hey jud

Yesterday's urban hiking took us up 5th Avenue to Takashimaya and for a bit of a stroll in Central Park. Today, the galleries of Chelsea beckoned. Trudy and I primed ourselves with a stop at Joe the Art of Coffee, and then headed across town around noon. Once we got over to the Meatpacking District, we happened upon Stella McCartney's shop, and deemed her not just a famous name but truly a talented designer, though unfortunately way out of our price range.

Many of the galleries, in fact most, were closed to install new shows but there were still enough open to satisfy our looking needs. The prices were high and the weather was great, so just being outside and walking by the windows was really all we needed for enjoyment. As we came back down along 9th Avenue, we stopped for a late lunch at Le Grainne. It was Paris 2001 all over again, with many très chic people, an authentic menu and woven chairs, just without the French being spoken.

Our final stop on the way back home was to look at some beautifully decorated cupcakes in the cases at Cupcake Café on 18th Street. We really did only look, since we'd already had our tarte tatin treat for lunch dessert. Just like Starbuck's is often found inside Border's, this cupcake place was connected to a children's bookstore, full of lovely book displays opposite the cupcakes. Trudy spotted a new book by Caroline Kennedy called 'A Family of Poems', but didn't plan on buying it. At least not until we saw the sign for an author signing and today's date. Sure enough, in an alcove at the back of the store, there was Caroline herself, signing books and chatting with some very cute young schoolgirls. The line was surprisingly short and now Trudy's got two autographed copies to give for Christmas presents.

So here's what we need to do with all that purslane in the garden in Orange. Like I said there's a killing to be made from our weeds.

Since we were married, we've moved six times. It began with newlywed excitement and a move to Buffalo, where we purchased our first house for less money than our 1982 black Jeep. When we left Buffalo ten years later, it was a bit of a traumatic move down the thruway and turnpike to Springfield, heightened by exhaustion, the presence of two young kids, a cat and a couple of fish. Only the fish failed to survive.

What apparently also survived were a couple of boxes and seven cans of spices. Over the next twenty years, these boxes and cans turned into 'seasoned' travelers, following us from Springfield to two different places in Brookline, and then across the U.S. to California. I wonder if they were as happy as I was to leave the Amory Street kitchen that never got renovated, for the brand new Beaconsfield Road kitchen with the super low ceiling. I was tall and happy in that kitchen because the super low cabinets allowed me to reach even the top shelf. Of course there was lots of excitement once we got to California, though another unrenovated kitchen with harvest gold appliances challenged my skill in decorating coverups, and led to my continuing love of deep yellow/orange paint applied wherever necessary.

From California, we eventually came back to the East Coast to Charlestown. Happily, we were in a great new kitchen and all near family again, both us and the Ann Page spices. For every single move, those spices had been packed by others, but always unpacked by me in a rush to get everything put away and to make the new place feel like home. That's how the embarrassment of spices left over from the 1970's, came to still be in my Charlestown kitchen in the summer of 2006. It was when I bought a nifty set of expandable shelves to house my spices that I came across the old spice, and when I spotted their bargain prices on the bottom, it was obvious they had to go. I was sad about throwing them out after all those years and all those miles, so I took this picture to remember them by.

We've been to Vermont to get things going on the house. See photos.

Check these progress photos from Paul.