Friends at the show

Several of our friends came to Saturday night's performance of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Here are the Thompsons with John and Janine.

Andrew, one of their ballet teachers, was also there. Their other ballet teacher and the accompanist came to the afternoon performance as well as some of the homeschooling families we know.

Overall they really appreciated the fact that friends came to the performances.

Finally here's equal time for Sarah as the White Stag.

Radio Follow up

The radio appearance for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is here. It's the site for the Saturday Light Brigade, a local show that runs on several public radio stations throughout Western Pennsylvania.

The audio quality is much better than in the earlier post. Nice to see they posted the photo of the host talking to John.

It was interesting how the host thought acting was a good thing to get homeschoolers around other kids. The guy was very nice, and interested to find out how much homeschooled kids did.

Like most people, once he realized that homeschooling allows the ultimate in flexibility, he was impressed.

John on-air

John was on the radio this morning. One of the public stations in town was doing a remote broadcast at the local Center for the Arts. The director of the production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe arranged for some of the cast to perform on-air (see below for video).

They all had a great time at the open house for the arts center, but they had to go back for a noon rehearsal.

This show is a family affair as all three of them are in it. John is the witch's dwarf assistant. Sarah has a dual role as the White Stag and Fenris Ulf. Janine also has a dual role as a fox and an member of the army.

More next week as the show times are all next weekend.

Skating show

After several snow cancellations and much practice, the skating show was Monday night. Here's Sarah with her friend Joey after the skate team's tribute to Michael Jackson number.

Click here because it all started back in November.

Everyone worked very hard to put on the best show possible despite a very trying month of February. As usual the costumes were creative and very well done.

But the ice was good and the crowd was warm. I think the Olympics helped maintain interest. Sarah would like to keep skating throughout the rest of the year. If she has her way we will probably be visiting the Neville Island complex regularly.

Portrait of a friend

Janine just drew this portrait of one of her friends to take over to her house. Given that they want to play outside, I hope it is delivered indoors first.

Janine got a very nice art set for Christmas two years ago and it has provided hours of creative fun and many portraits.

Snowman (woman?)

Last week Janine and her friend Jessica built snowmen in the backyard. As you can see they got very creative with the pine fronds and bamboo leaves.

This one even looks a bit like a hula dancer more than a traditional snowman. But all of that is now covered in a layer of new snow. We are in the middle of six more inches.

Freeze thaw cycle

As all that snow has melted then frozen again, Bobbie has been great about knocking the icicles down from our roof. The back is the biggest challenge as it is a three story drop from the roof to the driveway.

Here she is using an extension pole borrowed from the neighbors. (Thanks Sue and Tom.) Previously we opened the window and waved a broom at the icicles to knock them down.

I am so glad she keeps ahead of it because there's more snow due tonight.

Shakespeare Festival 3

Sarah and Janine both played the same role of Olivia. Even the same scene, just a little later in it.

For Sarah's scene her friend Marcella joined her. They did quite well. Their voices and energy filled the theatre.

Traditionally, after our turn in the competition we all go out for dinner. Because of the snow we stayed very close to home this year dining at a restaurant within walking distance. We got home fine, but as you can see in earlier posts, we were in for a few days after.

Shakespeare Festival 2

Here's John with the Bard himself.

John's scene was from Love's Labours Lost in which he played Berowne's. Naturally we thought he was pretty good. It is his nature to be the first to memorize his lines. This allows him to work on his blocking and intonation.

This time Bobbie worked particularly on the meaning of the monologue. At times Shakespeare, was quite ribald and this scene is no exception. The good news is that it was in reference only.

Shakespeare must have loved mythology because in this, as well as many other scenes, he uses mythological creatures as metaphors. Blessed with a great memory, John recalled that Argus was the creature with a thousand eyes. But Berowne would conquer his love despite Argus' gaze.

