hello again (with a link to the first day in london)

 

i finally finished a baby blanket i began a year ago. i had stopped halfway around while doing the i-cord border. (it's a purl soho pattern, their super easy baby blanket with their daily wool worsted yarn, and i think i used size 8 needles. they say the yarn can go in the washer and the dryer!)

i'm not sure who i'm giving it to! it was supposed to be for a neighbor's new baby who is now a year old . . but now we have another friend who just had a baby in june . . i'll have to let you know what i decide!

i just finished reading this book. it actually went all the way to london with me . . but i never read it. it just took up a lot of space in my suitcase; too much space! i have a thing about taking at least one library book when flying . . it's a superstition, but i should at least make sure it's a paperback. 

across many mountains is a beautifully written account of artist sonam dolma brauen's trek across the himalayas with her mother, father and little sister in 1959 when fleeing the chinese occupation of tibet. it's heartbreaking and inspiring and informative of how the tibetan people lived prior to the invasion and what they went through (and go through) during occupation. it's written by sonam's daughter and i couldn't put it down once i had read the first three chapters. (sonam dolma is the artist whose artpiece chanda and i participated in at the rubin museum a few years ago - there are four links here to the workshops and events.) the book also shares about their time as refugees in india and the life they created for themselves in switzerland.

this (the tree in the courtyard) was also a lovely book to read about the years that anne frank and her family hid in amsterdam during world war ii - all told from the perspective of the horse chestnut tree in the courtyard which was within sight of the building's attic window. (i think eva recommended this.)

chanda and i met ellen for ice cream today and were able to give her a party favor from the wedding (which she has in her hands - a vintage napkin holding italian candied almonds and an almond nougat).

we had homemade pistachio ice cream at the restaurant across the street from where ellen lives. they have such good food . . greg and i have eaten here several times.

and chanda made dinner this evening! we had vietnamese lettuce/rice rolls . . 

chanda is trying to get the rice paper out of the package . . 

she then soaks it in the warm water in the bowl to her left . . 

we sliced cucumbers, carrots and mint leaves and chanda made a delicious peanut dipping sauce. (she also warmed up very fine rice noodles that were wrapped up with the vegetables in the rice paper.)

then we played bananagrams and greg won as he was the first one to use up all his tiles.

i finally put up a few photos ("back in londontown") from our first day in london on saturday, july 18th (we flew out friday night, the 17th). i hope to be better at posting our days together on this trip than i was in 2022. 

it's actually thursday night right now and a cool front has blown through after a heavy rainfall. i actually closed the window next to my computer as i felt cold (and greg is in bed curled up with a blanket! so shocking!). every day and night has been hot since we arrived home on august 2nd . . and that's typical for summer in nyc!

about the other dances we saw on the weekend

ellen had her shows this weekend. greg and i saw the thirteen year olds perform "walkaround vermeer" on saturday evening along with the 15 year olds performing the backpack dance, and on sunday chanda and i saw the dances of the six year olds, ten year olds, teens, seniors (our friend charlotte graduated from ellen's classes and will be in college in september) and the alumni. sunday's show covered a lot of classes! it was the six year olds first time on stage and they were adorable performing "the wedding of the mouse" while the ten year olds did the towel dance, and the alumni did an original piece titled "this is not a story." it was all very joyous and magical and a lovely end to the weekend.

we also helped with load out and took the props to the storage facility.

tuesday dinner

 
today was the children's halloween dance in ellen's class and family and friends attended. they did a wonderful job and had a lot of fun. afterwards, i met morgana and chanda for a hamburger and egg cream. meanwhile, greg had to take the car to the shop for it's yearly inspection. 

coffee and ellen

 
i met ellen today at her favorite restaurant (king) to talk about the approaching first day of dance classes and the new semester. she's beginning on september 9th. of course not everyone has confirmed and not everyone has paid! but it always comes together and she's been moving one student from thursday to wednesday and one student from tuesday to monday because of abilities, ages and their school conflicts. not too many of them, but some. she also has a new computer and is now working with windows 11 and it's been complicated because her huge email file and student lists did not translate smoothly from windows 10. however, her tech guru is working on the problems so . . here's hoping all the kinks get ironed out.

i included this photo of my coffee latte because chanda made them for us this morning at the restaurant. she's working there with janet's son lucien. ellen actually got the job for her and then the young woman she was working with quit and our friend natalie who is the manager asked lucien if he would like the position (natalie is janet's friend also). so it's all in the family now.

dance concert

ellen's student krista performed one of her many wonderful dance pieces this evening on chrystie street which chanda was also in (titled "off the cuff").

