One of my favorite things about iRobot is our summer hours policy. Employees may take off Friday afternoons provided they have put in equivalent extra hours during the earlier portion of the week. Today was the first eligible Friday and I put the time to good use getting an early start on our annual Memorial Day weekend retreat to Ferry Beach. Ever since moving to the Boston area almost ten years ago we have joined other families from our church to enjoy a long weekend of fun in a summer camp like setting on the coast of Maine. This year, for the first time, we elected to camp instead of staying in the dormitories thus guaranteeing it would rain every day. Interestingly, I was the sole occupant of our six person tent. Maya elected to share our two person tent with her friend Maia who joined us for the ride up. I offered the girls the big tent but they preferred the coziness of the smaller one. I offered to let them pitch their tent inside of my tent (two would probably fit) but they opted for a site far beyond my earshot. Jeanine, not particularly fond of camping to begin with elected to join us on Saturday and made use of the time to begin preparations for a huge Open Table dinner.

One of the more interesting assignments for Maya’s French class involves planning and documenting a hypothetical trip to Paris. This evening she completed a photo scrapbook with pictures cut from magazines and pasted to hand-decorated pages. Visiting this evening, is Nancy, a classmate of my nephew Johnnie. She was very happy to help Maya with the art project and the two seemed to thoroughly enjoy the project. When I viewed the finished product I found myself wanting to jump on a plane headed for France. After returning from my soccer practice I spent the remainder of the evening organizing my toolbox. The acquisition of one new tool, in this case, a screwdriver handle, can initiate hours of re-optimization. Deserving its own post, this kit of tools packs the most amount of capability into the smallest amount of space.

Earlier this week I shared a post regarding iRobot CEO, Colin Angle, who was being photographed for an article in Forbes. Today the online version was published and can be found here. It was fun to see the final version of the photograph after witnessing the setup.

When I looked out the window this morning and saw our freshly mowed field enveloped in fog I ran for my camera. I have learned that fog can come and go here in a matter of minutes. I captured a few images of the tractor and bin shrouded in the mist but this one with the fog in the background and unmowed grass in the foreground is my favorite.

For years now I have used a small corner of my shop as a photo studio. Today I made short work of a project to increase the utility of the space. First I embedded a strobe and softbox between the joists which will give me an overhead lighting option without encroaching on the very limited ceiling height of the basement. I added walls made of wood and painted black, to the back and one side. These will prevent unwanted light reflections, give me a black background option, and provide a substrate to which I can mount or store equipment. I also ran a new electrical circuit to a 6 outlet junction box so I can keep all of my strobes plugged in at the same time thus retiring the overhead extension cord used for this purpose to date. Finally, I added two incandescent light fixtures to give me a warmer light option when needed.

Everywhere you look, something is exploding with color. How I cherish the spring after the monochromatic days of winter.

Last summer while Jeanine and I were vacationing in Alaska we aided in the rescue of a porcupine stranded on the Matanuska Glacier. Last week a TV show called Right This Minute contacted me with a request to do a short segment on the rescue. I declined the opportunity for an interview but did provide them with the raw footage I shot. Here is the link to the video.

iRobot has an outdoor robot testing area adjacent to our main building. It is covered in rocks, rubble, and debris of all manner to simulate conditions we expect to encounter in war zones and disaster sites. Today it was the backdrop for a photo shoot of our CEO. I strolled out to the site during my lunch hour, curious to watch a pro at work. By the time I arrived I had just missed the main setup which featured our CEO standing on a pile of rubble surrounded by a collection of robots. The image being shot above includes a recently announced robot, code named Ava.

I have never seen a Great Blue Heron go after a fish of this size. With several mouths to feed back at the nest, however, it stands to reason they need to be more ambitious than normal.

The first baby herons of the season have been born. I spotted a total of three this evening and suspect there will be close to a dozen in total from this heronry. Unfortunately, they are not yet standing up yet and you have to look carefully at the photos to spot them. The parents take turns fishing while the other protects the nest. An unattended baby is what a Bald Eagle calls a snack.

I don’t particularly care for Canadian Geese. Adults can be very aggressive and they are rather boring to watch or photograph. That said, I think there are few things more adorable than newborns following mommy in formation. Maya spotted these geese near Five Corners last night and I was back early this morning to gather images. Also interested in the gaggle was a lone coyote who patrolled the river bank in hopes of an ambush opportunity. This particular area was particularly rich in wildlife. I have one photograph that contains two dozen geese, a beaver swimming across the river, a great blue heron, and our friend the coyote all in the same frame. Unfortunately, the depth of field was quite shallow and the resulting image is mostly out of focus.

Maya’s cousin Johnnie surprised her today when he picked her up at school in his father’s Solstice. Apparently, Maya had mentioned to him how cool it would be never imagining that he would actually do it. We are very fortunate to have at least one cousin so close by and we are always happy when Johnnie takes a break from his studies at Babson to come for a visit. It is not entirely clear to me why Johnnie has his father’s car (his parents live in upstate NY) but I wish to dash all expectations that my children may foster that they will receive similar high-performance car loaners.

I was back on the soccer pitch this morning for the first time in two weeks. My hamstring felt like it had completely healed but after about fifteen minutes of play it began to tighten up. I wisely decided to sit out the rest of the game rather than risk re-injury. I don’t mind playing in the pouring rain but spectating under those conditions is not nearly as much fun. We won 3-1 against a very physical opponent and lost a number of players to injury.

Jeanine had a very nice Mother’s Day which started at church where she teaches a Sunday school class. Later in the day the weather improved substantially and she invited Maya for a bicycle ride. For dinner we took her out to Farmstead Table in Newton where husband-and-wife co-owners have created a rustic-chic restaurant featuring locally grown food that is fresh to the table. Our meal was exquisite and Jeanine seemed to enjoy the outing thoroughly.

Wasn’t it just yesterday that Nicolai, a boy of 13, and I climbed Kilimanjaro on his Coming of Age adventure? Standing before me today, I am stunned to see a young man nearing high school graduation on the occasion of his senior prom. His date, Julia Reynolds, is as smart and kind as she is beautiful and has been a close friend of Nicolai’s for many years now. After the pair departed for the Park Plaza in Boston, we joined Julia’s parents and two other couples for an Indian dinner in Arlington.