A fairly large portion of the day was devoted to getting Maya packed for her Apogee bike trip. She leaves early tomorrow morning for Montana where she will bike an average of 40 miles per day for the next three weeks. In addition, she will complete 30 hours of community service on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, raft the Flathead River, and bike the “Going to the Sun” road in Glacier National Park, one of the most scenic highways in the country. After a special family dinner (Maya requested Mexican Torta for her farewell meal and Jeanine added a healthy quinoa salad) we had a long FaceTime chat with Kyle who has settled nicely into the house he is renting. I was back on the soccer pitch this morning working on my touch and conditioning. I will be playing in a big summer tournament in August and need to stay in shape.

We are fortunate to live less than a mile from 200 acre, family run, Verrill Farm, established in 1918. Today was the Blueberry Pancake Breakfast and Pie Eating Contest, one of many seasonal festivals held throughout the year. With Jeanine and Maya driving back from Vermont this afternoon, I was thrilled to have a good reason to head out for breakfast. The fresh blueberry pancakes are really quite delicious and worth the 30 minute wait in line.

The pie eating contest is broken up into different age groups. Contestants may not use their hands at anytime and the first to produce a clean pie tin is the winner. Many participants care less about winning a ribbon and more about enjoying the pie.

My favorite benefit at iRobot is half-day Fridays. During the summer months you can leave at noon if you have put in 40 hours before then. I decided to spend the afternoon on the water in my home built kayak. The weather was ideal and I encountered dozens of turtles, hundreds of damselflies, and a hand full of huge blue herons. I covered about 7 miles so as not to overdo things on my first outing of the summer. My right shoulder is still hurting from beach volleyball in Brazil so I kept my pace fairly slow.

I learned to appreciate a beautiful sunset from my father. He knew how to pause whatever he was doing and give his full attention to the appreciation of nature’s light show. This was also true of a good campfire. I am pleased that I inherited his mindfulness and ability to really live in the moments of such beauty. With Jeanine visiting her sister in Vermont, Maya at ballet camp in Montreal, and Nico on a date with Koruna, I enjoyed the sunset this evening with memories of my father.

Gerbil B wished to be photographed with a funny face. Rose has a distinctly different personality than her sister and I am reminded of the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character when I am around her. She is a bundle of energy and a force of nature. I enjoyed this visit and was sad to see the girls leave today. Jeanine heads north to visit her sister in Burlington, Vermont today before the pair continue on to Montreal to pick up Maya from ballet camp.

We are enjoying a visit this week from my two nieces, Sophia and Rosie. They are here with my brother’s wife, Marie, who is in town on business. Yesterday, Jeanine spent the day with them at White Pond and today took them to the Science Museum in Boston by way of the commuter rail and “T”. When I returned from work, I conducted two belly button inspections, clearing both children for dinner after which I singled out Sophia for a few photographs. Their time with us has been positioned as a visit to camp Calabria. As such they have been given camp names. I call Sophia, Gerbil A. Tomorrow, the blog will feature a picture of her sister, Gerbil B.

Jeanine’s raspberry patch produced the first fruit of the season. Always a good excuse to break out the ice cream, I sampled the crop and am prepared to declare it will be a good year for berries.  The trick now, is to visit the patch everyday to gather the ripe fruit before the deers and birds make off with the harvest.

What a difference a day makes. Clear skies and unlimited visibility have been replaced by thick clouds and the threat of rain. Determined to reach home in time for the World Cup finals, I skip breakfast and break camp before dawn.  In my haste, I managed to miss the turn for the Zealand Hut and found myself atop South Twin Mountain.  I was in no mood to retrace several hours of my climb and decided to continue over North Twin and back to civilization via Haystack Road.  I was extremely fortunate to meet a trio of Tufts students at the end of the trail who were kind enough to drive 30 minutes out of their way to return me to my car.  I made a beeline for home and only missed the first 5 minutes of the game, which I watched, flanked on either side by my visiting nieces.  The extremely rocky trails, four 4000 footers and a total of 16 hours of climbing have left me very sore but equally happy.

On the advice of a colleague who is an avid White Mountain climber, I am headed for Bondcliff today.  Located in the middle of the Pemigewasset  wilderness, this very remote 4,265 ft. high peak offers a pristine 360 degree view of the Whites.  I start from the Zealand trailhead at 6:30am arriving at the Guyout tent site five and half hours later. Here I pause for lunch and to setup tent (the yellow one) on the provided wooden platforms (3 to a site to accommodate the maximum number of campers).

With a much lighter pack I departed camp at 1:30pm reaching Bondcliff by 3:30pm after a leisurely stop on top of 4698 ft. Mount Bond.

The view from Bondcliff was spectacular and I could not have asked for better weather conditions.  If not for my fear of heights, I would have ventured out onto the small rock platform atop the cliff edge for a truly memorable selfie but had to settle for the less dramatic version below. On my return to Guyout, it was my plan to take the spur trail to West Bond for the sunset.  My water ran out about the same time my legs did and I thought the better of finishing the day hiking by headlamp.

Before leaving for work this morning I decided I would spend the bulk of the weekend in the White Mountains and quickly packed my backpack for a 2 night excursion.  I left work at noon and drove first to Franconia Notch where I stopped for a little photography at the Basin.

I continued on to the Mount Washington Cog Railway, the world’s first mountain-climbing rack-and-pinion railway and a National Historic Engineering Landmark. The three mile railway is the second steepest rack railway in the world with an average grade of over 25% and a maximum grade of 37.41%.  Unfortunately, I arrived too late for the last run and had to settle for photos of the descending trains.

I decided to treat myself to a nice dinner in advance of several camp site prepared meals (read dehydrated food) at the famous Mount Washington Resort.

As I was enjoying their strawberry-balsamic soup from the veranda, I was treated to a full moon rising over the mountains. My final stop for the evening was the Zealand campsite.

Jeanine and close friend Irene head out this evening for a long weekend on Martha’s Vineyard.  With Nico off to a multi-day concert and Maya in Montreal, I am on my own for the next three days.  If the weather holds, I may head to the White Mountains for some climbing or look into a multi-day kayaking trip.

I think it is safe to say that Nico and I returned from Brazil with more  clothing and bags then when we left.  The Coca-Cola hospitality package included warmup-jackets, rain-jackets, shirts, scarves, umbrellas, hats, tambourines, workout bags, luggage tags, Coke tumblers and this does not even include the Powerade items that Nico received.  I had occasion this morning, as I was starting to unpack, to lay many of the items out for a quick photograph. This is not even the whole package. I am not sure about the tambourines, but everything else is going to be put to very good use.

Nico celebrated his twentieth birthday today with friends who joined him to watch the Germany-Brazil semi-final World Cup match at the house.  Later he and Koruna went out for a nice dinner and allowed me to make a nice portrait upon their return.  It is hard to believe that we our down to one teenager and she is currently in Montreal attending ballet camp.

While Nico and I were in Brazil, Jeanine and Maya were visiting with Kyle and his girlfriend, Isabella, in California.  Mother and sister helped Kyle feather his new nest, the house below, which he shares with a few classmates.  Maya assembled a complicated Ikea dresser for her brother while Jeanine ensured the driving safety of his car by having the brakes serviced.  Since he will not be returning this summer due to his internship at Palo Alto Networks, I will plan to visit him sometime this summer.