it's warming up

today was a beautiful spring day. the daffodils were all in bloom by the laundry room (where i put in a load of towels). i walked up to the whole foods in chelsea to see if the store had a spiral ham to take to my sister's for easter. i used to shop often at this whole foods but stopped when it was taken over by amazon as they made changes to the atmosphere of the store which rendered it a little cold and dreary. it wasn't any different today. many of the items were the same, but it didn't feel friendly inside and there weren't many people shopping (it used to always be incredibly busy). i bought the ham and then walked over to trader joe's on sixth avenue for a sunnier and more fun shopping time. of course it was quite crowded, but the check out line moved quickly and the workers were their usual cheery selves, so it didn't matter.

there was a cool breeze but the sun was warm so it felt great to be out walking. 

when i got back home i finished listening to this cd this which my parents had bought for the girls years ago. i've been listening while knitting on the wave of change blanket. it's about 16 inches square now.

here are several beautiful design work photos morgan sent me:

 

monday afternoon

 

our neighbor was having some very loud construction going on today. we brought the kittens into the living room with us as it was happening directly over the room we keep them in. it was quite loud and in the pic above finn is hiding from it in his little house. 

pluto playing with finn before it began . . 

and here andy is running around with his toy carrot which he was quite possessive about . . 

you can hear him growling as finn teases him . . 

lunch during the construction noise . . chanda mixed up her weeks for when she was supposed to get a covid test for school (students report to a particular building for the test and then it clears in a day or two), and was locked out of in-person classes for two days. while the construction was going on, she worked at the table in the living room.

getting some  help from finn . . 

little andy hid under the bed and came out when i called him for a photo.

pluto hid under the chair.

sunday night

chanda has reading glasses now. she can't really see distance through them very well, so things looked blurry to her when i asked her to look up for the photo (thus, her left eye is "winking" at me). she's filling out a form for her new job at a local cafe. greg is vacuuming in the background (pluto spilled the kitty litter again).

i finally posted about greg's and my trip to the berkshires (here) from the beginning of august, and i put up a photo of chanda in a ballet class at steps (here).

spring!

yesterday was the vernal equinox, and today was a snow day. More specifically, it was another nor'easter. we've had one each week for four weeks. this week's storm was called toby.

 here's toby hiding beneath my car during last week's storm (winter storm skylar).

 it was dark enough this morning for a candle during breakfast.

chanda worked on her mathematical thinking coursera class before running of to a ballet lesson at steps with a new teacher she had never taken with before: daniel catanach. she said his combinations were quick and fun and challenging.

SAT studying and soup for dinner

 for the past month, chanda has been studying periodically for her SAT exam on saturday. she has been taking sample tests on the khan academy website and reviewing their algebra lessons. this evening we were reviewing percentage questions.

 i finally pulled out the sweater i had started knitting when my dad was in the hospital in middletown, connecticut two years ago. it's the portland pullover by carrie bostick hoge, and it was printed in my taproot magazine that i enjoy getting seasonally. as you can see above, hermione was not letting me work on it this afternoon . . so i decided to make dinner instead.

i had sweet potatoes in the refrigerator from my thursday veggie box, so i decided to do a combination sweet potato/mulligatawny soup, which was basically sweet potatoes plus indian spices: curry, garam masala, cinnamon and cumin.

this curry was a leftover from san francisco! i finally combined it into the jar on the right.

i also used a special sea salt/herb blend from morgana's austrian host mom . .

along with a special olive oil from heritage trees in italy. my kitchen is a global kitchen!

ah! my sweater is finally accessible . . 

i forgot to take a dinner table pic of the soup . . here it is . . i pureed the sweet potatoes and chicken broth and added sautéed kale and challots.

sunday chocolates, sunday dinner

 we've been enjoying the chocolates morgana sent. christmas has been lasting awhile with us.

 chanda made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner this evening.

it's my grandmother's recipe that my mom submitted years ago to the montauk lighthouse cookbook.

over the years i've tweaked it a bit to fit whatever i have in the kitchen. this evening we only had one jar of paste, so less water was added to the sauce. in the summertime i've used fresh tomatoes, and fresh basil, and whenever i have parsley, i add it to the meatballs.

delizioso!

reviewing algebra problems with dad.

----

(last saturday's walk with charlotte is here.)

an update from the alps

 there's been lots of snow in austria . . 

 and family and friends did a special mental awareness workshop . . 

morgana said it was a lot of fun and instructive.

on the high line and another shawl

 it was a beautiful day for a walk on the high line. the leaves on the trees are beginning to change color.

 an aster flower . . 

 black eyed susans, which i chose to sketch, mainly because i could identify them!

 i love their beautiful brown cones.

 finishing up her sketch . . 

 of what looks like another aster flower, but the leaves and stalk are very different. they actually look kind of evergreen like to me.

 returning home along the birch tree path . . 

 we're almost done with our second set of seven dvds about the roosevelts. we've really enjoyed this film series, and have especially learned so much about eleanor roosevelt (i now have a biography about her on hold at the library). we also began reading the imaginary invalid (inspired by eva and family).

 as soon as the ellison bay shawl had been pulled up from blocking, i pinned down the next one: loop by casapinka.

 i used all oysters and purls yarn for this (in dk weight).

 almond is the beige color (created by using cutch, a tree extract), akamas is the darker blue, and sea foam is the lighter blue, both achieved with indigo.

i prefer the style of this shawl. the crescent is so easy to drape around my neck when it's chilly outside.