Happy New Year 2012

Francois graduated from Plymouth State University in June 2011 with a BS in Marketing and a minor in communications. He is back home living with us and works as a management trainee for Enterprise Holdings in their rental car division. For Christmas this year, he gave us a home theater system. Louis and I bought him a 2000 BMW 528i with 160k miles as a graduation present. We found it at our local small-town mechanic’s garage, the place where Francois spent a couple of summers working part-time. Dad has a proud and rewarding moment every time Francois leaves the house for work in the morning before anyone else in the house has to get out of bed.

Caroline is in her Junior year at Purchase College where she is studying towards her BFA in Drawing and Painting. We have paintings all over the house. She is working on several portfolios that she intends to use for job applications.

Veronica has started her freshman year at SUNY Buffalo (UB.) She finished her first semester in their Nursing program but found Anatomy challenging. She is transferring into a double major Business and New Media program. She is enjoying college and appears not to have a clue -- nor care -- what she wants to do. During orientation, Dad and Vern visited Niagara Falls, about 20 minutes from UB.

Matthew is 15 and a sophomore in high school. He is still playing drums, has started wrestling for his high school JV team, and is on the debate team. He is also doing a science research project. He is working on time management skills, and has just discovered it is difficult to learn math without doing the homework.

Nicholas is 11 and in 6^th grade. He seems to have an aptitude for math but is only interested in video games. We have a bunch of games and an Xbox. Playdates now-a-days are no longer on person but on line through the Internet. Dad and Nick spent a day in New York City. They visited the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center, the Museum of Natural History, the decorations on 5^th Avenue, and Central Park. They walked over five miles with no complaints.

Dad is finally remodeling the second bathroom. He has finished modifying the plumbing under the concrete slab and now has closed up the hole in the floor. We are getting ready to build the shower walls, tile, and set the toilet.

IBM continues to get leaner and meaner. Dad’s office staff has been cut 50% from three years ago. He’s the oldest guy in the office now. His department and others have moved to another building, so the rest of the Research staff could be consolidated in the main building. One satellite building was closed this year.

I continue to wish I had more time to spend with friends and family, more time to knit or walk the dogs. But too much time is spent circling around a house littered with construction debris and holiday recycling. An ocean of cardboard boxes, eggnog containers, wrapping paper -- all the flotsam and jetsam a holiday leaves in its wake and it's going to get worse before it gets better because at some point in the fast-paced celebrate-o-rama whirlwind we've been on over here, both of us have lost all touch with reality and have absolutely no idea what day of the week it is.

That's how it gets around here at the holidays. Somewhere in between Thanksgiving with friends, Christmas with family, Boxing day with houseguests from out of town, herds of small children and not-so-small teenagers all over the place, holiday parties, concerts, services and cookies, meals, candles, dinners, brunches and deadline knitting, not to mention that much of this is accompanied by bottles and bottles and bottles of very good wine (and even if you don't drink them and other people do it still can lead to a lack of clarity that's disorganizing) and suddenly you've got two adults who have no hope of pinning down the fact that it's actually Tuesday. Brilliant move.

Happy New Year to all. From our house to yours,

Peace.

My babies are growing up

Veronica finally decided to attend University of Buffalo and has enrolled in the Nursing program for Fall 2011.

It has been a long ride. Oneonta was in the running. Then, she favored Albany, but I wasn't convinced her heart was really in it. I asked her to focus on where she wanted to be four years from now and to give me her final decision before the end of the week. That's how she decided on Buffalo. She chose UB because it is the largest school with more majors than any of the other schools she was considering. We layed out all the acceptance letters on the dining table and organised them. So, if Nursing doesn't stick, she'll have more options to choose from.

In the meantime, Francois' job offer at NEC is not what we hoped it would be -- all commission, no salary. I think he wants to take the job anyway because he'll be closer to his girlfriend. It will be a resume builder for him, I guess.

The house sure will be empty without him...

Nicholas' Compost Project

Uncle Maurice would be proud ;) Nicholas has started a huge composting project in the backyard. I filmed the whole thing, but he is shy and doesn't want his fifteen minutes of fame on the blog. (So I put it on Facebook instead.)

Christmas Eve 2008

Louis is sitting here, waiting for his “writing muse”, and thinking about all the unanswered Christmas cards on the window sill and how the previous weeks, filled with activity, blur into an image sequence of frenzy and questionable importance. So much has changed in the last year and so many people have gone in so many directions.

Our family is a reflection of this. We now have three teenagers (deliberately and inexorably developing into their own persona), a pre-adolescent, and an eight-year-old. (Not to mention the three dogs and a geriatric, diabetic, and cantankerous cat.)

Frank is a sophomore at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. He declared his major and is studying Business and Finance. He has his own circle of friends away from home now and, aside from the few times he “hangs” with his old high school buddies in their effort to eschew the boredom and indifference with this town, can’t wait to go back to school. He’s taking a business course over winter break, so he’ll be leaving after New Year ’s Day rather than stay home most of the month of January. Over the summer, he worked in a local garage as a mechanic’s helper. He plays bass guitar at school in a rock band.

