Hooray for the pink, white and green

 A few days of warm weather, and spring is springing up all over the place - our neighbourhood is quickly turning into a leafy suburb again. 

On our own front lawn, the ornamental cherry is at its peak, and the ornamental plum and the maple are coming into blossom and leaf respectively alongside it.  I have to say, for a day or two at exactly this time of year we have the prettiest trees on the block.  I wish they were easier to photograph.

Breakfast is ready

Friday ended up being rather grown-up altogether for the Man and me - our daytime art gallery trip was followed by a fundraising gala in the evening.

It was a Friends of Five Rivers event, the 2nd Annual Awards Ceremony and Reception, held at the same venue as last year.  Just as a year ago, the sun came out for the party, so everywhere looked bright and lovely which added to the generally festive mood.



There was a substantial Silent Auction, so the guests spent plenty of time cruising up and down the long line of tables deciding what to bid on.  The Man and I got into a bidding war with the Girl's 5th grade Math teacher over a couple of tempting food hampers.  It was an accident (honest!  She was meant to come back and bid again!) that we ended up taking home both... We are now quite shamefully well off for granola, nuts and jam.  But our rival-in-hampers put in the winning bid for a piece of artwork, so at least she didn't go home empty handed.

Magnificent magnolias

The beautiful weather has continued, bringing our ornamental cherry into full bloom.  The Man and his children took a trip to the shops this morning, on bikes and roller-blades.

The sunshine brings the neighbourhood kids outside, too, so the Boy has taken to setting off around the block as the fancy takes him, to see who's shooting hoops in their front yard - there's usually someone.  It could turn into a sociable summer.

I'd received a tip that the magnolias at the Pine Hollow Arboretum would be at their peak this weekend, so the Man and I stopped by to see for ourselves - and we weren't disappointed.

Sam I Am

The Man, Girl and I enjoyed a trip to Troy where we picked up supplies at the Farmers' Market, spent some time in Market Block Books (proper bookshops just smell so good, don't they?) and appreciated a couple of the Uncle Sam statues that have recently popped up around town.

On the way home we stopped in at the Albany Children's Book Festival.  We didn't attend any of the drop-in presentations, but toured the tables of the fifty authors/ill
ustrators talking about and selling their books in the gym of the Albany Academy for Girls.  I chatted with a couple of them, but it was a daunting number to get around.  The event seemed to be well attended, though, and there was a buzz about the place. There was a  display of children's book illustrations courtesy of the R. Michelson Gallery in Northampton, MA, featuring newer works and some old favourites, including some limited edition Dr Seuss prints.

This evening we had a friend and her daughter round for dinner.  We should do that more often - much fun and laughter.

A beautiful day, and it's exciting to see the blossom is finally beginning to appear...

 

Fenimore

The Man took a day off work, and we drove out to Cooperstown to visit the Fenimore Art Museum.

It's a wonderful place, big enough in scale to be satisfying, but not overwhelming.  The exhibits are focused on American Art, including an outstanding collection of Native American artwork and traditional craft.  I very much enjoyed the permanent exhibition of American folk art, memorialising both historic events and personal experiences. 

The original building is a 1930s neo-Georgian mansion, but in the 1990s a highly successful extension was added - interestingly, as a lower floor, built into the hill on which the museum stands, above Otsego Lake.

 
Near the end of our visit we took a few minutes to walk outside, enjoying the beauty of the lake and the replica Iroquois bark house on its shore.

Although rather a long way to drive for a relatively short day trip, I thought the visit was very well worth it.

Flights of fancy

The only good thing about the Man having to make several trips abroad this year is that I've had to visit Albany Airport a few times, and while there I've taken the opportunity to visit the always interesting airport art gallery. 

The current exhibition, which I've wandered through two or three times, is Some Assembly Required, which looks at different forms of collage.  Here are a few pieces we enjoyed:

Apres Salviati by Susan Spencer Crowe: "memories of girlish frocks meet the skills of a welder":

 

Coal Lumps and Cabin Fever by Kirstin Hassenfeld. Striking sculpture made out of wrapping paper and straws.

