Christine's colleges-and-cousins tour (Updated 4/1)

Christine and Andy pose with Vivien after dinner at
the BoatYard Grill in Ithaca on Tuesday.

This week Christine and family have been on a colleges-and-cousins tour across upstate New York. The itinerary gave Christine, a high school junior, a chance to see a wide variety of schools: small (Alfred and Skidmore), large (Syracuse, Cornell) and medium (Ithaca, New Paltz).

Visiting Julie's alma mater, Syracuse University.

Along the way, Christine and Andy (and their parents) got to spend time with their cousins' cousin Kathy at Ithaca College; cousin Vivien at Cornell; and cousin Liz at RPI. Here they pose in the lounge of Liz's sorority house.

On Thursday evening they got together with Aunt Pat for dinner out and a little visit at her home near Saratoga.

Another step on the path to teaching

Shanna is progressing toward her masters degree and teaching certification. The latest milestone: The state-required "content specialty test."

"I took the CST-multisubject exam last month and just found out that I passed! It is the second of three exams that I have to take in order to be certified as a teacher in New York State. I do not have a specialty since I plan to teach all subjects, so I was required to take the test covering all areas instead of just one focus," Shanna writes.

"Graduate school is going well and I am enjoying it. I am working my way through my classes quickly and although I still have to do student teaching next year, I hope to have my Masters in both early childhood and childhood education in May 2011. After that, I will be certified to teach infants-grade 6."

Nanette takes charge of new marinelife foundation

As executive director of the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, Nanette has overseen its growth in recent years and its spring 2007 move into a new 12,000 square foot facility in Juno Beach, Fla. Now Nanette has been named president of the newly formed LMC Foundation.

"The foundation will be our fundraising and communications arm and will help us better accomplish our outreach and financial goals," the LMC's board chairman said in a letter to the center's supporters. "On behalf of the board, I'd like to congratulate Nanette on her appointment as president of our foundation, and thank her for her time served as our executive director. We look forward to having Nanette grow this division and communicate with you on a regular basis."

Nanette writes: "Fortunately, the LMC is financially healthy and I'm excited about the launch of the foundation. We are hiring additional staff and have just hired Cambridge 7, an exhibit design firm from Boston, to begin planning for expansion."

Check out LMC's Turtle Cam!

The Loggerhead Marinelife Center was in this news in January when thousands of sea turtles were stunned by unusually cold water temperatures. The LMC took a leading role in rescuing the stricken animals, rehabilitating and releasing over 400 green turtles.

Previous articles:
Loggerhead Marinelife Center cares for 'cold-stunned' turtles
Turtle update: 500 helped by LMC

Yay! The sun is out!

Xander out getting some vitamin D.

Another East Coast storm (Updated 3/15)

How did everyone make out with all the wind and rain this weekend?

At Birch Street HQ we ended up with a bit of a flood in our basement after our sump pump quit Saturday night. No disaster - just waterlogged rugs and some other wet things that needed to be dried out or pitched. But it made for a scramble late Saturday night to rescue various odd items from the inch or two of water on the floor - and to find a plumber who could pump it out in the middle of the night (luckily we did). Then most of Sunday was spent cleaning up.

There was a lot of street flooding around our town - including the closing of portions of busy Route 22. This photo from a local web site, Scotch Plains-Fanwood Patch, shows the westbound lanes of Route 22 submerged while eastbound traffic splashes by.

Got a storm story? Share it!

Brien wrote on Monday morning:
Most of the aluminum siding on the windward side of my apartment building got ripped off by the wind and sailed off or crumpled up. A lot of places are without power in Westchester, but I have power luckily, as do Mom and Dad and Kevin and his family.

Shanna wrote on Monday afternoon:
We were fine over here, just a huge tree branch falling in the yard. However a few minutes away in Eastchester, one of my best friends didn't have it so easy. Half of the roof blew off their house and they now are in the process of completely taking down every wall and floor because of the amount of water that they got inside.

Hugh & Dolores visit Doug & Lisa & Nevada

Hugh and Dolores paid a birthday-week visit to their son Doug and his wife Lisa in Las Vegas and took in some of the nearby natural wonders.

