morning poem and sunday afternoon

the trees

the trees are coming into leaf

like something almost being said;

the recent buds relax and spread,

their greenness is a kind of grief.

is it that they are born again

and we grow old? no, they die too,

their yearly trick of looking new

is written down in rings of grain.

yet still the unresting castles thresh

in fullgrown thickness every may.

last year is dead, they seem to say,

begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

by philip larkin (1922-1985)

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chanda and i met marlene for brunch at hudson hound this afternoon at 1 pm. it was great to see her. she's teaching her teen class this semester at hb again.

i also met kendall and aurélien coming home from upstate and helped them bring their bags up to the apartment. she lucked out with a good parking spot!

cat sitting minerva and lunch with marlene

 i went out early this morning to check on my friend kendall's cat minerva.

kendall had left the "feliway" plugged in so minerva was a little more relaxed. sometimes she can attack one's feet which is a bit disconcerting.

 morgana and i also met our friend, marlene, for lunch today at hudson hound.

 marlene teaches acting at the hb studio and taught morgana and chanda for many years. i met her in front of the studio and saw a few of her latest students: five very tall young men who tower over her! she says it's a fun class this year.

chanda got off from work in time to come say hello before we left the restaurant.

after the green market

 greg and i ran into marlene and chanda in front of HB. the acting class had ended and they were waiting for morgana to return from her rock climbing session at chelsea piers. 

they were on their way to starbucks.

a cement bag in debris in thailand.

 and made up into a bag.

berries and coffee and off to see marlene

we've all been enjoying summer berries.

 morgana went with chanda this morning to see her acting teacher marlene. 

 chanda will stay for the class but morgana will go rock climbing at the gym until she meets her teacher for coffee.

the bag she has is one made from cement sacks in thailand. 

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now i'm off to the green market and then greg and i will attempt to clear some junk out of the second bedroom . . i also posted about morgana's first day on the job here.

breakfast with korrina and a day at sturbridge

korrina and i drove with chanda and morgana into sturbridge today . .

and had breakfast together at the sturbridge coffee shop . .

we both had their delicious french toast with maple syrup.

after breakfast we visited morgana in the parsonage kitchen where she was making biscuits. above is the biscuit receipt . . 

the morning kitchen crew . . 

a fermenting melon!

chairs in the parsonage kitchen . .

biscuits baking in the oven tin . . 

we got to try them! they were very good!

after the the biscuit tasting, we walked back to the main buildings to wait for our friend marlene who was driving up from nyc for a sturbridge visit. while waiting we looked at an exhibit sponsored by the historical society of early american decoration. above is a reverse glass painting, a technique which has been around since 200 AD. the pieces that were done here in the states occurred in the 1800's on looking glasses and clocks. the design was painted onto the back of the glass with the details done first, and the background second.

 stenciling was also popular during this time period for home decoration.

i love all this work and wish i took more time to paint my own apartment walls with such designs! perhaps in the future, if we ever redo the apartment's paint job (we currently have a wash effect on the walls . . it's very pretty).

above is an original painted tin chest . .

and here is a current chest . . it would make a nice lunch box.

here is marlene, up from nyc! we took her to see morgana first . .

and then walked to the freeman farm to see chanda . . 

a pudding receipt . .

washing out the cloth in the kitchen sink . . 

pouring the pudding in to boil it in the pot over the fire.

beautiful vintage 1830's prints . . 

ryan likes this pattern because it reminds her of nerve synapses!

korrina, marlene and chanda!

we waited out by the pasture while they got the dinner ready in the farmhouse. since it was sunday, they sit down to eat all together. chanda was excited to join them. (morgana did this last summer).

setting the table . . 

apple pie . . 

potatoes and meat . . 

if one's hair is properly combed and done, one may take off one's cap.

buon appetito!

morgana's petticoat . . 

rinsing the yarn . . 

another hot day at the dye pots.

the sheep make a lot of noise when it's time for the farmer to release them from the outer pasture for the run to the barn and supper.

everyone is back home and we had a nice dinner together . . 

nana and nonno are up for a visit too . .  

greg went back home as he has work tomorrow . .