Dad observes, vacillating between a knowing understanding of the lessons that will be learned (sometimes the hard way) and a jealous wish to be 19 again – can’t go back.

Here is a case in point. For about $300, a student can get a full season lift ticket at three of the best ski resorts on the East coast. One recent morning, while a group headed to one of these resorts about 20 minutes from their school, Frank’s friend totaled his car. The picture of the bent, sheet metal wreckage was on their Facebook account within the hour. Fortunately, no one was hurt. In fact, unfazed by the incident, they continued their journey (don’t ask me how) and managed to get in a full day of skiing.

Caroline, 17, is a senior in high school and has blossomed into an energetic, enthusiastic, talented, curious, and interesting individual. Her passion for art has grown. She has her work all over the walls of her room and has written a comic strip of over 300 pages to date. She has an interest in theatre arts (scenic design) and has managed the painting and construction of many of the school plays. The highlight of her high school stage career came this past March when she was in charge of the painting crew for the production of “Les Misérables”. There were over forty set changes. She and her friend individually painted the fortress set used throughout the play.

She is now at the end of the process of applying for college. Caroline has developed a portfolio of about 20 works for the colleges to review. She has also completed SAT’s, ACT’s, college applications and essays, and latest semester’s school work and stage production. This week, SUNY Purchase, a New York state university that specializes in the arts and is about 20 minutes from our house, accepted Caroline in three different schools: the liberal arts college, the Conservatory of Art, and the Conservatory of Theatre. Before making her final decision, she is waiting to hear from some of the private schools including the School of Visual Arts in NYC and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence. Dad’s hoping for a scholarship. We’re all very happy and excited with the SUNY acceptance because this is her second choice. She wants to work towards her BFA in Illustration and Cartooning.

Veronica, 15, is developing very uniquely. Her hair is now an attractive shade of auburn after she dyed it fuchsia last month. This accompanies a creative and individualistic sense of style. Veronica has always been a natural at everything – good in school, music, sports, etc. – the kind of person you love to hate. However, she is a middle child and a teenage girl. So now, we have talent in everything and interest and motivation in nothing. Well, that’s not exactly true. While Mom and Dad have been busy, shall we say monitoring and guiding – ok arguing with – the two older kids and chasing after the 8-year-old, Veronica has developed a sophisticated and successful talent for “flying under the radar.” Ahh, but the situation is changing because next year the two older siblings will be gone and Mon and Dad will have more time to focus on our middle, soon to be “oldest-living-home” child. The plot thickens and the tension is already palpable. Stay tuned.

Adolescence is just starting to rear its ugly head with Matthew, our twelve-year-old, where boyish interest and enthusiasm live and the occasional and moderate showings of rebelliousness are still charming. Matt does well in school and plays in a lacrosse league. While sports are not yet is strong suit, he is developing an interest in exercise and the size and definition of his biceps. Matt also plays the drums and is becoming quite talented. He has an Ipod and listens to his rock music while he tries to follow the drummer on the recording. Dad’s hoping Matt and Frank can start a successful rock band so he can retire from the daily grind.

Dad is very old. He turned 60 in July. Last year, about this time, he joined the local gym in town. The place is magnificent. He goes there four to six times per week (Mom is glad to finally get Dad out of the house in a timely fashion) and spends most of Saturday morning there. (They call these people gym rats.) He’s lifting weights, cycling (“spinning”), and taking classes in yoga and boxing. Alas, in a year, he has lost no weight because he loves to eat. No regrets.

Mom continues her intense (read neurotic) obsession with animals. This year, we adopted, at great expense, a purebred Samoyed puppy – now a 60-pound ball of white, fluffy hair. His name is Shadow. Mom has also begun a fanatic relationship with the dog’s breeder, and they are discussing how to “show” the dog if all the details work out. The breeder was so impressed with Suzanne that she gave us lifelong custody of a second Samoyed, Shadow’s half sister, named Gypsy. Early each morning, we are awakened to the sound of howling and baying as the animals in the house take on pack behavior. After a morning ritual of licked faces, filled water and food bowls, and “outside potty,” we spend the remainder of the day dodging four-legged, white, streaks careening through the house knocking over furniture and other unorganized detritus strewn with random and illogical placement and covered with shed dog hair.

Nicholas, 8, has a very singular way of looking at the world. He’s good at math but needs some help in writing and reading. He earns his allowance by writing stories of eight-plus sentences. He also gets a penny for each adjective and adverb. Nicholas now has a whole lot of money, and we have a collection of priceless stories. We plan to publish them someday.

Nicholas still believes in Santa Claus. You can imagine how excited he was tonight. He sent Santa his Christmas list weeks ago asking for video games to be left under the tree. Dad asked him, “Why don’t you just buy the games, you have enough money?” He said, “It’s much better to get them for free.” You can’t argue with that. Maybe we should put Nicholas in charge of the Federal Reserve.

