The Hands of a Farmer and the dreams of a Space Cadet

First off, my hands, as the blog post title indicates, are in dire need of love and attention. They are ripped up and dry. I wear gloves as much as possible, but that's not enough. Tonight Aaron and I drove to Lowe's to get a few more supplies and one of them is a product I hope works to repair my hands. It's called O'Keeffe's Working Hands Hand Cream. I'll take a before and after photo if it works. 

Aaron has been helping me to paint the studio, or as my father keeps calling it: The Clubhouse. I don't know where he's getting that from. Painting the studio is a lot more work than we initially thought it would be. Most of the painting is on plywood or raw wood. Even though it was already painted, it's still a lot of work. We had to get extra nappy roller brushes and the nylon paint brushes we have are being shredded. Hopefully everything will be done by Thursday afternoon. Here are some photos of our progress:

The back of the studio- the back door leads to a fenced in porch that is too narrow for my taste and also a fenced in backyard that was for the dogs. It is now where Wanda One-Eye lives. 

Wanda One-Eye and her new digs.

Wanda showing off her missing eye side.

A better portrait of my special chicken girl. She's gotten so comfortable with me that she comes to me when I go to visit her and she coos when I pet her. She likes to spend her afternoons watching us while we paint.

The area that I think will be my art space.

Aaron working hard. He finished this room today and it looks marvelous. 

Taking a break to help Dad with some computer questions.

The kitchen and bedroom in the back

After painting that brown wall, with a view of the back of the studio and gas heater.

After I did some painting, I decided the shelves had to be removed. Aaron took care of that for me.

Shelves removed, wall painted in kitchen.

The bedroom wall. The stacked brown box things are the cupboards that were originally installed over the toilet in the bathroom. (To the left in this picture) I don't think I want them re-installed.

The other side of the bedroom. I just finished painting this today. From this window I can see to the tree that the Guinea fowl roost and also the Pit of Time.

After looking at these photos, I realize the original color of the walls is poorly represented. The color is less yellow and more peach. In fact, the color we are trying to paint over is somewhere in between yellow and peach... and it doesn't sit well with me. The brown for sure had to go and in the bathroom- of which I have not yet taken photos of- is a dark maroon color. So I have decided to just paint everything white and see where I go from there. My experience is that having an all white apartment helps make it feel bigger and more airy and the artwork I hang is so colorful, that anything other than white would be too much. The raw wood, what little is left unpainted from the previous owners, will eventually be varnished. Some of it is really beautiful and I think I can help it look beautiful without it giving me splinters. 

Also, there has been some requests to post photos of the main house. I don't have a lot of photos so far, but what I do have is this:

The kitchen

Aaron in the dining room after breakfast.

The gas stove that sits to the side of the dining area.

The living room with all of my stuff in it. This view is from the kitchen.

The other side of the living room.

The back wall of the living room. If you were facing this way and turned around, you would be looking out the front window to the main road.

The guest bathroom just off the living room and kitchen area.

The sink of the guest bathroom.

The view of the side door from the living room, looking through the kitchen.

I'll try to take more photos tomorrow, and maybe even a video tour! 

The only other news I can report is that I made oatmeal date & raisin cookies and did a few more twists to my usual recipe and they came out amazing. I would have liked them a bit crispier, but I am still getting used to this particular oven. 

Oh, and also we had a swarm of ladybugs in the yard today and it was WEIRD. We were covered in them and the house was too. It was like dawn of the dead but with ladybugs. 

Wait wait- I know I keep saying this but for serious, ONE LAST THING: (and it's the best)

Last night I had the best dream in the history of ever! I dreamt I was invited to go into space and visit another planet with humanoids living on it. And I was invited to participate in the ultra cool activity by GOD. No joke. GOD invited me to come see His other creations. Turns out, GOD is a pretty cool dude. Who knew? We hung out for a while at a craft fair and looked at the local artwork and saw this other world's version of a crocodile herd shuffle down one of the alleys of the arts and crafts festival. We sampled some treats, talked to people while lounging on beautiful woven blankets and learned a lot about this other world. GOD just wanted me and the others to see what else he created besides us, and since we were his first, he wanted to share his new work with us! When we got back to our world, He asked me to join the team permanently and so of course I say yes. Why would anyone turn that offer down?  But after I say yes, I find out that I actually just joined up with the Ghostbusters! Seriously! And we were headed off on another exploration adventure. GOD had the Stay-Puff marshmallow man come to send us off on our next voyage. It was an amazing reunion- everyone was crying tears of joy to see an old friend. And then it was time for us to be transported and GOD ushered us down to the meadow that we were set to leave from, and the Stay-Puff marshmallow man saluted us as we went. Then I woke up. 

