Grand-mere!

At school I'm always looking for creative ways to engage my students. I have to admit that sometimes you all make guest appearances in my lessons, sometimes with very colorful accompanying stories. (They love this!) Such was the case today! Since my students in French 3 are studying the passe compose and the imparfait lately (two different past tenses), I used some recent Bryant happenings to review these two grammar points.  Voila the two newest stars of French 3 at Holy Cross High School:

"My name is Jeff.  I'm Janene's uncle.  She's my niece.  Her mother is my sister. 
Currently I live in Maryland with my wife.  I love to go fishing."

Hi!  My name is Mrs. Bryant.  My first name is Rita.  Janene is my granddaughter. 
Her mother is my daughter.  Tuesday when I was feeding the squirrels,
I slipped and fell.  (The squirrels really love when I feed them oranges!)
Unfortunately, I slipped and broke my leg.  Oh drat!

What can I do to help my grandmother?
She is so nice and I love her a lot!

My students' suggestions are likely to be very interesting.  I'll keep you posted.

Marylee and Bob in the Big Apple

How did you all make out with the snow?  Our car is still sitting twenty blocks away under a pile of the white stuff.  Oh brother.

Anyway, Aunt Marylee sent me some pictures awhile back from their whirlwind trip to NY and I thought I would share.  Marylee was super organized and she and Bob saw a ton of the sites: all of the Christmas department store windows, the Rockettes, the Lion King, dinner in the "real" Little Italy, the Bronx Botanical Garden, the Rockefeller Center tree, and probably much more!  Although they stayed near Times Square, Arthur and I were able to hang out with them twice.  If  it's been a few years since you've been in the Big Apple (er, Carolyn!), I recommend you give it another go.  See you in the spring!?!



You can't go wrong with a quick bite at China Fun!



Bob loves Macy's!

At the Bronx Botanical Garden Holiday Show

At the Bronx Botanical Garden Library where we saw an exhibit on grains? 
Rice?  Mushrooms?  Can't remember!  (Hey Bob, what's a lichen?)

Here we are picking out the suckling pig for the next Bryant Christmas party.

Arthur on "Arthur Avenue"



 

Grandma!

Dear Grandma Rita, 

We hope that you are feeling ok and that your arm heals quickly. 
Take it easy and be careful!  We love you!

p.s. Thanks to Uncle Jeff for the great photo who, ironically, may have sustained the most broken bones of any Bryant!

Roma 2010

 
<>Bongiorno!  Arthur and I were fortunate to spend Christmas week in Rome this year and I thought I would share a few photos from our trip. What a wonderful city -- we saw beautiful art and architecture, ate some tasty meals, drank a few frothy cappuccino (much too cold for gelato!), and learned (remembered!?) so much history. We stayed in a chilly apartment near the Campo di Fiori which was a perfect home base for exploring the city. If our pictures tempt you, let me know: I'm already dreaming of my next visit! 

 

Here I am taking a photo of the ceiling in the Jesuit Church called "Il Gesu." 
(I'm actually looking into a mirror, rather than craning my neck to look at the ceiling.)



One of Rome's most iconic sites, Il Coloseo, was built by the emperor Vespasian in AD 72 on the site of a marshy lake.  The Colosseum originally had seating for 55,000 and was the site of the famed gladiator games.   Much of it has been destroyed by earthquakes, neglect, and theft, but it is an interesting sight to contemplate.  Other arenas (in much better condition) can actually be seen in Nimes and Arles, France.

The pillar to Arthur's left is meant to indicate Jesus' height.  What do you think?  Is Arthur as tall as Jesus?  Taller?

Uh, definitely shorter.

What delicious food -- pasta, vino, pancetta, prosciutto, formaggio -- la dolce vita!

Do you see our ubiquitous guidebook? 
We love the Eyewitness Travel Guides!

Christmas with the Ladies of 2708

Merry Christmas!!

Well this is my first posting as a new associate editor of the blog....well actually, my first posting on a blog ever....so this should be interesting!

We have had a wonderful Christmas here in Glenmont. It started last night with the Christmas Eve mass where Michelle and I read, followed by a birthday dinner at Nick's Chophouse in King Farm, presents and cake here, and then meringue baking and Santa-playing until close to 1am!!

This morning we were up at 8 and look at the pictures to see Grandma Rita's reaction to Santa's gift for our family. A BIG new tv! It was about the same reaction as Michelle and I to our new laptops and Carolyn to her...slippers?? She's so easily pleased!

Jeff and Candy arrived around 11:30, about the same time as the Christmas phone calls began.

We headed on out to Andy, Ellen, Sarah, and Jake's around 2. We had a great day of food, fun, food, family, food, Wii, food, and visiting. In attendance were the 4 of us, Ron, Cory, Adam, Joey, Mr. and Mrs. Maslanski, Greg, Nick, Lauren, and Aunt Ellen's friends Pam and Don and neighbors from next door. The party started to wind down around 8, after massive amounts of dessert. But don't worry, tomorrow we will continue the celebration with the Doug Bryants and Wednesday with the Whites. It's a good thing everyone here has this whole week off...we need all 12 days of Christmas to fit everyone in!

I hope everyone has had as good of a Holiday as we did. Enjoy the last few hours!!

Merry Christmas, love to you all!!

~Rebecca

Christmas with the Plaza family

What did everyone do on Christmas Eve?  Here are some shots from Arthur's family party.  Merry Christmas everyone!

In these photos, you should have recognized Arthur with his two brothers: Andrew (in blue) & Peter (in green).  There were also sightings of his sister Liz (in gold) with her husband Gabriel and their daughter Abigail.  Mr. Plaza is proudly showing off his new watch and Mrs. Plaza has a Polish Santa ornament. Father Arthur, a family friend, stopped by before midnight mass for a shot or two of woda (vodka). (Although, come to think of it, I never did see him at church later that night.)  Arthur's other sister Theresa is sitting with her husband Jason who poached an entire Atlantic char salmon for us to eat.  Toby the dog was present too (he belongs to Jason and Theresa), but he managed to avoid the photographs.

I always really enjoy Christmas Eve with the Plazas because of the many Polish customs.  First there is the ceremonial Christmas wafer, the oplatek (pronounced o-pwa-tek), which is broken and exchanged among all present with your best Christmas wishes.  Then there is the Christmas meal called wygilia (vee-gee-lee-ah) which is vegetarian, and therefore features several fish dishes, mushroom, potato/cheese, and sauerkraut piergoi, and red (beet) and white (rye) borscht (bascht).  Of course, there is also the exchange of gifts, the imbibing of spirits, and much merriment.  Finally, everyone (except the priest and the dozing Mr. Plaza) attends midnight mass together and then crawls into bed. 

I hope everyone had a great day.  We're off to Italy tomorrow to ring in the new year!

Merry Christmas Party Pics: Part 3 - The Next Generation

Enjoy these pictures of the littlest among us.