talking about the weather (and other things) (an update)

all in together, girls.

how do you like the weather, girls?

january, february, march . . 

the above is a jump rope song i used to jump to with my friends on the block when i was ten . . and the ages that swirl about ten years . . nine, eleven . . eight, seven . . 

i don't like the weather much these days! we're currently having a very mild winter and my body is prepped for cold, but there is no cold. the weather isn't bad, it's just not what we're accustomed to having. because of that i feel discombobulated and a little off balance . . 

it's actually been a very busy january for us. we had eva's charlotte come and stay for a bit while she danced in a ballet workshop. that same weekend korrina and i attended the vogue knitting live event, and the week before and after the knitting event i helped korrina move into a new apartment in queens (an important move for her that cut her work commute in half). so! i actually have many, many photos to share. why haven't i shared them? i honestly don't know. possible excuses may be that i had a very mild flu last week (no fever or vomiting, just a dizzy, achy and weak body), i have a cold this week, and we also have another visitor this week so greg and i finally had to catch up on the laundry and cleaning from when morgana and jenny left. i've also been knitting and re-organizing and sorting books (sadly, we have way too many books). 

 morgana sent a pic from school. i believe they are about to rehearse chekov's the cherry orchard.

 i asked korrina for a pic of the view from her new subway station. nice, isn't it!!

and yesterday i met my friend kendall (whose clown show i helped with in november) at a new restaurant in the neighborhood (banter). i had jasmine tea and falafel with a beet cashew dip, avocado, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and goat cheese. kendall had eggs with a kale salad and bacon. it was all rather amazingly delicious.

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and now i must get ready to run out to see my friend sacha at burdick's where i might get a hot chocolate . . or maybe tea, since they have mariage freres, which is a very good tea!

december photo project: december 2nd

though below me, i feel no motion,

standing on these mountains and plains,

far away from the rolling ocean,

still my dry land heart can say,

i've been sailing all my life now,

never harbor or port have i known,

the wide universe is the ocean i travel

and the earth is my blue boat home. 

sun, my sail, and moon my rudder,

as i ply the starry sea,

leaning over the edge in wonder,

casting questions into the deep.

drifting here with my ship's companions,

all we kindred pilgrim souls,

making our way by the lights of the heavens 

in our beautiful blue boat home.

i give thanks to the waves upholding me,

hail the great winds urging me on,

greet the infinite sea before me,

sing the sky my sailor's song.

i was born upon the fathoms

never harbor or port have i known.

the wide universe is the ocean i travel

and the earth is my blue boat home.

by peter mayer

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korrina and i sang this in church this morning. songwriter peter mayer wrote the words to a beautiful church hymn my sister and i have always loved, alleluia, sing to jesus. i love both versions and korrina's and my hearts were filled with a joyous sadness to be singing it together in church today. 

reverand ana spoke passionately about pursuing a green revolution in our everyday choices. our current government leaders may not care how our earth is abused, but our personal decisions can boost a grass roots rebellion. a person must start somewhere. we can start at home.

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the photos below were taken on my way home from church and after walking around downtown brooklyn with korrina (we visited the danish shop flying tiger for inexpensive candles, wrapping paper and various tchotchkes).

riding the q train over the manhattan bridge . . 

 

(the mural behind the christmas trees above is by artist vicki khuzami and depicts specific writers, actors, artists, musicians and dreamers who have been drawn to life in greenwich village. it was painted in 2001 and you can see more of ms khuzami's murals on her website here.)

walking through washington square . . 

 oh! and i attended the anthroposophical society's advent spiral this evening.

it was a beautiful and peaceful beginning to the christmas season.

take the A train

 14th street subway station . . sculptures by tom otterness.

