As seen in the garden...

1. A million weeds, but a million fewer than at the beginning of the afternoon

2. My downed wisteria, which toppled two trellises under its weight and with the constant rain. In spite of it all, it seems quite healthy. Let's hope it remains that way after its haircut next weekend

3. A bank of bright orangey-yellow lantana and hiding underneath some weeds near the roses, some variegated lantana that may bloom at last (in October!)

4. Beetles and earthworms and two piles of what must be earthworm eggs

5. A crazy amount of shards of glass. Where do they all come from? I swear they grow back there. Also bits of colored plastic

6. Two types of asters in two shades of purple. The brighter-colored shrub variety bloomed like crazy even though all of its stalks are, a la the wisteria, all over the ground instead of standing tall

7. An odd, crazy hook sticking into the ground in the middle of the yard. How the heck did it get there? How did I miss it all this time? If I pull hard enough, will I unearth a time capsule? An escape hatch? A door to the direct route to China? Some vital piece of the infrastructure to my house?

8. Cats. Lots of them (well, 5-6. Or maybe 7. Or 8). But especially Junior, who spent quality time guarding my back door so she could run in in case it opened, and who actually crawled into my lap when I was sitting on the back steps.

Here she is on my front steps last week, refusing to smile for the camera:



9. Daisies! Last year, instead of flowers for the holiday, I bought cheap potted daisy plants from Produce Junction, one white, one orange. After the holiday, I planted them both, and much to my surprise, one of them made it. But in typical fashion, I didn't note which color was planted where, and so had no idea what color would come up this year. Hurrah - the white! Who thought orange anything would make a good centerpiece anyway??

10. The demise of my American Beauty Berry. I was so excited to find one at Bartram's Garden this spring, and it seemed like it was doing fine. But now it just seems gone and unlikely to return

Next weekend's garden chores include finishing my back garden weeding odyssey, getting that wisteria back into some semblence of order, and maybe even planting some spring bulbs. Any suggestions???

Tea Room Review - Arium

The sun is finally shining here this morning! Not so yesterday in NYC when our lovely outing day was plagued by intermittant showers. But the rain did not deter from theater, tea and dancing, i.e., a pefect combination of events!

After seeing Love, Loss, and What I Wore at the Westside Theater, we headed down to Arium for afternoon tea. In our family, we have a tradition of having real, official, afternoon tea on the day after Thanksgiving. While it hasn't really worked to have tea on that day in the past several year, it's not working to have tea that weekend at all this year. So yesterday was substitute.

Finding the perfect place for tea can be a challenge. We like trying new places, if we can. We like the full, three-course, sandwiches, scones, and sweets tea without excessive cutesy floral romance, but with a certain formality that marks a difference from coffee and a small cake or pastry at a cafe.

Deb was on the case, and found seemingly the perfect place: Arium, down in the revamped, now trendy meat packing district, on a street with one of the best names ever: Little West 12th.

Arium was lovely in many respects. The atmosphere was nice - good furniture, formal serviceware, but simple. The food was good, though I prefer my scones a little less cake-y and more biscuit-like. The service was good. We were served quickly and not rushed. The tea selections were great, far beyond the usual one type of green, a darjeeling, an earl grey, and maybe an oolong for variety, with a list of trendy non-teas. I had two of my favorite Yunan types to choose from. I selected an Emperor's Red from Fujian Province.

But here's the kicker - there were no other people in the place. And not just the tea part of the place. This so-called design studio is really an upscale hair salon. It used to have a gallery, but that has been replaced by headshots of models with interesting hair. And though the place serves lunch, dinner and tea and is in a trendy location, it was empty but for us.

My overwhelming thought when we left was that Arium wouldn't be around for long. I'm glad we caught it in its brief moment of existence.

Flooring of the future??

A reason to break open those piggy banks courtesy of Apartment Therapy on 1/7:

In with the new...

2009 hasn't quite sunk in yet, but maybe tomorrow, as I pick up the daily threads of life, it will - flipping the calendar pages, writing the first check of the year, etc...

