Janet Jackson is AWESOME

Even though she's lost a bit of her edge as she's gotten older (she'll be 45 in May), Janet Jackson is still in amazing shape and performed a really tight set of her greatest hits. She must have sung at least most of about 30 songs. She ended with Together Again with a series of backdrop pictures of her and Micheal Jackson as kids. It was very touching and the crowd just loved it. I love that song, it's my all time favorite of hers. I liked her ballad set the best. It was a sell out crowd and this was the second show she added to the original date. People were so into her performing.  The is the first show we've seen at Radio City Music Hall. It's such a classic NYC venue to see a performance. Bob as usual was a very good sport to go with me on a work night. He doesn't really know her music and I think he was pretty worn out from our very busy weekend and then working all day.

crazy glowing drink they were serving at the bar--Bob predicts cancerous outcomes for those indulging

inside of the foyer at Radio City Music Hall

Balcony at Radio City Music Hall

Grand staircase leading up to the mezzanine at Radio City Music Hall

Busy past week!

It was a very busy past week, logging a few more work hours, trying to take part in community activities, and a good friend visiting for the weekend. I went to an open community meeting for the Highline Park on Wednesday night. They are wanting input on what kinds of food should be sold on the Highline. Overall I totally agree with their vision of selling sustainable, locally sourced food. I'm not thrilled that they are planning on having a beer garden somewhere along the park but food sales is part of how they are raising money to keep the Highline going and expanding ......and liquor does sell. I submitted my two cents worth and we will see whether they incorporate any of my great ideas! What was kind of fun about the meeting is just how small this world is, turns out that one of the co-founders of the Highline is had a past romantic interest in a very good friend of mine. Armed with this info  (that they at one time knew each other), I felt more comfortable going up to the co-founder, introducing myself and having a bit more personable chat with him.  Made me feel a little bit more like an insider. It was an interesting group of people there, certainly seemed like quite a representative sample across age, ethnicity, SES, family configuration, etc. That's what I like about the Highline and NYC in general, people from all strata come together to give their opinions freely and passionately for the projects they love.

One of my closest friends came to visit for a long weekend and we went pretty much non-stop for our waking hours over the 66 hours she was here. We were able to do a number of new activities that I've been wanting to do since moving here but just hadn't gotten to it yet.  We had hoped to get to Tibet House on Friday afternoon but she got in from the airport too late so that will be for another time.  We had a great sushi dinner then walked up to Lincoln Center because it was such a balmy evening, perfect for walking, and the Lincoln Center is always a great NYC destination point--they light it up so beautifully at night--the fountain, stairsteps, sculptures, etc.  We went into the foyer of the Metropolitan Opera House and admired the huge beautiful Chagall paintings and the crystal chandeliers and elegant staircases.  You feel cultured just being in the building. We walked a bit into the entrance of Central Park because that too is so dramatic an entrance to the park. We then walked back and stopped at Amy's bakery for dessert before calling it a night. On Saturday, we got up early and made a beeline for the Cloisters in the northend of Manhattan. So FABULOUS!!!! Several friends in Seattle had highly recommended it or expressed a desire to go and it's been high on my list of museums to see. The Cloisters is an extension of the Metropolitan Museum which houses their midieval collection of statues, paintings, tapestries, jewelry, religious artifacts, stained glass windows, etc. It was constructed as a castle of sorts in keeping with the time period of the collection. It also has two cloister areas, one larger than the other that are so lovely and when in bloom will be even more soothing and calming to spend time in. The Cloisters is situated on a hill top in Fort Tryon Park which overlooks the Hudson River. The Rockefellers philanthropy made it possible and they had the foresight to buy acreage across the river so that the view from the ramparts is always of nature. Very smart visionary.  My favorite exhibit at the Cloisters is the series of the Unicorn Tapestries.  It's a sad story of the vicious capture of a unicorn but the tapestries themselves are magical and beautiful. We then walked through the park to the New Leaf Cafe for brunch. Proceeds from the cafe go towards Bette Midler's foundation for beautifying NYC.  The food was really great and we are looking forward to taking my mom to the Cloisters and dinner at the New Leaf Cafe when she comes to visit at the end of April. My camera died early in the morning so didn't get many pictures that day.  I am waiting for Lisa to send me pictures of the Orchid Show at the NY Botanical Gardens. It was truely spectacular.

