Flashback Friday

In the fall of 2005, Peter was playing his alto sax in the Shorewood High School Marching Band. I'm not sure how they feel about it all these years later, but as far as I'm concerned one of the perks about the kids going to a public high school was that the boys could be in marching band. 
 

Flashback Friday

On Monday John will turn 28. Twenty-five years ago, he was turning three at our house on Saxony Drive in Racine. He's wearing the original birthday crown, is relaxing behind "the" baseball cake (a kit that we used over and over with the boys), and is surrounded by presents. I think it was a happy birthday for him then, and I hope that this year it's a happy birthday for him now. Happy Birthday John! We love you!

No Title Necessary

I don't know what to say about Brad's evening last night. He was treated to an incredible show at Madison Square Garden. It was a benefit concert for Hurricane Sandy and the group of performers who turned out makes me dizzy to think about. For example, The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Chris Martin, Alicia Keyes, Paul McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi ..... and the list goes on. (And the list of non musical guests was just as amazing.) Brad saw it all from a seat just a few rows behind Chris Christie. Above is a picture he texted me when Eric Clapton was performing. The concert was was over five hours long and by the time he got home it made for a very late night, but it's one I'm positive he'll never forget!

Parents Weekend at Tufts

Chuck and Geneva's last stop on their trip out East was to visit Tufts.  We were there over Parents Weekend so it was quite festive.  As this picture demonstrates, no stop to Tufts is complete without paying one's respects to their mascot, Jumbo.

And second only to Jumbo is the Tufts cannon which, much to our amusement, we learned is "on loan" from the USS Constitution.  I wonder if they anticipated all those coats of paint when it was first loaned?

John and his friend Christen carved pumpkins, which made for a festive Halloween look on the porch.

Those who know Medford will be happy to see he's moving up in the world; this year he has a permanent place on John's desk.

We ate well all weekend, including a breakfast stop at Sound Bites, a local favorite.

We love our Tufts boy!

And finally, for your viewing pleasure, here is a video of one of the three pieces that the Tufts Wind Ensemble (which includes tubist John Harrison!) performed on Saturday afternoon.

Concert in Boston

John's in the Tufts Wind Ensemble and they had a concert this afternoon, so Brad and I drove up to see him play. (Mary stayed home to do homework.) Before the concert we met for brunch, and after the concert we delivered one of Brad's old bikes to John. John's going to be working at Tufts all summer, so he is excited to have transportation. We had a nice afternoon with John. This was the fifth weekend in a row we'd seen him - a record!

Here are three concert videos, which prominently feature our favorite tubist.





And a couple of photos  . . . .

John with his friend (and Wind Ensemble bandmate) Dan, after the concert.

Bike handoff.

The Play! The Play!

It was a fun weekend, with Mary's school musical having its performances, and John being in town to see his sister in the show. The musical was Footloose.  Mary was in the chorus and she did a great job!  Here are some highlights.

Mary and her proud parents after Friday's show.

Mary and John after Friday's performance.

We interrupt this blog post to bring you a John Harrison fashion show.  

Mary and Meryl after Saturday's show.

Mary and Molly after Saturday's show.

And now for some videos from the weekend (in no particular order but all fairly short) . . . .

More Paint

The painting has continued, but first, another Christmas festival. On Saturday afternoon Mary sang at the tree lighting for the Woodbury Christmas Festival. She is somewhere under this gazebo - exactly where, I don't know. The weather was rain that was a degree or so from turning to snow, so the kids were lucky to have the gazebo. Just like in Bethlehem, the bands and choirs were there and lots of carols were sung.
Next, the painting of the living room ......... I didn't take a "before" picture of the living room with our stuff in it, as it was never really unpacked. So here is a photo of the living room as it looked with the prior owners' stuff in it. Notice the dark yellow walls and trim. It made the room feel a bit like a cave. You can't see it in the photo, but at the other end of the room were heavy curtain rods with dark red floral curtains - all of which are now gone. We went with the same white trim that's in the rest of the house and blue walls. It was a big gamble as we'd never painted a blue room before, and we love it.

Bethlehem Christmas Festival

This seems to be the weekend for town Christmas festivals around here. Both Woodbury and Bethlehem started their festivals tonight. Since Mary's school has kids from both towns, the choirs and bands are singing/playing at both. Tonight was Bethlehem. It was an adorable festival and it runs all weekend. Tomorrow is Woodbury, so I'll probably take pictures there too! The highlight of the evening was Santa ordering the lighting of the tree on the town green.

The choirs and bands from the local schools sang and played Christmas carols. Here are Mary and two of her choir mates.

Mary and me at the festival. It was pretty warm - I think it was in the 40's - so it was quite comfortable.

There were lots of stands selling food, as well as crafts. We thought this one was a unique mix of Wisconsin (sausage) and Connecticut (grinders).

Mary and I didn't eat at the festival. Instead, we went to a nearby restaurant. We were both getting the biggest laughs from the entire back page of the menu, which was devoted exclusively to more types of alcoholic drinks than I think Mary (or even I) ever knew existed. (And it was a family restaurant.....) What got both of us laughing so hard that we almost fell off our chairs was the fact that the Children's Cocktail was listed right in the middle of all the alcoholic drinks. Mary thought it was so funny she took this picture. Then when we left the restaurant and were walking back to our car, Mary almost tripped, so we decided she probably had too many Children's Cocktails.