Seriously, I do not exaggerate when I say it was the best dream I have ever had EVER.

An eventful day

Today Aaron and I painted the ceiling of the studio where I will live eventually. We had prepped yesterday and got a lot done today. Tomorrow will be the walls. It is more of a pain in the ass than regular painting because the ceiling and walls are untreated plywood. They were/are previously a peachy cream color that was not my style. There is also a dark brown paint in the kitchen area and the bathroom is maroon.

Towards the end of the day Wiley started limping and licking his right paw excessively. He's a total drama queen, and I have learned not to panic even when he is. He was acting as if it were broken or cut badly. Neither of those things seem to be the case. In fact, for the 2 hours before the paw issue came around, he was sleeping soundly on the floor of the main room while Aaron and I painted in the bathroom and kitchen. So we have no idea what happened but I ended up having to stop early and CARRY him back down to the main house. Yes, 30 pounds of dramatic, panicky dog in my arms as I walk down a hill of uneven terrain. I am pleased to report that I didn't fall and break both our necks. Once I got him in the house and had him laying on his bed, I gave him his 'happy' pills (yes, prozac for dogs and OF COURSE Wiley takes it- why would you think he didn't?) and an anti-histimine to help him chill and address any swelling his paw might have. An hour later I had to go close up the barn and when I came back, the high prince of all things drama was up and jumping on me with waggy tail and all. He even followed me upstairs when I went to go change out of my stinky work clothes. So... long story short (too late!)... Wiley is fine. He's now eaten his dinner and is back napping on his bed. My family might think it's funny that I ended up with a dog as dramatic as Wiley, seeing as I was known for my over-the-top reactions to the mundane when I was younger.

The other news of the day is that the hens have a whole new area to run around in! There is a fenced in area- longer than it is wide- right next to their old muddy run. So Aaron clipped an opening in the fence for them and they all got super excited and ran right through to explore their new world. In the meantime, Wanda One-Eye has taken up residency in the backyard of the studio. If I haven't mentioned before, the studio has a fenced in little yard attached to it. There's no protective roof, since it was really just for the dogs, but I blocked it off and put Wanda in there. I gave her a little structure for a home- an an old dog crate with her old branch to roost on. I also put an old blanket I found in the barn over the crate to give her some shelter and I found an old door from a kitchen that serves as a roof, just in case it rains. I'll work on creating something better for her over the next week, but I think she's super happy to be out of that cramped cage that she was in before. Now, she's able to roam all over the grass and stretch her wings. And she's even able to peer into the studio and watch me, which is what I suspect she will do a lot of. The only thing is that I have to go and put her into the crate and close the door at night so that she stays safe from predators. But that's not a big deal. She's comfortable around me already and lets me pick her up and even pet her. I'll take photos tomorrow.

Tomorrow I should be getting my truck and once I do, Aaron and I will go and get a door for his room and a new mattress for him. We will also do our best to finish painting the studio.

Week One DONE

Today was a beautiful day and it was made even more beautiful by a visit from my Grandma Faye. She’s on her way down to Florida and she stopped for a few days to visit us and our parents in Tennessee. This afternoon my parents and Grandma Faye came over from Knoxville for lunch and to spend the afternoon on the farm with Aaron and me. She surprised us with a most excellent housewarming gift- a Webber grill! My Dad and Aaron promptly put it together and we grilled burgers on it for the inaugural grilling. After lunch, Mom, Dad and Aaron went off to inspect the back barn and Grandma Faye and I unpacked some of my boxes that contained glasses and other fragile things. Then we all went out to try and get a view of the Guinea fowl. Wiley was helpful in locating them but then he had to go and chase them around- because, well, he’s a dog and he can’t help it. He enjoys making them run and fly but he never tries to catch them.

Once Grandma Faye got to see them, it was the end of the visit and the old folks piled into their car and drove away. I am looking forward to them coming back soon, but with their busy schedules I think it will be a few weeks. Mom promised to come and help me get the garden ready for winter and Dad will be wonderful at helping us dig through the barns and decipher what is junk and what could be kept and put to use. If my studio was coming together quicker, I would ask Grandma Faye to help me organize and decorate, but I think I won’t be moving in there for a few weeks. 

