The Veggie Burger

There is a chef named Bruno Albouze and he makes amazing things.  Rob found him.

Bruno is awesome.

Bruno has a veggie burger recipe and Rob made it for me.

It was amazing.  Seriously amazing, a perfect balance of flavor.  Genius combinations.

Birds & Mummies & Discovery & The Senses & Soup

I'm so behind blogging...here's another catch-up post.

*****
Daya and I made another trip to AMNH.  They have a new show about the 5 senses
So we went.

They also have a 3D Imax movie about birds and flying--- it was stunning.  The cinematography was pretty astounding.  Then I took Daya through the Mummies exhibit, which I have been to with Drusilla. (no pictures allowed in that one)  Daya got a cute Egyptian cat animal which she named Gypsy.

We had some time before we were scheduled to go to the Senses exhibit, so we went to the Origami Tree which is in a new location. (I think a better location)

                   

Then we headed over to the Discovery Room.

Daya has literally grown up in that room.
It is one of the spots I always have to take a picture of her through the years.
When she was a toddler she loved this thing:

The Discovery Room has an upstairs area.  It is only for children 8 and up.  Being able to go upstairs in the Discovery Room is a NYC Child's rite of passage.  It's really fun up there. There are microscopes and specimens and puzzles and stick bugs you can hold.

I loved these wonderfully bizarre beanies...I think they are either strange sea creatures or different types of bacteria. Or viruses.

Then we went to the Senses exhibit which was pretty fantastic.




This is the story of my life. I have a super crazy sense of smell.

Here is the Last Handstand Daya did for the year, more on that later. She was not disoriented in the disorientation room.

And the holiday Brontosauruses were out.

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The next day (Sunday) I went to see Rob and he made this amazing butternut squash soup with snow crab.  It was so amazing I need to have a pic here.

                           

Today

Today was nice. mostly.

Quiet.

We had a lot of heavy rain.

My housework is in good order.

I wanted to start clean, and that was accomplished.

Eva gave me an extremely generous gift, which means I can get a new tripod for plein airing.

Daya was supercool and wonderful until she had to go to a dance Halloween party and she wanted to leave but I made her stay. The dance teams sponsored the party and everyone had a job to do...her team's job was clean-up afterward...that's why I made her stay.  She's pretty mad at me for it but she must honor her commitments. If she hadn't been on clean-up crew I would have said fine, leave.

Rob got me a gift package to a fantastic upscale spa in Tribecca which I am really looking forward to.

Then we went out to a French place in Chelsea we love but haven't been to for a long time.  It was amazing. I love spending time with Rob.  Because of our schedules we don't get to see each other as often as we did last year, but we still talk all the time and he is always good company and conversation. I am very grateful to have him in my life.

We had nice desserts:

I didn't hear from my father (wasn't expecting to) and it is strangely ok. I have completely given up on that and it is the right thing to do.  I know this because I really am ok with no contact or acknowledgement. There is no looming expectation or question, no empty going-through-motions. The first time is hard and then it is fine.  I was wondering how I would feel and I'm completely fine so this is really good. It;s a hard thing to resolve and going through empty motions is much worse.

But you can't keep trying to be connected to someone who doesn't want to be connected.  Letting go is best.

In some ways I feel like I have a clean slate going into this next part of my life.....like I have cleaned out or resolved things that don't serve my well-being.  My 30s were really, really hard. But I learned a lot and I hope going forward I can move into positive changes and circumstance and not have to repeat any of the nonsense.

The Amazing Maize Maze

Saturday evening Rob, Daya, and I went to the Amazing Maize Maze over at the Queens Farm Museum......it is a hard maze during the day and we went at night (armed with flashlights)!

The theme this year was Alice and Wonderland, and the maze was in the shape of the Cheshire cat, MY FAVORITE.  I LOVE the Cheshire Cat!

It took us over an hour to find our way out.

The Emergency Gloves

On Saturday evening Rob was going to pick me up after class (he is taking some college math) and we were going to go out.

He called me and said he was over in Long Island City and his car wouldn't start; the battery died and he wasn't sure why since he didn't leave anything on in the car.  He tried to fix it but couldn't, so he said he was going to take the bus to go get a new battery and take a cab back to his car.  I said I'm coming over.

I took the train to Long Island City...it's not a great area at night.  Dark, desolate and very industrial. There is a prison there too.

Because I have walked the 59th St bridge from Manhattan many times, I know the area enough to know where I am and not get lost. And I knew Rob would need help, even though he didn't realize it.

He told me where he was parked and I got there shortly after he did...I found him putting a new battery in his car in the dark.  Poor Rob was so mad and frustrated- after 7 hours in math class he had to deal with this...and his battery was only three years old.  He was also mad because even though he always has his tool bag in the car he left his work gloves at his job. So one of the first things he said to me was "I wish I had gloves; I'm getting battery junk all over my hands!"

I said "I have gloves!" and I did! I got my first aid certification last month and I had a pair of gloves in my purse from that.  A good thing to carry around. So I gave the gloves to a very shocked Rob.

Then I said, "Do you need some light?"

He said "Yes!" I used my phone flashlight.  He has one too but he had forgotten all about it.

He got the battery changed and the car started, but he couldn't find the code he had to enter into the dashboard.  I found that for him, too.

I knew he needed help!

Medieval Fair!

Another retro-active post, I'm so behind. And fatigued. The years of fatigue are catching up to me; I'm really feeling it.  This weekday schedule is really getting to me and I'm only a month in!!

Anyhow we went to the medieval faire again because this is maybe the only thing I really want to go to every year as a tradition.  Rob came too and it was fun.

I told Daya it was a dress up day so she could wear black lipstick, which got her very excited.
She wanted to wear all black and I gave her the top which I don't wear anymore.  It is actually a romper and I don't like rompers.

Daya looks absolutely smashing in black lippie.
Not everyone can pull this off.  She can.

 

                                                                             LOL

Block Island Pictures PRT

Late but better than never post!

Rob took me to Block Island and it was lovely.