My Nieces and Nephew

A number of years ago, when I was still working as a consultant, I was assigned to a project in Secaucus, New Jersey. At this project - the Mikasa SAP project - I met and have remained friends with some absolutely amazing people. It was without doubt the most fruitful time in my career, from a personal perspective. And despite the fact that I don't see many of these folks anymore on any kind of a regular basis, they remain, in my mind and in my heart, some of the great people that I have met in my life. We'll deal with just first names for now, but let me say that Allan and Patti, Brian and Randi, Tom and Dolores, Cindi and Pat, Helene and Sylvio (yes, in the same breath) - will always have a special place in my heart...and an open invitation to come visit me in the Adirondacks!

My friend Paul and I developed a very special relationship. It's almost like we were meant to be brother and sister, we have so much in common. Though we may not see eye-to-eye on everything - religion, sometimes politics - those instances are very rare. We love movies (we both used to review movies for our respective high school/college newspapers), we both have an affinity for writing (Paul was an English major, I was a Communications major, we both wrote obituaries for our local newspapers), we both love popular culture references (we are, after all, children of the television age).

So, it was not much of a surprise when Paul sent me some recent photos, and labeled them "photos of your nieces and nephew". So adorable. Paul and his lovely wife Nancy have three children: Alex, the only boy, little Andie (Anderson), no longer a baby at 4 years of age, and their first born, Molly the Beagle. Being the proud aunt that I am, I've decided to share some of these photos with all of you.

From left to right: Molly, Andie and Alex



Andie and Alex


Andie - I know what you're thinking, those of you who know Paul. "How did such a goofball produce something so beautiful?" ;-)

Funny Stuff Those Stupid Pet Tricks

I think the funniest thing about this is Dave's reaction. He is really, really tickled by this dog. And this is a really funny stupid pet trick:



Of course, the fact that the dog has a bit of a Fred look about her just makes it all the funnier to me.

Awesome

There really is nothing else that need be said, except thank you, Andrew Sullivan, for pointing me to this:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/04/cassinis_continued_mission.html

Spoleto Festival USA

I first heard about Spoleto Festival from my sister Deb. She's a director of choirs at a high school in southern New Jersey and is often in tune to interesting cultural destinations. Well, Spoleto Festival is certainly that.

I've been attending Spoleto since about 1992. I also had the great fortune of working for a customer - I ultimately went to work for the company directly for a few years - that had a warehouse outside of the city. I made some great friends and now have many great reasons to visit Charleston, SC.

There are two websites that are needed to determine your schedule when you decide to attend Spoleto Festival. The first is the main website: http://www.spoletousa.org/2009.php. This is where my sisters and I have found out that Kurt Elling was appearing (I have seen him in concert at Spoleto three times) at previous festivals. What a thrill.

The sister festival's website this year is: http://www.piccolospoleto.com/home/default.aspx. Since my sister is a choir director, and one of my other sisters has sung in choirs, we all like choral music. And we have seen the Westminster College Choir at a main Spoleto Festival concert. But Piccolo Spoleto has the Choral Artists Series, where we have come across some of the most stunning performances by regional choirs. There is also The Festival of churches, which also includes a fair amount of choral concerts. Piccolo Spoleto also has the L'Organo Recital Series, which is a series of organ concerts held at various churches across the city.

What I love about Spoleto is the opportunity to see big-time, big-name performers - The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is performing this year - as well as lesser well known performers in small, intimate venues. Mix it all in with the juried art exhibits, the wonderful crafters at the Craft Fair at Wragg square, plays, opera, musicals, revues, comedy and the brilliant restaurants of Charleston, and you end up with exhausting days. Exhilerating days, for sure. But we always sleep well having gotten ourselves well-sated in every possible way.

I cannot recommend enough a visit to Charleston. Of course, I haven't even mentioned what an amazing history Charleston has, or that you can tour some great naval ships across the harbor at the site of the old Navy base. And there are plantations to visit, and golfing is pretty big in South Carolina, too.

Lots to do. You should go!