For now, I’m happy and cozy on the second floor of the main house. Aaron is settled in the master bedroom as much as he can be without his furniture. He’s been sleeping on the air mattress our parents lent us and I know it is not so comfortable. It’s better than the crappy one he brought along from Columbus, but a real bed would be much better. We plan to set up two guest rooms in the house, so I am thinking we could go get a mattress for a guest room and he could use that now; but I STILL don't have my truck. 

Speaking of my truck, I found out today that I will probably be getting it on Monday. I’m bummed because I was expecting it today, but Monday will be here before I know it and I’ll be doing all the chores that we are putting off because we don’t have a truck. It’s amazing how important a truck becomes when you live on a farm.

In other news, my girls laid 4 eggs yesterday and I’m so happy they did! They are beautiful eggs and nice and big. Tomorrow Aaron will help me make their living space bigger. I was hoping to move them to the barn for the winter, but I just have too many other more important projects. This solution will keep them safe, give them more room to forage and they will still have their familiar roost at night. I will have to do more back stretches and strengthening exercises so that stooping in to their coop doesn’t break me. This morning, just thinking of going to the coop and doing my chores there made me even more aware of the pain in my spine. 

Hilda has defined herself as our cat. Or rather, she has claimed us as her humans. 

Here are some photos from today:

Wiley looking to the upper field this morning.

Wiley begging for breakfast.

I think he spied the Guiena fowls..

Hilda sleeping in a funny position on the chair outside the side door.

Wiley totally pooped out after my parents and Grandma Faye visited.

A rose picked before the frost. It's really interesting because one side of the petal is red and the other is white.

You can see the two colors better in this view.

The last yellow rose... post frost. I should have clipped it before the first frost. Oh well.

First few days on the farm

I spent my first night on the farm Sunday night. I would have written about it sooner, but I didn't get internet connection until yesterday. To be honest, I still cannot believe that internet is possible way out here! But a nice man came by- a true southern gent- and set me up with a phone and internet. We have to be a bit 20th century out here in the sticks and have a real land line! It's crazy- I think I'm the only one of my friends who has one. If you want to give me a call, email me and I'll give you the number. I don't have an answering machine yet, so if I don't answer after a few rings, try again later. Cell phone service is iffy out here. It can work, but you have to be standing out in the driveway.

So much has happened in the past 3 days I am not sure where to start. Do I begin with the chickens and how much they love me? The epic battles between Wiley and Hilda, AKA Daisy, AKA Lady Gaga, AKA Queen Kitty? Should I tell of the biting furry caterpillars? The cute table I found and am restoring or perhaps I should start with the "Pit of Time" that has relics from decades past buried in it....

I'll begin with the chickens. My hens have now begun to recognize me and get all excited when I come by the coop. They come around and start clucking their happy song, which to my ears sounds like, "oooooh...here she coooooommmes....I hope she brings treats....ooooo....oooo..". The one eyed chicken I am adopting as my particular pet and in honor of the woman I inherited the chickens from, I am naming her Wanda. In my opinion Wanda One-Eye is the best chicken ever. I re-did her perch so it's much more stable now and I gave her new bedding and replaced her water tank with a small basin, perched on some rocks. I find it easier to dump the old water and replace it with new like this. I'm thinking about moving all the chickens to another location inside the barn, but it will need a lot of work before it's ready.

Wiley has taken to farm life very well so far. He harasses the cats but I am no longer worried that he will hurt them. I watch him closely when he's around them and he is very deferential to them. He jumps around them and gives them lots of play bows and generally invites them to play with him and chase him. Too bad the cats don't speak dog! When they don't play with him, he barks at them and then looks at me. As soon as his head is turned the cats generally take off and Wiley chases them. That part he just can't help. They're too fast for him and can jump great heights. I hope over time that the cats and the dog will come to a middle ground and figure out how they can play with each other. I suspect it will mostly be the cats teasing Wiley and Wiley falling for it EVERY SINGLE TIME.

