poem for a sunday morning and an excursion to ikea

sunflowers

sunflowers in the summer growing,

growing up towards the light;

light and warmth which draws them upwards,

upwards striving in their might.

mighty golden heads with seeds there,

seeds to sleep in winter's ground;

heads which turn from dawn till sunset

following the sun's path round.

by heather thomas, from her book a journey through time in verse and rhyme 

 

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greg and i have been meaning to go to ikea for several months now as we've been wanting to check on their mattresses. ours is in very bad condition. we finally went this morning as we had told chanda we would return two window blinds that she had purchased last month (they weren't black out curtains, which she prefers). here greg is attempting to log onto the ikea return line via his phone. we couldn't just stand in line and wait for a salesperson. we had to sign in online! we were a little frustrated at first as it wasn't working properly, but then finally he sorted it out and we were logged in as being the third ones "on line." it felt very surreal to be physically in the place, but yet have to register online in order to be seen. to complicate the situation, chanda hadn't been able to find her receipt so i was a little worried that she wouldn't be reimbursed, but i made sure that i had her card (from when i had seen her on saturday) and she sent a photo of the transaction on her bank account, which is how the salesperson found the sale in their system. it was interesting - she looked up the date and the amount in the ikea computer and was able to give a full refund. (cons and pros of computer usage!)
 

finally we were able to get our coffee and cinnamon buns . . we had to get the buns downstairs and bring them up to the cafeteria (only full meals were sold upstairs).
 

their pastries are wonderfully cinnamon-y.

reading his book, taking paris, about world war ii.

greg's way of testing the mattress . . ! (i simply bounced on all the beds . . )

 

 

collecting the black out blinds for chanda and the mattress we had decided on for us.

we stopped in bushwick to drop off chanda's blinds and 2 quart pot and steamer i had picked out for her. i got to go upstairs and say hi to pluto who had been napping on her roommate's bed. it was good to give his little furry head a pat and a kiss (though i don't think he really cared - he jumped down to beg for treats along with melvin.)

so it's supposed to be fully inflated by wednesday.

sunday

after church this morning, greg and i drove to ikea to look at sofas for the house . .

we would like to get a sleeper sofa. this one was interesting, but i think we'll go with something more traditional.

this one folds down like a futon. it's too bad the store had it on a platform so we couldn't sit on it . . it also looks quite worn i think!

the ikea store was rather busy and filled with too many people, so we didn't wander around like we usually do (which is a good thing - there are too many tempting items to buy). since we were in brooklyn, in red hook, i suggested we visit mr. wonton in park slope and get chinese food to take home for dinner. we took the route past mazzola's bakery and i hopped out to get cannoli

my favorite cannoli . . their filling isn't too sweet and is very creamy.

 

mazzola's is located on union street and to get to mr. wonton we just continued east towards park slope. after crossing the canal, i wistfully began picking out the familiar shops that we used to pass when we lived in the neighborhood: the casket company (i've always been amused at this), the djembe store and our old auto repair shop (which has since moved). coming up to the intersection of fourth avenue with union, we noticed one particular person who wasn't busily walking across with everyone else. he stood in the center, directly in front of our car. though the light was green, we had to stop. i noticed he held a heavy looking stick in his left hand and i glanced in the side view mirror to see how many cars were behind us, wondering if they would beep which might help get this person to move, but he just leaned into the hood of the car, staring at greg (who was driving) and yelling "why'd you do it" or something like that. it was now that i realized that the stick was a metal pipe and i could feel myself flipping into fight or flight mode . . which i guess was all fight as i didn't move, but simply tensed up . . i remember feeling my brain whirring busily, trying to figure out this situation. meanwhile, greg moved the car into park and the light turned red. the guy moved around to greg's door and . . opened it! yelling the whole time. greg made a motion to pull it shut again, but i think it just swung wider. someone on the sidewalk shouted, "get away from that car," and suddenly there were two cops with guns drawn - except they weren't guns, they were black and yellow tasers. the guy had turned around at the shout and now began walking toward the officers - still yelling. there was a flash and he was down on the ground with the officers astride him, handcuffing him. greg closed his door, moved the car into drive, the light turned green . . and we drove away.

