Patrick graduates from Fordham Prep

Patrick gave the valedictory speech at the Fordham Preparatory School graduation Wednesday evening.

Patrick and 220 other seniors received their diplomas in the ceremony at the Fordham University Gym.

Come fall, Patrick will begin his studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

More graduations to come!

Kevin graduates from Manhattan College

Kevin leaves the gym with diploma in hand.

Kevin with his sister, Shanna,
on the Manhattan College campus

Kevin received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from Manhattan College's School of Business on Sunday.

The day began with a Baccalaureate Mass for the graduates and their families, followed by a continental breakfast, and then the commencement exercises in the college's Draddy Gymnasium.

Everything went very well and Kevin is happy to have completed his four years at Manhattan.

Afterwards, Kevin and his family went to dinner at the Olde Stone Mill in Tuckahoe.

Also see:
Shanna receives her Master's degree
A cluster of commencements this spring

Another Preakness, another great party

Doug and Lisa hosted scores of relatives, friends, friends of relatives and relatives of friends at the annual Riderwood Preakness Party.

The weather was perfect for the gathering, a decades-long tradition at the family homestead. This clip shows just part of the crowd watching the race; others were watching in the house or busy socializing in the yard.



Doug and Lisa are back in residence at the Riderwood house after returning from Las Vegas this past winter. Doug, in his new job with Parsons Brinckerhoff, has taken charge of design work for a Metro rail extension in Virginia.

Their daughter Lizzie was down from Troy, N.Y., where she's about to graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Their daughter Rebecca, finishing her sophomore year at Rochester Institute of Technology, wasn't able to make it because she's begun her summer job with RIT Housing Operations.

Lizzie receives confirmation

Lizzie received the sacrament of confirmation on Friday, May 20. Her brother, Gerrit, was her sponsor.

The service took place at Our Lady of the Cape church in Brewster, Mass. The Rev. Msgr. John Perry, vicar general of the Diocese of Fall River, was the celebrant.

Shanna receives her Master's degree

Shanna's friend Amanda took this photo in their seats at graduation.

In ceremonies at the Westchester County Center in White Plains on May 18, Shanna received her Masters degree in Early Childhood and Childhood Education Wednesday from Mercy College. 

Shanna writes: "It was a great ceremony and everything went well, despite the heavy rain. They even pronounced my name correctly as I received my diploma!

Shanna with diploma in hand.

Freeze-frame from video, via Facebook

"We celebrated afterwards with dinner at one of my favorite places, the Cheesecake Factory. A funny fact: My graduation from Mercy took place 4 years to the day from my degree at Purchase College.

"I'm very excited to be done with my Masters degree. These past 2 years have gone by so fast. I am currently looking for a position for September and will be spending my summer working at Camp Hillard for a second year."

Shanna began her post-graduate studies in the summer of 2009, wrapping up this spring with student teaching at Yonkers Public School 21, right in her own neighborhood.

This is the start of a series of graduations by members of our extended family over the next month. Check back for upates -- and please send along your graduation stories and photos.

Field trip to see the Wright stuff

Chris and Stephanie at Falling Water

Stephanie was among a group of students from Hilliard Crossing Elementary School who went on a field trip last week to visit two houses in Pennsylvania that were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Her mom, Cathy, and brother, Christopher, drove separately and met the students at both locations.

Stephanie is in the 5th grade "focus class" and the trip included all 4th and 5th graders from that gifted-student program.

Cathy writes: "Throughout the school year they studied structures and architecture, so this trip gave them a chance to see some of what they had studied in person."

"Apple Core,"
sculpture by Claes Oldenburg

The first stop was Kentuck Knob. "This house was built atop a ridge overlooking the western Pennsylvania landscape. Before touring the house, we walked through its modern-art sculture garden."

"The house itself incorporates hexagons in many ways into the shapes of the rooms, skylights and even the kitchen.

"Next we traveled a short distance to tour Falling Water -- perhaps Wright's most famous design. This house sits overlooking a waterfall. Like Kentuck Knob, the house was designed to incorporate much of the surrounding scenery.

