Dolores is teacher and judge at Needlearts event

Judges at work

Dolores and Hugh attended the National Academy of Needlearts (NAN) Assembly for Embroiderers held March 21-25 at the Somerset Inn in Troy, Mich. This year Dolores served as a judge for The Exemplary as well teaching a two-day workshop called “Discovering Color and Emotion.”

Dolores leads class in exploring the relation of color and emotion.

The Exemplary is a national needlework exhibit that is part of the NAN Assembly. This year the exhibit attracted 116 entries in various categories from all over the U.S. for judging by Dolores and another NAN-certified judge. The class explored the use of different colors to express moods or emotions.

Brien hosts 2nd annual St. Pat's Parade Watch Party

The biggest Yonkers St. Patrick's Day Parade in years marched past Brien's apartment on Saturday, and a group of family and friends gathered there for a Watch Party.


Billed as the 59th Annual Yonkers St. Patrick's Day Parade, the event combined the city's traditional parade on Broadway with the three-year-old parade on McLean Avenue in the city's southeast corner, which has become home to many Irish immigrants in recent years.

As the two parade organizations begin a new tradition, Brien's Watch Party has now become a family tradition!

Signs of spring? Yes, please!

With yet another wintry storm predicted for the East this week, any sign that Spring is indeed on its way is most welcome.

Tish shared these photos taken a couple of days ago in her yard on Cape Cod.

Andy chooses University of New Haven

Andy has decided to attend the University of New Haven starting this fall. He'll be enrolling in its Tagliatela College of Engineering to pursue a major in computer science.

The private university in West Haven, Conn., has about 4,600 undergraduates and some 1,800 graduate students.

The school appealed to Andy in part because of its commitment to "experiential learning." The university describes its approach as "combining liberal-arts education with real-world, hands-on career and research opportunities."

On a couple of visits to the campus, Andy met with the computer-science faculty and said he got a good feeling about the program. In addition, he plans to take some courses in music and sound recording offered by the university's College of Arts and Sciences.

He also intends to join the UNH Marching Band. Andy graduates this spring from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, where he's been a member of the marching band and various other instrumental ensembles for all four years.

Happy Birthday to the Birch Street Web

Webmaster Dan writes: It's been seven years since I decided to try using that newfangled internet thing as a way to help connect the various strands of my extended family - to use "the web" to create a family web of communication and sharing.

The Birch Street Web was created on the weekend of March 17-18, 2007, as a sort of on-line newsletter. It took on the current format in November 2008. As of today, there are over 800 posts on this blog, along with links to feature pages, photo albums and videos.

If you haven't lately, take some time soon to browse back through the pages of this virtual family album. I'm sure, like me, you'll be surprised at some of the memories it contains - some of which you forgot you remembered.

Please, whenever you can, help me continue building this archive of moments and milestones, tidbits and trivia. All contributions are welcome and feedback is appreciated. Write anytime! Let's all Keep in Touch! Thank you.

More wildlife photos from Cape Cod

Not to be upstaged by snowy owls, right whales have been paying a visit to Cape Cod Bay this week, swimming near the shore. Tish took these photos from the beach at East Dennis on Tuesday.

Tish writes: "Today was the first warm day we have had and I took full advantage of it - spending much of the day at the Northside beaches. The whales were an amazing sight and sound!"

According to Cape Cod Today, "Right whales head to Cape Cod Bay each year around this time to feast on zooplankton. About half of the world population of right whales--about 250 of them--head to the bay each December through May."

Nanette and Courtney attend Palm Beach benefit

Nanette was back in Florida this weekend visiting her daughter, Courtney.

Courtney writes: "We went to an event at James Clark's house on Palm Beach for the Perlman Music Program. Fabulous!"

That would be James Clark, the founder of Netscape and other internet companies, who is a big backer of the Perlman Music Program for gifted young violinists.

The program is headquartered in Shelter Island, N.Y., where Nanette is executive director of the town Historical Society. Clark hosts an annual benefit concert and dinner at his Palm Beach home for the program.

Sting, Paul Simon team up at Garden

Associated Press

Two fine songwriters and musicians brought their talents and their bands together at Madison Square Garden this week - and Dan and Julie were in the audience for their second show on Thursday night.

Both said afterward that it was one of the best concerts they've seen. The two artists performed several songs together and others separately, backed by a combined band of 14 musicians.

Robert Altman/consequenceofsound.net

They finished the show with a version of Simon's "Late In the Evening" that Julie said she could have listened to for another hour, followed by a brief duet - with just their acoustic guitars and a single microphone - on Phil Everly's "When Will I Be Loved."