The Cloisters up on the hill of Fort Tryon Park

We then headed to the New York Botanical Gardens for their spectacular Orchid Show in the conservatory. It was a mammoth exhibit with hundreds and hundreds of orchids of all sizes and colors. So beautiful how they were displayed--really draws a crowd. That was the only down side was how crowded it was but still totally worth it.  We then went to the beautiful library building there and took the tram around the park so Lisa could get a sense of all there is to see on the grounds.  We were so fortunate to have sunny clear weather even if it wasn't particularly warm. After the botanical gardens, we drove to Village Charlotte Bronte to check it out. I was curious about it as I read an article about it in the Real Estate section of the NYtimes. It looks so European and overlooks the Hudson River. Got me and Bob very caught up in a fantasy of living there. It was good to check it out in person because it brought us down to earth and reality quite quickly. While the set of buildings that make up the several co-op residences are very cool, it is situated in a not very interesting neighborhood overall and is FAR from most everything, so it would mean a lot of driving for even the simplist of things. Living in mid-town has spoiled us so bad for its very convenient to everything and central location.  We then drove back into Manhattan by way of the East Side so Lisa could see how the other .00001% live and eventually parked in Chelsea so that we could take a walk on the Highline Park. It was really cold by then with the temp from Friday night to Saturday night dropping by about 30 degrees. We weren't really dressed warmly enough so cut our walk short but Lisa got a good sense of it and we were fortunate to be there on the hour so she could hear all the bells going off at once as part of the art project there. We then walked through the Chelsea Market and wound up having dinner at the Green Table--another great meal there. On the way to parking the car, she was able to get a good view of Times Square at night. When we got back we watched some of a video on the sacred pilgramige around Mount Kailash--a trip we had discussed the three of us doing. Since reading more about it, I am no longer game for it--it's at a level of strenuousness that I am just not confident I could do.  Bob and Lisa might still undertake it in the next few years.

Sunday we were up early and walked straight across town to the United Nations (8th Ave to 1st Ave on 42nd Street). On the way we hit a few highlights like Bryant Park--each time I go there I fall in love with it all over again (we also stopped in to use their award winning bathrooms--very elegant for a public park bathroom), the New York Library (so impressive and grand), Grand Central Station (always a stunner--never get jaded about how Grand it is), and the Chrysler Building (didn't get past the lobby but even that is impressive with all the art deco design and use of granite, marble, and murals)--42nd street is a really great street taking it all together. The UN was a great visit. Unfortunately we were not able to take a tour, (didn't plan that very well--will know better for next time) but all the same, what we did see in the main visitors building was very moving and powerful.  So much pain, sorrow, and violence in this world that the UN is trying to address. They had several emotion evoking photography exhibits covering the impact of landmines, slavery, and human scenes reflecting their attempts to meet world goals to address poverty, hunger, women's equality, health, education, the environment, etc. The gift store is great for having wares from all over the world and they have some really great UN specific souveniers and postcards.  We wound up buying quite a few things there.

Country Flag Postcards at the UN gift store

examples of landmines at the UN exhibit

Meditation room at the UN

Very moving exhibit of the UN Flag from Iraq

Breathtaking Chagall Stained Class Window at the UN

Very, very cool T-Shirt with the motto of the UN

Sculpture at the UN entrance

View towards the East River from the UN visitors center

After the UN we walked up to the Metropolitan Museum on 81st where we had lunch and checked out a number of exhibits. The Met is a favorite museum of Lisa's. We then walked further up to the Guggenheim on 89th to see their new exhibit (when Bob and I were there last, they were installing a new exhibit). The Guggenheim is such a great museum. I just really love how they display the art work, so much easier to view even when there are lots of people. The spiral architecture works great and really adds to the whole experience. I am so enchanted by the paintings of Kandinsky--just love his use of color and perspective--more and more he is becoming one of my favorite artists. After the Guggenheim, we took a taxi home so that we would get back to the apartment in time to make dinner and have a little down time before going to see the off Broadway production of Avenue Q.  Ave Q was so much fun......it's edgy and unpredictable and adult enough to keep the laughs coming steadily but overall has a very sweet message.  The puppetry is really impressive, so much lifelike animation, body language and even facial expression. It was a really fun production and highly recommended. Once home from the play, we caught the last episode of Big Love on HBO. Bob and I just started watching it this season but found it really compelling. The ending was a big surprise--did not see that coming.

