Surprise.

Today I set out to make yogurt and made, instead, cheese. Cheese curds, anyway. I don’t know how it happened.

Back.

Two annoyances I thought nearly done returned in full force: ants, and a blocked ear. Damned irritating, both of them.

Frosty.

Opinions & Ideas No One Asked Me For #2. Getting peevy so early! but I think it’s relatively mild and harmless: I don’t like ice cube perfection cultists. Perfectly clear ice, one cube the size of Rhode Island or two exquisite spheres buffed to remove the join line, exactly 1 cm per side and exactly 17 per drink, crushed and only crushed BUT STOP NO FURTHER CRUSHING, any of that. People who like a cute shape just for fun, that’s different and acceptable; it’s not pseudo religion.

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Gold and purple.

Gold[ie] and [Cherokee] Purple are so, so close.

The Bunch of Tomatoes: A Tale of Suspense

The first Kumato [? — I am dubious] bunch, as babies — note the slow-drop shape:

 

Progress:

 

Almost! (but wait, weren’t there five?):

Drama:

The survivors offer themselves to me:

 

roadway rests. 3.2

The enclosure at Hadramout on Atlantic, seen in the previous post, has already been improved with a marquee.

Roadway restaurants, addendum

A few more I happened to see last evening. First is actually an action view of one I showed, empty, yesterday, the Longshoreman bar just a block from my house, on Columbia Street. Kind of a horse-country vibe with the white cross-gate fences and the potted plants.

Then a few from Court Street, heading south. You can see that the Frankies folks have colonized a long stretch of the block with an aggressively rough-hewn look, right opposite the smaller red-framed and -topped space.

And more along Court. This first one has country-house detailing, for those of us taking our summer vacation on asphalt. The benches let them use the sidewalk too.

Roadway restaurants.

I’m interested in the ad hoc, quickly installed enclosures local restaurants have made to set up tables and chairs in the road, while indoor dining is still forbidden and presumably while and when it is restricted. The program, called Open Restaurants, allows a restaurant to claim space on the sidewalk, if it’s wide enough, or in the public road. (The program is run by the NYC Department of Transportation; the description is here. Restaurants do have to submit an application, but they’re allowed to certify themselves without inspection.) I am sure that within a few months these will be professionalized; I hear that the Upper East Side ones are already fancy. I saw these on a walk through Carroll Gardens, along Smith Street to Atlantic, west on Atlantic and back home—nothing scientific, just a slightly extended neighborhood stroll.

The white-picket-fence esthetic is applied to the street enclosure (next photo)

Painted to match the tree bench at the right, a longstanding feature

Both sides of Atlantic Ave.

Minimal.

High top tables strung along the sidewalk, broad here (more to the right, well beyond the bar’s front)

Extending an existing street cafe.

Surface.

Under construction

On the sidewalk.

For a pizza shop to the left. A few inches into the bike lane.

Some loaves, with bonus

 

 

Bonus cat is in no danger

Some more pictures.

 

Look out!

Brooklyn Army Terminal

Also 2018. Casey is practically in college now.