Forensics Club, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Fancy Plants

[From Mary]

Good day all. Thought it might be time I shared in some blogging duties. 
Funny thing is once I sit behind the keyboard I got nothing to say...
Nothing...
Nada...
Didley squat...
Zip.

Well, actually, I do have a few events that may be worthy of your time. Last year, when my place of employment merged, I "inherited" the position of Forensics coach. That is really interesting mostly because I didn't have the slightest idea what it entailed, other than it actually means 'speech club, and not 'CSI Mother Teresa Regional Catholic'. I must admit I was a little less than enthusiastic. After all, this is my second year teaching all new subjects. Kids, I'm tired. 

UNTIL NOW!!!!! DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!!! The first competition for the Forensics Club was held at St. Joseph Preparatory School in West Philly (hold the terror-filled screams ya'll. The parking lot had a security gate and guard). With students and parents in tow, we made it safely to what some call "Little Lebanon" (Not because it houses lots of Lebanese but because it resembles a war zone!). And there, after months of work, two of my students made it to semi-finals in our very first competition! These beautiful and brilliant girls made it there through sheer exuberance, and I was just in awe of their energy and focus. See photos from our visit here. 

I wanted to share something else. I love this city. Here I stood in a Jesuit prep school where affluent, hard working young men are pushed to make a difference in this world. If the young men who ran the program are any indication, the prep is doing an excellent job. They were impressive, to say the least. Established in what once was a thriving bustling area in 1866, this Catholic church and school was one of many going up left and right despite the attacks from the Know-Nothing party throughout the 1850's. With Irish pouring into the city, St. John Neumann oversaw the explosion of Catholicism as well as safely steering it through violence and destruction aimed at the Catholics and Irish. 

Just next to the prep is Girard College. The history of Girard College and its founder, Stephen Girard, just simply makes me weepy. This industrious French immigrant came to our city in 1776 (oh yeah, the big year) and amassed a huge fortune. In fact, he became the wealthiest American of his time! He had his hands in everything, from organizing the infamous Bush Hill Hospital during the yellow-fever epidemic of 1793 to becoming the first private banker in the U.S. He even helped to fund the War of 1812. As he had no heirs, he invested his fortune in the future, starting the school for orphans who would have little opportunity without help. It is still running today from the foundation he laid. He chose that location as it was near the then innovative Eastern State Penitentiary (focusing on humane incarceration) and a hospital devoted to the mentally ill. Phillie was the "it" place back in the day!

Man, that's just why I love this city. I just feel its story. I can see those immigrants, the free blacks, Ben and Johnny Neumann and Mr. Girard. I can see them all making their way down Broad and Girard and Market. I can see Frank Rizzo and Nicki Scarfo and our countless "notorious" standing around and making trouble. The art and artists. The museums. The food. I just can't help myself..... I just love this town.

Before I sign off, I hope you enjoy these photos and little clip of Ladysmith Black Mambazo. My dear Emily and I joined our lovely friends, Miranda, Lucy, and Isaac, on Saturday evening for a wonderful concert at Longwood Gardens. You may remember them from Paul Simon's terrific album "Graceland". Just a note, the gorgeous, tall young man on the far left is the front man's youngest son. 

I hope we chat soon,

Mary

Westminster Palace

William finished his latest paper architecture project today, Westminster Palace, complete with Big Ben and all. William loves doing stuff like this. When he gets home from school he runs down to the basement and sits at his little stretch of bench space that I have given him and will work for hours on end cutting paper. He started this one on the day after Christmas. We didn't keep track of the total hours he spent on it but it was a lot, especially for a 12 year old. 

He goes through zillions of x-acto knife blades. So much so that it is more economical if I sharpen the them with a wet stone than to buy new ones. He is pretty particular about the blades however. If I don't get the points sharpen just right he will send them back to me. I have to do the sharpening under my microscope to make sure I get the tips of the blades just right. Other than sharpening the blades, I do nothing on these projects. William prints the plans, cuts out the pecies and then figures out how it all fits together. The projects are fairly complecated but he does the entire thing on his own. 

Its nice having him down in the basement (aka the ManCave) with me. Most evenings he will be working on his paper stuff while I work on my paintings. He has decided to give this one to Lucky Aunt Teri. If anyone else want one of his works just ask nicely and he may grant your wish. See more photos of Westninster Palace here. 

Happy New Year!

2013 has arrived and along with it, at last, winter. Our first snow of the season was Christmas Eve, which mostly melted way by the next morning. We go our second snow in December 29th. That one has stuck around as it is still pretty icy in some places. 

For the second year in a row we welcomed in the New Year at our neighbor's Stan and Diane's house. I think that officially makes it a tradition! Most of Franklin Street was in attendance. Diane and Stan recently visited the Virgin Islands and were inspired to give us a Caribbean style meal which was quite delicious! The kids and adults were mostly segregated with the kids in the basement and the adults upstairs. I'd like to think the louder, but I'm not sure that is true. 

