I need my earplugs...

...because I'm in the BILLY MAYS DEPARTMENT OF THE GROCERY STORE!!!

There he is just below the sign on the LintBGone box. He's having a pitch-off with Vince whose ShamWows are hanging on a shelf talker. But only for the next 20 minutes because we can't be doing this all day.

So where are the Snuggies you ask? On the end cap of the freezer section of course!

After the Competition

After the competition the kids got t-shirts and then posed for this group shot in the lobby of the O'Reilly Theatre. Please note that most of the adult volunteers, including Bobbie (far left) are in the shot as well. Everyone was still excited, but relieved that their part of the competition was over.

In the past the Blackburn Study Center group has been scheduled for a late afternoon time slot. Afterward, many of us went out as a group for pizza or dessert.

This year however we were on at 2:50 PM and were finished before 4:00. As you can see in the lower photo, we had a nice ride on the glass elevator at the parking garage. But there was no time to waste. Sarah and John have Saltworks drama camp on Thursdays at 4:30, so we were not able to go our immediately afterward. Instead we had a late dinner at a nearby restaurant and unwound before bedtime. It was great to see Sarah and John sharing in the joy of achievement.

Shakespeare Competition

Today Sarah and John participated in this year's Pittsburgh Public Theatre Shakespeare competition. There were about 30 kids associated with the Blackburn Study Center including Sarah and John. The rules were simple: no costumes and know your lines.

All of them did a great job. Every one of them knew their lines cold and delivered them confidently. Bobbie helped several of the groups block and polish their scenes.

First, Sarah portrayed Portia in Act Five of Merchant of Venice. (Sorry about the quality of the video. There were no stage lights, and the microphone on my digital camera works great as long as you are within 10 feet.)



Then here's John delivering Brutus' speech in Julius Caesar.



...not that I loved Caesar less, but that I love Rome more...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It may not be the same as a pint of Guinness in a pub, but the thought is the same.

Janine drew these pictures and taped them to our front picture window to wish all passersby and our guests a happy St. Patrick's Day as well as Easter.

We had the required corned beef and cabbage on Sunday. Thankfully we now have leftovers for corned beef hash on Saturday morning.

Cheers!

The Skating Show '09

Figure skating in chains! that's the theme of this year's North Park skating show.

No not really, it was My Favorite Things. But it seemed a prison theme was appropriate since they installed the chain link fencing on top of the dasher boards. The rink is owned and operated by Allegheny County. To their credit they are trying to widen the use of the facility by offering it to local high school and midget hockey teams. So the chain link is the outdoor equivalent of plexiglass, but it makes it tough to take pictures.

Janine is in the pre-Alpha group which skated to Do-ray-me from the Sound of Music. Both this and Sarah's video were recorded at the dress rehearsal on the Thursday previous.



Later in the show Sarah skated with the Alpha group to the Lonely Goatherd. As you can see she is the soloist with the group skating around her. The skating director was very proud of this group as they are the first at this level has successfully done a "traveling circle" when the group skates around a soloist. There's Sarah in the middle with the graceful arm movements.

Sarah Wrocks!

Yesterday was Sarah's birthday. We celebrated here at home by opening gifts in the late afternoon. Earlier in the day Sarah was feted with cake at Science Club.



Then in the evening Sarah and I went to see a wizard rock performer by the name of the Remus Lupins. His real name is Alex Carpenter and he was kind enough to bring Sarah up on stage to sing Happy Birthday. It was a smaller crowd than usual.

Traditionally the Wizard Rock (Wrock) acts have played in libraries and book stores. But because most of those locations need a long lead time for bookings, it is impossible to play in those spaces when the acts are passing through trying to put together a tour on short notice. As a result, last night's concert was in an art gallery/loft. It is a pretty nice space that looks like it was restored from an old firehouse or other wagon based business. (See the photo of the front doors.)

The challenge is the fact that it is located in a marginal neighborhood. But tough neighborhoods usually mean low rental rates and interesting restaurants. This is no exception as one of the finest Vietnamese restaurants in town is located down the street.

Almost Here

Today it was 55 degrees and sunny, a sure sign the spring is coming soon.

Janine is excited. Yesterday her friends Jennie and Kaitlyn and her drew this message in the circle. In fact they wrote Spring is Coming, but I did not have a ladder high enough to get the shot.