Shakespeare Festival 1

This year was Janine's first time to participate in the Shakespeare Festival sponsored by the Public Theater. Here she is with her friend Jenny. They are performing a scene from Twelfth Night. Janine is Olivia and Jenny plays Viola.

Like all of Shakespeare there are many mistaken identities with cross dressing leading to many.

Here Olivia has just lifted her veil to reveal her beauty just after her speech revealed her vanity. Viola plays to these weaknesses.

Participating in this event forces the kids to dig deeper into the meaning of the scene and better appreciate the poetic language that is Shakespeare. And since we are a family of hams, they also get to perform and enjoy.

(Please excuse the rough quality of the photo. It is a frame grab from a video. I would have uploaded it, but the sound quality is very poor.)

The gift of sunshine

God gave us a little sunshine after the big storm. Now those of you in the Midwest (and you know who you are) usually experience clear skies after a big storm. Here, it's a different. It usually stays cloudy but clouds of a different nature than the storm clouds.

Like Ernie Banks, I love "God's own sunshine." Most of the driveway is melted down to the pavement (the $75 to have it plowed was worth every penny) and the sidewalk has been dry since Saturday afternoon. This photo was taken this afternoon, but Saturday afternoon was exactly the same weather.

Most of the kids' events have been cancelled or postponed. There is so much snow to move, the crews have been overwhelmed. I had a client meeting this morning and the usual 30 minute drive was 50 instead. There are large washboard-like patches of compacted ice and snow on the freeways. One of the old country roads turned arterial near our house has been closed since Friday night. Several trees fell from the hill above onto the road and others are hanging over the edge ready to fall at the slightest breeze.

Now get ready for the next one. The prediction is for another storm starting tomorrow at noon with 10 inches in store. Let's hope we don't wake up Wednesday for a repeat of this photo from Saturday of our front porch.

The big snow

It started yesterday afternoon at about 3 PM and continued through the night. It snowed and snowed, quite heavily overnight. So much that we had 17 inches at our front door by 10 this morning.

Now that it is tapering off, it's time to start to shovel. Here's Bobbie getting started. At this point she has about four feet cleared from the front door out to the driveway.

We left the car at the top of the driveway last night so we could get out if we had to. But everything has been cancelled for today and tomorrow. So we are in the house for the weekend.

Well, not ALL of us. Janine was at a sleep over last night. It was a tough trip for her to walk two doors down.

The last time it snowed this much was in March of 1993. That time was BK for us, (Before Kids). Bobbie and I lived in a condo. That monthly association fee is sounding pretty good right now...

"Do you poop out at parties?"

Last month I had a client meeting in Jamestown, NY and found this mural downtown. It's next to the Lucy/Desi Musuem that celebrates Jamestown's most famous native and her first husband, Desi Arnaz.

This photo is a depiction of a favorite scene from the "I Love Lucy" show.

Like many things, the clip best speaks for itself. Now we all have seen it. But when was the last time you saw the backstory?

Also, keep in mind that Lucy and Desi laid the groundwork that defined the TV situation comedy.

The Nina at the Point

I just discovered this photo from last fall. Bobbie took Sarah, John and Janine down to the Confluence of the three rivers to board a replica of the Nina (of Pinta and Santa Maria fame).

Now I don't remember anything about Columbus sailing up Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River, portaging over the Allegheny Mountains and sailing down the Monongahela River to the confluence, but what the heck?

The point is that this is a great photo and I wanted to share it. (We don't have too many in which everyone is smiling and looking this good.)

Kids in the attic

This past Saturday we took down the Christmas tree and put everything away. In fact I got to do it twice: once in the morning at our church and again in the afternoon at home.

It felt great to complete the task for the year. But this year something was different...the kids clamored to go into the attic. I guess this is part of growing up. When they were small they would hide as soon as the drop stairs opened. Now it's another story.

They were a big help, but I hope this is not just a Tom Sawyer like passing fancy. Thankfully Christmas is once a year, so the preparation and put-away can be events instead of chores...I hope...