dogwood study

we went out to sketch the dogwood today. first we walked along the river, but no dogwoods had been planted there, so we came back to the courtyard where there are two trees.

today they were starting to turn brown and curl, so i'm glad we finally got out to observe them.

it was a beautiful day with a warm sun and a cool breeze.

the tiny central flowers are surrounded by four bracts, and the leaves are shiny and untoothed with beautiful curving veins. i enjoyed drawing the deep veins. they made me think of the word "free-form" which my 6th grade art teacher was very fond of.

morgana's sketch  . . 

mine . . 

and chanda's.

cornus florida . . flowering dogwood . . 

maisie went with morgana to her babysitting gig at the waldorf study group, and chanda and i made another recipe from the redwall cookbook.

we layered onions, eggs, cheese and cornflakes in a casserole dish and baked for an hour in a 350 degree oven. it was very good, though we didn't get to eat it until we got home from rehearsal at 9:30 pm!

goings on . . on sunday

on our way uptown to the gilbert and sullivan rehearsal on the L train, chanda noticed that sophie blackall's artwork is in her artwork.

morgana was already uptown at the rehearsal. greg had dropped her off on their way back from connecticut.

they returned home around 5:30/6:00. i had gone to korrina's rehearsal at dance theatre workshop, and all of us met walking home along bank street. who is this above? someone from the year 1830?

morgana has three hats that she will carry around with her. this one is her organdy mob cap. she'll wear it when she teaches school, as schoolteachers always wear their best.

 the straw bonnet is worn when going visiting on a sunny day, i.e. going to church.

 morgana with her very modern sisters.

this is maisie, our houseguest. she's also dancing in gilbert and sullivan as one of the young daughters, or one of the "sisters, and your cousins, and your aunts."

our tea for the evening, along with the apartment's chaperone, jack. (we had an italian cookie treat from milano market).

bus stop cafe

at 10:00 chanda and i went out to bus stop cafe for dinner. 

 

 she had the penne and broccoli with basil pesto sauce.

 i had pasta primavera with a creamy tomato sauce.

it's our favorite neighborhood restaurant, with the lights of abingdon square shining in, and the taxi cabs speeding by, and the bus stopping right in front. this evening we had fun talking with andrea, our waitress. she's married to the chef and they both work the 4 to 11 pm shift. then they go home to their 1 1/2 year old little girl in jackson heights. her name is alexandra.

work, training, auditions and house cleaning

greg and morgana left at 5:15 in the morning for sturbridge, massachusetts. morgana had a training session for her internship. they're staying at my sister's overnight and coming back tomorrow for the last studio rehearsal before gilbert and sullivan moves into the theatre. korrina went to work, and chanda and i went to third street for her regular saturday classes and then the annual scholarship audition.

 they had several practice rooms set aside for the students.

luckily, chanda didn't have dance rehearsal this afternoon . . her group went in for the audition at 2:45 and came out at 3:30. she said everyone played amazingly well!

when chanda and i returned home, we went to work on the apartment. we're having a house guest for sunday and monday nights, and needed to get things cleaned up. we worked until 10 pm!!! and then finally we had dinner . . 

at the gallery

making beignets and getting ready for the gallery

 morgana and chanda made beignets this morning.

they made it from a packaged mix their friend brought them from new orleans. they added eggs and water and then rolled it out and cut into cubes. 

 then they fried it in oil 'til puffy.

 this was chanda's favorite part: sifting on the powdered sugar.

 it was difficult to stop eating them . .

morgana has been performing in a ten minute one act play at the herbert berghoff studio. last night was her final performance and she received a beautiful orange rose and pink peony.

after the beignets, we got ready to leave for the fred torres gallery on 29th street to see the lonely doll photographs. it took us forever to get out as morgana took it upon herself to suddenly clean out her drawers (i'm rolling my eyes here). we finally got on our way and had gone through westbeth to bethune street when she suddenly remembered she didn't have her music to rehearse with ellen at 2:30 pm. so she had to go back. we waited outside westbeth, against the new school. i'm not sure what this man's face is from.

the lonely doll

my dad gave me a brownie camera when i was six and we were traveling cross-country to visit my aunt evie in california. i remember very clearly taking pictures of squirrels and rocks and leaves at the grand canyon. i didn't take any of the canyon itself.

my sister gave me my first lonely doll book for christmas in 1967. it had been published ten years earlier in 1957.

dare wright's photographs influenced me profoundly.

 her compositions are mesmerizing and poetical.

take your kid to work day

morgana began the day practicing her guitar for a concert in the evening. then she got ready to join greg and chanda on their way to the time-life building for a day at greg's work.

 all set to go.

 

the children were divided into three groups and each group had a different project they participated in. then they met greg for lunch.

chanda worked on putting together a magazine online (what links and advertisements to put in, and how the article was written and then laid out with photographs).

meanwhile, korrina and i went to la bergamote for coffee and a pear tart, before heading to 29th street and the dare wright exhibit.

 after seeing the lonely doll photos, korrina and i walked home along the high line.

a rat!

i went to meet my friend marisa for lunch (at landbrot, a lovely new german cafe on 7th avenue), while korrina went home to get ready for her script analysis class.

morgana, chanda and greg returned home around 5:30 for dinner, and then we all left again for morgana's guitar concert. the quartet played leo brower's cuban landscape with rain, and morgana also did a solo by mateo carcassi called etude #7. she ran off to her show at HB (greg was outside in the car waiting for her), while chanda and i watched the rest of the concert. (and it rained, which it always seems to do for guitar concerts!)