summer solstice

morgana, chanda and i were up early to welcome the solstice and go on a bike ride. (the above tree is the burr oak near 11th street along the river).

it was a very warm day and we made cream cheese bagel sandwiches and rode to the newly finished pier just north of penny park.

i took this picture because of the seagull eating his catch of the day!

chanda couldn't resist getting all wet . . it was incredibly warm . . though m and i were ready to go . .

at home, after lunch, we read about eratosthenes and how the solstice sun helped him calculate the earth's circumference.

we experience this along our streets also. some people call it manhattanhenge. we experience this in the village much earlier in spring.

in the evening we went up on janet's roof to tie-dye t-shirts that were leftover from morgana's birthday party.

janet is trying to get all the color into the center . .

i had ordered a new color from dharma trading, called orchid.

up on the roof . . it wasn't too hot, and it was wonderfully devoid of mosquitoes.

janet's garden looks beautiful, and her compost pile is growing the most gorgeous squash plants! maybe now we just need some chickens??

we ended the evening with a picnic by the river, and the children played tag on the pier until it was time for morgana, chanda and i to feed the animals and walk the dog. korrina stayed with her jedi group in washington square park until 11. happy solstice!

monday monday . .

i was up early to buy herbs and flowers at the green market at union square. we planted impatiens and lobelia in our site six children's garden by our laundry. then we walked to site one at morton street and planted lettuce seeds, basil, thyme, oregano and rosemary.

lettuce seeds . .

i do appreciate a good nozzle and watering hose. the watering can we bought for our courtyard (with a nice spraying spout) has disappeared. we borrowed a neighbor's, but it didn't have the spray spout. we have to see about getting something else now.






we returned books to the library after planting, and then walked home past deychen's apartment building. summer always feels a bit strange knowing that our friends aren't home, but up in vermont.

greg leaves for atlanta again tomorrow afternoon, to finish his work project there. it was nice to all be together at dinner this evening, though it was late because greg and i finished cleaning korrina's bedroom window. we had had to wait for it to be fixed this morning.

buon appetito.

father's day

after finishing left-over cleaning from yesterday, we went to the water park to cool off. there were lots of little children running around. the girls looked . . big!



i haven't been buying a lot of groceries since our refrigerator is on it's last legs. it no longer stays very cold. i always feel like we're scrounging for food. luckily, the green market yesterday had good cucumbers and bread and strawberries. and dagostino's has had delicious organic cantalope on sale.

we walked over to site one, (sometimes known among west village houses site six residents as the death star), and helped take down the old bamboo arch, and put up a metal trellis. we discussed ideas for planting . . herbs and marigolds and lettuce . . and made plans to visit the green market for plants.

spring cleaning

we cleaned windows today. this is always quite a project. we missed doing it last spring . . so the front ones were rather dirty from all the diesel soot. however, the back windows experienced a hard lashing rain a month or so ago, and they really weren't too bad.

chanda was in her glory, because she got to stand out on the fire escape!

it's easy and fun cleaning the fire escape window . .

all the screens come out and go in the tub for a thorough rinsing . . one year we lost our screen . . not while window cleaning . . i forget how it fell out? maybe one of the cats somehow knocked it out while we were away?

vacuuming can be a serious job . . especially when you have three cats and a dog who are all shedding their winter coats.

being the youngest and the smallest, chanda gets all her sisters' hand-me-downs and her friends' hand-me-downs. she has quite a collection of clothes. here she is trying to decide what to keep and what to give away. ay yi yi!!

we were actually up early this morning as she had her sinfonia orchestra audition at 9:30 am (repertory and orchestra rehearsals have stopped for the summer). we began walking over at 8:50 am. it was very quiet, but you could feel the heat of the sun. it was a warm day.

morgana was very ambitious and cleaned out her and chanda's closet and arranged their clothes and costumes. she also put her dresser back together. the drawers had been sitting in the living room because they had all fallen off their tracks. i don't know how she got it together. thank goodness she is so clever and handy.

ahhhh! clean windows and clean screens!

our spur of the moment lunch snack . . mochi, cucumber, and shredded daikon (with braggs and without braggs . . )

knitting for a news show

we visited the lionbrand store today . .

patty at lionbrand yarns asked morgana if she knew several teenagers who could meet to shoot an interview with teen kids news. (patty thought to ask morgana from the meet me at the corner episode that was shot at lionbrand two years ago).

korrina, deychen, amelia and chanda came along.

amelia is in korrina's wednesday knitting class and is working on a beautiful pair of red spiral leg warmers. morgana is working on a DROPS design sweater with yarn her friend yves gave her from the dutchess county sheep and wool festival. i'm not sure what deychen is working on! chanda picked up a skein of lionbrand cotton and began knitting a napkin.

korrina is finishing up a winter headband in lionbrand cashmere for her dance teacher.

deychen talked about how knitting can be good therapy.

korrina volunteered to teach the young interviewer how to knit. she also answered a few questions about when she learned to knit, and why she likes to knit.

korrina modeling her beautiful ishbel.