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.

june 14th

pluto is finally growing accustomed to having another cat with him on the window seat.

after running a few errands in the afternoon, morgan and i saw kendall and aurélien when walking by the playground, and so stopped to say hello.

the playground is heavy with the scent of the linden trees which are currently in full bloom.

and in the evening  (after a taco dinner and a dessert of ben and jerry's cherry garcia ice cream) we had a fun time playing apples to apples . . 

which i won (we played one round).

morning walks and linden trees

 chanda began her american ballet theatre dance intensive yesterday morning. i've been walking over with her at 7:45 am each day as it's such a nice time to be out. 

it felt very hot even at 7:45 in the morning. it's supposed to go up to 90 today . . yesterday was so nice! i was hoping today would be similar.

there are a lot of things she has to make sure are packed in her bag: jazz shoes, character shoes, character skirt, yoga mat, pointe shoes, and soft shoes. when the schedule comes out she won't have to carry it all around each day . . unless they all take place at once . . but they're usually spaced out during the week.

when we arrive at the school we always come across a long line to get in. 

waiting for the doors to open . . 

quiet streets . . 

unbeknownst to us, the line on the other side stretched all the way around the corner . . !

 

afterwards, i manage to find my way to the italian market for a chocolate espresso before heading home . . 

to clean out various piles that have accumulated through the winter months . . and today i found my christmas chocolate! i thought i had eaten all of it, but apparently not. what a nice reward for going through books and bags of yarn and finally recycling old catalogs and magazines.

since the weekend the linden trees have been blooming. their sweet, heady scent always brightens my day and i incessantly go on and on and on about it.

roman history and potholders and an eataly break

chanda worked on her drawing of the founding of rome . .

after researching and sketching roman gates, she finally settled on copying the drawing from the live ed book. i like her cypress trees.

we discussed the sabine women and numa pompilius, rome's second king.

and then finally she could go listen to brain jacques and make more potholders. she's sitting on the couch that has replaced the table in their room between the bunkbed and the window.

there are roses in bloom in the courtyard . . 

we ran errands to the library and to garber's hardware (looking for a particular hinge for the hideaway ironing board). then we had a treat at eataly . .

and read, in science in ancient rome (by jacqueline harris), how the romans brought a sundial back from sicily, but never realized they needed to change the angle of the pointer in order for it to give the correct time.

the book also writes about the cloaca maxima . . one of the world's first sewer systems that is still in use today . . 

a motif depicting a midwife assisting a woman in childbirth. the book mentions that a physician, soranus, studied childbirth and wrote a book advising women about delivering babies and caring for them after birth. the book was titled diseases of women. hmmm. i'm not sure everyone appreciated that . .

having a decaf at the espresso bar . .

i noticed on the way home that the linden flowers have lost their scent . .

chanda is waiting for me . . she's sitting on the lamp we bought on sale at home depot . . she carried it all the way home.

linden trees, sketching and summer clothes

i've been walking around outside sniffing the air, wondering where the beautiful aroma was coming from. it finally dawned on me that the linden trees are in bloom.

everywhere in the village, it smells sweet and summery.

morgana began the limon dance intensive this morning, and korrina ran off to her restaurant job at wallsé (she's doing pastry prep work in the kitchen). the days are getting quite hot now, and since we don't have an air conditioner (yet?), chanda and i have been taking it easy. 

chanda did a still-life sketch today. i picked up the book drawing with children, by mona brookes, hoping it would help us become "better artists." however, i think to become better we just need to keep sketching. maybe some of the life drawing exercises will feel helpful . . so far the ideas just haven't captivated me.

chanda went shopping at the gap store on fifth avenue with her friend deychen (with her own money). she called me to say that if i brought my gap card over, she could get 40% off. well, after walking all the way over there, we found out that 40% off was only for "select" styles. of course she had not selected any of those particular styles (there's so much to learn about the insidiousness of advertising). she did get these pants, however, as they were half price just on their own without a gap card.

in the evening we walked by the latest ralph lee puppet exhibit at westbeth. the figures looked very rich and heavy and tropical to me.

tuesday and wednesday: linden trees, oatmeal bread and recitals

for the past two weeks the weather has been very comfortable: in the 70's with the hottest being about 80 or 81. for the past week the linden trees have been blooming. the city smells sweet and heady.

yesterday, morgana was up early to practice her guitar and work on her teachers' end of year cards, and ancient greek history. then she went off to babysit. chanda practiced her violin (she had her recital this evening) and did her schoolwork . .

 

geometry . . 

 

 and six-fold symmetry.

today i made a maple oatmeal bread for chanda's violin teacher, and a small one for us to have with breakfast. i haven't baked a sweet bread in awhile. it was good to have again.

afterwards, it was time to finally finish writing out their teachers' end of year cards.

chanda used her stationery she received as a prize at morgana's birthday party, which morgana had made. morgana used the italian stationery she received as a birthday gift.

 

deychen surprised us at third street for chanda's recital.

 she played vivaldi's concerto in a minor, second movement.

 

 afterwards, we went with greg to amorino, an ice cream/coffee shop on university and tenth street.

 the girls had ice cream, but greg and i had coffee. i just wasn't in an ice cream mood, but greg had had his quota earlier at work!

i had to go uptown then, to meet morgana for her ballet school evaluation.

 

we had to wait a little bit. they were running late. when we went in, all but one of her teachers were there. we found out that they are promoting her to the next level, but would still like her to take two level d classes to continue to build her strength with her pointe work, and her confidence with center combinations. the face she is making here is because she remembered something that she was supposed to do before going to annapolis tomorrow . . i think.

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so, yes. we leave for annapolis thursday morning at 11:35 am. we're taking the train from penn station. we'll be visiting my cousin for a few days before she and her husband fly to scotland for their son's graduation from st. andrew's. we'll then spend time with her dad and hopefully get to watch the graduation on the internet on tuesday the 19th, if she can get it hooked up before they leave!