The queen cat- Hilda- is the smallest of the cats but she rules her minions with an iron fist. She eats first and slaps and hisses any cat who comes near her food. We do feed the cats once a day, just to supplement their rodent diet. Wiley and Hilda have started to figure out their friendship but I think she's a devious little cat because she keeps luring Wiley out to the road. She might be trying to murder him and take his place. Lately she's been pawing at the door in the evening and not just the back door but the front one too. Wiley wants to play with her just as much as he wants to play with the other cats but she just sits and stares him down, occasionally hissing and howling at him. He thinks it is part of the game.... and perhaps it is.

The wildlife here is pretty standard- except for the brown and black furry caterpillars that bite. I found one yesterday on my ankle. Their bites sting but don't leave a welt or anything. Last night we thought we had an animal on the property so we went out with a shotgun (Aaron) and a flashlight (me) but we found nothing.

There are a ton of interesting things all over the farm- mostly in the barn. I have found a deli meat slicer, a collection of miniature goblets, french onion soup mugs, a few knives, a broken shovel, an ice cooler on wheels, a lawn umbrella, a large rubbermaid container, a chainsaw, a wet vac, and the list goes on and on. It's like doing an excavation! Speaking of excavations, the PIT OF TIME is located just behind the red barn. It's a sink hole that has decades of junk in it that is now starting to churn up. Most of it is glass but I also found an old rusty tricycle and a variety of buckets. While I'm digging through there, I keep hoping I don't find... body parts.


Here are some photos:

Wiley on the first night.

First morning looking out the front door.

The front of the chicken coop.

A better look at the ladies. In the front you can see Wanda One-Eye.

A look up to the red barn/studio with Wiley laying in the front.

Looking to Post Oak Bridge Road- South view from the front steps.

First sunset at the farm.

The donkeys across the street.

The Queen- Hilda!

The no-name cat- I just keep calling her Sweetie.

The Goon Squad! Lucy and Carl.

My poor old girls!

I've been a terrible chicken guardian! I have recently discovered that I have been giving my girls too much junk food. No wonder they have warmed up to me so quickly! My father had asked his PT about what is the best feed for chickens and since his PT grew up on a farm with a lot of chickens, he gave us a lot of great advice. One of the things I am going to do, besides cut back on the junk food, is I am going to open up their run so that they can have a larger area to forage.

Photos

The broken tree.

The Guinea's new home (door on the left)

Moving in and taking stock

I officially took over the farm on Wednesday. It has been an exhausting week and it's not over yet. I am not actually staying at the farm because my Mom is out of town and my Dad doesn't want to be alone. He says it's because he is worried about me being alone at the farm, but I know the truth.

I don't yet have a truck- the 'one step forward- two step back' dance that has been going on in regards to purchasing a truck is too intricate and annoying to go into details. I could tell you all about it, but I'll spare you the confusion and myself the stress. Bottom line is that I should be borrowing my Mom's car for the week and getting my truck next week. It's being delivered from another dealership to the one near the farm. It will be a Toyota Tacoma 2014 with the SR5 4x4 package. Originally I was looking at used Tacomas from about 8 years ago but then I had to get my Dad to co-sign the loan (so embarrassing but thank GOD he's totally happy and able to do it) so when my Dad got into researching the Tacoma, he wanted me to have the newest one I could and has gotten me a very, very sweet deal on a 2014. What would I do without him?! My Dad rules. He's a born researcher, prone to worrying (hey that's where I get it from!) but he's a dedicated Dad. Anyhow, the color choice I have for the truck seems to change so often, that at this point, it could be neon pink and I'd take it; just to be done with the whole process. Once I get it, I'll post some photos. I might be crying in disbelief and joy in those photos.

The farm is in need of a deep clean. The people who moved out did clean it, but I want to do my own cleaning to really make sure I'm starting fresh. Also, I want to toss all the old junk that was left in the barns and around the property. For example, there is a box of rusty nails and screws, a jar caked in mud with a weird pipe cleaner doll jammed inside it and a spool of twine that some creature has gnawed through half of.

The one major bummer about me not living on the farm this past week is that I had planned to be painting all this week in preparation for my furniture arriving next week. But now I will have to paint with all my stuff piled up in the center of the rooms. So it goes.... not much else I can do about it.

Wednesday my Dad and I drove to the farm with Wiley. He just about lost his little doggie brain over being free to run all over the place and pee everywhere. We unpacked a bunch of stuff and while my Dad checked around the house and studio, I went to take care of the cats and chickens. I also had to clean out the pool filter. First thing, I want to grade the ground between the barn and the main house! I almost broke my ankle in a few hidden ruts.

