Dan's Class of 1975 feted at Fordham reunion

Class of 1975 group photo. Dan is 3 rows back, 3rd from left.

Dan and Julie attended Fordham University's Jubilee 2025, its annual class-reunion celebration. At a dinner in the Rose Hill campus center on May 30, Dan and the rest of the Class of 1975 were welcomed as the newest members of the Golden (50-year-plus) Rams Alumni Society. More than 40 of Dan's classmates attended, including a handful of old friends he was happy to see.

The event included a brief address by the university's president, Tania Tetlow.

Dan and Julie are seated just outside the right margin of the photo!

Dan decided to go back to campus the next day for a tour of the studios of WFUV - much modernized since his tenure there - plus a "picnic" lunch held in the athletic center due to rain, and a nostalgic walking tour of the campus.

What is happening up there in the sky?

Wearing their safety glasses, Dan and Julie gaze at the sun as it disappears behind the moon during the the total eclipse of the sun.

Dan and Julie took a little trip to Upstate New York to follow the sun, and the moon, and witness their rendezvous in the sky on April 8.

After enjoying Brien's parade-watch party on Saturday, D&J followed Andy and Wren up the Thruway. They visited A&W's five goats and two recently adopted cats. Later Sunday, they took a stroll through the campus of SUNY Cobleskill, where Wren is working toward a BA in cybersecurity and made the President's List with a 4.0 GPA in the fall term.

Cats declining to be photographed

On Monday, D&J headed north and west into the eclipse's path of totality. They found a park in the little village of Croghan, N.Y., where a few dozen people - mostly other out-of-towners - had gathered to watch the sky show. It was very near the center of the zone of totality, where the moon would completely cover the sun for about three minutes.

An amateur-astronomer friend of Julie's had said that the difference between an eclipse covering 99% of the sun and 100% is like night and day. Very true!

NASA photo

"Even when the sun was down to a tiny sliver, it was as bright as a typical cloudy afternoon," said Dan. "But once it blipped out, we were in twilight, similar to about a half-hour after sunset. And the thing in the sky looked alien - like a black disk with a shining circle around it." The view was very similar to this NASA photo taken elsewhere along the moon-shadow's path that day.

"It was an amazing sight - certainly worth the trip!"

Charlie receives sacrament of Baptism

Charles Joseph, son of Vivien and CJ, was baptised on Saturday, Feb. 9, at Our Lake of the Lake in Verona, N.J. A large gathering of relatives and friends attended the ceremony.

The celebrant invited children in the congregation to "help" him bless the water in the baptismal font.

Here's Charlie with his parents just after his encounter with the water of baptism, as his godparents - C.J.'s sister Sara May and Vivien's brother, Patrick, look on.

After the ceremony, the gathering moved to Palazzo Restaurant in Montclair for a wonderful reception. Five-month-old Charlie seemed to thoroughly enjoy meeting so many friends and family members!

Eventful season for senior Stephanie

It's been a very busy spring for Stephanie as she wraps up her senior year at Hilliard Darby High School. We've fallen behind on the news, but here are photos from three events in April.


At her school's Academic Awards ceremony, Stephanie received an academic honors award, a certificate for outstanding academic achievement and a presidential award for educational excellence.

Here we see Stephanie and a group of friends about to head to the school's Senior Prom.

See more photos of the group here.

Also in April, Stephanie performed again with the Columbus Youth Symphonic Band at its spring concert.

"Stephanie enjoyed performing with them this year at Capital University," Cathy writes. "It was a great opportunity to work with a new conductor and make new friends from other high schools."

Click the image at right to see videos and more photos from the concert.

Dolores at Oakland gallery opening

Earlier this month, Dolores and Hugh attended the reception and ribbon-cutting marking the opening of the Garrett County Arts Council's new gallery in Oakland, Md.

