OMG — My Precious Baby Girl Has Grown Up !!

Another of those memorable milestones in your life… on December 23^rd, 2010, our youngest daughter (who prefers to remain nameless in cyberspace) turned 21. Yup. With complete disregard for all of my better wishes, my little baby girl had the audacity to reach the age of majority and there was nothing I could do but celebrate with her.
The celebration included a roll-playing “mystery evening” which kept “Tiny Bubbles”, “Ralph Rottingrape”, “Marilyn Merlot ”, “Otto Von Schnapps”, “Papa Vito” and “Hedy Shablee” all guessing for the entire evening — part of which included a sumptuous dinner (menu) that was so creatively beyond Pomegranate-inspired. On the left check out my daughter's radiant face as she prepares to blow out the candles on her 21^st birthday cake. Last but not least, and keeping to a longstanding family tradition… we had snow on my daughter's birthday, as we do every year — even during the years we lived in the South.
Just like we did for Jillian Gaye (except that I couldn't find the invitation)… we had a "Bonding Celebration" for our new baby girl in our home and invited all of our extended family to come and "bless" us all — very much like many people do in a Church and call it a Christening. In addition to all the blessings, we invited each person to bring something suitable for her that we would keep in a time capsule and present to her on her 21^st birthday …

… And even though it seems like a miracle to me, that 21st birthday did indeed arrive, and if you click the "Play" Icon in the YouTube player on the right, you can watch the first few minutes of my daughter opening her time capsule. The box contained all sorts of memorabilia from people in our extended family — typically little items that were very significant to the giver, accompanied by a hand-written letter from that person to be read 21 years hence — such as Aunt Nanci's letter and European puzzle ring. In way too many cases, these letters were written by loved ones who are no longer with us, making them all the more priceless. OTOH, if you are reading this… chances are that you put something into that box. Do you remember what it was?

What an amazing trip down memory lane it has been going back thru this album of pictures (or Flickr slide show) where you'll see amazing 21-year old pictures of many (but unfortunately not all) people in my extended family — my sister Nanci and Art Phelan + their kids: Aaron, Miranda, and Amber; my Mom (Jean Audrey Pammett) and Lynn's Dad (Ian Alexander) and sister (Heather); Roy and Dale; and the newborn's big sister Jillian Gaye — all taken during the actual day of our last "Bonding Celebration" — Sunday, March 4^th, 1990.

Celebrating the Return of The Light

 
I'm surprised, this morning, to realize that it's been a couple of years since I've blogged about the Winter Solstice Celebration, but it's still an important milestone for me. Indeed, “the Return of The Light” truly is a grand reason to celebrate; I never miss the chance to recognize it. Most years at our UUC Groton Church my sweetie and I look forward to a Winter Solstice celebration, but this year we didn't get to do that; I'm not sure why.

But this year we have another celestial phenomena that coincides with Winter Solstice 2010 — a full Lunar Eclipse, captured marvelously by YouTube's "peteherron", embedded below…

Click on the "Play" Icon on the right to watch the video which shows an amazingly smooth time lapse of the eclipse, compiled from shots with a still camera on a rotating telescope mount. Wow! Due to cloud cover, I didn't get to watch the eclipse though we had planned a "wee hours" sauna so we could be out there watching the shadow of the earth creep ever so slowly across the face of the moon… An article from The Huffington Post today quotes a Montreal Gazette article with a NASA claim: “the last time these astronomical events took place in sync was on Dec 21st, 1638, — 456 years ago — and it won't happen again until at least 2094”. Imagine: even my grand kids (not that I have any) could be dead by then!

Another thing to note is that this was also the first morning this Fall when I woke up to an overnight snow fall — our back yard was completely white, though a lot of that has melted as you can see in this picture of our dog, Lady, on the Winter Solstice day, 2010. Not to worry… there'll be lots more from where that came from; I'm sure !
 

The GCCC Men Sing “A Soalin' ”

In a previous blog article I give more details about the "2010 Groton Community Christmas Chorus"; herein my only purpose is to let you experience the men's number — “A Soalin' ” — which you can hear by clicking the "Play" icon, below …


I knew the song as soon as I saw the score when we started practicing last Fall; it's from an old Peter, Paul, and Mary album I listened to when I was in high school. If you Google the title you will even find that exact same track, which I remember distinctly because Peter starts if off with a comedy sketch that talks about the connection between Halloween and the holiday they have in England where people would go around to houses chanting the phrases that you hear in this song.
 

The 2010 Groton Community Christmas Chorus

One of the best things about singing in the Groton Community Christmas Chorus is that for the many weeks leading up to the 2^nd weekend in December, when we present our 3 performances, I have the music in my head pretty much all the time. Some of the songs I've known from previous concerts — the years when my two daughters and I would all sing in the GCCC — and some of it is brand new every year which makes it exciting to learn and master. Throughout most of the Fall we practice every Sunday night, and even that is pretty great because it's the only time of the year when I get to rekindle the fond relationships that I have built over the years with the "100 or so" choir members from a dozen or more communities around Groton, Ma.

