Family Mellmann

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.

Last week at the Fine Arts and Academic Competition that Patrick (and all the other 7th through 12th graders at Trinity) participated in he submitted this photo in the Landscape & Architecture Photography category.  He didn't win anything (the competition was FIERCE) but I thought his composition and perspective was pretty nice so I thought I'd share it.  Nice job, Patrick!

Although stage fright prevents Katherine from doing any solo acts, she does sing in the junior high school choir.  They did a very nice job on their two songs.

In his last performance ever in the Fine Arts competition, Patrick did an oral interpretation of drama that was a (nearly) ten minute monologue.

Patrick has had his first performance today, a bass solo.  We won't know until the end of the day how he did against the other competitors, but his performance was well done.

Today is election day in Vermont. Included on the ballots are things like budgets, voting for bonds to make large purchases, and some administrative housekeeping to clean up town charter documents (for example, I voted yes to remove the position of Poundkeeper, which has been a position in the town for generations  but has been an unfilled position for decades...because we no longer have a pound). Patrick came with us, as he is done a few times before, but this time, as a newly minted 18-year-old, he was able to cast his own vote...not just watch.

The internet is clogged with unoriginal, inaccurate, and often silly tidbits of entertainment.  One such tidbit is called the "meme".  By definition, a meme is " a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc., that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users".  Well, let's just focus on the "humorous image" part. A friend of Patrick's recently captured one of his senior pictures.  Senior pictures are traditionally an event, a right of passage experienced by high school seniors when it comes time to have their school photo taken.  A professional photographer is hired to take a series of formal and candid photos of the senior in a way that sets these school pictures apart from all the other pictures taken of the student over the years. Standard School Picture - 2nd Grade Senior Picture (one of many) So, back to Patrick's friend.  The other day Patrick and I were working on something when his friend s