I went to Joe's Gan picnic today. After thinking about yours over the weekend, there was no way I was going to miss this.

Here is a photo of you and Zack when you were at the Gan.



Until yesterday, I didn't even know there was going to be a picnic for Joe's class. I got really excited when I saw the flyer on the door of Joe's classroom saying there was going to be a picnic today at Turtle Park.





This is Joe and his buddy, Gabriel.

Cheryl, Joe's teacher, said that he is really musical. He likes to sing. He also likes to dance (like you).



The class sat in a semi-circle at the very end of the picnic and sang two songs. The first was called, Down by the River. I don't remember all the words to the song but there was something about a ladybug near the end.

This was in the paper today. You were there from the start. David and Jeffrey are really funny.



Rockin' the Torah

By DAVE ITZKOFF

June 5, 2005

"We thought that the highbrow contributions that Jews have made to culture have been amply celebrated," said David Segal, a staff writer for The Washington Post. "We wanted to aim lower." So instead of expending the time, energy and Internet bandwidth to build a Web site dedicated to all the Jews who made their names in the arts, Mr. Segal and the other founders of Jewsrock.org opted for a less ambitious project: a virtual shrine to the sons and daughters of Israel who have practiced rock 'n' roll. Another curator for Jewsrock.org - coming soon, though a beta version has been running for several weeks - is Jeffrey Goldberg, a staff writer at The New Yorker, and its manager is Allen Goldberg (no relation), director of branding and communications at XM Satellite Radio. The site pays semi-serious tribute to rockin' Jews both genuine and honorary, from Bob Dylan and Lou Reed to two-thirds of Sleater-Kinney.

Dubbed the Jewish Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, until some unpleasant mishegoss involving the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland necessitated a name change ("Is there anything more un-rock 'n' roll than a temporary restraining order?" Mr. Segal asked), Jewsrock.org plans to offer such diverse content as essays on the Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren and the clothier Nudie Cohen; a recipe for chopped liver from the Dictators' frontman, Handsome Dick Manitoba; and even a place where Jewish rock fans can - gasp! - show their decidedly unkosher tattoos. "It's a shanda" - a shame - Mr. Segal admitted. "It's a part of rock 'n' roll culture, and it's totally against tradition, but there are Jewish people out there who just can't resist."

Perhaps the most compelling feature is the online quiz "Jew or Not?" Visitors are shown photographs of well-known rockers and asked to guess whether they're members of the tribe. The quiz says Paula Abdul and Billy Joel are indeed Jewish, as are all four members of the pop-rock band the Knack, and even the woman who inspired their hit 1979 single "My Sharona." (She now sells real estate in Los Angeles.) By the somewhat malleable Jewsrock.org criteria, so too are Beck (a well-known Scientologist), the Strokes guitarist Nick Valensi (who has only a Jewish father) and the punk group New Found Glory (three of their five members actually are), but really, who's kvetching? "We're not operating under rabbinical supervision, let's put it that way," said The New Yorker's Mr. Goldberg. "If we like you, you can be Jewish. I've been wanting someone to write a piece claiming Ozzy Osbourne for the Jews, just so I can put the headline 'Black Shabbos' on it."

I went for a long bike ride yesterday from St. Michaels to Tighlman Island. I was thinking about you and I looked down and saw a ladybug hitching a ride on my gear shift cable. I was psyched.

I made myself think of a specific memory of you. When I think of you either I think of you in general, or I think of a specific memory from your life.

So as I rode and looked at the ladybug I thought about the time you were dancing at your Gan class picnic at Norwood Park. I have a video of that so I remember it really well. Thinking of you dancing made me smile.

After a while I started getting scared that the ladybug would fly away. I didn't want to lose him. He (we learned from A Bug's Life that there are boy ladybugs) hung on for more than 10 miles all the way up to Nana and Papa Sy's house.

I really wanted to get a picture of him, but he flew away when I stopped the bike.

It was perfect weather for Papa Sy's birthday. Everything looked beautiful. You remember when we went to St. Michaels for Papa Sy's 70th? It rained so hard and everyone and everything got wet. It was pretty miserable.

This was the opposite.





Nana made a garden between the house and the pool that she calls Henry's Garden. It is in the grove of birch trees. It is nice and cool and shady there.



