We're catching up on August posts

Your editor had a chance this week to catch up with some of the events of the past month or so, and posted a fresh batch of articles. You don't want to miss them - scroll down to see!

• Courtney and Chad are engaged 
• Andy celebrates important birthday 
• Stephanie selected to All-State Band 
• Visiting cousins and new friends on Cape Code and Long Island 
• We catch glimpses of the solar eclipse
• Dan meets the other Dan in the Hamptons 
• Dolores teaches portraiture; Hugh assists 
• Balloons and music at annual festival in NJ 

Celebrating a big birthday Montauk-style

Andy celebrated his 21st birthday Aug. 23 while on vacation on Long Island with his parents, his sister and his girlfriend, Shannon.

The group drove out to Montauk to visit the lighthouse, then went to the restaurant at Gosman's Dock and enjoyed dinner on the waterside deck in absolutely gorgeous late-summer weather.

A birthday toast with adult beverages

As the sun set, a small boat just offshore positioned itself perfectly for photos, with the sliver of the new moon in the sky above.

Moon catches sun, we catch glimpses

While the Northeastern U.S. was outside the path of the total eclipse of the sun that crossed America on Aug. 21, a partial eclipse was visible, and some of us were able to get a view.

Julie had obtained a pair of special viewing glasses from an astronomy-minded friend. So as she and Dan, Christine, Andy and Shannon visited Jamie and his mom and stepdad on Cape Cod, they were able to take turns viewing the celestial event.

The orange-tinted photos at the top of this post were taken by Dan by simply holding the glasses over the lens of his camera.

Meanwhile, down in Yonkers, a thin layer of clouds provided just enough filter for Brien to get these shots with his phone camera.

Did anyone else get eclipse photos? Please share them!

Courtney & Chad are engaged

We're catching up with news that broke a couple of weeks ago in Florida: Courtney and her long-time boyfriend Chad are now engaged to be married!

Chad proposed while the couple was on a boat heading to a restaurant to celebrate Chad's birthday. Chad had secretly arranged to turn the birthday party into an engagement party. Courtney's mother, Nanette, had flown down from New York to join the celebration along with Chad's family and Courtney's close friends.

We hear the plan is for the wedding to take place next year, in the fall. Congratulations, Chad and Courtney!

Stephanie selected to All-State Band (Updated with band camp photos & videos)

Stephanie just had an exciting week:

She began her senior year at Hilliard-Darby High School... played in the school marching band's first football-game performance of the season...

And was notified that she'd been selected to participate in the 2018 Ohio Music Education Association All State Band. This ensemble of student musicians from around the state will get together to rehearse and perform in February.

Congratulations to our favorite clarinetist!

Earlier in August, Steph and her bandmates spent several days at band camp learning this season's show.

Band mom Cathy reports: "The students spent a week away at a conference center learning the first half of their competition show. This year's show is called "The Bridge." They also practiced the stand tunes that they play during football games."

"We had great weather all week which helped tremendously. I went along as a chaperone which allowed me to take a few (1500 or so!) photos of the students throughout the week.

I've shared some photos of Stephanie as well as a couple of videos from one of the first times they ran through their show. They learned sections 1 & 2 at camp. Now they are working on section 3 (which includes a woodwind ensemble & a clarinet solo by someone we know!).

• Click here to see the photo album.
• Watch the videos: Part 1 (about 1 min) - Part 2 (2 1/2 min)

Visiting cousins & new friends on Cape, LI

Dan, Julie, Christine, Andy and Shannon took a vacation trip this month to Cape Cod, where Christine introduced her family to James' mother, Bonnie, and her husband, Jay, who recently moved full-time to what was their summer home, in Harwich Port. In the photo above, the group (L to R Jay, Bonnie, Andy, Shannon, Jamie, Christine, Dan, Julie) dine al fresco at Mistralino Ristorante during a day trip to Provincetown.

While on the Cape, Dan and Julie met Dan's cousin Owen at a club where Owen's son, Gerrit, and his band, 28, were playing for the Saturday night crowd. A couple of days later, Owen joined the group for a sunset visit to Chapin Beach on Cape Cod Bay. (Unfortunately, Gerrit, Angela and Nolan weren't able to come by, as Nolan had other plans for the evening.)

After a few fine days on the Cape, Dan, Julie, Christine, Andy and Shannon headed to Long Island, taking the New London-to-Orient Point ferry. (Meanwhile, Jamie prepared to return to R.I.T. for the fall semester.) On their way to Noyac, the group met Dan's cousin Nanette on Shelter Island. They spent the late afternoon grabbing a bite to eat and catching some salty air at a local beach where the wind was blowing swiftly across Noyac Bay.

Additional posts coming soon with more from Cape Cod and Long Island!

Dan meets that other Dan in the Hamptons

In early August, Dan made a one-day trip from New Jersey to Long Island to bring some things out to the Noyac cottage, then spent the day with Kathy. They went to the ocean beach in Bridgehampton, and late in the afternoon they noticed a bunch of kites in the air at Sagg Main Beach. So they drove over to investigate.

It turned out to be the Dan's Papers 45th Annual Kite Fly, and Dan Rattiner, the founder and president of those Hampton weeklies, was on hand. "We met and chatted for a bit," says our Dan, "telling him we'd been reading his papers since they first appeared in the early 1960s. Then Kathy insisted we pose for a Dan-meets-Dan photo."

Can you tell which white-bearded Dan is which?

Kathy also met and spoke with local artist Lucy Rubin, who had drawn the cover art for that week's issue and brought along her own kite, embellished with angel wings. Unfortunately, she said, it didn't fly well.

Dolores teaches portraiture; Hugh assists

Hugh sends along this photo​ of Dolores conducting a class at the Rehoboth Art League, instructing students on how to draw/paint portraits in Rehoboth. "Note that she has provided a live model," Hugh writes. "She says that the hat and the beard provide a challenge, and he works cheap."