Spring is coming, really, right?

-- Updated 3/17 --

Somewhere under there are the crocuses that had begun to emerge from the cold ground outside Birch Street Web headquarters a few days ago. We hope to see them again soon!

About 8-9 inches of various types of frozen precipitation fell in our part of New Jersey during Tuesday's nor'easter.

Meanwhile up in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. --

"This is how my morning started, lol," Mary writes. "It is beautiful though upstate!"

And in Rochester, Rebecca reported on Tuesday afternoon that the snow was "1/2 a Murphy deep" - Murphy her dog, that is. On Wednesday morning she posted a video of Murphy playing in the snow. You can watch it here if you have a Facebook account.

Down in Yonkers, city workers were busy Wednesday clearing away the mounds of plowed-up snow from along McLean Avenue, where Brien has his apartment. "The cops are closing a block at a time and four big and two small shovels dump it into trucks," Brien reported. Why were they being so thorough? McLean is the route of the Yonkers St. Patrick's Day parade, scheduled for Saturday. "Archbishop Dolan is leading the parade this year, so Yonkers wants it to go off without a hitch!"

Also in Yonkers: Kathy sends along this picture of her home: "Cold, but pretty!"

Quintuple take-out: Rebecca shows how it's done

You don't have to be an expert on curling to be impressed by the shot that Rebecca managed recently in a match at the Rochester Curling Club.

In this video, jump to about the 46 minute mark and you'll see the opposing team place a rock close to the center of the house (the concentric circles forming a sort of bulls-eye). It puts that team in position to score several points. After studying the angles, Rebecca sends in her rock to the perfect spot, clearing out all five of the opponents' rocks.

Lisa posted this video on Facebook with the comment, "Proud mom moment. Way to go Rebecca."

Stephanie in wind ensemble concert (Videos)

Winter Band Concert at Hilliard Darby HS

Stephanie performed with the Hilliard Darby High School Wind Ensemble in an Ohio Music Education Association adjudicated event, held Saturday (March 4) in Westerville, Ohio. The Darby group was awarded a top rating of 1, or Superior, by the judges. Congratulations!

A few days earlier, the ensemble performed in the Darby HS Winter Band Concert. Cathy has sent along videos of three numbers, where you'll see Stephanie performing on clarinet.

• "Council Oak" by David Gillingham
• "Rest" by Frank Ticheli
• "Overture to An Italian in Algiers" by Gioachino Rossini 

Kathy sings with choir at her school

Along with teaching biology at the Abraham Joshua Heschel School in Manhattan, Kathy takes part in the Heschel Notes, a choir consisting of members of the faculty, administrators, parents and alumni parents.

On Sunday, February 5th, the Heschel Notes were joined by the Heschel Half Notes (the lower school choir) and the Heschel Harmonizers (upper school choir) to present a community concert in the school auditorium.

Bea watches (warily)

In a program note, the group said: "We are united by our love of singing and music, and are grateful for our members who rehearse weekly and perform with their voices and hearts."

In this video of the entire concert, Kathy and the other adult choir members take the stage at about the 24-minute mark and perform with the Half Notes and then by themselves. They return for two final numbers with both student choirs, beginning at the 1:05 mark. (Don't miss that last song!)

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Birthday weekend with family & art

Julie celebrated her birthday with a visit by her parents and a full weekend of activities.

Hugh and Dolores arrived Friday, and that evening joined Julie, Dan, Christie and her boyfriend, James, and Andy and his girlfriend, Shannon, for dinner at a local cafe and a little more visiting at home. It was great to be able to have the group together before Christine and James headed back to Rochester the next day.

On Saturday, Julie, Dan, Hugh and Dolores spent the afternoon at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, N.J. This was actually a birthday gift for Dolores: after Julie, Dan, Christine and Andy visited this extraordinary park last June, Julie gave her mom a gift certificate for a private tour.

The 42-acre park is filled with works by its patron, J. Seward Johnson, and various other artists. Johnson's specialties are lifelike figures in everyday poses and three-dimensional recreations of famous paintings. Besides bringing the paintings to life, the displays allow visitors to put themselves in the pictures.

That evening, it was dinner at home and a movie in the living room: "Singing in the Rain," a favorite of Julie and her parents.

On Sunday, Liz was able to join her grandparents, Aunt Julie and Uncle Dan for brunch in Brooklyn. Liz, currently living in Brooklyn while studying for her masters at NYU and working at WSP|Parsons Brinckerhoff's New York office, met the group at a small restaurant in Prospect Heights. They spent a good couple of hours catching up. Then Liz headed home to study while the rest paid a visit to the Brooklyn Museum.

