Seton Presents: Les Miserables

Les Miserables

Seton
October 2, 2013


Ben and Collin are in the school play this weekend at Seton Catholic Central. Many young men and women (and a few not so young:-P) worked together for several months to bring a nicely done, well performed play. Last night was opening night! We were there for the opening curtain! Great fun - especially the students.

Seton 

October 2, 2013

Ben working on the docks  

Collin on the docks 

Collin as a pimp with Fontine (Rachel Polman) and an "Old Prostitute"

 Collin holds Javert at gunpoint

Collin as student/revolutionary 

Ben standing at the barricade ready to fight 

The barricade and fighters 

Collin looks on as Marius (Vincent Paniccia) holds Eponine (Larissa Yost) 

Collin consoles Marius 

Collin at the revolution

Drinking to the good old days - Collin and Wilson Hettinger 

Ben drinking, too 

It's all coming to an end - these kids did a fantastic job as leads 

Finale' 

It was a wonderful show, it sounded very good - the sets were wonderfully done and the costumes really helped tell the story! Now, 3 more shows to go and counting......

Update from Upstate NY

I had some photos of events I wanted to share with you.

2013 already has proved to be an eventful year! No BIG news, just the daily in and our of our lives that is always nicer when shared with people you care about! Perhaps this will get too lengthy to manage in one post, and so I may break it down into "installments" - not that I have that much to write, but several photos I wanted to share with you!

Ben's Confirmation
On Sunday April 28, 2013 at 2pm, Ben and his Confirmation Class were welcomed by the Bishop into the Catholic Church as adults. It was a very nicely done Liturgy; Collin was Ben's sponsor and Grandma came to help us celebrate, which was so nice!

 Collin and Ben - two very handsome (and sweet) guys!

Collin, Ben, Bill - my 3 blessings

 My guys - dapper, eh?

 Me, Collin, Ben, Grandma

 Ben and Me

 Mom and Me

 Bill and Me

 Confirmandi class of St. James 2013

Ben, AP, Collin, Peter, Fergie

Some photos around home of Grandma's visit

 Ben has grown at least 6" since September - getting to be a tall man!

 Ben enjoying that he is taller than Grandma!

 Ben and Me

Ben is always clowning!

It's Spring!

Easter brought us unexpected family time. We took an impromptu trip to U of M to see my specialist. While there, we celebrated Easter with some of Bill's family.

 Bill and Ben

 John, Ben, Bill and Grandpa

Bill, Me, Dad

And so, we've had a full and blessed early Spring. I am so looking forward to warmer weather, gardening, walking, and replacing my prescribed Vitamin D with the sun! Winter is always difficult for me in a cold climate - but we survived winter (with surprisingly no major illness) and are happy to be embracing Spring!

I wish you all warm breezes, the sun on your face, the smell of flowers blooming, and all the majesty that the natural world and Our God gifts us with each day!

Be at peace!

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day with the boys and Bill! They made my day very special!

Ben, Collin and I standing out in front of our home by a flowering bush.

Bill and I.

After cooking me breakfast and cleaning it up for me, too, we took a meandering drive through the back roads to Ithaca. We had a gorgeous, 76 degree and sunny day with pretty puffy white clouds in the sky!

Ithaca is a scenic, hilly, small town with lots of rivers and water falls. It is home to Cornell University, and has an Arboretum with many unusual trees and ponds and bushes.

Water lilies on the pond in the Plantations.

Cattails on the pond.

We saw lots of geese and goslings - boatloads of them! There is no danger there will be a goose shortage anytime soon!

Ben, taking a minute of repose....or playing a game on his iTouch, I'm not sure which.

Almost 15 year old Ben and 17 year old Collin - my joy!

In the "Plantation" area of the University, where the Arboretum is, they had a tall hill that overlooked the town, with a big bell that you could gong - which of course all of us with "Y" Chromosomes couldn't help but  gong very loudly!!!

The Bell makes a powerful noise when hit correctly.

Pete and Re-Pete! Looking out over the valley.

Collin taking a few minutes to take in the spectacular view

Bill trying his hand at gonging the bell, which could be heard all through the Plantation area!

We hiked trails along the river and looked at the falls. The mountains are all shale stone which was often used architecturally to construct stairs, bridges and paths. Photos don't do it justice - it was really beautiful!

From the overpass of the river. It was a very long way down.

Ben, Collin and I at the base of a big tree on the pathway above the river.

One of the smaller falls we saw.

This is one of the many very old, very beautiful buildings of Cornell University. You can look right through the archway and see the hills beyond - it's a wonderful view.

Walkway between buildings - reminded me of a monastery.

One of the falls along the river.

Ben skipping the shale stones - which make excellent skipping stones, as they are flat and thin - on the river.

Here you can see the size of the falls relative to the guys.

Collin standing close enough to the falls to feel the spray of water! He didn't get too wet!

Even I was able to hike down to see the falls close up - this was no small feat! I was really glad I did!

Ben, Collin and I enjoying dinner with Bill at Simeons.

We ended this day at one of our favorite restaurants, Simeons, http://www.simeonsithaca.com/ in Ithaca. We had good food, and it was the perfect ending to a really special Mother's Day!

I hope all of you Mom's out there enjoyed your day, as well! I hope you were pampered and coddled as I was! Blessings...until we meet again!