Memorial Day Eating

A relaxing day bookended by two restaurants we've never been to before:

Everest Restaurant: We pass this place on our way to Costco, and the sign offering a breakfast special of two eggs, hash browns and toast for $2.99 finally pulled us in. Hal had the two pancakes, two eggs, two sausage for $2.99. Not fabulous, but it's hard to mess up basic breakfast fare.

Kinya Sushi: It was hard to find an open restaurant tonight, but Kinya in the Village had its doors wide open. The sushi was pretty good, and I liked the atmosphere and service.

Vegan Fare

Since Claire has been home, she has treated us to two vegan dinners. On the left is tofu and pesto (made from our own basil) manicotti with Trader Joe's Arrabiata Sauce, on the right is bean chili. Delicious!

Summer Can Commence!

A year ago on this Saturday, Pat and I held a year-end recital for our private students, reported here in this blog. Today, with a group of different students, we had another successful recital. This ends the musical school year on a high note (with a major tonic chord!).

Claire, the Photographer

Claire came home with some boxes of b&w photos that she took and developed for her photography classes this year. I scanned the ones that fit on our scanning bed. Here is one of my favorites. You can see my other favorites at her Flickr site (link on the left).

Almost Last Concert of the Year

Last night the Vista Orchestra (4th-6th graders) and 3rd Grade recorder students performed an informal concert for friends and family in the MP room. It was short and sweet, and I was proud of the kids! For a video of the finale - Ode to Joy - click here.

Happy Anniversary

Happy 51st Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Sightseeing on the East Coast

The day after Claire graduated happened to be Saturday, so we took advantage of the weekend to do a little sightseeing before we returned to normal life.

We started out with breakfast in Baltimore at Cafe Hon - amazingly good food with Bawlmer attitude (It's a Cafe, Hon). Claire's friend Lucie and her family joined us, and you can see the photo of us all with Elvis a few posts down.

After filling ourselves silly, we drove up to Lancaster, Co. PA and stopped off at the Farmer's Market and gift shop at Bird-in-Hand (yup, that's the name of the town). Here I am trying on a bonnet which really doesn't look like what the Amish wear. At least it's made in PA and not China.

Then a little car tour searching for covered bridges. I think this one's called Hunsecker's Mill Bridge.

In the late afternoon we needed a little pick-me-up, so Claire found the Cafe Chocolate in Lititz which had the best chocolate drinks I've ever had. Mine (on the left) was an iced mocha, Hal's was a chocolate strawberry lush.

For dinner, we met up with Liesl's friend (since 7th grade) Kavita at the Addisu Ethiopian Restaurant in Lancaster (picture in earlier post).

Memorial Labyrinth

During Claire's first semester at Goucher, her roommate, Jamie Deutsch, succumbed to bone cancer. This was, as you can imagine, quite traumatic for Claire and the Goucher community. This year a memorial labyrinth was installed in memory of Jamie, as well as another student, Dana Flax who died after being hit by a car her first year. The labyrinth turned out beautifully, and while Claire was finishing her packing, I spent a little time walking the path and taking photos. To see a short video and slideshow of the dedication of the labyrinth, click here.

About Claire's Graduation

Now that we are home, I can write a bit about Claire's graduation day. The weather was beautiful - upper 70s and sunny and not too terribly humid with puffy clouds in a blue sky. Three honorary degree recipients spoke - one from the class of '43 (when Goucher was all women) who took a secret course in cryptology, then went on to work for the WAVES division of the Navy to handle decoded communications intercepted from the German navy.

The main speaker and honorary degree recipient, Charles F. Bolden, Jr., is the first African-American to head up NASA. His speech was funny and relevant.

Claire received a bachelor's hood as part of her regalia, a surprise for us all since none of us got one at our graduations.

More pictures at the Picasa site.

A Few Pics from Today

with more info to follow in a future post....

With Claire's friend, Lucie and family

being Amish

with Liesl's friend, Kavita