The Curtis Clan - Winter 2017
Fall Equinox to Winter Solstice
Our Holidays start with celebrating the anniversary of our first date on the Winter Solstice at the end of the last millennium (actually 2000 would be the last year of the Millennium not 1999 but why buck popular opinion with math). We started our 18th year together with dinner at Baily’s Range followed by watching what may be the best picture of the year (Manchester by the Sea) at the Hi-Pointe.
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R & B Sharing a coffee at the Cheshire Starbucks
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Christmas
On Christmas Eve, the girls served at the packed 5 pm mass at Holy Redeemer, quipping that it was better and easier to serve than fight for a seat during the “family” mass where the kids put on the pageant. Afterwards we had the traditional Sage soup dinner with the in town Sages, followed by carols and Christmas readings from the Bible. The niblings insisted that the Chair of Knowledge bit that Uncle Van started on a whim of asking probing questions of the child occupant a couple years ago is a tradition that must be respected, no matter how tired everyone is (particularly the parents).
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Cate and Jane on the stairs ready to come down and see "Santa's" generous bounty
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Christmas Day was fairly laid back at home with an outing to bring dinner to Nana at Manor Grove followed by a family game night teaching the girls to play rummy. Boxing Day was also a day of limited responsibilities though Amy and Alvan did come by for chili dinner and some rummy.
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Nerd boy Christmas presents
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On Tuesday the 27th, we celebrated Sagemass as the out of towners made it in for the grandchild/cousin/niblings gift exchange. As part of the family’s present to their parents/grandparents (Gramy and Gral), they produced a second edition of the 12 Days of Sagemis video with the dozen grandkids each taking a “day”. As the second oldest, Jane chose to extol the joys of Two Tins of Ikea cookies and Cate, as fourth oldest, went with Four Mellow Mushroom Slices. The video came be found here: https://youtu.be/hT1Wnx6Gpl0. The kids went outside to play some touch football in the afternoon sun.
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Sage Bowl 2016 (without injuries)
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On Wednesday, Amy and Alvan hired a family friend / semi-professional photographer to take a group family photo instead of trying to do the timer on the tripod stand, which doesn’t really work well with so many little ones. Two hours later Jane got her upper braces off (alas but not the bottom ones so the popcorn/taffy/gum party will have to wait).
| With braces |
And without |
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That evening we all regathered in St. Peters to have dinner and conduct the annual rob-your-neighbor anonymous gift exchange, which is always great fun.
New Year's Eve in Pittsburgh
On the 29th, we dropped two happy dogs at the kennel for boarding (having successfully passed the doggie day care test the day before) and headed out to Pittsburgh PA for four nights to visit Aunt Katie and Uncle Don. The XM Sirius radio subscription made the trip a joy but there was stark differences as to what channels were listen to depending on the driver (Sinatra and the 40’s station through Illinois; a variety of 80s, 90s, 2000s, New Wave, 70s album rock, Love, Christmas Carols, etc for the remainder of the trip. You can guess who drove which leg). As is our habit, we stopped for Skyline chili for lunch at I-70, Ohio Exit 29 and reached the Neville Island Fairfield in about 10 ½ hours. When not in our hotel at night, we spent the next three days in the cuddling comfort of 5 Laurel Avenue in Ben Avon in congenial conversation.
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Curti with Aunt Katie & Uncle Don
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Randy did hang out with his college buddy Matt Martinez (Tippy) in the trendy Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh and got to play with his drone and take his dog on a walk (2 ½ mile hike to the Allegany Riverfront and back).
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Matt and Randy take a drone selfie
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New Year’s Eve was a decidedly low-key affair where we alerted to the passing of the year by the chimes of a mantle clock as no one was looking for a count-down on TV. A most pleasant way to begin the New Year. It was a dreary, rainy drive back from Pittsburgh to St. Louis but we blessed warm temperatures. If it had been ~20 degrees colder and it would have been a nightmare of ice or snow.
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Bethany and the dogs enjoy a cozy Sunday on the couch
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The first full weekend in January was fairly relaxing and laid back after the flurry of social gatherings with family and friends over the Holidays. We caught up on new releases (e.g. La La Land and Rogue One) and spent most of Sunday accomplishing little more than sitting in front of our cozy fire with one another, snuggling with the dogs. On Sunday night, we had tickets to see Arthur Miller’s play ALL MY SONS at the Rep and Jane decided to go along with us and see it using a student Rush ticket available for $10 10 minutes before the start (actually 30 minutes in reality). Beforehand, Jane wanted to trade seats with Dad to take the student rush seat so she wouldn't have to sit alone until she realized she got the best seat the house (front row center). Then she was fine sitting with strangers. We think she’s hooked.
