New Place

So, okay, here are the pics of my new spacious apartment that y'all have been clamoring for.



This is the view of the living room from the entryway/dining area. I have been trying to keep this room relatively neat and clear. You can see how bright and sunny it is.



And, here is another angle on the same room, taken on a different day so the light is a little different (also I needed to use the flash for the first picture). The door in the corner leads to the terrace, and the one to the right to the second bedroom/office space.



View from the terrace.



Another view from the terrace, this one including one of my favorite features of the new neighborhood: the backgammon players.

These guys, the backgammon players, are mostly very elderly and also very nattily dressed. They play from early morning until dusk. They start out on the sidewalk across from where they are in this picture, at a table under a tree in front of one of the apartment buildings. As the sun shifts, they move the table to another spot under the tree, following the shade. Then, in the evening, perhaps to accommodate more bystanders, they move across the service road to one of the benches on the pedestrian mall. (These malls run along on both sides of the broad street on which I now live, and they are put to good use by strollers, runners, bicyclists, and loungers.) One evening as I was walking along the street on my way home, I was startled to see thick smoke rising near the cluster of old men. I thought at first it was coming from a car that had overheated. Then, as I got closer I saw that one of the men was kneeling, tending to a flame that seemed to be coming out of some black snakelike device on the ground. Above the flame, standing on its three spindly legs, was a samovar. The men were making tea, out there on the parkway.

The Out of Towner

Today I had a visit from jo(e), my good friend IRL and fellow blogger--or, to be exact, my blogging inspiration. She was just over the bridge in Manhattan, on a family vacation, and I enticed her over to Brooklyn to see me by telling her about the express bus that would get her from lower Manhattan to my neighborhood in less than 20 minutes. (As an aside, I love the express bus and often take it to work, although guiltily, since it costs more than the subway).

I went downstairs to meet her as she was walking up my street. We took the elevator (notice I said "elevator," as in, "I no longer live in a fourth-floor walkup") up to my new apartment in my new neighborhood. I threw open the door dramatically.

Jo(e) was suitably impressed. More than impressed. She was so shocked by the size of the entryway and living room that she had to sit down for a minute. "Wow!" she kept saying. "This is big. This is huge. This must be twice the size of your other apartment."

I agreed, happily.

We walked around the apartment and her astonishment increased. "Wait--there's another bedroom. . . . And, look, it's a real kitchen, with a full-size refrigerator."

"Yes," I said.

Her enthusiasm made me happy. She kept saying, "Now I understand why you moved."

So, yes, the new place is great. I am still unpacking, figuring out where things go, figuring out where to go shopping for food and drop off the dry cleaning and discovering new things in the apartment and the neighborhood. Like, the other day, I accidentally touched something on the microwave, which is mounted below a cabinet and over the oven, and discovered I had turned on a light beneath it that illuminates the stovetop. Who knew?

Wordless

Not much for words tonight--no particular reason, except perhaps that I am somewhat out of the habit of writing here, and so much has happened it seems hard to catch up. So, here's a picture, from my trip to Germany last month.

Connected

Hi all--and thanks to those who have left me nice comments over the last five weeks. I moved on March 28th, and have just now, today, gotten connected to the Internet again at home. I've been reading comments but have not wanted to connect to my blog other than on my home computer (at work, for example).

Anyway, the new apartment is great so far--I'm still unpacking and getting used to the neighborhood, but it's nice to have more space (a lot), an elevator, and modern amenities like air conditioning and a full-size refrigerator.

More soon--I've been tinkering around with the computer and moving furniture around and I want to get outside before the afternoon is gone.