thanksgiving day

getting the table set.

morgana's table decorations.

working on her knitting items for the craft fair.

 knitting on a scarf and talking to nana in the kitchen while . . 

 aunt kathy makes the gravy.

 while we were waiting for my nephew and brother-in-law to get back with nonno, the girls and i and nanna visited the lake.

 morgana picked winterberries for the table.

 lllex verticillata, american winterberry, a species of the holly bush, native to eastern north american and southeastern canada. the native americans used the berries for medicinal purposes, thus its common name of fever bush.

 we contributed the creamed celery and sweet potatoes (and a pumpkin pie).

 our after dinner walk . . 

 it was very grey out but warmer than last year.

some of the cousins . . 

and charades!

digging in the dirt and observing jupiter

today, we finally made it out to our small children's garden plot by the laundry room to dig up a few impatiens plants and put in some bulbs.



(meanwhile, korrina ran off to a babysitting job in cobble hill. she took care of a little two and a half year old, very energetic, little boy who she said was very cute. they went to the carroll street playground where i used to take korrina sometimes when she was little.)

we found teeny tiny mushrooms which we have not identified as yet.

we also observed jupiter this evening, just to the right of the moon.

on a runaway train . .

morgana and chanda worked on recording their observations with mushroom spores and the mold that began growing on the portobello mushroom.

the spores are so fine . . you can only see the accumulation as a beautiful sketch!

the mold was rather beautiful also! the little mycelium hairs look like patches of snow.

below, are some of the books we've been reading, in conjunction with the live education curriculum.

this is a wonderful set of books from grolier international by jill bailey that our librarian allowed us to borrow while our local library branch is being renovated. they are supposed to be for reference use only. it was so nice of her to let us take several home to read.



m and c received a subscription to cricket magazine for christmas, and they've been enjoying reading the stories and doing the crossword puzzles.

here m and c are trying to make sandwiches, but are unable to stop fooling around. i was trying to get out to walk jack.

we were on our way to riverside park for study group. we've been reading the recovery of man in childhood, by a. c. harwood. i wish i had read it ten years ago.

m and c played games and sang songs with the little ones (along with their friend tessa) while we talked.

after study group, morgana was fitted for her costume for her friend's dance piece. there are five dancers and their dresses will be five different shades of purple. it should look beautiful.

morgana and cindi are here working out the design for chanda's costume (based on a painting she saw at the MET by leon bonnat).

after modern dance class, cindi and i practically jogged through the park with chanda and tessa to get to tech rehearsal for dances patrelle's gilbert and sullivan ballet.

on stage with choreographer and the stage manager, receiving the rules for the week.

at home, morgana and greg had made pizzas! the coop sells a whole grain flatbread, and i had made a marinara sauce before leaving the apartment today. morgana sliced zucchini with a potato peeler and spread it on the flatbread with olive oil, goat cheese and red peppers. it was incredibly delicious!!!

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all this time korrina was at tech for the play she's doing with her MCC group. she got home about the same time as chanda and i. we saw her pass by the laundry room while we were putting in the dirty sheets the cat had peed on. darn cat.

snow and sky and botany and thank you cards

it snowed during the night, stopping by 8 am. it left the city a prettier place . . for a little while!

morgana has been reading from susan fenimore cooper's rural hours, and placed a quote in her botany book about ms. cooper's winter observations of the panther and of her local frozen lake.

our winter book today was a polar bear biologist at work, by dorothy hinshaw patent. chuck jonkel has studied the bears on the southwest coast of the hudson bay, canada. it's the southern most colony of polar bears. i think we were most fascinated by their seal fishing technique, and how they like to eat berries, mussels and kelp. their paws are huge and hairy (keeping them warm and helping them stay on top of the snow) and they have 2 to 4 inches of blubber under their thick fur. they prefer to eat the baby seals since there is more fat on the babies. the fat releases water, whereas they would need water to help them digest the meat. when killing an adult seal, they eat the fat and leave the meat for the arctic foxes.

after handwriting, italian and grammar, chanda worked on her thank you cards this evening, while morgana went off to a dance class.

we made chanda's thank you cards up from photographs i took of the gifts. she's adding a drawing and words inside.

and i ate my very last anton berg chocolate marzipan that christine brought me from denmark. it was so delicious! thank you, again, christine!