at the ballet

greg and i took the bus up third avenue to the theatre at st. jean's on 76th and lexington for a dance concert charlotte was performing in. 

international american ballet presents a better planet, a better world.

she did two pieces for the show: the queen of the waters, choreography by marius petipa, music by edouard deldevez and ludwig minkus; and snow maiden excerpt, choreography by the director of the program, analia farfan, with music by tchaikovsky. she danced beautifully in both pieces, as did everyone in the show. it was really lovely with exquisite backdrop settings by alessandra mattanza (photography and paintings). the show itself is an extension of an artistic campaign dedicated to creating awareness of the need to protect the environment (a better planet, a better world).

charlotte taking a bow at the end of the show in her snow maiden costume, with trim designed and sewn by her sister veronika.

it was a fun evening and greg and i really enjoyed the show. brava charlotte!

no rain today

it was so pretty walking around today as the callery pear trees are in bloom . . 

i put laundry in this morning and then walked to lifethyme market for some groceries . . 

before walking milly . . who looks like she is ready for take off from the strong wind we ran into along 14th street.

our friend charlotte is visiting. she got in late last night in the midst of the rainstorm. she's in town for a dance performance and cricket is enjoying her company immensely.

i made split pea soup with the easter ham bone for dinner. (chanda was rock climbing.)

and we had a dessert of maple candy balls (similar to malt balls but with a delicious maple flavor) and cookies i had picked up from mah ze dahr bakery (ma'amoul stuffed with dates and nuts). charlotte also brought a wonderful cranapple orange jam along with the maple balls. i look forward to having it in the morning on oatcakes.

the big moving day

brian's father and i spent the day moving korrina and brian into their new place.

 

there was a lot to do and we didn't finish until 6:30 pm or so. it was dark and my eyes were very tired (not good for driving) so i asked greg to come out after work to rescue me and drive the two of us home.

i didn't get any photos of charlotte when she was here, but it was a nice visit and i think she had a great time at her ballet classes. greg and i saw her off at the port authority bus station late last night . . well, we saw her onto the line waiting for the bus. she texted when she transferred at pittsburgh early this morning and then again when she was in her dorm. i appreciated her letting me know. the day went by so fast . . there was so much driving and loading and unloading . . along with this busy weekend, the days have felt a bit chaotic.

here's a little bit of the bathroom game pluto likes to play . . 

one of the photos of pluto that i sent chanda in london . .

and a photo morgana sent me of the two visitors there. they are staying at a hotel emily's mom found for them, though they did get to visit morgana and jenny's apartment, where jenny made a delicious chili dinner for them.

 

and here they are in front of the whole foods store with all the deliciously ella treats (many of which they brought back for me along with russian caravan tea and kusmi paris tea - rose flavored green tea).

a last lovely meal out . . 

and a photo in front of the covent garden tube station.

our lady of pompeii

charlotte and i attended the 9 am mass at our lady of pompeii on carmine street this morning. it was a quiet and pretty service. by the time we left, the sun was streaming through the south facing windows.

workshop day at VKL

my workshop began at 9 am and i was out the door at 8:15, which is later than i wanted to be as i had considered walking there. instead i took the train. when i arrived at my destination, both starbucks coffee shops in the vicinity had long lines. where should i go for tea? across the street was junior's diner and their little to go bakery had only one customer. that was fortunate. there's not much difference between twinings earl grey tea and teavana's.

 the class i attended was knitting haps (shawls) with gudrun johnston. to help us understand the concepts needed, she had us knitting a mini version.

 she also presented a slideshow about the shetland islands, where she grew up, sharing how the residents exported knitted garments to the mainland and overseas, and how the sheep were managed by the residents, but roamed wild all year round. they are a small sheep, and very hardy, being able to live off a rough landscape.

joining my sqaure into the round . .

at lunch i attended the diversity meeting which was very inspiring.

 

we took a photo of everyone wearing their our common threads cowl. i was impressed with everyone's choice of colors. they were all beautiful.
 

back at class . . i enjoyed adding the colors i had picked from my stash, but i knew i wouldn't be able to get up to the lace edging before the class ended. not many people did . .

except for the fellow workshop attendee sitting next to me, who was nice enough to allow me to film her getting advice from gudrun about knitting the lace edging. at this point i was considering that if i made a full shawl, perhaps i wouldn't add the edging at all . . following the custom of the shetland residents who only added the lace edging on the shawls that would be sold. they didn't have time to add the lace onto their own shawls, and maybe they didn't consider it practical. i enjoyed seeing the photos of them with their lace free work shawls draped criss-cross over their chests.

a few of the beautiful shawls gudrun brought with her.

it was a wonderful workshop and i hope i don't procrastinate too long with finishing my sample.

