This year's garden

The garden this year is better than ever, particularly the area next to the front walk.

Here's a close-up of one of what Bobbie calls "the bully plants." She tells me this one is quite invasive, so she planted it right next to the steps, but with enough room for control.

The lower photo from a month ago tells the story. This plant is behind the large iris, not the purple blooms on the right. This plant had not bloomed when the photo was taken. Now this one is in full bloom and the astilbes in the foreground are pretty well spent.

But that's the fun of a well-planned perennial garden. While one plot is beginning to bloom, another is at its peak, while a third is spent.

VBS 2009

Our church held a daytime Vacation Bible School two weeks ago. While Janine is the only one who still qualifies to participate, Sarah and John like to help out as part of the youth group, both in their respective areas of interest. For Sarah , that's acting, so she got a part in the skits that started out each morning's session. These skits are part of the themed teaching materials the church purchased for the event.

Here's Sarah between Morgan and Phil. She is playing Gizmo the robot. The idea of playing the robot was proabably more appealing than the reality of wearing the costume. The costume itself was built by a member of the congregation who had some extra time as he was mending from recent heart troubles.


In the past few months John has become immersed in the sound board at church. He is fascinated by the process of hooking up microphones, mixing the sound and producing a good mix. Ken on the right, is an added blessing. Ken is an advanced amateur sound man who has been willing to teach John even lending him equipment for the sake of practice.

Janine actually got to bring some of her friends. Here she is between Katie from Girl Scouts and Abagail from the neighborhood. Funny how at one time in our family VBS was a big event. It took a lot to get everyone out the door each morning. Now they ride their bikes over to church and come back when they are done. It's a low maintenance event that we all like.

Johnny Pilot

John got a radio controlled mini-plane from Grammie and Gramps for his birthday. Click on the video to see how quickly he caught on. Not bad for an RC plane with no control surfaces. It uses the difference in the thrust between the two props to steer.

Yesterday we took the plane over to the park next to our house and had a great time. We did find that even with full power we are still weak on the launch. So we got on top of one of the small hills in the park to launch the plane. You can see this small hill at the end of the video.

We shot the video on John's small Nikon and roughly put it together using Windows Movie Maker that came with Mommy's new Vista PC. It was fast and easy, but not even then not as versatile as iMovie 2003 on the iMac upstairs.

The "landings" have been a little hard, but thankfully the plane is up to the task. We have also reinforced the nose with clear tape.

Sandcastle for John's Birthday

At John's request, we went to Sandcastle water theme park for his birthday.

Here's the slide that John and I went down at his request. Well we actually raced each other on the orange slides not the yellow one. As you know Galileo proved that gravity has an equal effect on items of differing weights, but not necessarily on the run-out at the end of a water slide.

So while John stopped in the first 15 feet, I continued on for another 30 at least. The ride was a lot of fun because there was no wait. So there was no time to think before you got on the slide. On this ride, it's best not to think before you go.

Like most Pittsburgh area attractions, one is never far from a river or the woods. The area has been very nicely reclaimed from US Steel's Homestead works where Bobbie's dad worked until he retired about 1980. Thirty years ago it was a very different place.

Here is a view from one of the three swimming pools. This is the area where adult beverages are served, hence the name. Interestingly, the train is as much of an attraction as a nuisance. It is fairly quiet because it is slow and carries small loads, unlike the Norfolk Southern line on the other side of the park.

More from NYC

Now that Sarah has cleared some of her photos from her camera, we can share them.

Here they are just off the ferry. You may recognize the base in the background.

Due to ticket demand and personal preference, they bypassed the Statue of Liberty for the Ellis Island Immigration center. From the number of photos John and Sarah took, we gather they found it interesting. Witness the photo below of word origins.

NYC Trip

Here's two great symbols of America in the wrong proportion.

Bobbie and the kids took a trip to New York this past week and left me at home. Well that's OK because they have been taking an after school road trip for the past two years.

After staying north of Boston two years ago, they ventured to Washington DC and Gettysburg last year. A bargain hotel rate attracted them to New York then Newport, RI this year. Here's Sarah at the Newport pier.

John was the somewhat official photographer, but most of the snaps are of the inside of the car and the hotel rooms. Thankfully he took some of others subjects as well.

Then here's Janine at the Life Cafe where the play Rent was conceived. I think Sarah has more photos, but that is for another post.

