sick days, the last of the panettone and ice skating

when morgana and i came home yesterday from connecticut, we found a very sick greg. he's a little feverish and has a sore throat. i guess it's the flu. hermione keeps him company.

 i've been enjoying san's christmas coffee, but i'm sad to say that this is the last of the panettone.

 i savor every bite.

 walking back from getting the vegetables today, i stopped at lionbrand to pick out yarn for a temperature blanket. korrina started one and i thought it would be fun to join her. 

 this evening chanda and i walked along the river to meet friends at brookfield place to go ice skating.

 it was a beautiful sunset, 

 and the ice floes made me fee very cold.

we skated for over an hour with the lights from new jersey twinkling on the cold hudson river,

and then had dinner together at the food court upstairs. we ended with hot chocolate!

a visit with nana

 morgana and i were finally on the road at 10:30 am, getting to nana's at around 2:30.

 we bundled her up and took a walk with her around the back of the complex to the gazebo.

it felt so cold and wintery but she lasted outside for a long time. she said, "spring is coming."

the birds were chirping and flying from tree to tree. they must have called out to her that it would be warm soon.

 but for today we warmed up inside by the fire. it was good and hot and we sat quite close.

 these cabinets full of books and games remind me of aunt evie's and uncle bill's house in nassau shores on ripplewater avenue. uncle bill had made all the wood cabinets himself, and there were always interesting games and puzzles to be found.

 looking at magazines and talking about europe . . 

 sharing pictures of herself in victoria's apartment in paris.

 i brought leftover butternut squash soup, baguette, gjetost cheese,

 and lilac mints that we had with strawberry tea manu had sent from austria.

we watched it get dark outside.

 back at my sister's house it still felt christmasy and festive.

she had a delicious homemade chicken soup that we shared.

too busy?

 we've had brief moments of reading tennis shoes . . 

 having breakfast together . .

doing tons of laundry . . and now heading out to connecticut to see nana with morgana, who is impatient to get on the road.

the sunday after epiphany

 today is the last day that we can drop the tree off at washington square park to be mulched . .

so i took several last pics of it before taking all the ornaments off and packing them away for another year.

 i woke this morning craving an "italian" breakfast. for me that means good espresso with a lemon peel, and a hard roll. when i traveled through europe in my early twenties, the italian pensiones that i stayed at always left a hard dry roll for the guests to eat in the morning, often accompanied by choice of espresso or hot chocolate. looking back on it now, i sometimes wonder if that is what they really enjoyed in the morning, or only what amused them to leave for the american guests who wouldn't know any better.

 chanda chose to have a soft boiled egg and oatcakes . . 

 the coffee i used is the christmas blend sent by san and family . .

 a fairy ornament received by one of the girls on a long ago christmas . . 

 my wooden pig ornament received by me on a very long ago christmas, and which once fell off the tree into melting snow on our lawn when the tree was put out to perish somewhere . . my mom found it squashed into the mud by our backyard gate one afternoon a week or so later.

 my favorite frog ballerina . . 

 the tree was so fat that it popped needles as we squeezed it through all the doors and down the stairwell . . sweeping up four floors afterwards is always a challenge.

 this little hot dog doggy peed on our tree!

the tree mulching machine was not even in the park! it was one of the first years that i couldn't see the tree go through and turn into wood chips. i'm always very suspicious of things in my hometown . . there's lots of shady deals going on all the time (no, i do not trust our mayor), so i wonder if any of these trees were even mulched. i just have to hope . .

 the park certainly looked pretty dressed in white . . 

 notice the guy on the left feeding the pigeons?

the silver gate is part of ai weiwei's good fences make good neighbors public art work. i like the article on it in the architect's newspaper which you can read here.

twelfth night

three kings, as helpers called, are at your side,

who point the upward path to worlds so wide,

and guide you inward to the depths of soul.

yet know that though still distant were the goal,

the earth itself is slowly growing light,

and shall become a new star burning bright.

from three kings, by albert steffen

twelfth night party

 it was a little stressful coming home from the mandala craft day to an apartment that was hosting a twelfth night party in only . . an hour!

 somehow morgana managed to pull it together, and i helped a little in the kitchen while everyone arrived.

 morgana made a rice pudding (which was done before we left for the mandala project) and two beverage concoctions (done just in the nick of time!). as you can see, everyone contributed delicious dishes!

unfortnately, i have no idea what most of this is. greg and i hid in the backroom. i meant to watch a movie and knit, but i ended up falling asleep.

 well, this looks like quiche, a stuffed mushroom, and a cracker with a special cream cheese spread.

 it was a 1920's theme party. i didn't realize that she had suggested this (or maybe i just forgot--i seem to vaguely remember her making a reference to "masks"), and was very surprised to find so many masked masqueraders. 

everyone looked fabulous and morgana, chanda and amelia did a great job at cleaning up (i only had to do a little bit . . ).