"Upon visiting both houses, you can see many similarities in their designs. Even though Chris and Stephanie had visited both locations before, they still enjoyed another visit.

"In between the two stops Chris and I stopped off in Ohiopyle, Pa., for a brief look a the Ohiopyle Falls. This is the small town that I visited numerous times in my youth with my family. It still looks much the same as it did back then!"

See more of Cathy's photos from the trip:

A different style of drumming

Showing his versatility on drums, Andy this week went from playing jazz numbers in high school concerts to playing heavy-metal rock on a club stage.

Andy takes rock drumming lessons at School of Rock in Chatham. He performed on several numbers during an ensemble show the school put on Saturday afternoon at a place called Just Jake's in Montclair. They'll reprise the show on Sunday.



This show was made up of music by the late Ronnie James Dio, who sang with Black Sabbath and other heavy-metal bands. This number is called "The Last in Line," from one of Dio's solo albums.

Spring concert season is under way (Updated 5/11)

It's the season for spring music concerts and recitals at schools all over the land, and there are several taking place at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School alone.

Here Andy plays drums with one of the school's jazz bands on a number called "Swing Shift."

In the high school's Spring Instrumental Program on Wednesday, Andy played with the Concert Band and the Percussion Ensemble, and Christine played flute with the Symphonic Band.

Please send along your stories and images of any other spring performances, musical or otherwise.

The trophies sitting on stage include a state championship won by the school's premiere jazz band, the Moonglowers. Also on display were the trophies won by various SPFHS groups at the Festival of Music competition in Washington last month.

Coming this spring: A cluster of commencements

This is another big year of transition for the students in our extended family. May and June will bring an outbreak of graduation robes, mortarboards and tassels.

By our count (and please let us know of any others): two students will graduate from high school and head off to college in the fall; four collegians will receive their diplomas and one grad student will receive her master's degree.

It's the biggest cluster of commencements in our family since (logically enough) four years ago. We counted eight graduations in 2007.

Here's the Class of 2011 rundown:
Dan - graduates from San Jose State University
Shanna - receives masters in childhood education from Mercy College
Kevin - graduates from Manhattan College
Vivien - graduates from Cornell University School of Hotel Administration
Liz - graduates from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Christine - graduates from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School
Patrick - graduates from Fordham Prep

Also moving up from one school to another (although not technically "graduating"):
Christopher completes 8th grade at Hilliard Heritage Middle School and heads to high school
Stephanie finishes 5th grade at Hilliard Crossing Elementary School and moves up to Tharp 6th Grade School for one year before proceeding to Heritage Middle

Check back for updates on the ceremonies and on post-graduation plans.

Andy receives confirmation (Updated 5/4 with more photos)

Andy was confirmed at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Westfield on Sunday by the Rt. Rev. George Councell, bishop of the Diocese of New Jersey. Following the service, he and the 19 other confirmands were presented with certificates and prayer books by the rector, Rev. Andrew Hamersley, and congratulated by the bishop.

Photos by Hugh

Afterward, family members celebrated with a lunch at a nearby restaurant. The gathering included Andy's parents, Dan & Julie; his sister, Christine; his girlfriend, Shannon; his grandparents Hugh & Dolores; his Aunt Cathy and cousins Christopher and Stephanie; his Aunt Kathy & Uncle Ted; and his Aunt Kathy, Uncle Kevin and cousins Kevin and Shanna.

Cathy, Christopher and Stephanie then began their journey back to Ohio, while the rest of the group visited for a little while longer at Birch Street.

This album has photos taken by Hugh, Cathy and Dan.

Patrick chooses Johns Hopkins & the Blue Jays

Patrick has made his college decision, choosing to join the Class of 2015 at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

He'll be enrolling in the School of Arts and Sciences on the Homewood campus. He has not chosen a major yet but is considering economics.

Having developed his pole-vaulting skills at Fordham Prep, Patrick plans to continue vaulting with the JHU track team. He's met with the coach and has a spot waiting for him on the Blue Jays team.

Christine and Andy perform and play on annual SPFHS spring music trip

Christine and Andy took part in a Festival of Music student performance competition in the Washington area April 15-16.

The Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School music department - a couple of hundred students strong - traveled by bus April 14 to a hotel in Dulles, Va., for a three-night stay.

Concert Choir during warm-up.
Christine is standing in front, second from left.

Friday was performance day - and a long day it was! Four choral groups sang in the morning at Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, Va. Christine sings soprano with the school's Concert Choir.

After lunch, instrumental groups took the stage at the Rachel Schelesinger Concert Hall in Alexandria. Christine performed on flute with the Concert Band. Andy played percussion in the Concert Band and with a percussion ensemble and a "jazz lab" group. Those are just three of the eight instrumental groups from SPFHS that performed.

Concert Band during warm-ups.
Photos by another student, via Facebook.

On Saturday morning, when awards were presented at Schelesinger Hall, the SPFHS musicians won every category in which they were entered.

Saturday afternoon was the students' chance to do some sightseeing at the Washington Mall. The weather was poor, so Christine and Andy and their friends spent most of their time in the Museum of Natural History.

Photos by Christine

Andy is bowled over by bowling.

That night the crowd took over a bowling alley in Sterling, Va., dressed in wild outfits for a "rave" party of music, dancing, pizza and (mostly bad) bowling.

Christine and Matt, seated at left, and other members of their senior class.
Photo by another student, via Facebook.

It was another successful, and fun, SPFHS spring music trip - Christine's last, and Andy's first. Congratulations to the student musicians of Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School.

A tasty tour at a chocolate factory

Cathy sent along photos from a recent visit to the Anthony Thomas Chocolate Factory in Hilliard, Ohio.



"We only had to wait in line for about 20 minutes to get into the building (it's that popular) but we were able to see first hand how they make some of their famous candies. Of course they were making Buckeyes, which are a well known chocolate & peanut butter confection here in Ohio.

"The kids didn't want their picture taken with the Easter Bunny (can't imagine why?) but really enjoyed the free samples! Naturally we visIted the gift shop on the way out to take home more samples of their wares. It was a yummy tour!"

How to enjoy a rainy day

You can make the most of rainy weather if you wear the proper gear.

Discovering family history in print

Webmaster Dan writes: In a roundabout way I discovered a web site that has archives of various newspapers from around New York State, going back to the 1930s. It's a very slow and clunky site, but I managed to turn up some interesting articles from the Yonkers Herald-Statesman. For example: Mom and Dad's (Lorraine and Daniel's) wedding announcement.

.

CLICK HERE to see the entire story on the full page from the Sept. 28, 1951 edition of the Herald Statesman.

Here is a link to the site, fultonhistory.com

In loving memory on his birthday

More photos have been added to the In Memory of Daniel page

The judge, the artists and the Peeps

Dolores is frequently called upon to judge art shows and needlework competitions. But at the Talbot County Visual Arts Center in Easton, Md., last weekend, she also judged a peep show.

Or, rather, a Peeps show.

Participants created dioramas and other artworks using the popular Easter-time candy, marshmallow Peeps.

The winner: A concert scene featuring Justin Peeper.

And yes, there was a real art show as well. Dolores and another member of the Rehoboth Art League judged the Spring Show of the Talbot County Art Council. There were about 50 entries in various media: oil, watercolor, pastel, fiber and a couple of mixed-media pieces.

"We agreed on awarding first prize to a beautiful pastel painting, second to a charcoal drawing and third to an unusual woven basket," Dolores said. "We'll probably hear about the fact that no oils won ... Some oil painters feel that they should always win, because they pay a lot for the paint! But what matters most is what they do with the paint."

Dolores' next judging assignment is at a major plein air show in June, also in Easton.

Lizzie is both student and teacher of ballet

At the Cape Cod Ballet Theatre for Children, Lizzie is an assistant teacher for a weekly class. These photos were taken at the "Parents Watch Day" performance of Cinderella.

Lizzie studies ballet at the Academy of Performing Arts. Her teacher there, Jacquie, is also the owner of the CCBT. This will be Lizzie's third summer assisting Jacquie with a dance program.

Tish writes: "Lizzie is receiving a wonderful dance education from Jackie, who attended the School of American Ballet, and graduated from Fordham University."