Dance-wise, I always think that the holiday season begins with the Philadelphia Playford Ball and ends with GCD's Twelfth Night. And it's often a whirlwind month. This year's highlights included:

-A fabulous Ball weekend
-Crowfoot contra and other end-of-semester dance festivities
-A full weekend at home, complete with sleeping in!
-Neffa!!!!!!!
-A mantle full of cards from friends
-The first Chanukah party at my new house - 20 lbs of potatoes - a record high
-Making and mailing all of my holiday cards before Christmas
-Catching up on DVDs and library books
-Getting a gig in Ann Arbor in May
-Parties to go to on Christmas and Boxing Day
-Finally getting to holiday shopping the weekend after Christmas
-Hogmanay, complete with house guests, sore legs, 28 out of 29 dances, the Recovery party, etc.
-Spending quality time with Emily and Dirk!
-A fabulous Twelfth Night and a smooth longsword demo (!)

January starts calmly with a few more weeks before the semester starts and events pick up. The winter months bring a new round of events and travel:

-Elm City Assembly in New Haven
-English Scottish party in Boston
-English Scottish Ball at Swarthmore
-February Fling in Trenton
-Boston Playford Ball
-A wedding in MA
-True North ECD weekend in London, Ontario

That should keep me out of trouble for a while...

Buried treasure...

After my Aunt Evelyn died six years ago, the task of clearing out her apartment fell largely on my mom. I remember being there to help out at least one day and sorting through books and fabric and slippers. Mom pressed us to take what we wanted, and while there were some things that I wanted, I knew there was no room for them in the one-bedroom apartment I lived in. So mom and I worked it out - I would take whatever we could pack into Aunt Evelyn's under-bed storage boxes, and someday I would have more space to enjoy what we salted away. And there the boxes stayed, safe under my bed, until they got moved to the house this year, still intact in my dining room cabinet.

Today I finally unpacked the boxes. It was like finding buried treasure.

My memory of the contents was bits and pieces of crystal, wine glasses, a set of china, and a few other things. I didn't remember that the set of china was a service for 12 with only one small dessert bowl missing. I didn't remember the cut-glass sugar and creamer set, nor the lone piece of Wedgewood Jasperware.

Today I had an afternoon with Aunt Evelyn for the first time in a while, and appreciate her gifts, bot tangible and intangible.

Work in Progress?

As I was walking downtown this afternoon, this door caught my attention...

Help! I'm bleeding!

Radiators, that is...

Or trying to, at any rate.

The radiators in my bedroom and in the bedroom of my housemate are baseboard affairs. And they're cold when the heat is on, so bleeding is likely the solution to the problem. And I know they both have bleeders, but the past few times when I've turned the only possible thing that can be the bleeder, nothing has happened but some gas/air escaping. So now I have nothing but more questions (Google, here I come...):

-Do you bleed the radiators with the heat on or off?
-If you only bleed one or two radiatiors, does that do the trick, or do you have to do all of them for the bleeding to be effective?
-Does it matter where in the radiator sequence you start? I've heard start from the radiator nearest the boiler and the farthest. Which is correct?
-I've my eventual bleeding doesn't work, what else could the problem be if the heat is working in the other more tradtional-style radiators in the house, and how much will it cost to fix?

While I was waiting for the computer to warm up, I bled the radiator in my room one more time and actually got water out of it. I'm off to discover whether the room is warm, or whether I have to dig up more blankets...

Finally Fall...

It's really Fall now:

-I drove north this weekend and saw the foliage. It was great driving weather, and the colors really popped out of the hillsides and roadsides.

-I've found and set out my halloween candleholders and autumn door wreath. I have to buy a pumpkin (I keep meaning to and forgetting). What should I name it? Now that I have a big porch, should I go for a big pumpkin?

-It's Fall Break! A vacation from teaching for the week. In celebration I will finally get to the 10,000 dance programs that I suddenly have to write.

