rainy days and thursdays

it has been raining and raining. we thought we would bike ride . . i thought i'd do laundry (postponed because of monday's rain . . ) . . instead we slept in a little longer (no outside lessons to run to) and after a quiet brunch m and c worked on their instruments, their languages, and their history.

chanda got a little antsy, so instead of moving on to the next lesson, she helped prepare the beets for dinner. the recipe is from the around the world cookbook, which is one of my favorite books to use. it has a little information about each country and it's food. the recipes are quick and easy, yet very tasty. it's also very pretty visually! i love the colors for the layout and the food and even the children's clothing! i'm such a sucker for packaging . .

morgana did an interview with the book's author for a meet me at the corner movie. (if you go under "recent episodes" it's an earlier one called "meet cookbook author abby dodge.")

after working on her history lesson about the phoenicians, morgana started her latin work with a map of the roman empire. she was wondering how to get started, so i told her i had noticed that eva's son had also worked on some maps recently. she asked to see one for inspiration. it also happened to be of the roman empire! he's working from livy's the history of rome, books 1-5. morgana was working from her robert j. henle latin book.

they both show such beautiful work! i find eva's posts about her days very inspiring.

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i also find my friend janet very inspiring. she can have a million and one things to do (such as getting a myriad of costumes together for a homeschooling production!), but knows that one of the most important things about life is learning new things while having fun together. this ranges from camp outs where you have to lug all supplies via canoe, to cuddling together in bed and watching the elegant universe, or reading arthur ransome's we didn't mean to go to sea. (they just finished it and really loved it.)

so janet and i managed to get together and take a walk with everyone up on the high line this evening, while our dinners cooked at home (!). it was incredibly windy, and the children ran around like wild things while she and i played with our cell phones (?!). camille, janet's oldest, was sitting beside us knitting on her beautiful sweater, and she said, "i think there is something wrong with this picture. i'm sitting here knitting and you two are texting!"

flower garden

every day there is one more
small wildflower
in our little garden
and
through the tumult of the city
each one manages to whisper
a silence into our ears

michaelmas cake: the story of the harvest loaf

(i was inspired by eva to create the michaelmas story loaf with morgana and chanda.)

happy michaelmas!

rainy days and tuesdays

we woke to another grey and rainy day. korrina helped make breakfast before running off to her friend's poetry reading.

we had scrambled eggs with chicken sausage and onions and fresh herbs. everyone was hungry this morning.

on our way to third street, we passed a giant rat! he should have had breakfast with us. he looks hungry, too!

while chanda played her violin in a practice room, morgana had her guitar lesson and then scooted off to her friend's house for a sleepover.

when chanda and i were on our way home, the sun came out! even people on the street were amazed.

with korrina also at a sleepover, it was just greg, chanda and i for dinner. we had leftovers with fresh salad . . the chickpea soup with garlic and rosemary which i forgot to take a picture of last night . . voila! here it is.

rainy days and mondays

it was such a dark morning! and it rained! we were supposed to go for a bike ride, but we ended up reading in bed . . and then had to quickly get up and get dressed as korrina's friend rang the buzzer and startled all of us (i think korrina too!). he was arriving to help her with a chemistry lab experiment (ooohhh, life with a 16 year old . . or, maybe just life with korrina!)

chanda worked on her singapore math. i'm been considering getting the christopherus math curriculum for fifth grade. i think it will be much more stimulating!

i thought this was sudoku, but after checking the book i saw that it read ken ken??? well, morgana worked on some puzzles before beginning her latin . . only she never got to it this afternoon . . i think she worked on theory instead . . i was busy making lunch, so am not sure . .

in the afternoon, c and i had to pick our way through the puddles in westbeth on our way to the car and ellen's dance class.

i actually didn't get a picture of dinner this evening. hmm. hard to believe. i thought i had. anyway, it was chickpea soup with fresh rosemary and garlic!

THE BIG DAY

on their way . .

well, today was the day morgana and chanda have been waiting for and working for . . today was the day they auditioned for dances patrelle's yorkville nutcracker. last year when they went to the audition, they hadn't done a tendu or plie all summer . . and they bombed! they were awful! and they didn't get the parts they really wanted. but this year . . oh my goodness . . they looked beautiful (i took a peek, and they were so poised, so graceful!) they have been working all summer on specific audition combinations and also practicing with making up their own (in addition to painstaking technique work). and all that hard work really paid off. they were kept back for consideration for the party scene. i was so relieved when the first batch of auditioners came out, and they weren't with them! they stayed in for another hour of dancing. and when they did come out . . they both had bright smiles and a bounce to their step.

hooray!

m said that it was such a good audition that she doesn't care what she gets . . but we both know she does!

and since we were just a few blocks away . . i couldn't resist a visit to andre's to pick up some prune danish and apple strudel as a celebration for all the hard work and a good audition.

i was supposed to make chickpea soup with rosemary and garlic (from the angelica kitchen cookbook), but the chickpeas were still soaking, so chanda got her wish and i made linguini with clam sauce instead.

followed by fresh whipped cream and apple strudel!

music and dancing

since we had been away for the weekend of september 11th and 12th, today was chanda's first day at repertory and orchestra class. she has a new repertory teacher this year, and is in her second year of the beginner orchestra group. her orchestra teacher had an assigned seat for her this year: principal of the second violin section. she's very happy (she says she likes second violin better than first and is glad she wasn't moved over!) and we think it will be a nice challenge for her.

on our way to third street we were discussing the batiking we had done several years ago at my friend janet's house, and i told chanda that she had done a nice job on her shirt. she reminded me that i had worked on her shirt, and she had only done the sand! well, i guess i like the lighthouse and stars that i made.

i did some volunteer work at the street fair this morning while chanda was in class. another parent and i sold t-shirts and gave out information about third street music school. a man came by and asked how things were at the school and said his children used to study with third street when it was still on third street (it's now on 11th street!).

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in the afternoon, greg took m and c up to fort tryon park where they and two of their friends danced for a birthday party. they had a lot of fun and the all the little girls loved them.


after the performance, the girls taught a few dances and showed the birthday party participants several dance moves.

tonight i made roasted squash, pear and ginger soup.

autumnal friday

chanda finished two book reports today: the borrowers and a story from the dear america series about a young girl attending the perkins school for the blind in boston. (she usually sticks with the my america series, but this one from the older series peaked her interest).

she's grown much more patient with sitting and writing her reports, and looks forward to telling me about the stories. i'm often fascinated by some of the details she remembers, and how much of the story she can relate.

m and c began their "theory in a box" program that is offered through their music school. i had been wanting them to attend the classes at the school. it's offered to students for a reduced rate (but, hmmm, not reduced enough unfortunately) . . so when they offered the home theory program for a fraction of the school class cost (and a fraction of the actual online program cost), greg and i jumped at it. so far it is going well and both enjoy it (even if it does make me cringe to see them staring at the computer screen!)

m went up to her dance class with ellen robbins in the afternoon. chanda played i spy out the front apartment window with her binoculars and sent messages down to the lower levels with her jump rope pulley system. korrina read some chemistry. i tried to make a decision about what botany books to use this year, when would be a good library day for our schedule, and made dinner. we had another recipe from deborah madison's soup book: creamy watercress with leek and potato.