Post-holiday visit to California

Xander and his mom are visiting in California this week. Here he is with his "tia," Eyvonne.

The trip gives Marie and Xander a chance for a bit of celebration with family and friends they missed over the holidays.

Brian meanwhile is home studying hard in the NJ Transit locomotive engineer training program.

Update 1/12: Here's a fun photo of Xander and his uncle Dan out shopping.

Wired to keep the beat

Lorraine has joined the pacemaker club, of which her husband Dan has been a member for several years.

After a fainting spell landed her at St. John's Riverside Hospital, an EKG detected an arrhythmia that may have been the cause. A pacemaker was the recommended solution.

Lorraine received the new accessory on Friday and was happily back home Friday night.

Warm thoughts from sunny Charleston

Tish writes:
We have just returned from a week in Charleston. I'm sending along a sunny palmetto palm tree photo to help us all escape this cold, snowy winter.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Thanks, Tish - A nice contrast to the chilly pictures below!

Mary and the polar bears take a chilly dip

On New Year's Day, Mary was one of more than 900 daring souls who plunged into Lake George during the annual Polar Bear Swim at Shepard Park. Mary, who is a coach for the YMCA of Saratoga's Sting Rays swim team, is shown above standing next to another member of the Y swim coaching staff. The photo appeared in The Saratogian, along with this story about the event. Below is a view of the polar bear herd charging into the water.

Photos from The Saratogian

Snowy New Year's at Deep Creek Lake

Cathy, Christopher and Stephanie spent New Year's at Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland. And - big surprise - it snowed! Thanks to Cathy for sending along these chilling photos.

Happy new year - and decade

Webmaster Dan says: I hope everyone on our family web has had a good holiday season, and wish you all a great 2010.

The past year saw big changes like Genevieve and John's wedding; Marie, Brian and Xander's move to New Jersey; and Doug and Lisa's move to Nevada. Becky graduated from high school and started at RIT; in California, Dan was awarded his associates' degree with top honors and continued his studies at San Jose State; Shanna began studying for her masters. Ted made a cross-country trek and Christine performed with her high school marching band at Disney World. Those are just a few of the highlights captured here on Birch Street Web.

There was sadness too, as we lost a dear family member, Anamarie, a little more than a year after the passing of her brother, Austin. May they both rest in peace.

Whatever's ahead in 2010, I hope you'll continue using the Birch Street Web as a way to keep in touch with other members of our extended family. Visit often - send in your news, photos, links and anything else you'd like to share - add your comments to our posts - and enjoy!

The tradition continues: The annual Yonkers Christmas gathering, 2009 edition (Updated with video)

The Midland Avenue homestead once again was the scene of a Christmastime party featuring four generations of the family. Daniel and Lorraine hosted the crowd consisting of their children, grandchildren (except California Dan) and great-grandson Xander; spouses of children and spouses of grandchildren.

Much food was consumed, many gifts exchanged, a Spontaneous Dance Party broke out, and the annual game of Capture the Flag was played, followed by the traditional Argument About Who Cheated at Capture the Flag. Another great Christmas celebration!

Enjoy some video highlights:

Please send us your Christmas celebration stories and photos

Becky in holiday week curling tournament

After a brief Christmas trip to the Maryland homestead, Becky is back in Rochester where she is leading a team in the Grand National Curling Club Junior National Play-Downs.

The tournament is being held at the Rochester Curling Club, not far from RIT where she is a freshman.

Follow the team's progress at the club's web site.

A sporting gift

Dan and Eyvonne enjoyed a big sports-watching weekend. As Dan's present to sports-fan Eyvonne, they watched the San Jose Sharks defeat the Anaheim Ducks 5-2 on Saturday, then went to San Francisco on Sunday and watched the 49ers defeat the Detroit Lions 20-6. Good picks, Dan!

Merry Christmas! Holiday snapshots 2009 (Updated 12/27)

Marie, Brian and Xander


From Kevin, Kathy, Shanna and Kevin, via Shanna's Facebook page:

From Dan, Julie, Christine and Andy:
Marie, Brian and Xander visited Dan, Julie, Christine and Andy on Saturday:

And visions of sugarplums...

