First Day of Summer in the Steger Garden (2015)

From Flowers

Bonus photos after the jump.

Late Spring in the Steger Garden (2015)

From Flowers

Late Winter in the Steger Garden (2015)

From Flowers

Late Autumn in the Steger Garden (2014)

From Flowers

The chrysanthemums are at their peak.

From Flowers

The freeze took the elephant ears and wandering jew. (Can I still say that?)

Ellen Accepts the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

From 2014 08 25 Appleton

Adrianne, Ellen, Stacy and Mikayla accepted the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. A fun time was had by all.

More photos after the jump.

Late Summer in the Steger Garden (2014)

From Flowers

From Flowers

Summer in the Steger Garden (2014)

From Flowers

More photos after the jump.

120th Caltech Commencement

From 2014 06 13 Caltech Commencement

In his introductory remarks at the 120th annual commencement for the California Institute of Technology, David L. Lee, Chair of the Board of Trustees, told guests some of the things that members of the Caltech community have been up to in the past year. He highlighted three things: the collaboration on BICEP2, which claims to have found the first observational evidence of cosmic inflation during the first trillionth of a second after the Big Bang; the first determination of the age of an extraterrestrial rock performed extraterrestrially -- on Mars by the Mars rover Curiosity; and the fabrication of a new silicon laser with unparalleled spectral purity that has the potential to speed up the Internet by orders of magnitude.

This last highlight was the result of research by a Caltech Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering, a graduate of the Richardson ISD, whose parents just happened to be in the audience. We couldn't have been prouder of our son's achievement or more appreciative of the educational foundation laid in Richardson schools.

More photos from Caltech commencement after the jump.

Memorial Day in the Steger Garden (2014)

From Flowers

Memorial Day is a US federal holiday wherein the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces are remembered. The holiday, which is celebrated every year on the final Monday of May, was formerly known as Decoration Day and originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service. Memorial Day is not to be confused with Veterans Day; Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving, while Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans.

Source: Wikipedia.

More photos after the jump.

May in the Steger Garden (2014)

From Flowers

The photo was taken on Mother's Day, but I waited until today to publish it because mothers deserved to be honored more than one day a year.

Easter in the Steger Garden (2014)

From Flowers

Spring in the Steger Garden (2014)

From Flowers

Early Spring in the Steger Garden (2014)

From Flowers

Daffodil? Jonquil? Narcissus?
Daffodil! Also, narcissus. All clear?

Merry TubaChristmas - 2013

From 2013 12 24 TubaChristmas

TubaChristmas was celebrated in Thanksgiving Square in downtown Dallas at noon on Christmas Eve, the 36th annual performance of about 200 tubas, sousaphones, euphoniums and baritones. Oh, the joyful sound!

More photos after the jump.

Retirement for "L"

Ellen's upcoming retirement from the Richardson school district was celebrated by a retirement party thrown by her co-workers. She was blown away by the turnout of dozens of teachers and administrators from across the RISD, including the last three Directors of Fine Arts for the RISD. From left to right: Michael Brashear, Texas Bandmasters Association Executive Director; Brian Britt, Director of Fine Arts, Richardson ISD; Ellen; and Dr. Bradley Kent, Music Director for University Interscholastic League.

Early Winter at the Steger House (2013)

From 2013 12 06 Ice Storm

More photos after the jump.

College GameDay - Northwestern University

This week ESPN's College GameDay is in Evanston, Illinois, at Northwestern University. This week GameDay is featuring the matchup between The Northwestern University and the visiting Ohio State University. Go Wildcats!

The photo is a screen capture from College GameDay. Recognize anyone?

Another "Where's Waldo? John?" after the jump.

Late Summer in the Steger Garden (2013)

From Flowers

More photos after the jump.

"I'm Out"

Source: Breaking Bad.

It's a completely different context, sure, but like Breaking Bad's Walter White, "I'm out." My exit is not as dramatic, but still, there are similarities, except for the crystal meth part and the lying and killing and megalomania, but except for those, it's exactly like Walter White. I'm not going into it. Like I said, "I'm out."

Fufu and Juju

My nephew has just taken up a year-long assignment running a private, non-profit, fee-free secondary school in a village in Ghana. The coastal setting is Club Med spectacular. The living conditions... not so much.

Judging from the few emails he's managed to send, it sounds like he will have plenty of stories to tell. I hope he decides to write a book. After the jump, an excerpt, just a small part of a larger story, from one email. It's been lightly edited for clarity and anonymity (best let students themselves tell these stories to their parents).