Flower sculptures along Park Avenue

I had wanted to show Lisa a bit of the Hudson River walk and the Clinton Community Garden this morning before she had to get her 10:30 airport shuttle but the weather was raining and with snow flurries so a last walk in the neighborhood did not happen. We were just thankful for such clear sunny weather for the weekend.  It was such a great weekend but really we just saw the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to seeing the sites in NYC.

Tonight Bob and I are going to Radio City Music Hall to see Janet Jackson so our weekend is still continuing!  Next weekend we are going to drive up the Hudson River Valley and go to a couple of maple syrup farms as it is Maple Syrup Weekend here in NY State. How cool is that!  I am hoping we make it out to Stormking Sculpture garden when we are out that way. It has these wonderful ginormous art pieces that cannot be housed in traditional museum spaces. I love art work of that scope. We also are going to see That Championship Season on Saturday night. Wednesday I am getting together with the artist, Douglas Safranek, to see his studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and he is going to show me around the neighborhood a bit. I wish the weather was predicted to be better that day but all the same, it will be a very good afternoon I am sure.

We have to pause here to give a special thanks to Uncle Morgan and Uncle Stanley for all the free admissions to pretty much all the museums and gardens we went over the weekend!! What a great fringe benefit of Bob's job.

Beautiful weather and it's great to be out and about

Saturday was a beautiful day and we took a fantastic walk heading south on the Hudson River Walk.  We went in search of ACA Gallery in Chelsea to see the work of Douglas Safranek, an artist that is a good friend of a good friend of mine. I made contact with him on the recommendation of my friend, Nora, and he directed me to where I can see some of his work and later we will get together and he will show me his studio in Williamsburg, a reportedly hip artsy neighborhood in Brooklyn. He works with egg tempera and produces incredibly finely detailed works which take over a year to create and look like photographs they are so vivid. On the way to the gallery we passed several and one of them featured the work of Edward Tufte, a very well known academician who is famous for his state of the art visual graphing of data. Bob went to a lecture of his given his own interest and expertise in use of visual graphing of data and use of S+, the statistical programming package he's been developing for over 20 years. It was quite an impressive exhibit and kind of fun to have that connection and understanding of this artist's other life. After seeing the paintings at ACA, we kept walking til we got to the West Village where we had a groupon coupon for ZPizza. All their menu choices are organic.  We enjoyed a mediterrean pizza and mixed green pizza. Very tasty, filling, but not overly so.  We then walked over to an artisanal ice cream truck parked up the street to enjoy some locally sourced, small batch, hand made ice cream. We then made our way back up to Chelsea to go to the Whole Foods store there since our preferred Westerly market is still closed for renovations. We had to lug 4 bags of groceries 20 blocks or pay $19 to have them delivered. We could have taken the subway but we decided to see how it went walking and once we got started we just took it on as a challenge. We saw lots of great things on our walk pre-groceries. I was impressed by how much artwork there is along the Hudson River Walk going south. It kind of makes sense since Chelsea is such a haven for art galleries and that's the part of the HRW we mainly walked along.  Pics say 1000 words.

After being here for over six months, now that we have a new bookcase, I was finally able to unpack my work books and treatment manuals. As I was putting the books on the shelves, I got a bit teary eyed knowing that I am not going to be doing any therapy for quite a while. It's the client and family contact that I miss the most. I certainly don't miss the stress or over busy-ness of my previous work life but I do miss working with the teens and their families. We will see how it goes with the interviews I will be doing for the research study I am involved with now. I got an initial estimate of tuition costs for taking the classes NY state is requiring me to take for my license here. It will be quite expensive and I really need to figure out what the balance will be as to whether to take the classes or not to be licensed here.

Pretty Standard Really........at least for Manhattanites

 I'm watching 30 Rock while blogging and here is one of my favorite lines from tonight's episode:

"What sells?  Reality shows of mothers of hundreplets".... Jack Donegy.

So here's a wonderful Thursday evening out we just had that so reflects the cultural lifestyle afforded to New Yorkers.  I pick up take out for Bob and meet him at the Morgan Stanley building in Times Square as he is getting off work so he can eat before we go to the new Catherine Denueve, Gerard Depardieu French film Potiche being previewed at the Museum of Modern Art. We get free entry because we have the film plus memebership. It's a delightful movie with several wonderful twists and a great story. We then walk home and stop in for a big slice of cheesy pizza deliciousness at a little Italian restaurant on our way home. We are home by 9:30 pm.  It's all so easy and accessible, such is the beauty of living and working in Mid-town.

