I stepped out to enjoy the early morning light today and ran across this little fellow. He was quite content to let me photograph him and even waited while I returned with Jeanine who helped me by holding a sheet of white paper up as a reflector to create some additional fill lighting. On the back end of the day I took in the sunset while escorting Nala on a 3 mile walk.

Today it rained for the better part of the morning and most of the afternoon. I drove to Fort Devens where my soccer tournament was being held well in advance of the 9AM start to ensure a good warm up. It became immediately apparent, however, that my quad was not going to hold up. I played for 15 minutes before tweaking it again, thus ending my day on the field. It was painful watching my team lose that match 0-3 while I sat idled. We went on to win the final match for a final tournament record of 3-1. I spent the afternoon recuperating before enjoying a date night with Jeanine. We saw the new Harry Potter film which we both enjoyed.

Jeanine completed a 22 mile bike ride today using my GPS tracker allowing me to create this plot of her journey. Meanwhile I played in the opening two matches of a soccer tournament being held this weekend. We won our first game 2-0 and the second 3-0 in which I scored two goals. Unfortunately I re-injured my right quadracep and I am not sure if I will be able to play tomorrow. My mother turned 83 today and the boys and I called to wish her well. Naturally she has plans to go out dancing with friends later this evening.

This evening we had a small family celebration for Kyle’s 19th birthday. Hannah took Maya’s place and Nico drove back from Vermont to be here for the occasion. Kyle enjoyed fresh corn on the cob and steamed lobster and then two different types of birthday cake, a key lime cheesecake (out of this world) and a peanut butter chocolate pie (divine but a little too sweet for me). Earlier in the day we completed a birthday video interview, something I have done for each child from the time they could talk. One day I will compile the footage into a single time capsule of their childhood. Today I also sold the kayak that Jeanine has been using for the past few years now that we have a pair of home built boats. I purchased it used for $300 and sold it for $525, not too shabby.

My brother has always been concerned with safety. As a pilot he conducts the most thorough aircraft pre-flight inspections of anyone in the business. He simply will not compromise safety which on occasion has put him at odds with other pilots and his employer when he refuses to fly an aircraft that has an unresolved issue. His concerns with safety extend to his family and earlier this week he convinced/coerced/bribed me to invest in a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) given my frequent solo excursions into the back country and on the seas. This device, the size of a cell phone, once activated anywhere on the planet will send a distress signal to a network of satellites which will relay exact GPS coordinates to the appropriate search and rescue organization within minutes. It is a device I hope I never have to use but if that day comes I will have my brother to thank for saving my life. The antenna is shown deployed in the photo and normally warps neatly around the exterior of the case. Battery life is 5 years and the device is waterproof although it does not float. I plan to tether it to my kayaking PFD (life jacket) when on the water and throw it in my backpack when trekking.

Jeanine spent the evening sailing in Boston Harbor with members of her book group on the Edward’s boat while I had a soccer scrimmage, our last tune up before the big tournament this weekend.

In recognition of another record quarter my division celebrated at the Border Cafe. Our new products have been well received and the systematic improvements we have been making to quality are beginning to pay dividends. I am very proud of my team for the work they have done to contribute to our success. iRobot still face challenges with the price of raw materials and labor on the rise but our prospects remain bright as we continue to expand our channels into Latin America and China.

I have always wanted a light weight pair of soccer cleats. Before my recent weight loss, however, I could not bring myself to spend the money just to save a couple of ounces on each foot when I had dozens of pounds spread out everywhere else. Now that I am at a good fighting weight I treated myself to these boots made of a synthetic leather. They are practically weightless. It remains to be seen whether I play any better in them. Jeanine joined me on the shopping excursion and we did a little house hunting for an investment property afterwards.

We received our first letter from Maya today and learned that she is having a wonderful time at camp. She apologizes for not missing us yet, explaining that it is still too early. We sent her to camp with Nicolai’s camera, and I am hoping that she will return with many photos to share.

