A quick tour through the backyard turned up some very interesting shots this morning. Best viewed at full size.

Kyle has hired Nicolai to develop a website for his Yard Dogs Landscaping business and he shot this portrait of the crew for the project. Kyle now has 35 clients and is gearing up for the fall season. We worked together this evening on sides for his truck bed so that he will be able to haul leaves more efficiently.

After picking up Jeanine from the airport yesterday, we went directly to the dealer to pick up her new Jetta Sportswagen TDI. It is platinum gray with a black interior. Although not the dream car she will pick after the kids are all off to college it can hold the family and our gear while getting 42mpg on the highway. Rain all day yesterday and today made getting a nice shot difficult.

Nicolai waits outside with learner’s driving permit in hand for his first official driving lesson with the Christo Driving School. He has been practicing with us and will probably be able to give his instructor a few pointers. Nico has grown 3 inches over the last year and looks every bit a man these days. Having repaired his SideStix crutches with replacement parts he is back to using them again.

If you study this soccer ball cake, made by Maya, you may notice that it appears a little odd. Absent are signs of neatly cut pieces. Rather, it appears that the cake has been nibbled away around its entire perimeter. When Nala returned to the scene of the crime looking to make another pass it became apparent what had happened. Later when Maya arrived she demanded to know what I had done to her cake refusing to accept my explanation of the situation. It was not until Nala again returned to the table looking for another snack that she came to accept my innocence.

I traveled to Rockport, MA late this afternoon to complete a Craig’s List transaction and paused for a moment to capture this image as daylight was rapidly coming to an end. Earlier in the day I played competitive soccer for the first time since the end of last season. I was terribly out of shape but I managed a couple of respectable shots on net. I am hoping the summer hiatus has allowed my knee to recover adequately. Time will tell. The scrimmage ended in a 1-1 tie and we see our first official game of the season next weekend.

A lot of activity on the automotive front today. After weeks of research and more than a dozen test drives Jeanine selected a 2011 VW Jetta Sportswagen TDI to replace her Honda Odyssey. I secured one for her this morning and we will pick it up together when she returns from Indiana next Tuesday. In the end it was the 30 city and 42 highway gas mileage, large cargo capacity and what Jeanine described as Zippy acceleration that made this the right choice. Many owners are reporting 50 mpg in real world highway driving.

This afternoon I placed my trusty 2006 Audi A3 2.0T (pictured above) up for sale on Craig’s List. I am in no rush to sell it but will if I get my asking price. Top on my list for a replacement will be a 2011 A3 TDI or an Audi Q5 SUV.

We have taken environmental concerns to heart and made vehicle choices that reflect our commitment to reducing fuel consumption and green house gas emissions.

33/41 Smart Car
30/42 Jetta Sportswagen
25/31 Audi A3 (going to 30/42 if I replace with the A3 TDI)

Jeanine is off to Indianapolis for Erica’s bridal shower and I am charged with keeping tabs on the kids, making sure the dog gets fed and buying a car to replace the Honda Odyssey. Maya completed her week long soccer camp and Nala lounges in the back yard enjoying the fine weather we are having.

Does anyone remember this little girl? Certainly it cannot be the same child that returned triumphantly from three weeks at wilderness camp.

A friend of Maya’s from Farm & Wilderness camp.

Raspberries from Jeanine’s garden make for a nice snack this evening.

I did some product photography this evening. I have been doing a little late spring cleaning and will sell this ball head and gimbal mount on the Internet over the next few days. I prefer taking photos of people, but the practice I get in lighting these types of shots is invaluable.

Maya and I went to the Concord Public Library this evening. She picked up a couple of books to finish off her summer reading program and I picked up some guides on wedding photography. My niece, Erica, has asked me to photograph her wedding in October and I want to be totally prepared.

Today we actually get to take Maya with us after she packs up her gear and says her goodbyes. We learned the significance of the 1-bell, 2-bell, 3-bell, 5-bell, and 7-bell and explored the 2-sided lean-to where Maya spent the last three weeks sleeping in one of the top bunks in a sleeping bag. Maya is looking forward to a hot shower and flush toilets upon her return to civilization.

Maya has made many new friends to whom we are introduced throughout the afternoon. We also meet one of Maya’s two counselors who lived with the girls in their lean-to.

