Stephanie wraps up 4 years of HS Marching Band

Senior Stephanie has completed her four years as a member of the Hilliard-Darby HS Marching Band, finishing as the lead clarinet player and the band's student president.

Oct. 20 was Senior Day at the school's home field, where the soon-to-graduate band members were honored.

The Class of 2018

Cathy writes that Oct. 28 was "an emotional day of lasts" for her daughter: "Last band competition. Last time marching on Darby's field. Last OMEA State Finals."

The Darby Panthers went out in top form at the Ohio Music Education Association finals. "They earned straight Ones (superior ratings) from all judges and an overall rating of Superior," Cathy writes. "The finished the season strong and remained unbeaten all season. They won every contest in which they competed."

Here's a video of Darby's performance at the OMEA State Finals.



The band got one more chance to perform this year's show when Darby's football team played a playoff game on Nov. 3.

Pregame pep talk to clarinet section

Click here to see an album including the photos above and a bunch more!

Coming up in February: Stephanie is among the students selected from across Ohio to perform as a member of the 2018 OMEA All State Band.

Family photos of Halloween 2017

Here's a selection of photos, mostly pulled from Facebook, of Halloween around our extended family. Above, Spiderman/Nolan prepares to head out trick-or-treating.

Above, a trick-or-treat trio: Bea visiting with cousins Scarlet and Reuben in New Jersey.

And at right, Princess Bea in her New York neighborhood.

Brennan and Shauna Rae's daughter, Brooklyn, took part in her school's Halloween parade, and this photo of her in a purple-and-black witch-queen gown appeared on the school district's website.

Here's another costumed trio: Xander as Sans (from the Undertale video game), Marie as "Panda Wizard" and Brian as "Cat Dracula."

Christine, Andy and his girlfriend, Shanna, took care of dispensing candy to trick-or-treaters at Birch Street HQ. Here they pose with their pumpkin creations.

And in Florida, Courtney and her co-workers all dressed for the day. There's Courtney at the right, representing the USA.

Happy Halloween from Birch Street HQ

Pumpkin carvings by Christine (left) and Shannon (right)

Julie travels to Ohio for Girl Scouts and family

Julie traveled to Ohio in early October to attend a Girl Scouts national convention and visit with her sister, Cathy, and niece Stephanie.

The Girl Scouts took over the Greater Columbus Convention Center for their 54th National Council Session and an exposition called G.I.R.L. that included speakers and workshops, entertainment, demonstrations and exhibits. "Like a big trade show, all about Girl Scouts," Julie said. The speakers included Chelsea Clinton and Barbara Pierce Bush.

One of the highlights for Julie was an evening sing-along that brought back memories of campfires past.

By having the event in Columbus, the Girl Scouts made it convenient for Julie to attend while visiting Cathy and Stephanie.

That Saturday, Hilliard Darby High School hosted a marching band competition, giving Julie a chance to see Stephanie and the Darby band in action.

Stephanie, a senior, is the band's student president and its clarinet section leader. At one point in the band's show this year, titled "The Bridge," she takes part in a woodwind sextet that performs "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

Here is a link to a YouTube video of a Darby Marching Band performance in September, cued to the start of the woodwind feature.

Before Julie flew home to New Jersey, she and Cathy and Stephanie toured the grounds and greenhouses at the Columbus Botanical Garden. They enjoyed the seasonal displays, which included a lot of pumpkins and chrysanthemums, along with the gardens' regular collection of flowers, plants and topiary.

Genevieve enters the theater world

Genevieve has made another career move. She started this past week as Director of Foundation Relations at Roundabout Theater Company in New York. She'll head the theater operator's efforts to obtain grants from charitable foundations that support the arts.

Genevieve most recently was manager of foundation relations at the Museum of Modern Art, and before that, worked on foundation and government grants at the New York Public Library for about four years.

Roundabout, a nonprofit company founded in 1965, now operates several Broadway and off-Broadway theaters - the American Airlines Theatre, the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, Studio 54, the Laura Pels Theatre and the Roundabout Underground Black Box Theatre.

Band president Stephanie on Columbus TV

Early on Friday morning, the Hilliard Darby Marching Band, cheerleaders and football fans gathered at the school field as the Columbus NBC-TV affiliate featured them on its morning news show. The reporter started the "Football Friday Night - Morning Kickoff" segment by interviewing the band president - Stephanie.


Cathy writes: As you can see, it was a VERY foggy morning. The students had to report to school at 5:00 AM to get into their uniforms and get warmed up. They appeared on air periodically between 6-7 AM. The reporter would do various live reports throughout the broadcast to get viewers excited for the game.

This video shows all the parts of the broadcast that featured Darby - excluding all the other news, weather, traffic, etc. Right around the 0:40 mark, you will recognize the Darby Band President being interviewed. Go Stephanie!

As for the game that night, crosstown rival Hilliard Bradley won 21-7. The Darby band was tired, but still did a fine job performing during the game and at halftime.

