visiting toby . .

 greg and i were up early thursday morning to drive to connecticut for a visit with toby the cat while my sister is away in norway with her family. they're visiting my brother-in-law's cousins with their sons: a family vacation planned for many years and finally implemented.

 it felt so good to swim in the lake . . the water was so warm that it wasn't a problem getting in, though i couldn't talk greg into it which i found a little frustrating. i think swimming is such a healthy activity.

 dear toby . . 

 i finally finished my "husk" cowl from quince and co (pattern by isabel kraemer) . . now i need to block it and sew it up.

 we tried to use the outdoor grill, but the starter button wasn't working properly so we settled for broiling the frankfurters in the oven.

thursday was a very, very hot day, but friday was much cooler with a nice breeze. it would have been a nice day to take the canoe out on the lake, but greg requested to visit an historic house, so i suggested hill-stead museum, home of theodate pope riddle, which i had visited a few years ago with my sister and morgana and chanda - that post is here.

greg is reading about theodate's life from a recently published biography bought at the museum's gift shop. she grew up in cleveland, ohio (her father was a successful industrialist) and moved with her parents to farmington when a young girl. there she attended a finishing school (miss porter's - now a private college preparatory school) before traveling abroad with her parents and helping her father collect paintings by monet, degas and mary cassatt which are all displayed in the house. her parents would have liked her to marry, but she chose to stay single and to study architecture, eventually designing hill-stead house which became their family home. two other notable buildings she designed were the teddy roosevelt birthplace in nyc, and the avon old farms school in avon, ct - another private school still in operation and which was built using traditional english methods with much of the material coming from the school's property (read about avon old farms school here). another interesting bit of information about theodate's life was that she survived the sinking of the lusitania . . also, she was one of the first women licensed architects in the states.

 we took a hot hike along the bittersweet trail . . 

and were chased along by a few mosquitoes (none of which bothered me and all of which bothered greg) . . 

 until finding refuge at a cafe in town for lunch (passing the original house theodate lived in for many years, which is still standing, but privately owned).

 still reading . .

 back home again with toby . . 

the birds are continuously singing in my sister's yard. i wonder if i will ever be able to identify them all.

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 saturday morning found toby back on her hassock perch after breakfast and a walk around the house.

 flowers from my sister's garden: orange day lilies which are always in bloom for my birthday. i remember them surrounding the house in which i grew up . . and i remember walking about the house on many birthdays and admiring them.

brunch at guida's in middletown - on the way home . . 

guida's is one of greg and korrina's favorite places . .

my tuna salad and my diner knitting . . and . .

 my car knitting (damsel shawl by josée paquin - from quince and co's summer quarterly box)  . . this morning i was up early to wash the inside of the car, after which greg took it to the car wash where he also vacuumed it out . . i think he vacuumed out a good five years of detritus.

 it looks so good now! 

 it feels so great to have a clean car!

 a stormy looking sky . . we had a little bit of rain along the way . . 

back home again . .

door knobs and kitty cats

my guy is such a guy and my cat is such a dog . . greg did a great job at attempting to fix our door knob and lock today, and pluto did a great job at keeping watch by the door. since he can't jump up on furniture and book shelves like most cats, he is always lying by the door (very much like a dog) and doesn't move as the door pushes into him when opening. we constantly worry that he'll get paws or his tail caught, which actually happened once when greg pushed too quickly. he's a kitty cat door stop. morgana suggested we make a sign for the outside of the door warning that a cat is on the other side and to open slowly . . maybe i can do so this weekend. (in the photo above since the apartment door is open, the little monster was forced to move to the outer door in the foyer that leads to the stairwell in order to be near a closed door . . or in order to guard the castle properly i suppose.)

at the cloisters with lucia and tsameret

 our friends have been visiting from ann arbor, michigan. they are on their way to athens for an isadora duncan dance workshop and fly out of jfk this evening. they arrived early tuesday morning (after traveling all night on the bus from ann arbor!) and have been enjoying visiting old haunts and old friends as they lived in the east village up until about six years ago. korrina, morgana and chanda have babysat for them at various times in the past . . when all the girls were younger . . and chanda, greg and i visited them in pittsburgh (before their move to michigan) when on our way to san francisco in 2017 (you can see that post here).

 we always like to bring our sandwiches and then have tea and pound cake . . however we had to settle on chocolate chip cookies today as they no longer stock pound cake . . i might have to begin bringing that too, now, and just get the tea.

 we had egg salad sandwiches on black bread and sprouted onion/dill bagels. the little sparrows were very busy begging for crumbs.

 a plant in the medieval herb garden . . 

 st. jerome in his study, crafted in brussels in 1520.

lucia really enjoyed this visit and i'm glad i made sure we got there.

saying good-bye to morgana . . their plane took off at 11 pm this evening. they have a long flight ahead of them, with a transfer in london.

a magical night: morgana's play

beth, or william shakespeare's macbeth, adapted and arranged by morgana, (who also goes by morgan and the pronoun "they" - i will be taking turns with both names and pronouns in all future blog posts) opened this evening on a very rainy day. the day was so grey and rainy that barbek (morgan's lead actor) suggested morgan pick up several umbrellas in case the skies opened up during the performance. the wet trees and damp air made for a perfectly wonderful and dismal setting for macbeth. (for this production morgan rearranged several scenes, included scenes that are often omitted, and omitted scenes that are always included, and also wrote a monologue for lady macbeth at the end.)

