Megan's Musical Moment

Megan played beautifully in a recital last Wednesday.     Enjoy her concert.

A Goal Surpassed!

Max beat the 9-10 yr old New England Long Course Championship 50 Breaststroke qualifying time on Sunday.    This is a goal he has been working toward for about two years.    The qualifying time is 54.59 and Max's time was 53.92.   Congratulations!   Max is the first swimmer on the Kingfish team to qualify for this year's championships.  To give you an idea of how hard it is, there are meets where even the first place winners don't make the qualifying time.   Kingsbury usually send around 5-6  out of about 40 swimmers to the 12 and under championship meet.   The NE Championship meet is July 17 - 20.    

The Swing

Seth's newest project -- a swing for Megan.

The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside-

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown--
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Snug Harbor Chorus Makes the News

The Boston Globe published a nice article about the Snug Harbor Chorus .    The chorus is celebrating their 10 year anniversary concert next Saturday.     I'm in the back on the left next to the first man.

www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/05/04/on_anniversary_singing_a_joyful_tune/

Who do you want to be?

Twice this week I've been given inspirational ideas on how to live life and how to advise my children when they are choosing their paths and setting goals.     

At the farm on Sunday the owner shared that many times people ask him about when he is going to retire and what he will do.   He answered: "I don't feel the need to ever retire, farming is what I love to do and I feel lucky that I chose a career where I can do what I enjoy."

How lucky and how many of us wish we were in careers where we can't imagine every leaving and doing anything else?

Today I sat down to answer email and was listening to Maria Shriver on Rachel Ray.   Her advice to her children is don't focus on what you want to do focus on who you want to be.   I like this because so often we talk about our children's achievements and activities and don't focus on their qualities.    Instead of worrying about how to teach them not to be afraid of failure, having them learn how to appreciate who they are and what qualities they are proud of changes their measure of success.   They can now set their focus on things which bring them joy and improve the qualities for which they've defined who they want to be.    Maria Shriver tells her kids that she  loves them for who they are and not what they are going to achieve.   Wise words that I should remember as I try and encourage my children to participate in certain things that I think will help them be more rounded and successful as adults while being conscious that these things may not align with their sense of who they are.   The question is how do you encourage the talents that you see in your children while keeping in mind that the best way for them to succeed is for self encouragement based on their joys.

There were a couple of other things Maria Shrive said that I thought were wise:

"Focus on what truly moves you --give to the community in those ways."   "The best way to find yourself is to be of service. "    

Farming in 2008

Yesterday I helped transport Megan and friends from her 4H club to a dairy farm in Portsmouth, RI.    The Dairy Farm has a raised milking parlor with automatic gates and a fast release milking system.   They are able to milk about 85 Holsteins in 1 hour.    The first cow goes into a chute that opens the gate for the next cow until 6 are ready to be milked.  The farmers clean and prepare the utters for milking, hook up the milking machine and then once the cow is milked the milking machine quick releases from the udder.  Once all of the cows are milked the gates open (much like the release of the bars on a rollercoaster ride) and the cows exit the milking area.     The owner Mr. Escobar, a second generation Portugese dairy farmer, has diversified his farming practice so that he can still make a profit when profits are low from dairy farming.  He has a corn maze, which receive 14,500 visitors last year, Christmas Tree Farm, composting business, pumpkin patch, Hostein breeding business, and Water Dog breeding business.   The diversifying is required for the small farmer who must come up with creative cost effective ways to manage and feed his herd and make enough money to sustain his family.    Mr Escobar was a wealth of information and quite interesting.    Click on the link and view slideshow to see pictures from the farm.  kglatt.shutterfly.com/action/

A Day Of Lacrosse

Saturdays seem to be dedicated to Lacrosse.   They had four 30 minute games at a tournament last weekend in UMASS.   This weekend the team had four 1 hour games in Duxbury.   The weather was sunny and cool so the boys didn't get too overheated.   This Saturday Max played midfield for 3 of the games and attack for 1 of the games.   Midfield is the only position that is allowed to run the ball up the field from defense to offense.    Three people play midfield and are rotated back and forth with a second midfield group to allow for some rest.    The games are fun to watch because it is constant action.   Max made 1 goal and a number of assists.  I've loaded the pictures in the new slideshow gadget I've come across.