Early this morning (1AM), Maya retrieved her Uncle Mark and cousins Sophia and Rose from Logan Airport on behalf of her exhausted parents (THANK YOU MAYA). The long anticipated visit was made even better when my sister Alissa and her husband John drove in from upstate New York with my mother to join us. Their daughter Rachel who is a student at Babson also arrived to complete the mini family reunion.

Everyone slept in pretty late so I was not missed when I left for the opening match of my spring over-50 soccer season on what could not have been a more glorious morning. We defeated our arch rival Belmont by a score of 1-0 despite lacking our primary keeper.  I started at left midi and managed to make it through the match without injury or major error despite my lack of adequate conditioning.

Back at the ranch, John William, our live-in nephew and son of Alissa was busy preparing one of his signature Sunday dinners which we capped with a trip to Kimball Farm for the first ice cream of the season.

I managed to draw blood from my youngest niece during a game of “crocodile” in which I played the leading character with great authenticity.  What can I say? Crocodiles bite!  Later I enjoyed making portraits of the family.

My younger brother has survived both a stroke and heart attack during the past year.  He has bounced back from both with little impairment except for confusion over which end of his head to grow hair on.