fourth of july bike ride and dinner

 the first item on the agenda today was a bike ride uptown. chanda is thinking of riding to her dance intensive during the week so we wanted to check out the route.

 it was a nice ride and not too difficult . . she'll just have to be careful of all the weekday commuters: walkers, bikers and drivers--all the typical crazy manhattan commuting worries.

 an old building from the interborough rapid transit authority: the IRT. i'm not sure if it's still being used by the metropolitan transportation authority.

 we stopped at a park we used to visit a lot when the girls were younger. chanda was upset to see that they had taken down the playground equipment that she used to like to play on, and they had put up this green "fencing" around the fountain.

 we were trying to figure out why . . the sign said something about keeping out food and drink and no urinating. we were amused thinking about people purposely walking to the center and urinating . . 

it was a quiet fourth of july. greg and i did more apartment cleaning and chanda worked on four pairs of pointe shoes from her pointe shoe graveyard. she sewed and reglued them so she can get more wear from them during this four week intensive she's taking. she's saving the one new pair she has for the end presentation, i think, or for the intensive that comes after this intensive . . (i'm making a face now . . )

poem for a sunday morning

hymn of creation 

there was not non-existent nor existent:

there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it.

what covered in and where? and what gave shelter?

was water there, unfathomed depth of water?

death was not then, nor was there aught immortal:

no sign was there, the day's and the night's divider.

that one thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature,

apart from it was nothing whatsoever.

darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness

this all was indiscriminated chaos.

all that existed then was void and formless:

by the great power of warmth was born that One.

(from the rig veda)

a trip to vermont

morgana took the train to vermont wednesday morning.

 dinner at her friend's aunt's house in burlington.

garden flowers on my friend's kitchen table. my friend's garden is . . bountiful.

 at shelburne farms.

i always love june for its roses.

a delicious shelburne breakfast . . it looks like eggs benedict.

dancing isadora duncan's tanagra figures . . 

the gang's all here and went biking along lake champlain.

 beautiful lake champlain.

 she met up with my sister and brother-in-law who happened to be in town visiting my nephew.

my nephew has a hot tub!

dinner with good friends at penny cluse cafe in burlington.

 visiting the food coop before returning to her friend's home . . 

sunflowers outside the coop . .

 flowers in my friend's garden: digitalis or foxglove

evening primrose, oenothera

i know that my friend spends a lot of time taking care of her garden. this year she's growing salt and pepper cucumbers, tomatoes and basil. she says the butterflies are beautiful, but that she's noticed fewer insects this year.

i can hear the bees buzzing in the sunshine and the crickets chirping in the moonlight even though i'm not there . . 

one morning they all drove to bristol to go swimming and to see the farmer's market. while there, they ran into senator bernie sanders.

a quiet saturday

tea and chocolate treats from morgana's trip to copenhagen . . actually, one of my favorite chocolate treats, anton berg marzipan.

i pulled out an old recipe book and found this easter bulletin from my sister's church with a sketch i must have done of greg's and my first dog: louise.

i was searching for the teff cookie recipe . . 

it's a mix of oat flour, almond flour, teff flour and whole wheat pastry flour. i added olive oil (it was supposed to be corn oil, but that i didn't have on the shelf), maple syrup and vanilla. 

 chanda practiced a little before coming in to help roll out the cookies.

her teacher was supposed to come by for a lesson today, but he was having back trouble and needed to rest before playing in phantom of the opera tonight. we're always so pleased when he plays on broadway. it's very difficult getting a job there and right now he fills in for people who call in sick. 

this is spanish dances v, playera, by pablo de sarasate.

 the teff i used to be able to find was unground and the cookies would have a crunchy texture. i missed that this time as the teff flour was different. i guess because it was ground very fine!

 after dinner tea and cookies and a game of scrabble . . 

greg won the game (he won the last round too, though i do remember winning the one before that).

korrina's road trip

 zip and fuji on the road!

korrina and brian outside cooperstown.

 yarn being wound for a travel knitting project . . 

 common chicory found in a field by the road . . 

niagara!

one of my favorites: a video she took of the fife and drum militia at fort ticonderoga. one of our favorite books from their childhood was the hero of ticonderoga by my sister's friend gail gauthier. it forever endeared to us ethan allen, along with the story of the capture of fort ticonderoga from the british on may 10th, 1775 by the green mountain boys.

a post office near buffalo from whence she mailed my birthday card.

my birthday card! it's jack!

last day of june

the sky was so blue today . . . and the clouds so fluffy.

people seemed happy . . maybe because the weather has been so pleasant . . in the low 80's, and there's always a breeze.

sun umbrellas have become more popular these last few years.

i visited the rubin museum because greg and i decided to get a family membership here this year, rather than at the new whitney.

 the artwork presents a different way of thinking than western paintings.

 in her early images she only had two hands. it's interesting how she acquired four more!

 dinner this evening was corn tacos with kale (sliced very thin), black beans, scallions, and mashed avocado mixed with lime juice, sea salt, pepper and garlic.

i took this picture to put up on my ravelry account. i knitted these napkins with blue sky fibers worsted cotton in the colors pink parfait, dandelion and lemongrass.