Kyle drove his cousins to the airport very early this morning (4:30AM). We had a wonderful time with them and are already looking forward to their next visit. When I returned from an 8AM soccer scrimmage, Jeanine and Nico were ready to depart for Vermont where Nico will be doing community service by volunteering as a summer camp counselor. The plan is for Jeanine to return with friends either Monday or Tuesday. I did a little photography combined with some house hunting (for an investment property) and returned to prepare dinner. I topped fresh tomatoes, Ciabatta bread, and mozzerrela cheese with basil from Jeanine’s garden for an appetizer followed by a main course of Rigatoni with a marinara sauce. This is the full extent of my cooking ability. Kyle seemed to find it acceptable and I managed to put back a few of the pounds I have been working so hard to shed. My kayak is still in the shop receiving a several new coats of varnish and I hope to have it back on the water by mid week. I also posted an add on Craig’s List for Jeanine’s kayak as we now have more kayaks than placed to store them.

Mario and Rory return to Minnesota tomorrow making this our last evening together. The five of us headed down to Harvard Square to enjoy the street performers and a fine burrito dinner. Kyle decided to take on one of the local chess champions and put up a respectable battle considering how long it has been since he last played. Entertainers were out in force and we enjoyed sampling the music and taking in all that sounds and smells of Harvard Square on a Saturday night. We took two cars so that I could pick Jeanine up at the airport on her return from Chicago.

Apparently 3 hours of 2v2 sand volleyball was not enough exercise for the boys today and they found it necessary to have a tag team wrestling tournament in our basement. Amazingly no one was injured and our home theater survived undamaged. I spent the morning at work and the afternoon sanding my kayak in preparation for new coats of varnish. We all had dinner together at Dino’s which has reopened for business after a lightning strike started a fire which destroyed it. The original owners have returned and the food is better than ever. By total coincidence, Kris Earle, Jeanine’s childhood friend and her family, are vacationing in Chicago and they were able to connect for a few hours joined also by her sister Lauren.

This evening after work I joined the teenagers at Kimball Farm. First stop was the driving range where Rory showed us all how it is done. His drives were straight up the middle and many went beyond the 250 yard end of the range into the forest. Kyle coached Hannah who had a respectable first outing. I made three attempts, enough to produce a 100 yard drive and a clear understanding that a future in golf for me is going to require surgery to fix my shoulder. Next the boys enjoyed a 2v2 sand volleyball game which produced a very close final score the winner remaining in some dispute. We then ordered some dinner which was better than I had anticipated. I saved my calories for the ice cream which was our main reason for coming thus completing our gastronomic tour of the local ice cream scene.

Today the boys and their cousins played a round of golf at the Stow Acres Country Club. I joined them after work when they had just started the back 9. There were moments of brilliance and moments of ugliness. Kyle played a lovely shot out of a sand trap to within inches of the flag, Mario consistently found the middle of the fairway with huge drives, Nicolai sunk a seriously long put playing the break perfectly, and Rory was on the green in less strokes on average than anyone. A great number of golf balls were sacrificed to the course, however, finding their way into forests and the bottom of ponds. After golf we were joined by Hannah for dinner at Not Your Average Joe’s and ice cream at Bedford Farms. An attempt by their parents to have the cousins return to Minnesota tomorrow was thwarted and we have secured their company at least through Saturday. It is very possible that we will be having car trouble on Saturday and the boys will be forced to stay with us until sometime next week.

The boys made use of our field this evening to practice their driving. Conveniently there were a number of geese present which made for inspiring targets. Fortunately for the geese none of the boys had the combined range and accuracy to register any direct (or even near) hits. Jeanine departs for Chicago very early tomorrow morning where she will visit with her ailing Aunt Karen for several days.

We are thrilled to have my nephews Rory and Mario visiting us for the week. They find the ice cream in Minnesota to be abysmal and have requested that we indulge in the local offerings in an effort to determine the best one. We started this evening with our new shop in West Concord, Reasons to be Cheerful. They have also indicated a desire to play golf and paintball. Stay tuned.

The next three weeks are going to pass very slowly with Maya off to summer camp. She will be returning to the Farm & Wilderness Camp in Plymouth, Vermont where she enjoyed a great experience last year. Jeanine will drive her there and then meet up with her sister for an over night visit before returning tomorrow. On the home front, my despondence over the departure of Maya is offset by the late night arrival of my nephews Mario and Rory from Minnesota. They will be staying with us for the next few days and I am looking forward to their company. My brother is an excellent cook and they have pretty refined expectations when it comes to food. My culinary abilities, on the other hand are quite modest. That said both boys seemed impressed with our midnight dinner which included freshly baked blueberry pie from Verrill Farm served once as an appetizer and again as a dessert (I believe I am breaking new ground with this gastronomic concept and may further extend the innovation to a three course pie dinner). In between they enjoyed a very spicy Curry Chicken which Jeanine had prepared ahead of time and rice which I managed to cook correctly.

