October 7th and 8th

So apparently October 7th is my birthday.  I am very happy to have another birthday - beats the alternative, as they say.  I have a fairly quiet day at home.  I "skype" with Roision and Julia and have a very nice chat with each of them.  I receive numerous cards and email messages and chat with Helen, my sister-in-law and Madge, my mother-in-law on the phone.  I chat with Jonathan and Hannah also.
When Terry returns home from the hospital, he and I head off to the East Village to meet up with Hannah.
We go out looking for a restaurant to have dinner.  Hannah has three ideas - one is too loud and busy - one is closed for a private event - one, well lets just say the waitress does not seem to want to pay much attention to us or find us a table.   Hey, this is New York City, there are lots of restaurants - right.  We walk around the Lower East Side and come upon a lovely restaurant called "Elizabeth" on Elizabeth Street (Hannah's middle name is Elizabeth), we think we are meant to be here.  We go in and have a lovely evening.  After dinner we walk Hannah home before heading back to the Upper East Side on the subway.  Hannah is so excited as it is just a couple of hours until the girls arrive.  She cleaned her apartment, did all of her homework, she can hardly wait.

Friday - today I catch up with laundry and take a lesson from my daughter and clean our apartment.
The girls arrived safely from London, Ontario around midnight.  They are hungry so they go out for Chinese food.  All 4 of them sleep in Hannah's bedroom, 2 on the bed and 2 on a single air mattress.  Hannah goes to school at 10.30 am and finishes at 1.30 pm.  The girls walk to Union Square where they meet up with Hannah after school.   They apparently go shopping - surprise surprise.  I decide that Terry and I  will go meet up with all of them in their loft when Verna and Jacquie arrive.
Terry and I take some cheese, crackers and wine and head off to Soho around 7ish.  Verna and Jacquie arrived just before we did.  The elevator is broken - THEY ARE ON THE 7TH FLOOR - it is a long way up.
Their loft is HUGE - 2500 square feet and very artsy.  The owner is the publisher of a NY Art magazine.  When the elevator works it opens right into their living room.  They have three bedrooms and two bathrooms and two very big living rooms.  It is fantastic.

Here are the girls Natalie, Lindsay, Hannah and Dallas beside a huge display of books in one of the main rooms in the loft - nice art exhibit.

Here we are around the dinning room table enjoying the cheese and wine. Hannah,  Jacquie,  Maggie, Dallas,  Lindsay, Natalie and Verna.  Heather will not arrive until tomorrow morning.

Here we are after the cheese and wine and getting ready to leave the loft.  Terry and I head home on the subway, the others all walk to Hannah's apartment.  The girls will get ready to go out (they go out when we are going to bed)  Dallas, Natalie and Lindsay have their luggage in Hannah's apartment.  Verna and Jacquie are going to the apartment to pick it up and take it back to the loft in Soho.  These mom's are so good, while the girls are out having fun the mom's are hauling three bags in a cab from the East Village to Soho  up 7 FLIGHTS OF STAIRS so that the daughters don't have to.  Kudos to the mom's.
I hear the girls got home around 3.30 am - oh to be young.

Till tomorrow