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Andy awarded First Class rank in Boy Scouts

Andy officially received his First Class rank in a Court of Honor ceremony held by Boy Scout Troop 33 in Fanwood on Monday (12/21).

Andy completed many of his First Class requirements during a week at Sabattis Scout Reservation in upstate New York this summer, and was awarded the rank by a Board of Review this fall. He has been a member of Troop 33 since the spring of 2007.

California couple's first Christmas tree!

Lizzie performs in 'Nutcracker'

Update from Cape Cod:

Lizzie has been busy with rehearsals and winter dance performances. This photo shows her preparing for the Chinese Dance in the Nutcracker ballet.

She's been in four performances of Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet this season. Her fifth was canceled Sunday due to the snow.

Regards to all,
Tish

After the storm: Shoveling and frolicking (Updated 12/25)

The big snowstorm of Dec. 19-20 was a major inconvenience to some, but fun for others. As of late Sunday afternoon it was over for most of us - but still snowing hard on Cape Cod.

Please tell us your snow stories and/or send us photos, by e-mail or by adding to this photo album (find out how).

So far we have pictures from Dan in Fanwood, Marie in Trenton, Shanna in Yonkers, Tish on Cape Cod, Hugh from Deep Creek Lake, Md., and views of Sag Harbor from the Sag Harbor Express.

Click the window to see larger images at Picasa

From Webmaster Dan:
Here at Birch Street headquarters we measured 7 1/2 inches on our backyard table this morning. Luckily it was all fluffy powder, and fairly easy to shovel. And with the sun out, it was a good day for backyard frolicking. We were lucky - the timing and nature of the storm was perfect for us. We didn't need to go anywhere during the storm Saturday, there wasn't any ice, and everything looks good today covered in white.

From Tish:
Hello from snowy Cape Cod! This photo was just taken when I peeked out our front door - we are somewhere around 18 inches and it is still snowing. (Sent Sunday afternoon.)


Monday update from Tish: The snow finally stopped and today is a snow day for all the Cape Cod school districts. And from Gerrit, via Facebook: It seems that Cape Cod towns decided plowing will be unneccesary for this snow. Im sure it will melt by 2010 anyhow, why waste the money in these slow economic days...

From Hugh:
Here's a photo from Deep Creek Lake. Officially there was 24 inches of snow, but where we were it did not seem more than 18 or 20 inches.

Solstice Snowstorm 2009

We hope all our East Coast family members are coping well with the big snowstorm.

Here on Birch Street, the snow was the perfect backdrop as Julie baked cookies and Dan, Christine and Andy put up and decorated the Christmas tree. We're sort of starting to feel almost ready for the big day.


Please send along your stories and photos as you weather the storm -- and shovel out.

You can add your own pictures to our Birch Street Sharing photo album. Find out how.

Wise words about science and faith

"Both religion and science seek an understanding of the universe and our place in it, but from different perspectives. ... Properly pursued, the two fields are complementary, neither antagonistic nor mutually exclusive."

Those words from the introduction sum up the essential point of "Science and Faith: Partners in the Search for Truth," in which our own chemist and scholar debunks the idea that science and religion are incompatible rivals.

As a student of both fields, Daniel explains in very common-sense fashion how each has its limits but how together they can give us a fuller understanding of the world we live in.

In his writing, Daniel shares both his strong faith and his enthusiasm for the pursuit of knowledge.

The book, published this spring, is available from Amazon.com. Clicking the image here will take you to its page at Amazon, where you can also read the first few pages.

Christine in holiday choral concert

The Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School music department presented its Winter Choral Concert on Dec. 16. It was an evening of holiday music featuring the 160-plus-member Concert Choir and five smaller groups of singers. The school puts a lot of emphasis on music and the students put on an excellent show.

Christine is among the sopranos in the Concert Choir. Her boyfriend Matt sings bass in all the male and mixed groups and is one of seven SPFHS students chosen for the central New Jersey regional mixed chorus, which will perform in late January.

Here are excerpts from the Concert Choir performance. As it begins you'll see Christine in the top left and Matt in the bottom right of the frame.