-Okay, it's going to be 80 degrees tomorrow, but they have finally turned off the A/C at work. I can now begin to wear sweaters outside rather than many layers of them in the office.

-Now that it's getting cold, I'm starting to think about putting plastic on the windows. But that will wait for when I turn the heat on. When should that be?

-It's time to get back to crochet projects, now that it's cool enough to keep yarn on your lap.

-Time to put the extra blanket back on the bed...

This time of new beginnings

Many years ago now, Deb and I, who never send Rosh Hashannah cards, found the perfect ones and made an exception. And while the one I kept is elusive among my unsorted piles, I still remember the gist of the sentiment:

At this time of new beginnings
Let us do everything in our power
To ensure peace on earth
For all people, everywhere.

Though the cards are aged, the message is eternal. Wishing you all health and happiness in the coming year.

L'shannah tova.

Philadelphia murals...

One of my favorite things about Philadelphia is the huge number of murals that liven up the streetscape thanks to the Philadelphia Mural Arts program. I have many favorites, and so many I haven't yet encountered, but yesterday I happened to be parked just opposite "Crystal Snowscape," one of the seasons series by artist David Guinn. His "Spring" is my favorite, but I do like "Welcome to the Neighborhood," at the Center City end of the South Street Bridge, and "Early One Morning in the Twentieth Century," depicting the early cityscape in Welcome Park.



It's the pixelated nature, and that Seurat idea of using many small blocks of color to create a whole image, that I love. You can stand close and see the individual blocks, or stand at a distance and see the whole idea. And Mural Arts is excellent at pairing image, artist and environment. The winter images above include the rowhouses of the surrounding blocks. My favorite "Spring" extends the open space it stands next to with a group of trees beginning to bloom.



I love traveling through new parts of the city and meeting new murals. It encourages me to explore because of what new things I might find...

Summer redux...

I had a whole list of things to do this weekend, but my overall goal for today was to spend as much of the day in air conditioned spaces as possible. Over ninety degrees in September. Can we please rethink this...

So I ran many errands, none really vital, and came home with a full list of things to do with the evening, most of which disintegrated with the full force of the heat in the house. Thank goodness for a better weather outlook for the week, including a lack of rain in the forecast - bad for the plants, good for the roof (repairs to happen next week or the week after)!

Early this afternoon, I met Rachel for coffee at Infusion Coffee & Tea, just a few blocks away on Germantown Avenue. The coffee was great, and the seating options included tables, sofa and outdoor patio. The one drawback is they seem to keep early hours almost every night. This is of little use. But not always: they have events many Friday evenings that add a few extra hours. I would love a local, non-bar option with late hours, climate control and free wireless. Infusion or the Hill Tea Bar are the most likely candidates for this. Or couldn't the Trolley Car stay open daily until at least midnight? Come on, work with me here.

Or maybe I just need to invest in some sturdy, comfy furniture for the porch, and break down and buy a hi-speed connection and obviate the need for a cafe open on my schedule... Another entry on the Someday list...

I am the luckiest one...

I can't even begin to say how lucky I feel this morning - tired, thrilled that the party went well, and all of that but mostly lucky and grateful to have such wonderful people in my life.

Last year, when I was writing up notes after my cocktail party to help plan for this year, I wrote, "get help during the day." And help I had. Susie, Emily, Dirk and Eleanor made yesterday possible and even easy. Things just got done, and done so well.

The house was packed. There was enough food. People had a good time. And then...

I was not expecting a quilt. Not in a million years. I am not often surprised, but the quilt blew me away. I can't believe it's here and was given to me but for the fact that it's hanging on my dining room wall. If any of you who sewed a stitch are reading this, a thousand thank yous. I love you all.

One week to go...

My summer officially ends in a week. Yes, I have one more week to finish my camp planning, pack for camp, finish planning my cocktail party, make a quilt square, and on and on. Oh, and also go to work and go to the dentist, and maybe go to the movies. I suppose I should think about teaching my first Swarthmore class on 9/2, but that can wait, right?

