Change in marital status...not mine!

On Saturday, Rob and I went to Binghamton for Judy & Joe's wedding. The weather was terrible...it poured all day and never let up for a second. And it was chilly too! Thankfully, the wedding and reception were indoors and neither Judy or Alex seemed to be bothered by the weather. I was hysterical enough for everybody. The service was nice and short (always a bonus).... with a minimum of prayer. Actually, quite perfect for a second wedding. Alex did a great job giving away his mother. Alex looked great in his suit and I love the haircut. The reception music was perfect and the food...Lupo's Spedies catered...delicious! All in all the day was nice for Judy & Joe.

I Can Understand Why You Might Bring Your Kids....

I spend a great hunk of time at the Allentown Art Festival people watching. This year, I spent a lot of time saying, "Why would you bring your ____?" You can fill in the blank with damn near anything. It is hot and crowded and the booths are filled with expensive items. During my down time, I was fiddling with my camera and found out what was wrong with it. It wasn't me...it really was the camera! Some idiot set the timing so that the picture didn't take until 10 seconds after the button was pushed. Hell, in 10 seconds I might be in another room. So I amused myself by taking pictures of people who bring their dogs...not substantial, meaningful dogs but those little yappers. I am easily amused and lose interest in things very quickly...








And finally a real dog...but who would bring this guy to the art show?

CHANGE IN HOW I SPEND MY TIME

This is fairly ironic. When nothing is going on but the same old meetings, I have time to blog but little to say. All month long we have lived exciting, eventful lives but I was too busy to blog anything. Time to try to catch up!

June 8, 2009 Scholar-Athlete Dinner

We attended the Section III Scholar-Athlete Dinner at the Rusty Rail in Canastota with 500 other over-achieving athletic kids. This is Ian's first taste of what it will be like at Cornell...surrounded by only the brightest. We shared the table with Janise Carmichael and her coach and family. The dinner was great, the speeches short and the kids were made to feel very proud about their accomplishments. The evening was very nice...even if it was sponsored by Coca-Cola! Ian has a cool patch, a plaque and he took all the unopened bottles of Powerade from the tables.




June 9, 2009 Honor's Night

Let me give you a taste of how dysfunctional Corcoran High School is and the way I fit in so perfectly. As President of the Corcoran PTSO, I had to give out the PTSO Scholarships at Honor's Night. Not a big deal, I had to be there anyway because Ian was receiving an award. The school called and asked me to stop by the office so I could sign the scholarship certificates before the ceremony. Not a problem. We arrive, find a spot to sit and I sign the certificates. It's just about that time that it dawns on me that I have to give these girls their scholarship check! Do you think I remembered to get the checks from the treasurer? Didn't even cross my mind! I was so caught up in the other 50 million things that were going on in my life that I didn't even have anything prepared to say when I introduced these young women. All I could do was shake their hands and whisper "I forgot the check. I'll bring it to school tomorrow." While I am stressing about the checks, Ian casually mentions that I am in the program....giving the opening remarks. Nobody told me! Apparently, it is tradition that the PTSO President speak at Honor's Night. Last year's president didn't mention this and it would have been nice for someone at Corcoran to give me call to let me know. After expressing my displeasure to the principal (he is used to this) I thought about what I would say. About 5 minutes before I was supposed to give opening remarks I walked over the principal and told him I was set...had my thought all planned out. I planned to take the podium, raise my outstretched arms and say, "where the fuck were all you people for the PTSO meetings?" I think he sprayed his drink across the table.

We sat toward the front and Ian kept talking about this trophy sitting on the table with all the awards. He had been coveting the trophies with gold cups that some of the kids received at Varsity Night. Who knew his biggest dream was to drink out of a big trophy? What a goof....he wouldn't stop talking about this trophy.

Who knew being the male Scholar Athlete meant getting your name engraved on the E.S Powlesland trophy that will sit in the trophy case for eternity? The trophy has names from 1966 and there are three other people from Wellesley Rd. I have never seen Ian so excited about anything in his life. He gets to keep the trophy until the end of summer. I think he slept with it on the first night....















In addition to the trophy, Ian was recognized for having the highest SAT grade and for graduating Summa Cum Laude and a few other things. I thought we might frame the President's Education Awards Program certificate that was signed by President Obama....but that paled next to the trophy.

June 13th and 14th - Allentown Art Show

By far, Allentown is the best art show that Rob attends. We always have great weather, Rob sells well and we get to spend time with our friends, Rich and Karen. While it was hard to leave my yard, house and pool during the nice weather, there is something so relaxing about being at this show. I finally realized that this is the one venue I can't control. Rob sets up and arranges and speaks with the buyers and I wander around the other booths and read my book. I like this! As a bonus, Rich usually comes and hangs out both days and helps with the tent. Nice!

The Allentown area has beautiful architecture, unusual shops and bars and quirky people. The art is high quality and Rob has repeat customers. The show is huge and both days were so crowded.

I spent a lot of time just watching people....



Why did this guy remind me of Uncle Tom?














Karen, Rich, Zoe and Ian at the end of the 2nd long, hot day.

I'll tell you all about the party in the background at a later date and the way I amused myself on both days.

