a walk to the met museum

 i walked with christine and her family from our neighborhood all the way up to the met museum today. they were keeping track of how many "steps" they were doing, and i think this walk was 10,000. it's nice to walk with others who love to walk so far. we stopped in central park for them to eat their delicious treats from carlo's bakery on 42nd street and 8th avenue.

 at the museum we toured the egyptian wing. this beautiful necklace is made of carnelian barrel-shaped seweret beads. it was found on the mummy of one of the wives of thutmose iii.

the temple of dendur was the destination, and also a view of a real mummy. her nephew was studying the egyptians in his school at home in michigan, and i think they all enjoyed seeing the tomb drawings, sarcophagi, amulets, etc . . there's so much to take in. i never tire of the egyptian wing.

dinner with christine

 our friend christine is in town for a tour of manhattan with her sister and niece and nephew. it was fun to meet them this evening. they came over for a red bean and quinoa chili dinner, with sorbetto for dessert. take note of christine's beautiful knitted sweater. it's a design by nicola susen called catty-corner and is knitted with noro yarn, which i was so proud of myself for recognizing.

christine brought such lovely gifts with her! kusmi teas (which i love) and anton berg marzipan (which i also love . . !)

and beautiful danish yarn . . (which i probably love the most . . well, that anton berg marzipan may come first . . )

visiting christine . .

morgana has been in denmark visiting our friend christine (she was here in the fall over a year ago to go with us to the sheep and wool festival-such a fun visit). i find the above picture amusing as it looks just like the brooklyn botanic garden with the cherry trees in bloom. and that's another interesting and amusing item . . the cherry trees are in bloom in copenhagen even though it's so cold there. we have another week here before they are fully in bloom. (well, i just checked the brooklyn botanic garden's website and there are several cherry varieties in bloom here, but the popular prunus kanzan which we have on washington street and which are planted along the botanic garden's infamous cherry esplanade, are not in bloom yet).

a bulldog in the gardens . . 

i wonder if we'll make it to our gardens this year . . ?

the interior of trinity church built in 1637 (completed in 1642) and which survived two city-wide fires (1728 and 1795) and the 1807 british bombardment of copenhagen . . 

i think this is trinity church also . . as seen from the gardens or the cemetary?

the castle where the crown jewels are kept.

 this is a blue mountain lily and i think it's a native flower of the middle east (i found a reference to it in a book online titled natural emirates).

houses in copenhagen . .

 at a coffee shop with lemon meringue pie and cyclists riding by outside . . 

a coin manhole cover in lund, sweden where christine works.

 at another coffee shop, this time with chocolate cake . . 

 outside the palace where she was able to see the queen on the queen's birthday . . oh! that's right . . that was the birthday they went to! christine has posted about the celebration on her blog.

cozy at home (there's a special danish word for this) with tea and treats and a knitting project . .  (love the lace cloth, christine!!).

and now in denmark

morgana is visiting our friend christine in denmark for this week. i'll have to post more about it when i get home again. we're visiting my mom and dad for two days.

it's finally cold

 christine and i went for a bicycle ride this morning along the river and by the 9/11 memorial.

 the wind was strong and it felt very cold after the warm and humid weather we've been having these past few weeks.

here it looks like we warmed up right away at chocolate bar, but chanda and i first went to a dance concert and then we all met back at the apartment for dinner. we stopped at chocolate bar before christine left for the airport. we went with her to penn station where she took nj transit to newark. then she was on her way via norwegian air shuttle, which is what morgana and chanda took in july. it was a fun time and we're glad she stopped by in the big apple after her medical conference and visit with her sister and family in michigan. we hope to see you soon again, christine (but her next travels - another conference - will be to madrid, spain - these doctors know how to get together!).

chanda and i walked home from the station . . it was cold and dark, though only 7 pm.

rhinebeck!!

 this morning greg, korrina, christine and i were up early (5:30 for me!) and on the road to the new york dutchess county sheep and wool festival, also known as . . rhinebeck! the ride up was filled with exclamations about how beautiful the foliage was. the city is always so warm that i never realize how the leaves are changing in the cooler country outside of it. in fact it was a lot cooler than i thought it would be. when we first arrived i was freezing and wished i had worn warmer clothes. it also began raining for a little while.

 ready to stalk the fairgrounds in our rhinebeck sweaters . . 

 first stop was a visit to the llamas.

 they did not seem very happy! they were very haughty and looked at us out of the corner of their eyes.

 they're also very regal. this one's name was avatar and he was a guard llama. his young owner had written a sign about how he guards the goats and sheep and knows everything that goes on around the farm. no, i wouldn't want to mess with him.

 then we split off into our little groups. greg went to the food hall to sample all the goodies. christine and i lost korrina along the outdoor vendor aisle.

 she ran into her knitting friends and visited a few buildings with them i think.

 christine found several skeins of a special yarn for janet . . 

 mr. darcy merino!

 we then wandered into the sheep area. i think they had just been sheared and were wearing their blankets to keep warm.

 watching all the people stroll by.

 after photographing the sheep it was time to meet greg and korrina for lunch. we shared fried clam strips and french fries.

 it was a long line for our clam strips . . there were so many people.

 the weather report in the morning predicted no rain but grey skies. the skies were beautiful and we got rain, but thankfully it was only a few light showers.

 there were so many vendors . . exhibitors . . 

 angora rabbits . . 

 these little fellows in their cages had "sold" signs posted on them. christine said i should get a rabbit, but i don't think my cats would be such gracious hosts to the poor thing.

 our departure time was set for 2:45 . . greg and christine were waiting and i arrived at 2:46 . . 

 and then finally korrina made it by 2:50 . . with lots of goodies in her bags . . i still haven't seen everything she purchased. i'll have to ask her to show me tomorrow.

 so many cars . . 

 we were on our way early as korrina needed to be at work (frankies) by 6 pm. we made it by the skin of our teeth and dropped her off at 5:59.

 chanda helped get dinner on while wearing the cat hat i found for her. it's made with alpaca yarn and is very cute . . and soft.

 christine's stash . .

 and mine . . christine treated me to the two skeins on the bottom: woofers sock yarn by still river mill in eastford, connecticut. it's 15 percent samoyed hair combined with merino and nylon. the merino gives it a nice aroma and i like the two colors together . . 

we had fun talking about our rhinebeck adventures over dinner and tea while knitting on our latest projects (christine finished another pair of socks and began work on a new pair with wollmeise yarn).