What inspires you?  I'm inspired by people who react with the greater good in mind. Anytime someone is justified in being angry but chooses to look kindly on the situation, that reaction empowers everyone. I'm inspired by people who can communicate their truths honestly, without fear. I'm inspired whenever people surprise me with their kindness.

4. What's your favorite legwear?  Patterned tights by far! I'm a designer, so I'm crazy about patterns. I also like the challenge they pose in being so flowery and graphic that everything else I'm wearing has to be super simple. Nice exercise in contrast & balance. I'm often jealous of the boys (no periods), but when it comes to legwear — we got the better deal by far!

waiting

for c. to return after a week away.

for the kids to fall asleep.

for morning, when i hope to feel better.

for the bottom of the free-fall, which i know by now will come.

for a new day, a new day, a new day.

A Weekend, Full and Overflowing

C and G hard at work.  I was blown away by their Monk tribute.

 I love when hosting out-of-town guests force me out of my tenement.  I spend lots of time with Lara's hub, C and his friend, the madly skilled drummer, G.  In fact, I spent four hours watching them play last night with a variety of guests, including East Village legend Avram Fefer--a nice surprise!

Stuff we did today:  Walk over the Williamsburg Bridge into Williamsburg and then back, the Doughnut Plant, and Economy Candy.

Now I just finished grading a chunk of overdue papers and feel less tightness.  Wish I could have felt this earlier in the weekend.  My own damn fault.

On the bridge.

Ingy came up for the occasion.

Seen in Williamsburg.