finally at sturbridge!

morgana started at sturbridge today, and greg sent this picture of her helping out with games. i think they do hoop races, tug-of-war (they call it french and english), school yard games (jump rope, marbles and stilts), baseball and a hot air balloon . . oh! and fishing. i hear she caught a fish and had to put it back (before she left she had informed me that no one ever catches the fish).

summer solstice

it was a beautiful, warm, summer solstice day. in the apartment the dog was panting and the cats were lying with their bellies in the air. would they have liked to be outside? probably. but we live in new york city  . . in manhattan . . in a fourth floor apartment . . they cannot go outside. well, except on a leash. well, maybe without a leash if i was a master animal trainer! but, alas, i am no such creature . . 

i walked half a block to the river to get a picture of the sun setting. it was hazy and the red orb was hidden . . 

circle line chugged by . . i imagined many people on board sipping their cocktails in their air conditioning and staring out at new jersey and manahatta . . i could hear loud music playing . . 

 i thought the red buildings pretty against the green trees and green lampposts . .

not too many people were out. it was very hot! i suppose most sat sipping cocktails in air conditioning . . or running on exercise machines in sports clubs, or in their cars on their way out of town . . like my two daughters and my husband . . on their way to connecticut for swimming lessons and sturbridge village internships!

ahhh! but, like me, some people couldn't resist the lure of the water and the mesmerizing flow of traffic on west street!

i spent the evening with my first born . . making her sicilian stuffed artichoke hearts and a grass fed steak from whole foods . . 

with a juicy watermelon for dessert. happy solstice. happy summer.

home again . .

today we took a very expensive cab ride from my cousin's house to BWI airport/train station to catch the 9:48 am amtrak train to nyc. we arrived in penn station at 12:25 and took a cheap (as compared to that morning) cab ride home. the cab driver in annapolis had been from bensonhurst. our cab driver in the city was from ohio and had only lived in nyc for a year. he still missed ohio. 

we were home long enough to throw down our bags, walk the dog, and get the empty bags for a trip to the coop. by 3:30 we were in brooklyn. 

in the above pictures morgana and chanda are celebrating as morgana and i had just found white high socks for her to wear with her sturbridge costume. we found them in a store that has been around in brooklyn for at least 15 years called "lisa polansky." she sells a lot of interesting items like cotton stretch pants in funky prints, different blouses and jeans and boots and shoes. morgana's socks weren't so easy to find. we were very surprised she had them. tomorrow the two of them leave with greg for connecticut. chanda will swim in the lake and take a few swimming lessons, and morgana will begin her sturbridge village internship. greg will drive her from my sister's home in marlborough each day (about an hour and ten minutes each way).

celebrating ryan's graduation

in the late afternoon we went to see uncle bill and to celebrate ryan's graduation. chanda first ran around with ginger.

 it was a particularly beautiful evening!

 cheers!

 pouring the sparkling cider . . 

we had cheese and crackers first (havarti cheese with caraway seeds), and then steamed potatoes with butter and parsley, brussel sprouts with butter and garlic, a delicious local cauliflower from the amish market with melted butter, and grilled chicken. the chicken was also from the amish market and it was incredibly tender! morgana was the chief griller all week, and she became rather good at it!

this is one of the potholders the girls had made in past years . . 

 posing with ginger . .

for dessert we had (once again) coffee ice cream sandwiches and black and white cookies with fresh ground decaf coffee and cream.

the delectable ice cream sandwich with the delectable purple fingernails . . 

here are several of the girls' potholders on a tablecloth that aunt evie made.

it was our last dinner with uncle bill as we would be leaving in the morning. our week went by so fast.

everybody in the pool!

 it got very warm this afternoon . . 

 . . tucker ran around the pool and got way overheated . . 

 just watching the girls jump in wasn't enough. in fact, it was too much of a tease . . 

 today she had to join them . . the girls said she just "fell" in! hmmm . . ! 

 they said she was a very good swimmer, and seemed very happy to be cooled off.

graduation morning

i woke the girls at nine this morning to watch ryan graduate on the computer! it was streamed in from st. andrew's. it was very clear and very exciting to see him receive his hood and get tapped on the head by the vice chancellor of the university. she whispered "congratulations" to each one of them! the ceremonies are divided up by schools so each graduation can be held in the special room that has been used for 600 years.

 the proud and happy parents and graduate.

a piper celebrates the day.

monday in annapolis

we stayed around the house today, and took tucker for a walk to the neighborhood pier where we threw her ball for her over and over and . . . over again. we also saw uncle bill's boat tied up to the dock and tried to close the canvas on it a little better, since it was open.

 the girls also did their ballet exercises before jumping into the pool.

tucker gets very excited with the girls running around the pool . . sometimes i worried that she would jump in.

dinner was green beans from the amish market with niman ranch beef burgers from whole foods and little nugget potatoes with butter.

 tucker waited patiently for her treat, but we didn't give her any until she laid down quietly at our feet.

americana avenue

 my uncle has a beautiful view from his window. we loved sitting down to dinner and looking out. 

we got back from dc around 7:30 pm, and had leftover chicken, steak, chicken hot dogs and salad with him. 

 chanda made sure ginger had herself a good dinner and lots of treats!

 ginger is very good at begging and at giving her paw . . 

what was for dessert? coffee ice cream sandwiches with the chocolate wafer cookies morgana found at the amish market on saturday!

they were all the better for having sat for a day in the freezer! the wafer cookies had absorbed the ice cream and were softer to eat.