Well, before Nicholas went to bed, he put a glass of milk and four homemade cookies out for Santa. The “elves” are busy now wrapping the presents. Tomorrow, we are looking forward to a little magic that makes the Season.

We all wish it for you as well. I hope this letter finds all of you and yours happy and in good company this holiday season.

Merry Christmas and a joyous, happy, and healthy New Year.

Lou, Suzanne, François, Caroline, Veronica, Matthew, and Nicholas

Merry Christmas 2007

We missed sending out a letter the last Xmas or two, so we thought we should make an extra effort this year to update everyone before all the kids grow up.

It hit me the other night when I went to Veronica’s (9th grade) winter concert at the high school. As she sat there in the school auditorium, watching our third child perform on this stage, I realized this would soon be over as well -- Only three more winter concerts and she’ll be off to college.

Veronica is a flutist and has auditioned successfully for the all county orchestra for several years now. She is also trying her hand with the debate team and getting used to the studying (sort of) required for the advanced placement courses she is taking. She is also an adolescent now and really doesn’t give a fig about anything.

Francois, our oldest (18 years old), is finishing up (we hope) his first semester at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. He left the saxophone and the bass guitar he played on that stage at home. Other than that, we really have nothing to report about him because we haven’t a clue what he is doing except "I’m doing OK." We suppose that he is doing okay because he is going to a school in a beautiful setting at the foot of the White Mountains with paid room and board; $5 per day lift tickets; a 60%, young female population; and a total of 15 hours per week required class time. Life is tough. We just paid the second tuition bill.

Caroline, our high school junior (16 years old), has long since stopped playing the trumpet on that stage. However, three times a year, she is a crew member of the theatrical group that puts plays on at the high school. She and her friends design, construct, and paint the sets and then move the stuff around the stage in the darkness between the scenes of the plays. Many of them come over to our house on Friday nights to watch movies and devour anything in the refrigerator. On Thanksgiving weekend, I made an extra turkey for them which disappeared in much the same way the food stores in biblical Egypt were consumed by locusts. Caroline continues with her art work and we have pictures hanging throughout the house and in Dad’s office. She is working hard to bring her grades up so she can get into a good art school.

Matthew is in sixth grade (11 years old) and doing well academically. He is also becoming an accomplished drummer and will be on that high school stage in 2 years. He plays lacrosse, following in his older brother’s footsteps, and is the most laid back person in the family.

Nicholas, our seven year old, is in second grade and the most energetic of the group. His job is to annoy Matthew and the teenagers who eat here on Friday night. He takes his work seriously.

Gone are the killer years when all five were in school in town – the time when there were five concerts per season and we calculated that we only had 29 more to attend. The high school band played or the middle school choir sang or the elementary school teacher tried desperately to herd grade ones in and out like unruly sheep.

Back then, with the holidays being what they are and life with kids being what it is, getting out the door to five different concerts was a big deal. A very big deal. (Actually, life with five kids being what it is, trying to get your hair brushed by lunchtime was a big deal.) We did it though. Every single one. You have to develop some sort of coping mechanism for the stunning auditory experience that is a middle school string section. It's funny how much better the bands were the years our children were in them even as I did my knitting and watched the clock and wondered when it would end, consulting the program eight hundred times to see how many songs there were left.

Things are starting to quiet with Frank gone. Dad is much more relaxed. The other kids missed him, for about an hour, until there were spoils to be divided – the computer, stereo, and extra bedroom.

Dad’s getting older, 60 years old next summer. He just joined a town gym where he aspires to work out 6 to 7 days a week to make up for years of age and neglect, and possibly loose 50 (well maybe 20) pounds.

For the past year, I have been working part-time at the local public library which has taken precious time away from important seasonal tasks such as wrapping gifts (just a few more to go), baking cookies, and finishing some Xmas knitting projects. (A hat, then a pair of mittens, then another pair of mittens – Obviously, I have slipped so far into some sort of Christmas delusion that my sense of possibility is all off. Pass the egg nog.)

Knitting rules!

Before the alarm rings at seven in the morning, I have to reach over and search for the remote control (which is never where I left it the night before). Knitty Gritty, one of the few television shows I enjoy watching, airs at an ungodly hour here in NYC, and heaven forbid I should get out of bed (!) to turn the blasted teevee on. However, the "Knitting Rules!" episode featuring La Harlot herself, will air today everywhere but here in this house, it seems. I can't find it anywhere in the listings. Whatever shall I do...

What am I doing here?

How did this happen? One minute, my daughther is checking her assignment pad, the next thing she is convinced I am trying to take over her homework. Do I have to comment? I then start typing everything she says? Seriously. She was one typo away from ending up on the properly assigned page. She is convinced I will never, ever use this blogpage again. Should I try to prove her wrong?... I will let her sort things out. This is now my blog. Number 3 realized where she erred. All is well with the world as we know it. ttfn ;)