Maya and I were on the water again today. This time on the Assabet River and this time with a bigger paddle for Maya which she found to be much more to her liking. We did a 3.6 mile upriver run into a strong current which took us a little longer than two hours. We stopped often to check out the wildlife and to share a snack. We put in at the Old Cow Pasture and took out next to Dino’s Restaurant in West Concord where Nicolai shuttled me back to my car while Maya guarded the kayaks. At the current water level we encountered three rapids, two of which we were able to power through, the third requiring a short, over water portage. Maya is a natural in the kayak and looked strong all day. She leaves for Farm and Wilderness camp in Vermont tomorrow where she will spend the next three weeks.

Despite an outside temperature of 103 degrees Maya and I completed a 2.7 mile maiden voyage with her new kayak on Lake Cochituate. There was a nice breeze on the water which kept us from roasting but made the return leg into the wind more difficult. We put in at the boat ramp on Middle Lake and traveled through a small tunnel to South Lake where we circled a tiny island before returning. The Rock Hopper, Maya’s name for her kayak, is very stable and extremely fast. Maya had no trouble handling it despite a paddle which is clearly too small for her (even though we sized it according to recommendations). According to our GPS tracks Maya was able to do sprints of 5mph into the wind. While we were on the water Maya reviewed a basic forward paddling stroke and learned forward and backward sweep strokes, reverse paddling and braking strokes. I also showed her a draw stroke and a sculling draw stroke, the latter being the only one she did not master. We celebrated our return with a cold Gatorade and later in the evening with a visit to our new local ice cream shop. This entire project has been a fantastic father-daughter bonding experience. With Maya taking the lead on many aspects of construction and demonstrating she can keep up with her dad on the water she is really coming into her own right as a young woman. I look forward to our future paddles together and hope she will remember these times with her father long after I am gone and her grand children are tooling about in the Rock Hopper.

With kayak construction completed the only remaining task is to build a carrying cradle for the top of my car. Because the Audi is so tall I need to ensure that the mounted kayak is low enough that I can still drive into the garage without hitting the door. Once inside I use a pulley system to store the kayak near the ceiling of the garage. Everything is set for the Rock Hopper’s maiden voyage and Maya is very excited to get out on the water.

Nala had a play date with Quincy (Maya’s friend Bailey’s Labrador Retriever) this evening, which did both a world of good. Nala has been hesitant to explore the extent of her newly constrained domain (resulting from the new wireless electronic containment fence) after being shocked a few times. Quincy distracted her from those concerns, and she was back to her old antics. Quincy is battling cancer, and he, too, seemed to find new energy as he roughhoused with Nala. Meanwhile, Maya and I, with assistance from Bailey, put the final coat of varnish on Maya’s kayak, completing the project in one month flat.

On Tuesdays I play soccer at 6AM and on this morning had to turn back for my camera when I saw a beautiful orange sun rising over the fog laden field across the street from our home. I am still struggling to recover from a strained groin/quad muscle injury but did manage to get a good workout even though my shooting ability is still quite tentative. After work Maya and I started varnishing the kayak which she has named the Rock Hopper. In order to finish an entire coat in one pass we have the kayak suspended from the ceiling on a pulley system so that we can lower it to work on the deck and raise it to work on the hull.

Kyle spotted this fox in our field this evening and I was fortunate to have a camera close at hand. Jeanine, Kyle and Jamie (a classmate who is also attending Santa Clara University in the fall) returned from California this morning on the red-eye. Nicolai and Maya returned from visiting cousins in Minnesota this evening and Nala was collected from the kennel uniting the entire family for the first time in a week. I enjoyed having several days to myself but must confess a preference for the chaos that is my normal life.