Spoleto Festival USA is Fast Approaching

More on Spoleto Festival later this week. The big news is that the Vanneman sisters are doing a "Sisters Weekend" at Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC over Memorial Day weekend. Suffice it to say that we are excited. Deb, Dana and I have been to Spoleto several times in the past, but this will be Diane's first time visiting and her first chance to enjoy the cultural overload of Spoleto Festival and its sister event, Piccolo Spoleto. And I have good friends down there and can't wait to see them (I miss you guys!) and enjoy some true Southern hospitality.

Though I am an avid photographer, I have taken very few pictures over the many years that I have been visiting Charleston. It's a beautiful city, with churches and their lovely steeples rising above the city's historic architecture. It's known as "The Holy City" because of the preponderance of churches and for its long-held tradition of religious tolerance. I love walking the historic district, I love the Battery, the farmer's market at Marion Square, the great, great eating establishments (Il Cortile del Re is one of my favorites). But being in Charleston during Spoleto Festival is something altogether special.

This is my sister Dana:

This photo was taken during a Spoleto Festival trip a few years ago. We saw 8 concerts in 3 days. We stayed in a lovely carriage house rental just across from the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist on Legare Street, where we saw a candlelight concert at midnight. It's important to catch a rest during Spoleto Festival, because you do tend to run around a bit trying to catch everything that you want to catch. And it can be hot in Charleston, in case you haven't heard.

As promised, more on Spoleto Festival later.

Pinecones. Oy!

I just spent the last two hours using my leaf blower to push mostly pinecones and pine needles off of the front lawn. There were some leaves, but they mostly got blown about by the wind. I'm not really all that concerned with the leaves, but the pinecones can cause some real damage to the lawn. I'm actually quite fond of the look of pine needles, but I'd like a nice portion of the front lawn to remain lawn. I have a stand of trees in the front yard, so I blew the needles and pinecones there. When I bought the house, there wasn't a sign of pinecones or needles anywhere. I think the previous owners must have had someone come and remove all of it. I'm not planning to do that. I'm pretty happy with the way the yard looks, considering it's so early in the spring.

We reviewed pruning of shrubs today at my monthly Master Gardeners meeting. I have two lilacs at the beginning of the driveway. I may try thinning them some, though one of them doesn't look very full at all. Both of these lilacs are pretty old. You know how lilacs can get when they aren't pruned and all of the pretty blooms are way high up, so high that you can't reach them to trim some to bring inside and put in a vase.

If the weather holds, I think I'll start bringing some of the soil that was piled along the property from the post holes (for the fence) back and use it to fill the bottoms of the raised beds. I have ordered a delivery of peat moss, vermiculite and compost for the soil mixture for the beds. It should be delivered sometime next week. And then I can start to put some of the cooler season crops in, like lettuces!

Fred and Hank Are Wonderful

And so are Jim and Joan. Today's post at Fred and Hank Mark America is terrific behind the scenes stuff about photographing the Beagles. Anyone with dogs can relate to this. The blog is written with great humor; I'm particularly fond today of Jim noting the reason why he thinks Joan might be suffering from Munchhausen by Proxy syndrome. Yes, joking about a terrible, debilitating disease is funny (and so was Obama's little Special Olympics 'faux pas' on Leno).

Enjoy:
http://fredandhank.typepad.com/fhma/2009/04/behind-the-scenes-model-beagles.html#comments

We Have Liftoff

Er...rather, we have germination! See?

This is a Valencia tomato, one of four, or is it five, different heirloom tomatoes that I am growing from seed in the basement. I am also starting a plain round red tomato (Celebrity), San Marzano (red plum) and also a yellow plum-like tomato. I also currently have peppers, leeks, rosemary, sage and thyme started downstairs. Also, some violas (edible) and bee balm. I will start marigolds later, too. Just about everything else I am planting this year can be started from seed outside. This includes spring onions, zucchini and squash, basil, arugula, other greens.

Darryl, Dana and I finished the four raised beds. The wood I used is from a local sawmill. It's rough-cut, and pieces of it still have the bark. I think it adds a lot of character to the garden area:

I am so excited (and hopeful) about the growing season. I recognize that there could be trouble with pests and disease and the weather, but I am still very excited.