Their visit to Vegas followed their annual trip to Kansas City for the National Academy of Needlearts Assembly, where Dolores was a teacher and judge. Read Hugh's full account of their trip.Here they are at Calico Hills in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, west of Las Vegas. Click below for more photos from there and Valley of Fire State Park, northeast of the city.

Get all the details - Read Hugh's full account of their trip

Good season comes to disappointing end

Brendan scored 14 points but his Saratoga Springs High School team came up short in the sectional tournament on Feb. 25.

As reported by The Saratogian:

After surprising the Suburban Council and finishing with a 13-5 overall record and earning the No. 2 seed from the conference in the Class AA tournament, the Blue Streaks saw their campaign ended Thursday night after they were shocked by Queensbury, 84-67, on their home floor.

“It’s obviously a very, very tough pill to swallow,” said Saratoga head coach Mitch Snyder.

...While big man Brennan Haley did all he could (14 points, seven rebounds) to keep Saratoga (13-6) in the game, Queensbury eventually stretched its lead... (Read the full story here.)

Marking 98 years of Girl Scouting

Julie and Christine helped mark Girl Scout Week at our local town hall and our church.

March 12 is the 98th anniversary of the founding of Girl Scouts in the United States.

Julie, the Girl Scouts service unit manager for Fanwood and Scotch Plains, was joined by Christine and two Brownies at the Fanwood Borough Council meeting Tuesday night. The girls led the Pledge of Allegiance and received the mayor's proclamation of March 7-14 as Girl Scout Week.

A local news web site, the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Patch, covered the event with an article and photos, including this one of the mayor happily receiving some cookies from the Brownies.


Earlier in the week, Girl Scouts wore their uniforms to Sunday services at St. Paul's Church in Westfield, took part in the presentation of gifts and afterward posed for a photo on the church steps.

Yes, Spring is coming!

Tish writes: I just had to send everyone a little bit of a Cape Cod Spring!

A break from the cold, a hike in the desert

On a break from her studies at Rochester Institute of Technology in snowy upstate New York, Becky is visiting her parents in Nevada. Here are a couple of photos Lisa posted of a hike in Valley of Fire State Park.

Photos to warm up the rest of us back here in the chilly Northeast!

Hockey fans, at least for a day

Among the estimated 27.6 million people in the United States who watched the USA-Canada Olympic gold medal hockey game on Sunday were an estimated 10.0 members of our family who happened to converge at the Midland Avenue house. It was a very exciting game even for those who aren't big hockey fans - an intense 60 minutes that ended with a game-tying American goal in the final seconds, followed by an overtime period and a sudden-death win for Canada.

Kevin was properly outfitted in a Team USA jersey from 2006. Genevieve was visiting from the land of the San Jose Sharks.

And the snow just keeps on coming

From Birch Street Sharing: 2010-02-25-snow

The scene on Birch Street Friday morning. About 8-9 inches of snow at that point. More fell throughout the day Friday but it did not pile up much higher.

From Birch Street Sharing: 2010-02-25-snow

Show us your snow! E-mail photos or post them yourself.

Snow. Again. How nice. Not.

Shanna sent along these shots from her street in Yonkers as yet another snowstorm hit the Northeast today.

The wet, sloppy snow is expected to turn into fluffier, wind-driven snow overnight, so Friday promises to be another wintry day.

The slushy scene at Birch Street this evening. Blecch.

Oh well - Only 23 days 'til Spring!

Show us your snow! E-mail photos or post them yourself.

Travel report: A museum weekend in Cleveland

Cathy writes:
Recently the kids and I traveled to Cleveland, Ohio for a weekend mini-vacation. We were able to squeeze it in between snowstorms. The temperatures were cold and they also had snow on the ground, however we still enjoyed our visit. We explored the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Great Lakes Science Center.

Click here to read Cathy's full account of the trip and see more photos

The winter that won't quit

There wasn't much accumulation but it was another snowy day in the Northeast - as seen here from the patio of Dan and Lorraine's house on Midland Avenue.

Meanwhile in Maryland, this was the scene around the family homestead in Riderwood as of Feb. 15 -- six days after the last snowfall.


It took a day of digging to create a path from the house to Dolores' studio in the back of the property.

"Maybe it will melt in time for the Preakness party," says Hugh.

