friday afternoon here and there

such a hard life . . 

trying to get my yarn.

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 morgan's view when doing some schoolwork at a department store cafe today.

chocolate, knitting and cafes

i found a leftover chocolate that chanda had given me for christmas hidden in a tea box. it's gone now.

 pattern motif titled "maze," from the our common threads cowl i made . . 

and "morocco." both of these were more difficult as i had to keep my eyes constantly on the chart, each line being slightly different from the one prior.

it was such a pretty day today . . greg and i ate again at sweet life cafe after a meeting with our coop manager (requesting our upstairs neighbor to put down carpeting) and then i visited chanda before walking to soho to see sacha and reina while their girls were in dance class with ellen. i worked on some knitting and i started reading dickens' little dorrit.

having a sandwich with me while on her break . .

books and projects

 i've been reading anna karenina and knitting a very bulky sweater in rowan big wool yarn.

 i'm not a big fan of working on size 19 needles . . even though items on such large needles knit up very quickly. i sized down to a 15 needle . . but it's too small so i'll be ripping out to the neckline and re-knitting on size 17 needles.

i've really been enjoying this book . . (this picture was taken awhile ago, i'm actually on the last few pages).

this is the our common threads cowl that i knit for the vogue knitting live event in january.

 eight motifs were chosen from the vogue knitting stitchionary volume three by the vogue diversity committee. seen here are "go your own way" and "houndstooth,"

and "mountain lake" and "making waves." i used quince and co's chickadee, color gingerbread, and mcmullin fiber company's posh sock in the miss woodhouse colorway . . both stash yarns.

and here's pluto on the two pillowcases i hand sewed.

crocuses, snow drops and ice cream

 today was an incredibly warm and beautiful spring day. i wore a sweater under my down vest. no hat, no gloves. i met my friend on 8th street to interview a pediatrician with her. she will be adopting a child soon and has several pediatric offices to visit. after the interview and lunch together, i walked to a pet store in soho looking for a specific toy for pluto (which they no longer had) and then i walked home again along 11th street looking for those harbingers of spring . .

 snow drops . . 

 and crocuses.

 i also stopped for an affogato with burnt honey vanilla ice cream at morgenstern's.

they have such delicious ice cream with interesting flavors.

i waited for greg to come home from work by the bike rack not far from our apartment. the air was very chilly and my hands grew cold. i was reminded of all the spring evenings i would play outside as a child in the cool night air with the earth slowly beginning to warm again.

sunday

the human touch

'tis the human touch in this world that counts,

the touch of your hand and mine,

which means far more to the fainting heart

than shelter and bread and wine;

for shelter is gone when the night is o'er,

and bread lasts only a day,

but the touch of the hand and the sound of the voice

sing on in the soul alway.

by spencer michael free (1856 - 1938)

veggies, minerva and swan lake

i was out early this morning . .

to take care of minerva . . 

 and to visit the green market . . and then . .

home again . . morgana made this sign years ago . . 

 i love the little shoes . . 

 and boots . . 

 pluto is always at the door, ready to greet me.

 the green market haul . . 

 shitake mushrooms, fingerling potatoes and turnips (and eggs . . ) . .

after breakfast i took the train uptown to lincoln center and the new york city ballet to see tiler peck dance in swan lake.

i was also looking forward to giving more attention to the art exhibit by lauren redniss, which i find so interesting that i wish they had published a book with her drawings and interviews.

 i first wrote about this exhibit on february 8th. the artist drew and interviewed over one hundred behind the scenes people associated with the ballet: engineers, lighting designers, ballet masters, porters, dress makers, make-up artists, call center operators . . etc.

i took some photos of the few interviews they included along the wall on the mezzanine level:

(drawing on left) jean-pierre frohlich, ballet master

"i've been in this building since it was built. 1964. there are images in my head of balanchine and robbins rehearsing. images of my childhood. running the hallways in between the matinee and evening performance. images of when balanchine choreographed a small section of don quixote on me. i was ten years old. he was extremely gentle, extremely kind to children. i have memories of working with jerry robbins on watermill. i was 16, at school of american ballet. robbins wanted to use me, but he didn't know if it was possible because i was at the school. so he asked balanchine, 'is it okay if i use jean-pierre for this production?' balanchine said, 'of course, he's family.'