The chickens (AKA The Ladies, AKA My Girls) were doing fine even if they look like someone has been exposing them to radioactive material. They are elderly hens and are loosing some of their feathers. Well, A LOT of their feather.... but I don't judge! I don't need pretty hens! They give me eggs and make lovely silly noises at me and what else can I ask for? There is one who is missing almost all of her neck feathers and another who is missing quite a few tail feathers .. poor old things. But the one who has it worst is the hen with a missing eye.... (I'm laughing so hard right now at how my chickens must sound to you all....) She has to be kept separate from the rest of the flock because if the others got a hold of her they would murder her. MURDER! I was told that they would just peck her to death. Chickens are not... smart. Though, maybe they are very smart. Maybe it's that they would kill the weakest of them so as not to attract attention from predators and risk the whole flock being massacred. Hmm... perhaps my old girls are wiser than I was lead to believe.

In any case, they gave me about 15 eggs over two days! My Dad and I are enjoying the farm fresh eggs quite a bit. Today they just pooped out 2 eggs. Out of about 8 old hens, that's not so bad in my book. Eventually I am going to build them a much better hen house. Better for them, better for me to stand in. I can't keep stooping.

The cats are good. The littlest one, who came to us with the name Daisy, is the queen. She rules over her compatriots with an iron fist. I am thinking of re-naming her Hilda. There are two yellow cats that I can only remember one's name. Lucy. Her brother... he might be Carl. In any case they are big and don't look so bright. I think of them as the Goon Squad. The last cat is a beautiful Himalayan with blue eyes. I don't know if it's a girl or boy but she's noisy and Hilda (Daisy) likes to give her the ol' "What For!?".

Eventually I'd like to create a nicer space for them in the barn. Right now it's pretty crappy and sad looking.... a lot like the hen house. Wiley wants to play with the cats and they seem to think that's not a good idea. But they DO enjoy teasing him and he enjoys chasing after them and then whining when they go to places he can't reach.

This whole week I have not seen the Guinea fowl at all and was worried that they had become someone's dinner or that they decided to go elsewhere. Wednesday night there was a big storm and the half dead tree that they roost in, cracked at the base and fell. Luckily no structure was affected and no animal was injured. But today, while walking the top field with Wiley, we spied the Guineas! They were all freaked out and hid when they saw us, but I'm so glad to see that they are OK and still hanging around. After seeing them, I did a closer look around the tree that fell to try and figure out where they are now roosting. Turns out- they are in the section of the barn next to the cats! Smart Guineas! It's a much better deal for them. It's dry and safe with the cat security next door.

Across the street from the farm is an old black walnut tree. I've been collecting the nuts and have them in a bucket. Last night I watched a video on how to harvest them. It's intricate and takes a few weeks, but sounds like it's really worth it. These trees only produce fruit every other year so it's smart to take what you can when they drop. The key is to use gloves that will protect you hands from getting stained. I thought the gloves I had grabbed were good enough. NOPE. First my fingers turned weirdly yellow and then black. Because I stopped and scrubbed quickly, it doesn't look so bad. Tomorrow I'll use better gloves and wear an apron. But from what I have read and watched, the black walnut is very difficult to crack- you have to use a hammer and even then you have to do more work for the nut flesh. They will last me 2 years if I keep them in the freezer tightly packed. The flavor should be very different from the English walnut- which is the one that most people think of when you say 'walnut'. That one has an easier shell to crack and a more mild flavor. I'm looking forward to baking with this native North American nut. I bet they'd be great in zucchini bread.

The news back in Knoxville is that I'm getting Wiley and Scout (my parent's 18 year old Main Coon) to be more used to each other. Tonight I got Scout to chill with me and Wiley on my bed. Both animals were calm and no issues arose! My Dad is at a play that I was supposed to go with him to but I got home so late and was so tired that I stayed behind to rest. I wanted to see this play, but it was not meant to be this time around. There was a lot of traffic tonight on my way back to my parent's house and what should have taken me just under an hour, took two hours.

OH!!! AND LASTLY!

I won an aquaponics system!!! I got a call from Randy at Today's Green Acres where I took the aquaponics course in September and he told me that I won the contest for the 64 sq foot system. I am so excited! I'm going to pick it up next week. All I will have to add is water, fish and seeds! Aaron is equally excited as we were planning on building a system that size as our testing station.