Art works perfectly in an airport - it's just what you need to take your mind off the comings and goings that brought you to the place.  Ken, the artist we met last weekend, who has had work exhibited at the airport, told us Albany's gallery has been used as a model for other airport art spaces around the country, and I'm not surprised.

UPS and downs, and ups

Yesterday UPS tried to deliver a parcel that I needed to sign for. I wasn't in, so they left a note saying they'd be back today between 10:30am and 2pm.  So I waited in, all day, and it finally showed up after 3.  Sigh. 

In other news, it has been beautifully all day, so even with the beloved laptop (yep, that's what was in the parcel) back in the house the kids were happy to get outside for a while after school, to play basketball on the drive (Boy) and rollerblade twice around the block (Girl).

Going bananas for Fair Trade

I did my bit for Earth Day today (officially Earth Day was Monday, but it always expands around the date).  The Middle School hosted a three-hour event for environmentally-minded groups to present information to students.  We were round the back of the school cafeteria, and all had tables under awnings - we looked like a sort of farmers' market of Green worthiness (and in fact the actual farmers' market was represented).

Five Rivers was there, of course, and Pine Hollow Arboretum.  Someone from a caving association, and groups concerned with preventing Emerald Ash Borers or forest fires, conserving water, recycling.   I was there for Fair Trade, talking mostly about bananas.  I had the students fill out "bananagrams" to the three main supermarkets, requesting that they stock FT bananas (better for the environment because of sustainable farming and reduced use of pesticides, and better for farmers for the usual FT reasons).

The kids came through in waves during their lunchtimes, so they couldn't stay long, but I managed to speak to quite a few - at least to those that weren't distracted by the critters (live snakes, salamanders and frogs!) of the Critter Patrol, on the table directly opposite.

Career Girl

The Girl has been writing up an assignment tonight, a project on careers.  She chose to research the profession of Video Game Designer - can't think how she comes to have an interest in that.

Last week she phone-interviewed someone from a local video game design company, Vicarious Visions.  Apparently what she found out sounded promising, and she genuinely feels it could be the career for her.  Good salary - check.  Fun working conditions - check.  Best of all (from her point of view) she has been advised to prepare for the job by "playing lots of video games."

Grr.  Oh well.  At least it looks like that rogue taxidermist option is really on the back-burner now.

Pond life

It's still cold, but Spring is doing its best.  Appropriately enough with Earth Day happening this week, many community and conservation groups have organised clean-up days.  The Boy was invited by his buddy's family to help clean up Buckingham Pond in Albany, and the rest of us joined them a little later.

The Pond is an attractive natural space in a residential area.  Most of the cleaning up had already happened by the time we got there, but there was just enough left so that the Man could have a go with the litter-picking grabber thing - so much fun that he's considering a career change.

He and I later made it down to Five Rivers for a squelch around the trails.  The geese are back, and we saw some busy muskrats scootling across a couple of the ponds.  Everywhere the trees are coming into bud - it can only be a few weeks now before everywhere turns green.

Hooray for this small, small world

It's quite a tiny world, isn't it, where a person can wake up in Germany and - ok, many hours later - go to sleep in America.  The Man got home at 3am (after a flight delay).  We're glad to have him back.

He and I had a fun treat today - lunch with a visitor from Linton!  We'd never met R before, but he contacted me via the internet a few months ago because he'd become involved with the book festival - in fact, he's now its Chairman.  And (what are the chances?) he's often in New York on business, and his brother lives in Albany! It's a tiny world indeed.

So, we met up with R and his brother (who's an artist) and his brother's wife (who's a designer and a director of the Historic Albany Foundation), and we had a very jolly time chatting about the bookfest, technology, historic building sites, mutual acquaintances (in Linton & Albany) and ending with a fascinating art studio visit... Very much fun indeed, and we hope there will be other chances to meet in future.

Thought for food

I've been at Siena College's 3rd annual Fair Trade Conference today.  An excellent event with some thought-provoking speakers, and with a particular emphasis this year on the many issues and challenges of food justice. 

