How suddenly the season can change

Hugh and Dolores send along these two contrasting photos of the view from their condo on Deep Creek Lake on April 7...



And on April 11.

Shanna making grad school plans

Shanna writes:
I have been accepted to Mercy College's Childhood Education Masters program.

Mercy is just one of the schools I am applying to, so I won't make a decision as to where I will be this fall until I hear from all of the schools.

Even though I have my B.A. in Journalism, a change of heart -- and the way the job market is -- has lead me to a bit of a career change. I have always been a bit torn between journalism and teaching so it will be nice to have degrees in both.

I'm very excited that I was accepted and I will update you when I decide which school I am going to.

Video from Easter in Yonkers

Some video highlights from Sunday's gathering at the old homestead.

Easter at the Lake

Hugh and Dolores were joined by daughter Cathy, daughter-in-law Lisa and three grandchildren for Easter weekend at their condo on Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland.

Cathy drove east from Ohio with Christopher and Stephanie, and Lisa and Rebecca drove west from Towson to join them. The week's snowfall had melted away by the time they arrived for the weekend. (Lisa took this photo.)

On Saturday the group traveled to Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house in southwestern Pennsylvania. Cathy sent along this photo.



Missing, and missed, were Doug, who's back in Las Vegas where his engineering firm is hoping to land a major interstate highway project; and Elizabeth, who's in her second year at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Julie and her family were spending the holiday in Yonkers with Dan's relatives.

Rebecca, meanwhile, will be graduating from Towson High School in the spring and has decided to attend Rochester Institute of Technology next fall. In this photo she joins her cousin Stephanie on the back of a big blue whale. Why not?
This particular whale sits in the yard behind the Uno pizza restaurant on the lake alongside the condo complex.

Where, how and with whom did you spend the holiday? Please send us your Easter stories and photos today!

Easter gathering in Yonkers

Nineteen family members gathered at Dan and Lorraine's house on Easter Sunday. It was the second time we've gotten four generations of the family together at the homestead in Yonkers.

Marie, Brian and Xander drove up from Hamilton for a brief visit with Dan and Julie and Christine and Andy before they all headed up to Yonkers for dinner at Xander's great-grandparents' house. Brien joined them for dinner. Later Kathy and Ted, Genevieve, Vivien and Patrick arrived, soon followed by Kevin and Kathy, Shanna and Kevin.

The gathering turned into a few-days-belated birthday party for Daniel, with cake and candles and presents.

The first couple of photos are from Dan and Julie's house, the rest from the Yonkers gathering.

How did you spend the holiday? And with whom? Please send us your Easter stories and photos today!

Pre-Easter snow greets Hugh and Dolores at Deep Creek Lake

Hugh and Dolores are spending Easter weekend at their condo on Deep Creek Lake in Garrett County, Md., where they'll be joined by Cathy, Christopher and Stephanie and by Lisa and Rebecca.

Several inches of snow fell earlier in the week in Garrett County, which is known for getting more snowfall than surrounding areas. Hugh took several photos and plans to send them along, but in the meantime referred us to this picture of snow-covered Easter decorations that appeared in the local newspaper, the Republican.

Christine's soccer team off to a winning start

Starting another spring soccer season, Christine's team defeated its cross-town rival 2-0 on Sunday.

The two Scotch Plains teams faced off on the opening weekend of Intercounty Youth Soccer League U17 (under age 17) girls competition.

Christine's team played hard and smart against a tough opponent. As one of their coaches said afterward, they "got to the ball first" through most of the game. Their goalkeeper handled every close shot beautifully. In the final minutes they appeared to be tiring and the opposing team mounted several attacks, but to no avail as the defense kept the shutout intact.

The regular season runs through May 16.

Send us your sporting news!

Curling brings Doug & Lisa to Jersey

Doug and Lisa took part in a curling competition in New Jersey this weekend, which provided an opportunity to get together with Dan and Julie.

The Plainfield Curling Club was holding its season-ending bonspiel. (This year's event featured a pig roast and was therefore called a bon-squeal.) Dan and Julie joined the crowd of curlers to watch Doug and Lisa and another Maryland couple compete against a New Jersey team on Saturday night. The other team, obviously capitalizing on home-ice advantage, won the match.

Once the game was out of the way, Dan and Julie and Doug and Lisa had a chance to catch up over snacks and beverages. Doug has been spending a lot of time in Nevada where his engineering firm is bidding on a major interstate highway project.

The voice of Sag Harbor goes silent

From the Southampton Press:
Paul Sidney, the president emeritus, general manager, co-owner and ubiquitous on-air host of WLNG 92.1 FM radio in Sag Harbor, died on Wednesday night. He was 69.

Read the Southampton Press article

From the Sag Harbor Express:
Sidney was one of Eastern Long Island’s most well known broadcasters and he monopolized the East End airwaves for almost four and half decades.

Read the Sag Harbor Express article

Engagement portraits of Genevieve and John

Genevieve writes:
John and I had engagement portraits taken when we were both in New York last weekend. Our wedding photographers offer them as part of our package. The pictures came out really nicely, but they will only be online until Friday, so I thought if people wanted to look at them I'd give them a chance! I picked some of the images to appear in a guestbook at the wedding.

