Anna Grows

Advanced Steel at CCM One of Anna's favorite act ivities is participating in the Vienna Jammers.  This is her fourth year with the group, where she performs with Advanced Steel - a steel pan drum ensemble.  She had to audition to get into this group, which is made up of 8 - 12th graders.  They practice on Monday nights and have a lot of fun.  This year they had the opportunity to perform a concert at the University of Cincinnati's Conservatory of Music (CCM) on January 26.  Check out the concert description here This wasn't just any concert.  It was a joint concert with the university percussion ensemble and featured special guest percussionist Jon Bisesi.  This is how the Jammers got the invitation to perform.  Mr. Bisesi is a percussionist in the Marine Band and a faculty member of George Mason University's school of music.  He is also a graduate of CCM......and a board member for the Vienna Jammers.  That is the connection th...

Joe celebrated his birthday (you can guess how many years) on January 18.  This year was a low key affair.  He was treated to a swim meet (Anna was swimming not him) followed by a big Italian dinner at a local family-owned restaurant.  Apparently someone else was also celebrating their birthday their....by holding a flapper party in the event room.  Let's just say there were several interesting costumes.  Joe opted not to crash that party.  Anna made her Dad a cake and he was treated to some very thoughtful gifts (like new kitchen shears). What more could he want? Happy Birthday Joe!  Maybe we can do Mexico next year.....

The year 2019 is behind us....along with the end of a decade.  What can we say about the year or even the decade?  There were many challenges over the year, but with challenges come opportunity.  More importantly, challenges often bring appreciation, which is really what 2019 was all about. The driving force behind appreciation in 2019 was Christina.  Her untimely death in January to cancer and courageous final months inspired so much in her family and many friends.  She taught us to appreciate the beauty of life - whether a flower garden, a walk in the woods, a trip to the beach or a concert.  She taught us the power of love and friendship as her entire community rallied around her and her family.  Most importantly, she showed us the positive impact one person can have - something that became apparent in the tributes from her many friends and acquaintances whose lives she touched over the years.  After watching what she endured, how could you n...

Grandma, Anna & Grandpa Christmas at the Virginia Fagella household, like many families, has its traditions.  We attend Christmas Eve mass at 5 PM, where Anna sings in the choir.  We light the luminaries, along with the rest of our neighbors, on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  We have a seafood dinner on Christmas Eve (this year it was scallops with a side of linguini and clam sauce).  We open one present each on Christmas Eve.  Christmas Day is usually quiet with lounging around, opening gifts, calling family members and watching Christmas movies.  Since the weather was so nice, we enjoyed the Christmas lights at Meadowlark Gardens in the evening.  Our other tradition is leaving the day after Christmas to visit family.  This year's destination:  Ohio. Fortunately for us, Ohio was experiencing a record warm Christmas so there was no need to worry about the snow.  We flew into Columbus with the first stop at Uncle Tim's f...

Anna & her pop choir friends - Kate, Maggie C., Petra & Maggie P. It's the most wonderful time of the year!  Well, that is what the song says.  It is definitely the busiest time of the year, complete with parties and concerts. Anna is a member of the pop choir at school as well as the youth choir at church.  She decided to take a break from piano (at least Theresa hopes it is a break....it may be a permanent break as far as Anna is concerned) and focus on singing.  She is really honing her skills and is doing some occasional cantering at mass.  This year, the pop choir performed a joint Christmas concert with a local Catholic high school on December 11.  The concert featured a former St. Mark student who is quite talented at arranging music and composed a new Christmas song for the high school choir.  You can check out more about Matthew's work here. Checking out the Biltmore Replica at the Gardens Anna also performed with the pop c...

James, Andrew, Luke & Anna on the North Shore Thanksgiving 2019 was hosted by Aunt Mary.  As always, it was quite a feast (Aunt Mary could have fed at least 30 more people) and the Virginia Fagellas likely took home more food than they brought in courtesy of Aunt Mary's "to go" bags.  Aunt Loren and Aunt Lucy were also there, along with James, Luke and Andrew. Unfortunately, Uncle John was unable to make the trip from Yonkers to Long Island.  There were many rumors for why he could not make it ranging from taking a secret trip to Italy to not actually knowing where Long Island is.  Joe and Theresa thought it may have something to do with the Yankees not winning the pennant and being unable to face Nationals fans.  Joe, Loren, Lucy & Mary contemplated sending an Uber to pick him up.  Maybe next time....  There was much lively dinner discussion, including political debates between Aunt Lucy and Joe.  We caught up on Luke's adventur...

Anna & Theresa at the National Parade There is not a lot of positive news that comes out of Washington, DC these days, but one of the best things to happen is the big World Series victory of the Washington Nationals.  For those of you that are baseball fans, you know this was not a typical World Series.  The Nats were at the bottom of the National League in May.  They made a steady climb throughout the season to win a wildcard slot in the playoffs all the way to the championship.  There was no shortage of drama throughout with big finishes and agonizing defeats.  Washington fans were riveted throughout the playoffs (there were a lot of tired people at the office and school during the week from late night games). Anna's new principal is a super fan and brought her enthusiasm to the students.  She proudly hung a Nats flag in the school office and each time the team won a play-off series, she had a "Rock the Red" day for students to wear their Nats s...