In dog years, Nala is roughly the same age as Maya and these two girls could not be closer companions. I must admit that despite all the extra work required to keep this dopey canine it is worth the joy she brings to Maya and Jeanine and to a lesser extent the boys. It is not that I don’t like Nala. It is just that she has the disposition of a cat. A real cat has the advantage of weighing about as much as a soccer ball and therefore makes for a very useful training aid.

On my way into work today I had to stop by a shop in Harvard Square. Parking was next to impossible because a film crew was shooting on location and their equipment trucks were everywhere. Apparently the movie stars Ben Affleck and is about a bank robbery. Since this is directly on my route to work, I may stop in again to see if I can get some better photos.

Nico makes a full volley off a corner kick look easy. Unfortunately, this effort was just over the crossbar. CCHS fell to Bedford 1 to 2 despite dominating the game from start to finish. Bedford scored both their goals on penalty kicks, one of which was highly questionable.

Later in the day, the rain turned to our first snowfall of the year. It may be necessary to click on the photo to see the snowflakes. Meanwhile, our burning bushes are in their full fall glory.

My mother sent me this cartoon in the mail. She follows this blog and has been keeping track of my various soccer injuries. Ironically, I sustained no new injuries in my game today even though I played then entire 90 minutes. Temperature was below 40F and it rained for the entire game. You need to be a die hard fan of the sport to play in these conditions. I decided to stay in for the remainder of the day and did a little woodworking and crutch maintenance for Nicolai.

This evening we were joined for dinner by Rob and Kyle Shurtleff who are visiting from Seattle. Rob’s daughter Katie is competing in the Head of the Charles Regatta tomorrow and Kyle has been visiting colleges in the area. Rob’s wife, Cindy, is a friend from my Stanford days and was unable to join her family here because she is competing in a squash tournament in California. If my soccer match is not delayed tomorrow, I will have just enough time to make it to the finish line in time to see Katie’s boat finish.

After work I went to watch Maya play soccer in Newton. It was freezing cold and the game ended in near total darkness. Fortunately she played for nearly the entire match and stayed warm in so doing. I on the other hand froze my a$$ off. She has less than twelve hours before she plays again tomorrow.

On the drive into work today, I stopped briefly to say hello to this fellow. As concerned as I was about his horns, you would think I’d have framed them in the shot.

 
Spotted a little cherub this morning and although she was being shy I managed to come away with a nice image. Maya has been thriving at school and has developed some very good work habits. She is quite organized, very neat and is showing a lot of pride in her work.

Autumn is my favorite time of year. Soccer season is in full swing and fall foliage abounds. I have been experimenting with my commute trying to find a shorter and/or more scenic route into Cambridge. I have now found at least one option that gets me off the main roads without adding any time and takes me past some beautiful farms and fields.

I have admired this painting, which has hung in the cafe at work for more than a year now. It reminds me of the farm in France that belonged to Jeanine’s relatives there.

Why would a high school boy play soccer while injured? A close examination of the spectators might offer some clue. CCHS defeated Boston Latin by a score of 5 to 0 and Kyle’s game looked strong with some nice moves and creative passing.

 
Maya is going to be a cupcake for Halloween. We worked together to fashion the skeleton over the weekend. Today she requisitioned one of my speaker stands as a modelling platform and is applying sprinkles to the frosting with hot melt glue. Of our children Maya has emerged as the most construction project oriented and I am still holding out some hope for one engineer in the family.

Jeanine spent the afternoon picking apples with Maya and her friends, Isabel and Kelan. The harvest was great, and I am sure there will be a photo of an apple pie in this journal’s future.