more tech . . and a full run of "space walk"

 

 deychen and morgan's dance: space walk (full run without interruption)

 

rehearsing amelia's dance before teching . .
 

breaking down the group sections and rehearsing them separately from amelia's solos . . 

 

and then the run through with lights . . (first part)

 

(second part)

 

 

notes from the lighting designer . .
 

practicing bows . . 

ellen practicing the title and choreographer announcements she makes between each piece.

and that's a wrap!

a solstice bike ride, ice cream with ellen & morgana in nice

we had a wonderful ride on the bikes this morning. it felt good to feel the salty sea wind on my face, and it was a relief to check on the bikes and the bike pump which we keep in the bike room. we hadn't been in the room since . . last summer i think! surprisingly, they weren't very dusty.

sipping on a raspberry lemonade cooler from le pain quotidian. when we were out, i forgot it was the solstice. usually i come prepared with a poem to read, but i've been so distracted with thinking about this pending cross-country trip . . 

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at 1:15 pm we made it out of the house to meet ellen for goat milk ice cream at victory garden on carmine street. the victory garden people have rented out their space to a soup cafe and they keep their ice cream cart on the sidewalk (they're concentrating on wholesale orders to local supermarkets). we first had some soup which was highly recommended by the victory garden ice cream cart sellers, (i had coconut chicken) and they were right. the soup was delicious. the ice cream was too (though chanda misses their soft serve). i had chocolate rosemary and mexican vanilla. 

 our friend amelia, who also studied with ellen, made her a bracelet for each of the dances she created that she does with her students each year.

 towel dance, waterstudy, secret service, extra genre, rainforest, piecework, ode, swatch . .

 the rainforest bracelet . . 

 walk around vermeer . . (it's in my labels list . . i don't think i have korrina's tech, but korrina takes part in morgana's tech as she once played vermeer and filled in during the rehearsal - she was stage managing for ellen during morgana's tech).

 discussing what ellen should do next year as she only has two dancers in her oldest teen group (remember, nine students graduated in chanda's class . . ) and her five year old class is very small.

one of the nicest pics i've taken of ellen . . it's only taken fourteen years . .

(afterwards, i visited my friends jeanette and tony who are getting ready to leave for italy on june 29th with their daughter radha. they'll first visit jeanette's apartment in florence where she needs to take care of some italian paperwork, and then they'll head to ospedaletti - not far from nice - where morgana hopes to join them for a few days before they leave on september 1st.)

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and finally, coming in on this post is morgana, as she sent a bunch of photos from nice:

 it looks like camille showed up!

 ready for sunbathers . . 

 a correspondance still-life . .

 provençal architecture and palm trees . .

a pic of a yarn store for me!

 dinner: squid fettucini, steamed zucchini and veal (i thought it was chicken) and carrots with fresh rosemary . . 

 victoria at work on the beach . .

portrait of morgana by victoria.

more foliage and a birthday celebration

 we traveled home today . . and it was another beautiful day on the road. it rained again, but it wasn't too heavy and driving wasn't bad.

 the pumpkins had returned to abingdon square park, looking just a little bedraggled from their time in the rain.

 chanda had an acting class and nutcracker rehearsal at her ballet school, and then i met her for a birthday celebration (while she was at class i went to our local tibetan store for the gift).

 we met our friends at sticky rice, a thai restaurant on the lower east side just a block from the tenement museum. i had a delicious coconut soup and chicken, mango and peanut dumplings. the food was soooo good. we'd like to come back one day with greg as we think he would really enjoy it.

 we celebrated amelia's birthday . . she turned eighteen on october 15th.

it was nice to sit and talk with friends. since the girls do so much on their own now, we don't get to see each other very often.

visiting amelia

 we traveled to valhalla again (!) to see amelia who is doing really well and will be leaving the rehab center this coming thursday.

 we all sewed heart sachets . .

 and had lunch together in the sunny cafeteria. we had brought apple pie to have with tea and coffee.

 i found the thanksgiving decorations . . cute.

 the leaves have all fallen from the trees since our last visit.

 everything is turning brown with a vibrant blue sky and white clouds. i love the color of winter here in new york. 

dinner consisted of leftovers from friday night's soup, chanda's birthday celebration on saturday, the birthday party on sunday, and korrina's celebration on monday. it was quite a spread and we made sure to save some for greg who was doing a coop make-up.

election day and valhalla

it was a quiet voting day . . not too many people at the polls.

we drove with ellen to valhalla (interesting name for a town i think!) to see amelia . . who is in rehab after an operation to correct the arteriovenous malformation in her brain. the surgery went very well and i know she and her mom are hoping to be able to go home soon.

the color of the trees on the way was incredibly beautiful! it's good to drive out of the city to see it. we don't always do so . . and miss out on such a gorgeous display.

i collected leaves to press and to put on the nature table.

through the many years ellen has lived in the city, she has always made it a point to drive out to walk in the woods during autumn. 

she brought "skitter," a game her  uncle invented. the small pieces of metal and thread dance around in the box when you create static with your hand or silk cloth rubbed over the plastic cover. you can also use a finger to move it around and make it jump. it's a lot of fun and very clever.

the blythedale children's hospital is a very clean and cheerful place. we were all impressed with it. amelia's grandmother began her work here as an occupational therapist many years ago. she's been staying with them in a guest room, but will go home this friday. we had lunch together and the girls made bracelets that amelia learned to do at a halloween party in the hospital.

the valhalla sign . . !

a last glimpse of the trees along the route home . . (passing yonkers, where ellen grew up) . .

happy birthday, amelia

 amelia took her friends to see cinderella today. they had tickets to the 2 pm matinee. afterwards we had dinner at giorgio's country grill! they gave so much food that we all walked out with doggie bags.

 chanda and morgana said the show was FABULOUS and they had a great time. 

we also had a great time in the restaurant together. joanna, marisa and i enjoyed talking about old movies we've seen that would be good to share with our girls. i was remembering "trapeze," and "viva zapata," and "the magnificent seven." joanna and amelia just watched "the sting" together . . it's been a long time since i saw that one.