Part of me has come away feeling like the weight of the world's problems are on my shoulders, and all I want to do is hide under a duvet and sob into my pillow.  But that is ultimately not a useful response, so when I'm done sobbing I guess I'll just have to get back to trying to find ways to make things a little better and a little fairer where I'm able.

Meanwhile poor Boston has been having a crazy day.  The media is, predictably, hyperventilating over all the breaking news, interspersing it with lengthy spells of pure speculation.  Even the relatively reserved and temperate National Public Radio is practically melting down with excitement.  What, they wonder, could the perpetrators of the marathon bombing have been hoping to achieve?  What indeed?  Couldn't possibly be 24-hour wall-to-wall coverage - d'you think?

If the shoe fits...

As I've noted before, I'm not the wildest of shoe-buyers. Having once more got to the unpleasantly leaky stage with my one pair of rest-of-year (ie, not sandals) shoes, I dragged myself off to buy some new ones yesterday.

Well of course, since it's April, the store I went to had all its strappy sandals out and not much else - even though we're still getting off-and-on cold weather and rain (did I mention, it's April?).  However, there was a Bargain rack with a few pairs of wintery shoes on it.  And to my extreme delight, there was only one pair in my size that I would even consider wearing.  So I bought those.  No choice, no agonising - marvellous!

I appreciate freedom of thought etc, so there's a lot about communist regimes that I couldn't put up with.  But lack of consumer choice? That I could handle - so much more relaxing not to have all those pesky decisions to make.

German bite

The Man writes...when you are enjoying great pasta in a restaurant in Germany and everyone at the table is speaking perfect English (purely for your benefit of course), you can forget you are a long way from New York until...

• you realise a person at the table next to you is smoking and there is a cigarette machine on the wall across the street; 
• the beer list includes Radler (a lemonade shandy)
• the coffee is so thick and muddy the spoon seems to be able to stand up in it on its own; when you tentatively inquire about the possibility of getting a decaff the waiter says "No!" so abruptly you think he is going to throw you out just for asking;
• your host drives you back to the hotel in his electric car; it's so tiny your knees seem to touch your ears; when he pulls away after dropping you the car is totally silent.

Boston

Clearly as I was scurrying to write my blog yesterday afternoon I wasn't aware of the horrors unfolding in Boston.

There's not much I can say that you haven't already thought, I'm sure.  But it's desperate, isn't it, that in a world packed full of good and decent people (which in my experience, most people are) a tiny minority of angry or damaged individuals can wreak such havoc.  Time and again.

Eyes right (eventually)

Aargh - only five library computer minutes left for scribbling down this entry...

Had my eyes tested again: that thing where they dilate your pupils, and you faint, and you can't see properly for several hours afterwards...

Maybe everybody doesn't faint?

Anyway, it was annoying because I couldn't look at anything bright until mid-afternoon, and it was lovely and sunny outside (wouldn't you know it).  However, I'm all fine again now.  And on the positive side, I couldn't have looked at a screen for most of the day even if I'd had one, so I didn't feel like I was missing out.

Must Dash

 

 

Here you see the Man about half a minute into the Delmar Dash this morning - a five-mile run around the Albany suburb.

 

Alas, there's no shot of him at the finish line, even though I was there (and had been for twenty minutes, in the cold).  At the very last second the camera failed, and I was so busy cursing it, I didn't even see my Man crossing the line.  Ngggh!  But he did himself proud, coming in 77th in a field of more than 700, with a time of 35 minutes and 30 seconds (give or take a couple of seconds).

 

With luck the exercise will have left him nicely relaxed for his trans-Atlantic flight today (our next dash was to get him to the airport on time).  Bye-bye Internet Man, come back soon!

 

Now I'm dashing this blogpost off, trying to beat the clock on the Library computer...  

Who's snooze

The kids have recently discovered Dr. Who (thanks to Netflix), so this was the family entertainment of choice tonight.  We all squished together on the couch to watch David Tennant brandishing a sonic screwdriver and rescuing Billie Piper who'd had her face sucked off by Maureen Lipman via a 1950s television screen.  Like you do.

