Harry Potter Party

Professors Mary & Matt of Hogwarts hosted a Harry Potter party! It was a lot of fun decorating the apartment. We also hosted a food-creating contest which a) encouraged people to being food and b) encouraged people to bring GOOD food! =) We later headed out en masse to see the 5th movie, which was fantastic!

Our guests first arrived at Platform 9 3/4...


Cousin Kate made wizard cupcakes


Mark & Megan made an owl cake


Mary made Tonks' Tasty Trifle


and the Fortress du Fromage!


Natyra made Gryffindor cupcakes


Sadly, I did not get a photo of Greta's Hogwarts Brie or Holly's Pumpkin pasties! Holly was the lucky winner of the food contest, with her delicious creations.

Mark & Megan


Natyra & Greta


Kate, Holly & Katie


Mary & her Mischief Managed shirt!


Lamppost o' directions!


And of course, Hogwarts Library

Nickel Creek Concert

Matt & I love the band Nickel Creek, a bluesgrassy, acoustic folky rock band (ok, they can't classify their music either!) One night we were listening to their cds in the car, and Matt wondered if they still toured. We went online that night, and as luck would have it, they were - and it was their Farewell (For Now) Tour, to boot! So we bought tickets, and then as a surprise bought two extras for Corey's graduation and Julie's confirmation gifts. Then Louise was talking about how much she enjoyed them (years ago she heard them on NPR and bought their CD) so we got a ticket for her too.

They were playing at the Lowell Summer Music Series, really close by to us. Driving through Lowell several times, I have found it to looked a bit depressed, its former industrial buildings no longer active. But the music series was in the heart of downtown Lowell, across from the Boott Mills in Boarding House Park, a big outdoor park with a bandstand. The roads were blocked for traffic, and with a big parking garage on the corner, it was very pedestrian friendly and safe.

We arrived a bit too late with our blankets and lawn chairs, so we sat at the back of the park, but we were still close enough to hear and see fine. Glen Phillips (formerly of Toad the Wet Sprocket fame, another one of our favorite bands) opened, and sang wonderfully, though he is a bit shy and backed away from the mike when he wasn't singing. Then Nickel Creek came out and during the night they played their own songs, plus a few Mutual Admiration Society songs with Glen Phillips.

Man, can they play! It is sheer joy to be in the presence of great musicians. Song after song, we were blown away by their musical talent: Sara on the fiddle, Chris on the mandolin, and Sean on the guitar. Great playing, great harmonies, and fantastic stage presence - they were really funny. Chris said he should win for "Most Effeminate Bluegrass Song Ever Written", with his "Ode To a Butterfly" and "Smoothie Song". And they introduced a new song, setting it up to be an epic, profound tale... but really the main riff was "If you break up with me, could you fix me up with one of your friends?"

Jubee met up with her art teacher during intermission, who was really fun (and had way better seats than we did!) And Corey kept his ears open to the music while pouring his eyes over the 7th Harry Potter book, which had come out the night before.

We had a beautiful sunset to accompany the beautiful music:


And here's Nickel Creek: Sara Watkins, Chris Thile, (a bassist), and Sean Watkins

Barre Reunion

Every year, Matt's family holds a family reunion up in Barre, Vermont, which is where his grandfather August's family lived. His family was large - three Sironi siblings, then after the death of his father, four Somaini half-siblings. Each of the kids had families, many of whom travelled and raised families far from Barre, and several who still remain in the town to this day. It is an impressive sight to see so many people, many of whom are now distant cousins, gather together with a shared sense of history and place. Bob Somaini, who has hosted the reunion for the past few years, just purchased a gorgeous house on a mountainside, filled with many antiques from the antiques store that he owns.

There had been flooding in Barre the week before we came, and scenes from its destruction of the roads and land could still be seen. Luckily none of the family suffered too much damage, but it was strange seeing photos of people boating down the main roads!

We stayed at a hotel and had several misadventures there, as they first lost our reservations, then assigned us to a room that was already occupied, and finally reassigned us to a new room, only to not record the fact that Matt & I were in another room, so that when a group of people came in at 2 AM, they assigned our room to them, so they walked in on us sleeping in the middle of the night! Needless to say, we'll be choosing a different hotel next time around!

But it was wonderful seeing the family, and hanging out with the cousins and uncles and aunties. We were taught how to play Pitch, a card game (Matt got the hang of it quickly... me? not so much!) I brought up a lot of Sironi-Somaini genealogy that I had been working on, and it was a blast hearing stories of Italy and Barre in the early 1900s, family scandals, and funny tales.

We also visited the Rock of Ages granite quarry, a huge working quarry that produces beautiful rock for buildings, monuments, gravestones, etc. Here's the quarry:

Safe in NH

Just a quick update to say that things have settled down a bit.. check out Mom's blog for all the details. Yesterday a man gunned down three men in a store across the street from our campground and then fled the scene, supposedly a botched robbery. Police were in the campground all day, as they suspected he might attempt to run or hide in the nearby woods or Saco River. As of last night, he was still at large.. needless to say it was a long night. Today they caught him and arrested him in nearby Fryeburg, Maine. He was guy previously charged with armed robbery and arson in several other states. The manager of the store was killed along with two young guy customers, both from MA.. one was from Plymouth.

Although our sense of safety on vacation in North Conway has been mostly restored with the arrest, our prayers go out to all the families connected in this senseless tragedy...