Finally the moment arrives when we are reunited with Maya who comes running up a hill to great us. She looks positively radiant and it is instantly clear that she has had a wonderful time at Farm & Wilderness Camp. We are joined by aunts Susan, Jean, and Ikeie who have travelled from Burlington to see Maya and to enjoy the Farm and Wilderness Fair which brings to a close the summer camp session with food, arts & crafts, dancing, and a bonfire. Maya takes time to regale us with her exploits of the last 3 weeks. We learn that she has been on a 10-mile hike with a fully loaded pack, helped reconstruct a stone staircase, and harvested a chicken (chopped its head off with an ax, drained the blood, plucked the feathers, and removed the entrails by hand) for their Bounty Dinner. Her brothers were most impressed to learn of the slaying of the chicken and both seemed to look at their baby sister with new found respect or perhaps a sliver of fear.

After breakfast Jeanine and I hiked down into the Quechee Gorge, Vermont’s deepest, formed by glacial activity approximately 13,000 years ago. The Ottauquechee River flows 165 feet below the bridge on Route 4 from which the best views are had.

On the way to breakfast we came a cross a picturesque waterfall and covered bridge. The bridge was originally constructed with the wood from just four trees.

Jeanine and I travelled to Plymouth, Vermont this afternoon, leaving the boys behind to fend for themselves for two nights. We are picking Maya up from camp this weekend and decided to go up a day early for some time to ourselves. The first photo is from a stop we made at a farmer’s market, the next two from the gardens of the River Tavern where we enjoyed a wonderful dinner, and the last of our accommodations for the evening, constructed over a stream.

Our monthly executive staff meeting at iRobot was interrupted to celebrate the upcoming wedding of our co-founder and CEO, Colin Angle. Next week he leaves for Hawaii where he will be married on the Big Island and spend a month on his honeymoon.

This photo was taken by Maya and posted after her return from camp. Pictured are two of dozens of letters she received while at camp as viewed through the mosquito netting which draped her sleeping area. Maya said that she ran out of free wall space to post all of her letters by the end of her stay.

Nico took this photo during his time on Nantucket. I love the composition, color palette, and framing. I believe Nicolai has a future in photography if he so chooses.

At 7AM this morning I found myself at Emerson hospital where I had an MRI scan of my right shoulder. I injured it several months ago while playing soccer (I was playing in net because my knee problems were preventing me from being on the field). The last time I played goalie I had the same outcome although my shoulder healed on its own after several months. This time I fear the damage may have been more permanent and will learn later this week what options I have. As the fall season approaches I am for the first time considering whether my body is healthy enough to play.

Sadly there is another death to report this weekend. Maya’s pet hamster, Twitch, was discovered lifeless this morning. Maya is still at camp for the rest of the week and neither Jeanine or I are looking forward to sharing this very sad news with her. I choose to believe that Twitch left us to join Sinead and keep her company.

We learned today that the sister, Sinead, of my brother’s wife, Marie, lost her struggle against cancer. Some people leave an indelible impression on you due to the beauty of their spirit. Sinead was such a woman and although we only met her a few times I cannot describe the deep sense of loss that Jeanine and I feel at this moment. Mark, Marie and their kids are in Ireland where they attended her funeral earlier this week and will spread her ashes at sea this weekend. Her service was attended by some 1500 people which should provide some measure of the degree to which she was cherished in this world. Our thoughts are with Marie, Mark, Mario, Rory, Sophia, Rose and the entire Kavanagh family.

Kyle left this evening for New Hampshire where he will be working over the weekend. Maya has another week to go at camp. Nico will return from Nantucket on Sunday and sent this photo he took on the beach. Jeanine and I are enjoying the peace and quite but are admittedly missing our babies. With the van sold, Jeanine is starting to get serious about a replacement vehicle and did some test drives today. We will probably spend some time over the weekend checking out different brands.

When he discovered girls, he became irresistable. He is a man now, and next year at this time, he will be getting ready to leave the nest for college. I fear that day will come all too quickly, and I want to cherish every day with him from now until then.

When he found sports he grew strong.

Then we sent him to school and he just kept getting smarter.

The more we fed him the more he grew.

18 years ago today I met a very nice little man. It was love at first sight.