Our family being rather late to the party, there's a huge backlog of episodes to be got through (and we're only talking ninth doctor onwards here, never mind all the original series).  The Man and I have only joined in viewing a few, but the Girl in particular has been indulging in daily festivals of Who. 

The plot-lines are barking.  Also (to me at least) strangely soporific, in spite of all the explosions and shouty aliens.  Back in the day I used to find Dr. Who so terrifying I'd have to hide my face in a cushion in fear.  Now it seems I'm more likely to lay my head down on the cushion and have a little snooze.

Going West (and South) again

Yes, we saw the Boy's show again, but I won't go on about it - except to say that it went even better than last night's performance.  In Act 3 the stage was littered with collapsed boys. Some were even writhing.  Kids evidently know a good thing when they see it.

So we've been going West, but my laptop, alas, is heading South.  The hard-drive appears to have failed (again), as has the optic eye that reads discs, and so the whole computer is off for a two-week holiday and refit in Atlanta.  Whoop-di-do.  I hope it comes back like a new computer.  In fact, really, I hope an actual new computer comes back, as I've had about enough of the original one. 

Unfortunately the Man is also off on his travels again in a couple of days, so the house will be temporarily computerless and I shall be relying on the library.  Bear with me if blogposts become irregular for a short while.

Full-body humour

So, after all these months of rehearsals and blog-pages-worth of build-up, were we really going to wave the Boy off to perform in the opening night of the musical and not go and see him?

That was the plan, yes.  But the Man and I had a last minute change of heart and went and bought tickets for tonight's show after all.

A very jolly show it was:  Go West!  It seemed less complicated than the one the Girl performed in two years ago - perhaps when she picked it the director had in mind that she would be hugely pregnant by the time she was done with it?  But it was performed with loads of enthusiasm, and wildly Wild West accents.  And of course the sets were very fine, too.

The Boy's unremarkable one line passed almost unnoticed.  However his theatrical faint (from weariness after a long journey) raised a well-deserved laugh.  He took the attention in his stride.  As he'll tell you himself, with a flash of his Hollywood grin, he is "a master of dramatic effect".

Gingerly anticipating...

I baked gingerbread today.  It was a sophisticated recipe (thank you Moosewood) featuring the rich flavour of molasses plus a couple of surprise ingredients (nutmeg and cayenne pepper) and I was secretly banking on the kids not loving it.  But they do!  Grrr. The Girl even declares it to be the best gingerbread ever.  So I now I'm going to have to hide the tin.

The 5th Graders performance to the rest of the school went off well, it seems.  It was all captured on video, so when we get our copy we'll be able to enjoy it over and over.   Rumour has it the Boy is carrying through on his pledge to make his stage appearance "memorable" (a kid on the way to school today told him he was "awesome").  The rest of us, not due to see the show until Friday, are waiting with bated breath...

On with the show

The Boy has had a full on start to the week, staying at school until 6pm the last two days to rehearse the 5th Grade musical. 

Everything seems to have been going to plan, and apparently we are to look forward to some excellent exhausted collapsing by someone we know well in Act 3.

Tomorrow afternoon there'll be the first performance in front of an audience (the rest of the school), followed by official photos.  Then it'll be time for everyone to break a leg for the Thursday and Friday night shows. 

Quite a week - I suspect the exhausted collapsing might be for real come Friday.

Nautical but nice?

I picked up my new glasses today, complete with "progressive" lenses.  I've spent the afternoon and evening trying to get used to them.  So far they are working well for distances, but leaving me a bit seasick when I try to look at things close-up.  Preparing dinner tonight I had the impression that the stove-top and counters were sloping - I was worried that the vegetables might roll away.  Typing now, the keyboard seems to be rocking slightly and I feel the need to steady it.  It's like writing a captain's log from a cabin at sea. Hm.

I'm told I'll adjust, so I suppose I shall.  And the family will no doubt adjust to seeing me with a different pair of frames on my face.  Or I could just adopt the Man's latest look...

A day of pie

I love our local library, it's a constant source of distraction and delight.  I came across another irresistible title there yesterday: A Year of Pies, by Ashley English.

