Kyle did not return from his tournament in time, but Nicolai attended and bore witness to his sister’s right of passage.

 
When you live in Concord, the only bridge that will do is the Old North Bridge and here Maya crosses with her friend Allison.

 
Today was a very special day for Maya who graduated from being a Brownie to being a Junior in the Girl Scouts program during a Bridging Ceremony. Crossing the bridge signifies that a girl has become aware of her achievements and is ready for new adventures and responsibilities. Jeanine was very much looking forward to sharing this with Maya so I took many photos and video so that she can relive the experience when she returns from Indianapolis. Here the girls gather in anticipation of the ceremeony.

 
This morning I drove for an hour and a half before 7:30am to deliver Kyle to his soccer tournament and me to my match. Kyle’s team won one and lost one. My team came from behind to win 2-1 and I had a great game scoring both goals. On the first, I slipped a nice pass through to one of our forwards, he took a strong shot on the goalie who bobbled the ball. I zoomed in to take the ball off his hands for the score. On the second, I received a great chip from the midfield and beat my defender for a 1 on 1 with the goalie. He guessed left and I shot right. When I returned home I found our fields being mowed and Nala nearly horse barking at the intruders. Fortunately for everyone, her electric fence keeps her out of harms way.

 
Maya goes up for her first header in a game. She executed perfectly and was quite proud of herself afterwards. Jeanine’s father, Larry, has taken a turn for the worse after emergency surgery earlier in the week revealed a large tumor in his bladder. After learning of the developments she decided to leave right away for Indianapolis and was able to make it in time for a brief visit this evening.

 
Without a doubt my favorite. Great light and phenomenal colors. I think I may have to print this one at poster size. Click on the image for a higher resolution view.

 
My window seat on the return flight offered up many gems for my collection of aerial photographs.

 
Despite the beauty and wealth everywhere, my 6am walks to the office took me past many homeless people. It is hard to reconcile the gross inequity between the rich and the poor here. I know there are homeless people in every city, but to see the degree of contrast in this community was very sobering.

 
I really enjoy the colors, textures, and architecture to be found in the city. Everyone here seems to be very health concious and it was nice to be afforded such an array of organic and natural cuisine.

 
Located adjacent to the wharf is Santa Barbara’s museum of natural history, the Ty Warner Sea Center. On a future trip I will have to make time to visit.

 
After work I went down to Stearns Wharf just as the sun was setting. I like the fact that the hotel I am staying at is walking distance from both the office and the ocean. The weather has been delightful and one can see why many have fallen in love with this part of the country. Unlike much of the California coast, the beach here runs East/West rather than North/South providing morning and evening light similar to the Mediteranean coast.

 
Today I woke up at 5am to catch a flight for Santa Barbara where I will spend the remainder of the week meeting my colleagues there. This unusual bit of architecture was located adjacent to the hotel I was staying in. Travel included it was an 18 hour day.

 
I returned from Ferry Beach early to ensure I would make my soccer game against Lexington, currently our main challenger for the top spot in our division. I received a nice pass at the top of the 18, turned and released a very strong low shot that found the right side of the net to give us a 1-0 victory.

 
The talent show featured a man who could stand on one leg, hold his big toe, and then jump through the opening.