Had a great visit to the International Center of Photography (IPC) with Margaret on Wednesday. We first got lunch at Sullivan Street Bakery (which is really on West 47th), a bakery noted to be one of the top ten bakeries in the country (Bob thinks Amy's should be in that top ten--he wasn't that impressed with Sullivan's on our first visit there). Had a great mortadella panini with a wonderfully spicy aoili spread and I picked up an almond chocolate croissant for Bob to get him to rethink Sullivan's. We took our lunches to eat at the Clinton Community Garden in my neighborhood. The crocuses and snowdrop bulbs are blooming and daffodils and tulips are starting to come up. Lots of buds on the trees too. We ate at one of the little tables under the grapevine covered trellises, lots of stout little birds joined us for lunch. The garden is a really charming place, I look forward to when it is in full bloom. Pictures will definitely be posted as it comes into full blossom.

The IPC is a very unique museum and the gift shop is a photo lover's dream. The exhibits I liked best were the ones of the river baptisms and day to day life in Jasper, Texas on the African American side of town. There was a really strange modern art photography exhibit by a Wang Qingsong: When Worlds Collide, a Chinese artist--rather pessimistic themes of China's loss of it's own cultural richness in favor of  Westernized materialism.  It was good that there were interpretative descripters alongside the pictures because they were quite abstract and culturally bound. The major exhibit was the discovery of thousands of negatives of the Spanish Civil War that had been losts for decades. One of the photographers who died in the process of taking the photos was the brother of the founder of the ICP who created it in honor of his slain brother. Pictures published from the Spanish Civil War were the first to show pictures from the front lines showing the true horrors of war. Again it was in my consciousness to wonder if I would have had the courage to participate so actively in such a righteous cause without regard to my own safety and comfort. It was similar to when we saw Of Gods and Men. I would like to think that I would/could but when you see it up close, it's pretty daunting. I admire and pray for all those who are carrying on their struggle for freedom in the Middle East that they succeed in the face of all the sacrifices they are making.

It's the little things that can really make my day.........

It's been an interesting last few days. Last week, Morgan Stanley displayed on their multi-story electronic ticker tape, which is situated in the middle of Times Square, the names of all the employees who volunteered with community projects over the last year. Bob's name came across around 4:20pm on Friday afternoon. I met Bob there in Times Square with my camera to capture the moment. I mean how often do you get your name flashed on a huge ticker tape in Times Square.  I was so ready to capture the moment that I had my camera targetted to the ticker tape too long and the camera screen went to sleep....and because I don't know how to work my camera very well I got rattled and wound up missing the shot. I got the beginning and the end but not centered. Bob and I had a good laugh over my ineptness with the camera. People are just going to have to trust that there is no one named obert Treder and Robert is followed by Treder.  Check out my photo gaffes below.

Later that evening, we had a fun dinner with friends at a vegan restaurant in Chelsea called Blossom.  These friends are not vegan or vegetarian but live right across the street from this restaurant and had been wanting to try it. It was a good choice for us to try as we continue to find a place we like as much as Carmelita's in Seattle. Overall, the appetizers were the BEST, really well done and creative.  I had raw sweet potato wraps filled with various julienned vegetables with a dipping sauce and Bob had mushrooms in phyllo dough on a bed of pesto sauce.  The main entrees were good but I would say that my vegetable mezze was rather uninspired.  I thought the chef would have done more creative preparations since this is a vegetarian restaurant. I could have prepared the vegetables the way they came. After dinner, they also introduced us to Billy's bakery and cued me in that in NYC cupcakes are all about the frosting and not about the cake which explains why all the ones that are promoted and awarded to be really fantastic have been a huge disappointment to me. The ones I've tried based on rave reviews have all been really dried out. Furthernmore, I am not a big frosting fan so I usually scrape it off and toss it. Who knew I was defying the laws of NYC cupcakes. I had a great piece of chocolate cake from Billy's which just begs the question as to why can't they just shrink it for a cupcake? Anyway, still in search of what I would rate as a really good moist cupcake and have others on the look out as well. I think I am going to write to the NY Times restaurant guy and see if he will answer my inquiry of where to find a really great cupcake where the operative word is CAKE. Our next dining adventure with these friends will be to Pure Food and Wine--a very well known raw vegan restaurant. It's gotten really great reviews by carnivores and non-carnivores alike and exuberantly recommended by Bob's nephew and his wife (both big meat eaters) who loved it so much they bought the cookbook and have been enjoying preparing the recipes. 

