rooftop

evening attempts at documenting the latest cape were unsuccessful inside the apartment, so we headed to the roof.

superman on one side and t-man on the other, for eve's newly 4-year-old friend, t. if 18-month-olds are capable of crushes, which is starting to get a little creepy the more i think about it, then this guy was officially eve's first crush. she loved him. until he got his hair cut. after the long blonde hair was gone, she wouldn't look at him (which happened to look almost exactly like her own, minus the curls. . . maybe that was the fascination). but happily, a year and a half later, his hair is longer and she likes him just fine. particulalrly because he spent almost 45 minutes of a train ride home laughing hysterically as eve said (over and over and over) "i need to go potty!" in a crazy robot voice. her first joke. . . and boy, was it funny.

the boy is obsessed with superheroes, so i'm pretty sure he'll be in heaven with the cape, which is quickly becoming my standard gift for the 3-4 year-old set, and maybe even some special 2-year-olds.

-clever segue back to the roof-

we have dreams for this roof- part green roof, part deck, perhaps a hydroponic greenhouse, a la the science barge? the chrysler and empire state buildings and a good chunk of manhattan skyline can be seen up there. and after spending the last six years in either basement or first floor apartments, it felt so good to be above the treeline and movement of the street. this roof could be amazing. but, like most things in our building, it will take about ten times longer than it should or could and by that time, we'll have (hopefully) moved on to a bigger place. until then, we'll use the keys that chip is given as a member of the co-op board and go up there every once in awhile to hatch some new schemes, look over our little part of brooklyn and model some capes.

artwork by ethan

the new banner was drawn five years ago by my nephew ethan. my sister, sarah, husband and two kids came to visit us in brooklyn for nearly five weeks during the hottest july known to man. to date, that is one of the best months we've spent in new york.

five adults (mim was also staying with us for an internship that summer) and two kids crammed into our 700 square foot railroad apartment in windsor terrace without an air conditioner. it could have been horrible but it was so great. i love remembering that month. . . chip was in art school taking one or two summer classes, i was in-between jobs, eric was on summer break from dental school, and sarah and mia (2) and ethan (4) were game for anything and everything. so we all just hung out together, wandering through the city. parks, bridges, coney island, museums, shops, regis and kelly, dana carvey, chinatown, broadway, bakeries, trains, zoos, massages and plays in central park, playgrounds, stoopsales, driving tours. . . we were able to do so much and were never rushed or anxious, just hot, exhausted and happy.

i really, really loved that time. i loved that we were really able to share our world with them. it is sad to know that it will never happen again. everything lined up perfectly just for that one month of our lives. but i'm so glad we took advantage of it, before life and bigger responsibilities carried us away.

back to the drawing. here is the explanation (and subsequent inquiry) as recorded by sarah on the back:

"7-21-02 by ethan. this is a picture of the subway. brown spots are gum. [after being told all the spots he was seeing on the subway platorm were gum] ethan asks 'so, long time ago people chewed black gum?' there's the train and mom, dad, kate, chip, miriam, mia and ethan standing behind the yellow line."

we've been in love with this drawing for more than five years, always trying to display it but never in a way that has really done it justice. so, i'll hang it here for awhile. of all the pictures i've seen capturing the city, i don't like any nearly as well as i love ethan's portrait of new york life and the family we were for that one summer month.

our weekend. brought to you by the letter "C"

Cucumbers. grown right on the science barge. i took a tour friday. such a smart idea and great tool for educating. if new york made use of its rooftops for hydroponic greenhouses and green-roof gardening, we would be able to grow enough food to feed the entire city, if not most of the metro area. incredible. complete space efficiency and no importing!

the barge and its components are constructed almost completely of re-used or recycled materials and operates on the power its solar array panels and wind turbines collect. no pesticides, no chemical treatments, just vitamins and minerals fed to the plants through the recirculating hydroponic system. the water they use is a combination of collected rainwater and water pumped strait up from the hudson, which they filter using a reverse osmosis system. the whole thing was amazing and exciting. the tour guide was british and used the word "reckon" which made me love that little barge even more. the tomatoes, butter lettuce and cucumbers grown right there on the barge (and graciously given to our little group) made a great salad with friday night's home-made pizza.

