My Stuffed Lion Family

Left: Happy the "lion ball" (Merlin's dad)
Front Right: Merlin and Merlin Jr.
Back Right: Brownie (Merlin & Morgan's older son), and Morgan (Merlin's mate),

Vacation Pictures 8/17/18 and 8/18/18

Replica of the USS Niagara at Put-In-Bay, Ohio

Perry's Victory Memorial, Put-In-Bay, Ohio

A picture of part of Crystal Cave, Put-In-Bay, Ohio. The cave is the largest geode in the world. (you can walk into it, it is the size of a basement of a home).

Below are side and front views of Severance Hall

The Great Violinist: John Kowalski

John Kowalski (a virtuoso violinist I made up) was born in town of Town on August 18, 1983. He has become so good he is definitively the best modern virtuoso violinist. Much to the disbelief of many classical music fans, he has surpassed the quality of the legendary Jascha Heifetz who was often referred to as "the king" or "God's fiddler."  Kowalski then proceeded to become the greatest post-Paganini violinist (which many in real life say this is Heifetz). He has somehow figured out how to perform techniques that previously only Paganini had figured how to play. In other words, Kowalski has figured out how to play the hardest pieces devised including Paganini's gruelingly difficult 24th Caprice and Moto Perpetuo on one string, which Paganini himself had performed on one string back in his day. This finally broke Paganini's "unknown" variant of artificial harmonics, and Kowalski started to teach this technique to other instrumentalists. However, unlike Paganini, since Kowalski is not a violinist who is purposely a show off, he performs pieces in this manner just a few times a year to show it truly is possible.

2018 Paganini International Competition

1. 

Kevin Zhu 

• Age 17
• Instrument: violin
• Pieces Performed in round 3: Brahms Violin Concerto (and a Paganini concerto)
• Hometown: Cupertino, CA

2. Daisy Hanford

• Age 16
• Instrument: violin
• Pieces Performed in round one included: Paganini Caprices 5, 10, and 16
• Pieces Performed in round two included: Paganini Caprices 6, 17, and 24, and Carmen Fantasy
• Pieces Performed in round three (the finals): Paganini Violin Concerto #5 in A Minor, and Beethoven Violin Concerto in D Major (written in 1806)
• Hometown: Town, PA
• Music Teacher: John Kowalski