morning tea, a birthday gift, clyde, & saint-paul-de-vence

my morning "pre-breakfast:" a gluten free brownie and belloq tea (l'etoile de l'inde) . .

yesterday, chanda and i worked on our travel plans before she hurried off to a duncan class downtown, and then her ballet/forsythe workshop. korrina joined me in the afternoon for a knitting date before she went to her friend's birthday party. she had a beautiful gift and card for me in celebration of my birthday: two exquisite linen dishcloths handsewn by a woman from yemen and sold through a collaboration with M spring studio. i think she found them at the seventh heaven street fair in park slope. they're really lovely and the green looks pretty in the kitchen.

our good friend clyde is back in town, and he helped me map out our travel plans while greg troubleshooted a network emergency and chanda danced at her workshop. we'll be passing by his hometown on our way to san francisco, which is a little sad because all of us have always wanted to have a california visit together, but we'll see him again in august in nyc before he goes back. i guess we'll have to do another cali trip sometime when he's there . .

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 greetings from morgana in saint-paul-de-vence at james baldwin's home! she had a fun and sunny day excursion with victoria . . 

looking north . . 

and northeast . . 

taking pictures at james baldwin's home . .

heading down into the town . .

an afternoon snack . .

wildflowers . . 

with the town behind her . . 

saint-paul-de-vence . . 

dinner back in nice.

"neece!" and camping in triol

 

 morgana is visiting our neighbor, victoria, in nice for a few days. this morning i envy her! i remember nice being incredibly beautiful and sunny with happy, contented people walking about. i wouldn't mind being there right now.

 basil plant with tea and espresso cups: victoria's lovely china.

 oh, that beauiful provençal sunshine!

 i wonder what temperature the water was . . 

still life in victoria's apartment . .

morning breakfast: the roll looks delicious to me . . and the brilliant orange of the egg yolk too . .

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 this photo is from saturday night, when she camped at blindsee, an incredibly beautiful lake at the foot of the fernpass which connects austria to germany.

 these happy campers are lara and sia . .

a tirol hat . . and looking for peace . .

today was a busy day but i managed to catch a pic of korrina in the tirol hat morgana brought back for her from austria . . 

(morgana spent the day home sick with a fever. i'm hoping i don't catch what she had.)

we've also been saddened and upset about the attacks in paris and have been saying our prayers for peace in the world. chanda came home from babysitting and said that the freedom tower and the empire state building were shining bright with the colors of france.

cats and kids

lounging on the bookcase . .

singing in bordeaux . .

lounging on the piano . .

swimming and sunbathing in bordeaux . .

 sleeping with her stuffed animal on the royal chair . .

 picnic in richmond park . .

 awake and alert and ready for trouble . .

ballerina friends . . (roommate caitlin is on the right) . .

the weather and pics from bordeaux

we've had a few days of very steamy weather, but the rest of the time it's been beautiful, with breezes blowing off the river. last night it got so cool that we needed a blanket.

i've been making way too much food for just the three of us. last night i made a quinoa and beet salad, but there's still kale salad leftover from three nights ago!

 here's a pic of korrina and greg skyping with chanda. i'm only adding this photo years later. chanda was very homesick at richmond, so i didn't post about it much. however, she worked hard and managed to stick it out. she felt much better when she was able to stay with ryan and san.

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here are some pics from morgana in bordeaux:

 she says she plays guitar all day . . practicing on her own and with a chamber group. then in the evening they have concerts that often don't end until 11:30. she's up again by 7 or 7:30 the next morning.