Cape. eve's good friend turned three on saturday, so i made him a reversible cape. one side is superman while the other is personalized for said friend, whose name happens to begin with a "C." i was inspired by the reversible superman/batman cape my mother-in-law gave eve on her third birthday, which is worn daily around here. this was a lot of fun to make. i love felt. i love cutting through it. i love sewing on it. and i love love love superheroes, especially when they're three years old.

eve was adorable during the process, "you working on my friend's superman cape, mom? you workin hard. ooh, i love dat cape mommy. so special!" she also loved trying it on and testing it out before it was wrapped up and given away.

Cheesecake. happy father's day chip. since you are one of the skinnier men i've ever known, let me try to fatten you up by making you this unbelievably good cheesesake that just happens to have 514 grams of fat packed into it's pretty little cakey body. 514!! FIVE bars of cream cheese, 1/4cup heavy cream, one PINT of sour cream, SEVEN eggs, some butter and some graham crackers and you've got 514 fat grams begging to be consumed and double the size of my love handles, while adding nothing to chip. but, it is really, really good, and i fool myself into thinking it isn't so bad for me if i have a few fresh raspberries with it.

no picture with this one. after all the revealing of its fat contents i'm too emabarassed (and horrified) to show how much we've eaten in just two days.

Console. oh, fine, it's a desk. we've been planning to have the desk stretch from wall to wall since we moved in a year and a half ago. this weekend it finally happened. one and a three-quarter solid-core doors painted and joined together. a chair for the computer and a chair for the sewing machine. now chip and i won't have to breathe down each other's necks asking "are you finished? are you almost done? so, how much longer are you going to be working here? . . ." every other minute when one of us is in the chair and the other wants to sit and work. it's no craft room (sigh) but it feels good. . . almost as good as when we got our couch and realized we could both lay down, fully stretched out without having to touch each other. now we just need to find a way to upgrade the double bed. . .

the weekend. there it is, or at least the "c" parts. you're missing out on the tantrums, the general destruction and the drawing everywhere with pen and marker, but i'm going to pretend that none of that ever happened.

saturday is a special day. . .

it's the day you get an air conditioner (if yours has been kind-of stolen) and then take off to governor's island for a wretchedly humid but happy day.

ferry ride to the island, just off the southern tip of manhattan.

when i told eve we were going on a boat to spend the day on an island, she went silent. eyes wide, she whispered "like pirates?" "yep, like pirates, eve." "well [pause] i need a pink pirate hat mom." if only. . .

fancy show from one of the harbor's fire boats.

old-timey music.

a quiet firetruck. "i like a fireman. help! i save you!"

randomly running into good friends from staten island and spending the rest of our island time having fun with the rasmussens.

hula hoops. nice form, chip.

craft time. eve and chip worked the front half while ruth and i handled the tail. the sequins for eyelashes! the red lips!

a lot of wandering for all, some napping for ruth, then back to brooklyn. back to summer cleaning, a little sewing, grocery shopping and sleeping in a freshly cooled apartment.

summer

remember that amazing spring weather i was telling you about? well, it's going and summer is on its way. i'm not happy. i do not like summer and when it is here i complain about it. a lot. i try to stop myself but i just can't. i'm miserable when i'm sticky and hot. i think i have reverse seasonal affective disorder. do they make that? if they do, i've got it.

my summers in new york usually go like this: run air conditioner full blast, try try try to get the girls to love being inside. shows! forts! projects! books! treats! tumbling practice! games! dancing! anything! until i finally give in to their incessant requests ("let's catch the sunshine, mommy! come on! nice and warm!") and go to the park. while at the park i sweat more than any female should, squint, wish oh wish that i could tear all my clothes off and sit in a garbage can full of cool water like i did when i was a kid, try to stop the girls from burning their little thighs on the red-hot slides, come home with a headache, and dream of living in a world whose temperature never rises above 78 degrees. . . i'm dreading the summer days ahead.

of course, there are things that help. the red hook pool often saves the day. free, enormous, cool water, giant wading pool complete with sprinklers, ridiculously strict rules about what you can wear and take on deck thus making everything clean and the pool offensive-shirt-free. i love you, red hook pool. except when you are too full of people and won't let desperate me and my girls in. then i hate you. i also hate you when we have to get out because sombody has gone #2 in you. although, that really isn't your fault. but can't you come up with some rule?. . . oh wait, you already have, rule #2 (ha!) : "No urinating or defecating in the pools." clear and concise, well done.