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on the way home i checked my phone to see if eva's charlotte had arrived in penn station yet. she's attending a ballet workshop tomorrow, sunday and monday. greg texted me that she had just walked in (about 6:45 pm) and i made it home to have dinner with them.

heading home, fresh food box and a walk through the neighborhood

after a big breakfast and moving the car, i saw charlotte off at penn station at 1:20 pm. she had a seven hour ride home but was supplied with sandwiches and plenty of chocolate, and even a cup of auntie anne's buttery pretzel nuggets (chanda's and my favorite). all went well (it was a beautiful sunny day for traveling) and she reunited with her dad in rochester around 8:30 pm. she still had a two hour drive home though, after that, and so i think just her mom and the cats were awake when she finally got in.

 meanwhile, after seeing her off at the station i walked to bellevue for my fresh food box pick up. korrina had already been and was at work trying to get her locker open to get ready for another night of restaurant week craziness. i had ordered a box for marisa this week, so she was on her way also and caught up with me in the rotunda. we walked home along first avenue and then cross town to mah ze dahr bakery where i had a hot chocolate and a ginger snap cookie, and marisa had banana bread and an english breakfast tea (while the school children bounced off the walls around us . . school had just let out).

it was all incredibly delicious.

 walking home . . 

 walking past a store which i thought was an art gallery until marisa pointed out to me that it's now a shoe store (the prior occupant was a photographer . . 

 and the fancy windows didn't look much different to me . . 

this is a lady's slipper, not an art object on display . . perhaps this can be debated?)

 it felt so good to be home in the warm apartment again. the veggies i picked up today were beets, garlic, pears, apples, swiss chard, kale and a butternut squash.

and look what else came!!! morgana sent two boxes of seashell chocolates and a huge niederegger marzipan!!

(check out our tuesday adventure with charlotte here.)

rainy day adventures

i haven't been posting and we've had a whole week of fun adventures with eva's charlotte! i'm now trying to remedy this situation and i hope to be more diligent. 

today was the rainiest day and charlotte planned to be out of the apartment at 9 am to attend a ballet class uptown at steps on broadway and to then walk to the natural history museum as she had never been. however! i remembered that we had ballet tickets for a "classic nycb" performance at lincoln center at 7:30 pm, so there was a quick change of plans and she came home for some hot soup and a rest after class. we then walked through the cold and the wind and the rain to twentieth street and broadway for the teddy roosevelt birthplace tour.

eliza was our tour guide. she was new, she said, and perhaps a little nervous? she spoke very quickly at first, with a memorized script, and it was difficult for me to understand her. however, after asking a few questions and engaging her in conversation, we were able to establish a comfortable rhythm and to learn a lot from her. as a younger tour guide, she was equipped with an ipad of photos, and she whipped it out at just the right moment to share pictures of teddy's siblings and of teddy himself.

i think this is a stereoscope on which they would look at pictures of famous landmarks and historic sights. i think it was the 19th century version of the view-master. i'm not sure of this, however. it's a question i did not ask. i believe i need another visit!

the lovely parlor room which was used for guests and special occasions. the wallpaper, curtains and satin material for chairs and sofa were all furnished in a beautiful sky blue color.

after our wonderful tour of president roosevelt's birthplace, we headed uptown on the b train to the american museum of natural history, which teddy's father helped to found in 1869 (there's a statue of teddy on the steps outside the museum. i'll have to include a photo of it in the future. whenever i pass it now, i always think about how proud roosevelt senior would be of his son, who was the first president to receive the nobel peace prize and who reserved so much land for posterity as parks and national sites). this is one of our favorite museums, and we have spent many happy homeschooling field trips here.

here charlotte is standing in the expansive entrance rotunda. i neglected to check on what dinosaur soars behind her.

these may be hartebeasts or eland on the serengeti plane. sorry, i'm not sure. i took the pic for the seashell in the foreground! charlotte and i were intrigued at its inclusion in the diorama. was it a curator's child's request? was it native to the terrain, left from past seas?

i believe these are gazelles. i took the photo for the painting of the horizon. the dioramas are beautiful and incredibly precise. this is the serengeti plain, east of lake victoria, tanzania.

who are these handsome creatures? they are oryx gazella from the sahara desert. both males and females have these beautiful ridged horns.

here charlotte is taking a picture of central park as seen from the astor turret, one of my favorite corners in the museum.

central park in the mist and cold of february. i feel that the weather always turns dramatic when i enter this turret!

central park west . .

the view north . .

dinosaurs on the fourth floor . . 

these are duck billed dinosaurs or hadrosaurs and they lived seventy million years ago, during the cretaceous period.

where are we now? after meeting chanda at steps on broadway, and touring the fairway market and buying blackberry acai chocolate made by lindt, and eating dinner at a VERY crowded cafe boulud on broadway . . .

(cafe boulud!)

we arrived at the new york state theatre at lincoln center for a performance by the new york city ballet. 

charlotte didin't like this pic and i said i wouldn't use it, but i am! oops! i think she looks lovely with the gold and deep red velvet of the theatre behind her. we saw megan fairchild dance with anthony huxley in square dance, choreographed by george balanchine (i love balanchine and thought it was amazing).

it was then intermission, and both charlotte and i were amused that the lobby held an exhibition of balloons by artist jihan zencirli. (i had just complained earlier in the day that i hated balloons and considered them garbage).

the exhibit is rather amazing, but even though the balloons are supposedly biodegradable, i think they contribute a lot of waste to the world.

the second two pieces were oltramare by mauro bigonzetti (music by bruno moretti) and the four seasons by jerome robbins (music by giuseppi verdi). both were wonderful, but i truly loved the four seasons. jerome robbins has such a great sense of humor, even though i've heard stories that he was quite the taskmaster in rehearsal!

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after the performance, we were happy to board the subway and head home to a warm apartment and two hungry cats!