Theaters and Theatrics

Today was the day to lock in a place for a certain party we are hosting in September 2008. Our errand took us into Midtown and our walk home had us wandering through part of the theater district. I love looking at the details on the facades but only took a few pictures today due to time constraints and the excessive number of people on the street for the matinées.


And finally, a bit of old Times Square. In the afternoon we retrieved the Squidlings and, after purchasing some cheese and sausage (fruit and bread having been obtained earlier at the Greenmarket), went for a picnic dinner in the shadow of the Empire State Building.

O.k., actually we were to the west of the Empire State Building and the sun was to our west so we technically were not in it's shadow.We were, however, shaded by this interesting piece of usable sculpture,
but chose not to eat at this one since it was not shaded.


O.k., all together now "You can't find a shady spot on the Western shore of Manhattan in the late afternoon. The River does not cast a shadow!" This is similar to the problem we had finding a shady spot on the East River at 10:00 a.m. for breakfast. D'oh!

Above, some greenery, just to prove we have some.

Below, the Starrett-Leigh Building. A landmark building (exteriors) that has undergone a huge change from warehouse/maufacturing to "new media" aka dot coms, designers and Martha Stewart. According to NYC-Architecture.com, rents have jumped from $5/square foot to $40 in just 2 years. Their article is a scathing indictment of the current owners and is the first time I have seen this website editorialize in such a fashion. (You will notice that I try to use them whenever I have an unusual building to highlight. I tend to like their write-ups and I totally agree with them now. The traffic and obnoxious pedestrians that this renovation has brought is turning me into a curmudgeon.)Below are the ruins of tracks that led from the water to one of the buildings adjacent to Starrett-Leigh.Below are the tracks that lead directly into Starrett-Leigh. Railroad containers would be loaded on to barges in New Jersey and floated across the Hudson to be offloaded directly on to tracks and rolled right into the building. Elevators inside are large enough and strong enough to handle the load bring the cargo directly where it is needed.
The building to the north of Starrett-Leigh. I will try to find out what it is for you.And, just for the sake of comedy, a small barn on 26th Street. Yes, that is a violin on Papa's back, why do you ask?

Tomorrow, Mama and Papa amuse themselves by circumnavigating Manhattan. Friday, Mama and Papa collapse from exhaustion. Saturday, Little Squid gets glasses and Sunday, the Squid clan sees Ratatouille.

Yellow and Green

Today is a rest day for the Tour de France riders but there is no rest for the family Squid for we have walls to paint and floors to uncover.

But first ... look, I do still knit. Undulating Rib Socks from Favorite Socks. Size -- roughly 8. Yarn, Treking XXL sent to me by, I think, KnittyOtter. (The socks are actually quite a bit more purple then they appear and are only baggy because they are being modeled on Squidette's size 7's.)

Silk Scarf. I can't find the pattern information right now but it was from the Knitting Pattern A Day 2005 calendar. Yarn: Homespun on my Minstrel and then Navajo plied on my Journey Wheel. Blocked with my new blocking wires.
And our walls! Thanks, Dave!
Trim, doors and touch-up still have to be done -- as well as one or two special, uniquely squid touches to be added. Sorry for the blurriness, my walls are actually quite sharp. My knees are killing me. While the upper wall was a pain to paint because I had to keep climbing the step ladder to do the cutting in, the bottom half had me crouching / kneeling for the entire stretch -- and there is much more wall then I am showing -- and it all needed 2 coats. Thursday or Friday will see the end of this project and we will order a rug in the next few days. Thank you to all who helped us with your input but especially Dave!

The Last Place You Look

You know why things are always in the last place that you look? Because you stop looking once you've found it!

Yesterday we paused in the painting and instead did some cleaning. First came a couple of kitchen cabinets where we had a moth problem. (What does it say about me, that I was relieved that the moths that I had seen were grain moths?) Then, for me, came Little Squid's room.

Last September we gave him an inexpensive GPS for his birthday. By May it was missing. He claimed to have left it on his desk -- hence kind of blaming Maria. I thought like Maria and searched his desk drawers. Nothing. Then I, garbage bag in hand, searched his closet, his book shelves and then, after taking a break, and in desperation, his clothing drawers. Both Squidlings sleep in Captain's beds with very large drawers below the mattress. Little Squid tends to leave his open -- so things fall in. I searched the drawer at the head of his bed, I searched the drawer at the foot of his bed and then finally, as I was digging through his underwear in the middle drawer ... voila!

Today, the rain has stopped, we can ride to camp again and finish the major painting. Yea! Unfortunately it is also a rest day in the Tour de France so I will have to occupy my paint drying time with some other activity. Yesterday's end of stage was so exciting that it was a good thing I was just knitting a plain sock foot! I am making socks to match my TdFKAL vest as a secondary Tour project. One foot down, and on to the first cuff. Pictures later now that the skies have brightened.