greg calls this adventure our one guy traffic delay. all i could say to him as we crossed fourth avenue and drove up union street, was . . well, you handled that well. it was all we talked about for the next few hours as we looked for a parking spot around the corner from mr. wonton and went in to order our food. oh! and as we drove up union street, two police cars flew by us with their lights flashing and their sirens going . . on their way to back up the officers we had just left. the guy must have threatened others before we even arrived on the scene and someone must have called 911. i guess. i'll be forever grateful to the person who shouted "get away from that car." it reminds me of the time i was walking along an extremely crowded fifth avenue sidewalk in the 1980's and almost stepped off the curb at 59th street into oncoming traffic. someone reached out their arm and stopped me. sometimes a guardian angel is only a whisper away.

just another day in new york city.

 

 

 

 

 

a field trip to a red hook waldorf coop

we began the morning with lüssekats and tea, and then chanda and i drove out to red hook for her waldorf group's holiday get together with another homeschooling coop. her teacher works in both places. 

the red hook group is younger with an age range of eight to eleven, and chanda's group is probably from twelve to sixteen. it was housed in a really nice space with a good front yard for running around in.

festive paper stars hung in the windows . . 

chanda tried making one of these today . . you need to give it an extra fold to make it thinner.

it was a warm and homey space with wood desks pushed together and yellow painted walls . . 

each windowsill was filled with dolls, animals, gnomes and puppets, all arranged in a cozy scene.

 the older children helped the younger children make the paper stars, while folding their own.

 they helped them pick out their colors and made sure they had the right amount of squares.

 i love this field trip sign. they travel somewhere different every monday, except for today, when they had guests travel to them instead.

 they've been working on native american history and created some lovely dream catchers.

 now chanda is helping marley make a geometric design with gold thread on a paper cut out star. the older ones made the paper base in class last week with a compass and ruler.

 if you look closely you can see the light pencil lines creating the points where the stars will be cut.

 chanda made one there and brought one home.

 finished projects . . 

 and then it was lunch time. the group treated us to the most delicious meal. i am always so appreciative when someone else cooks for me . . ! we had quiche, gluten free pasta, cheddar cheese, salad, rice and beans and hard boiled eggs.

 they also served a dessert of gluten free apple pie and brownies.

 the children took a play break while the adults finished eating and talking.

 the house was situated at the west end of red hook which is right on the water. a few years ago a pier was either rebuilt or newly built (i'm not sure which) and named valentino pier. it was a beautiful walk on a sunny day . .

 with the statue of liberty in the distance . . 

 and the staten island ferry rolling by . . 

and lower manhattan now recognizable by the finally finished freedom tower.

 the children with svetlana.

 the younger children ran around like wild things . . and it was a marked contrast to the slower pace of the teenagers. you don't realize how old the children are until you're around the little ones again.

aren't these trees interesting looking? they do make good climbing trees . . i've never see this shape before.

 ah, but here are some teens who decided to run a little . . 

 after the trip outdoors, svetlana had the older children show some of their work. it was very inspiring to see what they chose to exhibit and talk about. here svetlana is laying out some of ronnie's pages from this year's geometric drawing block. last year they prepared oral reports and written lesson books on their favorite national park and a few of them displayed these. chanda shared her greek history book which she began at about eleven and a half years old, and finished when she was twelve and a half. her handwriting changed dramatically during this time and it was such a strong indication of how she had matured and grown. i also didn't realize that it took us so long to work on greek history. hmm. 

 next they sang and walked the five pointed star symbolizing the cycle of earth and life.

 then the younger children led everyone in several songs they have been singing since september. it was a lot of fun, and they were very enthusiastic. after the song fest svetlana shared several pictures of herself from when she was a child. her birthday had been the day before and since she likes everyone to share something of their younger selves on birthdays, she passed around pictures of herself with her mom, dad and cousins from when she lived in moldova. to end the day, we sang a final song together.

and then it was time to go home . . one is never to old to climb trees . .