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Tried to find a picture of the restaurant we went to in Brooklyn's Chinatown - but could not. It was a very interesting building and even more interesting inside. It was a great location for our birthday party and it would be a great place for a big event!

But backing up to Friday... It rained all the way down to Brooklyn but stopped as soon as I got there. I found a parking spot at 8th Avenue and 3rd Street. AND it was a Friday spot, so I could have stayed the whole week and not had to move my car! I parked my car and headed to 5th Avenue and 8th Street where sister #3 works. Was curious to see what they were doing at her work as they took over the second floor of their building to make more studio space and room for more classes. It is an ambitious plan but the good news is that phase 1 came in on time and under budget. Don't hear that much these days. One of the big pieces of that success is the NYC school system program where students learn by doing in the trades and then work their way into the unions. I met one of the teams and it was inspiring. It was also inspiring to meet the coordinating teacher who - like so many - came to NYC as "an artist" and thought he would teach for a few years to pay the bills...it is not 20+ years later and he can't let the kids go now. He and his program as a true testament to what can go right when the good people and good students come together for a common cause. They have done a great job in this particular space.

After visiting for a few minutes, I am was off for my Brooklyn wandering - up to the Brooklyn Library and they had some of the construction barriers down and the renovation is beautiful. The exterior of the building is so impressive. I then wandered by Prospect Park and the cherry blossoms were out on cue for this weekend's Cherry Blossom Festival. The tree in front of my sister's house put on quite a show itself! I got a call from my son just as I got back to the house to read the NYTimes and he said he was on his way over. He had an old friend from Chapel Hill coming into town, but was coming over to spend sometime before he arrived. It was perfect timing all around. He called me and said he was walking down 5th Avenue in Brooklyn and by the time I got to 5th and 3rd St, there he was. We went to the bagel place at 5th and 4th and he got a snack. It always does my heart well to sit across the table from him after not seeing him for awhile and see he is "OK". His look is still "unique" but he is his "non-fashion mother's" son. We are a glass house family when it comes to keeping our looks in line...My son and I walked back to my sister's and visiting for awhile and then he took off when he got the call that his buddy had hit town. Once again that $20 Chinatown bus brings friends together. DC to NYC for $20-something dollars!!! Can't beat it. Find a Chinatown near you and find a cheap ride to where you want to go.

Dinner with the help of Fresh Direct and my sister's partner was incredible and after lots of yakking, walking the dog, and I was off to read a bit of my book and to bed. Woke up at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday and got to accompany sister #3's partner and their dog for 90 minute walk through the meadows of Prospect Park. Including seeing "the dog beach" - too much! Stop on the way home at another bagel place for breakfast bagels and back to the house for a bagel and coffee. Sister #3 and I were off to her office to see if there was any sweeping or other manual labor in the construction area and to open the windows to air out paint and floor finishing smells. I left her there to work and I wandered off to get a birthday card for my son. Then back to the house to get my book and head to the park at 5th and 3rd to read and wait for my son to come over for dinner. While waiting I finished my book!!! And had a great sandwich at the bagel place that I had gone to with my son on Friday. The park was packed and I enjoyed all the noise and people!

Then my son appeared and we sat around visiting with my sister and her partner, and would be joined a bit later by my son's buddy. It was perfect that he was in town for the birthday. We were off to Brooklyn's Chinatown to an incredible restaurant. We drove through Greenwood, Sunset Park, other neighborhoods - a sampling of every ethnic group of people - I love it! We had dinner, my son got some birthday cards and "slippage" i.e. birthday money. We then drove him home to Bushwick with his buddy and their night had just begun, mine was winding down. Dog walk and to bed for the mother and aunts.

I finally got to see where my son has been living since November. We have a rule that I don't see the inside of where he lives, but I do like to see where he is living. He is right down the street from a very large public housing projects. There was lots of police presence when we drove through.

Sunday a.m. - coffee, NYTimes reading and head home. A little grocery shopping on the way home, take my walk, and have been taking it easy the balance of the day. My cousin called to ask me to come down this coming Saturday to help her pack up her house prior to putting it on the market. Back to the real world...