None of the four had been to this museum before (even though Dan and Julie lived in Brooklyn for several years way back when), and all were impressed by the extent and quality of its collection. They spent a few hours checking out several exhibits, with special attention to anything involving needlework.

The foursome was rejoined by Andy and Shannon that evening for dinner and then more chatting, and present-opening, at home (with Christine joining in by phone).

The gifts included a special request from Julie: framed copies for herself and her mom of two photos each showing four generations of women in the family. The first was of infant Julie with her mother, grandmother Evelyn and great-grandmother Sadie; the other of infant Christine with Julie, Dolores and Evelyn.

Stephanie performs in Honors concert at OSU

--Updated 1/19 with more info and video clips-- 

Stephanie performed in the Ohio State University School of Music's High School Honor Band Concert on Sunday, Jan. 15.
A junior clarinetist at Hilliard Darby High School, Stephanie auditioned and was chosen to participate in this annual event. She was among 250 or so student musicians, mostly from Ohio but some from out of state. who were accepted to the program.

Darby was well represented, with seven students selected. The students all went through another round of auditions on Friday for placement in three ensembles. Stephanie performed with the Honors Wind Symphony, whose performance concluded the Sunday program.

The students spent Friday evening and all day Saturday rehearsing and participating in master classes. The instructors were all faculty members from the OSU music department. The Honors Wind Symphony was conducted by the university's Director of Bands. Stephanie was familiar with some of the five selections on the program, having performed them at Darby.

After a final rehearsal Sunday morning, the students performed on Sunday afternoon in the university's Weigel Auditorium. It's amazing how wonderful they sounded together just 48 hours after they all met!

UPDATE: Cathy has sent us five video clips of 3-5 minutes apiece that she recorded, occasionally zooming in so you can see Stephanie.

CLICK TO WATCH:

• Celebration Fanfare
• Second Suite in F - 1st Movement
• Second Suite in F - 2nd Movement
• Second Suite in F - 3rd & 4th Movements
• Carmen Ohio (OSU Alma Mater) & Across the Field (OSU fight song)

The concert was broadcast live over YouTube, and the full recording will be available for a short time at this link -- or use this link to start the video at the point where the Honors Wind Symphony takes the stage.

The Honors Wind Symphony was the third and final ensemble to perform. Its program consisted of: Celebration Fanfare by Steven Reineke; Second Suite in F by Gustav Holst; O Magnum Mysterium by Morten Lauridsen/arr. H. Robert Reynolds; Vesuvius by Frank Ticheli; and Carmen Ohio/Across the Field, arr. Roger Cichy. Russel C. Mikkelson conducted.

In November, Stephanie performed as part of the Ohio Music Education Association South Central Regional Orchestra, drawn from high schools in 20 counties. (See previous article.)

Catching up on recent career moves

With the new year under way, here are some updates on recent job moves by some of our family members.

Most recently: Shannon entered the U.S. Air Force just after Christmas, reporting to boot camp in Texas. "So proud of my girl for making such a life changing decision," her mom, Mary, wrote on Facebook.

In November, Genevieve moved from the New York Public Library to the Museum of Modern Art as manager of foundation relations. Genevieve had worked on foundation and government grants at the library since 2012, when she and John moved back east from California. She spent several months in the foundations department at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art before that.

Rick had a bit of a busy 2016, highlighted by his wedding to Shanna. He also completed his Ph.D from Rutgers University and started working in promotional medical education and medical marketing at Sudler & Hennessey in Warren, N.J.

Back in May, Shanna's brother Kevin joined HeBS Digital, which provides technology services to the hotel industry. He's a DevOps Engineer, developing software and working on all facets of the company's systems. His office is near Penn Station. Kevin previously spent about three-and-a-half years at Internap Network Services, based in Lower Manhattan.

Who else has made a move recently? Let us know!

Christine & James visit Florida & Potterverse

Butterbeer at the Leaky Cauldron

Christine accompanied James and his father on an annual January trip to visit relatives in the Fort Lauderdale area in Florida.

The group also took a side trip to Orlando and spent a couple of days at Universal Studios, where they particularly enjoyed the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (also visited recently by Marie, Brian and Xander and a couple of times by Liz).

