10:24 am

it was a beautiful sunny - and cold - day. the construction continued with drilling on the east side windows (which cricket is reacting to). they're supposed to do ours tomorrow, and i hope they do because i'd like this all to end soon.

snow moon

 
last night's full moon as seen frrom the east village (photo by korrina) . . 

and as seen in london (photo by morgan). the snow moon is the first micro-moon of the year, appearing smaller and fainter in the sky as it is in apogee, meaning its orbit is at its farthest point from the earth. if you were in a place with a dark sky, you might have noticed a bright star below and to the left of the moon which was regulus. native american nations of the north and east called this moon the snow moon or the hunger moon as it was the time with the heaviest snowfalls, and food was often scarce.

breakfast and a museum visit

breakfast at home before catching the bus uptown . . 

to the museum of natural history . . (it's been cold these past few weeks!)

unbelievably, we haven't been here since before covid . . 2020! how the time flies . . 

we specifically wanted to see the new gem room, and it was amazing! korrina had been and had mentioned how wonderful it was. 

these two giant geodes are the first items to greet you (well, after the enormous meteorites!)

they were so sparkly and incredibly beautiful and they came from uruguay . . 

and according to this timeline, they are about 150 million years old . . 

this giant orbicular granite is between 2 and 3 billion years old . . 

i thought it was interesting that there was a timeline of mineral evolution. "these specimans represent the types of rocks and minerals that appeared during different time periods." gold and pyrite emerged about 3 1/2 billion years ago.

a close-up of calcite and aragonite from bisbee, arizona.

different minerals form at different depths . . 

an interactive periodic table: you tapped the atoms to form the different elements . . 

the singing stone . . made up of copper ore minerals green malachite and blue azurite.

it was dubbed the singing stone because the porous nature of the rock caused it to make high pitched sounds when it absorbed and released moisture from the air. now that it is in a controlled environment, it no longer sings . . unfortunately, i think, as i would love to hear it hum.

the colors are beautiful.

they explain how a rock is made up of mineral grains. some rocks are made up of many different kinds of minerals, such as this photo of granite, which is comprised of quartz, two types of feldspar, and mica. other rocks, such as limestone, are made up of only one species of mineral. much of the earth's crust is made up of only a few of the many rock-forming minerals. granite happens to contain some of the most abundant kinds.

they explain that a mineral is a solid with a specific repeating crystal structure and chemical composition, expressed as a formula.

obsidian glass (pictured above) is not a mineral as its atoms lack a specific orderly structure.

since water has a positively charged side and a negatively charged side, hot water can disrupt the chemical bonds in minerals and dissolve them, carrying them to other places . . 

this is a giant slab of almandine garnet crystals from a mine in upstate new york (gore mountain). many of the garnets can be over three feet across and were able to grow so large due to a fault that supplied water rich fluid that enabled "chemical migration and garnet growth rates." metamorphic heat and pressure also helped (1,500 degrees fahrenheit or 800 celsius and pressure 8000 times greater than atmospheric pressure).

the new gilder entrance off of columbus avenue . . 

(photo by greg)

the solomon family insectarium . . 

and insects of nyc . . !

outside the new entrance . . on our way to lunch at westside restaurant/diner . . (where we used to go with the girls when they took ballet class uptown).

a greek salad . .

and a side salad and matzoh ball soup for me. such a delicious lunch.

----

back at home . . what are they so interested in?

me . . i was making chocolate pudding because tomorrow is greg's birthday. on the last minute i thought it would be nice to have a little lunch party for him since it's a holiday and chanda doesn't have class, and korrina and josh both don't have work.

the two rascals were kicked out and banished to the bedroom as they couldn't keep themselves from sampling the cream. sweet pluto was able to stay.

i was a little nervous about how it would turn out as i hadn't made this particular recipe before . . but it came out great! i enjoyed licking the bowl . . 

little parchment paper covers . . and now they're in the fridge. till tomorrow!

a poem for sunday

 

the darkling thrush

i leant upon a coppice gate

when frost was spectre-grey,

and winter's dregs made desolate

the weakening eye of day.

the tangled bine-stems scored the sky

like strings of broken lyres,

and all mankind that haunted nigh

had sought their household fires.

the land's sharp features seemed to be

the century's corpse outleant,

his crypt the cloudy canopy,

the wind his death-lament.

the ancient pulse of germ and birth

was shrunken hard and dry,

and every spirit upon earth

seemed fervourless as i.

at once a voice arose among

the bleak twigs overhead

in a full-hearted evensong

of joy illimited;

an aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,

in blast-beruffled plume,

had chosen thus to fling his soul

upon the growing gloom.

so little cause for carolings

of such ecstatic sound

was written on terrestrial things

afar or nigh around,

that i could think there trembled through

his happy good-night air

some blessed Hope, whereof he knew

and i was unaware.

by thomas hardy (1840-1928)

nor'easter

 
i woke early to a surprise snowfall . . 

and managed to get out to the courtyard for photos before the paths were shoveled.

at the green market . . 

a delicious blood orange which cricket was interested in . . 

perusing the gaza kitchen cookbook by laila el-haddad while having poppyseed pound cake from the bread alone stand.

after dinner christmas cookies . .

----

while i was traipsing through the courtyard snow, kathy, warren and adam were walking through the palm and lychee orchards of his landlord's backyard . . 

under bougainvilla . . 

jackfruit . . 

bromeliads . .

elk horn fern . . 

kathy captioned this photo: "no snow here!"

----

meanwhile, in london morgan attended a lunar new year celebration:

and a birthday party for their friend merlyn.