Greetings from the basement

Hello family!

I love love love my new neighborhood. Yesterday was so sunny and fall-ish and Ellina and I walked around the neighborhood and found a park, where there is an open track (which I am going to go run on this afternoon) and there are all these soccer fields and a lot of youth soccer going on. Also there was a farmer's market happening, and there was this winery there, and-- a very tricky sales tactic, I think-- a very handsome young man selling his wine. And he called me over and said that I just had to try the new cabernet, and he flirted me right into buying a bottle. But not to worry, I will drink only in very small increments and only with the most classy companions. although, if said gentlemen is there every saturday morning, you might have to stage an intervention of sorts.

Also, there are so many 24 hour markets in the neighborhood (the Polish never sleep!), and it is nice knowing that, should I get a craving for ben and jerry's at four-thirty in the morning, immediate gratification is only one block away.

Oooh, also, two blocks from my apartment is "pay-as-you-wish yoga," so I will most definitely be partaking in that. I may find inner sanctity yet!

it is quite easy to get to manhattan from Greenpoint, just a few subway transfers and I am happy to say that I have already become quite adept at the journey.

The only thing about the apartment is that you can hear everybody walking around upstairs, and their kitchen is right over our bedroom, so this morning I heard all these clanking pots and pans and it sounded so close, I thought someone must be in our kitchen. So I grabbed a heavy-ish boot and crept to our kitchen and it was empty, and I thought, "how did they hide so fast," and retreated, then heard the noises again and was thoroughly peeved that someone was helping themselves to breakfast from our cupboards. But when I jumped out again, there was still no one, and I realized that it was the neighbors above us, innocently going about their morning.

Miss you to pieces. Any visits planned for the near future? There is a very comfortable couch in the kitchen, and, I was relieved to find out, cable tv.