But the best part of being in this community chorus is seeing the “old familiar faces” — friends from / visitors to our community — during the 3 performances we put on at the Union Congregational Church, right in the center of Groton. Seeing the joy on those faces and experiencing my own “joy of giving” reminds me every year what the holiday season is really all about. If you're unsure how to get there click here to get directions.

The picture on the right is from the flyer for this year's program — “A Family Christmas !”. The flyer was created by a choir member and friend who also has a web page promoting The 2010 GCCC. There you will find .mp3 links (audio only) to GCCC clips from previous years such as the choir singing “How Can I Keep From Singing ? ” — a cappella, with a haunting solitary flute accompaniment… and the most beautiful (mother-and-daughter, if I remember correctly) version of “Pie Jesu”. The Wikipedia Pie Jesu link has the words in latin with an English translation.

You might also want to check out my sampling of video clips http://bit.ly/GCCC-GrotonMA on YouTube from previous GCCC concerts. Likewise, click here to read previous articles that I've written about singing in this concert over the years — many with pictures and pointers to other memorable moments from the event.
 

It's my birthday — Again…

 

I just love the message behind this terrific card which I got for my birthday, today, from my sweetie.

No more time to write, now — I'm going off to party with my friends.

Waterfire Picnic with my Sweetie

 
What a totally fabulous time we had last night going again this year to experience Waterfire in Providence, RI.

For the first time that I remember… this year we planned to get there WAY early — took a huge picnic with us so that we could be there long before the crowds — to just relax and watch the daylight turn into dusk, as the crowd gathers and the anticipation mounts. We munched veggies and dip, a new Vermont brie that I totally love (with baguette), and ate chicken sandwiches with guacamole, taboule, tomatoes, and cheese.    Yumm !!    I'm hungry again just thinking about it. I also took my camera and posted this album (on Flickr) of the shots I took. Or just sit back and watch the Slide Show.

Another difference, this year, is that I decided to see what I could capture in video because so much of the Waterfire Experience has to do with action, sound, and ambiance. Check out my video clip (on Flickr) of this half-naked “Fire Dancer” (they get away with this stuff — being so close to RISD), or this longer video clip I really like (except for the background noise) of the Waterfire basin with a captivating soprano voice and ethereal music — totally typical of the omnipresent Waterfire Experience.

As always, the stroll along the quay to and from the Gargoyle stand at "the other end" from the basin — called “Providence Place”, where we started — was romantic and eventful. The Mermaid lady asked for my business card so that I could eMail her my pictures for her portfolio. There were many other friendly encounters… and lots more yummy things to eat.

So now we're thinking about going back for the mid-summer (July 17^th) extravaganza of Waterfire 2010. Be there !!!
 

Privileged to be Such a Happy Father

 
Today, on Father's Day, I feel so happy — honored, privileged, blessed, lucky, amazed — to be the Father that I am to my two sparkling young daughters, and the loving husband to "My Beloved and my Friend", my sweet wife — now for more than 3 decades. Wow! Talk about “Count Your Blessings” !!
On the left is the card that my youngest daughter skillfully made and presented to me today. It was from a picture that she took during a Mother's Day family outing we did to a local state park (Willard Brook in Ashby) for a picnic last May. And though it looks like I'm a happy and balanced "tight rope walker"… the truth is that that skinny log was very wobbly and were it not for the 10' balance pole that I had — and used to hold me up (more like a crutch) for most of the way across the river — I would have been in the drink about 5 seconds after I started. She managed to capture me in that space of confidence and control during the only 2 seconds that I was in that space during the entire "adventure". She also did an amazing job of enhancing the color contrasts and the "lights and dark greens" in the photo, which in its original form really wasn't that great a picture. All 'n all it was a very loving gesture.

After getting that card and others, I went off to sing with my UUC Groton choir — our last "official duty" before the congregation switches to "summer mode" until the Fall, and that was very enjoyable and satisfying — as it always is.

Following that we had a terrific picnic at our local lake / beach (Sargisson Beach — Knops Pond, Lost Lake) in Groton where my sweetie and I sat on canvas chairs with our feet in the cool lake water as the heat of the day took over and left us not wanting to be anywhere else imaginable.

And then as the day cooled off we all went into Boston to meet up with our other daughter and her beau at NEU. We ended up feasting — a seafood extravaganza — at a favorite, The Barking Crab, on the Boston waterfront… followed by a gleeful promenade from there to Faneuil Hall following The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway — my first real experience of the whole project, now that it (appears to be!?) finished. Can anything associated with The Big Dig ever actually be "completed"!?

Ah... such is life for me in the family that I have been truly blessed to be part of.