Rebecca and teammates proud of tournament play

Back home in Rochester after taking part in the 2014 USA Curling Nationals, Rebecca says her team is proud of its performance.

Competing with the best women's teams in the nation, the foursome from the Rochester Curling Club finished with a 3-6 record.

"We had a good week and learned a lot," writes Rebecca. "You have to lose a lot in order to learn how to win in this game, so we're just paying our dues now. It was a great experience and I think we got some good exposure."

Judging from the commentary heard during game webcasts, the team made a strong impression in its first appearance at a national tournament.

Rebecca competing in USA Curling Nationals (Updated)

The 2014 USA Curling National Championship tournament is under way near Philadelphia. Rebecca is competing as a member of Team Maroldo, based at the Rochester Curling Club.
  The team won its first game in the round-robin portion of the tournament on March 1. It was a see-saw battle that went into overtime, with the Maroldo rink taking two in the 11th end to win 10-8. Its second game Sunday morning was another close, back-and-forth contest that ended in a 9-8 loss.

We found these photos in an album of pictures from the first day's action, taken by a spectator and posted on the web.

You can follow the team's progress here - and we'll be posting updates now and then, too.

Two of Rebecca's games -- at 4 p.m. on Sunday March 2 and at noon on Wednesday March 5 -- are scheduled to be shown on USA Curling's live video stream.

Stephanie makes her stage debut

Stephanie is performing this weekend in the Hilliard Heritage Middle School's production of "Mystery at Shady Acres."

It's a who-done-it about the theft of a million-dollar necklace at a small English hotel.

Stephanie plays one of the police detectives investigating the case.

Andy drums at school jazz festival

Andy performed with one of his school's many music ensembles during a Jazz Festival this week. He played drums on the Gershwin classic "Summertime" and congas on a tune called "Mucho Loco."

Snow melts, Snowy Owl still at home on Cape

Tish writes:
Owen and I took advantage of the warm spell in the 40's today!

We went for a walk at West Dennis Beach and came upon the Snowy Owl.

She was most cooperative for her photos today.

See previous stories:
Snowy Owl on snowy Cape
Tish meets a Snowy Owl

Snow reaches us, both north and south

After missing the heavy snowfall at midweek, our Cape Cod family members got their share on Saturday. Tish reports about 10-12 inches of new snowfall, with a topping of ice. Sunday brought bright sunshine, creating views like these of the white-coated trees.

Tish and Owen's daughter, Lizzie, hasn't missed out on this snowy winter despite being down in North Carolina at Elon University. This was the scene there on Wednesday, as the South had its second big snowstorm of the winter.

More scenes of the Winter of '14

Hugh and Dolores are spending some time at their place on Deep Creek Lake in Garrett County, Md., where pretty much every winter is a snowy winter. But like most of the Eastern U.S. this year, it seems especially snowy this year.

Hugh writes that Thursday's coastal storm - which wasn't expected to reach that far inland - nonetheless dumped a reported 23 inches on parts of the county.

"When we cleaned off the car, it looked more like 18 inches here at Arrowhead," Hugh writes. "However, another storm, this one from the west, brought another six inches or so over Friday night and into Saturday.

"Schools in Garrett County have been open less than 5 days since the first of the year!"

Relentless winter piles it on

The latest storm of the Relentless Winter of '14 brought the heaviest snow yet to the Mid-Atlantic region on Wednesday night and Thursday.

In Virginia, train service on the VRE was canceled for the day, giving conductor Brian a snow day. He took the opportunity to create the giant snowman above.

Xander and Marie helped out, but "it's mostly Brian's creation," Marie said.

In Maryland, the patio table at Doug & Lisa's house gave a good view of the depth of snow Thursday afternoon.

Below, Andy helped dig out at Birch Street headquarters. Dan and Julie were both able to work from home, but it seemed wise to shovel some of the snow aside before another round that was expected to fall Thursday night.

Rebecca featured in Rochester TV curling reports (Updated)

Twice this week, Rochester television stations looking for a local angle on the Winter Olympics interviewed Rebecca at the Rochester Curling Club.

Click here to see a WROC-TV report featuring Rebecca and a fellow club member. You can also read a text version of the story.

Then click here to see Rebecca give a reporter from WHEC-TV a brief lesson in the essentials of curling.

Snowy Owl on snowy Cape

Tish photographed this Snowy Owl in a snowy marsh near the beach in snowy Cape Cod this weekend.

As previously reported, the arctic birds have appeared on the Cape in extraordinary numbers this winter. It's part of a broad invasion of East Coast and Midwest states that has ornithologists wondering if it's a freak event or the beginning of a new pattern.