last day of time inc. and company comes . .

 greg sent me this pic this morning, when he went into work. it's the last day of time, inc. which has been purchased by meredith corporation. this sign probably won't be here tomorrow . .

 chanda and i spent the day cleaning,

 as we had company coming . .

 
we picked charlotte up from penn station this evening at 9:50 pm. she rode seven hours from upstate new york for a visit with us while she attends two auditions over this coming weekend.

snow day

monday morning breakfast

one of our favorite breakfasts: buttered eggs and oatcakes with jam or lemon and lime curd (and green tea!).

sunday photo shoot

 chanda and i rented my friend's studio space for two hours, in order to take some ballet audition photos. they have paper for a background and lights, and my friend's husband was great in helping me with the settings on my new camera.

 the resulting photos are not as fancy as those taken by the professional dance photographers who charge $1000, but they look decent enough to send out.

 she's looking up different poses she would like to use, and getting on her pointe shoes . . 

 this actually is not one that she chose to use, but it is one that i like.

 my friend with her very handsome cat,  haji.

 pics of the neighborhood from the walk home . . 

it was a cold, grey day!

morning in chelsea, dinner in harlem

 greg and i took a morning walk to the allen stone gallery to see george deem's paintings. as we were leaving, greg noticed the art exhibit out on the sidewalk. it's called 7000 eichen, or 7000 oaks, and was inaugurated at documents 7 in kassel, germany, in 1982, and continued by dia art federation in 1982 and 1996, here in nyc on 22nd street, between 10th and 11th avenues. basalt stone columns are each paired with a tree, including bradford pear, chinese elm, elm, gingko, honey locust, linden, oak, pin oak, red oak and sycamore.

 greg was very amused at how these iron workers were using the column to rest their work gloves on, and their tool bags by. he felt sure they were totally unaware they were working next to an art exhibit.

  

i'm already thinking about how nice it'll be to walk here in the spring with the trees in bloom.

 in the evening, chanda and i visited our friends uptown in harlem for dinner. my friend, elsa, is an amazing cook and for this evening she made a roast in the oven with potatoes, onions, carrots and a salad.

 for dessert she had the creamiest pistachio almond ice cream . . i said i would only have a little . . but it was so tasty that it turned into a lot of a little!

 the real reason for the visit was for us to meet this fellow, whom they adopted him during the summer.

 he's just gorgeous! and his name is malachi from the little witch family by eleanor estes (malachi, the spelling bumblebee).

i'm sure these two are the apples of each others' eyes . .

tea at o cafe

janet and i met for tea and to exchange christmas gifts today at o cafe on sixth avenue.

 she's been so busy designing costumes for different theatre productions that we've had a difficult time getting together.

 we walked to the michael's craft store before heading home. she needed to pick up a picture frame, and i looked for beads for a knitting project.

dinner this evening was eggplant parmigiana, the eggplant having come in this week's fresh food box.

audition worries and mushroom barley soup

 chanda's foot is still not the best. there's still pain when she goes on pointe.

but we called my friend carol to arrange for a photo shoot at her place.

such a satisfying winter soup!

back in the alps

morgana sent a few photos from austria. it's looking as beautiful as ever and i love this one of dear lara.

 back on the slopes!

leon in his new nyc t-shirt. she brought back nine shirts for family and friends (she purchased them here in chinatown for $7.50 each . . something like that . . it was a good deal and she did well bargaining).

 practicing jumps . . 

 ylvie in her new ballet leotard . .

 all set to dance!

packing and leaving

 morgana's suitcase was very full, so we needed to pick up a belt from the travel store on our way home from the gallery visit with ellen.

 madeline wanted to be in the midst of all the packing activity.

 last minute organzing . . 

and picking the lint off my coat for me . .

 driving along the belt parkway . . 

 towards the verrazano . . 

and to jfk . .

 when we were leaving, a woman who was saying good-bye to her son for his first airplane trip, asked if it got any easier.

 i first started to say yes, but then realized i had to say no. definitely . . no. it never gets easier. we just keep breathing and growing our personal pearls.

when i was little, my aunt gave me a book titled "amy loves good-byes." i don't love good-byes, but i am compelled to fully live them. 

 and i guess that means waving until the last minute.

 waiting for greg, who decided he would like to visit a diner in bay ridge that we used to go to . . thirty years ago! he said that several times . . "thirty years ago."

 passing gotham rising up west of canarsie in the sunset . . 

 bay ridge with the verrazano in the distance . .

 we used to call it the DNA diner, as it had a sculpture that looked like DNA . . this is no longer so.

 matzoh ball soup . . 

 and omelettes . .

and then home over the brooklyn bridge after traversing third avenue in brooklyn . .