 

walking home with ellen.

ice cream at julietta's . . 

bridget the french bulldog who was very friendly.

am meet up

 
i met ellen this morning for coffee at her favorite breakfast spot on king street. sixth avenue is noisy but it was still nice to sit outside in the shade and talk about her summer and her students (i'll see her again this evening for krista's dance which chanda is also performing in at a venue on the lower east side).

a grey and cold friday

 

friday morning i walked downtown to whole foods tribeca to meet ella mills, the owner of deliciously ella granola bars, cereal and the delicious hazelnut balls morgan always brings me from london. i also used to subscribe to her app for recipe ideas which was a lot of fun and they were all very good. we also visited her cafe in '22 when we were in london for morgan's graduation. (i had the most delicious vegan chocolate chip tahini muffin when there.) 

she had a good turn out even though the weather was a bit dreary and everyone enjoyed talking with her. she's very personable and even said i should say hi to morgan for her (after i told her about all the deliciously ella treats morgan brings me). her husband and two children were with her and the little ones enjoyed handing out promotional canvas bags to the fans waiting in line. they're such a sweet family.

walking home through the misty grey day . . 

saying hello to these two friends . . 

mr. frog and mr. bee (a tom otterness sculpture, seen here in 2014) . . 

another beautiful star magnolia (beginning to lose its petals already) . . 

such a foggy day!

i stopped at duane park patisserie for a hot cross bun which i've been craving for weeks (i also brought three home with me).

thankfully, the callery pear trees are very cheery on these cold grey days.

----

in the evening i met ellen for a special salon chamber concert with one of her former students who plays the cello (he was in morgana's age group). we heard pieces by shostakovich, prokofiev, dvorák, messiaen, piazzolla and kodály along with the stories as to how they were composed:

"shostakovich stands against stalin's terror, prokofiev paints the chaos of red october, dvorák echoes a nation's search for identity, messiaen transcends the walls of a prisoner of war camp, piazzolla reinvents the tango as argentina teeters on collapse and kodály keeps hungarian tradition alive despite overwhelming suppression. each piece is a testament to the indomitable force of human expression in the face of adversity - a symphony of resistance, survival, and hope." 

baking and ice cream and ellen

i bought plums last saturday at the green market. i left them out all week on the windowsill hoping they would ripen, but they didn't, so my plum cake was a bit tart, but still very tasty.

so good . . 

ellen was excited because she had found a place that made their own ice cream. i was surprised to see that it was directly across the street from where she lives. we had peach, vanilla and chocolate . . all so good.

wednesday meet up

 
chanda and i had our annual summer ice cream get together with ellen this afternoon . . 

morgenstern's ice cream is incredibly creamy and delicious. i had honey burnt vanilla and coffee crisp. ellen had coffee crisp and bourbon vanilla . . and chanda had brown sugar mocha (a vegan ice cream made with coconut) and strawberry rhubarb sorbet. ellen has been busy doing exercises to help her balance, working on her computer with last minute class updates, and attending chamber music concerts twice a week. it was nice to see her.

afterwards, i walked to ottendorfer library for a louise erdrich book they had: the sentence. i'm not sure which category this fits into for my wnyc summer reading challenge . . "book recommended by a friend?" (though it wasn't . . ). 

i passed this cookbook shop which i've never been in . . it would be nice to peruse one day . . 

remember this house? i snapped a photo a few weeks ago of the interior . . now they have completed the landscaping, complete with window boxes, and i think it looks beautiful. i love the black wrought iron work!

and here are my nephews working hard on the house. they replaced a patch of deteriorated wood along the gutter.

knitting and a dance performance

today was "knit in public" day. i walked to bryant park for the event and to meet my knitting group. i couldn't find them at first, and so ended up sitting next to jaana from finland. when everyone else arrived, we took our chairs and joined them.

maybe this is the eating group . . 

here's the knitting . . and also spinning . . 

maria had cast on a jessie maed bralette which chanda made last summer.

discussing yarn brands . . 

anne's knitted doll . . 

sandy and jaana . .

my zoom group . . 

i left at 4:15. i had to get back to feed the cats and to meet greg for an evening dance concert. ellen's teenagers and alumni class had a 7:30 performance.

it was a magical evening! the teens (including sacha's charlotte) presented their solos (all so wonderful) and performed "tape dance" or extra genre. it's one of my favorite dances that ellen teaches and it was exciting to see. also, the six alumni (lou, amelia, krista, rakhel, maia and marina) each had a solo and they were very inspiring. they all keep morphing into their own unique and beautiful style of moving and thinking.

there was a shining silver slipper of a moon tonight (which you can see just over greg's head and the lamppost) . . 

and the linden trees are suddenly in bloom.