roman history and potholders and an eataly break

chanda worked on her drawing of the founding of rome . .

after researching and sketching roman gates, she finally settled on copying the drawing from the live ed book. i like her cypress trees.

we discussed the sabine women and numa pompilius, rome's second king.

and then finally she could go listen to brain jacques and make more potholders. she's sitting on the couch that has replaced the table in their room between the bunkbed and the window.

there are roses in bloom in the courtyard . . 

we ran errands to the library and to garber's hardware (looking for a particular hinge for the hideaway ironing board). then we had a treat at eataly . .

and read, in science in ancient rome (by jacqueline harris), how the romans brought a sundial back from sicily, but never realized they needed to change the angle of the pointer in order for it to give the correct time.

the book also writes about the cloaca maxima . . one of the world's first sewer systems that is still in use today . . 

a motif depicting a midwife assisting a woman in childbirth. the book mentions that a physician, soranus, studied childbirth and wrote a book advising women about delivering babies and caring for them after birth. the book was titled diseases of women. hmmm. i'm not sure everyone appreciated that . .

having a decaf at the espresso bar . .

i noticed on the way home that the linden flowers have lost their scent . .

chanda is waiting for me . . she's sitting on the lamp we bought on sale at home depot . . she carried it all the way home.

a stay at home day . .

 jack had a bad night. his lyme disease came back and he couldn't settle down. his temperature went up to 103.5 and he groaned half the night. this morning i spoke with our vet and she put him on doxycycline. this is a specific medicine for lyme, so i'm hoping it goes away for good. chanda had to help me give him his pill as he didn't want to sit up.

 i wanted to start a main lesson with chanda this morning, but she started the day putting together her roller drawer that we got from ikea for her winter clothes.

 after setting up the drawer, she went through all her clothes and separated spring/summer from fall/winter. then she listened to the martin the warrior tape she had checked out of the library on library day, and made a few potholders.

 she usually only likes the audiotapes when they are simply read . . not a bunch of different actors or sound effects. however, brian jacques reads his books himself with a host of actors. she says she doesn't mind so much as he must have known how he wanted it done.

 finally, a roman history main lesson . . 

 just a short paragraph about romulus and remus. we actually passed this in the dorothy mills book, but she hasn't put together the requested synopsis, so i'm just going for short and sweet narratives from live education at this point.

it was another warm day. we had deviled eggs and romaine lettuce with caesar salad dressing. we were able to eat with morgana and greg before chanda ran off to usher for the play korrina is stage managing. then greg and i ran off to see the play. it was the rimers of eldritch, by lanford wilson, not exactly a light comedy! i thought the actors and director did a great job. it was performed by the hb ensemble group.

at the water park

 it's been very hot at night, and i haven't been sleeping well. jack hasn't been sleeping well either. this morning the door buzzer went off at 8:30 am. i told whoever was on the other end that they probably wanted the upstairs family instead . . but then chanda came out of her room and yelled that it was tsamaret and moriah. i forgot completely that we were babysitting them today.

 we went to the water park where there isn't much shade.

 they ran through the sprinkler, but i went and sat down and made necessary phone calls to my mom and my sister . . my sister and i were glad to hear that my nephew is visiting them wednesday to thursday. it gives them something to look forward to and energy to pick up around the house (my dad is still feeling after affects from his radiation/chemo treatments). my nephew is bringing a friend of his and her huge dog (a labrador and great dane mix)! they'll like that. my mom loves dogs.

after an hour we were all ready to return to the apartment for a light lunch and a board game . . and then a movie (disney's robin hood).
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in the afternoon at 4:30, ellen stopped by and we took the box of masks for rainforest back to ralph lee's apartment across the way in westbeth. i was able to meet ralph's daugther deborah, who studied with ellen from five years old 'til she went to college at eighteen. she's a lovely young woman and is now creative director for the nonprofit literacy program litWorld.

linden trees, sketching and summer clothes

i've been walking around outside sniffing the air, wondering where the beautiful aroma was coming from. it finally dawned on me that the linden trees are in bloom.

everywhere in the village, it smells sweet and summery.