 168th street station, columbia presbyterian hospital.

 i think this was one of the first buildings to go up on 168th street in 1928. it now houses the dental hosptial.

 an armory! you never know where and when you'll come across one.

 we were here to see brian's dad. unfortunately, neal has always had a bad heart, and he's now on the waiting list for a transplant.

the view from his room. he was in such good spirits and happy to have company. i worried that we were tiring him out, as he regaled us with stories of the nurses and his work and how everything will work for his operation. he's like my friend joanna with a myriad of interesting stories and facts. his very good friend david came by just as we were leaving. today was his wife's day off, so others try to fill in for her. we hope the wait won't be long, but that means someone somewhere has to die . . ? it's a very surreal situation to be in and makes me cry inside.

afternoon museum visit

 we visited the met breuer museum today to see the special edvard munch exhibit with my sister and brother-in-law. this particular exhibit actually had been at san francisco's modern art museum during the summer when we were there, but we never went as we were so busy with other touristy attractions, and it was expensive. my nephew had seen it there and had highly recommended it, so i always felt a little sad that we hadn't been. however, chanda discovered that it was coming to the met breuer, and that it would be happening while her aunt and uncle were here for the show, so all of us were excited for the visit. it was also my sister and brother-in-law's first time seeing this new addition to the met museum (which used to be the whitney).

the exhibit had a lithograph rendition of his famous scream painting, borrowed from moma. i was intrigued by his writing in german on the bottom right: ich fühlte das grosse geschrei dürch die natur (i felt the great scream in nature -- though he uses dürch die, through the -- which brings a different feeling for me than in). it's a journal entry from a few years prior in which he had recorded an experience he had while walking along a road in his hometown of oslo (at the time called kristiania).

 self-portrait by the window

the night wanderer (munch often couldn't sleep at night).

 

portrait sent to my nephew and to warren's norwegian cousins as proof that they made it to the munch exhibit. 

 we also enjoyed seeing the charles simonds exhibit dwellings, which was installed in 1981 when the museum was still the whitney. simonds work is fascinating and whimsical. he began in the 1970's in soho and on the lower east side, by creating small settlements that reflected an imaginary civilization of little people. he constructed these settlements in the brick niches of crumbling buildings, and in vacant lots, gutters and window ledges. i'd love to find more of these in the neighborhood, but i wonder if they are gone, or just well hidden, because i've never come across one on my own. supposedly, he has created hundreds of these constructions all around the world in shanghai, paris, berlin, dublin, chicago and houston.

 he used clay, sand, sticks, stones, wood, plaster, cloth and chicken wire.

across the street, on the second story window ledge on the left, are two clay house clusters of a similar settlement, which is part of this exhibit. you can read more about charles simonds on his website here.

and now back to an outside portrait i took of everyone indicating the museum we were at . .

morgana trying to take a photo of dirty snow. i think she thought that her austrian family wouldn't believe how dirty it really was . . quite understandable!

of course everyone was hungry afterwards . . so on the way to the subway station we stopped for bagels . .

 with different cream cheese spreads: vegetable, scallions, salmon . . 

 and then underground . . 

 fellow subway riders taking a selfie with the train coming into the station . . 

morgana took one of us on the train . . 

drummers at 14th street waiting for the l train . . 

 sunday night packing . . 

and word game.

a visit to the orthopedist

 chanda's foot injury is still painful when she goes up on pointe, so we visited an orthopedist today, a man who started the harkness dance center's renowned therapy clinic. i was glad he could fit her in.

 there were signed posters on the office walls: the martha graham company, the ailey company . . 

 and there was even a signed photo from gelsey.

 he took an ex-ray and, thankfully, there isn't a fracture, but she has to decide if she's going to dance this coming weekend.

 afterwards, we visited the hungarian cafe for their lunch special, which i've always missed because it's only offered twelve to four o'clock, monday through friday.

 the special includes a savory bread, soup or cucumber salad, an entree and dessert:

 strudel and cherry pie, all for $14.75, which is an incredible deal in manhattan. i also like it because the entree portions are smaller.

 the waitress talking with a neighborhood patron . . in hungarian.

 then it was time for me to experience the newly finished second avenue subway line.

 we took two escalators down to an in-between level . .

 and before we descended the third and last escalator we passed a portrait of our old neighbor lou, who once thought our dear jack was quite "a tank."

 finally down at the bottom, waiting for the q train . . 

 a man offered me a seat next to chanda since he was getting off at the next stop . . chanda is reading her current literature book, harper lee's go set a watchman. she was interested in reading it after finishing to kill a mockingbird. her cousin recommended it. i haven't read it yet.

 even though it was new, it was still a noisy line.