doma and fireworks

chanda and i visited a neighborhood restaurant this afternoon for lunch. doma moved from perry street to morton street, and changed their "theme" in the process. they now feature german wieners and salads along with beer and wine. it's a casual, comfortable atmosphere, and it wasn't too busy.

chanda had vanilla tea served it the loveliest polish pottery teapot and teacup (which you can purchase there).

she also ordered the apple strudel, which wasn't on the menu, but was featured on the glass window! the new waitress had to check with the kitchen to see if they really served it. they did, along with vanilla ice cream and granola, caramel syrup . . 

. . and topped with a sprig of parsley.

i had simple hot dogs with an incredible potato salad. the peas and carrots in the salad reminded me of the salad i bought in a bremerhaven market years and years ago. the market had so many delicious salads to choose from, and i remember picking potatoes with peas and carrots. the sprig of thyme you see poking from the top was added to the plate by me, and the bread was a very good sour dough.

earl grey tea for me . . 

chanda is re-reading one of our favorite books by eleanor estes, which takes place in brooklyn.

i also worked on a square for the afghan we're slowly putting together for nana.

morgana has begun her metropolitan museum of art sketching and painting class. it's a free class she registered for in the early spring. she met us afterwards at the restaurant and we walked home together. at 5:30 pm we went to the library to return a "few" overdue books, and then m and c took a ballet class at joffrey, while greg and i went for a walk.

at home at night we were surprised to hear fireworks! i'm not sure who sponsored them, or to whom or what they were going off for. i liked them because they were a surprise, and they were short! only 15 minutes or so. 

i also enjoyed them because we only had to peek from our bedroom window to see them. they're usually a little further to the right behind the building and not as easily seen. but these were . . right there!

mini golf, pizza and venieros

we met our friends clyde and alex at the miniature golf course on pier 25 (hudson river park between north moore and franklin streets).

 the weather has been so beautiful! it was about 83 degrees today with a nice breeze.

we stopped at whole foods to pick up two packages of whole wheat pizza crusts before heading over to the pier . . and morgana even managed to have the table set for dinner before we left the apartment.

the trees have grown quickly since last summer and it didn't feel too hot. i think they're either honey locust or black locust.

 cute little sparrow birds just hanging out on the dock . . 

 and lots of black eyes susans are in bloom everywhere . . 

we walked home along the river and spotted mushrooms at christopher street. it's part of an installation with the whitney museum by yayoi kusama called "guidepost to the new space." the pieces are made from styrofoam and fiberglass with urethane and acrylic paint. the girls and alex weren't impressed when they found out they couldn't roll around on top of them. parents beware! situations like this are a nightmare with small children. how could anyone lay out all these gorgeous looking red and white tops and ask children to stay off them?

 continuing on to home and pizza dinner.

afterwards, clyde treated us to dessert at veneiro's. morgana had a decaf mochaccino with cantelope gelato; chanda had pistachio and coffee gelato; greg had a chocolate shell cannoli with a cup of coffee; i had a chamomile tea and two miniature fruit tarts (raspberry and blackberry); and clyde had a mocha milk shake and italian cheesecake. alex's dessert was the best i thought: a mud pie with a lemonade . .  !

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korrina came home late from a special photography fundraiser for breast cancer. tyler was able to get her a ticket through his internship. she said the photos were beautiful and she had a wonderful time, even staying late to help them clean up.

the shawl!!

 

 

 

purty. eh? i wanted to photograph it with a black camisole and black pants, or a black dress, but we didn't have such clothes with us at montauk! i had to settle for a lovely model in a polka dot bathing suit! 

the word that kept coming to my mind was "gossamer," for morgana and chanda it was "spiderwebs." (aahh, great minds think alike). it's a lovely yarn, though i do still prefer the rowan kidsilk haze!!! the alchemy haiku pulls too easily, and i ended up with two pulls on this fragile piece. one was caused by my eyeglasses (!) and the other by the broken handle on my rattan beach basket. it's two ply and when they separate, there's nary a chance of pulling them together again! at least, not a chance for me. i tried, but couldn't do it. morgana tried also. what did i end up doing to pull in the wayward strands!!! hmmm, i think i'll keep it a secret . . for a little while longer . . 

i blocked it on sunday night, july 22nd, and unpinned it tuesday morning the 24th. it was still damp! such is the humidity in new york state in the summertime.

summer sunday

i felt tired today, and had a slight sore throat and a headache. we just took it easy (and i posted about the shawl). greg went to the coop to work a shift, and morgana and chanda watched ballet shoes, and two documentaries by ken burns: the shakers, and the statue of liberty. korrina spent the day at her friend's house.