morgana began the limon dance intensive this morning, and korrina ran off to her restaurant job at wallsé (she's doing pastry prep work in the kitchen). the days are getting quite hot now, and since we don't have an air conditioner (yet?), chanda and i have been taking it easy. 

chanda did a still-life sketch today. i picked up the book drawing with children, by mona brookes, hoping it would help us become "better artists." however, i think to become better we just need to keep sketching. maybe some of the life drawing exercises will feel helpful . . so far the ideas just haven't captivated me.

chanda went shopping at the gap store on fifth avenue with her friend deychen (with her own money). she called me to say that if i brought my gap card over, she could get 40% off. well, after walking all the way over there, we found out that 40% off was only for "select" styles. of course she had not selected any of those particular styles (there's so much to learn about the insidiousness of advertising). she did get these pants, however, as they were half price just on their own without a gap card.

in the evening we walked by the latest ralph lee puppet exhibit at westbeth. the figures looked very rich and heavy and tropical to me.

strawberry perigee moon, take ii

 the farmers' almanac writes that the june full moon was known as the strawberry moon for the algonquin tribes of the northeast. in europe it was known as the rose moon.

sunday . . day and evening

 a verse for sunday morning:

song of creation

from the rig veda

nasad asin, na sad asit tadanim:

nasid rajo no vioma paro yat.

kim avarivah? kuha? kasya sarmann?

amba kim asid, gahanam gabithram?

there was not non-existent nor existent:

there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it.

what covered in and where? and what gave shelter?

was water there, unfathomed depth of water?

 

we drove to red hook this morning, to visit ikea . . 

 the cafeteria there has a marvelous view of nyc harbor and the statue of liberty . . 

 we enjoyed some eggs and coffee, tea and cinnamon buns.

 one can get lost in ikea . .

  we picked up a small computer table and desk/dining room chair (morgana's was falling apart), a mattress and pillows from which chanda and morgana will make a "couch," and two under the bed drawer units to store off season clothes. thankfully, everything fit in the trunk and we didn't have to call janet for her van (like last summer)!

 when we came home, morgana and chanda prepared for a picnic in central park with their friends. they made gluten free pasta salad and brownies.

and greg sat down to put it all together . .

while jack kept an eye on things . .

 greg and i took a walk to home depot to look at air conditioner units . . we just looked . . today . . 

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afterwards, we stopped at eataly for sorbetto/gelato and an espresso. greg had never been before . . !

 he was sufficiently amazed . . in the pic above he is perusing all the different olive oils and jarred olives . . 

 they even have a small bookstore . . 

 in the evening we visited the high line again.

 i didn't want to miss another view of the perigee moon . .

perigee moon

 the perigee moon viewed over 14th street on the high line . . 

cleaning windows, dinner with clyde, and a high line visit

once a year we clean the windows. it's always a big project. come autumn, i'll want to clean them again, but i won't . . because . . it's such a big project!!! but then, of course, there are only four . . thank goodness.

morgana and chanda decided to sort through their books and papers. morgana has been wanting to get rid of the table in the corner, and set up a book reading "couch" in it's place.

i think they're listening to the movie music from the lord of the rings. i think this is the "mordor" theme.

i thought the music in this room was a bit more pleasant.

greg is replacing the screen after i washed it in the tub. we have four windows to do. the screens and bottom windows get taken out.

sorting audio tapes and . . tchotchkes . . 

trying to learn the different themes of the lord of the rings movie theme music . .

clyde is back in town. since we were washing windows today, we went out to eat at charlie mom on sixth avenue and 11th street.

we shared vegetable noodle soup, sesame noodles, vegetable dumplings, snow peas and water chestnuts, and broccoli in garlic sauce.

after dinner we went for a walk on the high line . . 

the birch trees form a cool canopy at ganzevoort street . .

echinacea purpurea, vintage wine coneflower . .

we also had a pop from la new yorkina . . 

chanda had mango chili, morgana and i had chocolate.

feather grass . .

two guys from st. mark's place . . 

echinacea pallida, "hula dancer"

chinese astilbe (astilbe chinensis 'visions in pink')

broken bridge ii by el anatsui (born 1944, ghana), recycled press tin and mirrors, 37 by 157 feet. it's mounted on a wall of a building overlooking the high line.

waiting for the perigee moon . . 

heading home . .