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Jane front row, center at the Rep
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Mid-January Ice storm beauty
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Winter of Discontent
In January, we watched a couple episodes of CNN documentaries on the 1970s, which touched us nostalgically about TV and music during that period but not about fashion. On the internet, Bethany found a NBC Nightly News from her seventh birthday (8/16/77). The news presented by John Chancellor and David Brinkley, offered a bitter reminder that things were more fair and balanced in the past before news became infotainment and was so partisan divided you could watch information presented in a way that only buttressed and feed your views and biases, without threatening them. https://www.youtubecom/watch?v=dkbAS6PuOWg
Our technical “improvements” seem to always include consequences exacting unintended sacrifices.
January also brought us a winter of discontent made “glorious summer” by the son of [New] York that provided daily political anxieties for us and ½ the country, as well as easy fodder for the late night comedians (actually just reporting the news made most anyone a comic whether the intended to or not). The comedians have provided some of the most rational commentary on the state of the nation. While many have provided sharp and biting satire and commentary (e.g., SNL, Trevor North/Daily Show, Samantha Bee, John Oliver, Bill Maher), the writing and commentary on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show and Seth Meyer and his A Closer Look segments have been particularly noteworthy (Emmy nominations in the offing?). Although the stars get the notoriety, these shows clearly have a bunch of talented, creative, dedicated and smart writers making it work. Seth showcases some of them in the bits Jokes Seth Can't Tell and Amber Says What but most work in the shadows. On a personal level, Bethany passed on an invite to go to DC for the Women’s March, choosing to take the girls to one in St. Louis. We are living in interesting times, but then again that is always the case isn’t it?
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Bethany and the girls at the St. Louis Women's March
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Adeline, Jane and Cate caring signs
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Viva Oahu
In late January, Randy traveled to Oahu for work. He was feeling a bit grumpy about the 14 hour travel commute when he reached the Budget counter to play Rental Car Roulette. While compact cars are the default reservations for government travel, sometimes they run out and you’re left with whatever is leftover or waiting until one pops up. Well he hit the jackpot with an orange Mustang convertible in a color reminiscent of his old Triumph Spitfire (maybe the gal at the Budget counter was his Fairy Godmother?). With a resurgence of energy, he drove the Farmington Highway (93) along the leeward (west coast) of Oahu until the pavement ended at Makua just short of Kaena Point. The sun was setting and I had all my work gear in the trunk of a convertible, so hiking to the point seemed like a bad idea (the leeward side of the island is definitely NOT the gentrified portion of Oahu). The next few days were long days of meetings but on Thursday, the team made a visit to Molokai to visit a number of the FUDS (Formerly Used Defense Sites) there: Kalaupapa National Historic Park overseeing the Navy’s Makanalua Bombing Range and the Papahaku Ranchland where we found munitions debris from MK23 practice bombs near the target spotting “hut” (concrete bunker with > 1 foot thick walls).
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Randy and his rental car jackpot
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Winter dinner gathering with the Shaws and Sages
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February
For Groundhog Day this year, we skipped the recent annual tradition of watching of the movie in favor of Jane’s Confirmation Mass. Both her Godparents showed up (Rosemary and Todd) along with the grandparents and even her Uncle Justin coming in from Indianapolis to mark the occasion too.
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Jane's Confirmation
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Jane and her Godparents Rosemary and Todd
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We didn’t skip out on all the early February family traditions though, enjoying Ice Cream for Breakfast Day at Serendipity on the first Saturday of the month with along Jane’s pal Ella and her dad Matt, who invited us to enjoy our breakfast in his studio next door. The following week, Randy and Jane celebrated National Pizza Day at Webster’s Imo’s after exercising at the YMCA.
| Waiting in line in our jammies for ice cream for breakfast |
The girls almost at the front of the line |
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In mid-February, we watched a terrific adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird at the Rep. We treasured it all the more, seeing the girls at a good age where the message of strong moral ethics and will hopefully take seed and blossom in the future. What stories we choose to tell and reinforce matters dramatically, as a family and a culture. Perhaps this is a forgotten truism in our culture as we bath ourselves in a never-ending cycle of electioneering and political nonsense, that only tell stories that divide us as a people, as opposed to bringing us together and pushing us to aspire to be better human beings. Most of us can only aspire to the personal courage, moral code and celebration of human dignity of Atticus Finch, but that doesn’t’ mean we shouldn’t try. Too much time is being wasted on tales that accentuate the easy, greedy, low tendencies of our nature that our culture appears to be a race to the bottom, where there is no shame and a moral code is for suckers.
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Cate and Jane enjoy intermission at the Rep
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As is the norm, work took Randy away from home on Valentine’s Day but the women did just fine at Fortel’s. The week away did afford Randy the opportunity to hang out with his pal Jake a few times during the week and see his Dad on the weekend to celebrate his 82nd Birthday (and get him a Craig’s List recumbent bike to exercise at home).