Hugh writes: "The new gallery is on Second Street in the heart of the Oakland business district. It replaces the gallery around the corner on Alder Street that the Council was forced to leave 18 months ago after a burst pipe flooded the building. The new gallery is a wonderful space that will display the fine art and craft works of the artisans of Garrett County."

Five paintings by Dolores in pastel and watercolor are currently exhibited in the gallery. This photo shows her standing by her pastel, “February Snow.”

Among the crowd at the opening were the mayor of Oakland and members of the Board of Commissioners of Garret County along with the Arts Council's executive director and members of its board of directors.

Family members gather for a wedding in Rochester

Lisa, Doug, Liz and Rebecca were among the guests as Lisa's niece Kathy was married last weekend.

Kathy and her husband, Daniel, live in Rochester. The wedding brought Kathy's parents, Dave and Susan (Lisa's sister) back to Rochester from Florida, where they recently moved. Doug and Lisa came up from Maryland. Rebecca also lives in the Rochester area, while Liz is now a Brooklyn resident.

Brien's Annual St. Patrick's Parade Watch Party

What's everyone looking at?

The annual St. Patrick's Day Parade on McLean Avenue in Yonkers marches right past Brien's apartment, and for a fourth consecutive year, he hosted a parade-watch party for family and friends.

The parade gets bigger each year, and so does Brien's party! Owen came down from Massachusetts and Austin came up from Florida to join the festivities this year, and Beatrice made her debut.

Here's an album of photos from this Great Day for the Irish.

Walk to win against Alzheimer's

Our family team at last year's walk

The New York City Walk Against Alzheimer's is just a few weeks away, on Sunday, Oct. 18. Captain Shanna is once again organizing our family team.

"I have been doing this a walk ever since soon after my Grandma was diagnosed and continue to do it in her memory," Shanna writes. "Hopefully one day, Alzheimer's won't be a part of life, but until then I'd love to show support for this cause and those touched by it."

The walk through Manhattan's lovely Riverside Park raises money for the Alzheimer's Association, which supports research into prevention, treatments and a cure for Alzheimer's and assists families coping with the disease.

To join our team of walkers and/or add your donation, please visit the team page here.

Congratulations newlyweds Vivien and CJ!

-- MORE PHOTOS ADDED TO ALBUM 11/19 --

Vivien and CJ were married Saturday, Nov. 15, in a beautiful ceremony at St. Francis Xavier Church in Manhattan.

Vivien's sister, Genevieve, and CJ's brother Jacques were matron of honor and best man, and Patrick, John and Shanna were among the wedding party.

The wedding was followed by a fabulous reception at the Ritz Carlton at Battery Park. A great gathering of family and friends enjoyed fine food and joyous dancing.


Here's a video of the grand finale, when just about everyone joined in singing and dancing to "Don't Stop Believing."

Here's more video Dan took of some of the party's dancing highlights (a bit slanted to his end of the family). Can you feel the happiness?


We've collected a album of photos -- some taken by Dan and others posted on Facebook by various participants. More may be added, so check back soon!


And here's one more photo, by the studio doing the wedding album.

Annual Walk to End Alzheimer's approaching

Our team at last year's walk

With October almost here (gaak!) the time is approaching for the annual Walk to End Alzheimer's. Shanna is once again leading our family team in the New York City walk, October 19 at Riverside Park.

Click to go to our family team page

"Since 2009, our family has been involved in the Walk," Shanna says. "We have surpassed our fundraising goal every year, and hopefully raised awareness. We plan to do it all again in 2014 in memory and honor of my Grandma."

If you'd like to take part and/or help with a donation, please visit our team page. Thanks!

Christine and Dan attend Hampton Classic

Horse lover Christine and her dad attended part of the Hampton Classic Horse Show in Bridgehampton this week. They spent a couple of hours watching riders practice with their horses on Monday, then returned to watch a full day of competition on Tuesday.

Dan enjoyed taking hundreds of photos of the beautiful animals. Here are just a couple dozen of his favorites.