We spent a few hours on Saturday late afternoon early/evening volunteering at Mother's Kitchen which is a free hot meal program organized by devotees of Amma here in the New York City area.  I had a very wonderful seva (selfless service assignment) which was standing at the entrance door to greet people coming and going, helping them get up and down the steep stairwell leading down to the church hall, carrying their carts or bags up and down the stairs as needed. It was great because even though it is supposed to be selfless volunteering, I wound up getting so much from the many people who came to partake in the meal. Lots and lots of "God Bless You"s, thankful handshakes, hugs, a couple of kisses,and lots of smiles. It was very touching. We won't be able to do it again until probably June or July given our travel and visitor schedule but we already look forward to helping out again.

On Sunday we attended an all day retreat with Br. Dayamrita, one of Amma's chief bramacharis. It was a good gathering of Amma devotees and we've finally started to make some solid inroads in getting to know people and connecting with key people in the NY satsang so as to be more involved with the tour when Amma comes to NYC and for helping with special events as they happen, similar to what we were doing in Seattle. Br. Dayamrita has become noticeably more relaxed, funny, and comfortable in imparting Amma's teachings. There was a lot of wisdom amongst the stories he shared and the answers he gave to questions asked from devotees. We were able to mingle more comfortably having met several devotees at the Queen's Satsang and at Mother's Kitchen.

On Monday I went to my first lab meeting at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and received my official ID badge. I was so happy to get my ID Badge. I've worn one for so long in my work at Children's that it was a very grounding and a wonderfully familiar experience. I was really happy to get it. It was quite interesting to observe the dynamic of this rather large fMRI lab meeting. The project I am working on is a very small study relative to the number of studies being conducted in this lab.  The dysfunction and challenges of making progress in data collection, subject recruitment, equipment failure, writing papers, etc must be universal to all university settings. I am just glad to be in the role of a minion rather than a principal investigator. For now, I am quite happy to mostly have a back seat in all of this. I also got my automatic refilling metro card yesterday. We'd been mostly walking to the majority of our outings but now that I'm needing to get up to 168th more regularly it's great to not have to worry about whether I have enough fare on my card.

I've been busy getting us scheduled to see a number of plays over the next several months: That Championship Season, Good People, The Importance of Being Earnest, House of Blue Leaves.  I need to still buy tickets for a play for when my mom visits. We will probably go see the Lion King or Phantom of the Opera or maybe both, or maybe Billy Elliott.  I am also wanting to schedule Avenue Q for sometime in July.

We got a bookcase delivered for the guest room tonight. The only things left to buy are a filing cabinet and a tall floor lamp. The lighting is terrible in the guest room.  Little by little we continue getting our lives together here in NYC.

forget about crime or crazy drivers, it's the house dust that will kill me

Just finished several hours of cleaning the apartment. I actually don't mind cleaning it for the most part but the dusting is just going to wear me down to a raw nub of a nerve. I don't know if it just particular to where we live in NYC, or what, but the dust accumulates so fast in the apartment. It actually worries me a bit of how much of it I am breathing in day in and day out. I have no idea where it comes from except I guess for when we have the heater on, because otherwise, we keep the windows closed, we don't use the venting option on our air heating/cooling system and we don't have a pet either.  Maybe I just didn't notice it so much in Seattle because I wasn't home much and we had a housekeeper come in once a month. Plus we had a dog there so maybe I attributed more of it to Daisy that I should have. It seems that as soon as I've finished dusting the place, I can already see dust accumulating again. It's an exasperating process and of all that things that bum me out, it's the thought of having to repeatedly dust everything in the apartment. I think the reason it is so hard to take is that I can plainly understand why the kitchen needs to be cleaned and the bathrooms scrubbed, and the apartment swept and vacuumed, and laundry and dishes washed--we USE all those things, they do something for us and in return I am pretty okay with making sure those things stay in good useful order........but DUST just happens all over things that we don't use in obvious ways. I guess it begrudges me that dust imparts itself on me to repeatedly clean it up when I feel like I haven't gotten any useful return on it. It's just a take take take relationship, very unilateral and I resent it!!!  I dust on a weekly basis when it just gets impossible to ignore it but really it should probably be done at least twice if not three times a week--and that's just the obvious most easily noticed places. God forbid anyone look more closely in other rooms other than the living room and entry way.  As much as we have paired down our belonging from our house in Seattle, we still have a lot of clutter and dust collectors. I am seriously thinking about purchasing one of those standing air filters. Supposedly it removes a lot of the dust from the air. This sounds like I am whining a bit but it's really awful.......it depresses me to think about the sisyphusian nature of it all.