Jeanine and Kyle spent the weekend at Lake Tahoe visiting the mother of a close friend of the family. Both reported that the 5 hour drive from the bay area was well worth the effort. They enjoyed hiking, boating, sightseeing, fine dining, and volleyball. I spent time in this area 30 years ago while attending graduate school in California and still have vivid memories of the natural beauty. When Jeanine and I visit Kyle over the coming years it will surely be one of our repeat ancillary destinations. Today I enjoyed an early morning soccer scrimmage, an afternoon spent watching the Women’s World Cup finals (disappointing finish for the US but one can only admire and be happy for the Japanese team), and the evening putting the final touches on Maya’s kayak (all that remains is varnishing).

After spending the morning working on Maya’s kayak I decided to do a little kayaking myself. It took about an hour to drive to Hingham Bay where I put in at the public boat ramp. The map pictured here is overlaid with my GPS log. I have long wanted to make this tour which included Button, Sarah, Langlee, Bumkin, Grape, Slate, and Ragged Islands. I covered 8.3 miles in roughly two and a half hours including a stop on Grape Island for a look around. I averaged a little better than 4 mph which was very respectable considering the amount of evasive maneuvering I had to do to cope with heavy boat traffic. It is safest to paddle into a big wake at right angles and this often took me off my heading. After 15 minutes on the water it occurred to me that I did not have my bilge pump on board (I removed it to size a clip for Maya’s kayak and forgot to replace it). A capsize would have been very hard to recover from and so I opted for maximum safety turning into every wake. Because the weather was exceptionally nice and and the seas were calm I decided not to use my spray skirt which in retrospect was a poor decision. A 3 foot boat wake swell looks awfully big when your cockpit opening sits only 4 inches above the waterline. About the only smart decision I made was to leave my SLR in the car. Although I missed some excellent photo opportunities, I am fairly certain either the camera or I would have wound up in the ocean if I had tried to use it while on the water.

With the hull and deck completed I began work on the kayak coaming (the lip around the cockpit opening to which a spray skirt is attached) today. Progress is much slower without my little assistant. Not a single word from Minnesota which can only mean that Maya and Nico are having so much fun with their cousins that there is no time to call home. Jeanine and Kyle are having a great experience in California where the orientation at Santa Clara University is reported to be going very well. They left this evening for Lake Tahoe where they will spend the weekend with a friend of the family.

The new turf field at Concord Carlisle High School is located at the top of a hill covered in beautiful wildflowers. On Thursday’s I practice soccer from 8 to 9:30PM and this evening I took things slow so as not to aggravate an injured muscle. With temperatures in the 90s it was easy to stretch out and get warmed up!

As I left work today, the outside temperature as reported by my Audi was 96 degrees.

This evening I bonded the deck and hull of Maya’s kayak together. This operation involves the use of an epoxy syringe taped to the end of a 6 foot pole operated by a dowel rod threaded through eye screws. You reach all the way up to the bow and stern using this contraption and squeeze a thickened epoxy mixture into the shear seam from the cockpit opening. I used a headlamp to see what I was doing and then taped a filleting tool to the 6 foot pole to smooth out the joint for a very tidy outcome. At this rate of progress I expect to have the kayak completed by the end of next weekend and the varnishing completed by the following weekend.

Tomorrow marks 12 weeks since I joined several of my colleagues in a weight loss challenge. This morning after soccer practice I checked my weight and have lost 30 pounds. I have not been in the 150’s for more than a decade and feel very good about my progress. My love handles are all but gone and I think this is a good place to stabilize. My approach was to reduce calories in and increase calories burned. Naturally, I celebrated with ice cream. I spent several hours working on the kayak which is approaching completion and watched the US vs Brazil World Cup soccer match with the boys; one of the most exciting games I have ever witnessed. Go USA!

I worked with Nala today to acclimate her to a new wireless electronic fence. The system we have had in place for several years depends on a buried wire which defines her permitted roaming area. After the wire broke for what must be the tenth time we decided to investigate a wireless version. The technology has progressed substantially since I last looked at these systems. We are evaluating a product which uses a bidirectional Wi-Fi link between base and collar which allows us to know how far she is from the house at any time and also can monitor the condition of the collar battery remotely. The only downside of this approach is that the containment area must be circular. We found a transmitter location in the house which results in an optimal field. Now the trick is to retrain Nala from her old boundaries to the new ones.

For the last week Maya has been attending the Summer Stages dance camp at the Concord Academy. This evening Jeanine and I attended her end-of-session recital. She danced routines in ballet, jazz, modern, African, and hip-hop. When asked which I liked best I answered truthfully, “All of them!”