I think that's it.... My furniture should arrive Sunday or Monday, My Mom comes back on Tuesday, My Grandma Faye arrives on Wednesday.... I think. I might have days mixed up.

A lot is happening this month.

NYC Weekend

My dear friends Jessica and Russ got married this past Saturday! I was able to go and celebrate with them and it was a wonderful ceremony. I cried and cried and cried! I'm such a sucker for real, honest romance. I don't like all those silly romantic comedies or romantic drama movies, but the real life stuff gets me every time. Anyway, it was great to be back in the city that I call home. 

I got in on Thursday and went out that night with Jessica and a pack of ladies for her bachelorette party. It was crazy fun! We were in the meatpacking district and had a great dinner at a very cool spot. Then a few of us went off to the Gansevoort Hotel rooftop bar and drank a lot. We decided that most of the clientele were Russian prostitutes with their Johns. I took a cab back to my cousin's apartment and woke up the next morning with the worst hangover I have ever had in my life. At least I didn't wake them or their dog Twiggy up!

Friday afternoon I had lunch with my friend Naoko at a new place in my old neighborhood Murray Hill. It was very good- called Hendrick's. We saw a woman finish off a bottle of wine by herself. It was a sad sight. She was an older woman and looked very unhappy. She was eating too, and at the end of her meal I think there was a problem with her paying. The manager came over, there was a card being handed back and forth- not a credit card. Anyway, she was still there when we left. 

Friday night I had dinner with my cousins at their place and afterward I met up with Russ, his father Jeff, Josh G., and another friend of Russ' named Matt. We had some drinks at Russ' place in Long Island City. It was great to be back and it felt like I had never left. Josh drove me back into the city, which was out of his way, but I was grateful for the lift. As a side note, when Ryker saw me, it was the most wonderful celebration of old friends getting back together! He danced around me, kissed me, and jumped on me. And normally I wouldn't let him jump on me, this time, I made an exception! I had to, he made me beyond happy.

Saturday I got up early and went back to LIC to spend the whole day in my old neighborhood. First I had brunch at Casa Enrique with Shannon and Casey. Then we met up with Tamar and they gave me a tour of the new building's outdoor rooftop area. It was something that I had watched from my old apartment being built over this past year. I saw my old apartment windows, and someone had moved in. I hope they love it as much as I did. After that, Shannon went to join the search for a local boy who had been missing for a week. It's a very upsetting story and I'm impressed, though not surprised, that Shannon is playing such an active role in the search and rescue effort.

Casey, Tamar and I went to Alobar on Vernon for Tamar's brunch and Casey and I just had some cocktails. Then I went to Russ' apartment and relaxed with him and his father a bit before they left for pre-wedding activities. I went and got my hair done while Tamar and Casey got their nails done and then it was goodbye LIC! I caught a ride with Jerry and Rebecca out to the Temple in Great Neck and we partied all night. 

Sunday I had brunch with my cousins and then I spend the afternoon in Central Park before meeting up with my old Calyspo pals- Lori, Sharon, Josh and Yuka. Having dinner with them in Nolita made me more homesick for NYC and my life there than anything else. It was just like old times. I tried really hard not to cry when I said goodbye to them. They all promised to come for a visit on the farm and I promised I would be back. I was sorry to hear I'd miss Yuka's big show she and her quartet are playing tonight (Thursday the 17th) at the Kitano on Park Ave.

I flew back to Knoxville the next morning. Overall it was a wonderful trip and not quite long enough. I have two regrets. The first is that I didn't get to see Alyse. She was away in California working, so that sucked. The other is that I didn't get to go for a dog walk with Russ and Ryker. There just wasn't time.

Here are some photos:

The view from my cousin's apartment on the 28th floor, looking south from 88th and 1st on the Upper East Side.

A self portrait before being picked up to go to the wedding.

Me and Russ' neighbor Rebecca. She and her boyfriend Jerry drove me to the Temple. 

Not the greatest photo of my two friends and old neighbors- Ezra and Eleni at the wedding.

Jessica and Russ at their wedding table listening to her father give a speech.

Me and Russ

Josh!

I'm looking at Josh like this because he got a dessert that no one else got. 

The morning after

Sunday night I took the 6 down to Bleecker- one of my most favorite spots in the city. Lots of great memories there from over the years.