This is a photo that had to be taken this afternoon because rain is predicted for tomorrow.

The Prince Point of View

John had a great time as one of the not quite 12 dancing prince(s). Here he is holding down stage left while Sarah gets stage right. We think John did quite well as a late addition in the last three weeks of rehearsal. See for yourself.

Oh, we got Sarah too. Look for her perfect kicks at the end of the clip.

Which brings us to the "Just my Luck" department. No matter how many rehearsals I attend, for some reason when show time comes I am on the opposite side of the audience from at least one of my kids.

(not quite) 12 Dancing Princesses

This past Friday and Saturday were the big performances of the (not really) 12 Dancing Princesses, Sarah and John's big musical show. There was a shortage of princes, so they settled on 10 instead of 12.

No matter, because the show was great. Here's Sarah as Princess Audrey, the eldest princess who gets to tell all the younger princesses what to do. Sarah drew richly on her real life experiences for this role. Just click below for proof. You are even treated to a snap and talking to the hand.

Classical Education Conference

This past Saturday was the ninth annual Pittsburgh Classical Christian Education Conference. I have attended or volunteered for all of them but one. For more information click here.

I always leave this conference refreshed and encouraged to be in the company of people for whom faith and reason are complementary not contradictory. Not only that, but are passionate about passing the tenets of the Christian faith to the next generation.

I got started with classical education in the late 1990s when I read this essay by Dorothy Sayers. Since my mother was a great admirer of hers and her mysteries, I was open to her ideas. At that time our children were approaching school age and we were considering homeschooling. So the connection was made and has been ever since.

I have always thought that it is important to know what you believe and why you believe it. So it follows that I would marry a woman who thought the same way, and perhaps that our children would do so too.

The Math is Easy

Here's a great example of not only faulty math, but especially thinking.

To those who complain that "math isn't taught like it used to be," I agree. But I would add that this clip looks to be at least 60 years old.

Hat tip to my brother-in-law Steve who first sent this to me under the title, "Bank Bailout Explained."

Oh, and one more thing. After listening to Pa the title is wrong. He sounds like he belongs in Vermont more than Kentucky. Besides, this really should be titled Congressional Math.

12 Dancing Princesses (Princes too!)

After almost eight weeks of hard work and rehearsals, Sarah and John's big show is coming up this weekend.

It's the 12 Dancing Princesses. I can't tell you much about it because the rehearsals have been closed. We will post an update after the show.

In the meantime, if you are interested in tickets, please leave a comment and we will contact you.

Snow another day

Here's Janine from about two weeks ago when we still had snow. She is sitting on our new stone bench installed last fall. Just a reminder that winter is not over yet despite the fact that the snow melted earlier this week. But now it's back to the cold. The big question is if the snow now falling on my hometown in Nebraska will make its way here in two days or so.

Dance like it's 1799

Last Saturday night Bobbie, Sarah and I went to an English country dance in the manner of Jane Austen. This photo should look familiar as these are the same dresses they wore for last spring's Netherfield Ball. (Click here for a refresher.)

The crowd came mainly from the North Hills, but some people drove nearly two hours down from the Meadville, PA area. These English country dances started at Grove City College about an hour north of Pittsburgh. They have become so popular that the organizers are starting satellite events to reduce the crowds in Grove City.

Due to vague directions, we arrived about 20 minutes late, but joined in right away. We all enjoyed the dance. While Bobbie and I danced together for most of the time, I had trouble dancing with Sarah. She was fairly popular and seemed to already be taken most of the time.

We already have the second annual Netherfield Ball scheduled for this spring. In the meantime here is some video to show how it works. (Please note that as with most dances the girls outnumber the boys, so some doubling up always seem to happen.)

The Big Game

Since last night everyone around here has been talking about a big football game.

Well in case you didn't notice, the Steelers won the Super Bowl last night. They really take football seriously around in these parts and here is an illustration.

This is a screen shot of the post game coverage on the local ABC affiliate. They had their main news anchors there grabbing players as they went by. Note the crawl at the bottom of the screen for schools who were calling a two hour delay. Now there was no snow storm, or other weather related reason. The simple reason is that the Steelers won the Super Bowl late the night before.

As Rod Serling used to say, "Submitted for your approval."