after dinner party

 we always celebrate korrina's and chanda's birthdays at thanksgiving . . 

 well, tonight we sang to chanda and talked on the phone to korrina . .

 nana and aunt kathy went in on a shirt she had seen over the summer . . 

 whipped cream and pumpkin pie . .

 it was time for nana's big gift from nonno . . a belated birthday gift from nana's birthday on may 6th . . 

a laptop that she has been asking for!

after dinner walk

 

   we took a walk today after dinner.

fooling around . .

 

   it was cold and beautiful.

and the sun set quickly.

do you see venus in the southwest sky?!

thanksgiving

dinner preparations

 making mashed potatoes . . 

 

 carving the turkey . . 

 nana's horn of plenty . . 

 conversations . . 

 jack is stuck . .

voila!

waiting for the rain to stop

we played yahtzee while waiting for the weather to clear and the traffic to lessen. on the road now . . so far no rain but the wind is starting to pick up. the traffic is good and the verrazano shines clear to staten island. korrina is home, cozy in brooklyn after an evening at the theatre. tomorrow she works a long day at the restaurant. greg has jimi hendrix on the car radio, m and c are daydreaming and jack is finally sleeping (he's been unusually restless for this car trip). i wish it was daylight so i could knit. maybe i'll try anyway.

 

grey and bare

 it finally looks and feels like winter around here. chanda and i walked through union square this afternoon.

 we were out early to buy pointe shoes and to visit with friends who are moving to pennsylvania on friday.

 we visited the freed "chacott" store on 20th street, between broadway and park avenue south. it was right next door to teddy roosevelt's birthplace! i find this very amusing as they are two places i never knew existed, yet they are both within walking distance. she's very pleased with the pair we purchased. supposedly these are stiffer and won't soften as quickly. they are also a little more wide than her last pair. i don't think i really understand the details, however i do enjoy the conversations she has with the shoe fitters. the fitter always bad mouths the competitor's shoe. in this case she had her grishko's with her. when she pulled them out he exclaimed, "oh, i hate that shoe." when he left to bring out the shoes for her to try on, she leaned over and whispered to me that the grishko woman does the same. i didn't remember this, but then maybe i just wasn't paying enough attention.

afterwards, we had forty five minutes before we were to be at our friend's home. we decided to have something to eat . . cheese cake and pignoli cookies at veniero's. this really wasn't the best idea as we had only had an apricot brioche for breakfast, but it was delicious.

 then we met morgana at tsameret's and moriah's home.

 i was able to meet their cat, petey. tsameret played with the dear cat just like morgana used to play with madeline. she wildly waved his paws around in the air and shook his head back and forth while he just relaxed in her arms like a rag doll. meanwhile, morgana read from celebrations, by anabel and barnabas kindersley, one of our favorite books.

 we'll miss them. chanda especially i think. she had been going over every wednesday for two hours before ballet class to sit and read and knit with them. we gave them children just like me as a going away gift. it's another anabel and barnabas kindersley book, in association with unicef. they traveled all over the world interviewing and photographing families. it's a very special and interesting book and i have always wished they would publish another just like it. there are so many photos of children they don't include that they could easily put out a second.

reading and knitting and monday night dinner

 we've been doing a lot of reading and knitting.

 chanda found some really nice yarn in our stash that she's using to make hats. she's following the pattern in joelle hoverson's last minute knitted gifts. the funny thing about the yarn she found: it was already wound as if i was going to start knitting with it. however, i cannot remember what i was planning. i think it was supposed to be a liesl for her friend deychen, but she says no. hmmmm.

 we're up to chapter twenty-one: the house elf liberation front . . helf!

 isn't it a gorgeous yarn? i think it's manos . . but it's not thick and thin like manos . . it's smooth.

 here's korrina with her "chandra" shawl.

 it's very soft and warm. it's nice for these cold days.

 i made shepherd's pie on the stove top since the oven is still on the blink. we had it "upside down" with the potatoes on the bottom and the meat and vegetables on the top. (morgana wasn't here as she spent the night at her friend's house.)

but what is this? greg is doing his victory dance! yes, he called the store owner who sold him the part for the stove, and the man suggested checking a few particular wires on the back. after checking he discovered he had neglected to connect a small plastic plug on the new part he had bought. when he did, voila! the bottom coil started heating up! we're back in the baking business!

a very wintry day

 morgana and i walked out at 10:30 to a very cold morning. 25 degrees. it's been so warm . . we're not used to it. and it's even hard to believe that it can still get this cold. oh, but it was cold. we stopped at cafe grumpy for coffee, tea and . . 

pear bread. doesn't it look delicious? and beautiful? a work of art! it was topped with a gooseberry and a pecan. i can't wait for the next studio rehearsal so we can have it again.

she worked on her dance. the performance is december 7th and 8th; the same weekend as chanda's patrelle nutcracker performance. should be an interesting weekend!

the trees in central park are becoming bare and any leaves left are brown and shriveled.

we finally lit our martinmas candles this evening and read autumn poems, one of which was:

november

by elizabeth gmeyner

golden light is turning grey

mists begin to rule the day.

bare the trees their branches lift,

clouds of dead leaves earthward drift.

through the field the farmer goes,

seeds of ripened corn he sows,

trusts the earth will hold it warm,

shelter it from cold and harm.

for he knows that warmth and light

live there, hidden from our sight,

and beneath a sheltering wing

deep below new life will spring.

morgana made dinner, and greg did laundry, while chanda and i were at her nutcracker rehearsal. it was nice to come home to a warm meal and household chores taken care of. as i'm writing right now i can hear the wind blowing wildly outside off of the river.

the north wind doth blow
and we shall have snow
and what shall the robin do then
poor thing?
he'll sit in the barn
to keep himself warm
and hide his head under his wing
poor thing.

acting and kitchen repairs

 morgana, greg and i attended chanda's acting class presentation.

 the students and their teachers (voice, movement and improvisation) gave examples of their voice and breathing exercises, dance movement combined with poetry, and improvised scene study. it was very relaxed and you could tell the kids were comfortable being there and really enjoyed their work.

greg went out to our old neighborhood in brookyn to pick up a part for the oven. unfortunately, it's still not working . . what's the next step? we'll try replacing the bottom oven coil.

roses, thank you cards and julius caesar

 (chanda's roses for her birthday from her acting teacher).

today we read and talked about constantine and julian the apostate and the beginnings of constantinople on the site of byzantium, a greek city founded in 657 bc by byzas of megara. it's incredibly refreshing to finally know where the word "byzantine" came from and understand that it was the eastern roman empire founded by constantine i. it's amazing to me that i never learned about the roman empire when i was growing up.

we also continued watching julius caesar with john gielgud, marlon brando, james mason and louis calhern . . greer garson and deborah kerr . . it's a 1953 production directed by joseph mankiewicz and i've really been enjoying it. we had to stop right after mark antony delivered his "friends, romans, countryman" speech . . morgana had to run off to man the phones at the hb office, then they were both at dance class . . and now they're watching their friend deychen's orchestra concert. maybe we'll get to the end of it tomorrow morning.

it was time for chanda to write out her thank you cards. a few of the gifts she received were: a gift certificate to lionbrand yarn store (fun!), hot chocolate mix, a rug hooking kit, a knitted shrug, the hobbit movie, and lemon loacker cookies.

and beautiful stationery.

greg and i actually ate dinner alone this evening! but they're home now and supposedly starving.