Catching up with Mary and her family

Editor's note: At Brien's St. Patrick's Day Parade party last month, Mary shared several pieces of news - and agreed to write them up for The Birch Street Web. Here is her account.

So much has changed, so I’ll just dive right in and start with myself. I decided to sell the townhouse I was living in, that I inherited from my mother, and I bought a house on Sacandaga Lake - 15 minutes from my son’s house, so, closer to the grandkids. I’m directly across the street from the lake and have lakefront rights.

I moved in last spring (2022) and spent a lot of time kayaking and then snowshoeing this past winter. It’s a cozy 3-bedroom, 1½ bath ranch with den and full basement on half an acre, perfect for me and my dog, Luna.

I rescued this little hound last March and she has been amazing so far - loves kayaking and going snowshoeing with me. (I had to put the Big Guy / the great dane down.) Roger and I have parted ways so it was perfect timing buying the house. I have incredible neighbors and the Sacandaga Brewery is less than 3 miles away (nice bike ride LOL).

I am switching positions at my job within my organization, the Boys and Girls Club of the Capital Area, which operates Universal Pre-Kindergarten programs at public schools in the area. I am currently the UPK Director for the Cohoes City School District. I oversee 8 classrooms and have 21 employees. But I will be transitioning to the role of Director of Operations and will be overseeing all 24 of our UPK classrooms in 3 different school districts (Albany, Watervliet, and Cohoes), with a staff of 56. I also will be overseeing the directors that run after-school programming and aquatics -- so, exciting times, venturing a bit outside of the Early Childhood world.

I am also starting a consulting company: WOO Consulting (Wise Old Owl), offering life coaching, spiritual life coaching and holistic healing. During the pandemic I became certified in all three areas. I have been running a free 6-week pilot program with 6 clients to get feedback on their experiences and overall impression of the coaching and goal-setting. So far, the follow up conversations have been incredible and so helpful. I am meeting with a business consultant to file a DBA and set up web-site and social-media platforms -- so more to come on that once I am up and officially running.

Now, updates on my children:

Brienna is still living in Saratoga with her boyfriend, Tommy, and is currently attending art school. She is concentrating on graphic design and seems to be loving it. (Photo: Brienna and Tommy with Barkley, a Christmas gift from Mary.)

Brienna's son, Cash, is turning 12 in August and is in middle school -- crazy how time goes by. He lives in Lexington, Ky., with his dad and stepmother, and has a baby brother who is now 6 months old. Brienna still sees Cash often throughout the year and every day on FaceTime -- thank goodness for social media.

Brennan and Shauna Rae and their kiddos, Brooklyn (11) and Brennan (8), are doing amazing. My son and his wife have both completed their Masters degrees. Brennan is currently a physical education teacher for Fulton/Montgomery Elementary School and Shauna-Rae is teaching special-education high school math in Broadalbin, as well as pursuing her administration degree. The kids are busy playing basketball, soccer, baseball and softball.

The family is thinking about relocating to Tampa, Fla., after the school year ends; their house just went on the market to see if this might be feasible. They might not be 15 minutes around the corner from me for long! But I reassured them that I will just book more frequent-flyer miles -- and the kiddos can still enjoy snow on their winter break, as they can spend it with me in NY!

Shannon and Mary

Shannon is a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. She has been married for 3 years -- and she and her husband, Frederick, are expecting their first baby, a girl, in mid-July. 

The couple met when both were stationed at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. (Their wedding was simple, with no reception; a friend of theirs married them. Young military, haha!) They later transferred to Eglin AFB in the Florida Panhandle, and bought a house in Crestwood, Fla. Frederick, who was a staff sergeant and medic in the Air Force, just separated from the service and is pursuing his degree in medicine through the GI Bill. Shannon works as a pharmaceutical technician at Eglin.

