Into the Woods at Duke

One of the most impressive shows at Duke every year was Opera Workshop, and when Owen wanted to go support some of his old friends still playing in the Orchestra, I jumped at the chance to go. This year instead of a proper Opera they put on a musical – Sondheim's Into the Woods. As you might expect, the performances were spectacular (though Owen did critique some of the singers for using an Operatic vibrato instead of a musical theater vibrato...). It was also a nice callback for us to when Stuart Hobson put on Into the Woods and Owen was part of the SWS crew that sang Giants in the Sky. Next year Burke is going stage Into the Woods for Noa's last high school theater performance, so that will really bring everything full circle!

 

Thursday Concert Series

Things lined up this Spring for us to have an every other Thursday concert series. I got us tickets for the New Pornographers and Will Sheff of Okkervil River at the 930 Club months ago, then picked up Wilco at Wolftrap tickets, and surprised Elaine with Andrew Bird tickets for her birthday. We kicked things off with The New Pornographers, one of our all-time favorite bands to see live. Looking forward to more shows this Spring!

 

Outro

Noa has been playing with DCYOP for 10 years -- starting with their intro to viola class in the fall of 2016 and culminating with the Youth Philharmonic the past two years. In the past decade they've had 4-5 violas, 10 concerts (including one in tents), recitals, a Folk Life Festival, numerous rehearsals, and a significanty number of bakery stops on the way home (which was needed sustenance and never, ever bribery).

And while Noa has enjoyed playing with DCYOP, they haven't really enjoyed giving up their Saturday mornings every week. That coupled with the fact that they've never really practiced to the degree they would need to for the final, touring ensemble, Youth Orchestra, and their Senior Year will likely require a number of school visits and other weekend obligations, they made the announcement this Spring that they were quitting viola and that this would be their final concert.

And so we present to you Noa's (and subsequently the entire Fawcett family's) last hurrah with DCYOP. We've really enjoyed our time with you over the years and everything you taught both of our kids.

Symphony no. 8 in B minor "Unfinished" – Schubert

American Salute – Gould

Victory at Sea – Rodgers

Samantha

When Noa was little and we were setting up their room in our new house we found a great desk from the Land of Nod that had short legs for kids and an extra set of full-sized legs to transform the desk into something suitable for a teenager. While Noa has long since been taller than Elaine, they have resisted swapping out the short legs and kid-sized chairs for the full-sized version. That all changed when they found a beautiful wooden rolling swivel desk chair left out in the neighborhood after the Hill-wide yard sale this weekend. They rolled it back home, asked if they could keep it, and named it 'Samantha'. Their were conditions of course for keeping the stray chair, they had to clean their desk, and get Owen to help with rotating the carpet in their room 90 degrees – all of which were agreed to and accomplished. After a long search, I found the extra legs, and Noa is now the proud owner of a proper adult desk and chair.

Top Chef Birthday

Since Mom's 80th Birthday Party was on May 13th, we celebrated Elaine and Megan's birthday on Friday with a lovely dinner at Marcus DC. It's been on our list to try for a while, but we had some extra motivation since one of our favorite Top Chef contestants on the current Carolina season, Anthony Jones, is the Executive Chef. The meal did not disappoint, the crab rice was phenomenal, and Anthony made an appearance. He ended up being asked to pack his knives and go the next episode, but it was our first time eating at a Top Chef contestant's restaurant during their season. 

80th!

For Mom's 70th birthday Katherine and Don planned a big surprise party with around 70 people. It was quite the success, but in the lead up to Mom's 80th, she made it clear that a surprise was totally unnecessary and she'd prefer to have a bit more input into the invite list and planning for the festivities. So this time around Elaine and I consulted with Mom on the guest list and planned a more intimate gathering of around 30 people at Little Pearl. 

It was the perfect venue for the party, with delicious food we've shared with Mom at special occasions in the past like the beggar's purses from Pineapple & Pearls and the amazing pork & lychee salad from Rose's Luxury. Nancy arranged all of the flowers, and other than worrying about the rain in the forecast the day of the event was all relatively stress free. A lovely group of Mom's closest friends celebrated with us – old friends, neighbors, archives friends, Smithsonian Women's Committee friends, new friends, and family. Mom gave some lovely remarks focusing on all of the people celebrating the day with her, and I tried to follow that with a few remarks of my own. It was a special evening to celebrate an amazing woman that I'm lucky to call my Mom.

(click here for all the pictures)

 

Moving on Up

Ever since Mom was hospitalized and we discovered Dad had Alzheimers in the summer of 2024, we've been trying to get them into a retirement community, preferably near Steve. They've been resistant – Dad didn't think it was necessary and Mom didn't want to leave Iowa. We pushed again last spring after Dad's stroke and got the same response. And while as their children it's been frustrating to have them need increasingly more support without their acknowledging it, we struggled to force the point.

But the past winter was really hard on both of them. Mom and Dad have been homebound since January when the car died (which was a bit of blessing since Mom stopped driving years ago and Dad's license expired in April 2025) with little outside interaction for Mom, and Dad only having his daily walks. We were finally able to convince Mom (Dad's memory decline means he doesn't remember the stroke, or getting lost on his walks, or having an expired license, so our arguments fall a bit flat with him) that it was time for a change when we found StoryPoint which only a few blocks from their house and adjacent to the park Dad love to walk in back in February. 

After visiting the place, we had a pretty serious discussion with them both. Mom was mostly quiet, but Dad would argue that a move was inevitable but not imminent, and anyway, wouldn't moving closer to one of us kids make more sense? We would then acknowledge that that being in Chicago would make it easier for us, but Mom was opposed to leaving Iowa so staying in the neighborhood, at least while we dealt with selling the house, made the most sense for now. Dad would then ask Mom what she thought; she would ask what he wanted to do, and we would have the same exact discussion again (conversations with Dad tend to loop these days). Eventually we got them to put down a deposit and get on a waitlist with a plan to move in April.

The move itself went reasonably smoothly. All three kids flew in to handle the move and setting up the new place (we tended to tag team with one keeping them distracted while the others actively worked or ran errands). Mom was somewhat zen about it all, while Dad continued to ask what was going on. And while not everything went perfectly (I really wish there were alternative options to "smart" TVs that don't involve menus or complicated remotes; and the landline is still in limbo), the people have been incredibly welcoming and the sheer number of interactions has been beneficial to them both.

Mom and Dad are still feeling overwhelmed (Dad keeps asking if this is where they're living for the rest of their lives) but they are adjusting. Steve got them to attend a chair exercise class while we were there and we've seen subsequent reports on StoryPoint's Facebook page that they attended the Kentucky Derby Party and a Teacher Appreciation Coffee and we think they made Communion this past week. And while the move hasn't solved every issue (they've both decided they are done with doctors, so that's fun), we at least feel like they have more support and community, and (hopefully) a little more joy in their daily lives.

(To see all the pictures, click here.)