kayaking on the thames

morgana and her friend james went kayaking out in the bay at leigh-on-sea.

james' parents have a new dog named patsy, who looks very much like their old dog . .

named lily.

summer breakfast . .

green tea and oatmeal with blueberries, honey and fresh cream from the farmer.

home again

i arrived home around 11:30 and was happy to find a parking spot even though alternate side parking was suspended today for eid-al-adha (many folks in my neighborhood are out of town for the last august days of summer . . ).

korrina has made good progress on her shisui shrug.

chanda came along today also, before heading to astoria to help with a mailing for the rioult company.

home again and hugging hermione before dinner.

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korrina also had news about brian's dad for us. the doctors worked to give him a new heart beginning at 3 am this morning and eight hours later, the surgery was completed. he is now in intensive care and resting and they are hoping all goes well so he can go home in three weeks or so. they do know the donor and the donor's family.

days on the lake in connecticut

i spent a few days with my sister and mom in connecticut. the weather was much cooler and we were finally able to feel autumn in the air (though i've heard it will be in the 90's again next week). I actually have on my tie-dyed sweatshirt here, something i haven't had to do, day or night, since june. it's been such a hot summer, that it felt strange to feel chilly. the photo above is from monday afternoon when we paddled across the lake. it's always fun being out in the middle of the water and seeing the land from a different perspective.

lunch on tuesday with my mom, after taking her to the dentist.

toby keeps an eye on things . . 

chanda brought back chocolate wafer cookies from prague. i had no idea that they were this large!

reading reader's digest . .

a short sun shower . .

and tree crickets, katydids and peepers at night . . (i didn't expect to hear the frogs again, but they can often sing from july into the fall--there's an amazing website here by lang elliot, that has the different frog calls, and here is an npr podcast differentiating cicadas, tree crickets and katydids).

pics from london

 i think morgana sent me this photo because she knows i like birch trees . . i'm not sure where in london it was taken.

last christmas both i and her friend deychen gave her dodie smith's book i capture the castle; one in paperback and one in hardcover. i think it had just been reprinted so it was in every catalog and bookstore. i'd like to re-read it myself, but currently i have so many books beside my bed that i'm not sure when i'll find time to pick it up. i just started carlos acosta's no way home, and still haven't finished scott stossel's my age of anxiety. i also began marjorie stoneman douglas' river of grass last week . .

waiting for a heart

 greg and i took a trip uptown to see brian's dad today.

 he's been at columbria presbyterian hospital waiting for a heart . .

 the a train is usually a quick ride uptown . . 

 waiting in line to get our room passes . . 

 the last time we visited, we managed to follow someone else who was visiting a patient in the cardiac care unit. today we were on our own and almost took a wrong turn . . but didn't, and successfully found the room finally. brian's dad was sitting up and working on his computer. we talked about everything our children were doing and the conversation was punctuated with lots of beeps from the machines he is hooked up to. when he moves around a lot while sitting up. the wires and tubes must register that some things are off. a nurse needed to come in and press buttons and realign plugs and his blood pressure monitor. he didn't seem too bothered by it. it must happen often. going for a walk, he said, was even worse because everything needs to be disconnected and the plastic tubing always gets tangled.

 we said good-bye around 2 . . and passed this tom otterness pair when getting off the train at 14th street. i like the look on the young man on the right . . i think he was trying to figure out which stairs to go down.

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we had a late dinner when chanda got home around 7:45 from her dance rehearsal. she's part of a friend's company program (km/dm dance) that is performing september 8th and 9th at manhattan movement and arts center.

summer intensive presentation

 chanda finished up with her last summer dance intensive today. greg and i arrived at marymount manhattan college at 4:10 pm (we were last here for a limon intensive that morgana did in 2013 which you can see here).

they performed several class exercises, two dance pieces from the rioult repertoire, and one original work choreographed by mr. rioult on them just this week. it was all wonderful and i think i should be able to eventually link in several pics and videos in the coming weeks. right now you can see excerpts that they put up on their instagram page under rioultdanceny (click here and then click on the latest post, which is presently the one on the top left). the company is opening a new studio in astoria and chanda is hoping to be able to take class with them once they're settled in their new home. i was impressed by how hard they worked (they danced from 10 am to 6:00 with only a half hour break for lunch--but chanda never complained that she felt overextended. since it was modern dance and didn't have any pointe work, her feet didn't suffer as much), the friendliness of everyone in the company, the repertory they learned, and the original choreography. it was fun to see how much the students enjoyed performing at the end.

the streets were quiet on the way home . . a typical august for nyc . . and the evening light was beautiful uptown . .

 and downtown.

 greg cooked the burgers for us (from meat we had picked up in the morning from our amish farmer who makes a delivery every other week to a designated site) . .

and chanda collapsed on the bed and caught up with email and instagram . .

escarole, tomato, cauliflower and cucumber from the vegetable box . . 

buon appetito!

plum cake time of year . .

korrina sent me home yesterday with plum cake that she had made. it was incredibly delicious, and the plums were perfectly sweet and juicy.