afternoon tea

 

i couldn't resist buying a sour cream coffee cake from the apple farm on saturday. i had the last piece today with a cup of green tea.

the biography of katharine cornell i purchased from alabaster books on sunday. 

laundry, tea and tirol

it was chilly in the morning but then warmed up. greg and i did a lot of laundry, and i loved walking through the grey light of the courtyard.

colors often feel more vibrant on grey days . . 

the laundry room garden is looking wonderfully overgrown . .

usually the laundry is busy on a saturday . . 

but there was not even one other visitor today.

we straightened up the apartment all day for our tea party. our neighbor victoria came by with her good friend ajosa. greg hung out with us for the first half and then went for his daily constitutional walk (the conversation centered on james baldwin, whom victoria once interviewed, and the last coop meeting which victoria had attended and was filling us in on) . . those of us who remained talked until 8:45 pm . . . . about ajosa's struggles with getting a green card in texas, victoria's latest photo exhibit and her future facebook page, schools and homeschooling, and the interests of our children.

while they were here morgana sent some pictures of the first communion preparations . . 

it looks so lovely; i wish i could go.

back at home

 it's always nice to come home again, especially after such a long early morning drive. we were back before the 11 am to 12:30 pm street cleaning so i had to run out to move the car at five to eleven, and then stayed with it until 12:30. above is korrina's cooking school graduation card from her aunt.

 here korrina is getting ready to sharpen her knives.

 new saucers i bought from the country barn. i love how there is a picture in the center where the cup sits.

 delicious ginger scones from my sister. chanda and i are having tea after she returned from her morning classes, and before she ran off for her afternoon class.

 i read from the fifth harry potter book while she did her hair. we'll begin the sixth on her birthday.

 she's become quite good at putting her hair into a french twist these days.

a pic from the evening after dinner when she was working on her waldorf class lesson. i think she was writing about early american history: the relationship of colonists with native americans.

visiting with nana and nonno

my sister and her husband are away in maine, so we went up to connecticut to spend some time with nana and nonno (and toby the cat too).

 we had a chili dinner saturday night with raspberry and lemon sorbet for dessert . . 

 and then today we brought them over for lunch. my mom and i had some time to relax and knit and crochet together . . though my mom fell asleep and i was surprised that i didn't also . . it's been quite warm and soporific!

 nonno succumbed . . 

 lunch was several different salads from the whole foods market along with muenster and jarlsberg cheese and also fresh roast beef from my local butcher. we also had the small black and white cookies from lily's brooklyn bakery.

 i was upstairs getting ready to go . . when i smelled something burning in the kitchen. i ran down the stairway yelling and we all discovered the plastic bread bag burning away on my sister's glass top stove! it had fallen over onto a still hot burner . . we decided to burn it off and the fumes were not good. c and m took refuge outside . . and our departure was delayed by a good hour i think.

stoppping at rose's berry farm for blueberries after saying good-bye to nana and nonno at their assisted living home.

 always some ballet shenanigans going on . . 

 we were trying to make it home in time for my friend's "sewing lady thank you tea." she was having a get together to thank everyone who helped her get the costumes ready for the show she designed for.

 we were very fashionably late . . 

 but still had a very nice time.

(it's been very hot!!)

goings on . . on sunday

on our way uptown to the gilbert and sullivan rehearsal on the L train, chanda noticed that sophie blackall's artwork is in her artwork.

morgana was already uptown at the rehearsal. greg had dropped her off on their way back from connecticut.

they returned home around 5:30/6:00. i had gone to korrina's rehearsal at dance theatre workshop, and all of us met walking home along bank street. who is this above? someone from the year 1830?

morgana has three hats that she will carry around with her. this one is her organdy mob cap. she'll wear it when she teaches school, as schoolteachers always wear their best.

 the straw bonnet is worn when going visiting on a sunny day, i.e. going to church.

 morgana with her very modern sisters.

this is maisie, our houseguest. she's also dancing in gilbert and sullivan as one of the young daughters, or one of the "sisters, and your cousins, and your aunts."

our tea for the evening, along with the apartment's chaperone, jack. (we had an italian cookie treat from milano market).