Half a Wall

Saturday was a day for a little bit of biking,a little bit of baking,


(kudos go to Papa Squid and Squidette),
a little bit of painting,
and a lot of reading! Squidette just finished her copy of Harry Potter and I finished The Pearl so I can start it now. We, by the way, did not preorder it, we just walked in to the bookstore and picked two copies up off the table, paid and walked out. 5 minutes, no waiting.

Painting is on hold for today and instead we will do so closet cleaning and book organizing.

Below is the curtain that hangs on my terrace door. I washed it and rehung it yesterday so it is looking all nice and clean. My sister crocheted this years ago for her first NYC apartment. She gave it to me when she moved out of that place and no longer had appropriate windows. At the time, we were living in an old apartment with long thin windows but never hung the curtains. Here, one fits perfectly in our balcony door and there it hangs, gracing our apartment with a little bit of beauty.

Crazy Hair!

Today started just like any other day. Up early, sip a cup of tea and then get down to work. The work for this morning? Crazy Hair. We started with this:

Added pipe cleaners, braids, a single pony tail, beads and some Regia Crazy and created this:

Sadly, she did not win for craziest hair. Next year, more pipe cleaners!

I am Honored!

I was nominated twice for a Rockin' Girl Blogger award. First by Ann and then by Isabelle.


My nominees are: Susan (for rockin' with The Girl), Sprite (for rockin' Kandahar!), Cookie (for her rockin' socks), KnittyOtter (for being my favorite Otter!), and Penny (for rockin' the spindle!).

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Decorating Update: We have not decided on a rug except to decide to look further. The purchase may very well be made on line. The dining room / entry way / hall way are now taped for ceiling paint and will receive 2 coats of ceiling white tomorrow. Some of the door frames and molding are also taped in anticipation of doing the walls -- some because we ran out of tape. We are going for the two-tone look. Dave suggested olive and gold and we printed paper in the approximate colors and taped them to the wall. I think it will work and Mike is sold.

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Tour de France Knit Along Update: I should have a finished product to show you tomorrow. Today's tour finish was way exciting! On days when Mike and I are home in the morning we are watching the final few kilometers of the tour. Fun and inspiring!

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Yesterday's poetry was the result of sleep deprivation after worrying about a kid all night. The kid was just fine in the morning but I was wiped out. We are all better now -- at least I assume. The Squid family is short the shortest Squid who is on an overnight trip with camp. Things are too quiet around here.

Squidette and Papa went to get the next larger violin size for her and wound up not buying a violin. She skipped right over a size and is now playing the full size instrument that we bought for her last year. I swear she has grown 2 inches in the last month. It is entirely possible that she will pass me within the year if she keeps growing at this rate. Tomorrow, she and I are going shopping to up size some of her garments. Eek!

A Mama's Worries

An Ode to Mamas Everywhere

A Mama sleeps, warm in her bed
A floorboard creaks and she rouses

A child's complaint "I'm not feeling well"
A Mama treats and tucks a child in beside her.

A child sleeps, warm in her arms
A Mama frets, "What if?"

A Mama touches, lips to forehead
And tries to sleep.

A child wakes, returns to her bed,
A Mama worries, wakeful.

The night passes, a child sleeps
A Mama fusses, keeps to herself.

The morning dawns, a Mama rises
And checks the children, cool in their beds.

A Mama sighs and starts the day
Tired with the effort of healing through worry.

Devorah Zamansky July 18, 2007

Decisions, Decisions

We went rug shopping this morning. Below are the top contenders. Mike and I each have our favorites but we are not saying for fear of influencing the populus. The fabric swatch in each photo is from the couch.

Feel free to chime in here ...

Contender A: Code Name "Swirls"
Contender B: Code Name "Plain Vanilla"Contender C: Code Name "Stripy Boxes"

Contender D: Code Name "Big Brown"

One Room Down, One to Go

The living room is done! It is clean and white and fairly empty looking without my wheels. I'll have to take care of that.
The new wall of books and stuff. Please note that I moved all of the books in the two tall cases from the bedroom into the living room all by myself. That is not to disparage Papa Squid. He was braving the heat and humidity riding his bike to retrieve the Squidlings from camp. I am better at efficiently cleaning up for Maria (no jokes about cleaning for the cleaning lady -- this place was in a major state of disarray) and he rides faster then I do so the split was natural.

Note the absence of the rug. I took it upon myself to throw it out. After almost 12 years it was stained to the point where it could no longer be totally cleaned. As long as it was on the floor we were not motivated to go out and find a new one. Hopefully this will spur us on.