Here is Papa Sy. He had a really good time.



Last week I scanned in 150 pictures that Nana put together from Papa Sy's life for a slide show.









Friends from all over and from long ago came to celebrate. There were a lot of people from New York.

Here is Tania Grossinger and Mom.



All the cousins were there.



Even your newest one, little Noah. Noah is 5 weeks old.





Uncle Peter and Aunt Alice were there. I wanted to show you this great picture of Cousin Catherine and Sarah that Tim sent to me the other day.

You probably wouldn't remember that Catherine used to live with you, me and Mommy.



Today Uncle Andrew and I went on a snake hunt. It wasn't much of a hunt because we know where they live. They hang out (literally) in the boat shed.

When I opened the door to the side where they live Uncle Andrew said, "there's one right over your head." Okay, that freaked me out. The snake was right above the door and then he slid down to be near his buddy.



They're pretty big, dontcha think. Everyone came over to check them out.





When I asked all the boys what was the highlight of the weekend, they all said, "the snakes!" Sorry Papa Sy.

This weekend is Papa Sy's 75th birthday. That is a lot of years. I have been making a slide show for the party from pictures that Nana gave me. The party will be in St. Michaels.

There are some pictures of Papa Sy was young that look like you. What is even more incredible is this picture of Mom that I have never seen before. It looks just like Joe.



When we were at St. Michaels, Mom took a picture of Joe that she thinks looks just like Jack. We always think Joe looks like you, so this is a first. Nobody looks at all like me. I wonder if you would have looked a little more like me when you got older. I would have liked that. I wonder if Jack or Joe will.

I am on the train back from New York. It is pretty late. I went up for a party for work last night and stayed for a party tonight with really good friends I met 25 years ago this summer. One of those friends is Steven. You remember Steven from Minnesota. He now lives in New York.

I was just thinking about how great my life is. Right after I started thinking that I thought about you. That happens every time I think about "how great life is." That is fine by me.

We went to St. Michaels last weekend for Memorial Day. Here are your goofy brothers and your goofy cousin Sam. I took a really long bike ride to Tighlman Island. I rode past Uncle Peter and Aunt Alice's new house. It is nice that everyone is close by.

When I got back to St. Michaels I sat on a bench in town next to the toy store. I was waiting for Mom and everyone who were riding there from Papa Sy's. The weather was so nice. I felt great. I saw these four boys, probably 13 or 14 or so, who were just walking along the street. They were just walking along talking. I watched them and it made me think of you. I sat there and cried. It was a little weird because it was so sunny, but I still felt good. I was thinking how those boys looked just like you and Jack and Joe and Sam would look a few years from now.



Today is cousin Michael's birthday. He is all grown up. He is eleven. Can you believe it. In the car back from St. Michaels I was remembering how bummed out we were that you and Jack weren't invited to Michael's birthday party right before we left for your transplant. It didn't seem fair. Mom pointed out that none of the cousins are really invited to each other's birthday's anymore. Everyone is getting old.

I love you. I haven't been out to the cemetery for a really long time.

Jack took this picture of a dog we met on the Oxford Ferry. Jack is getting a little more comfortable around dogs.

I was trying to fall asleep last night and I had the covers pulled up over my head. Just like you and Fireman Small. I like that both of us liked to sleep with the covers over our heads.



I had hoped you might be there in my dreams.

This is what I walked in on last night in Mom's and my room when I got home from work. Joe had somehow discovered our bandaid collection and was attacking the boxes. The one that seemed to be getting the most action was your Star Wars box.

I was a little worried about it being all used up and possibly thrown away because clearly it was one of your favorites. You "tagged" it like you did all of your Pokemon and other favorite things. I love that you wrote your name on everything.





Nice C3PO, dude! Jack is actually becoming a really good superhero artist. Here is Joe.





You can see Yoda if you look close enough. It looks like Joe got a hold of a few Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes band-aids as well.

A new Star Wars movie came out last night. It is the last movie of the series. It is supposed to be "dark" and not for kids. Our good friend went and told us what to expect. We will explain it all to Jack and then take him on Sunday, probably.

I am missing you so much this week. The galaxy is in turmoil. There have been a lot of deaths.