The rough sketch of my upcoming evenings:

Monday - camp planning
Tuesday - party planning; see the Pirate at Seaport Museum
Wednesay - quilt square?
Thursday - laundry and ironing
Friday - packing

I can do it, right? Must make packing lists...

Oh and for those of you wondering, the burgundy stretchy slipcovers won. I returned the red ones and removed the labels. The slipcover oddysey is over. Now on to the pillow/windowseat cushion fabric oddysey followed by the rug oddysey. Stay tuned...

The weekend in pictures...

I love my new camera! And I'm learning how to use it a bit. I get to take pictures of inconsequential things and share them with you all!!! The shots below show bits of my weekend...

Here's the milkshake slipcover on my loveseat. Wrinkles aside, an improvement over the brown, but...

Notice how the pattern of the sofa shows through:

I returned them, and had a frustrating round of department stores which all sell slipcovers, but almost all online. I refuse to spend bunces of money on something if I can't actually see and touch the fabric. So it was back to Bed, Bath & Beyond for a second shot there. I've about given up on preconceived (by others) decorating schemes; I just bought a color I liked. Burgundy. Surprise, surprise. I haven't tried them yet, but you know you'll see the results.

Today's big project was the taming the backyard jungle. I didn't get a "before" shot, but it would be too embarassing to post. The weeds were up to 4' in places with some stems quite thick around. But with the help of George and Paul, their garden tools, and six strong trash bags, we achieved:

It's fairly barren at the moment, but some green will bounce back. I have enough at-home time to keep up with the mowing now, so that by party time, I should be all set.

One casualty from the front yard mowing and weed pulling. Unfortunate, though there are other blooms on the plant, but I was able to achieve the desired flowers in the house.

Hurrah for weekends at home!!!

Madame will be at home...

It's been so delightful having a weekend at home and even more exciting to realize that other than a quick hop to Boston mid-week and a weekend in New York coming up, I'll be at home for several weeks in a row!

Yesterday was taken up by car stuff, my Container Store oddysey, moving rocks and pulling weeds in the front grassy patch (the backyard is a certifiable jungle - so embarassing - next week's project...), moving food around in the kitchen, and finally, dancing. Today was great - the freedom to sleep in, run lots of errands (learning how to drive the new car), enjoy the pool party, and watch little Ms Esmerelda.

Among other errands this weekend was a stop back at Bed Bath and Beyond. The brown slipcovers are now no more. The next experiment: twill slipcovers from Target. Color: milkshake.

Yes, I know it's a ridiculous color to contemplate, and that that they will stain. I passed a place that makes custom slipcovers, but if I went that route, I might as well get the current ones reupholstered, or simply buy new. But I have to keep trying to find something I like, and brown wasn't it. I'll keep you posted.

Another fun stop today was the new-ish tea place in Chestnut Hill: The Hill Tea Bar. It seems small, but charming with indoor and outdoor seating and antiques from the shop next door on display. There are tea tastings and wine tastings and story hours for the kiddos. Their hours are somewhat in flux as they get a feel for the neighborhood, so I put in my request for a late Friday or Saturday night. Who wants to go for tea?

Okay, take a deep breath...

What a weird dance weekend...

There are so many things I love about dancing, including travelling with friends to dance events, sharing the experience, rehashing it afterwards, etc. But this weekend, while okay on the whole brought out some of my least favorite things about going to dances:

-Fast partnering - before the applause is over, all of the people around you are partnered up. This behaviour is typical of many places, but I find it especially rampant in the particular community we were visiting. I was reminded why I'm boycotting their ball.

-Callers who talk too much - this makes the dance instructions hard to ferret out, and turns excess attention on the caller rather than on the dancers and the music. As a caller, I don't think the evening should be about the caller, no matter how pleasant he or she may be...

-Teachers who can't teach. They use the same words to explain what made no sense the fitst time rather than using different words, demonstrating, or having someone else demonstrate. We all lose that way - caller is frustrated, and dancers still don't know what to do.

