On Thursday, Maya will address her class with an aural report on Pocahontas. Here, she makes the final edits to her presentation, which she will give in character and costume. You can expect to see photos of Mayahontas later in the week.

Jeanine has discovered a local source of fresh eggs. When she went to collect the eggs, she was introduced to the chickens who laid them. I will encourage her to bring back photos in addition to the eggs on her next visit. Ever since we both read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, we have been trying to be better localvores. Eating locally produced foods reduces the energy waste and resulting pollution associated with shipping our food here from far away places.

 
The longer we live in Concord, the more I appreciate the simple gifts we enjoy here. This morning Jeanine and I awoke to the sounds of a hooting owl followed by a magnificent sunrise over our field.

 
While Nico was hosting a Super Bowl party using the basement home theater, Jeanine hosted a birthday party for her friend Irene. Only women choose seaweed salad and sushi as a birthday food. Apparently they also had a liberal dose of wine because they all came down to the basement and were dancing to the Bruce Springsteen half time show in front of all the teenagers.

Nico opens his second match with a very impressive 5-point move called a gator roll, which he initiates from a front headlock. Jeanine and Maya, now in attendance, get to witness his 5-2 victory.

Nicolai draws the five-time defending champion in his first match. Despite the 9-2 loss, Nico puts in a great performance as his teammates and spectators look on. Each wrestler’s left arm is labeled with their weight in case you noticed the marking on his bicep.

This morning, Nicolai and I left the house before 7 AM to make weigh-ins for the Big East Wrestling Tournament held at Nashoba Regional High School. Nico is wrestling in the 85# Elite Division (Novice, Select, Elite) which included some of the best wrestlers in the state.

I coaxed Jeanine and Maya to search for bald eagles with me today. We found two adults and two juveniles on the Merrimac River near Newburyport. Between the cold and wind, photography was a challenge but I did manage a few reasonable photos of these majestic birds.

Any thoughts as to what we have pictured here? If you guessed baby canine teeth from Maya you are right. She braved a trip to the dentist this morning to have these stubborn little fellows extracted. Now that she has been defanged, I will now have the advantage when wrestling with her for the next several months!

Nicolai woked on a video for a science class project this evening. He has taken over my study and computer to edit the footage he shot with his friend Oliver.

Maya is responsible for decorating this Pavlova which we enjoyed for dessert this evening. School was cancelled for a nasty winter storm which deposited a slick combination of snow, sleet and frozen rain. I asked Maya what inspired her to make this creation. She told me she was bored. I am thinking of ways to make her bored again tommorrow.

The entire family was gathered on the couch this evening watching American Idol (not great TV I know, but it is something we all enjoy doing together – we try and predict the stars and the duds before they sing). No one can seem to recall what got Jeanine going (she says it was a story about my past) but she could not stop laughing.

 
Nico picked up a nice medal for his grappling efforts on Sunday.

 
Maya is an excellent student and even though she has much less homework than her brothers, she is quite diligent when she focuses on it.