Three generations and a clarinet

While her daughter Cathy and granddaughter Stephanie were visiting on Easter weekend, Dolores brought out the clarinet she had played in high school.

Stephanie, who plays clarinet in various high school and regional ensembles at home in Ohio, had just purchased a new instrument for herself. But she was also eager to see the one that both her grandmother and, for a time, her mother had played.

Although it's in need of some refurbishment, Stephanie managed to coax a bit of music out of the clarinet, and Dolores handed it off to her for safekeeping.

Spending Easter weekend with Hugh and Dolores

At Dolores' and Hugh's apartment

Dolores and Hugh played host to daughter Julie, her husband, Dan, and daughter Cathy and her daughter, Stephanie, on Easter weekend in Maryland.

Stephanie and Cathy spent part of Friday touring Towson State University, one of several colleges Stephanie is considering as she nears her high school graduation. Later Friday, the six went to dinner at the Hopkins Club.

It was a productive trip for Stephanie, who also went shopping in Delaware and bought a clarinet -- a significant upgrade from the instrument she has used up to now in all her high school music performances.

The group went to Easter Vigil service Saturday evening at Trinity Church in Towson, the long-time parish of Hugh, Dolores and their children. The weekend concluded with Sunday brunch at the Oakcrest community where Hugh and Dolores reside.

New York finishes 4th in curling Mixed Nationals

After advancing to the playoffs in the USA Curling Mixed Nationals Championship competition, Rebecca's Rochester, N.Y.-based team ran up against stiff competition and finished in fourth place.

"Pretty darn good week at the Mixed Nationals, but unfortunately Team NY finished just out of the medals," Rebecca posted. "So lucky to have amazingly supportive and fun teammates, and thrilled my parents came out for the playoff weekend!"

Lisa and Doug surprised Rebecca by flying in to see the final games at Lakeville, Minn., just outside Minneapolis.

The New York team placed third in the round-robin portion of the tournament, with a 6-3 record. As it happened, it had to face the top two teams in the playoffs. The second-seed team, from North Dakota, prevailed over New York in the semifinal, while top seed Michigan was upset by the fourth-place team, from Seattle, Washington. That pitted New York against Michigan in the game for third place, and Michigan won the bronze medals.

March was a busy curling month for Rebecca, who was also a member of a women's team in the USA Curling 2018 Nationals, held in Fargo, N.D. Her team finished fourth in that tournament -- and Rebecca was chosen the winner of the Ann Brown Sportsmanship Award. The award is "presented annually at the National Championships to one male and one female athlete who are judged to best embody the USCA Spirit of Curling as voted on by their peers," according to USA Curling.

Rebecca's team reaches finals at Mixed Nationals

Rochester, N.Y.-based Team Maroldo, with Rebecca playing second position, has won a berth in the playoff round at the USA Curling Mixed Nationals Championship in Lakeville, Minn.

The team finished third in the round-robin portion of the tournament, with a record of 6-3.

The semi-final games take place Friday evening (3/30) at 7 p.m. CDT/8 p.m. EDT. Rebecca's team, representing New York, plays North Dakota, with the winner advancing to the final "gold medal" game Saturday at 1 p.m. CDT/2 p.m. EDT. The losing teams from the semi-finals will play at the same time Saturday for bronze.

You can follow the results here - and watch live video here.

It's been a busy curling month for Rebecca, who was also a member of a women's team in the USA Curling 2018 Nationals, held in Fargo, N.D. Her team finished fourth in that tournament -- and Rebecca was chosen the winner of the Ann Brown Sportsmanship Award. The award is "presented annually at the National Championships to one male and one female athlete who are judged to best embody the USCA Spirit of Curling as voted on by their peers," according to USA Curling.

Brien hosts St. Patrick's parade-watch party

For the sixth year in a row, family members gathered at Brien's apartment to enjoy an unbeatable view of the Yonkers St. Patrick's Day Parade, held Saturday, March 24.

Joining in the festivities this year were Dan and Julie, Kathy and Robert, Kevin and Kathy, Genevieve and John and Bea, Shanna and Rick, Vivien and CJ, Kevin, Patrick and Owen, along with Patrick's friend Kelsey and Owen's friend Ellen.

The weather was cool but sunny for the parade, a pleasant contrast to last year's chill and flurries.

The party featured plenty of food and drink, including two home-baked loaves of Irish soda bread - and a cake for celebrating three March birthdays: Vivien, Kevin and Bea.

Here's a batch of additional photos by Dan and Brien. Click any image for an enlarged view.

The Birch Street Web marks its 11th anniversary

It was on St. Patrick's Day weekend of 2007 that Dan created a web site, on a now-defunct platform called Googlepages, to post stories and pictures of events and activities from around his extended family.

The Birch Street Web's very first entry, posted on the night of March 17, announced the move of Marie, Brian and Xander from Nevada back to California, a couple of years before they returned to the East Coast.

The site, which later switched to its current format on Google's Blogspot, now contains more than 1,100 posts, along with links to feature pages, photo galleries and videos.

Dan writes: "Eleven years on, I'm proud of what the Birch Street Web has become: An extensive collection of our history, cataloging family gatherings, everyday events and milestones. It's a resource for remembering where we've been and what we've done together and individually."

"I hope to be able to continue this for years to come - and I ask everyone in the family to help me by continuing to share photos, videos, news and other tidbits.

"While Facebook and other forums connect us with family and friends, their mysterious algorithms and other limitations make it difficult to find specific items from the past. Only The Birch Street Web provides a single, chronological archive of our extended family, which I hope people will continue to use for many years."

To sum up: Keep in touch!

More musical events for Stephanie

Stephanie participated in the Darby High School Winter Band Concert in the first week of March. Then on March 10, she performed with the school's Symphonic Band and its Wind Ensemble at the Ohio Music Educators Association large-group adjudicated event.

No photos, videos or recordings are allowed during the OMEA event, so the Winter Concert provided a preview of the groups' competition performances.

Along with these photos, Cathy has provided two videos:

• Prelude and Fugue in G-Minor by J.S. Bach
• Transcendant Journey by Rossano Galante

Florida girl gets to frolic in the snow

Florida resident Courtney was visiting her mom, Nanette, on New York's Shelter Island when she got "snowed in," as the third in a late-winter series of Nor'easter storms rolled up the East Coast.

"I can't complain about getting stuck in this beautiful place," Courtney posted along with these photos.

A day or two earlier, Nanette and Courtney checked on the progress of the house Nanette is having built to be her new Shelter Island home.

Rebecca anchors her team at Nationals (Updated 3/11)

In this picture captured from a live webcast, Rebecca takes a shot early in her team's first match at the USA Curling 2018 Nationals competition in Fargo, N.D. Playing as "fourth" for Team Rhyme, Rebecca took her team's final two shots in each end of play.

After an early string of losses, Team Rhyme came back with four wins in a row, ending the round-robin portion of the tournament with a winning record (4-3). That was good for fourth place, while the top three of the eight teams went on to the finals.

"Fourth place, winning record - no playoff spot, but still proud," Rebecca wrote. "Thanks, Fargo!"

Next up for Rebecca: The Mixed National Championships, as part of Team Maroldo, one of ten teams competing in the tournament that starts March 23 in Lakeville, Minn.

In 2013, Rebecca was on the championship team at that annual event.