pointe shoes and the peacock cowl

 it was time for new pointe shoes again, so chanda and i walked over to the freed store on 20th street. she's been wearing their maker shoes for the past year now, and has been waiting for several pairs of maker L's shoes to come in, which has not happened. 

 she wanted something with a lower vamp, but just as boxy, so they brought out maker "rising sun" in size xxx (she has wide feet). this particular pair has been around for a few years. you would think that maybe there was something wrong with them, on the contrary, they talked about these shoes as if they were made of gold. maker rising sun has gone back to japan, and these shoes can never be duplicated "so don't ask me for them again" warned our favorite salesman! he held them in his hands a moment before passing them to chanda and commented on how clean the lines were, and how sturdy the box was and (believe me . . my eyes are rolling dizzily in their sockets now) how you cannot find such beautiful shoes anymore because he is not making them. why isn't this dude making these shoes? because he went back to japan! how do they know all this? because the other salesperson in the store met him when he came to new york several years ago!! i am not kidding. this maker was one of the premier makers of freed pro line ballet shoes, and the guy went back to japan to be with family and is now making the factory line of shoes for their chacott brand. ah! what a waste! so why aren't these shoes five hundred thousand dollars? i don't know. i don't ask questions. i just stand around humming and nodding my head and then whip out the wallet and make everybody happy, because chanda is happy she has the most comfortable and beautiful pointe shoes on the east coast of the united states of america and probably the world! and the salespeople are happy because they got to venerate one of their favorite makers and finally sell a pair of shoes that they didn't think would ever make it out of the shop because THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER PAIR MADE! and what ballerina in her right mind would buy a pair of shoes that they can never wear again? well. my ballerina. and she's still hoping they get in several pairs of maker L shoes. but who knows? maybe maker L has moved to antartica and they just don't know it yet!!!!!

 oh my goodness. aren't they pretty?

 rising sun, triple x, made in england . . with a life span of approximately one month, longer if she re-glues them well (many ballerinas go through two pairs for one performance). stay tuned for the next chapter of "what maker will chanda wear next?"

 and what on earth is she doing here? burning her ribbons? just lovely. yes, one burns the edge to keep them from fraying. 

 back to some serious stuff now . . real life important stuff . . vedic math and the european geography report which i corrected so it can finally be written up for the lesson book (yes, eva, it can take forever!).

 and i blocked my psychedelic peacock cowl that korrina got for me from her yarn co store.

i'm very pleased with it, but am waiting for slightly warmer weather as i find it too bulky to wear with my pea coat. i'd like to wear it with my down vest.

sunday walk on the high line

 it was windy and cold today, and very grey. but it still felt like spring . . 

 a very early brown and grey spring.

 it felt wonderful to be on the high line again, admiring the birch trees,

 and not seeing any snow.

new jersey

 fourteenth street . . 

fifteenth street . . 

 later in the day, after a visit with friends, chanda continued to finish up her european geography lesson book work.

 i think she still has the government and economy of italy to write up.

 i made ugali soup again, this time with the green peppers the recipe called for.

 and we brought out the cards we got for christmas for a few rounds of "may i."

korrina worked on a yarn swap gift for a ravelry anime group at the same time. she had decided to make a red kiki bow (from kiki's delivery service). 

dinner and skyping

 it was a day busy with schoolwork and ballet class.

 chanda has been slowly getting her oral report about italy onto paper for her lesson book.

 we had leftovers for dinner along with chicken that i picked up from the local butcher.

and yesterday morning we skyped with morgana. she's been busy with teaching dance classes, skiing and attending her german language class twice a week. we always talk for a few hours and the time goes by fast.

presentations and provisions

in the monday waldorf coop chanda's teacher, svetlana, began the morning talking about her home country, moldova. she shared pictures of herself when young with her grandparents and talked about the many changes her country has seen (especially the fall of the soviet union in 1991). she talked about being thankful for the time she was born in as she had opportunities to study at the university, but then felt compelled to move out of her country in order to find work teaching at a salary that she could help support her family with. her mother and sister and several cousins live here with her now. she passed around pictures of her country whose climate is similar to ours (maybe a little less snow in the winter, and not quite as humid in the summer), and of people in traditional dress. 

the students shared some of their recitations before beginning their presentations. svetlana had them practice the famous for whom the bell tolls by john donne (english poet, 1572 - 1631).

after the recitations, addie talked about finland where her great grandparents were from. in her research of the educational system, she was impressed that children do not begin school there until seven years of age, and there is no national testing. the learning environment is one where students are taught the importance of life long self-education, and within the education index of the UN's human development index, finland ranks highest in the world, tied with denmark, australia and new zealand. we were all impressed with that since the climate of our own country continues to emphasize testing over the joys of learning, much to the consternation of all school parents i talk with.

 it was chanda and ronnie's turn next, having both picked italy to report on. chanda worked from her cards, and spoke knowledgeably about the geography and food and history of italy. she spoke of the different climates from the alps in the north to the palm trees in the south, and of garabaldi's determination to unite all regions into one country in the late 1860's. i was impressed that she could speak concisely of italy's history since it gets so confusing . . 

 then it was finally time for partaking of all the good food everyone had made.

 gabriel did his report on norway and made a fiskepudding. janet had a mold that was perfect for it (she was glad to finally make use of it). it was delicious and since i'm now equipped with the recipe, i hope to make it soon.

 above is a ricotta pie from malta, and goat cheese spread from austria.

 eggplant salad (very similar to italian caponatina) and golden polenta from moldova. 

 a cake from finland, and biscotti made by chanda and i (our best yet! she held the hand mixer while i poured in the sugar, creating a smooth ribbon texture . . but then with the addition of the flour we burnt out the hand mixer . . it smoked terribly!).

 finally time to say good-bye and head off to modern dance.

it looks very much like winter here. i pretend it looks like st. petersburg since i've been reading war and peace.

pics of the map of italy:

car trouble

the car went kaputt right after chanda and i had loaded it up. i turned the key in the engine and it sputtered and fluttered and then died. we ended up having it towed up to the triple a place on 39th street where greg found out that the alternator was worn out and the battery drained and dead. so a couple of dollars poorer we have a fixed car and will try again in the morning.

 meanwhile, chanda took the time to work on her map for the presentation she'll be doing in the european geography class on monday . . and then happily went to ballet. 

we had potato cheddar soup for dinner. it was the third night in a row and it tasted better than the prior two nights . . 

getting ready

 we've been getting ready to leave for the competition in the morning. 

 i really don't have recent pictures. i just thought i'd put these up for the spirit of the occasion (i miss the christmas tree!).

the costumes have been steamed in the bathroom (my friend's steamer didn't work so we hung them by a hot shower), the laundry is all up from the laundry room, the bags are packed, books packed . . i just don't have a knitting project packed yet.

more european geography work.

greg and chanda spent hours this evening on trying to get a back up of her ballet music, which the organization has asked her to have (she sent it in via mp3 in an email, but they've requested her to have a hard copy). for some reason it wasn't downloading from the file they found, and then korrina came home and mentioned just dragging the file into itunes, and, voila! it worked! now everyone is sleeping and i need to get my knitting project together and get some rest too.