Shannon and Frederick

Brienna and Mary at the Terrapin Brewery in Athens Georgia - a pit stop on the way to see Shannon in Florida 

Brien's St. Patrick's Parade watch party returns!

After a three-year gap caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Brien once again hosted a party at his apartment along the route of the Yonkers St. Patrick's Day Parade on Saturday, March 18.

The parade was back to full strength, lasting a good two hours and drawing big crowds. And the family gathering filled Brien's apartment for the whole afternoon.

Genevieve joined the festivities along with the newest family member, Liam, and his big sister, Bea. Owen and Ellen were down from Cape Cod, and Mary came from her home in New York's North Country. Kathy and Robert were there, and Dan and Julie crossed the river from New Jersey, So did Shanna, Rick and Lucy. Kevin came up from Manhattan to join his parents, Kevin and Kathy, in the walk over from their Yonkers house.

As in its pre-pandemic heyday, the parade included units from Yonkers, the big city just to its south, around the metro area - and from Ireland. Many of them likely had marched in the New York City parade the day before. 

A birthday-celebration weekend in Los Angeles

Dan and Julie visited Christine and Jamie in Los Angeles in early January to celebrate Christine's birthday. Highlights included a visit to the Getty Center museum, where Julie and Christine posed before an appropriate sculpture, "Draped Reclining Mother and Baby" by Henry Moore.

The weekend began with a stroll on and around the Santa Monica Pier, and then to a movie theater to experience the new Avatar movie in 3D.

That evening, the group toasted the birthday girl at Harvelle's Blues Club in Santa Monica, where they were entertained by a New Orleans-style jazz band called Alligator Beach.

The visit to the Getty was the following day. "We could only see a fraction of Getty Center, as it's enormous," says Dan, "and that's just one of the two Getty museums in LA. But we enjoyed both the exhibits - including a collection of drawings and sketches by Dutch artists - and the grounds themselves."

That evening, the group had a fine dinner at an Italian restaurant, La Bruschetta in the Westwood neighborhood, that has become a C&J favorite.

D&J stayed through Monday, and while Jamie worked, they and Christine visited South Dakota the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures - a new attraction in the city, which opened in late 2021. This selfie was taken in front of Mount Rushmore a painted backdrop used in Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest."

Outside the museum, heavy rain arrived that afternoon, part of a series of storms that caused flooding and mudslides in various parts of California during January. Some streets in the LA area were flooded that night, but fortunately, there were no such problems in C&J's neighborhood. And the skies cleared for D&J's flight back to New Jersey the next day.

Christmas brings family members together

After two missed years due to the pandemic, the annual family Christmas party in Yonkers took place on Monday, hosted by Kathy at her home. It was wonderful to be able to get together in person to celebrate the holiday.

The guests included Kathy's daughter Vivien with her husband, CJ, and their boys, Charlie and Austin - all currently living in London but on holiday stateside. Kathy's son, Patrick, and his fiance, Kelsey, joined the party, but left before this photo was taken. Robert arrived in time for the photo and is seen in back by the Christmas tree. Kathy's daughter Genevieve, her husband, John, and their children, Bea, Jack and Liam, were unable to attend because of illness, and were sorely missed. 

Kathy's three brothers were there. Dan and his wife, Julie, drove in from New Jersey with their son, Andy, and his fiance, Wren, who were visiting from upstate New York. Brien and Kevin arrived along with Kevin's wife, Kathy; their son, Kevin; and their daughter, Shanna, her husband, Rick, and daughter, Lucy, who is front-and-center in the photo. There also was one virtual attendee: Christine, who circulated through the crowd via a Zoom call on Julie's phone.

Hugh and Dolores invited family to a Christmas meal at one of the restaurants at Oak Crest in Maryland. The red-and-green-bedecked couple are seen here with their son, Doug, and (standing l to r) granddaughters Liz and Stephanie, grandson Christopher, daughter-in-law Lisa, daughter Cathy and granddaughter Rebecca.

