veggie sushi, chocolate mousse and board games

 we had our friends over for dinner this evening . . 

 morgana prepared a delicious dinner of veggie sushi: nori, cucumber, carrots, scallions, rice and a special tamari sauce. she even made miso soup to start with.

 charlotte brought chocolate mousse that she had made herself. it was so wonderfully good.

 i loved that it had raspberries . . 

they played several games . . this was a cooperative game called "the adventures of harley."

and this is from the german toy company, haba, "catch me."

last veggie box day

 today was the last veggie box day for korrina and i at bellevue hospital. unfortunately, the hospital has decided to no longer fund the the fresh food farm to table event that they've held for about five years now. korrina and i will still meet for lunch when we can, but we'll miss our fifteen dollar bag of fresh vegetables each week. it was also a good impetus to get us out together.

 today we worked on our rhinebeck sweaters, which is only a week away (not this weekend, but the next). we're very excited as we're going up on friday for a special indie yarn dyers event, then we'll attend the dutchess county sheep and wool festival on saturday, and then we hope to visit eleanor roosevelt's home, valkill, on sunday. hopefully, it won't be too crowded (with all the fall foliage sightseers).

the following pics are from my walk home:

 the met life building, whose tower was based on venice's st. mark's campanile.

 broadway and 25th (or 26th) street . . 

sixth avenue with the freedom tower in the distance . . (it was a very dark day!)

 flowers on west 11th street . . 

and a rainy courtyard by the laundry room . . 

a book reading in chelsea

 after dinner this evening, around 6:30 pm, greg and i walked along the high line to 20th street and then up tenth avenue to 192 books, a bookstore in chelsea that neither of us had ever been to before.

 he had read on an events page online, that author and editor mary ann caws would partake in a conversation with met art curator stephanie d'alessandro about her new book, the milk bowl of feathers.

 greg is familiar with her work through her translations and writings of proust and mallarmé and other surrealist writers (you can see a list of her publications here).. she's a "distinguished professor of english, french and comparative literature and emerita and resident professor at the graduate school of the city university of new york." 

though she's eighty-five years old and had just returned from giving a talk in rome (where she said that she had fallen), she had an inspiring and happy energy that lit up the bookstore and affected everyone listening. when asked how she chose the pieces that were included in the book, she said that she simply picked the ones that she loved and that weren't boring. i would love to have heard what criteria comprised the most loved writings, but she didn't elaborate. she's presently working on a book titled creative gatherings: meeting places of modernism, due out next fall. she had so much positive energy! she also had a strong gaze and took the time to connect with each one of us who spoke with her and requested a signed book.

 coming back home along the high line we passed the astronomer's club. their telescopes were trained on mars and saturn, but the cloud cover was too thick for viewing. they set up every tuesday evening so maybe i can remember to visit next week.

ms caw's book . .

monday afternoon at the cloisters

 we drove up to the cloisters in fort tryon park this afternoon and were surprised to find a crowd of people visiting today, since it's a holiday. thankfully, we were able to find a parking spot and didn't have to wait too long on the entrance line.

 cuxa cloister, from the benedictine monastery of saint-michel-de-cuxa, near perpignan, france, which is on the mediterranean near the spanish border.

 

 observing foreign coins in the fountain . .

from places such as mexico, argentina and saudi arabia . . and she threw one in from england . .

 the cloister was constructed between 1130 and 1146.

 

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below are photos from a met exhibit titled heavenly bodies--fashion and the catholic imagination, which has been ongoing since may. today was its last day, and i think that added to the current crowds that we saw.

 many of the dresses were incredibly beautiful and i could have taken many more pics, but i put my camera away and limited myself to the few that you see here. the dress above is by maria grazia chiuri and pierpaolo piccioli for valentino and was influenced by german painter lucas cranach the elder's depiction of the garden of eden in adam and eve, 1526.

 a dress with a print inspired by hieronymous bosch's triptych the garden of earthly delights, 1490 to 1500, a garden with fantastical plants and animals  . .

 i'm sorry i neglected to photograph the shoes, as they featured the same print as the dress and were just as fantasical looking. the arm bands and the shoulder straps and the bodice's trim are all done in leather.

 this is another valentino evening dress inspired by van gogh's wheat fields, symbolizing humanity's cycles of life.

 the bodice is decorated ears of wheat, made with hand painted gold fabric and coq feathers.

 gold silk tulle . .
 

 i thought it was an incredibly beautiful gown.

we then visited the medieval herb garden . . on the right is a pomegranate tree . . 

 

finally . . lunch in the cafe . . 

 we brought our sandwiches (roast beef on black bread with butter) and bought tea and shared a brownie dessert. we usually have pound cake, but they were sold out of the marble cakes they usually have.

over lunch we talked about how we really missed this janet cardiff exhibit  . . we thought it would have been a nice compliment to the fashion exhibit. we really think it would have been nice as a permanent exhibit.

today . .  was such a dark day . .

inability to see the big picture

 i began working on this shawl at the beginning of the summer because i liked the yarn, and because i was intrigued by the finishing. you knit to the last five stitches, cut the yarn and pull it through the last stitch just worked to finish off, and then unravel the last four all the way back to the beginning, forming loops as it goes. 

the loops are formed by a knit two stitches together every fifth stitch in each right side row (a make one stitch when increasing at the beginning). this allows the four stitches that form the border to loop out as fringe. what i didn't anticipate--what i wasn't able to picture--was that each row would have to be knotted off to form the fringe. i have many, many knots to tie!!!!

home again

 greg and i picked  morgana up at the airport today. she came in at 1:30 pm on a grey day.

 her certificates from passing her ski test and her B1 french exam.

 two of the plays she saw while in london . .

reorganizing the chaos that chanda had created of the clothes in her drawers. she also put aside a bag for the salvation army.