Chance = Change

...as ever....and the men started drilling outside our windows early...it is one of those city-required co-op building repair projects that have to be done every 5 years for the safety of both the building and the passers-by below: fixing the pointing, the mortar between layers of brick,etc. Our building is good at upkeep. The New Yorker's firm need to control his or her world is highly evident in the building residents here at 890. No problem, large or small or even miniscule, escapes the scrutiny of those who want it done their way! You know the image of the little Italian grandmother,wrapped in her black shawl, who sits at her window and reports on all the doings of her street from her P.O.V. of superiority, and by whom nothing passes? It sometimes feel like we have an entire cadre of little Italian grandmothers who, with internet access, report and complain about every little thing this building goes through. And they want it fixed RIGHT NOW! No area is safe from their scrutiny, from the basement washing machine room to the tip top of the building, where the workmen (have the misfortune of having to) start work each day on this pointing project: our little IG's (as I shall call these italian grandmas from now on) have something to say, an opinion to get on record, a demand they want met. But, you know? Why not? It's their home and their life...i admire their strength in asking for what they want. Commenting on what they see as wrong with the planet. Their planet.


Sun brightly shining...and I feel better today than I have in a while. Will meet Paul D. for coffee, then coach a Steinhardt student (a favorite of mine who is beyond gifted...yet ignored in casting far too often, so we are working on her upcoming auditions for the school show)..then a few hours in the afternoon with my 46-10 Village Group....we are transferring from night time to afternoon hours because we are using the Dining hall space where we want to put on the play we have been rehearsing...today is our first day in that space. These wonderful older people remain a joy to work with. I cannot believe I have been working with them for a year now. Amazing. At times, hair-raising and exhausting, but what isn't these days? I love those people at 46-10 Village. A group of vital people growing and going on.

For my birthday in April, Peter gave me three wonderful green growing things: bamboo, an Asian Money Plant and what are looking to be some deep red amaryllis bulbs, and we planted each in their own garden bowl of glass rocks and fresh water and soil...sitting on the table that bridges our two desk areas in our office, by the windows that face north, these three green things are thriving and looking happy as happy can be.....healthy andshooting out into the world with new growth. So glad they are there. Green and oxygen-rich. Reminders of the on-goingness of life. Now, that is fresh! Green and fresh. Three small bamboo stalks, each elegantly firm in the clear glass rocks, forming a tiny community, three strong. A small wall against the dark...beacons of green. They are giving birth to small side shoots even as I type. So wonderful looking - mouth-wateringly alive. And the three fat amaryllis bulbs, cozied down into rocks and water in a shallow clear glass bowl...bursting with life. And the braided money plant. Clearly happy in its square soil-filled container of glass and crystals....

I have forgotten how much I love gardening.