Marie, Brian, Xander visit Trenton for art's sake

Marie, Brian and Xander traveled from Virginia back to Trenton, N.J., last month to visit Brian's parents and attend the city's annual Art All Night festival.

It was at least the fourth time they've attended the event, where any and all artists are welcome to exhibit one item apiece. Xander has exhibited each year, and this year showed this drawing of a cat waiting for food to appear in its bowl.

Meanwhile, Brian exhibited a large-scale painting of one of his psychedelic cat images, which have become very popular on internet sites (see previous article).

Brian's mother, Barbara, showed "Patriot's Dream," a vision-through-a-window quilt, with a schoolhouse in the center -- appropriately for the retired teacher and current literacy volunteer.

Brian's father, Steve, presented this painting of "Fiddleheads in the Moonlight."

The event fell on Father's Day Weekend, and provided a chance for a get-together between Marie and her dad, Dan, along with Julie, Christine, Andy and Shannon. Everyone enjoyed strolling through the exhibit hall - a former Roebling steel factory - and watching artists at work on the surrounding grounds.

Celebrating 2 birthdays in style

Hugh & Dolores and Doug & Lisa treated themselves to dinner at the Hopkins Club in Baltimore on Saturday to celebrate the birthdays of Lisa (July 9) and Dolores (July 11).

Saturday also happened to be the wedding anniversary of Dan & Julie, whose reception was held at the same club. That couple was meanwhile dining out and catching a little live music in New Jersey.

Senior Stephanie & band-mates in July 4 parade

The Hilliard-Darby High School Marching Band took part in the annual Fourth of July parade on Tuesday, and Stephanie was among the marching musicians for her fourth and final year.


Stephanie is now heading into her senior year as a student and member of the marching band and other music ensembles at Hilliard-Darby.


Her mom, Cathy, has spent the Fourth assisting the band at the parade for the past several years, as first Christopher and then Stephanie played and marched.



Click here or on this last photo to see a video of the band on the march.

Dan & Julie catch U2 on anniversary tour

Irish rock band U2 has been celebrating the 30th anniversary of its acclaimed album The Joshua Tree with a series of concerts where they play all 11 tracks from that LP in sequence, preceded and followed by other songs from their large catalog.

Dan and Julie caught them at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on June 29. "Our seats were high up but with a good view," reports Dan. "The band sounds as good as ever, with Bono in fine voice and The Edge's iconic guitar riffs propelling the classic songs."

"Hearing the album performed brought back memories of playing it on a turntable in our Brooklyn apartment some six months after we moved in. It may have been one of the last records we bought on vinyl before we bought a CD player!"

Stephanie in Clarinet Academy at OSU

Updated 7/2 with additional photo, links to audio

Stephanie this month attended a five-day residential music program at Ohio State University, called Clarinet Academy.

"It was an opportunity for high school students to learn, and practice their skills," reports her mom, Cathy.

"One of the things Steph enjoyed most was meeting other students from all over Ohio and even some from out of state."

"Besides attending classes with faculty members, Stephanie participated in a quartet. On the final day of the program, the students performed the pieces they had learned in a Finale Concert."

Cathy has shared two video selections from that concert. Click the titles to open them in separate windows. (You may need to click again on the videos to make them play.)

• Stephanie in the quartet's performance of Mozart's Serenade No. 10, "Gran Partita"
• The entire ensemble performing "Entrust Thy Ways" by J.S. Bach

And here's a link to a site where you can download a zip file containing the official audio recordings of all the performances in the final concert.

Christine, James visit Disney's worlds

Christine and James recently got to spend several days at Walt Disney World in Orlando, exploring the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot Center and Hollywood Studios.

They spent the most time at the Animal Kingdom park, viewing the wide variety of animals in recreated habitats - and exploring the just-opened World of Avatar section.

Based on the movie about the planet Pandora, that section mixes earthly-but-exotic with artificial-otherworldly flora and fauna, much of which glows in the dark. A river-raft ride includes a close look at Disney's most-advanced animatronic character ever, the Na'vi Shaman of Songs.

Here are just a few of the photos Christine took, plus a brief Disney video clip of that shaman.

Liz receives Professional Engineer license

Liz has achieved an important credential in her field: She recently passed the Maryland licensing exam and is now officially a Professional Engineer.

According to the National Society of Professional Engineers, "To become licensed, engineers must complete a four-year college degree, work under a Professional Engineer for at least four years, pass two intensive competency exams and earn a license from their state's licensure board. Then, to retain their licenses, PEs must continually maintain and improve their skills throughout their careers."

A graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Liz has worked since 2012 for WSP|Parsons Brinckerhoff, first in Maryland and currently in New York. She is studying part-time at New York University toward a Masters degree in transportation engineering and planning.

Shannon graduates from USAF tech school

Shannon, who entered the U.S. Air Force just after Christmas, this week completed training as a pharmaceutical technician at the Medical Education and Training campus in San Antonio, Texas.

"Congratulations to my amazingly resilient daughter who is officially graduating from Tech School today at the top of her class," proud mom Mary wrote on Facebook.

"Keesler AFB Biloxi Mississippi in two days," Mary added, so we're guessing that's the next posting for Shannon, now with the rank of Airman.

Nolan discovers Charleston, S.C.

On the occasion of his Aunt Lizzie's graduation from Elon University, Nolan took his first airplane trip this month, flying to North Carolina with his parents, Gerrit and Angela, and his grandfather, Owen.

After the commencement ceremonies, they traveled down to the family's house in Charleston, S.C., and Nolan explored the city with his parents.

As Gerrit posted on Facebook: "Bringing my son to our house in Charleston that I've been visiting for nearly 30 years has been one of the most exciting experiences I've had as a parent so far. This city means so much to me and to see the pure excitement in his eyes every day when we step out onto the streets has been a real trip."

2017 edition of Doug & Lisa's Preakness party

Lisa (above with friends Hillary and Shelley and mint juleps) and Doug once again played hosts to a large gathering of family and friends on the day of the Preakness Stakes, May 20.

The weather was pleasantly cool, and the party spread throughout the house and grounds.

Gathering to watch the race

Liz and her friend Sarah supervise the pool

Here's video of the scene as the crowd watched the race.

As you might guess from her reaction, Christine was one of those who picked the winning horse, Cloud Computing.

Meanwhile, breaking a 10-year streak, Liz (right, with mom) did not pick the winner this year. It doesn't seem to have affected her good cheer.

Along with food and drink, highlighted by Lisa's fresh-mint juleps, there were indoor and outdoor games, including croquet action that continued until it was too dark to see any of the balls or wickets.

Are Grandmom & Pop providing croquet tips?

After dark, those same players had a little marshmallow roast, while card games broke out inside the house.

Many thanks to Lisa and Doug for their magnificent hospitality!

(Photos by Dan and by Hillary)

Lizzie graduates from Elon University

---Updated 5/29 with more photos---

Lizzie graduated May 20 from Elon University, where she majored in education. The photo above, taken as Lizzie reviewed the program before the ceremony, appeared in one of the local newspapers, the News & Record of Greensboro, N.C.


Lizzie's father, Owen; brother, Gerrit; sister-in-law, Angela, and nephew Nolan all traveled to North Carolina for the big event.

It was the 127th commencement at Elon, and according to the university, the largest ever, with nearly 1,400 degrees conferred. More than 10,000 people gathered for the ceremony.