-Teachers who don't own their ideas and convictions. Don't tell me to dance in a particular way because it will make me enjoy the dance more. Tell me to do x because it is a style you are advocating at the moment or for some other reason, but don't put it on me. I have a pretty good idea of what makes me enjoy a dance and stupid hand gestures are not it. Try again. Or rather, don't. ARGHHHH!!!!! I try pretty hard not to outright avoid this person's workshops and ideas, try to see that she has something to offer, interesting dances, if nothing else. But she doesn't make it easy.

And all of this happens on the eve of my going to July 4th Weekend, where I plan to put all of this behind me and have a stellar time, damn it.

Ramblings and the weekend in review...

It was another one of those unreal weekends...

For some unknown reason I had the brilliant plan of going to the dentist and then calling a dance on Friday. But it all worked out - no icky needles required - and I called the dance Friday night with no lingering dental after-affects. And it was Jacqueline Schwab playing for us! How lucky can you get to call a dance with a musician like that. Making the right dance choices for solo piano is still a challenge for me, but I'd welcome the opportunity to get better at it if I could work with a musician of that caliber more often!

Saturday was off once more to Amherst for the Pleasures of the Town dance, greatly aided by the loan of Peter and Rachel's car. It's still an idyll every time I go up there. Maybe because it's so far away, in a different dance community. I go. I have a few hours to catch up with friends, eat, call the dance, sleep, and get in the car and drive home. Unreal, but lovely. The dancers are fun and not used to/tired of my calling, the music is great, and there was a lovely waltz at the end of the night.

Sunday, birthday. Also unreal because I didn't make it intensely celebratory, using the dances Friday and Saturday as the birthday parties in my head. I drove homeward. I went to the pool party, not bringing a contribution. But best of all, just as I got home, lugging the bags and the groceries from the car, a neighbor invited me over for cake - leftovers from her husband's birthday just days ago. So there was my third party of the weekend. This time I told folks it was my birthday. It was the perfect end to the day.

Now the time will fly until I leave for camp...

So I'm 35, and I think fine with that. It's a year of change, perhaps moreso than I anticipated with the need for a new car, but all in all, I'm happy with it. I love the house. I look forward to achieving a work shift. I'm excited and a bit scared about the teaching opportunities at camps this summer, but what calling this weekend reminded me is that teaching dancing is fun - and I already know how to do it. Yes, I have to take care and plan my classes well, but it's not something that I can't do. I can and have. I just hope I make good!

Another decision - I think I need to hire Paul's brother Brian for just half a day some time soon-ish. There are a bunch of small things in the house I need done and I'm just not having time for them. Maybe in mid-July after Mendocino. I'll have him hang some shelves and whatever else I can amass - maybe put up a new kitchen light fixture. It'll be wonderful and I won't halt my unpacking progress (or I won't have that excuse any more).

But for now the next project is planning for camp. A week and a half. Ack!

100 Posts and counting...

Not quite six months of this blog, and I've hit 100 posts...

Statistics tell all:

-I write more on Mondays than any other day of the week.
-Only 7 out of over 100 posts were written on Saturdays
-Despite my intentions to write about specific things on specific days, by far the most written about topic is my house, not one of the original 7 subject areas (but who knew on January 12th that I was buying a house)
-I'm guessing that 10-15 people read this thing. I suppose there are ways of figuring it out. Maybe best not to know.
-My original thought was to write every day, knowing that I probably wouldn't. I like to write, but somedays, there's not much to say that would even interest me, much less you. And some days I come home with sleep as my only coherant intention. Apparently I write 25/42 of the time.

Statistics don't tell all. Since starting to write this thing, though I've started reading more blogs, I'm still unsure of this whole blogging thing. It's a good way to broadcast stuff, but in the grand scheme of things, the stuff I write about is of no moment. It's not educational, it is not full of wise or even interesting observations. It's not even humorous. It's self-centered blather.