Florida family members all safe after hurricane

Hurricane Irma in Florida, Sept. 10-11, 2017

We're glad to know that our family members in Florida are all safe after Hurricane Irma made its way through the state.

At one point, the storm seemed to be aiming for the southeastern part of the state, and there was concern about serious flooding in Palm Beach County where Courtney lives. Irma's western turn lessened the storm surge on the east coast when it struck the state on Sunday, although the high winds brought down trees and power lines and Courtney was without electricity as of Tuesday.

The course change sent the hurricane up Florida's west coast, and for a time it appeared Irma had her eye on Tampa Bay. That raised the concern level for Austin and his daughter, Rachel, who both live in Clearwater, between the bay and the Gulf of Mexico. But the storm tracked farther inland than expected and began to weaken. "All is well," Austin messaged Monday morning as what was now a tropical storm began to move away. "No significant damage except for scattered branches on the street. Power is still on. Everyone is safe."

As Irma moved on into Georgia and Alabama, its enormous size brought tropical storm winds across South Carolina and much of North Carolina. Owen reported on Tuesday that he'd been assured by a friend "that my Charleston house is fine and did not become an aquarium." His daughter, Lizzie, currently teaches third grade in the Charleston suburbs and lives in Daniels Island, S.C., which was hit by high wind and tidal flooding on Monday. Liz had retreated to Charlotte, N.C., to wait out the storm, but was able to return Tuesday. The school system, which was closed Friday through Tuesday, resumed classes on Wednesday.

Scenes from sunny days on Cape Cod

Chatham lighthouse

As previously posted, Dan, Julie, Christine, Andy and Shannon visited Cape Cod in August, meeting James and his family as well as Owen and Gerrit. Here are some more photos taken by Dan during their three-day stay.

Boats in Provincetown harbor

Sunset over Provincetown

Tourists and shoppers in downtown Provincetown

On the same day as the solar eclipse, the group watched the sun set at Chapin Beach, where low tide exposes a wide expanse of beach that is covered by water at high tide.

Low tide at Chapin Beach

Christine, Jamie, Andy, Shannon hike toward the bay

Posing with the sun

The sun retires after its busy day

28 plays out summer; Nolan gets into the act

Cape Cod's best band, 28, finished a series of summer performances by playing at Chatham Shellfish Co.'s Second Annual Labor Day Party.

The daytime event gave Nolan a chance to see the band's show.

Gerrit writes: "Nolan saw me play with the band for the first time today. He was so excited to sing with daddy during our break. I nearly melted from the cuteness overload." Nolan joined Dad for a duet on the Alphabet Song.

Steph and bandmates on local TV news

The Hilliard-Darby High School marching band was featured on Columbus, Ohio's Channel 4's five o'clock news on Friday, Sept. 1, during the warm-up for that night's football game between Darby and crosstown rival Davidson HS. The video above is set to start 45 seconds into the report, and at about the 55-second mark, as the weatherman says "We're gonna try for dry," you can see Stephanie with her clarinet just left of a flag-waver.

Cathy also took a brief video of the band as it was playing for the TV cameras:



And the game? It was a close, low-scoring contest, with Darby winning 9-6 in overtime.

We're catching up on August posts

Your editor had a chance this week to catch up with some of the events of the past month or so, and posted a fresh batch of articles. You don't want to miss them - scroll down to see!

• Courtney and Chad are engaged 
• Andy celebrates important birthday 
• Stephanie selected to All-State Band 
• Visiting cousins and new friends on Cape Code and Long Island 
• We catch glimpses of the solar eclipse
• Dan meets the other Dan in the Hamptons 
• Dolores teaches portraiture; Hugh assists 
• Balloons and music at annual festival in NJ 

Celebrating a big birthday Montauk-style

Andy celebrated his 21st birthday Aug. 23 while on vacation on Long Island with his parents, his sister and his girlfriend, Shannon.

The group drove out to Montauk to visit the lighthouse, then went to the restaurant at Gosman's Dock and enjoyed dinner on the waterside deck in absolutely gorgeous late-summer weather.

A birthday toast with adult beverages

As the sun set, a small boat just offshore positioned itself perfectly for photos, with the sliver of the new moon in the sky above.

Moon catches sun, we catch glimpses

While the Northeastern U.S. was outside the path of the total eclipse of the sun that crossed America on Aug. 21, a partial eclipse was visible, and some of us were able to get a view.

Julie had obtained a pair of special viewing glasses from an astronomy-minded friend. So as she and Dan, Christine, Andy and Shannon visited Jamie and his mom and stepdad on Cape Cod, they were able to take turns viewing the celestial event.

The orange-tinted photos at the top of this post were taken by Dan by simply holding the glasses over the lens of his camera.

Meanwhile, down in Yonkers, a thin layer of clouds provided just enough filter for Brien to get these shots with his phone camera.

Did anyone else get eclipse photos? Please share them!