maybe today was too busy . .

it was a rainy morning. chanda managed to talk her dad into having brunch at the place (for the very last time) where it poured and then left the air very humid.

 we then walked along the river to her isadora duncan dance teacher's recital. she had a tech for it at 1:30. it was incredibly foggy. 

the freedom tower is hidden out there . . somewhere.

 i continued past the school where the recital was to north cove marina where i had read that there would be a polynesian canoe docked. the polynesian voyaging society is sponsoring a project called malama honua (which means "take care of island earth") to connect people around the globe to work towards a sustainable future. the hokule'a is their messenger and is a 62 foot long, double-hulled sailing canoe built in the style of the native polynesian people: guided by the sun, moon and stars, by currents, wind and wave patterns, by bird and fish behavior.

the society explains their mission in this movie.

it's a beautiful boat, and smaller than you might think is needed for traveling so far!

Hokule'aarrival_broadsheet_simkoDSC_0065 from The Broadsheet on Vimeo.

this excerpt is from the welcoming ceremony (which i missed).

 i arrived in time for their picture-taking, and for the celebration dances with other first nations.

 this is valerie, a jingle dancer from the ojibwe nation. there was also a young man of the new york iroquois nation who danced a smoke dance (he had grown up in the city as a descendant of the skywalking ironworkers). i was too entranced with his dance to film it . . !

the musicians sat behind the stage. can you hear the child singing along with the adults? i think he was about eleven years old.

 . . a group partner dance with the audience . . 

and my favorite: the polynesian stick dancers.

----

and then it was time to see chanda's isadora duncan dance recital.

 i wish i had a small clip to show!

with loretta at the reception afterwards.

after the recital and reception, chanda went uptown to babysit and greg and i went to help her modern dance teacher move several props and costumes into the theatre for her tech week. ellen was in a very good mood because the dressing room had already been cleaned (she usually has to do a little herself) and she had had a fabulous morning rehearsal with several students. i don't think i've ever seen her so pleased before a tech week begins.

 greg was monitoring a storm on the phone and we had twenty minutes to get home before it broke.

he was ready to open the umbrella but i just kept running for it . .

these movies don't seem to be working too good . . but i'm too tired right now to figure it out!

the vendée and brunch in brooklyn

 chanda and i made it out in time for the vendée preliminary starting race! the boats looked beautiful all lined up in front of the north cove marina. 

sorry my filming is so shaky . .  you can hear the starting shot set them off and some cheers from people on the quay and out on the water. the boats sailed from here to the verrazano bridge where they lined up for the true official starting point and were again cheered on. you can read about the update of the race here. several boats hit sharp objects and had to stop at newport for repairs. the boat i'm following with skipper alex thomson from the UK is still sailing on without damage, but he reported a lot of fog and slow sailing. the japanese skipper almost hit a huge cargo ship in the fog and said things had gotten a bit dangerous!

chanda mentions how the boats start to tack to change direction.

 each boat has a sponsor and one skipper with team support on land. most of the skippers are french but there are a few others from england, japan and new zealand.

 i'm kind of rooting for this boat and skipper.

 sweets! we stopped at duane park patisserie for a dessert for our brunch with friends in brooklyn. i couldn't resist having some cheesecake and chanda chose a fruit tart . . we chose a brownie for greg who was waiting in the car.

 then we drove out to park slope. my friend's apartment felt so cool and refreshing . . well, they did have the air conditioner on.

setting up for a delicious brunch . . 

 salad and a spinach and zucchini frittata. jeanette is such a great cook . . the frittata was incredible.

 making espresso . . 

 her espresson maker is a stainless steel alessio which i would like to get one day to replace my aluminum bialetti.

jeanette is pouring the milk from a special frother she brought back from italy. it's very simple to use with hot milk. amazon probably has one . . 

 the amazing lemon tart from duane park . . tony and i always like to reminisce about patisserie lanciani which used to be on west fourth street until madeleine lanciani moved to the duane park spot in tribeca. i used to bring korrina in a stroller to the west village location when we lived there (before we moved to brooklyn) and i used to buy my mom grand marnier chocolate cakes for her birthday . . 

 the cups were tony's grandmother's . . 

 it was a nice afternoon.

we drove back to manhattan and dropped chanda off at her twelfth night rehearsal uptown and then parked the car by a neighbor's rose garden. it's rose season . . they are all in bloom . . 

when chanda returned she reminded me how a favorite neighborhood restaurant was closing. i know how quickly these closings can go so i figured we better go this evening.

it was good we did because we found out they only have one week left. alexander at the place has been around since 1998 and we'll really miss his restaurant. besides serving delicious food, the atmosphere is intimate and warm (he would have "fires" burning in two fire places in the winter--they were the large sterno containers but still lent a cozy air). my friend kendall lives in the same building and they've been going through a lot of changes since the original owners died and the grandchildren took over.

just another change in the neighborhood . .