the high line and staten island

on our way to a cup of tea at la bergamot, janet and i walked along the high line and admired the rose of sharon.

i'm not sure what the shiny evergreen looking plant is, but the red flowers in the foreground are sundown coneflower, and in the background you can see black-eyed susan.

greg, morgana, chanda and i left the city at 1 pm to drive to staten island for the isadora duncan dance intensive performance at the alice austen house. thankfully, it was not as hot as the past few days, and there was a nice breeze off of the narrows. but it was a typical hazy summer day.

the dancers wore only their practice tunics today. morgana and chanda ironed theirs' on the last minute . . we hadn't realized that costumes were not being prepared.

we arrived early and greg and i had a chance to walk around before heading back to the city to see korrina's play.

once everyone began arriving we said good-bye. we left with a little rain beginning to come down. i wondered how the dancers would fare! we heard afterwards that the performance began at 4:30 pm, as scheduled. at 5 pm it began raining hard enough that they needed to take shelter under the trees and in the house. but it didn't pour, and soon cleared for them to finish the program with only two dances eliminated. overall, everyone was happy with the way the day turned out, and they had a wonderful time dancing outdoors.

duncan dancing on the upper east side

the beliloveables danced at the spence school this morning. their last dance was "southern roses" and the first graders loved them. they all stood up at the end to clap, which was very heart-warming.

park gates and celebrating isadora

i walked morgana to 59th street. she was on her way to a concert she was dancing in this evening. she went a little earlier than chanda, as chanda had a dance class. we passed the artisan's gate and the merchant's gate . .


the park's entrances had been named in the middle 1800's when the park was being built. however, the names weren't actually chiseled onto the stone and unveiled until 1999.

the concert was in honor of isadora duncan's birthday. it was held in a studio at city center and was given by the isadora duncan dance foundation. it was lovely, and everyone danced beautifully. here, chanda is holding one of the little girls she babysits for after the performance.

and morgana with chanda and both twins . . (morgana was excited to dance a new piece in this concert . . scherzo . . )

after party fun for the younger dancers . .

mamas and papas waiting for the younger crowd to tire out (which, of course, didn't happen) . .

may day

we began our may day by planting in our coop's children's garden. we picked up potting soil and peat moss and planted our wildflower mat (last year we planted too late, this year i'm worried we planted too early! the instructions say late may through june . . but we were ready and rearing to go today!) we also planted some impatiens, alyssum and . . something else the girls picked out from the hardware store. it was also a good shade plant. our plot gets partial sun during the day. it's probably the main reason the wildflowers don't do so well. they need a lot of sun. oh well. we'll try again and see how it goes.

(here's last year's effort. and here.) we have the whole bottom section this year. we're happy about that.

our neighbor's garden has beautiful bleeding hearts . . or ladies in the bathtub (when you turn them upside down).

after gardening we ran off to the the may festival in our friend's community garden on 48th street. morgana and chanda made wreaths for themselves. (korrina was in new jersey visiting a friend).

morgana loves lilacs.

they dance every year.

the last dance is called sculpture garden and the girls ask everyone to join in.

then it was time for the maypole dance!

first the little ones danced, and then the older children. they've become good maypole weavers through the years!

we also had a fiddle player, a banjo player, and a mandolin player. it was a wonderful day, and we're all rather tired. korrina is home now, also. i better get some sleep.

breathing out

a saturday that was too busy . .

why was it too busy? because we left chanda's violin at the ballet audition and we didn't realize it until we were on our way home after the duncan dance rehearsal at 7:30 pm!!!! actually, we're not even sure if it's at the gelsey kirkland school. they were closed when i called, and they won't reopen until 8 am monday morning. it's just too painful to think that we may have left it on the subway platform. we were just so starry eyed after meeting miss kirkland! chanda said the class she taught was "amazing!" in the photo above she has her violin strapped onto her back . . we're on our way to soho after group lessons at third street.

at the third street con spirito rehearsal. i like where i'm sitting here. it's a much better vantage point.



i think i need to sit here more regularly.

in the locker room at GKACB. the violin is outside this room, in a corner by a chair with all our bags. (exactly a week ago i left chanda's shoes in a bag on a chair in the church after the string stravaganza. i'm really battin' a thousand.)

we got on the train at canal street and took the Q to 57th street and 7th avenue . .

for the isadora duncan dance class and rehearsal. sam is on the left. he ended the class for lori, the teacher. the girls love when he leads class or rehearsal.

all the little girls from the dance class that came after sat down on the floor to watch the end of rehearsal.

they were adorable in their black tights and yellow leotards . . they looked like little bumblebees.

early morning assembly performance

abingdon square, 6:30 am.
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as much as we grumble about getting up early, once we get outside we feel wonderful. this morning we met camille on the corner of west 11th and greenwich street and then walked to the L train at 8th avenue and 14th street. the sky was still growing bright, the air was crisp, and the 4/5 train was crowded!

we got off at 86th street and lexington and walked five long blocks to the brearley school by the east river. it always feels good to stand at an edge of manhattan . . seeing the sweep of the river after walking through the narrow city canyons always makes my heart sing. (in the background is the triborough bridge.)

they first rehearsed to space themselves in the auditorium.

waiting to go on.

the mamas sat up in the balcony, where i surreptitiously tried to take a few pictures and film excerpts. i actually wanted to get more of a side view of dancers and audience, but the little girls saw me aiming with my camera and started whispering and pointing. i had to disappear. not much escapes a child's notice during assembly!

after the performance, the children had many questions, which was nice! how did you make the tunics? how did you decide on the colors? what are the names of the dances? how long did you rehearse? how long have the girls been dancing?

lori had good ghirardelli chocolate for everyone. chanda's mouth looks quite full!

music and dancing

since we had been away for the weekend of september 11th and 12th, today was chanda's first day at repertory and orchestra class. she has a new repertory teacher this year, and is in her second year of the beginner orchestra group. her orchestra teacher had an assigned seat for her this year: principal of the second violin section. she's very happy (she says she likes second violin better than first and is glad she wasn't moved over!) and we think it will be a nice challenge for her.

on our way to third street we were discussing the batiking we had done several years ago at my friend janet's house, and i told chanda that she had done a nice job on her shirt. she reminded me that i had worked on her shirt, and she had only done the sand! well, i guess i like the lighthouse and stars that i made.

i did some volunteer work at the street fair this morning while chanda was in class. another parent and i sold t-shirts and gave out information about third street music school. a man came by and asked how things were at the school and said his children used to study with third street when it was still on third street (it's now on 11th street!).

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in the afternoon, greg took m and c up to fort tryon park where they and two of their friends danced for a birthday party. they had a lot of fun and the all the little girls loved them.


after the performance, the girls taught a few dances and showed the birthday party participants several dance moves.

tonight i made roasted squash, pear and ginger soup.