pools and markets

Astoria NY Pool
This pool does not allow pool toys. Or polaroid cameras. But it's free if you bring a padlock so that's cool. And it's super huge.
It was the perfect day to go to the pool-- not a single cloud in the sky. There were a ton of people in the water but at 3:00 the pool had to take a lunch break so everyone left for an hour.



Punk Rock Flea Market in Philly:
There was so much great stuff here. I bought a damn fine dress which I haggled down to $10! What a steal!

philly fourth

The film in my polaroid camera is a little old so it didn't come out as nice as I would have liked. Plus I was a little far away. Whatever, still cool.

nyc

I took a 2 hour, $16.50, bus from Philadelphia to nyc this weekend for one night in Manhattan and one night in Queens.
Family, friends, cats, bagels, food: a perfect trip.

Friday night we went for Thai food and saw some fake looking mammatus clouds at sunset.



I took a polaroid of the Manhattan Bridge on Sunday before my chinatown bus pealed out of the lot.

The process:

The Result:

National Zoo

Having never seen a real live panda before I went to the National Zoo (free entry!) on Saturday to bask in all things Panda.

He's playing the flute!


This is the Giant Panda Behavior Research Center:

Seriously, she sits there all day and watches live, closed circuit security feeds of pandas. A hilarious job that I want to have but that might really be boring.
She's actually turning up the volume which makes no sense at all.

and I saw the elephants...

I'm baaaaack

My first pleasure of being back in America was realizing that my most precious suitcase was lost in Paris or Ireland. I'm extremely paranoid about my luggage being lost but when it actually happened I was stunned...but accepting. Of course. I had literally put all my nicest things in that bag, betting in my mind while packing that it would be the uglier, less mobile, black duffel bag that would be lost if a bag had to be lost. But no, the useless duffel bag (containing not much more than a bed spread) and I had to leave the airport without the rectangular, sturdy, pinkish easy roller bag-- Olympia. She held all my underwear, bath supplies, precious items, and regular rotation clothing.
Lost on Monday, she was returned to me on Wednesday. But I had pretty much accepted that I would never see that bag again: probably destroyed by airport security robots for being unattended, or picked up by an elderly couple who can't recognize their own things, or just stolen on purpose to be picked apart and sold on the black market-- and then there she was. Like those animals in homeward bound but delivered by fedex truck from Ireland.

Anyway, that was somewhat stressful but I may have overreacted.

Then, once home I was happy to find this Elvis lunch box waiting in my room. Thanks mom, I love it and will be using it.
though, he sort of looks like he could be a character on the Munsters in that background photo...


And since back, I've already visited the DC natural history museum where, impressed by its size, I unintentionally posed in front of the same turtle I stood in front of as an awkward, pre-teen tourist many years ago:

so large

aaaahahahaha, classic, I knew I recognized him.
same turtle, and I haven't changed either.

We also went to the Renwick museum, where I took this lovely picture:

it's the dentures

And, of course, it's great to see my love, Fluffy. Don't be fooled, those cataracts give her terminator-like vision:

She worries but waits politely for tea to be served at 5

Last Bits of Paris

This is my plant. He sits on the balcony:
I bought him at the market to replace the 2 I killed by leaving outside for the winter.

Mom and dad came for graduation: which made it to the BBC website.
It's the same theater where they hosted the César (the French Oscars) award ceremony...which basically means nothing.


When they first arrived and were approaching my building I spotted them on the street. Mom took this hilarious picture of me signaling the location 7 floors up:

street view: my door

We made a trip to Versailles since I had never been before either. It was grand...but not as grand as I had hoped...for some reason. I really shouldn't have been disappointed by Versailles but I was. It's not small but I guess I thought it was even bigger. During our tour of the palace mom got separated and violated all laws of being lost by continuing through the exhibit and wandering outside alone while dad and I waited at the point of disappearance and various exits unable to even come up with the idea that she would continue without us.

"ehhh"

Dad doesn't like onion bread. So once my parents left I went to the Jewish bakery for one last hearty treat: the Classic Yiddish sandwich-- onion bread with turkey, tomatoes, pickles, cucumbers, and at least 2 special sauces...maybe even 3.
We sat at place de vosges on the blanket that I stole from air france.



Here is my last polaroid of Paris...for now. I almost didn't take this one because I never wanted to drag my camera to school and walk the 2 blocks to the tower. But I knew I'd be mad at myself if I didn't have the picture because I seem to have a collection of monument photos going. So we went on the last day and waived bye up her iron skirt.

Family Potluck

The potluck was a huge success:

Every dish was delicious and diverse.

Sunday Market

red peppers, purple flowers

We went off to the Bastille market again to get supplies for an upcoming potluck dinner. And more chevre cheese for now:




Apologies to anyone who ever reads this thing hoping to see something by Abe. He has lost all ability to virtually compose.

Fripe Star!

Fripe means thrift in French! or, second-hand clothes.
So thrift stores have funny names like "Free'p Star" or "Free People."

I found these sublime "walking shorts" for 5€ while fripping yesterday!

As you can see, I'm prettyyy happy about it.

I've been hunting for a high-waisted, short floral skirt with plenty of movement. Haven't found it yet but I'm sure there's one waiting for me out there.