Enjoying Florida sun

Dragon at Gringott's Bank

The group enjoyed immersing themselves in the Potter universe. "It's like stepping into the pages of the books," Christine said.

Their scheduled return flight on Saturday was canceled because of the awful incident at Fort Lauderdale's airport the previous day. And because they were headed for a small airport in New Hampshire, they couldn't arrange an alternate flight for a few days. So they stayed on at James' aunt's house, enjoying her (extended) hospitality.

Christine celebrated her birthday amid sunshine and palm trees - quite a change from the cold and snow that she's more typically seen on her special day.

Scenes of Christmas 2016

Tree at Kathy's home

Here's a small selection of scenes from Christmas celebrations on our family "tree."

We hope to collect more in the coming days. Please share yours!

Birch Street HQ on Christmas Eve

Andy & Christine ready to dive in

Cathy's been baking

Hugh & Dolores' tree

Nanette visiting Courtney

Heirloom Nativity scene at Brien's

Nolan on Gerrit & Angela's card

Bea - Christmas Joy

We wish all our family and friends a Merry Christmas!

May we all be blessed with a joyous Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.

Xander & parents visit the wizarding world

"Butterbeer" for breakfast

Marie, Brian and Xander paid a visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando this month.

They'd planned to make the trip around Xander's 10th birthday in early October, but postponed it due to Hurricane Matthew.

Visiting in December meant getting to see Christmas decorations, such as the tree in the lobby of the Hard Rock Hotel.

By the magic of greenscreen, Xander appears in a series of Potterverse vignettes in a souvenir video. Click here to watch.

Of course, in one more year Xander will be old enough to be admitted to Hogwarts!

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.

Christmas music from Stephanie & her schoolmates

Stephanie took part in the Darby High School "Celebration Concert" last week, and her mom, Cathy, has sent us several videos. "Hope this holiday music puts everyone in a festive mood," Cathy writes.

Stephanie performed in four pieces - two with the Wind Ensemble and two with the full Orchestra. "In the first two you can easily see her as the 2nd chair clarinet on the left side of the stage. For the Orchestra pieces however, she was way in the back so you can't see her at all."

(Click on the titles to see the videos)

The wind ensemble pieces were:

• "Festive Christmas" by Kenny Bierschenk 
• "Rest" by Frank Ticheli 
• "Sleigh Ride" by Leroy Anderson 
• "Longfellow's Christmas" arranged by Mark Wilberg (narration by Cabot Rea, a retired Columbus TV anchorman and former music teacher.)

And one more: The show's closing piece, "Hallelujah Chorus." Cathy says: "Steph didn't perform in this number, however it is a Darby tradition. They always end the concert with this and invite any Darby alumni to join them onstage to sing along."

Holiday season begins with family festivities

Because Christmas falls on a weekend this year, the annual Yonkers gathering took place a little early - on Sunday the 18th at Kathy's home.

The party included a visit by Santa Claus especially for Beatrice - who reacted warily at first...



...but gradually came around...



...as Santa gradually transformed into Rick.

Winter makes its presence felt early

The pine tree in the backyard of Cathy's house in Ohio makes a very wintry, even Christmas-y, scene after three inches of snow fell on Tuesday, Dec. 13.

"It snowed steadily all day," Cathy writes. "Sure makes it feel like Christmas!"

Our family members in Rochester were probably the first to see snow this season, when a storm on the weekend before Thanksgiving blew in a few inches worth of "lake effect" snow. And today saw snow and ice sweep across most of the Northeast.

In memory of Jean

The family is saddened by the passing of Jean, beloved mother of Kathy, mother-in-law of Kevin and grandmother of Shanna and Kevin.

Jean died on Dec. 4 at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, surrounded by family. She is also survived by her daughter Patricia and grandchildren Jacklyn, Gina and Catherine. She will be deeply missed by her family and all who knew her.

Visitation will take place Wednesday, Dec. 7, from 4-8 p.m. at Flynn Memorial Home in Yonkers, and a funeral Mass will be celebrated Thursday, Dec. 8, at 10 a.m. at St. Eugene's Church in Yonkers. There is more information on the funeral home's website.

Jean at granddaughter Shanna's wedding.
L to R Kevin, Kathy, Rick, Shanna, Jean, Kevin.

Happy birthday to Brennan & Brooklyn Rae

Brooklyn Rae, seen here at Halloween, turned five years old yesterday!

Dec. 1 is that special day when both Brooklyn Rae and her dad, Brennan, celebrate their birthdays. Best wishes to both!