pumptins are orange Daddy!

Last weekend we drove upstate with some friends from Brooklyn and went pumpkin picking. Max and his friend Evan had fun on the hay ride and bumping along in the back of the old town fire truck. The pumkin farm and apple orchard were in New Paltz, NY which is about 80 miles north in Ulster County. We had a really good time. We ate fresh made apple donuts and bought pumpkins and gourds for decorating. As you can see by Max's clothing it was a balmy 80 on sunday. Not quite the weather I am used to for pumpkin season. We had a really good day.

Still nothing

Well I have made some small steps. But the finish line is still illusive. I now have a board meeting on November 9th, which is the good news. Despite having to once again stay and pay higher rent in my current place. The downside is that the Co-op board wont even consider closing until the 18th or 19th of November. So once again the theory of getting the carpets pulled out and floors sanded while I was away for work are smashed. And not really sure I will be able to get anyone to do them over the holiday weekend. so we will see.

Holy Hollyhocks!

For whatever reason, the hollyhocks in the front flower bed are gigantic this year--more than 10 feet high. They sorta dwarf everything else, don't they?

Our new neighbor: The Bronx Zoo!

Hi all
When we moved to Riverdale, we weren't thinking about the Bronx Zoo, but now that we're here, we've discovered that we live 20 minutes away! Max and I got to go with some friends/cousins on Columbus Day. It was very hard to drag Max away from the prairie dog exhibit.

-Lauren

Eric at the cabin

Our friend, Eric Wolf, has been visiting the cabin for a number of years--he finds it to be a relaxing and private retreat where he can paint without the interruptions of daily life in New York. Eric shared these images of various works he produced during his most recent visit (September 2007). A section of our family web site has more information about Eric, his style of painting, and the paintings he has done for our family. Click here to visit the Bowles web site.

Update (10-9-07): Eric just wrote to let us know that he has a new web site. Click here to check it out (you'll notice that most of the paintings he features on his site were done at the cabin!).

Peterborough Chamber Choir

Sue and I sang with this group in the early 1990s, but it sorta disbanded for a while and we were quite involved with the Monadnock Chorus, etc. I am now singing with the PCC again. It's an excellent group of singers that performs a'cappella music, often from the Medieval and Renaissance periods--music I love.

We are currently preparing for a concert on October 21. The concert will be held in a beautiful stone church in Jaffrey--wonderful acoustics and a perfect setting for the music we will be performing.

What are we singing, you ask? Here's the program (I'm sure you will recognize the names of all the composers!). Note that most of the pieces are settings of the Ave Maria text--I'm really looking forward to the concert.

Leonarda— Ave Regina coelorum

Clemens— Ave Maria

Grieg— Ave maris stella

Mozart— Ave verum corpus

Willan—I beheld her, beautiful as a dove

Willan—Fair in face

Verdonck— Ave Maria

Parsons— Ave Maria

Pärt— Bogoroditse Devo

Rachmaninov— Bogoroditse Devo

Stravinsky— Ave Maria

Byrd— Ave verum corpus

Bruckner— Ave Maria

Gombert— Ave Maria

an urban haiku

an urban haiku
gum on the soles of my shoes
new york at its best

vacation in a vacation

well it has been a lovely and much needed vacation, but not only that there has been an amazing vacation in a vacation. we just got back to rainy London from beautiful Mallorca. there were cannonballs into the sea, wine festivals and amazing food. what is more amazing it that I still have another week to relax and enojoy London.