Andy Smallman

31 August 2015 : First Soccer Practice

Published on August 31, 2015 by Andy SmallmanLeave a comment

First, let me reassure everyone by saying that our power is back on. It was out for 49 hours which, if my math is correct, is more than two days! That’s a long time to be without power. All of us, Melinda, Chloe, Celeste and I, were tired of feeling powerless.

That play on words out of the way, I can now tell you that Celeste had her first soccer practice today (the first scheduled practice was cancelled due to Saturday’s windstorm that left us, you said it, powerless). I had so much fun taking Celeste to the field. It’s been since 2009 that I drove a girl living in our house to a soccer practice. Fortunately, it all came back to me, even the ability to get the coach’s hint to take a hike, “Well, we’ll see you parents back here at around 8 o’clock.”

All the same, I came back at about 7:30 and secretly tried to take some pictures. This is the best of the lot, but there are others of the rainbow that watched Celeste at her first soccer practice.

Ah, fall soccer!

30 August 2015 : Still No Power

Published on August 30, 2015 by Andy SmallmanLeave a comment

It's approaching 5pm and we're still without power. That's 27 hours in the dark for us. This map shows the big outage in our neighborhood caused by a tree taking out the power lines a block from our house. — It’s approaching 5pm and we’re still without power. That’s 27 hours in the dark for us. This map shows the big outage in our neighborhood caused by a tree taking out the power lines a block from our house.

29 August 2015 : Wind Storm

Published on August 29, 2015 by Andy SmallmanLeave a comment

A windy day in Seattle led to some power outages and trees down. In fact, the power is out at our house as I write. We're about to have dinner at Melinda's parents' house, where we can watch the football game and charge our phones. — A windy day in Seattle led to some power outages and trees down. In fact, the power is out at our house as I write. We’re about to have dinner at Melinda’s parents’ house, where we can watch the football game and charge our phones.

28 August 2015 : Stephanie Explains Soccer to Celeste

Published on August 28, 2015September 2, 2015 by Andy SmallmanLeave a comment

27 August 2015 : Smiles at PSCS

Published on August 27, 2015 by Andy SmallmanLeave a comment

So we’re getting geared up for the new school year at Puget Sound Community School (PSCS), the school Melinda and I co-founded in 1994. It’s hard to believe that this is the school’s 22nd year. That’s really something. Anyway, the teaching staff returned on Tuesday and the students return on September 8th. Between now and then, there is a lot of work to do to get ready.

One thing we wanted to do was give the school site a fresh look. This is our 8th year in the building and we hadn’t done a lot of updating. In June we hired painters to give the rooms a fresh coat of paint. In some areas of the school, we brought in fresh colors. And we’ve added some new art to the walls, including this picture recently hung up in the school commons.

This picture was created by Sieglinde, the school administrator in charge of admissions, development and fundraising. I think it’s a pretty fun one. As you can see, it consists of smiles. Some are students and some are staff. I’m looking forward to seeing how many people can identify which smile goes with which person.

By the way, the one in the lower right is Ella’s smile. I’ve always thought it was pretty darn sweet.

26 August 2015 : “Wine Class About to Start”

Published on August 26, 2015 by Andy SmallmanLeave a comment

So said the text that accompanied this picture of Ella this afternoon. Yesterday she wrapped up her first slate of classes, which included the night serving class. Today she began P-2, which consists of two classes for her, one on wine and the other on mixology.