Andy in Memorial Day parade, one more time

Andy marched one final time with the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Marching Band in the annual Memorial Day Parade through the two towns on Monday. (There's video of the band here.)

Andy's been in the parade each year for at least the last 10 years, with Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and then the band.

His sister Christine likewise marched with various levels of Girl Scouts through the years and then with the high school band.

Dad says: "If I'm counting right, one or the other or both marched in each of the past 16 Memorial Day parades, since Christine was a Daisy in Kindergarten."

Flashback 2004: Andy on Cub Scout float

Flashback 2004: Christine with Junior Girl Scouts

Starting the summer season in Noyac

Kathy and her family converged at her summer house to spend Memorial Day weekend together. Here she is enjoying a sunny afternoon with son Patrick (who just finished his third year at Johns Hopkins University), daughter Genevieve and son-in-law John, daughter Vivien and her fiance, C.J.

On Memorial Day: Lest we forget

On their recent cruise through The Netherlands and Belgium, Hugh and Dolores visited the American World War II cemetery near Maastricht. Hugh shares this slideshow and description, quite appropriate for this Memorial Day weekend.

 
To view the slideshow in a larger screen, click here.

Hugh writes: Maastricht is in The Netherlands very near the Belgium border, and not far west of Germany. This is the final resting place of thousands of American service men who gave their lives in the battles against Nazi Germany in this area.

The cemetery is a solemn place. Just walking through the gate invokes silence and respect. The grass is immaculately kept and trimmed neatly around each marker. Rhododendron were in bloom at the impressive entrance. There is a small chapel built into the entrance structure.

The grave markers are in curved rows and line up in straight columns. There is a wide tree-lined aisle down the middle of the site; my photos show only the right half.

Most of the grave markers are crosses, but there are Star of David markers too. Each marker has engraved on it the name of the person resting below with his rank and his division, as well as the date of his death and the state where he came from in the U. S.

There are some markers that identify only “A comrade in arms known but to God.”

On the rear of each marker, near the ground, I found an 8 digit number. The arrangement of digits seemed familiar, because I have a number like this, too. When I asked, my notion was confirmed: This was the soldier’s serial number.

Dolores saw one marker that was clad in gold. It marked the final resting place of a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

A look at Norman Rockwell's America

Dan and Christine caught the traveling exhibit "American Chronicle: The Art of Norman Rockwell," on the final weekend of its installation at the Newark Museum of Art.

The exhibit presented a broad selection of the artist's work, spanning his entire career. Highlights were a collection of all 323 of his Saturday Evening Post covers and a look at the process of research and revisions that went into the creation of Murder in Mississippi, one of Rockwell's most pointed pieces of social commentary.

Here's a link to a slideshow of some of the pictures that were in the exhibit. They belong to the collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass.

Travels in France with Hugh, Dolores, Liz

Monet's garden

Hugh and Dolores embarked April 21 on a three-week journey to the Netherlands, Belgium and France.

They took a cruise from Amsterdam to Brussels, visited Bruges and Gent, then took a train to Paris. There, they met granddaughter Liz, who flew in from Florida after cruising the Caribbean with her mother, Lisa, and their curling friends.

Liz, Dolores and Hugh then saw some of the sights of Paris and took car excursions to Monet's Garden in Giverney, the Normandy landing beaches and the Bayeux Tapestry museum.

Hugh is preparing an extensive travelogue, but in the meantime Liz has posted this selection of photos.

Andy in glow-in-the-dark percussion performance

Percussionist Andy performed in several numbers at the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School Spring Instrumental Concert on May 14. He was one of eight drummers that opened the show with this piece, called Short Circuits, by composer Lalo Davila. (He's the second pair of sticks from the left.)
 

Andy performed another number with the Rhythmsense percussion ensemble (below) and as a percussionist in the Wind Ensemble (not pictured).




As he nears the end of senior year, Andy has two remaining performances with SPFHS musical groups: with a jazz-lab group at the school district's Jazz Festival May 19 and with the marching band at the local Memorial Day parade the following week.

Dolores & Hugh in Europe: A visit to Bayeux

In the midst of a European sojourn, Dolores and Hugh visited the Bayeux Tapestry Museum, which Dolores has long wanted to see.

The museum houses the Bayeux Tapestry, an embroidered cloth nearly 230 feet long and more than 900 years old.

"Celebrating the conquest of England by William, Duke of Normandy, this linen canvas was embroidered after the Battle of Hastings (which took place October 14, 1066), probably in a monastery in the south of England," according to the museum web site.

Detail of the Bayeux Tapesty, via Wikipedia

We expect to see much more soon from Hugh and Dolores' trip.

Lisa, Liz go cruising and curling (Updated 5/17 with more photos)

Lisa and Liz and many of their comrades in curling recently enjoyed a combination Caribbean cruise and curling bonspiel.

"Waterspiel 2014" set out from Fort Lauderdale April 26 aboard the Royal Caribbean liner Independence of the Seas.

The 15-deck, 1,112-foot-long ship has several swimming pools, a basketball court, a rock climbing wall -- and an ice skating rink, which served as a smaller-than-regulation curling sheet.


In between matches and social events for the curlers on board, there were ports of call in St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Puerto Rico and Haiti. Above is one of Lisa's photos from San Juan.

Here's a collection of photos posted by Lisa and Liz.



Upon their return to Florida, Lisa headed home but jet-setter Liz got on a plane to Paris to join grandparents Hugh and Dolores, who were in the midst of a trip of their own.

Buyer found for family house in Yonkers

2010 file photo

After serving for 48 years as the family homestead of Daniel & Lorraine and their children, this Yonkers house is about to become another family's home.

With the long process of removing valuables and keepsakes complete, and with a lot of effort by Brien in particular to clean, paint and prepare the house for showing, it was put on the market in mid-April. Today, three weeks later, a buyer signed a contract. The sale is expected to close this month.

Last week, Dan, Kathy, Brien and Kevin met for a last get-together in the house to celebrate the pending sale and our memories of many happy years in the home.



It was on July 7, 1966 - Lorraine's birthday - that she and Daniel received the key to the house from the previous owner. "We were just finishing dinner, and Dad was about to bring out the birthday cake," Dan recalls. "We all jumped up from the table, and without hesitation, we packed the cake, a card table and chairs into the car and drove the few blocks from our apartment to our new home.

"It was one family birthday party we would never forget. In particular, we remember kicking a half-deflated basketball around the empty living room. Mom was encouraging us to run around and make noise -- she was so happy that there was no landlord downstairs to complain!"

Christopher receives confirmation

Christopher was confirmed on Saturday at St. Patrick's Episcopal Church in Dublin, Ohio, by the Rt. Rev. Thomas Breidenthal, bishop of the Diocese of Southern Ohio.

Christopher, his mother Cathy and sister Stephanie are members of the parish. The group of confirmands included members of two other parishes in the greater Columbus area.

Christopher's Uncle Doug, Aunt Julie, Uncle Dan and cousins Christine and Andy attended the service, which was followed by a reception in the parish hall.

The family group then went out for lunch and visited together for the rest of the day.

Lizzie helps raise funds for cancer fight

Lizzie is on the committee of Colleges Against Cancer: Elon University Chapter, which held its major fund-raiser of the year, a Relay for Life event, on April 26-27. The event raised $50,073.28!

Tish writes: "I cannot begin to tell Lizzie and her friends how touched I am by their efforts."

One of Lizzie's friends wrote via Facebook: "Thought of you last night as we walked Ms. Tish, and as always, we're praying for your recovery! You should be so proud of Lizzie - she put so much hard work into making Relay so special."