evening walk past the whitney and a morning bike ride

 

an exhibit on the sidewalk across the street from the entrance . . . . ?

greg and i have been bed hopping while the new mattress inflates. well, greg has been happy in one bed . . but i sometimes get up in the middle of the night and switch beds and sleep in the other bedroom. this empty nest is so far from what it used to be with three cats and one dog (who did not get along so had to be kept separate via a gate in the hallway), three children and two adults . . life feels so surreal these days.

i made dinner this evening following a recipe from the marcella hazan cookbook marisa gave me several years ago (marcella's kitchen): spaghetti col pomodoro fresco e la cipolla (i used fusilli pasta instead). i also didn't skin or de-seed the tomatoes, but it still came out incredibly creamy and was delicious!

and i actually managed to get out for a bicycle ride this morning:

and here's a pic chanda posted of pluto on her instagram account.

a new camera

 i finally purchased a new canon sl2 camera. my rebel t3 wasn't focusing properly and still had spots on photos after a cleaning at phototec.

 working on the weekly schedule . .

 waiting to be fed . . again.

 the holiday mobile is up . .

 it's nice having morgana home . . greg and i worked all day sunday getting the room ready, and i did last minute cleaning touches on monday.

chanda's room with madeline sleeping contentedly.

finishing the met post

 we stopped at cafe sabarsky before meeting clyde at the met.

 both morgana and i had an einspänner, also called a double espresso with whipped cream, served in a glass. chanda had the kaiser mélange, which is what i usually get: fresh ground coffee with whipped cream. 

 we shared an apricot cake . . 

 i love this cake. it's so delicious. korrina made it for my birthday with peaches in 2014.

 then we were off to the met, just across the street. we wandered into a shaker exhibit with a movie playing martha graham's appalachian spring.

(music by aaron copland.)

 the women wore stiff wide brimmed hats with starched white caps underneath. this one is made of palm leaf. initially, they wore handwoven wool dresses, but then accepted industrially made materials of silk and wool. 

 though their clothes were very subdued, they enjoyed bright colors and abstract, yet symmetrical, designs in their rugs. these items are all from around 1870.

 this is a double counter with drawers that a seamstress or tailor would use. it's made of applewood, pearwood and pine.

just this morning we watched michael portillo's great american railway journeys, part i, new york city. in it they talked about cornelius vanderbilt and showed this same table which resided in his library. the map is supposed to imply that he had the world within his grasp and the wreaths and stars mimic napoleonic heraldry.  it's made of rosewood, brass, mother-of-pearl and abalone. it's from the same time period as the shaker items.

redware from new england (1850), which they still make at sturbridge village in their old kiln.

 we then went to meet clyde and visit the asian wing, since chanda wanted to draw a bird . . again . . 

 i think she's drawn every bird in this exhibit now.

bird on a branch, by unkel eli, hanging scroll, ink on paper, from the early sixteenth century. the verse is by the zen monkpoet son'an:

in the forest, when evening comes

birds retire and nest together.

coupled birds remain in flight,

their joined wings letting them soar,

not looking for a place to spend the night.

 in the japanese garden . . 

 and then we wandered over to the costume exhibit . . 

this was a very intricate gown with tiny gold and metal jewels. some were sewed on, some were glued on . . some were printed with a computer? it was recently made and reflected current design technology which relied heavily on the computer. 

 morgana and clyde taking a break . . 

 one of the costumes i liked: simple, old-fashioned sewing on tulle and satin.

 this wasn't as simple, but i liked it.

 and beautiful lace from the 1800's.

 these next two photos show a few of chanda's favorites.

she likes the classical greek style.

 after the costume exhibit, chanda went to her dances patrelle macbeth rehearsal, and clyde, morgana and i wandered into a quilting exhibit.

 i find it interesting to see homemade quilts now in the met museum, since i had received the impression when i was growing up that "crafts" were not considered art by museum curators. i'm glad this has changed.

 i actually don't have any information on when this quilt was made or by whom. i guess i was feeling a bit tired and was just admiring the stitching and the beautiful patterns.

 clyde and morgana were discussing the color choices. they both felt that the colors and patterns were planned, but i felt that it was all haphazard and that the quilt makers just grabbed a star willy nilly and   sewed it on.

 both clyde and morgana were "starving" when we left the museum, so we took the train downtown to veselka.

 it was beautiful night to sit outside.

 we made plans to get together one last time before clyde leaves for california on thursday: at veniero's monday night for dessert with renee.

 we met chanda on the way home. she had just gotten off the train, and we walked to otto's tacos on seventh avenue where we met greg and chanda happily ate dinner.

 picking up morgana's rug at our friend's house where it was delivered.

 the night before a car had run into her railing and her neighbor's ground floor window. she said the whole house shook and it was a bit frightening. the car just drove away. such crazy nighttime summer shenanigans in the village!

 it looks nice.

madeline thinks so too.