Test-baking today, I discovered that it could equally have been called An Entire Day to Bake One Pie.  Only a slight exaggeration - it took several hours to conjure up the leek and potato pie that had particularly caught my fancy.  Ooh, it was worth it though. 





And other than that, the Man and I had a bit of a hike around Schodack Island.  As I've noted before, this hike is only for the brave hearted.  I've also resolved never to try and make a pie out of anything fished out of the Hudson...

It was blustery and showery, but warmer than it looks in the photos (it reached 60F today). The kids' "Spring Break" is over and now it's one unbroken session all the way to summer.

Into the garden

Although it has been chilly today, the spring-like feel to the air is hanging in there and thoughts have turned to gardening.

It seems we did not do a great job of our "fall clear-up" last year and we've found plenty of leaves to rake up and bag.  The Man has been wrangling overgrown berry-bushes and snipping them into shape.  The Boy is looking forward to the planting season, and had us make a trip to the garden centre to buy supplies.  We are trying to start off a few plants indoors this year - what d'you reckon? 

I love the idea of gardening.  I enjoy visiting other people's gardens and I love reading about other people gardening (e.g. Barbara Kingsolver's excellent Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.)  But as yet I have not really managed to embrace the reality of gardening.  But who knows?  In the last six months I've got into cooking, so maybe this is the year when I'll also get into growing.

Friday activities

Girl: a delayed birthday celebration featuring friends, all-you-can-eat menu at Sushi X, non-stop chatter, sleepover.

Boy: buddy, mini-golf near the airport (go-karting not open until tomorrow!), sleepover elsewhere.

Man and me: chauffeur/bankrolling duties.

Sniffing around Bennington

We've had something that has looked and felt like a Spring day today.  With the Man off work, we celebrated by making a family trip to Bennington, VT.

Unfortunately we picked a season/day when some local attractions were closed, so we didn't go up the Battle Monument, and we didn't get to visit the Arts Center and Covered Bridge Museum.  However, the British fish 'n' chip shop was open, and we got to chow down on some excellent chips and, in the Girl's case, a couple of proper British bangers [sausages].  That's the second British food outlet we've sought out in less than a week - are we homesick or something?

Nicely full, we toured the town.  We liked the Bennington Bookshop.  As the Girl observed, it smelled like our attic back in Linton after we had a new carpet fitted and it suddenly became the room we all wanted to be in all the time.  The kids were also delighted by the Gamers Grotto, a busy, geeky gamers paradise, which it has to be said did not smell quite so lovely (slightly remniscent of the stinky old carpet we pulled up in our Linton bathroom - mm).


The Man adds...we discovered this stone near the monument. Time capsules always make me think of Blue Peter. I wonder what is in a time capsule from 1999?

Can-do art

Today I took three kids (we'd adopted an extra one for the afternoon) to the New York State Museum to see the Canstruction exhibit.

Using cans and other packaged foods, teams have competed to create imaginative structures - "canstructions".  Members of the public vote for their favourites by adding a can to the collecton bins beside each creation.

We'd brought cans to vote with, and we each had our own favourites.  Here are some that we enjoyed - which do you like best?

It's a fun show, with a useful end purpose - all the collected cans, plus those used in the exhibit, will ultimately be donated to local food banks.

Teen spirit

 Don't look now, we've got ourselves a teenager...

Kinder surprising

We were in a European sweetshop the day before Easter...well, I had to ask if they had Kinder Surprise eggs, didn't I? But Brits 'R' U.S didn't stock them.

They are very hard to come by in the US - in fact they have been banned here since 1997, because of the potential choking hazard of the very obviously non-edible toy in the centre of the chocolate egg. And [to quote Consumer Reports] "Kinder Surprise also falls afoul of a provision in the 1938 Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which prohibits embedding "nonnutritive items" in confections."

Quite apart from the irony that pretty much every "confection" sold here is packed full of "nonnutritive items", it does strike me as bizarre that the same country that prohibits this "dangerous" candy egg still can't quite make up its mind to ban assault weapons.