waiting for a heart

 greg and i took a trip uptown to see brian's dad today.

 he's been at columbria presbyterian hospital waiting for a heart . .

 the a train is usually a quick ride uptown . . 

 waiting in line to get our room passes . . 

 the last time we visited, we managed to follow someone else who was visiting a patient in the cardiac care unit. today we were on our own and almost took a wrong turn . . but didn't, and successfully found the room finally. brian's dad was sitting up and working on his computer. we talked about everything our children were doing and the conversation was punctuated with lots of beeps from the machines he is hooked up to. when he moves around a lot while sitting up. the wires and tubes must register that some things are off. a nurse needed to come in and press buttons and realign plugs and his blood pressure monitor. he didn't seem too bothered by it. it must happen often. going for a walk, he said, was even worse because everything needs to be disconnected and the plastic tubing always gets tangled.

 we said good-bye around 2 . . and passed this tom otterness pair when getting off the train at 14th street. i like the look on the young man on the right . . i think he was trying to figure out which stairs to go down.

----

we had a late dinner when chanda got home around 7:45 from her dance rehearsal. she's part of a friend's company program (km/dm dance) that is performing september 8th and 9th at manhattan movement and arts center.

take the A train

 14th street subway station . . sculptures by tom otterness.

 168th street station, columbia presbyterian hospital.

 i think this was one of the first buildings to go up on 168th street in 1928. it now houses the dental hosptial.

 an armory! you never know where and when you'll come across one.

 we were here to see brian's dad. unfortunately, neal has always had a bad heart, and he's now on the waiting list for a transplant.

the view from his room. he was in such good spirits and happy to have company. i worried that we were tiring him out, as he regaled us with stories of the nurses and his work and how everything will work for his operation. he's like my friend joanna with a myriad of interesting stories and facts. his very good friend david came by just as we were leaving. today was his wife's day off, so others try to fill in for her. we hope the wait won't be long, but that means someone somewhere has to die . . ? it's a very surreal situation to be in and makes me cry inside.

a visit uptown and . . . an award!

 morgana and i drove uptown today to visit with my friend elsa and her family. elsa always has something delicious cooking on the stove.

 she also has beautiful paintings on her walls . . 

 sautéeing baby spinach leaves for the lentil soup she made.

 we were happily surprised to see that their tree was still up . . 

 and i had fun admiring all the ornaments.

this one was made by elsa's youngest daughter in a handwork class she took last year.

 a little dog in the tree . . 

 that matched the little dog on the floor . . 

 the delicious soup served in her white wedding gift bowls from italy.

 their winter garden out on the balcony . .

 harlem on a wet snowy day . . 

 you can see nonno's car that we drive just parallel to the taxi cab.

 the other surprise was the warm fire in the gas fireplace!

 buon appetito . .

as i was about to sit down with them to eat, chanda called with the most amazing news! she had been at the awards ceremony for her ballet competition and had won best choreography! and also a cash scholarship to use at the ballet school of her choice! we were so excited and happy! hooray chanda! what a wonderful way to end the competition.

singing with isabella . . 

who is still studying at third street music school where all three of my girls went. i miss attending the recitals and need to remind elsa to let me know when isabella plays.

playing three blind mice . . we also all played apples to apples together which was a lot of fun. 

francesca's cello which she probably doesn't play as much as she used to as she's currently studying physics at the city college of new york, (renowned in the field with three nobel laureates). she also choreographs the most amazing dances/performance pieces that reflect her fascination with the celestial that never cease to delight us.

on the way home through snow dappled streets . . 

on a wintry eve . . 

solstice monday: twelfth night and midsummer madness

 our peonies are . . aging . . 

solstice breakfast: salmon and capers and fresh dill . .

 it was such a busy day. chanda left early to rehearse for her twelfth night performance while morgana and i got ready to have our friends over for lunch. korrina stopped by also and picked up two books about hiking and driving scenic roads upstate.

 this book listed common wildflowers and also favorite ice cream shops. good combination! she's very excited because she has a week's paid vacation coming up and is planning a fun road trip.

 lunch with our friends . . 

 we made anzac biscuits from our around the world cookbook (a recipe from australia).

 we miss have these two here in the city with us. chanda used to go over and read and knit with them every other week. they're eleven now and had lots of stories to tell us about their waldorf school friends and the books they've been reading and how they got their ears pierced.

 after we said good-bye it was time to get ready to go to uptown for the play performance. 

it was held in our friends' courtyard. 

play preparations. morgana has the script under her arm and i think she followed along in case someone needed a line.

they were a little worried since a few days ago they were still struggling, but today they were superb.

 the audience is ready.

 olivia with cesario (viola) and maria, who also played count orsino. olivia would don a trench coat and become antonio, friend to sebastian, viola's brother.

 malvolio in his yellow stockings and crossed gaiters (who also became sebastian with a different jacket). sir toby belch slinks behind malvolio with mischievous intent.

viola as cesario trying to defend herself from antonio's accusations.

poor viola . . being manhandled by sir toby belch who wants her to fight with the adorable sir andrew (played by the real life little sister of sir toby).

in act iii, scene iv, when viola as cesario claims not to know of the love sworn to olivia by her brother sebastian, olivia exclaims: "why, this is midsummer madness!" yes! what a perfect night to have performed this play on!

 fini! brava . . and what a relief . . 

 for all the drama i've heard about trying to memorize lines and trying to find a performance space and trying to find time when everyone could meet, they did a great job. we all enjoyed the performance and it looked like they were having a great time too. (it's been two years since they diid macbeth.)

we had a really nice potluck get together afterwards, but greg was very tired and happy to come home. we walked home beneath the light of an incredibly full and beautiful strawberry moon.