Katherama

For the past few years, we have tried to organize a celebration of Katherine's birth which is commiserate with both our collective love of her and her unparalleled love of games. We have largely failed, due to the Pandemic (which resulted in a Zoom celebration for her 40th), weather (which hampered her 41st) and scheduling conflicts (which meant we celebrated Katherine's 39th birthday in NYC without her). But for her 42nd the weather and scheduling gods granted their favor, allowing for a full four-day, mostly out-door celebration of Katherine (though the COVID gods weren't totally on board, forcing Grandpa Fawcett to quarantine for part of it).

On Katherine's actual birthday (Thursday, May 26th), she went to dinner with Mom Mom, Grandpa Don, Uncle L and Adrienne while we continued to mask up and test John. On Friday, Katherine and Uncle L saw the sequel to Katherine's favorite movie (Top Gun) and enjoyed (possibly too much) her new present from Adrienne, the Bartesian, while we had family game night followed by COVID testing (all negative, except for John). On Saturday, we convened at ThROW Social (site of Katherine's cancelled in-person 40th birthday party) for some cocktails and games. The kids and I had to leave after 20 minutes due to noise issues, John was still quarantining, and Nancy had to cancel, but Katherine, Uncle L, Adrienne, Mom Mom, Grandpa Don, Danny and Allen had an amazing time showing off their cornhole-football-bowling skills in a game which clearly was designed with the Fawcett-Suggs in mind. Afterwards, we reconvened at our place for some barbeque and cupcakes where we allowed John to join us (albeit only outside) and Katherine was forced to open her presents.

While Katherine typically balks at opening presents in a timely fashion, we insisted she open the joint present from Mom Mom and us, a Solo Pi pizza oven, as it directly impacted Sunday's final celebration of all things Katherine. The next day, we brought homemade dough for 12 full-size pizzas, a variety of toppings, and a masked John for an evening (and early morning) of pizza, cocktails and yard games. There was thai-chicken, barbecue, meat lovers, cheese and pesto wood-fired pizza. There were rhubarb shrubs, margaritas, and lots of beer. And there was cornhole, bocce, marbles, beer pong and shuffle board. And all on a clear, lovely night with seemingly no mosquitoes.

So it was kind of the perfect birthday celebration for Katherine, which probably means we won't have its equal for another five years...

(To see all of the Memorial weekend birthday pictures, click here.)

It's Still not a Violin

Nora has been playing viola for five and a half years, and during that time they've used everything from a violin with viola strings to a 14.5 inch student viola. But now that they've been playing for nearly six years and are (almost) as tall as me, we decided that it might be time for a more grown-up instrument. And since Nora's teacher, Mr. Enrique, had just gotten a new viola and was looking to unload his old one, the timing was perfect for Nora to purchase a 2010 limited edition MA510 Otto Benjamin 15.5 inch viola (which has yet to be named). 

With only a week or so to get used to the new instrument they still managed to have its successful debut at their spring recital where they performed Andante Cantabile by Gluck. Enjoy!  

Classics

It's been three years since the Cluster held the last Capitol Hill Classic, and since as a family we tended to spend our Pandemic time baking in lieu of running (Katherine clearly being the exception), some of us might not have been in the best shape for a race. However, we are nothing if not supportive of PTA fundraisers and free snacks, and so we duly registered for the race (and drafted Katherine).

Nora and I volunteered to check in runners on Saturday morning, which meant that while we were a mere three blocks from the Supreme Court, we weren't able to participate in the "Bans off our Bodies" protest (though I did wear my "Nasty Woman" t-shirt as a sign of solidarity). We then headed to Nora's DCYOP concert and met up with the family for dinner, after which we convinced Aunt Katherine to spend the night so we could get to the course bright and early for Sunday's race.

We signed Katherine up for the 10k, which has always kind of been her nemesis (the Classic is usually her first run of the year, isn't her standard distance, is always weirdly humid and they don't call it Capitol Hill for nothing...), but despite her grumblings, she had her best showing yet. The rest of us were only up for the 3k and ended up splitting into two groups – Nora and Allen vs Owen and myself. Nora had the best time of the four of us, beating Allen by a second; Owen and I were a full 2 minutes slower, though I suspect Owen's decision to run in 1) sweatpants; 2) wool socks; and 3) an N95 mask, may have been a factor).

Anyway we survived. Now we just have to start training for 2023!

(To see all the Classic pictures click here)

DCYOP Stars

After a morning of volunteering to sign in runners for the Classic, Nora had quick pitstop at home to have lunch, shower and change into concert attire before heading over to the U-DC for their DCYOP spring concert. The concert was for beginning to intermediate string ensembles with a special guest virtuoso.

Nora wasn't a huge fan of Fiesta Mexican, and while they liked Power Shift, their clear favorite on their program was She Will Hang the Night With Stars, which was based on a poem by Oscar Wilde which includes the line,

Nature....she will hang the night stars so that I may walk abroad in the darkness without stumbling, and send word the wind over my footprints so that none may track me to my hurt: she will cleanse me in great waters, and with bitter herbs make me whole.

Enjoy!

Mama Birds

In a surprise twist of fate (or the Gregorian Calendar), Mother's Day and Sharon's and my birthdays were a full five days apart and their celebrations were naturally fell on separate weekends. This meant two weekends of celebrating Sharon and I! (Which maybe my 49-year-old liver could have done without.)

We headed up to Katherine's on the Saturday before Mother's Day for dinner and drinks, which somehow culminated in me falling asleep on Katherine's couch, waking up at 4 am, going to bed and then emerging around 11 am – just in time for brunch. I then spent the next several hours putting together a puzzle (which didn't have any edge pieces because Katherine decided to store them separately and then forgot because apparently that's a thing) while everyone else prepped for the real celebration -- a painting party.

I'm not sure if my hummingbird didn't turn out so well because I was still feeling the prior evening's effects, or if I'm really just that terrible at wingspans, but regardless we had a wonderful time.

(To see all of our artwork, click here.)