 a storm passed through, but it didn't cool off.

 watching ballet shoes . . 

 i found a doll sitting on the sink . . it's been awhile since dolls just haphazardly plop down in everyday places . . i guess i found it kind of . . sweet. the fan was a nice touch too.

taking down the loft bed

greg, morgana and i worked to take down the loft bed. actually, we didn't get the loft bed down yet. we had to clear out all the junk on top of it! do you have an attic? or a basement? this is all the stuff you normally store in attics and basements! chanda popped in sporadically to vacuum or take dolls out that needed new homes. in the picture above, she is holding a dress that her dear friend deychen always wore when she came over and played dress-up.

umm, morgana is holding a troll and a duck (from two different puppet shows . . i think. the duck is gingibuss, and the troll is from three billy goats gruff . . )

ah yes!!! here are the three billy goats gruff! can you identify which daughter made which billy goat? don't worry! i couldn't either! korrina made the big billy goat on the left, chanda made the middle billy goat (tres bien, eh?!) and morgana made the little billy goat on the right. 

ohhhh, three adorable felted animals! i think morgana made the mouse on the left, i made the seal in the middle (i had grand ideas of making sixteen of them as party favors for morgana's 5th birthday party!!! ha ha!!! that never happened! reality hit hard after finishing the one!), and we bought the funny duck on the right at a waldorf school fair . . who knows where! probably the steiner school on the upper east side . . 

ohhhh! what a beautiful horse!!! korrina made this lovely knitted animal with mrs. lang when she was about ten years old. we attended playgroup with mrs. lang for a few years when we first moved here in 2002. (sigh). those were sweet times.

 morgana is grabbing madeline, the naughty kitten's furry belly from underneath the loft bed. 

madeline is a naughty kitty because the junky loft bed was her lair and she peed on two of the bags. we have three kitty litters,  but that's not enough for miss fastidious! i must watch carefully now that the bed is empty . . she better not pee anywhere else. of course i realize that this problem might not exist if she could explore the outdoors . . but (sigh) that's really not possible in this neighborhood. she used to wander outside when we lived in brooklyn. but we lived with our back door on an enclosed block. it really was a city cat's paradise.

 trying to decide what to wash, what to trash, and what to give away . . is not an easy task . . 

the final vacuuming . . now to call our friends to see if they would like the loft bed. otherwise, it's craig's list!

freshplay

tonight was korrina's staged reading of her play for the mcc freshplay festival. her work was presented with another student's at 7 pm at the telsey studios on 43rd street just off of 8th avenue. morgana, greg and i made our way uptown at 6:15 pm.

her teacher, lucy thurber, was there to expound on how much she loved korrina all these years, how talented korrina was, and how much she enjoyed korrina's passion for the theatre.

korrina's writing is authentic and humorous, and her characters are incrediblly interesting. in just a few lines she manages to draw you into her characters' world. she's a blessing to actors . . just read a line and you can be in the moment. in this regard she follows in the footsteps of shakespeare and sam shepard. oh . . my! maybe i am just a little biased? but i wouldn't say anything if i didn't really feel this way . . congratulations korrina! we love your work.

my frog and chanda's gymnastic pose

isn't he cute?! my mom gave him to me. "but mom," i said, "don't you want him anymore?" (he has sat on her stove for years and years). "on no," she said, "i have the spoon holder with the boat now." and so she does. and now i finally have an official spoon holder, much to the girls' delight (i was constantly taking down saucers and saying "please use a plate!!"). now, this frog is so charming, i'm SURE i won't have to be reminding anyone in this home about using a spoon holder!

 

a busy frog with a wooden spoon .  . i think my sister must have picked this up somewhere. i'll have to ask her . .

this is chanda's gymnastic pose she is constantly performing . . she is always going upside down. first she was doing handstands (in january - this activity started after christmas), and now she is  doing a balance beam pose she saw a gymnast do on youtube . . this actually isn't her favorite picture of it, because her left foot isn't pointed . . 

this is . . maybe jack thinks so too . .

giving it another try . .

we were out the door by eight this morning. we re-did the bikes and packed jack in . . and it was smooth sailing. thank goodness. it felt good to be home, though it's much too hot and humid!!

our bike rack is a bit small for all our bikes!

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 korrina has been busy getting ready for her play reading. she's had rehearsals every evening from six to ten. her reading is scheduled for 7 pm friday night. i have shawl photos i'll post in the next few days, and i'll probably go back to some past beach days and post those too. i miss the seashore!