The link to the gallery is www.ulyssesphotography.com (Click on client proofs, and then Genevieve and John. Disclaimer: There are a lot of kissing pictures.) My photographer also has a blog; the entry about us is here.

Fleetwood Mac: They 'Don't Stop'

The latest tour of the latest incarnation of Fleetwood Mac came to New Jersey on Saturday and Dan and Julie were there for an evening of classic rock. The current lineup has drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, plus singer Stevie Nicks and lead guitar/singer Lindsey Buckingham. Missing is keyboardist/singer Christine McVie, who retired from the band after a 1998 tour.



The band, which traces its history back to 1967 and saw its biggest success in the late 1970s after Nicks and Buckingham joined, can still put on a good show. Age has reduced Nicks' vocal range but she compensated well, reworking tunes to lower some of the high notes. Fleetwood can still be manic on the drums and Buckingham can still play a killer guitar.

The Mac played many of their big hits - Dreams, Gypsy, Rhiannon, Second Hand News, Landslide, Say You Love Me, Go Your Own Way, Don't Stop - and reached back to the pre-Buckingham-Nicks days for Oh Well.

These photos of the show were taken by Star-Ledger photographer Saed Hindash. See more in this gallery at the Star-Ledger web site, nj.com. And read the review by Star-Ledger music critic Jay Lustig.

Happy Spring!

The first crocuses appeared outside our house this week. What signs of spring have you seen so far? Add your comments below or send in your observations and photos!

Last look at snow?

Brian, Xander, Marie and an unidentified friend enjoy the aftermath of the March 1 snowstorm in Trenton. Say bye-bye, snowman! See you next winter!

Shanna's review: Britney's Circus

Shanna writes:
Mom and I went to the Britney Spears concert on March 11th at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island. The show began with The Pussycat Dolls performing several of their songs. After they had finished, there was a 20 minute break or so before the "Circus" began.

At about 9 PM, several different types of circus performers took the stage. There were acrobats, martial artists, clowns, and so much more. My personal favorite act had two men holding a thin board in the air. A woman then balanced on the board, jumping into the air doing flips and and twists. She landed back on that thin board every single time. It was pretty cool.

Before we knew it, It was time for Britney to take the stage! Of course, everything Britney does, she does big. In true Britney fashion, she did not just walk onto the stage but was instead lowered from the ceiling into the center ring of the 3 ring circus stage.

Slideshow of photos from the Circus concert


I believe that this was my fifth Britney concert, and just like all the others, a Britney Spears concert is more than just singing and dancing on stage, it is a production. Something was always happening on stage. If Britney wasn't in the air, circling the main stage in a giant picture frame, she was sitting in a giant umbrella high above the center ring. At one point, a magician even put her in a box and sawed Britney in half.

Britney sang many of her hits, including "I'm a Slave for You" and "Baby One More Time." However the majority of the songs were from her past two albums entitled "Circus" and "Blackout." She was on stage for about 90 minutes of endless dancing, signing, pyrotechnics and circus tricks. To put it simply, Britney's concerts always exceeded my expectations and this one was no exception.

A fabulous finish to a curling match

Lisa describes it as the curling equivalent of a hole in one: an "eight-ender," in which one team succeeds in placing all eight of its rocks within the circles of the "house" and shutting out the opposing team.

On Wednesday night at the Potomac Curling Club, a team including Lisa and her daughters Liz and Rebecca accomplished this feat to win their game.

"The whole car ride home we took turns saying 'I can't believe it,'" Lisa writes. "Lizzie was phyched that she was home on spring break and agreed to spare on our team for us. I'm still really shocked, but it's a great feeling."

The club's web site has more details, and you can click on their "about curling" link to learn more about the sport.

Celebrating Girl Scout Sunday

Julie and Christine pose with other Girl Scouts outside St. Paul's Church in Westfield on Girl Scout Sunday, March 8.

March 12 is the 97th anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts by Juliette Gordon Low in Savannah, Ga.

Keep us posted on your scouting news - and anything else you'd like to share. Call or e-mail us any time.

Happy birthday, and homecoming

After what was supposed to be a brief visit to Yonkers turned into a nearly three-week stay in a hospital, Pat was happy to head home today (March 4) -- her birthday.

It was on Friday the 13th last month, during a visit to her sister Lorraine and brother-in-law Dan, that Pat had a fall on an indoor staircase and ended up at St. John's Riverside Hospital. Fortunately there were no fractures or other serious injuries, but as she began recuperating she developed an infection that extended her hospital stay.

It will still take a while to fully recover, but Pat was glad tonight to be back in her house in Malta and reunited with her cat, Finnegan.

How much snow did you get? (Updated)

The winter storm that hit the New York area Sunday night and Monday brought about 6 inches of snow here at Birch Street Web headquarters in Fanwood.

Shanna reports about 10 inches piled up in her yard in Yonkers. Here's a picture of her yard taken the next day.


Let us know how you fared -- how much snow, and what did you do in it? You can add comments to this post, or e-mail us -- especially if you have photos to share!