autumnal equinox

it's golden in the treetops
it's golden in the sky,
it's golden, golden, golden,
september passing by.

ice cream cones and corn chowder and knitting squares

we took our knitting squares to robyn love's husband's office today. they're late so i'm not sure how many she can use for her project, but they're out of the house and into the world, and that's a good thing.

i wanted to write "listen to their hearts" but it took me ages to just write the first word, so "listen" is all that was done . . m and c were a lot quicker than i about embroidering the messages, but they also liked keeping it short and simple. (you can read about robyn's project here and here.)

why, you may ask, is there a photograph of ice cream cones on the autumnal equinox? because it was 80 degrees today, that's why! i thought we deserved the cones for putting up with the heat on such a fall day. we ordered them at ronnybrook in chelsea market. we were able to get two scoops and we all chose coffee, but morgana had chocolate hazelnut for her second choice, i had chocolate, and chanda had vanilla.

in honor of the first day of autumn, and because it had a summer-like warmth to it, we had corn chowder (from deborah madison's vegetable soup cook book) and an arugula lettuce salad for dinner.

before going to sleep, we said good night to the harvest moon.

autumn winds do blow

gnome king
----
good friends you have more work to do,
for yonder on the earth i know
summer is fading and the winds do blow.
your next task is with seeds so small,
to see them safely in this hall,
away from jack frost who would do them harm.
my queen and i await them.

- s. jarman

we were all together for dinner tonight, so morgana read a poem while the wind blew wildly outside and the rain came down. autumn is here, even if it is in the 80's for the next few days.

astronomy on the high line

we had such a fun evening. we went up to the high line with our telescopes to join the amateur astronomy club. jupiter was visible tonight, with four of it's moons, and our moon was full! the sky was wonderfully clear and the moon shone like a luminous pearl, especially when viewed through the telescopes, ours and the much more powerful ones of the club. (interesting tidbits: jupiter has 63 known moons! the largest four that we saw tonight are io, europa, ganymede and callisto. these moons are known as the galilean moons, as they were first observed by galileo galilei in 1610 . . i cannot tell you how exciting it is for me to think of him bending over his telescope and recording all his observations 400 years ago!

afterwards, janet, katie, camille and i sat at a table and listened to musicians from the new school perform john coltrane's jupiter. the others ran around and played tag and one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish (they played this at morgana's birthday party also). well, i didn't exactly sit. i became obsessed with yves' new ipod! i took the above movie, but thought i was taking a photograph! yves took the above first photo of morgana, lucien, and camille stargazing through their telescopes. it's a beautiful picture, isn't it? you can just see the moon off to the right side . .

another monday

we rode along the bike path today to the boardwalk section . . it's one of my favorite areas . . because of the way the boards sound underneath my feet . . and because of the way the grasses grow along the side and blow in the breeze. the boards and the grasses kind of muffle the whoosh of the traffic and make the area feel a little more peaceful. we came home and made breakfast, did laundry, worked on patrelle audition combinations, instruments, and book reports. then we went out to ellen's dance class (chanda's) and m and i went to magnolia bakery for a tea and to make up a work schedule. we were supposed to go to the coop tomorrow morning, but i remembered that i have an eye appointment at noon. we could make it back in time from shopping, but i don't think i would successfully find a parking spot. so now we're thinking of going wednesday morning, but i need to move the car now, since it's not good for tuesday! well, i need to be up early with korrina in the am . . she has work. i'll have to figure it out.

60th anniversary breakfast

here we are outside the griswold inn, essex, connecticut, before going in to have their hunt breakfast (omelettes, waffles, muffins, and buffet . . !) it was nice for all of us to be together.

my dad did a great job at cutting the cake, and we even shared it with the waitresses who were anxious to try it (we get plenty of stop and shop cakes, they said, but never anything like this). afterwards, we took the scenic route back to my sister's and rode the chester-hadlyme ferry. my camera died, so all those pictures are on my dad's camera. we ended up getting back to the city later than i thought we would . . but it was nice to just take our time today.

. . with the grandchildren . .

60th anniversary party

my sister put together a cd of dance music. it was a lot of fun! i forgot how i like to do the "electric slide!" she started the cd off with "someone to watch over me" over which my mom teared up when she heard it. "al," she said, "this is our song." i never knew they had a song! it was wonderful to see them dance together again . . it's how they met . . at a dance club somewhere. then my dad asked her to a bluejacket formal. he arrived for their first date in full regalia "oooohhhh," my aunt said after she had answered the door and had run back to my mom getting ready in the bedroom, "doris, you have to see how he's dressed!" of course i know my mom looked rather sensational also. i have a picture somewhere of the long gown she wore. they really knew how to have fun in those days! . . i also remember the two of them dancing on warm summer nights at jones beach on the outdoor dance floor there, with a full swing band. i was very little then! i remember my dad trying to teach me how to do the lindy, and the two of them demonstrating it for me . . they were fun times for all of us.

nana and nonno's 60th wedding anniversary

c and i walked to la bergamote cafe this morning to pick up a special anniversary cake for nana and nonno. we're taking it up to my sister's in connecticut today to celebrate with everyone. tomorrow morning we'll go to the griswold inn for their hunt breakfast.