Lots of awards...no change

On Tuesday night, before attending Chandler's game at Alliance Bank Stadium, we attended Varsity night at Corcoran. It was nice to sit with friends and kids we have known through so many sports. It was tough sitting quietly without talking.

It was even tougher taking pictures. I realized that 1 out of every 5 pictures I take with my camera are worth keeping. Most are blurry and unfocused. It's been 3 years, obviously this photography stuff does not come natural. Time to take a class...or read the manual. Below is the one decent picture of the evening of Jeremy, Coach Hohm, and Ian. Ian was called to accept awards many times. He has a nice collection of plaques.

• Boys Cross Country Coaches Award
• 4 year/3 season Sport Athlete Award
• Senior Athlete

......and the most coveted (and I hear it comes with a small scholarship ...finally some change!) Corcoran Section III Scholar Athlete Award. We will be attending a Scholar/Athlete dinner in Canastota on Monday night. More to come!

Excited the month has changed to June....

What a month! I am so happy that May is finally over and I can relax and finally keep up with this blog.

This month included :

May 13- PPS Celebration of Excellence
I was voted in as the president of Parents for Public Schools of Syracuse. Each spring we have an award ceremony, honoring staff, students, parents, and community members that volunteer in our schools. This year we honored 11 people for their dedication and commitment to the children in the city. I was humbled just to be in their presence. As president, I had to sit on the stage for the entire ceremony and speak at the end. I spoke immediately after Superintendent Lowengard who introduced me by saying"I thought I was speaking at the end, but as anyone who knows her can attest, Susan Fahey always has to have the last word." There were several loud guffaws from the audience and I think Rob & Ian stood and cheered in agreement. A ton of work and very stressful...but I am glad it is over for this year.


May 16 - Ian's 18th birthday
Erin wanted to throw Ian a "surprise" party at our house. I was skeptical, but agreed. I couldn't fathom how Erin would be able to invite Ian's friends without being aware. I forgot how clueless Ian can be sometimes! We carried on as if it was just another birthday, trying to figure out where to go out to eat and baking a cake (chocolate with peanut butter frosting.) Ian was torn because he was supposed to go over to Erin's but he relaxed when I told him Erin could go out to dinner with us. I carried in cases of soda, ice, chips, dip and stored them in the cellar while Ian read the paper and ate breakfast. While he was at Erin's later in the day, his friends came over and hid in the breakfast room. They arrived and Ian was surprised! It was fun.

Rob grilled, the kids ate and I cleaned up. Interesting to have a party and be sober. I kind of liked it....Although it was freezing, the kids swam in the pool and built a fire. Good memories.

Gardening
I decided to plant the circle and all my planters in Ian's school colors for the graduation party. What a bad decision! Once I make up my mind I am unable to waver, but someone should have grabbed my cheeks and set me straight. Ian's school colors are maroon and white. Did you ever try to find maroon or burgandy colored flowers? I spent way too much time at Hafner's and the Farmer's Market and a dozen other places trying to find the perfect mix of plants. The perfect mix of plants would have been purple and yellow (CBA) or red and white (Jamesville-DeWitt.) I was working frantically because I was going out of town for Memorial Day and I had this notion that all the good plants would be gone by the time I returned. Even funnier was how the colors of the flowers change in different locations, cloud coverage and whether or not I am wearing my sunglasses. They certainly looked maroon when I bought them but turned into purple by the time I they were planted. Must be the acidity in the soil. I enjoyed the challenge, shed some
tears, swore quite frequently but finally got the plants in the ground. The flowers and the vegetables are doing quite well.


This picture was taken on May 22, immediately after planting.












This was only 8 days later...I think the plants just might fill in by the 27th (although the million bells are changing from maroon to red!)












This is my favorite planter with this sweet burgundy geranium I found at the Farmer's Market.











Memorial Day Weekend

Jenny and I took our annual pilgrimage to Cape Cod for the long weekend. Over the years, we have endured all types of weather and various illnesses. This year was the worst... cold and rainy on Saturday and totally overcast on Sunday. Of course, Friday and Monday were perfect! I had bronchitis and Jenny had Lyme Disease. It was ok....we shopped, we ate, we drank, we relaxed, we talked and talked and talked. We definitely needed that downtime before the marathon days leading up to the end of the year. I didn't take many pictures...


the view from our room...
when you stepped out the door











a flower box I saw in Chatham that I would love to re-create in Syracuse








Prom and After Prom
Ian's senior prom was last Friday night. For many years, the Corcoran PTSO has put on an After Prom in the Corcoran gym and commons area immediately following the prom from midnight to 4 am. I have worked After Prom in the past...but never had to plan the whole damn thing before. Our fundraiser spent the entire school year securing donations of money, gift certificates and various items that we used for raffles and silent auction items. There is pizza, wings, soda, casino games, inflatables, music and Guitar Hero for the kids. I never worked so hard to plan for something in my life and I WILL NEVER HAVE TO DO THIS AGAIN! I am almost free. The last PTSO meeting is Wednesday and I can turn over the presidency to some other sucker.

Ian tells me the prom was fun. About the most he said...you probably need to check out his FaceBook page for the whole story.

Ian and Erin before the prom at Mayor Driscoll's house...waiting for the big white limo bus.
All the friends riding in the limo.311, 313 and 310 Wellesley Rd at Onondaga Park for pictures.