What a birthday!

Dear Friends and family,

We went to NYC yesterday. I wanted to post photos but am having trouble, so I'll just tell the story. Our first stop in Manhattan was the NYPL, where I left my Enfolded Hamlets book for Jay, who was not there yesterday. (The first copy of my book had been stolen from the open shelves.) We took a look at the Allen Room, and though I have not been able to work at the library since the pelvic break on 3-16, my shelf was intact, with the books I was using then.

We were in our apartment by early afternoon having grabbed a bite to take to the apartment at Zyrtec, the excellent emporium next door. What a pleasure to be back in NYC. Bryant Park was hopping. Broadway musicals blasting from the 6th Ave stage till 1 p.m.

The scaffolding is gone! The building is clean! and what a difference! The recently restored south and west sides of the NYPL, which we see from our window, are now brightly visible to us. All the buildings sparkle with a brightness we have not seen for months and months. The scaffolding, with its yellowish plastic sheathing, did not seem especially onerous, but now that it is gone, it is amazing. Already two pigeons have made their way to the ledge in front of our windows, billing and cooing, kissing, beak to beak. They also groom each other, or they may be little kisses— peck, peck. The wonderful buildings in view are white or beige with caps of white clouds on their heads. It's one of those perfect days. I am so very happy here. It is a joy to enter our lovely building.

There are apartments for sale right now, including a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, penthouse duplex with a large terrace for $999,999, reduced from 1,100,000. There's a one-bedroom for $689,000 and another one bedroom for $679,000. These smaller apartments are about twice as big as our studio. But this little space is good for us. I am very happy here, with Merwin reading TLS not more than 7 feet away from me. (Thanks Kathryn for the copies of TLS; they are always worth reading even when they don't have anything Hamlet-ish, which is what I am looking for specifically.

One of the fliers announcing the apartments for sale mentioned that our building is the only residential building in the whole Bryant Park area, which would take in 42nd, 40th, and 6th Ave. between 40th and 42th. It's fine with us: the street is every busy, subway and bus lines are close by, and while it is not a hopping neighborhood, it has what we want.

A little after 4 I made my way alone by cab to Barbara's apartment—and that neighborhood, the lower East Side IS hopping, full of restaurants and young people along with the remnant from the old Bowery. Kathryn had phoned Barbara's from Italy to wish me a happy birthday and had sent Pro Seco for us to drink a toast. She called again after I arrived to sing the birthday song to me and speak to all individually. Wow, what attention. We read our pieces, only 5 of us, so we could more or less take our time. I wrote about Ron McLarty's book, "The Dropper," which I enjoyed very much. We got to the restaurant, Boca Chica, a wonderful East Side sort of place with delicious food, low prices, attentive staff—everything one could want in sweet, friendly place. See the reviews at http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/boca-chica/ The writing group treated both me and Merwin to supper—and sang Happy Birthday! Most of the customers and staff joined in. My oh my, I was embarrassed. Hedda drove us home. What a day! Now the big event of today is working on HW if I can and getting ready, minimally for 4 guests for the week. This is the sort of thing I usually love to do, but my condition is not helpful, especially the swollen feet that make it difficult to walk. I know, though, how to pare work down to a minimum. So I plan to concentrate on the fun. We'll see how the week unfolds.

Right now I can look back at my 77th birthday (How did this happen to me, this advanced age?), and I will remember it for all the love, Face book messages, email and phone messages. Why, you'd think I was 100 rather than 77! But considering how I was last year, 77 is an achievement.

Love to all,
Bernice