Family Mellmann

More than 24 hours in travel from the school in Vermont to the island of Dominica, and they made it. I don't have a daily schedule of what they will be doing, but I'm guessing that they will have a little time off tomorrow, some get-to-know-you time with their hosts and the local church, and a lay of the land.  Whatever they do, I'm sure it will be a fun experience.

It must be the end of the school year.  The elementary students are WIRED.  The juniors and seniors are gone on their missions trip.  And the rest of the high school is off doing field trips.  That means that Katherine has been out Monday and Tuesday of this week visiting the Maritime Museum (Monday) and Fort Ticonderoga (Tuesday).  There was more planned for the Tuesday trip, but the wind and rain closed the ferries so they had to change their tour schedule to accommodate the extra drive time. Somewhere in this clump of 7th through 10th graders is Katherine.  Let's play a round of Where's Waldo. :)

And they're off!  The juniors (two) and seniors (four) of Trinity Baptist School, and one adult chaperone, are on their way to Dominica for almost two weeks of construction work on an island devestated by the hurricanes in late 2017.  They will be helping a local missionary with whom this trip has been coordinated. While most of their time will be spent working, there will also be time for some hiking, getting wet, and socializing with local residents. Since infrastructure (like cell service and internet access) is still inconsistent and unreliable, updates will be equally unpredictable.  Regardless, I am sure that they will get sunburned...I mean have a good time.

Celebrating motherhood has roots dating back to the ancient Greeks and Romans.  A more modern form of Mother’s Day appears in the early Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday”, a once major tradition in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe (according to the History Channel).  It was a time when the faithful would return to their “mother church” (their “home” church) for a special service. Another…version…of Mother’s Day took form in the 19 th century, before the Civil War, when Ann Reeves Jarvis helped to create Mothers’ Day Work Clubs to teach local women how to properly care for their children.  After the war, these clubs helped to bridge the divided country.  In 1868 Jarvis organized “Mothers’ Friendship Day,” at which mothers gathered with former Union and Confederate soldiers to promote reconciliation. The Mother’s Day tradition that we recognize today most likely owes its genesis to Anna Jarvis, daughter of Ann Reeves Jarvis, who championed a ...

Day 3 comes with the promise of a lot of rain. We started with breakfast in what can only be described as a classic New York diner with crowds, a frenetic pace, and gruff but polite service. Then it was off to St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Flatiron Building.  We had planned to check out the Hi Line, a long abandoned elevated rail service that has been repurposed into a natural area.  However, the rain convinced us to move on and head back to the airport early for our flight home; a fortuitous move since our flight was canceled and we had to make other arrangements for getting home. Now we sit in a rental car headed for Vermont.

Day 2 in New York City Breakfast in Hell's Kitchen  9/11 Memorial  Ferry from Battery Park to Liberty Island, then from Liberty to Ellis Island for a hard-hat tour of part of the unrestored portion of the hospital Ferry back to Battery Park, Manhattan and metro to dinner Last stop for the day was an evening walk from Brooklyn (we took the subway over) to Manhattan by way of the Brooklyn Bridge 

Day 1 in New York City Learn to navigate the Metro Times Square USS Intrepid Central Park (pictured) Strawberry Fields (memorial of John Lennon) Check in to the hotel Empire State Building  Chinatown (dinner at House Special, a small restaurant that mostly the locals eat at) Now it's time to rest our weary bones before we do more tomorrow!

The entire Trinity "high school", which is comprised of 7th through 12th graders, went to the Vermont State House in Montpelier for a guided tour, an opportunity to observe the House in action, and a little time in the Vermont Historical Society Museum. In the entry hall of the Capitol, in the Hall of Inscriptions, there is a large bust of Abraham Lincoln.  Sculpted by Larkin Goldsmith Mead as a sort of practice run for a larger sculpture that would later be placed at the Lincoln Tomb.  Mead's first notable work was that of the statue Agriculture, which sits atop the Vermont Statehouse surrounded by the gold dome. During our guided tour of the building we had the opportunity to observe the House in action.  My personal political commentary aside, it was fascinating to observe parliamentary procedure as they welcomed guests of House members and then set about the task of discussing then voting on a bill regarding healthcare. When the tour was over and we had ta...

Patrick has been wearing braces for more than three years.  Today he took the first major step toward completion; the braces came off and he was fitted with an invisible retainer that holds the pontics (false teeth) that fill two gaps in the front.  He will wear this retainer until his crowns are ready (the posts have already been implanted) in a few weeks. Check out that new smile!  I almost forgot what he looked like without braces.