origami, a private ballet lesson and craft fair preparations

  chanda worked on an origami figure this morning, from the pack of bird papers charlotte and jonathan gave us.

after breakfast i ran uptown with chanda to observe one of her private lessons. she's been studying with her ballet teacher's teacher for two months now, and i had never met her. now i know why chanda likes her so much: she's outgoing and friendly and doesn't let chanda get away with anything. chanda must give one hundred percent all the time and i think she is doing good work with her.

 it was such a rainy day!!

 working with charla . . running her ballet "contemporary" piece, which is based on her modern ellen's dance from 2015 (journey through blue).

this is the gamzatti piece that she is working on for a competition in missoula, montana:

and the full piece:

morgana was up late working on her visa application, and i was cutting out felt hearts for the craft fair on friday. i'm posting this way too late . . greg will be getting up soon . . 

advent and craft fair preparations

 the first light of advent

is the light of stones.

the light that shines in seashells,

in crystals and in bones.

sunday evening we celebrated the first day of advent . . 

 and now we're getting ready for our homeschooling craft fair. carol, our leader for the past nine years, has stepped down from her post so i've been getting together two crafts that she usually handles: candle decorating and gift tags. there is a lot of cutting involved of beeswax and paper. maybe madeline would like to help? i wish she would. i have still so much to do!

 the holiday wreaths are going up in the neighborhood . .

as well as the christmas trees. 

chanda spent monday afternoon with her science group friends before going to dance class. they had fun solving einstein's riddle:

they had a little more trouble with the prisoner hat riddle:

mass at saint pat's, homeward bound and grumpy's

 we had a big breakfast all together at 8:30 this morning, and then charlotte and jonathan took the subway to saint patrick's cathedral on fifth avenue for a special choral mass. greg and i met them with their suitcases at rockefeller center to see the tree and to walk downtown to penn station.

 i wanted them to see radio city music hall and they obliged me with a pic in front of it. my dad and mom loved coming here to see the rockettes when i was a child. we then walked through times square and we saw them off on the 1:30 empire train to buffalo. eva wrote at 11:22 to say that the train was only thirty minutes late and all were home and happily together again and looking at some of charlotte's photos. it was a wonderful visit and i'm so glad they were able to come.

 after seeing them onto the train, greg and i walked downtown, past gristede's which was very convenient as i had to buy shabbos candles for our homeschooling craft fair this coming friday!

 and then we very happily stopped at grumpy's.

 chocolate and coffee!

a walk through soho and tribeca

 morgana, charlotte and jonathan were out early this morning to attend a tour at the tenement museum, after which they had lunch at quan sushi in chinatown. greg and i met them in soho by old saint patrick's cathedral, built in 1809. greg and i had a peaceful moment sitting inside the beautiful sanctuary while charlotte and jonathan walked around. a very old cemetery surrounds it and i was hoping we could walk through, but the gate was locked. beneath the basilica are catacombs, consisting of thirty five family crypts and five clerical vaults. supposedly, tours are offered, which i should look into, especially if charlotte and jonathan come to visit again. perhaps it's something they would like to do. the basilica was the seat of the archdiocese until st. pat's was built in midtown. new st. pat's and old st. pat's. i'm a little partial to the peacefulness of the old.

 mass is in three languages: english, spanish and chinese.

 

 

it was a beautiful day for walking and we went down to the twin tower memorial (where chanda joined us) and then walked back home along the river. by then the sun was setting and it felt cold!

 we had a delicious dinner of vegetable barley soup after which they played several different card games . . 

 hanabi . . 

 three blind mice . . 

watching the florida state football game . . 

thanksgiving

 we're back from our fun and food filled thanksgiving in connecticut. it's been a long day and i'm so tired right now. these are the photos that lead up to the official thanksgiving group photo. i'll try and write more tomorrow.

thursday celebration

 we arrived at my sister's house in connecticut around 12:45 pm. we were able to listen to arlo guthrie's entire alice's restaurant song. usually we arrive just as it's beginning at noontime on the radio, and miss the end.

 we immediately set to work arranging the marshmallows on the sweet potatoes. i don't know how my mom started this tradition. i think it was a thing from the late '50's, early '60's. the marshmallow makers probably started it.

 my mom waiting for dinner to begin . . 

 and she is the first one served.

 turkey, green beans, stuffing, mashed potatoes, creamed celery and sweet potatoes.

 afterwards, we walked by the lake . . 

 jonathan identified a bird that my sister said she had never seen before (it was a bufflehead duck, smaller than the common mallards we see, and i think i'll try to be more aware next time i'm by the lake).

 did i stand in the water to take this photo?

 playing "bowl" . . 

 and skyping with my cousin in annapolis . . 

 time for dessert . . 

 chocolate cookies . . (one of my mom's favorites) . .

 pumpkin pie . . 

and key lime pie . . and then we were all very full and ready for bed.