Andy Smallman

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.

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.

I’m getting thirsty!

Celeste, Chloe, Melinda & I just watched this incredible video I found uploaded to YouTube. To my friends in Nantes, I salute you for your good fortune… For those who need a tad more context, check out this link from my sabbatical blog.

Dear Théo,

Meet the new 12th man in Seattle. You might know her better as Celeste, but after watching the ENTIRE Seahawks game tonight, and it being a preseason game to boot, she is officially part of Seattle’s 12th man now. She understands what it means to be the 12th man, can explain the two minute warning, knows who Russell Wilson is, and can recognize Richard Sherman, even if she was to take a first aid class with him (take that Chloe & Ella Shaw).

I give her a pass on how to pronounce Kevin Pierre-Louis’ name, one of the Seahawks’ linebackers.

Not only did Celeste watch the entire preseason football game tonight, she made dinner. In this case, making dinner consisted of choosing which Pagliacci pizza we should order to eat while we watched the game. Celeste chose the Verde Primo and pronounced it good. I’ll give her a pass on this, too, both because I prefer having meat on my pizza and because the number of vegies on this one caused the crust to be a bit moist.

So, Theó, while your sister is soaking up American culture in Seattle, much like you were doing a year ago, what were you doing? How did you spend Friday night?

Your pal,

—Andy

PS – The Seahawks lost the game, 14-13, but, as Celeste can tell you, it really didn’t matter because it was a preseason game.

Melinda forwarded to me an email that included the message below, which I have italicized to help make it stand out. In short, it’s a statement of appreciation for Michele, Melinda’s mom, who is being honored for 20 years of volunteer service at the Seattle Art Museum. I thought the sentiment deserved a little highlighting here, given my audience of family and friends who all appreciate Michele for her ongoing selfless acts of support, generosity, and kindness. Kudos to Michele, my mother-in-law!

SAM Gallery volunteers and SAM Shop staff-

I’m guessing not everyone reads the annual report, so I’m sending you this link and calling your attention to at least one AWESOME fact:

Michele Shaw has contributed to the success of SAM Gallery for over 20 years! If you scroll all the way down, you’ll find your name listed either in the staff or volunteers and note there’s a little indicator next to the names of people who have been with SAM over 20 years.

I simply cannot say enough about the positive contributions Michele has made to the successful operation of SAM gallery. She holds down many shifts, has never once been late (except during the Nisqually earthquake when she told Dwight to keep the car on the road and then SHOWED UP for volunteering). She’s always willing to lend a hand with moving, hanging, and hauling art. Most of all we love Michele for her winning smile, smart wit, and playful approach to life.

THANK YOU – Michele!

I fully intended to take a picture of Celeste with one of our dinner companions tonight, 15 year-old Sarah, so Christine and Bérnard could see Celeste connecting with someone her age who attends the school she’ll be going to this fall. You see, we had Sarah and her parents, Julie & Mike, over for dinner tonight. They were here for a good 4 hours, plenty of time to take a picture of the two girls (who, apparently, exchanged cell phone numbers while I wasn’t paying attention and may be making plans to watch “Parks and Rec” on Netflix tomorrow or something – I can’t be sure).

But Julie, Mike & Sarah just left and I forgot to get the picture. Darn!

So instead of a picture of the two girls, I’ve got this one of Celeste cleaning the kitchen after I made a mess of it by fixing a big barbecue dinner for everyone. Chloe decided to head out to have dinner with Alex, taking her dining restrictions with her. So I was free to BBQ both salmon and kalbi marinated beef. I made a couple of salads, too, and some cocktails.

Sarah and Celeste drank ginger ale, in case anyone was wondering. Hmmm, ginger ale does kind of look like beer…