But maybe that doesn't matter as long as the original intent is clear. That this is for myself - a live journal, if you will. A place to collect thoughts and images to record it for my future reference. And while the egotist in me loves that a few folks are reading this and would love a vast audience, this blog is not designed to be overly attractive. There's no hook, no design. It's not even a place for news and announcements - those would still come via email from me, or by phone. Rather it's the bits and pieces, the uppermost thoughts only sort of maybe worth reading.

I gave in...

Summer arrived in Philadelphia yesterday. It says, "Hi."

The house is faring as you would expect: the first floor is bearable, especially if you are sitting still. The second floor is less bearable - sitting still and still dripping. The third floor is not good. And Laurie just moved up there today...

I finally gave in and put in my air conditioner in my bedroom window. And I did it myself. And it doesn't appear to be falling out of the window. It helps that the window it's in is missing one of the chains on the side, making it difficult to open and close. It's closed tightly around the window unit now, and I don't think it's going anywhere.

I'm not really happy with the way I had to get power to the A/C. First, there are no outlets near either window. Second, though the outlet behind my bed is 3-prong, it's not grounded. I plugged in a surge protector to the outlet (A/C, bedside lamp), and a 15 amp extention cord to that so it can wind around behind a dresser and reach the A/C in the side window. It works, but...

I think the time has come for more grounded outlets in the house. I need one for the A/C, even though it's a small unit. I want one in the upstairs parlour for my computer, and one for the other electronics. Laurie needs at least two upstairs, as I knew any renter would. So, that becomes higher on the priority list:

-Grounded outlets (5)
-Screens
-Another air conditioner? More than one?
-Bathroom on the 3rd floor

When I first plugged it in, it was 89 degrees in my room. It's in the 70s now. I'm the luckiest one!

Transportation blues...

Ok, I admit it - freely: I am dependent on my car. I miss it, and I want it healed and I want it back. Now.

Not having a car completely changed my weekend, and mostly not in a good way. Saturday started as I planned - going to the yard sales in the neighborhood (buying a carafe and a flower frog for 50 cents, and getting a free fly swatter). Then the rains came (as soon as I turned on the hose to water in the yard) and it was all kind of down hill from there.

By the time I checked the train schedules, I'd missed the train that would get me to the movie party I was going to (yes, it would have taken me ~1.5 hours for a 40 minute drive). So between the awful, humid weather, and having no convenient transportation (trains on the hour only on weekends), I was not a happy camper. After this, I was determined to get to the dance, and I did - 2 trains, a shuttle bus and a trolley later (only 2 trains home after someone gave me a ride to the R5), but had to miss tea and hanging out so I could catch the last train home.

Oh, and sometime during the journey home, the temporary filling on my tooth started crumbling. Dentist on Tuesday morning. Can't wait.

Today was an antedote to yesterday, greatly assisted by the fine weather. I already knew I was not making it to the pool party (Jennifer says there's a bus, but I'm not convinced), so I took the train downtown to Penn's Landing to check out the Art Star Craft Bazaar, a venue for emerging craft artists full of stationary, printed t-shirts, and odd felted, plush critters - not animals, just critters. The festival overall was fun, but the crafts mostly made me feel old and unhip - I don't wear t-shirts, and I think I missed many of the anime/TV/pop culture references in some of the other art. Still and all, there was some beautiful jewelry and one photographer in particular who's work I loved. I'll try to showcase some of these folks in the coming week.

After my jaunt by the riverside, I headed to Borders for some long overdue quality time with magazines and books. I think I sat there for almost 3 hours in air conditioned bliss, catching up on my magazines and the latest entertaining books that make me want to throw parties right now immediately. It was wonderful. After I got home, I puttered around the house, and invaded George and Paul's Sunday dinner al fresco with some old friends.

Life is certainly possible without a car, but it makes the world smaller and limits options because of the amount of time things take on public transit and the constraints of schedules. It's not a life I want. I want to run around more widely, and fit in trips to the grocery store on the spur of the moment. I want my freedom back.

With any luck, I will be reunited with my car tomorrow or the next day - poorer, but happier.