twelfth night socks

i finally finished chanda's twelfth night socks today.

 i see it's difficult for me to get them an equal length!

chanda has been sewing the hooks and eyes on her costume. it's been fun trying it on and dancing around the living room.

and we've also been enjoying watching ballet movies, particularly the royal ballet's don quixote with carlos acosta and marianela nunez.

minestra di riso e lenticchi and "the costume"

it was very cold and snowy today . . a perfect day to make ministra di rise e lenticchi, a recipe from a cookbook i found last christmas in barnes and noble.

the nicest part about making this today, was that all the ingredients were already in the apartment . .  a can of peeled tomatoes, garlic, onion, fresh thyme, lentils and risotto rice . . oh, and a bay leaf.

it was perfect for when chanda came stumbling in from the cold at 7:30, exhausted from class and rehearsal.

after dinner we sat down to watch don quixote again while chanda worked on her costume for her dance competition whose semi-finals will be held in a week in philadelphia (i worked on finishing her twelfth night socks).

we no longer know if this dance competition is a good thing or a bad thing. i guess we just have to make it good. however, she's been feeling very nervous and the dance hasn't been as technically smooth as it should be. she feels she's capable of it being much better than it is, but she's been having aches and pains and muscle tightness and her limbs aren't behaving as she would like them to. we think she just has to keep on pushing on.

as you can see the costume is really lovely and at least we've been enjoying watching it float about the living room while watching don q (she had to sew on her hooks and eyes and fix her new pointe shoes).

back to work and making biscotti

chanda and i both got back to the daily routine today.  she practiced her violin . . 

and i finally worked again on my german and italian on duolingo.

we've also been watching ballet videos . . don quixote, prima ballerina (which we actually didn't enjoy as much as the ballerina video found on youtube).

(cat pillow epiphany gifts).

pannettone and spiced christmas tea for the ballet movie break . . 

it's been such an exhausting twelve days of christmas for hermione.

chanda saved the biscotti today . . i must have added an extra cup of flour for it was way too dry . . some water was added, which helped, but then i had to bake it thrice rather than twice . . so it's extra crunchy and definitely needs to be dunked in order to be bitten into.

even though it's hard as a rock, it's the best tasting i've ever made. 

twelfth night

we had a nice dinner to celebrate twelfth night this evening. eva and family's package also arrived and we enjoyed opening it to find a beautiful german christmas card eva's nephew made and two very cute stuffed cats. the material is really pretty and eva says that a woman in her town made them. they're sweet and are sitting on our nature table at the moment (we're also enjoying eva's family gift from last year during this holiday time). we also had fun reading the family newsletter. chanda's favorite part was about the christmas tree skirt eva had ordered. peter says he's looking forward to seeing it on her. of course i have a very nice one here under my tree that i should maybe put on too.

monday class

our monday waldorf group began again today. the children are now studying european geography. they worked with watercolors and laid the groundwork for a map of europe, and talked about joan of arc and eleanor of aquataine. i think they probably discussed many other things, but i haven't had a chance to hear it all yet. i think i will, though, in the future as chanda says they need to write three paragraphs about the lesson today for next week.

poem for a sunday

poem for a sunday, the tenth day of christmas . . 

ring out, wild bells

by alfred lord tennyson

ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

the flying cloud, the frosty light;

the year is dying in the night;

ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

ring out the old, ring in the new,

ring, happy bells, across the snow;

the year is going, let him go;

ring out the false, ring in the true.

ring out the grief that saps the mind,

for those that here we see no more,

ring out the feud of rich and poor,

ring in redress to all mankind.

ring out a slowly dying cause,

and ancient forms of party strife;

ring in the nobler modes of life,

with sweeter manners, purer laws.

ring out the want, the care the sin,

the faithless coldness of the times;

ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,

but ring the fuller minstrel in.

ring out false pride in place and blood,

the civic slander and the spite;

ring in the love of truth and right,

ring in the common love of good.

ring out old shapes of foul disease,

ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

ring out the thousand wars of old,

ring in the thousand years of peace.

ring in the valiant man and free,

the larger heart, the kindlier hand;

ring out the darkness of the land,

ring in the christ that is to be.

rehearsing . .

 since we've returned, chanda has been rehearsing for a dance competition she has on january 16th. she also has a dance performance for her modern teacher january 31st and february 1st.

 things are still a bit wobbly . . tomorrow she has two rehearsals scheduled to try and remedy this situation, and she'll run it each day in class starting tuesday . .

the contemporary piece is in good shape . . though there are still a lot of details that are being worked on . .

 she also decided to attend an audition for abt's summer intensive on the last minute.

i went out to get a cup of tea from the maison kayser cafe, and then waited with the other parents in the lobby . . (it started to snow . . it was very pretty for awhile before it turned to rain) . .

and i worked on my knitting. i also enjoyed listening in on the conversation between the husband and wife sitting next to me. husband: was she nervous? wife: she has new shoes. husband: i hope she smiles. i should have told her before she went in!

 it went well and chanda ended up having a good time.

 smelly feet!

 she was proud of the new stitch she did for these shoes (does this really make a difference?).

 oh no!! what store am i in???? why?? we're not buying pointe shoes again are we? last time i was here i said i wouldn't buy new shoes until after the competition! (didn't i say that??) (sigh).

 back at maison kayser for soup and tea . .

and tarts!

homeward bound . .