a quiet saturday

tea and chocolate treats from morgana's trip to copenhagen . . actually, one of my favorite chocolate treats, anton berg marzipan.

i pulled out an old recipe book and found this easter bulletin from my sister's church with a sketch i must have done of greg's and my first dog: louise.

i was searching for the teff cookie recipe . . 

it's a mix of oat flour, almond flour, teff flour and whole wheat pastry flour. i added olive oil (it was supposed to be corn oil, but that i didn't have on the shelf), maple syrup and vanilla. 

 chanda practiced a little before coming in to help roll out the cookies.

her teacher was supposed to come by for a lesson today, but he was having back trouble and needed to rest before playing in phantom of the opera tonight. we're always so pleased when he plays on broadway. it's very difficult getting a job there and right now he fills in for people who call in sick. 

this is spanish dances v, playera, by pablo de sarasate.

 the teff i used to be able to find was unground and the cookies would have a crunchy texture. i missed that this time as the teff flour was different. i guess because it was ground very fine!

 after dinner tea and cookies and a game of scrabble . . 

greg won the game (he won the last round too, though i do remember winning the one before that).

violin practice and lesson pages and asian desserts

i still get to hear the violin around the apartment. i don't think it's been as much fun for chanda this year as she hasn't been playing with an orchestra or with a chamber group. we didn't sign her up for the music school that she had attended since she was five. however, she did continue with her teacher all year . . well, until now. she hasn't had a lesson since march and i'm hoping that we can still do three or four more to finish the current piece that he gave her to work on. she's been busy, her teacher has been busy, and it's been difficult to schedule lesson times. we're supposed to call him next week when his schedule is less hectic to make plans for the summer. i hope it works out.

completed lesson pages that need to be sewn into a book.

 watercolor paintings . . 

 that will be added also.

 hermione is ever hopeful that food will magically appear in her bowl whenever i step into the kitchen.

 i've been enjoying the aroma of the linden trees . . i love this time of year.

 walking along sixth avenue . . 

 the "pamphlet guys." i keep running into them today. they're posting signs everywhere in the village that say "no parking on sunday." it's the annual gay pride parade.

 chanda had a 4:30 runthrough for her isadora duncan dance concert tonight. before attending the event, my friend janet and i visited a cafe where we had green tea ice cream with chocolate matcha lava cake. unfortunately, i didn't like it very much. i thought the green matcha stuff that came oozing out looked like dragon vomit. i like matcha tea . . but not in my chocolate dessert. however, it is all the rage now in the city.

there was a beautiful sky this evening on our way to st. mark's church on the bowery for the dance performance.

the daily routine

 the days go by so fast on the current routine. we have breakfast together, work on our various projects (laundry, math, foreign language, letter writing, phone calls  . . discussions about auditions and babysitting and scheduling everything . . ), run out to do errands or to attend a dance class, and then finally come home and have dinner. the days are either very warm . . or very cold!

 madeline looking so innocent when she can be an incredible pest (but a sweet pest).

folding laundry and practicing the violin.

this week

monday was the first day of chanda's waldorf coop class. i volunteered to prepare lunch that day, and it must have knocked me out as i was sick for the rest of the week.

 however, i felt fine on monday and enjoyed sitting by the window and knitting after lunch was cleared.

 it's a very pretty kitchen to sit in (the class is held in a friend's apartment uptown) . . 

 morgana came today to help me prepare lunch (and to see the class) and it was good she did, as i can never get this gas stove to work properly.

 homemade mugs . . 

during this first seven week block they'll study american history.

the first lesson was about the iroquois people . . i remember learning about them in my elementary and middle school days and morgana just returned from what was once seneca country . . the most western land of the six nations. when i was a young girl my parents often enjoyed taking me on drives through this area and i remember seeing long beautiful country roads winding past streams and farmhouses, log cabins and old woods and farms.

and then on tuesday chanda wrote up her final translation of virgil's sweet spring . .

 and also worked on her math . . along with the cosmic calculator workbook, she's been listening to lessons on khan academy.

 it's funny to have morgana working alongside again . . morgana is usually quite meticulous about the writing board she uses. here she found a piece of jelly stuck on the one she was writing which was probably a leftover from one of chanda's past snacks. of course there was no proof that it was chanda's snack from whence the jelly came . . 

 lunch today was homemade cream cheese from yogurt (i used the whey to make pickles) with cucumber and parsley on black bread.

 violin practice . . 

 around 4:30 i managed to crawl off the bed to my friend's house for a craft fair meeting. my friend enticed me by making ginger honey lemon tea . . 

 i actually nibbled on dark chocolate with roasted garlic on top!

 and some delicious organic grapes.

 we usually discuss half a million craft ideas . . but today we discussed only eight: paper globes, cinnamon sticks with bows, candles with cut-out wax designs, gift tag printing, clementine clove balls, acorn people, picture frames made out of branches and small clothes pin clips, and wet soap felting.

that evening after ballet class (7 pm), chanda met morgana and they walked to eighteenth street . .

 to books of wonder . . 

to meet the author brian selznick who has a new book out called the marvels. (our friend camille went along also).

(the book has now been put away for christmas).

they're big fans and we have two other books of his which happen to be historical novels, wonderstruck and the invention of hugo cabret (which was made into the movie hugo by martin scorsese). 

here he's telling them that they both have very ancient and strong names. 

 yesterday, thursday, i felt a bit stronger but still had a pounding headache when i bent down too far or came up too quickly after reaching for things . . strange. 

 korrina and i visited hudson cafe in the late afternoon . .

 to sit and talk and knit together . . then she ran off to her knitting group at la casita in brooklyn which she hadn't visited in months (having been too busy working every thursday).

 it's been so warm . . 

 every day it's sunny and clear . . new yorkers are appreciative but also very ready for cooler fall weather . . 

dinner last night was broccoli rabe (greg's favorite) with bionaturae's gluten free pasta.