Dolores writes that they had a private area in the restaurant, "and a good thing, because everyone was still sharing Scotland stories and experiences, sometimes all at once!" She particularly enjoyed hearing Chris and Steph's reactions to their "their First Trip Abroad. It was a great opportunity for them."

A collection of Thanksgiving postcards

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, at home or on the road.


Dan and Julie drove down to Virginia to visit Marie, Brian and Xander, as well as Brian's parents, Steve and Barbara, who live nearby. Marie prepared a marvelous meal, and after dinner we all enjoyed a board game.

Cathy, Christopher and Stephanie had Thanksgiving dinner with Dolores and Hugh at one of the restaurants in Oak Crest.

The following evening, they joined the "black Friday" party at Doug and Lisa's house. Also there were D&L's daughters - Liz and Rebecca (and her dogs) - and Dan and Julie. Somehow, no one thought to take a photo of that gathering!

Prowling Facebook, we see that Courtney paid a Thanksgiving visit to her mother, Nanette, on Shelter Island.

Shanna, Rick and Lucy posted this photo with a Happy Thanksgiving message.

And from overseas (where it wasn't Thanksgiving) come these photos from Vivien and CJ, who celebrated their anniversary earlier this month...

...and later in the month, traveled with Charlie and Austin to Budapest, where they took in the sights - and a performance, at what appears to be the Budapest Circus.

Dan and Julie visit Dublin

Dan and Julie combined their trip to Scotland with a few days in Dublin.

Arriving Sunday and departing Thursday (Dan's birthday), they managed to catch a sold-out concert by popular Irish singer Mary Black...

 

...tour Dublin castle, see two cathedrals, visit the National Museum of Ireland...

...and hike along the Irish Sea coast at Howth.

They also saw a bit of Dublin's rock-and-roll history and caught live music at pubs in the Temple Bar nightlife district.

Click here to see a collection of photos from the trip!

Many have captions, which you can see when you click on the individual photos. You might also need to click the info icon (i).

Visiting Scotland for curling and more

As Rebecca and her teammates competed in the World Mixed Curling competition in Aberdeen, Scotland, eight members of her family traveled to cheer on Team USA and see other sights in the British Isles.

Rebecca's parents, Doug and Lisa, toured other Scottish cities before and after the competition, as did her Aunt Cathy and cousins Chrstopher and Stephanie. Her Aunt Julie and Uncle Dan combined a week in Aberdeen with four days in Dublin, Ireland. And sister Liz visited London, joined the group in Aberdeen and then toured extensively in Northern Scotland.

The Team USA foursome of Caitlin, Jeff, Rebecca and Jason were proud and happy to represent the Rochester Curling Club and Curling USA. On the ice at Curl Aberdeen, they enjoyed the competition and camraderie that characterize the sport. The team played hard and smart, ending with a won-loss record of 3-4 in the round-robin, short of the cutoff for the playoffs. In a Facebook post, Rebecca thanked "the most amazing teammates in the world. I can't think of better folks on and off the ice to have shared this experience with."

 

The trip provided a great opportunity for family members to get together as spectators and tourists. Just a few highlights: 

Dan, Julie, Cathy, Chris and Steph went on a small-group tour of the Highlands, including a boat ride on Loch Ness. 

Urquhart Castle alongside Loch Ness

On a rare sunny day, Doug, Lisa, Dan and Julie took a long walk through downtown Aberdeen to the beach on the North Sea. 

Castlegate Square in downtown Aberdeen

Touching the North Sea

And the whole family group joined Rebecca's teammates and their families and friends to watch Aberdeen Football Club defeat Partick Thistle in a Scottish League Cup quarter-final match.

Pre-game dinner

We had great seats!

Individually and together, clan members packed their trips with experiences all over the Scottish landscape - too many to list here. A big collection of photos taken by various family members is being compiled in a Google album.

Click here for a visual travelogue of the trip!