"when you teach the ballets, you have to make sure they don't become a museum piece -- that they evolve with the times we are living in and how dancers dance today. balanchine did that and so did robbins. robbins said to me many times, 'j.p. don't look at too many videos, because you start making dancers look like the person who's on the video.' in other words, the dancer won't find their own voice in the role. when robbins entrusted me with his ballets, i felt at ease. i felt prepared, because robbins prepared me. balanchine prepared me."

(drawing on the right) norma attride, wardrobe

"there are about 4,000 costumes in the storage area downstairs at the theatre. there are another, say, 10,000 costumes at a great big warehouse up in new jersey.

"i maintain and elongate the life of a costume. we change elastics in trunks, shoulders, waistbands. it's a lot of laundry, a lot of woolite. we are constantly cleaning, especially if dancers are sharing the costume and it has to be worn in the afternoon and again in the evening or the next day. you're wiping it down and getting little make-up stains off.

"tutus are easy to maintain. but after awhile, because a lot of partnering, the oil from the partner's hands will get on the tutu bodice, so you're constantly trying to get the oil, or the rosin, off. the dancers put rosin on their side seams to help their partner have a grip, and rosin stains really badly. if that's what the partner has to do in order to keep steady, you can't say no. you want the dancers to be safe on stage. you just have to do your best to clean it."

ms diaz, box office

"it all started with my grandfather, rafael diaz. he worked for the company many years ago, in the 1950's, before lincoln center was build. he worked here all his life. when i was born,  he brought in my father, virgilio diaz. they were porters. they made sure everything was in order--the garbage was picked up, the brass polished, all that stuff.

"one time, my father invited me and a cousin of mine. we were about eight or nine years old. it was winter. we got up real early, about 3:30 in the morning. my father had to be at work at 5:30 am. there's almost nobody here that early. we went into the ballerina's dressing rooms, into the theatre, sat in the seats. we went on stage. you know what? when i walk into the theatre now, it's the same smell. the wood. the velvet. it takes me back.

"when i was 18, my father said to me, 'there's an opening in the box office.' i started off as a mail clerk. i did customer service on the phone. i grew up here. i started off with braces. i bought my house. i had my kids. i have a grandchild. i couldn't see myself anywhere else. imagine! i've been here all my life."

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i have two more photos with drawings and interviews which i will try and post another day. it takes awhile to copy the text!

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warming up . . 

 on the balcony at intermission . .

 i enjoyed seeing the audience mix with the portraits . . 

it was a beautiful show. tiler peck danced exquisitely, and joseph gordon was wonderful as her prince siegfried. since ms peck just recently recovered from a herniated disc, the audience was doubly supportive of her and extremely enthusiastic about her performance this afternoon. there was a very good article in the new york times about her injury and subsequent recovery which can be read here. another incredibly beautiful performance this afternoon was from kurt nikkanen, the violin soloist. you can see  him all the way on the left in the above photo, with the conductor, andrew litton.

 i'm so glad i bought my ticket early for such a great seat!

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my exhausting afternoon of re-caulking and re-grouting the shower tiles is here, and my afternoon clearing out a bookshelf with korrina is here.

20 degrees fahrenheit (winter!)

20 degrees . . that's what the temperature was this morning when i woke at 7 am. i'm doing laundry now and it's 25 degrees. the sun is shining, the sky is blue and the air is cold and crisp. winter days have been so rare this year, that i'm happy when it finally appears. 

of course if you're living in an area where it's 5 degrees fahrenheit, or any number of degrees below 0 fahrenheit, 20 and 25 degrees might feel downright balmy (one of my favorite winter sayings).

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greg's birthday was wednesday (which i just posted). and eva's birthday was today. she had a fun celebration with her family, and i was happy that she received my card and chocolates in time.

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 chanda dressed all in black just like her cat, before going off to work today . . so i took a pic. her boss is having a work party at a bowling alley in brooklyn tonight.