They left home on Sunday morning and drove through the Lincoln Tunnel by 4:00 PM. The hotel offered parking nearby, which sealed the deal on top of the $135 room rate including breakfast. Sunday night they got last minute tickets and saw Chicago on Broadway, a close walking distance from their mid-town hotel.

Monday they visited Sarah's friend who is spending most of the summer at the School of the American Ballet Theatre. Tuesday they visited Ellis Island next to Lady Liberty. That evening they got to see our old friend Janine after work.

Wednesday morning they headed up to Newport for a day's visit. There they had the best meal of the entire trip. I think Bobbie's attire tells the story. Thursday morning they were headed back facing holiday traffic on I-95. Crossing the Tappen Zee Bridge in the late afternoon, they wisely decided to stop for the night in central PA. They arrived home late Friday afternoon tired and happy.

Sarah after Saltworks

Sarah attended both weeks of Saltworks this past fortnight. After the last class each Friday afternoon the gang gathered at King's to celebrate.

Here's Sarah looking a little tired after two weeks of all-day rehearsals and Friday performances. "Cat ears? What cat ears?"

Last night her close friends got together for a post-Saltworks party. It was a late night (in relative terms), but they all had fun.

Photo credit: JCP

Saltworks 3

Here it is, Sarah tormenting her brother instead of the other way around. I hope she isn't enjoying herself too much!

Saltworks 2

Last week all three went to Saltworks drama camp. Here's John as well, John, in a scene from Peter Pan. Rather fierce wouldn't you say?

It gets better because Sarah played one of the pirates and they got to go at it with one another.

This week it's Sarah only over there. She worked hard to earn the money for week two. We hope that will provide some inspiration for her siblings as well.

Portrait by Isabelle

Janine's friend Isabelle has a good eye for composition and form.

Witness this portrait taken a few weeks ago at 'Belle's house.

Great shot especially for one taken on a cell phone!

Happy Father's Day

For Father's Day here's a photo of my Dad at 22.

Handsome devil isn't he?

Much was in front of him at this point, surviving combat in Korea, starting a career in banking, not to mention meeting Mom.

Nonetheless the solid foundation is there, his intrinsic honesty and courtesy, as well as an unwavering devotion to his family.

Remind him of these things and he will say, "your mother did most of it. I am just catching up."

But today is your day Dad. While it's true that one can't pick one's parents, it's hard for me to imagine making a better decision than the one God made for me.

Happy Father's Day!

Saltworks Day 1

As I said in the last post, this week Sarah, John and Janine are all at drama camp.

The camp stresses working together as well as rewards excellence. (A couple of years ago Sarah was quietly recognized for looking out for a girl with special needs.)

Today, John got a special mention in his class. The teacher said that they were going to study monologues and asked who could define the word. John raised his hand and said it was when only one person was on stage speaking. When asked if he knew one, John recited Brutus' speech on Caesar's death. (Click here for his March performance.) The teacher was impressed and gave John a Woo-Hoo buck, the special recognition at the end of the day.

Saltworks Event

This past Sunday I took the kids into the Oakland section of the city to the Carnegie Library's summer reading festival.

The Saltworks crew were there performing excerpts from their recent production of Kipling's Just So Stories.

When they asked for audience participation they knew they could count on Janine and John to help out. Here they are watching Ben's directions to form a river.

The event served to get all three excited for Saltworks summer drama day camp next week. Even Mom and Dad are looking forward to it as well!

Confirmation

Sarah was confirmed on Pentecost Sunday, two weeks ago. Now she is a member of the church, or at least when Pastor Brian found her certificate.

Carolyn, her sponsor, presented a nice gift of a bible encyclopedia, and was very complementary. She reminded us all of how independent Sarah was both then and now.

Sarah was confirmed with seven others. It was the first confirmation class in four years at our church and a great start for our new Pastor.

It was an important moment for her and her family. Naturally the milestone could not go uncelebrated, so we had brunch at her choice of restaurants. Naturally she chose an interesting spot, the Jade Elephant in Squirrel Hill. They feature Thai tapas. Now there's a blending of the cultures.

Piano Recital

The annual end of the school year piano recital was two Saturday's ago sandwiched between a ton of activities like ballet and Sarah's confirmation. (More on that later.)

The Paulson kids (back row, center) played show tunes. Janine had Somewhere Over the Rainbow. John mastered Raiders of the Lost Ark. And Sarah played a respectable overture from the Barber of Seville.

The recital was at a nearby music store where the keyboardist from our church works. The kids got a big encouragement to see David there for support.