SIDEBAR: On Monday, the ASPCA put on a presentation about rescue animals - pets purchased from shelters, horses purchased from auctions. To promote their adoption, animal advocate and NBC correspondent Jill Rappaport launched a campaign called "Pies for Paws," hoping to repeat the success of the ALS Association's "ice bucket challenge." Here Jill, already pie-ed, finds a willing volunteer in professional rider and Hampton Classic competitor Georgina Bloomberg.

Balloons and rock-n-roll at Jersey festival

Julie and Dan, along with Christine, Andy and his girlfriend, Shannon, once again enjoyed a visit to the annual Festival of Ballooning in Readington, N.J., on Sunday.


Under hot sunny skies, they watched an afternoon concert by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, still rocking their hits from the 1980s and still making new music as well.



Then came the balloon ascension - always a fun sight.

Dozens of balloons took part, filling the sky and drifting off to come down in nearby farm fields and neighborhoods.

This year, many of the balloons seemed to have trouble maintaining altitude, and some of the larger ones never lifted off.

We speculated that the hot, humid air make it difficult to generate enough of a temperature difference inside and outside the balloon to get a good lift.

A notable exception was this very large, three-faced balloon depicting the see-no-evil, hear-no-evil and speak-no-evil monkeys.

A big day on the Cape: Running and rocking

In this great photo taken by her son, Gerrit, Tish crosses the finish line Saturday after completing the 3-mile walk portion of the the 37th Annual Dennis Road Race.

Gerrit, as recreation coordinator for the Town of Dennis, organized the event, which included the walk, a 5-mile race and a 1-mile kids' fun run.

"I visualized kicking cancer with every one of the 7,000 steps that I took," Tish posted afterward. "I discovered that this was an empowering experience. It was hot, sunny, and the hills were tough, but I proved something to myself. I hope that others that are fighting this battle will be inspired."

The event was a big success, with 646 registered participants. And that was only part of the busy day for Gerrit. That evening, his band, 28, put on the latest of its summer concert series at the Lost Dog Pub in Orleans. A fan posted this photo on Facebook.

We walk to end Alzheimer's

Our family was well represented at this year's Walk to End Alzheimer's, at New York's Riverside Park on Sunday.


Team leader Shanna reports that our team raised some $1,200 for this year's walk. And contributions can still be made toward our team's tally by visiting its web page.


Over six years, our team has now raised more than $5,000 to support the Alzheimer's Association's programs of support for patients and families and for research into combating the disease.


We fielded eight walkers this year - and as always, we walked to win!

This year's team: Dan, Kathy, Brien, Kathy, Kevin, Genevieve, Shanna, Rick

Take a walk in the park for Alzheimer's research

The annual Walk to End Alzheimer's is coming up on Oct. 20 in New York's Riverside Park, and once again Shanna is organizing a family team to take part.

Our team in 2012

"Please show your support as I walk in honor of my Grandma," Shanna writes. "Spread the word and please donate to this important cause. Thank you!"

Walking in 2011

This will be the sixth year that our family - which has been touched multiple times by Alzheimer's disease - has joined the walk.

In that time, we've raised over $4,000 for the association, which operates programs of support for patients and their families and helps fund research into the disease.

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR TEAM!

Start of 2011 walk

The walk itself is a pleasant autumn hike through the beautiful park. The registration booths open at 9 a.m., opening ceremonies start at 10 and the walk gets under way at 11 a.m.

Please visit our family team page to make a donation, and join us in the park if you can!

Balloons, music and fireworks at an NJ festival

On a beautiful July evening, Dan, Julie, Christine, Andy and his girlfriend Shannon caught part of the annual New Jersey Festival of Ballooning in Readington, N.J.

Heading there after work on Friday night, they arrived just as the last of the balloons were making their sunset ascent. They enjoyed the evening's entertainment - a concert by Blues Traveler, followed by an excellent fireworks show.