Relaxing day

This is our house, the before picture. It's a Sears Roebuck kit house, built in the 1920s. Here we have added a garage with bedroom above. This is before Dave planned our garden, and I hope to get a photo of a few of the great improvement that have been made since then.


Dear family and friends,

Thinking of ginger soup, we went with Rachael, who came for a brief visit, to Sherwood's, my favorite local restaurant—and found it locked and darkened. It's gone! You see what happens when I can't get out of the house? We had not been there since before March 16th, the day of my encounter with the sidewalk. I should have called! I should have gone sooner! So of course I had to start a version of ginger soup last night. It needs, I think, a scallion, some coriander, and possibly some other vegetables. We'll see.

The high point of the day was the visit from Rachael, our granddaughter. She will be 25 next month, recently returned from Oslo, and will be starting a new job next week or so: she is at present a freelance cinematographer. Merwin, Rachael and I went for a walk at the Sea Cliff beach, went out for lunch to a restaurant near the shore, and just hung out, talking about both serious and frivolous things. Rachael is easy to talk to. We also went to Dave's house in Glen Cove, which has come a long way since I last saw it. Now that I have my emancipation from the house, I always mean to use a cane, but somehow I got in the car without it. I was pleased to see that I was able to negotiate the steep steps and all without any difficulty. I restricted myself, though, to the house itself, and merely looked out the huge windows to the back yard, which as you can well imagine, if you know Dave's horticultural gifts, is lovely. A high point was the fan over the stove, which Dave designed and had fabricated. It beats anything I have ever seen before.

Another high point was the beautifully designed railings on the second-floor porch. From there, even with the trees in full leaf, you can see a bit of the sound; the house is a block from Morgan Beach.

I also saw Dave's dog, but I am going to keep my distance in spite of my general love for animals. I don't think it's a good idea to have a dog in an unfinished house. There is so much dirt and clutter around—and a dog can add to that or get hurt by that. But Dave is happy with her.

Rachael and Merwin had noticed another asparagus near our pond, so I broke it off, cooked this lightly in butter and gave most of it to Merwin for supper. After our big late lunch we didn't want much. I looked for our new fish butdidn't see any. They are hiding well, I hope.

Our three-year old goldfish having disappeared suddenly, Merwin had gotten new ones. We can only hope that whatever took the others will not get these smaller ones. There is plenty of vegetation for them to hide under, and the pond is surrounded by purple iris now, which might obscure the view of heron, raccoon, or whatever got the fish.

This morning we are going to Queens to visit our friends Harris and Evelyn, a delightful occasion to look forward to.

Love to all,
Bernice