It's Official!........and deepening our roots.........

I am now employed with Columbia University....albeit as a very part time employee but all the same, I have an official childpsych Columbia email address and have all the hire paperwork in. I expect to be getting my ID badge soon.  It's kind of exciting for me to have an active university affiliation again. It's rather grounding and so familiar since I've been part of a university setting since 1975 when I started as an undergraduate and then just never really left that setting, just went thru the paces of student, trainee, post-doc, faculty. We will see where this very part time position takes me.....

We also filed our NY state taxes which only furthers the deepening of our roots here.

It's funny how quickly I habituate to certain routines and places. I planned a big grocery run for Tuesday at our tiny but jam packed natural foods market, The Westerly, which is about 3/4 of mile from our apartment. I was all prepared with my granny cart, bags, etc only to find when I got there it they were CLOSED--quite unexpectedly.  They had some emergency wiring or electrical or plumbing problem they were attending to. It was quite an upset for me as well as several others who were longingly looking into the store between the metal mesh barrier pulled down over the windows and doors. There are so many people who shop in that tiny but well stocked store that it felt like a grief and loss support group as we all stood outside the door hoping for any good news about the store opening soon.  No such luck and now their website says they are closed for renovations with no indication of when they are going to re-open.  It took me a while to regroup to make the trip to Whole Foods the next day which is about a mile away--at Columbus Circle, considered the upper west side which caters to a higher level of socio-economic status than mid-town shoppers and tourists. Shopping at WF is just a whole other experience...and not of the enjoyable kind I must say. It's super crowded, and even though Westerly is always crowded because it's a tiny place, WF is really big and still really crowded. People shopping there are also not very friendly in dealing with the crowdedness. At least at Westerly, there seems to be a more shared positive mentality about shopping there and managing the crowded aisles. Not so much at WF.  I must have walked around that place at least 3 or 4 times and never did find the bulk grain section, maybe they don't have one there.  They don't have that much organic produce there either, at least not as much as one would think they should. It wound up costing $13 just to get the groceries delivered as it was too much to take in the granny cart.  All in all an expensive and not very enjoyable shopping substitute.  I am hoping that Westerly re-opens very soon and am already all nostalgic about it's absence!

I also went to my first Clinton Community Garden meeting....this is garden that is gated in the neighborhood. It's semi-private in that you need someone to let you in if you don't have a key, their choice to do so or not. It costs $10 to get a key and join, which we did. Aside from the big open front garden space with trees, flower beds, beehives, a gazebo, benches and paths, they have 108 garden plots in the back half that take years for any one of them to come up for new ownership. They call them plots here whereas we call them P-patches in Seattle. I went to the meeting asking people about their P-patches and they all looked at me like I was crazy until we figured out the shared vocabulary. The meeting was crazy with AFFECT....who would have thought community gardening could be so emotional.  WOW.....lots of disagreement with the required work hours that must be signed off by a committee.......which apparently rubs lots of people the wrong way....and on the other side, lots of tears and hugs when the annual award was given to the person who volunteers in the garden the most!  The coolest thing I found out was that down the street on 43rd between 9th and 10th is the Manhattan Plaza apartments which for the last 30 or 40 years is subsidized housing for those in the actors union. So there are lots of actors/performers just living down the street from us. Most are in the lower levels of the business but all the same, they are long time dedicated to their craft and several were there at the meeting the other night. I joined the CCG as a way to meet people and when not all riled up about their issues, they were actually a very friendly and interesting group of people.  There are a number of community events that happen at the garden and I am looking forward to attending these to get to know these people better.

We have a busy weekend coming up.........Friday night we are trying a new vegan restaurant in the Chelsea neighborhood, Blossom, with friends. Saturday we will volunteer in the afternoon and evening at Mother's Kitchen (an Amma related free meal program) at Ascension Church in the Morningside neighborhood and then attend an all day retreat on Sunday with one of Amma's chief brahmacharis, Dayamrita Chaitanya.  We are looking forward to all these events.

Life goes on................