courtyard wildflowers and dinner with korrina

our wildflowers in the courtyard are really going . . wild!

the daisies are blooming now. they get so much sun.

korrina was home for dinner this evening.

we had cucumbers . . sour dough spelt bread . .

and hummus from "moustache . . " on bedford street. their hummus is the best . .

korrina has been packing . . getting ready to move into her apartment in bushwick. greg is supposed to drive her over on wednesday evening. dinner this evening reminded me of a dinner we had years ago in brooklyn on the night before we moved into manhattan . .

monday bike ride and a goldenrod nature study

our monday morning bike ride took us to the boardwalk section of the hudson river park.

we sat down to sketch the goldenrod today.

we observed two different types of goldenrod (out of 77 native species according to our wildflower book). we're pretty sure this is "tall goldenrod, " or "solidaga altissima."

it blooms late summer to early fall, it's lower leaves are absent at bloom time; they are stalkless and lance shaped, and are finely toothed to untoothed.

there was also "golden fleece" goldenrod which i identified one year by sending a picture to our hudson river park gardener. it's a low lying dwarf variety that blooms in august to mid fall. the leaves are more plentiful during bloom time, and the clusters are fatter and closer together. the latin name is "solidaga sphacelata."

we also saw wild strawberries hiding underneath the goldenrod . .

and lots of clover covered with morning dew poking it's way through . . 

anna botsford comstock writes on page 504 in her book that goldenrod is like a flower city. she tells a lovely story to her nature study children about the golden city where the people are all dressed in yellow and they live together in families on top of their green shingled houses. you can see that here in the picture. the tubular disc flowers open out like bells and the pollen-tubes, or stigmas, come from their centers. the ray flowers (or petals) come from the edges.

it is all very tiny and not easy to see! this is morgana's book.

she sat and worked by several black-eyed susans that were still in bloom . . 

chanda worked in front of a grouping of fountain grass. a jogger and his dog had just passed by before i took this picture.

chanda drew, and took a sample of, the tall goldenrod, solidaga altissima.

i drew the same. goldenrod is also good for natural dyeing. you can read about it here. natural, undyed peace fleece yarn is good to use, or knitpicks.

there was also a mockingbird singing in the tree on the left . . 

i tried to capture some of his song while the traffic behind me was stopped at a red light.

there was also a plethora of juniper berries!

i always find them very beautiful.

medieval faire and michaelmas

we celebrated the medieval faire today, but missed out on our michaelmas cake as our oven is still broken.

 however, we did get to see a few dragons!

i drove uptown in the car with morgana and chanda along with their friends camille and yves, and their cousin alyssa.

checking out the . . swords and daggers!

camille's costume is from the metropolitan opera! i can't remember how they managed to get that one. the dress alyssa is wearing is a dress camille made for the faire a few years ago.

i think the music at the faire is always what i enjoy most. these days, for morgana and chanda, i think it's the jousting. it was always that for korrina too. she used to stage sword fights with friends, which you can see here.

a parade of medieval people . .


it's the bagpipes that got my attention . .

one of the cloister turrets . .

21st century lighting and 13th century style flags . .

fort tryon park has spectacular views of the hudson river and the new jersey palisades . .

at the pageant wagon . .

two sweet butterflies listening to medieval music . .

14th century damsels with lutes . . 

21st century knights!

 . . horses of any century? would these horses have been found in europe in the middle ages? thoroughbred, quarter horse, draft horse, morgan? draft horses and thoroughbreds were from the 16th and 17th centuries i think . . you can read about medieval horses here.

i couldn't resist a trip to one of my favorite cafes . . cafe buunni . . i sat outside on the bench and talked to a few residents. the woman who owned the restaurant next door had her two children handing out flyers . . two people tied their dogs up on the bench next to me . . both dogs were very friendly and struck up conversations with passersby. well, i suppose it was more that the passersby stopped and after saying a few words to the dogs, ended up talking to the dogs' owners . .

it was just a pleasant and warm afternoon. i walked through one of my favorite apartment complexes: the hudson view gardens on pinehurst avenue. it's a complex of tudor buildings with their own garden and children's playground. it's very quaint.

i sat in the garden and knitted for a little while before heading back into the park. janet was there with her parents, sisters, brother and children . . she has everyone visiting her as they are leaving tomorrow for a special family cruise to the bahamas. should be fun! morgana, chanda and i wished them bon voyage and happy trails and drove to a nutcracker rehearsal.

chanda's book reports

 chanda put the finishing touches on her book reports the other day.

 

 she described three books, two about the sea, and one about cats.

 dive! by sylvia earle, is an inspiring book by an amazing scientist. sylvia earle has truly gone where no one has gone before . . diving thousands of feet beneath the surface of the ocean and finding tiny jellyfish, small shrimp, and many bioluminescent creatures. she was able to dive so deep by working with fellow explorers and building new subs that could maintain air pressure while allowing a scientist to work mechanical arms to collect specimans.

 sylvia earle has also written that collecting specimans is not the only way or best way to learn about sea life, while admitting that it may be a good place to start when diving so deep. she has contributed to marine studies by learning how to scuba dive and swimming for as long as possible with whales and dolphins. she's made it a point to study their behavior, following the example of dian fossey, jane goodall, george schaller and zoologists roger payne and kitty payne. she ends the book by discussing how important it is to care for the oceans to keep it clean for future generations to explore.

 another wonderful book chanda read this summer was looking for seabirds, by sophie webb, an artist, illustrator and ornithologist who has written children's books that are modified journals of research projects that she has worked on.

 

 looking for seabirds is about a research trip to the aleutian islands in alaska to study seabirds. her descriptions of life onboard with people of many personalities and cultures and trying to sketch and observe the wildlife on a rocking boat are colorful and amusing.

 

 i just noticed on her website, that she has a new book out called far from shore, and two field guides about marine mammals of the pacific coast and birds of mexico and northern central america.

 

wild cats by john becker gave a good account of the different types of cats one can find around the world.

since it didn't go into too much detail, i could get a sense of how the animals traveled from different parts of the world through time and came to live in their current habitats. a large chapter is devoted to the north american puma and how it has managed to survive due to the endangered species act which was passed in 1973 and helped set aside parks that allowed wildlife to range undisturbed from development.