partial moving day

greg and i picked up a few plastic bins from the container store for korrina and then drove out to brooklyn to help her and brian move some boxes to their new place in queens. their big moving everything day will be tuesday. of course their apartment is a bit upside down, which their cat, wash, does not like. when we arrived he was searching for a new hiding place, having just been chased out of his current one.

apartment moving is not the easiest. first the boxes get stacked outside the door, then they get stacked by the elevator, and then stacked inside the elevator. once downstairs, they move from the elevator to the lobby door, and then from the lobby door to the end of the apartment's walkway, and then finally from the walkway into the car. it all depends on where the car is parked. if a parking spot was found immediately outside the building, the boxes can go right into the car. but if the car needs to come from around the corner and park in an illegal parking spot, then the boxes get stacked by the sidewalk while they wait for the car to arrive.

 checking the instructions for the bug bomb (we saw some roaches when we visited the apartment on thursday).

 let's go!

 it's such a beautiful drive to queens on the bqe (brooklyn queens expressway), though there is always traffic somewhere.

 student driver! we double parked the car in front of their new building and took turns staying with the car while bringing the boxes in. they're on the first floor, which makes the move a little easier. one of them set off the bomb (i was in the car at that point) and then we looked for a parking spot so we could all have lunch.

 pretty sunnyside wasn't sunny today.

 they're both happy with the new neighborhood . . 

 lunch at the local cafe . . 

 korrina had the chili this time . .

 just admiring the view of manhattan and the pretty brick buildings.

 driving back to brooklyn over the kosciuszko bridge, named for tadeusz kosciuszko who fought on the u.s. side during the revolutionary war.

a beautiful view of manhattan . . . we had to get off the expressway for a little while, as there was too much traffic. of course the service road wasn't much better, unfortunately.

 back on the expressway and bound for brooklyn. it's a thirty minute drive without traffic. with traffic it can stretch into . . . anything. 

 good deed done for the day . .

back at home i made us a hot chocolate to have with the last of the biscotti.

lunch with korrina and brian

 we had orange lentil soup with yogurt and sautéed spinach for lunch with korrina and brian, who came over around one. then we had french chocolates and green tea and talked with morgana on the cell phone.

 i don't remember what they all talked about with her. we touched briefly on her ski test which needs to be retaken again (all the non-resident austrians, better known as the "foreigners," keep failing). i didn't think she could take it again without re-doing the entire course, but chanda says she can, but not until april! she has lots of practice time ahead of her.

 we played three rounds of "may i" before they headed home.

 for dinner we had vietnamese lettuce rolls (from the around the world cookbook), since i had a fresh bib lettuce in the fridge from the last veggie box.

we all missed having peanuts with it. i completely forgot how tasty peanuts are with rice noodles, soy sauce, fish sauce, pea sprouts, chicken breast . . and lettuce.

a snowy nutcracker

 it was a wet and snowy walk to the train today on our way uptown to see the yorkville nutcracker.

 the neighborhood in snow . . 

and a pic from korrina of her neighborhood in snow . . 

subway xylophone music at the union square station which felt very festive . .

 greg and i were so busy doing last minute house straightening chores that we hadn't eaten lunch, so we had a quick bite at shakespeare and company before the matinee show.

we all met at the theatre, except for my sister and brother-in-law. greg said, we have only one extra seat, where's the extra second seat? i said, chanda is sitting in it!

 i had invited brian's parents to see chanda in the nutcracker at the yom kippur celebration they had in september. they enjoyed the ballet, but maybe we'll have to do this again next year in order to see chanda . . ?!

a walk home through the snow (it was a very wet snow which lasted all day).

the tree at abingdon square.

 and finally a hot meal that was so nice to come home to.

 with delicious pastries brought by our guests.

we had a really nice evening together. after they left, greg washed all the dishes while i dried and put food away. i was just about to crawl into bed when chanda finally came home at 10 pm after the second show of the day.

shawl blocking and apple picking

 yesterday i finally blocked my ellison bay shawl.

 the varigated yarn is oysters and purls plant dyed aran (colorway olive, achieved with eucalyptus tree bark and leaves with a little bit of iron added), and the solid green is quince and co's osprey aran in wasabi. i used size nine circular needles.

 chanda took these pics on west 13th street, on our way to the dermatologist this morning. (she's had a little growth on her knee that needed to be check out. it ended up being a giant wart, which we both found amusing. the doctor froze it and it'll probably fall off in a few days.)

 we had lunch at the rubin museum cafe, and then she walked me to lionbrand yarn store on her way to a horton modern dance class at peridance.

 i was supposed to buy a .75 crochet hook for some beads i would like to add to the plum leaf shawl i'm almost done with  (martina behm, again). i walked out with three skeins of yarn for a scarf, and no crochet hook. i had completely forgotten to check for it (oh, brother). i called later on in the week (i'm posting this on sunday) and they said they didn't have that size in stock anyway . . . i think i have another idea for slipping them on the shawl.

 brian and korrina had come by in the morning around 11 am to get the car keys. they borrowed the car for a drive into westchester county to go apple picking. they returned just in time for dinner! honestly, they walked in the door just as we were sitting down to eat! it was wonderful to add two plates to the table and hear about their day.

 they brought cider donuts back for us, which pleased greg greatly.

they have lots of apples for pie and crisp.

acting observation day, making cat friends and morgana has a surprise

 today was chanda's last day of acting class for which she made her teacher a card.

 after she left i sat and worked on my joli mystery knit-a-long shawl and was then going to go out to get a small box of chocolates for her teacher, but she called to say that it was observation day and that i should run over to the class instead.

 so while i enjoyed all the different monologues and improv work, marlene didn't get her chocolates! but she did get a lovely thank you card, and we'll take her out over the summer for ice cream or some other treat.

 late afternoon saw us on our way to korrina and brian's apartment with our cats in carriers on the back seat of the car. we took them to meet hoban washburne in hopes that they would get along and korrina and brian could take care of hermione and madeline over the summer while we're in san francisco with chanda.

 when we got to the apartment we placed the carriers on the floor and opened the doors. both hermione and madeline cautiously padded out and surveyed the scene. hermione quickly found a hiding place behind the couch from which she never came out until we left. madeline quietly sniffed about and made herself at home. she and wash hissed at each other quite a bit and made me a little nervous, but then they seemed to settle down and accept one another. greg felt that the situation was doable and that we could leave them, so now we're waiting to see if brian and korrina feel the same way.

 they look quite comfortable together here!

 we had a really nice visit . .

and had tea and coffee and baguette and cheese that korrina put out (humboldt fog!), all from the flatbush food coop (which chanda and i visited before we headed back, making greg wait in the car with the cats!).

usually we have trouble getting hermione into the carrier, but not today when it was time to leave.

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meanwhile . . back in paris . . 
 

 our friend deychen surprised morgana with a visit.

she brought with her several small birthday gifts that i had wrapped.

 some chocolate, a luggage tag, goat milk soap . .

 and the socks that i had knitted!

 she was very pleased with them and wore them out to dinner.

 the three musketeers back in paris together.