not a day's rest

we didn't have much time to recuperate from the party. we were up early this morning to drive to montauk to see nana and nonno.

nonno was marching in the montauk memorial day parade . .

and we arrived just in time!



hmm . . i saw more through the camera. they marched by so quickly.

afterwards, we went with aunt kathy to ditch plains where the girls went for a walk and collected seashells.

and managed to swim in the cold water!

nana and nonno had baked morgana an apple pie . . so we sang happy birthday again and she opened her gift from them and aunt kathy (a beautiful grey cotton sweater that she had asked for from the olive juice catalog).
we left later than we should have on monday morning. m and c and their friend deychen were very absorbed in a game of montauk "townopoly." we said good-bye at noon, and it took us three hours to get past southampton! i worried that we wouldn't make their 6:00 pm quintet rehearsal on time, but we were lucky and did not hit traffic on either the belt parkway or the gowanus expressway. we arrived at DTW at 5:40. i was so relieved!

morgana's birthday party

we began the day with a tie dyeing craft.

i soaked t-shirts in soda ash overnight and then placed them in plastic bags; one for each child.

relaxing in the grass, under the trees is such a treat. over the years, the two trees we sit under have grown together more, and give us better shade.

in the background, you can see a large section of the grass is cordoned off. it was being re-seeded. the fencing served to keep away the many ball and frisbee game groups that usually congregate (we have been hit in the head by flying frisbees in past years)! we didn't miss them this year.

the scarf grows longer every year . . !

the three-legged race team . .

the children like to play a lot of relay races . .

hmmmm . . i'm not even sure what this one was. morgana organized all the games with the help of her friends and her sisters.

i just had to make sure to retrieve the potato sacks from my friend's cellar . .

they're actually coffee sacks, and my friend brought a few extra this year so all the young people were able to race at the same time.

we had a lot of salads . . and sandwiches.

my favorite is the dilly brown rice salad from cynthia lair's feeding the whole family. we also had quinoa salad and tortellini salad.

there were many beautiful handmade gifts . .

and flourless chocolate cake for dessert.

the highlight of the day was capture the flag . .

it was really a very exciting day, and all the fresh air made for a good night's sleep!

suddenly summertime

thursday errands and activities . .

korrina, morgana and chanda shared studio time this morning. here m and c are entranced by . .

the usual ongoing construction that keeps nyc busy!

while k worked on her dance . .

after the rehearsal, chanda and i walked to dick blick to get dye for the t-shirts for the party tomorrow. on the way back we walked through nyu's washington mews. it houses their french and german departments.

the roses are beautiful . .

morgana and korrina did some water color paintings that will be turned into bookmarks for birthday party favors.

in the evening, m and c and i had high five tickets to see the new york city ballet. we ran into an old ballet friend there! it was very nice, and we were all happy because our favorite ballerinas danced this evening: wendy whalen, jennifer ringer, and maria kowroski.

oh wow, a bathroom picture! yes, a recently renovated bathroom in the new york state theatre . .

duncan dancing on the upper east side

the beliloveables danced at the spence school this morning. their last dance was "southern roses" and the first graders loved them. they all stood up at the end to clap, which was very heart-warming.

roses in bloom

the roses are all in bloom in our coop's garden and in our neighbors' gardens. i've been enjoying breathing in their early summer aroma.