Back in DC

Ack and Anne and Alana - in DC for a belated birthday celebration. La turned 26 this month so we're here to say hi and shop for health insurance as a much needed birthday gift. Last night, Ack taught her the secrets of the clam sauce on spaghetti recipe. (Anne wasn't included.) Look at that happy now-knowledgeable face!

Other highlights of the weekend: spending Saturday afternoon with Mary Salhus at the National Art Gallery for the Pompeii exhibit and staying at Paddy's house in Alexandria, even though she's out of town.

Maureens & Eileens

We have some favorite names in our family, found in both first and middle names. Michael and Patrick top the list for the guys. For the gals, it's Maureen and Eileen. Here are four of them sharing the two names. For me, they're a niece, little sister, cousin and big sister.

Sanctuary in the Studio

On Wednesday I flew to NY, met Mimi at Grand Central, laughed our way through the play "The Thirty-Nine Steps," ate dinner at Junior's on Shubert Alley, and then went down to School of Visual Arts where Eileen teaches in the art therapy graduate program. She was the speaker in their ongoing lecture series; how lucky that I was in town for it! She gave a very interesting retrospective of her 21 years of providing art therapy for adolescent girls at a day program at Montague School in Brooklyn. Here she is answering questions after the lecture.

Mimi and I ended the long but lovely day with the train ride up to Rye Brook for a good sleep. Other highlights of the 5-day trip: on Thursday - going out to dinner with Mimi and Poppy to his favorite restaurant, Frankie and Louie's; on Friday - visiting Art on Shelter Island; seeing Marianne, Andy and Amanda on my way out to SI; on Saturday - dancing at the Murphy wedding in Baiting Hollow with my parents and siblings.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALANA!!

The weather warms...

Well, our weather is finally warming up. We had a couple of days in the mid 30s, warm enough for melt ponds to form on the lake. You can see the water on the river in the dock photograph below. The ice is still thick enough to walk on, as Ack did as he straightened the dock on Saturday after the floods last June had warped it into a roller coaster. Saturday night we spent at the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department's Solstice party, a party now held around Ground Hog's Day. On Sunday we enjoyed the warm weather by going to the Olbrich botanical gardens and walking around (the photo is Anne walking on one of the paths at the garden). We had lunch at Tex Tubb's Tacos. They have good chips but need to hotten up their sauce. Fish tacos are not so great but the grilled chicken quesadia is not so bad. Anne then went to a movie with Bionca - "Mall Cop," much better attended than Anne expected. Ack stayed home and napped, did a little cleaning (very little) and worked on a colored pencil drawing.

Rick's Retirement!

Anne spent a lot of time planning the successful party honoring Rick's retirement. It was a wonderful celebration and tribute to Rick as a person and the work he has accomplished. This picture with Rick also includes Vi, who was Alana's 2nd grade teacher. She makes her own hats, this is one of 219.

As part of the celebration, we got to see Tom and Sue who stayed with us Saturday night.