these are the only photos and movies i have of the production, and they are so poor that i'm not sure you can get a good sense of the cohesive energy and ensemble work of the actors. morgan did a wonderful job bringing everyone together, and i thought the casting choices were innovative and impeccable. i think the age range of the show went from eight years to forty five years. it was fun having our young friends in it.

i filmed this section at the very end, when the skies finally opened and a fine drizzle grew into a steady rain. everyone watching opened their umbrellas and the patter of the drops blended in with the gentle pounding of the drums and the last words of the actors. as our friend steven said, it was a magical night and the best performance of macbeth he had ever seen.

brava, morgan - director, scene designer, lighting designer, props master, writer, stage manager and . . actor! (on the last minute morgan had to step in as lady macduff).

 pics from wednesday's final rehearsal (waiting for the moms to pick up the younger actors) with (from left to right) lucia, hudson, anika, charlotte, morgan and jenny, morgan's girlfriend. it was so nice that jenny could be here for the rehearsals before returning to london. she was in the states for a maths conference in ann arbor, michigan, and visited with us for almost two weeks.

 i think they were discussing aspects of the rehearsal in the courtyard . . 

while having a little bit of ice cream i found in the freezer.

the assistant director and dance instructor/choreographer, amelia.

thirty three years together

arriving at river park on 29th street and fdr drive . .

for an anniversary meal hosted, cooked and plated by our dear korrina. we were so well taken care of  - everyone there made sure we didn't want for anything. it was a very special night.

braised carrot that korrina had picked from the garden just a little before we arrived, and graced by a sweet violet.

 octopus with blue cornflowers, heirloom beans, ramps and spring onions.

spring greens: heirloom radish, sugar snap peas and asparagus.

sweetbreads with artichoke, dandelion greens and cipollini.

roasted scallops with green chickpeas, rhubarb, radishes, sheep sorrel and yogurt.

dessert! three kinds: gelato (chocolate and peach) with biscotti, strawberry rhubarb cobbler with vanilla ice cream, and a chocolate volcano . . (did i get that right?)

what an amazing evening and delicious meal. thank you so much korrina. we're in awe of your accomplishments, and proud of all the hard work you've put in to create such delicious meals and to be the wonderful chef that you are.

poem for a sunday morning

by the sea

why does the sea moan evermore?

shut out from heaven it makes its moan,

it frets against the boundary shore;

all earth's full rivers cannot fill

the sea, that drinking thirsteth still.

sheer miracles of lovelinness

lie hid on its unlooked-on bed;

anemones, salt, passionless,

blow flower-like -- just enough alive

to blow and multiply and thrive.

shells quaint with curve or spot or spike

encrusted live things argus-eyed,

all fair alike yet all unlike,

are born without a pang, and die

without a pang, and so pass by.

christina rosetti (1830 - 1894)

poem for a sunday morning

what are heavy? sea-sand and sorrow,

what are brief? today and tomorrow,

what are frail? spring blossoms and youth,

what are deep? the ocean and truth.

christina rossetti, sing song, 1872

blogging again?

 or . . coming back from hiatus . . or . . finally finding a footing in the midst of intense transitions . . or . . i just miss my mom so much that it hurts to live my life without her on earth? i was fortunate to have her around for so long. her mother died when she was twenty one. she would talk about that often . . about how her mother suddenly had a stroke in her sleep while they were traveling in california and she had to fly back to new york with her body on the plane somewhere in the baggage compartment. i could always sense the pain in that repeated statement. i would love to have met her mother, my german grandmother. i would love to have asked her questions about growing up on a farm in northern germany, about wearing wooden shoes and living with the cows and eating out of a communal pot set in the middle of the dining table.  i knew my father's mother, my italian grandmother, but of course there are so many questions that i would have liked to have asked her now that i'm so grown and curious. i didn't think to ask them when i was fifteen, and so i don't think i really knew her at all. she didn't speak english, and i didn't speak sicilian, or italian . . and then she died. the time we have to understand our older loved ones is too short! we are so busy growing up, and then maybe having children or working very intense and important jobs, and then death comes, and we lose our chance to know the physical person. perhaps that's why we place such importance on life beyond earth. we hope for a second chance to love and truly know and appreciate the people we knew on earth. perhaps. however, we can't live our lives thinking we have second chances, because earth and the living beings presently on it are too important and precious. earth is paradisal, and the people are special. we have to love and take care of each other now. 

alright, so much for the philosophical musings. it's springtime in new york city, and everywhere there are daffodils, pansies, tulips, magnolia blossoms, snow drops and crocuses. i hear the mockingbird singing for a mate at night, and the white-throated sparrow singing to the sun in the morning. my audubon app helps me to identify the bird calls. it's so amazing! i never see the birds, i just hear them every day and it's wonderful to go on this app and search for the birds that others are identifying in the neighborhood, and then listen to the bird calls to match up with what i'm hearing. we have cardinals, blue jays, black capped chickadees, sparrows, starlings, white-throated sparrows, and mockingbirds. oh, of course we have pigeons! oh! and mourning doves. the doves are very sweet and sit and coo on the fire escape windowsill until madeline comes along and scares them away. of course, the blue jays are the most precocious and boisterous.