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Happy Valentines Day Pizza
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WWW W
At the end of February, Bethany went to the YMCA’s Women’s Wellness Weekend with her friends, adding a fourth W to the event - Wine.
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Bethany with Elisabeth, Lisa, and Laura at EdgCliff Winery
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On the home front, it was Movie Madness Weekend for Randy and the girls. On Friday, immediately after school, the trio caught Disney’s 1951 animated version of Alice in Wonderland on the big screen at Ronnie’s. After that it was a screening of the girls’ first R rated movie: Stand Be Me. Its R rating is for the epic cursing, which for 12 year olds, is just a normal day at the Jr. High, the girls confirmed. Saturday, brought Singing in the Rain at the Hi Pointe with the girls and two friends. Late afternoon it was Laura with Nana on Roku Netflix in her room at Manor Grove (Perhaps the girls have seen too much noir as they totally had the whole thing figured out). We capped it off with The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn (at least Cate and Randy did).
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Outside the HiPointe for Singin in the Rain
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Other film going highlights for the quarter include seeing Rogue One; the 1978 version of Superman (what a waste to bother with Marlon Brando and his ego); Citizen Kane, Barefoot in the Park and Vertigo at the Hi Pointe; Drew Barrymore’s Ever After at the WGPL; skipping the Super Bowl, to see Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them again.
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At the WGPL for a screening of Ever After
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Lastly, we convinced the Hixson French teacher into giving the students extra credit for going to seeing Louis Malle’s AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS (1987) when it showed at the classic French film festival at Webster University. Besides the family, we ended up with a handful of other girls going. As a University event, we got to hear a real film nerd introduction and post-film discussion. The girls all related to the story of junior high level Catholic boys school in Vichy France with a couple undercover Jewish kids despite the very male centric story. A moving intro to the horrors of the Holocaust that will prepare them for harsher stories yet to come. Also, since having daughters and consciously watching stories with them, it’s become impossible not to see the unintentional basis when a team of primarily men, tell stories.
March
On the first Saturday of March, we volunteered to help with the annual UCP annual dinner & auction gala. Bethany had her regular gig at the jewelry counter but Randy got to deal blackjack and come up with some Damon Runyon-esque names to put on his name tag: "Hole-Card Harry" or Reno Randy.
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Randy and Bethany at the UCP Casino Night Auction
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That weekend, Jane got a yard sign for being part of the Class of 2021. It dawned on Randy that the girls great Grandmother would have graduated in 1925 from WGHS if she didn't have to go to work before then. By the time Cate graduates, there will be over 100 years of the family at WGHS.
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Jane welcomed to Class of 2021
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Chaperoning school field trips is always fun but the Hixson 7th Grade field trip to Practical Anatomy & Surgical Education building at St. Louis University to conduct pig heart dissections will be long remembered as one of the best. Very informative and a bit scary as the surgeon displayed healthy and non-healthy hearts (particularly for those of us with cardiovascular issues).
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Cate makes the cut for the pig heart disection
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Spring Break - Part 1
Before the equinox, we left for a Spring Break trip to Florida coastal panhandle that started with a couple days at roughly the halfway point: Huntsville, Alabama. We stayed with WG/STL transplants Steve and Lisa Swaine who were welcoming, humorous and gracious hosts. On the first night, we watched The Martian to get us in the mood for the Marshall Space Flight Center the next day.
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Curti at US Rocket and Space Museum
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After a leisurely morning with the Swaines we got to the US Rocket and Space Museum about noon thinking the 5 hours until closing would be more than enough time (it wasn’t). The family had terrific time enjoying the many exhibits (the Saturn Five building and artifacts are terrific). The kids got a kick out of the rock climbing wall and the Space Shot vertical accelerator ride [Cate & Dad rode it 3 times and Jane once]. Of course as a result of our visit, the girls wanted to go to Space Camp (even after their viewing of the Martian the night before).
That night we enjoyed visiting one of Huntsville’s two Mellow Mushrooms, followed by an evening of pinball machines with Steve’s vast collection of refurbished arcade machines and an Apple to Apples game that lasted until 1030 pm. A great visit with old friends.
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Curti at Huntsville's Mellow Mushroom with Steve and Lisa
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| Cate brushing up on her pinball skills |
Jane goes for some arcade bowling |
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On the last day of “winter”, we drove the rest of the way to Florida, the last couple hours on two lane highways, where we availed ourselves of the out of season boiled peanuts in a gas station quickie mart. We checked into the Hilton Sandestin Hotel at Miramar Beach, Florida and spring officially began.
