The weekend in review

Kinda busy: Before it got HOT, on Friday, I had a drink with R before she went off to Afghanistan; then I went to the retirement party for my first NYPL boss – she’d been 31 years on the Nipple!; came back to Brooklyn for dinner with OHS at Loulou in Fort Green, where there is a nice backyard garden, but why was there an extra $20 added to the check? Saturday, picked up a couple of tomes at the Housing Works Used Book Café’s street sale; went to see the Walton Ford at Paul Kasmin Gallery and the Brian Dettmer at Kinz, Tillou etc. Go see them. Blueberry coconut milkshake at Ronnybrook Dairy in Chelsea Market. Walking down 15th Street, I saw a kestrel fly over the intersection of 8th Ave. It landed on a fire-escape so I dragged OHS onto the sunny side of the street to get a better view. Turned out to be two of them up there, male and female. The male made a few flights, and the female tucked into a crevice in the enormous cornice at 253 West 15th. There must be a nest in there. Excellent views even w/o the bins. We stopped off at the Grecian Festival on the way back to stock up on baklava.

Sunday, back to a primitive state (being baklava-less), I was too early: no baklava before church let out. (Various Orthodoxies have been bollixing my plans lately, because I want to get a new camera at B&H). Joined C in Victorian Flatbush for brunch and the art walk, but we cut it short on account of the stinking humidity. Saw one guy we liked, though, although the website doesn’t convey the work well. Then ice cream at NYC ICY on Church. Found an old tripod in the lobby of C’s sprawling Art Deco apartment building, where I also saw M&M’s six month old twins, also named M&M (but different M’s). I hadn’t realized swaddling had come back. Then a quick shower, and the first of the Harbor Heron Cruises I signed up for. North and South Brother Islands are too over-grown, so there isn’t much to see there in the way of heron nests, but U Thant Island (a gloried pile of rocks) had infant black-backed gulls and cormorants. Damn, but it was beautiful on the water between 7-830 tonight.

Now comes the thunder and lightning, taking me back to Iowa...