Comings and goings, coast to coast and overseas

Keeping up with our mobile family:

- Patrick is in Madrid on a Fordham Prep trip. He'll spend eight days in Spain visiting Seville, Cordoba and other points. His mom, Kathy, says Patrick doesn't study Spanish (he takes Italian and ancient Greek) but "signed on to the trip for cultural immersion and global awareness (or maybe for fun!) School is closed next week for spring break."

- Meanwhile Kathy is out in California visiting daughter Genevieve, whose birthday is this week. And Genevieve's husband John finally made it home from Ithaca after his flight schedule was disrupted by the weather.

- Marie and Xander are back home in New Jersey, having missed two snowstorms during their winter sojourn in California. Here's Xander ready for takeoff on Saturday evening.

February Blizzard 2: Piling it On (Updated 10pm EST)

First 6 inches shoveled, more falling

Let's hope everyone stays safe and warm as a second blizzard sweeps along the East Coast. Tonight it seems to be tapering off in the New Jersey-New York area after snowfall in the 10-15 inch range.

Here at Birch Street, Christine and Andy had a snow day off school and Dan and Julie worked from home. After shoveling a half-foot of snow off the driveway in the morning we watched another half-foot fall by late afternoon. Dan took a picture-taking walk in the mid-afternoon; Christine went over to Matt's house for a while, where they and Matt's sister made a snowman. Tonight we got word that school is canceled for tomorrow, too.

Andy measures 12 3/4 inches at 4:25 p.m.

Andy measured 12 3/4 inches as of 4:25 p.m. See more photos, including some by Barbara of the snowy scene in Hamilton, in the slideshow above (double-click on it to go to the Picasa album and see larger views).

Shanna reports from Yonkers that 9 1/2 inches of snow had fallen by 5:20 p.m. Here are photos taken by Shanna's dad, Kevin, around their house.


John and Genevieve visited Cornell in Ithaca this week, where John did some recruiting for Facebook and the they got to visit with Vivien. Genevieve flew back to California on Tuesday and John was supposed to fly Wednesday but his flight was delayed, even though only a few inches of snow fell in Ithaca.

Check the current conditions in our family's various hometowns on our Weather Station page.

We look forward to hearing more from our East Coast correspondents! As always you can e-mail dispatches to Birch Street HQ; or post your photos at Picasa and send an e-mail to let us know.

Snowed in, quite literally, at Deep Creek Lake

Close to 3 feet of snow fell in western Maryland in the Feb. 5-6 blizzard, and the wind pushed it into drifts like these on the back porch of Hugh and Dolores' condo on Deep Creek Lake.

Hugh writes:
We came to our place at Deep Creek Lake in Garrett County, Maryland on Feb. 4, a Thursday. Long before, we had planned a weekend with our friends from Rehoboth, Nancy and Jerry and their daughter Kristina. They had spent a weekend here with us last winter and had great fun tubing on the ski slopes at Wisp. Kristina is 8 years old, and this year they wanted to get her on skis for the first time.

The weather gurus were all predicting a major winter snowstorm. We knew from experience that the storms that come from the Gulf and ride up the East Coast into a cold front mean bad news. They were expecting 2 feet or more along the coast of Delaware - but only about 15 inches here inland. When Jerry called Thursday night, we both thought that if they got away from Rehoboth by noon on Friday, they would be ahead of the worst of the storm and could enjoy our mere 15 inches on the Wisp slopes.

We were concerned when it began to snow here eight o’clock Friday morning. Nancy called an hour later to say they just did not think it wise to make the trip in the storm. They made a good decision. Thirty-six hours later when the snow stopped falling here, the accumulation was more than twice the predicted 15 inches. As our pictures show, this snowfall made the previous one at New Year's look like a dusting.



Our biggest problem was getting out the front door. The storm door opens out, and snow can block it. We cleared it Friday night before going to bed, but by Saturday morning, the falling and wind-driven snow had piled a 3-foot drift in front of the door. The only way to clear it was to remove the glass panels from the storm door and shovel the snow away through the closed door until we had removed enough to allow the door to open.

On Monday morning, we made the decision to travel back home to Baltimore while there was a window of good weather before the next predicted snowstorm. We hear that the next one will hit New Jersey and the New York area also. It is about time you all up there experienced a little winter too.