As the midnight hour arrived the adults and kids (minus Emily and William who threw in the towel early) converged in the livingroom to count down the seconds with the folks in Times Square. With Champane and Kid Champane (sparkling apple cider) in hand we all welcomed 2013 in style. Thanks Diane and Stan for a wonderful neighborhood party! 

New Years day we had lunch with the Fozards to celebrate New Years Day and more imporantly Louie's birthday! It was also Sheldon's birthday who we saw for all of about 4 minutes before he rushed of to Anut Sheila's house to meet up with Ricky and Cousin Sheila to head back north. Happy Birthday Louie and Sheldon! 

Check out photos of the celebrations here.

Happy New Year! 

Russell, Mary, Emily, William and Paddy

The O'Brian's Visit, Part 2

Sheila, Ricky and Sheldon headed back to their desolate rock in the north Atlantic today. Before they left, we did have a gathering with other aunts, uncles, and cousins in Chadd's Ford on December 29th, which was also Mary's birthday. Happy Birthday Mary! 29 again. See photo's here. 

On New Year's Eve, Mary, William and I took Sheldon on a tour of old City Philadelphia. We stopped by the Constitution Center, the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, The Dream Garden, Jeweler's Row, Jim's Steaks, South Street, New Market (which is really an old market), Penn's Landing, Elfrith's Alley, and the Betsy Ross House. All in one Day! Then we got home in time to go to our nighbor's house for a New Years Eve Celebration! See Photo's of our day in Philly here. 

We enjoyed our visit with Ricky, Sheila, and Sheldon, and hope someday soon to visit them! 

Russell, Mary, Emily, William and Paddy. 

The O'Brian's Christmas Visit

About 23 years ago, before Mary and I were married, we visited her mother’s homeland of Fermeuse, Newfoundland, Canada. Most of Mary’s aunts and uncles left Newfoundland in the late 1940’s to come to West Chester. The oldest of Mary’s uncles, Uncle Ned, was already married and had a family when the rest of the Kenny clan emigrated, so he stayed behind. On our visit we stayed with Mary’s cousin Sheila O’Brian, Uncle Ned’s daughter, and her husband Ricky.

Mary and I had an absolutely wonderful visit to Newfoundland in 1989. The drive to and from was quite an adventure, which included a hurricane, an iceberg, black bears, cod tongues, hundred of thousands of seabirds and a hike up Gros Morne where we napped on giant boulders surrounded by Rock Ptarmigans. We got to met Uncle Ned and Aunt Anna and the rest of Mary’s family while we were there. Shortly after this visit, Mary and I got married and moved to the west coast. We haven’t seen any of Mary’s Newfoundland relative since.

This Christmas, Ricky and Sheila came down to Pennsylvania for a visit. They brought their son Sheldon, 20 years old and who we had never met, along with them. We basically picked up the conversation where it left of 23 years ago. They head back to Newfoundland on the 2^nd of January See photos of the O’Brian’s visit, so far, here.

See photos of Christmas day and the Rogers/Moore house here. 

Kid Cookery

For some reason, all of the kids have taken an interest in doing more of the cooking around here. Emily and William take basic cooking classes in school. When I say basic, I mean basic. Emily said that one day the made Top Ramen. Yum!

I asked Emily if they have covered taking care of their mise en place and she said that they were no where close to such concepts. Humm...what is a dad, who is a longtime student of French cooking, to do? Looks like it is time for some home schooling. 

One dish that the kids like, looks fancy, and if pretty easy is pull off is fish in papillote. This is simply cooking fish in a parchment paper envelope. the basic principle to keep in mind here is that things need to cook quickly in a hot oven (425 degrees), so the veggies need to be cut small and and the same size. The only other tricky part of the disk is cutting the heart shaped paper big enough and in the right shape, to hold your dish. Emily did a great job and got an A+ in her home school cooking class. She even let me take a few pictures of her at work. 

Paddy got the job of putting cookie dough on the cookie sheet. He did this well and didn't eat too much of the uncooked cookies. The only problem was that we couldn't account for all the cooked cookies once he was done. Humm?

William hasn't done much cooking in the past couple of weeks because he has been busy working on another major paper house project. Last year he completed a model of the Westminster Abby. This year, he wanted to make Grandma Linda and Grandpa Gene a model of the White House for their Christmas pressent. After many, many hours of painstaking X-acto knife cutting of tiny windows, he completed it and it looks great. See photos of both of these project here. 

Happy Holidays!

Russell, Mary, Emily, William and Paddy

William’s 12th Birthday!

Twelve years ago today William came into the world in dramatic fashion. As many of you probably know, he was a wee bit early because a complication with Mary’s pregnancy (plecenta previa). His first couple of weeks were rough but he pulled through and is doing just great today, howerver he is still one of the smallest kids in his class. Friday we had a small birthday celebration for him with pizza and cake. Check out photos of his birthday party and a few from the past twelve years here.

Happy Birthday William!