Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Comings and goings

*sparklingly  [http://www.sparklingly.blogspot.com]
{ Snowy Saturday in Central Park  |  Bow Bridge  |  9 February 2013 }
This weekend R and I helped our (now former!) houseguest move into his very own apartment—he's been going through a particularly rough patch of things, so he'd been sharing our home for the last five months as he tried to sort it out.

Yep. Five months.

But, E is super thoughtful and considerate, so it wasn't really an ordeal at all—but no matter how kind someone is, it's a pretty big adjustment (did I mention we live in a 600 square-foot apartment?), especially since the duration was up in the air and, harder for me to handle, E's situation isn't good.

The only thing that's changed now is that he has his own space and doesn't have to feel like he's taxing us, but let's be real, New York is either the best city in the world, or the worst, to be on a run of bad luck. It breaks my heart and overwhelms me with guilt and sadness that I haven't been able to do more to help.

+ + +

After an afternoon putting together IKEA furniture in E's new apartment on Sunday, R and I came home to a beautiful bottle of Australian Shiraz and a flourless chocolate cake—even though I'm still blue over E, a small marking-of-the-occasion was definitely in order.

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Yesterday I was off from work, so I fired up the moka, simmered a little pot of Ronnybrook milk on the stove with freshly-split cardamom pods, streamed the inky black espresso and the fluffy, spiced cream into my mug, and enjoyed my version of a caffe latte while watching morning TV and doing a little crocheting. Then I met a friend way uptown to finally try Marcus Samuelsson's Red Rooster for an indulgent meal of oddly-named, but delicious, "fried yard bird", Bloody Mary's and crab cakes with a curry aioli.

To take advantage of the gloriously bright, clear winter day, we then walked all the way from 125th Street through the North Woods of Central Park and down 70'ish blocks to take tea at Knave at Le Parker Meridien before I met R (who didn't have the day off from work).

After my friend headed off to her subway stop, R and I walked hand-in-hand to ours and hopped on a train downtown where our usual finally-back-home-shuffle was back on track: scurry into apartment, hang up coats/scarves/gloves/etc., shimmy into "comfies" (my word for pajama-y, lounge-y, cuddly clothes) and slippers and then shuffle around lighting pillar and taper candles before settling into our corners of the couch for a glass of wine and a chat.

I missed it.

1 comment :

Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a note—you're about to make my day!

XOXO,
J.