Oh, and my obnoxious brat wonderful, sweet dear of a daughter has had the temerity to grow in every direction requiring us to raise the seat on her bicycle, purchase a larger violin and go shopping for well, uh ... I promised I would not specify the type of clothing she just out grew.

In other news, I have been weaving again on my Hazel Rose looms. My goal is 256 square equivalents (2 triangles = 1 square) for a spread for my bed. I have just over 100 at this point. All of the pieces are from my own handspun, the lumpier stuff. I expect to full them a bit before joining but we will see when I have all 256.
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Did anyone else hear about the earthquake in Japan and the resulting radioactive spill into the Sea of Japan and think "Godzilla!"? (Then my brain clicked into a more politically correct "oh my" mode.)

No rest for the Weary

We finally did it. After two weeks of saying we were going to paint the outer rooms, we started. Yesterday morning we pushed and pulled and taped and draped and, despite a late start, put two coats on the ceiling and walls of the living room. While Mike went to pick the kids up from camp, I put the final touches one wall, cleared away the debris and shoved the furniture back into a semblance of place so that we no longer had to climb on the coffee table to get to the bathroom.

The living room is boring white so no pictures right now -- things are still only kind of in place. Mike and I will finish shoving things around when we get back from camp delivery -- and I still have the window trim to paint. Tomorrow is a rest day so Maria can clean and then Thursday we do the entry way and hallway. This is where you decorator inclined people come in.

These are the walls to be painted.
Notice this wall in particular. It is frequently the recipient of a leaning bike as is the wall below.
(Ignore the teapot wall for right now) I am seriously thinking about color on the two walls shown above. Really what I am thinking is painting the lower half of the wall in a goldish-red-brown and the top in a coordinating gold. (Is this a bit much for a color challenged individual?) Creating a chair-rail kind of thing with the darker area able to hide the bike marks. Alternatively I am thinking about just painting these two walls a gold color (picking it up from the couch). Thoughts, anyone? The default is, of course, white. The decision will be finalized on Thursday morning when we buy the paint.
This wall will most likely remain white.

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How do you get your kids to dust and scrub? Tell them that they will get their internet connection back more quickly if they clean the dust off from the cracks and crevices of the computer desk. Little Squid jumped on the task and with Squidette's cooperation, they did a great job. Connectivity was restored by 7:30. (The server had to be taken out of service so we could paint so Mike and I were computer-free for the entire day. Since we were painting it was not a big deal and I actually read a paper-bound book after finishing the cleaning up!)

Conquering the Mountains

... or at least the really steep hill leading up from the Little Red Lighthouse to the West Side Highway.

Today's ride took us up the Hudson River Greenway, and past Inspiration Point (sorry, no picture -- it looked too sad to make me think it was our destination so Squidette and I rode right past it). Getting to Inspiration point involved climbing the hill just north of the George Washington Bridge -- this hill involves a climb of 80 feet in altitude over 0.7 miles for the steeper part of the ascent. I'm trying to make sense of the GPS data so this may not be totally accurate. The last part of the climb seems practically vertical and I refuse to ride down it but today I did ride up the entire ascent! And, I didn't even go into my smallest front chain ring!

After riding past Inspiration Point, we continued on the streets over to the East Side where we saw GREAT signage pointing us toward our destination. This city may finally be getting a clue. The last time we attempted this the signage was awful and we were lucky to find our way.

(This actually points in the opposite direction to where we were going but it is in the right place for it's task.)After finding the Harlem River Greenway we found a lovely park called Swindler's Cove. Wonderful plantings, lovely views. Apparently it just opened in April.



We then headed south looking for a shady spot to eat breakfast in. Let me point out that we are now on the east side of Manhattan and it is only 10:00 a.m. There really was no chance of us finding a shady spot but we kept looking ...
I believe that these are the Washington Bridge (not the G.W.), a bridge unnamed on my biking map and High Bridge. It is my intent to get to High Bridge one of these days even though it is currently not open to the public. High Bridge used to be an aqueduct, bringing water into my fair city.

After being pushed from the river due to the end of the Greenway, we rode down St. Nicholas Avenue to Adam Clayton Powell Blvd and then into Central Park. Along the way we passed many lovely buildings such as this one.
Then, into Central Park for an al fresco breakfast along the Harlem Meer followed by some unsuccessful geocaching and a ride home.
Sights along the Hudson River as we walked along looking for a geocache.
These were used to unload railroad cars from barges directly to tracks.

The view looking East from the Hudson River Greenway --

more residential buildings! Thft! Total ride: 23 miles with several hills.

And, for those of you who care, my TdF project. Just a day or so from finishing.