The Glass Museum, Corning, NY

When we drove through Corning to get to our friend Lisa's house, the first thought that crossed my mind was: Wow! Corning! Like CorningWare, like the pots our moms used to cook in. When Lisa mentionned the Glass Museum and how we should really not miss it, we knew it was the perfect opportunity to answer Mara's recent questions about how glass was made. 

The Corning Glass Museum is a combo of an art gallery with a beautiful store, interesting hands-on activities and great shows and demos going on all day. We went to see the Flameworking Demo where the artist turned simple glass rods into a delicate pinguin figurine with a 5,000 degree Fahrenheit gas- and oxygen-powered torch.  

We also went to the Hot Glass Show (glassblowing), where a beautiful vase became alive in front of our eyes. The gaffer (another name for glassblowers) took glowing gobs of molten glass on the end of a pipe and turned and blew and put it back in the oven and kept working at it in front of us. The last time he took it out of the oven, Mathilde let out a loud: Wow! and everybody laughed! She was truly amazed at the process!

:: The famous CoringWare pots ::

Then we finally returned to the Glassbreaking Demo (where we had started) where they show how different types of glass shatter, because Charlie wanted to try to get picked to be the assistant (and he did! And they give the assistant a beautiful glass figurine: he got a polar bear standing on his head!), but the funny thing is that the last item is a handdipped egg-shaped piece and it is not supposed to break the way the facilitator intends it to break... but Charlie had seen the demo before and had his idea in mind... and he broke it! Look at that grin on his face! He was pretty proud of himself! And we all had a good laugh!

Buttermilk Falls, Ithaca, NY

After our Mother's Day brunch, we went for a hike to Buttermilk Falls, at the edge of the City of Ithaca. Buttermilk Falls State Park is in the Finger Lake Region. When the glacier receeded north about 10,000 years ago, water filled the area, creating the 11 Finger Lakes which include Cayuga Lake. Since then, water in the form of Buttermilk Creek has poured down the glacially-steepened hillside, cutting away its soft sedimentary rock. This on-going process has formed the park's gorge and spectacular waterfalls.

  :: Columbine flowers ::

 

 Lisa showed the girls how to recognize jewelweed (that grows around nettle because it relieves the itch from that plant) and how it looks like silver when you turn it around in the water... They loved that!

 :: Our 3 families: Lisa is holding Jamie's Malaya, but her children are Katie and Grace (the two beautiful big girls with red hair) Charlie, the boy on the right with dark hair. Jamie (with the braid) is also Banyan's mom (the blond boy standing besides Charlie) and, well, you know us, of course! ::

Mother's Day with old/new friends

I mean, seriously, how more irresistible can this family get? Picking fresh lilac and apple tree blossoms for your mom for Mother's Day, cooking the most amazing quiche with decadent local heavy cream and all super local ingredients in your pjs, father and son sneaking old fashions donuts in the brunch (that the moms end up eating first thing with their coffee even if they thought it was not the best idea...), an incredible violin/viola duet made up of two beautiful and incredibly inspiring teenagers, 2 baskets full of the Playmobile farm collection that the girls played with for hours on end, a basket full of Waldorf handwork projects my friend Lisa just finished after 4 years of training that I could touch and examine and try not to drool over... and so much more...

I told you about Lisa before. She sent the girls those beautiful plant-dyed craft kits for Christmas when we were in Arizona. I have known Lisa online for 9 years. I had a file full of Lisa's words of wisdom that I read before going to bed when the girls were little. She was a mentor to me, a friend holding my hand through the intricate World Wide Web... And now, I was meeting her for the very first time, in her beautiful home, and it's just like we had been friends forever. I know it sounds cheezy, but I feel like my whole family fell in love with theirs. It was that great!

Then, Jamie, another friend from the old Waldorf forum, came with her 3 children and celebrated Mother's Day with us and it was so great to connect with her in person too. We had "talked" and exchanged online before and I was really happy to meet her and her sweet partner Brion, and their adorable new addition, Koa.

NYC Day 2: dipping our toes in Central Park, Soho, Little Italy and Chinatown

The next day, we woke up to a bright sunny day and decided to take the ferry to go to NY to really get the best view of the city. Approaching the city by boat made us feel its magnitude.

We then went to explore the area just south of Central Park.

:: Central Park ::

NY felt strangely extremely clean and there were very few beggars and homeless people... to the point that our girls noticed it! They compared it to San José and Montreal and said how much cleaner it was and how they barely saw any homeless people... It is actually kind of weird. It makes you wonder were they all are. My friend Lisa says ex-mayor Giuliani might have deported them all in rougher areas of town...

:: Getting fresh pressed beet, carrots, ginger and spinach juice right on the street! We love NY!! ::

We then went off to discover the Soho neighborhood, mainly a high-end fashion district. We wanted to stop for a bite at Olive's, but when I went in to check the menu on the big blackboard and pointed my camera at it and got yelled "No photo!", we decided against it. Very NY.

 

The next logical district to visit, especially with a grumbling tummy, was Little Italy.

We had gelato and cannoli at Ferrara Bakery and Café, one of the most famous spots in Little Italy.

The South end of Little Italy intermingled with the beginning of Chinatown and that gave rise to a very funny mix of smells...

We were quite excited to have found rambutans for sale, but also quite surprised when we found out about their price (75 cents EACH and no picking said the sign!! Those are the big red hairy litchis... We would get a huge bag of them for $4 in Costa Rica).

When we reached Columbus Park (still in Chinatown), there were many Chinese gatered to play games. Most were playing cards, but some of them were playing Chinese checkers. It was the real thing, not the American version that we know. It was an entirely different game and looked quite complex.

The girls loved New York much more than I expected. I thought they would be too young for it, but they enjoyed the city vibe a lot. On our way back we got to see the Statue of Liberty in the distance. What a great way to say Goodbye to this amazing city...