a fall for dance concert

 chanda and i had tickets last night to the fall for dance festival at city center on 55th street. every two nights about four or five different dance companies perform during a two week celebration.

this evening we saw pam tanowitz dance, justin peck and patricia delgado, gemma bond dance, and the paul taylor company. paul taylor died just this past august, so there was a special feeling in the air for his dancers, encompassing enthusiasm, respect and sadness. his dancers are always incredibly strong and their ensemble work this evening brought the house down. they danced promethean fire and took everyone's breath away, receiving five curtain calls. my favorite piece this evening was the pas de deux performed by justin peck and patricia delgado, followed by pam tanowitz's piece and then gemma bond, whose work was whimsical and deep at the same time. these three pieces were commissioned for the festival and, thus, were world premiers. two other companies i wish i were seeing is dance theatre of harlem tomorrow and saturday night, and acosta danza, next friday and saturday. fortunately, dance theatre of harlem will be back in april, but carlos acosta's acosta danza . . i'm not sure when they will be back. they're from cuba. maybe i should check now to see if there are still tickets available . .

 heading home . .

world ballet day with chanda's ballet teacher

 i always enjoy watching the royal ballet's company class and rehearsals on world ballet day.

 

 this morning we saw marianela nuñez and thiago soares rehearse the kenneth macmillan ballet winter dreams . .

 the one act ballet is based on anton chekov's play the three sisters, and the music is by tchaikovsky.

 and chanda's ballet teacher, charla genn, was in hong kong to set the ballet giselle on the company. the hong kong ballet participated in world ballet day and filmed charla rehearsing the second act pas de deux with principal dancers jin yao and wei wei.

the old guard meets for tea

 carol, janet and i had tea this morning at la bergamot cafe, a place where we often met in the past to discuss the december craft fair, which wasn't mentioned once amongst everything else we talked about. janet still has a fifteen year old making the rounds of the homeschooling activities, but carol and i are out of the picture. janet is not even sure if there is a craft fair this year. she thinks they changed the order and topic of the monthly meetings as the events coordinator has not been in touch with her. i think they just have a new events coordinator who is clueless about getting in touch with past meeting organizers. ah well . . it's not my concern this year! in the photo above, carol is showing janet a special dress she found in a thrift store. since janet is a costume designer, she thought she might be able to use it for a show. she also brought with her today a bag full of elegant sweaters and a brass belt buckle . . i think several of the items were from her own closets.

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i put up a post about my visit in connecticut with my cousin maria on september 12th. you can see it here.

 good-bye september . .

hello october!

michaelmas

michaël, angel bright,

flaming sword is guidng,

sing a song of twinkling stars

as they sparkle in the night.

michaël, angel bright

flaming sword is guiding.

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story of the harvest loaf from all year round, by ann druitt . . (i have the full story here) . .

 

i gathered the ingredients for our harvest loaf this morning . .

and chanda kneaded it into a loaf before running off to her dance class and rehearsal.

earth who gave to us this food,

sun who made it ripe and good,

dearest earth and stars and sun,

joy and love for all you've done.

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and in honor of yarndale, here's a pic of me with my yarndale bag (from san!) from last december when we were on our way to the homeschooling craft fair:

poetry and hermione

spirit of freedom, thou dost love the sea

spirit of freedom, thou dost love the sea,

trackless and storm-tost ocean wild and free,

faint symbol of thine own eternity.

the seagulls wheel and soar and fearless roam,

the storm petrel dashes through the foam;

the mighty billows heave, the tempests roar,

the diapason thunders shake the shore

and chant the song of freedom evermore.

by henry nehemiah dodge, 1899

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our dear little cat hermione died on friday. greg and i took her to our vet to be put to sleep. she had a large cancerous growth that was slowly (or, really, rather quickly) consuming her body and we felt that she was suffering. of course that friday when we took her in, she was more alert and i worry that she wasn't ready to go. however, on thursday when we were trying to make the decision, korrina and chanda concurred that she seemed in pain and really wasn't doing well. there were times during the past week that we would come into chanda's room where she was lying and she would meow pitifully, and her eyes were tearing, and she had difficulty walking, though she still had a small appetite. it's very difficult making these decisions. i went through the same concerns with our bulldog jack when he died. i found this site online which was helpful (pet euthanisa vs. natural death), and somewhere in the article they wrote that no matter what you do, you will always wonder if it was the right thing.

i took this pic of her on september 4th. it was the last healthy looking photo that i took. i remember thinking that she was sitting so well (the growth was on her bottom and she often avoided sitting and would usually lie down) and that maybe she was getting better. i guess it was just a good day for her.

i'm  always amazed at how much i miss my pets.

autumn equinox

autumn

yellow the bracken,

golden the sheaves,

rosy the apples,

crimson the leaves;

mist on the hillside,

clouds grey and white.

autumn, good morning!

summer, good night!

(traditional)

ginger gold apples from larchmont orchards, elmer, new jersey; found in this thursday's fresh food box. these are the first apples we've had since may (we always enjoy taking an apple break when the strawberries and blueberries come into season, as we live on them all winter long).

this is also the first morning since . . probably june, that we've had grits as it has been much too hot all summer long.

saying good-bye

i met korrina in the rotunda at bellevue hospital to pick up our vegetable boxes together, and then we walked home to see hermione (she was off from work today).

a rainstorm and a movie day

 we had a heavy rainstorm today . . 

(if you stay with it long enough, you'll hear the thunder) . .

 chanda and i watched a documentary that i found in the library about baia, an ancient roman city in italy that is now underwater and which was a popular destination during the emporer nero's time. it's called nero's sunken city and you can currently watch it on pbs. i'm not sure how long they will keep it up for. what's funny was that just a few days after we watched it, an instagram user whom i follow, did a little film about it on her youtube page. she and her husband and friends, who live in positano, did a day trip to baia to snorkel over the ruins. you can see her little film about their excursion here.

chanda and i worked on our knitting projects while we watched. my project is titled "birds of a feather" and the pattern can be found in laine magazine, issue 2 (spring/summer 2017) (yarn is chelsea luxe merino and mohair), and chanda's project is a summer top from quince and co, titled "pippa," with quince and co's linen yarn.