wednesday spring chores

spring is here and today i finally composted the dying plants on my windowsill and replaced them with daffodils that i bought from abingdon deli yesterday. they look pretty and it feels good to have it done, as i've been thinking about it for weeks.

 greg was home today and i dragged him into the kitchen with me to troubleshoot the oven. guess what? the oven decided not to smell like burning plastic after all and i was able to bake a soda bread, which i'm very happy about.

 chanda worked on the computer with math (khan academy) italian (duolingo) and a lesson page for chemistry. she also practiced the violin today and played a piece from last year, which was something else that made me happy today.

 we also listened to eva ibbotson's dragonfly pool with the audible app on my iphone. i don't know how we got started on dragonfly pool when we should be listening to jane austen or sarah orne jewett as part of a literature curriculum, but i love this story and am determined to listen to the end (which should hopefully not take too long).

 we had tea and soda bread while listening . . 

 and chanda did her hair for ballet . . 

 and i worked on my portland pullover (which i would like to do a separate post about).

 i also put up the whitsun mobile . .

  

and changed the nature table from king winter presiding over ice and snow . . 

to spring gnomes and shepherdesses and goose girls watching over their wooly and feathered friends. 

 dinner tonight was leftover shepherd's pie that chanda had made while i was away.

 and then we played clue!

and chanda won which she was very, very happy about (she also made us watch the movie inception about which i complained incessantly for being too violent but whose story was interesting).

tuesday night lecture and film

a homeschooling friend was able to get discounted tickets to a national geographic lecture at new york university's skirball center this evening. these special five dollar tickets are from "high five" and are targeted towards teens. this evening cinematographer bob poole talked about his life growing up in africa and how he started working for national geographic. he interspersed accounts of his adventures along with excerpts from his film gorongosa reborn: a cameraman's journal. it was a very  informative and moving evening and i'm so glad we were able to go. you can read nyu's synopsis of the event here.

above is a little bit about how he made the film.

home again

it was a rainy ride home . . 

 incredibly grey when passing the george washington bridge . . 

 but once we had unloaded the car and unpacked upstairs, the sun came out in time for doing laundry . . 

 and for taking pics of the callery pear trees beginning to bud . . 

 we had a treat of tea and pastry at maison kayser . . 

 this is called a piou piou: espresso mousse with orange cake inside.

 a raspberry lemon meringue.

back home again (while chanda was at dance class) i cleaned up and organized the living room, sorted mail and opened a few packages that contained gorgeous wool for a sweater and a shawl (before finally making dinner).

right now it's incredibly windy outside. i can hear it howling up the street from the river and around the trees in the courtyard . . 

rainy day drive

more easter day pics

ringing the church bell . . 

 back at the house . .

relaxing on the deck before dinner . . 

 my nephew found a special driftwood frame for a watercolor gift from an artist friend.

hunting for easter gifts . . i hid chanda's a little too far in the woods, maybe?

 markers and drumsticks . . 

 socks . . 

 homemade socks!

 special treats from the christmas tree shop.

and one last dessert before bed (after a visit with nonno): key lime pie!

and peppermint tea . . 

sunday

happy easter! it's a very pretty day here in connecticut.