and then there is the beach. sand to scoop and pile, cool breezes, waves to watch and occassionally jump into. i love you, jacob riis beach. except when it's so windy that sand is pelted into my eyeballs and gets stuck to my watermelon. then i hate you. i also hate you when the helicopters overhead fly so low that i feel like i need to duck to avoid decapitation and poor eve is huddled in terror under her towel with her arms over her eyes and head, just waiting for the torture to end.

but, happily, there is one saving grace of summer that i just can't hate, no matter how low the helicopters fly and regardless of the bowel movements of others. and that is a good summer dress. an entire outfit in one fell swoop? heaven. minimal contact with the skin? perfect. nice air flow and circulation that almost lets me forget i'm clothed? brilliant. summer dresses, i love you. and, conveniently enough, i just happen to like making you. for little girls there is nothing easier than whipping up a simple little summer dress. and for myself, even if i don't have a dress pattern that i love, but a shirt pattern that i do, i just lengthen the shirt and, voila! a dress fit for a middle-class, stay-at-home brooklyn mom.

here are a few that i've come up with in preparation for the hideous heat ahead:

vintage fabric from the humane society thriftstore in brookings, oregon. $0.50. i wish i had enough to make something for ruth and myself.

i actually made this last year for eve, but it fits ruth's little body perfectly now. the strapless is really darling but just about as practical for an 18-month-old as you'd think. however, i refuse to put straps on this one. for the 1 minute and 20 seconds she wears it before pulling it down around her waist, i am absolutely in love.

one of ms. wendy mullin's patterns again. that inset is a little tricky, but manageable. this is an example of a shirt pattern that i lengthened. i also did a little sleeve alteration- opted for making cap over the flutter in the pattern. i've been concerned it looks too much like a hospital gown, but this picture makes me sure that i really do like it.

this is from a vintage tunic pattern, with some adjustments like buttons and little cuffs, inspired by (fine, copied directly from) alysha's adjustments to the same pattern. who doesn't love a dress with pockets?

summer, i hope you're gentle and kind to me this year. but if you aren't, at least my girls and i will have some cute dresses to wear that just might stop me from complaining for the first 20 minutes i'm outside.

i love spring

the weather has been amazing. we're in heaven. here's a little view of how we've spent our time the last few days:

making little shorts and pants for the girls to run around in.

sitting around. lying around.

*i love chip's spindly legs here. i could blame it on camera distortion, but that's exactly what the man's legs look like. the shot of ruth and i sitting (one of her favorite past-times) is included only so you can see how cute her little feet are, not to showcase the fact that i didn't brush my hair once this past monday.

loving the fountains and museum.

checking out new flowers and visiting favorite playgrounds.

smiling and jumping. a lot.

a good week so far.

time

of all the things i wish for (and i wish for a lot) i wish most of all that our little family had more time. time to just be together, time for the girls to hang out with dad and time for me just just sit back and enjoy.

my wish came true friday. chip miraculously walked in the door just after 6pm. after weeks of his earliest arrival home being after 10pm, and often after 1am, i mean it when i say it was a miracle.

so, we all headed outside to enjoy our urban home.



really great.

when i don't get time to lounge around brooklyn with chip and the girls, i'm usually spending my time pushing the double-wide stroller through it. but there are times when i'm just home with the girls and a sewing project.

here are a few of the completed projects from the last little bit (i love show and tell):

blue dress: many thanks to ms. wendy mullin and her built by wendy patterns.

easter skirt for eve (note the big yellow sash) and easter dress for ruthie (bright yellow buttons down the back- i really should get better pictures. . .): all me. nothing's easier than super simple gathered skirts and dresses for little girls!

yellow shirt worn at bobby's wedding and made on mary's dreamy bernina: more thanks to ms. mullin. same pattern as the blue dress

yellow/polka dot shirt: simplicity 4589 with a few adjustments. my wonky arms really finish the look. . .

blue dress: just so you could see it has pockets and a really cute shape. having trouble with the picture quality here. i'm close to unlocking the secrets of photoshop. close.

time to get eve to bed. chip is reading this and this to her right now. classics from our childhood. she's in heaven. so is chip. and really, so am i.