thanksgiving day

the sparrow

a little bird, with plumage brown,

beside my window flutters down,

a moment chirps its little strain,

ten taps upon my window-pane,

and chirps again, and hops along,

to call my notice to its song;

but i work on, nor heed its lay,

till, in neglect, it flies away.

so birds of peace and hope and love

come fluttering earthward from above,

to settle on life's window-sills,

and ease our load of earthly ills;

but we, in traffic's rush and din

too deep engaged to let them in,

with deadened heart and sense plod on,

nor know our loss till they are gone.

by paul laurence dunbar (1872 - 1906)

let’s remember our blessings and have a peaceful and loving day . . 

thanksgiving prep

 it was a busy day baking and cooking. i roasted sweet potatoes for a casserole, and pumpkin for pie.

 i use cream cheese for this particular pumpkin pie recipe . .

 pluto kept me company for most of the time, but then gave up on me when i wouldn't give him anymore food. i have no idea what caught his attention outside this window . . well, i suppose it could be the pigeons that roost on the building across the street.

 ready for the oven . .

 pumpkin pie and gingerbread . . 

and creamed celery.

reorganizing and cleaning out bins

 i tried going through bins and getting rid of things yesterday. things such as worn shawls and scarves that were made by me, the girls and friends. it's not easy letting these handmade items go . . however, they were all very worn with wear.

 we had three of these beautiful crocheted hats from a handwork class we took years ago with a fellow homeschooling mom, who wanted to practice her waldorf teaching skills on us (she had just taken a workshop). i'm hoping i didn't get rid of the other two hats, but i may have because i know they were small and i think they went to good will.

 i remember very clearly when my mom bought this scarf for me out on montauk at one of our favorite local shops . . .

 and i remember the year i made these ruffle scarves for all three children . . i remember trying to hide what i was doing when at the playground.

 and i made these potluck scarves another holiday year; all were patterns from the knitpicks catalog.

 korrina wove this on a loom she received for christmas . . ages ago. well, i kept all the above items! i didn't do too badly, however, as i now have two empty bins.

 the bin cleaning was yesterday . . today we had a major project as we needed to replace our hot water heater, which was over fifteen years old and was leaking.

 this is our new one. it was installed by our coop's maintenance workers, and it was quite a project, as was the cleaning up i did afterwards.

 this evening greg and chanda are dismantling the bunk bed in chanda's room and exchanging it for the single twin bed in morgana's room. 

pluto attacked me right after i took this photo. he's still a very young cat . . we've been reminiscing about how little and cute he was last christmas.

a november poem for the morning . . and sunday evening

november

now it is november,

trees are nearly bare;

red and gold and brown leaves

scatter everywhere.

dark now, are the mornings,

cold and frosty too;

damp and misty evenings

chill us through and through.

busy are all creatures,

winter food to hide;

nests to make all cosy,

warm and safe inside.

by margaret morgan

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i persuaded greg to go for a walk in the evening with me. he was a bit reluctant as he had already been out for his walk . .

but i hadn't, as i was working on the second sock to a pair i had started in the summertime . .

and i also listening to my pimsleur italian which had also been neglected for the past month . .

i thought it was beautiful out, even if greg was of a different opinion . .

 i suppose it was a bit dark and blustery and rainy . .

 but our trees are still golden and haven't succumbed to winter yet . .

our neighbor victoria is in town for the week. she brought me a parisian lavender sachet and we heard all about her movie that she's been filming since april. she's currently in editing mode, and came home for several photos and short films that she would like to edit into the new film. below are several photos from april when morgana helped her with the test shots:

setting up the test shot with juliana and the cameraman, and two of her actors.

victoria taking care of her dachshund alfred, while the shoot takes place . .

 the indoor shoot . .

 
 milan on the left plays alex, and i'm not sure of the woman's name . . a different actor came in for the filming.

 victoria said that after she and morgana worked all day on the test shots for her film, and also on the mailing list, she and morgana would write in the evening; victoria on the dialogue of her film and morgana on the script for macbeth, which morgana came home to direct in may (performance in june).


victoria enjoys working with morgana very much, and i think morgana feels the same.

birthday tea

 i met korrina for a cup of tea before she went into work this morning.

 there's a green market a block from her work now. this is different from the fresh produce box that we used to get, which was a set price for a bag of vegetables, but it's great to have local farms selling fruit and veggies so near her work.

 birthday gifts . . a cat spoon, like chanda's . . 

 and two skeins of cartref yarn's new color from jennie and zoe, independent yarn suppliers in wales.

it was nice to sit and chat before her work day began . . 

----

another day in florida . . 

and it goes on . .

 i listened to the hearings again today, on chanda's computer this time so i could move it around with me.

for dinner i made a recipe my dad used to like to make: angel hair pasta with arugula and clams and tomatoes; a recipe he got from the television one night (years ago) from actor tony danza. i think he had been watching a talk show.

after the hearing today, it was time for the democratic presidential debate!

tuesday night

 working on my temperature blanket . . 

and listening to the hearings.

this evening's dinner

i made barley soup tonight, which i haven't made in awhile: fresh chicken broth from the chicken we had over the weekend, celery which was from before we went to florida (! i had to clean it up a bit), carrots that were (thankfully) in the refrigerator, and the last cup and a half of barley that has been in the cabinet for . . hmmm . . a year or more? it was very good!

last clown show

this afternoon i walked through washington square on my way to the theatre for the last clown show, and my last babyholding/babysitting gig.

the music was particularly good in the park on this cold and grey day.

i was worried that the little three month old baby i've been taking care of wouldn't remember me since i haven't seen him since last saturday and that he might be a little cranky, but he was even more calm and happy than usual! we, once again, waited upstairs in the theatre's office with the other little baby, along with that little one's father (though i missed having the grandmother to talk with, i learned many interesting things about the father, such as he served in croatia's war for five years, has a gypsy jazz band and plays many instruments, is a contractor and refurbished the floor of the office we were in many years ago, and lastly loves to renovate old buildings and is a talented carpenter) and the little four year old sister. we came down, again, at the end of the show in time for the puppet actors to bring them on stage and for me to catch the bows and applause. i'll miss the camaraderie and the fun.

----

i received some pictures from morgana, who has been enjoying lectures, performances and movement classes at college. above is the head of the program during one of the lectures.

 a walk through the london neighborhood . . 

a cafe ready for christmas with lots of panettone . . 

 and the deliciously ella cafe that i've been repeatedly asking about!

 

ella woodward began a blog about her search for better health and a way off of a multitude of medications in 2011, when she began eating a whole foods, plant based diet. she now has several cookbooks out, a recipe app, a deli/cafe . .   and various packaged items available at sainsbury and the uk whole foods. i've always wanted to try the energy balls, but they're not available in the states yet.

 i think morgana has also been spreading a little bit of christmas cheer . . 

 and these cute egg holders were from the flying tiger store.

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our neighbor victoria has also been in touch from paris where a second film project is almost completed.

i think a short visit to nyc over thanksgiving is imminent with dear alfred, who is fourteen now, and moving more slowly.

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i posted about day four in florida here.