Benefit Concert Videos

I took a bunch of videos at the Shorewood Choirs Benefit Concert. After trying without success to upload them directly to my blog, I had the idea to upload them to YouTube. I couldn't get all of them uploaded, but I have a few here. All you will need to do is click on each link (which is the highlighted name of each song) and I think once it directs you to YouTube the video will start playing automatically. If not, just click the "play" button. The piece I really wanted to upload was Mary's solo, but I can't seem to get it uploaded. Darn. The first piece is called Cerf volat. Next is Draw the Tear From Hopeless Love. Then Sourwood Mountain. And a piece with all of the choirs called Thank You For the Music. And finally, the always tearful Shorewood Anthem, which was really special because Mr. Clark let Mary sing with the seniors. Sorry for the shaky camera work on the Anthem, but I was crying along with everyone else.

Benefit Concert Photos

Yesterday afternoon was the annual Shorewood Choirs Benefit Concert. As always, it was beautiful. For her last concert, Brad made a special visit to town, and of course John and I were there too. I am trying to upload videos I took of some of the performances. Stay tuned for that. For now, here are some photos we took after the concert.

Brad, Emi, Mary, Emi's mom Pat, and me Emi and Mary Mary and Brad Mary and Mr. Clark

State Solo and Ensemble, Part Two

Here's the second vocal piece from yesterday's competition. If you subscribe to the blog post via email, you'll have to go to the actual blog to be able to listen to it. It runs about 4 minutes and includes judge's comments (and Mary's answers to some of her questions) at the end. Both this piece and the one I posted yesterday got the top rating from the judges! Yesterday's even got a perfect score!

State Solo and Ensemble

Today was State Solo and Ensemble, at UW-Milwaukee. Mary performed in two choral pieces and the kids did fantastic in each. I have videos of each, and if you get this blog post via email, you'll probably have to go to the actual blog if you want to play the videos.

Maddie, Emi, and Mary after the morning performance.
The Chamber Choir after this morning's performance.


Video of Chamber Choir performance. It runs about 4 minutes, but that includes the judge giving his comments at the end. You can just click on the pause button to stop if you don't want to see it all.

I have a video of the second performance, and I will be posting that tomorrow.

Spring Weekend

We had a good first weekend of spring. Saturday's weather was beautiful. Sunday was a bit cooler, but still sunny. Brad and John were home all weekend; Mary had Solo & Ensemble on Saturday; we had a real estate Open House on Sunday; plus there was basketball when it could be fit in. John flew back to Boston this morning. Brad has work in Chicago today, then he heads back to Connecticut tonight.

Lauren, Madeline, Mary, Sofia, and Emi at Solo & Ensemble Mary and Brad at Solo & Ensemble Mary and Brad passing time during the Open House John, Brad and Allie hanging out during the NCAA tournament

District Solo & Ensemble

Today was District Solo & Ensemble, an annual music event throughout the state where the kids' performances are judged and the top scores advance to compete in State Solo & Ensemble. Mary performed in two choral pieces, and I videotaped each one. Because the camera I was using could only capture 60-second videos, I only got part of each piece, but I hope you still get the idea. The first piece is sung with the entire Chamber Choir, and it's in French. (If you see the guy in the audience with the bald head, Mary is the person standing "above" him.) The second is a piece performed with another five girls in a "double trio," sung in Czech. The kids performed both pieces really well, and both performances advanced to State Solo & Ensemble, in April.

P.S. If you subscribe to my blog posts, you might have to go to the actual blog to be able to watch the videos.

Another Night, Another Concert

Tonight the Shorewood Choirs sang their annual winter concert at North Shore Presbyterian church in Shorewood. Contrary to my photos, the music was lovely.

Basilica Choir Concert

Tonight the Shorewood High School Chamber Choir sang at St. Josaphat's Basilica in Milwaukee. It was a joint concert with the Knox College Choir, and the music was beautiful. The Basilica is so gorgeous. The only other time I was at a concert there was almost eight years ago, when Peter sang with Cantores Minores.

The Shorewood High School Chamber Choir

Mary and Emi after the concert

Masterworks Concert

Last night was the Masterworks Concert, which as always was held in St. Robert Church. It was a beautiful night of music performed by the choirs and string orchestra. The highlight of the evening was the performance of Schubert's Mass No. 2 in G Major. The lighting in the church wasn't very good for picture taking so this is the best I could do.

Tufts Parents' Weekend

Brad and I had a terrific visit to Tufts! We were there from Friday to Sunday. It was great to see John and he is doing fantastic. We spent a lot of time on campus, and we also got off campus to do some things. The trees were very pretty and I tried to post as many photos as I could to show off the colors. I also took a photo of the view of downtown Boston from Tufts. The building at the bottom of the picture is the Tufts library, so hopefully that gives you some perspective. On Friday, John was hosting his friend Karl from SHS, who is applying to Tufts. We toured around campus with them and had a nice day together. On Saturday we went to a lecture in the morning, followed by a trip down to Harvard (two subway stops away), to go to the Head of the Charles Regatta, a huge rowing event. On Saturday afternoon we got to see John play tuba at a Tufts Wind Ensemble concert. Saturday night we took John to see the movie W. After Mass on Sunday morning, we went to brunch with John's roommate and his parents, and then we said goodbye to John and left to go to New Hampshire. I will have a separate post from the New Hampshire day. I have lots more pictures from our Tufts visit on my Facebook page. If you're not a member of Facebook, all you have to do is join (it's free) to see the photos.