One of the cornerstones of Ferry Beach weekend is the annual croquet tournament and the intense competition for the coveted Elephant Trophy. This year I am proud to say that my partner Adrian and I were able to claim the trophy after fending off the field of thirty two. The semi-finals had us pitted against Nicolai (a former champion) and his partner. There was quite a bit of trash talking and this only sweetened the victory over the perennial favorite who eliminated me in last year’s competition. Adrian and I will have our names engraved onto the elephant and will keep the trophy until next Memorial Day when it will be the subject of another contest. Serious crouquet actually involves a lot of skill and strategy. Tough matches can go on for hours.

 
Maya spends most of her time on the beach with friends. She has become very independent and if not for refueling breaks we would scarcely see her. Jeanine and I agree that this totally unstructured time is something we need to provide more of for her.

 
Nicolai would play until he was positively starving and then return to the cafeteria for a quick recharge before returning to his friends.

 
One of my favorite portraits from the weekend. It took several attempts to catch the hulla hopp in exactly this position.

 
Maya has become the families most consistent marshmallow roaster. After attending to her own nutritional needs, she offers to roast marshmallows for anyone in need.

 
I love this Glossy Ibis. Last year I was lucky to get a couple of shots of a single bird. This year I was able to locate a large group by searching for their favorite habitat. They like a combination of 4 inch deep water with plenty of adjacent mud banks and short grass.

 
This landscape was taken at the Scarborough Nature Preserve where I spent a good bit of time.

 
Every Memorial Day weekend we drive up to Ferry Beach in Maine where we join members of our church and the neighboring Lexington congregation for a family retreat. This year we took two cars so Jeanine and the kids could get an early start and I could put in an extended day in on the new job. Each morning I woke up with the sun (5:30am) and treated myself to two hours of nature photography. I was able to get very close to this heron and captured a very nice series including this shot as he took flight.

 
Jeanine had another healthy cooking class this evening featuring her own creation which Maya has named the Highly Nutritious and Very Delicious Veggie Wrap. During class I am banned from the kitchen but waited patiently like a vulture for the tasty leftovers.

 
I decided to try the train for my commute today. I boarded at the West Concord station and switched to the T at Porter Square. Nothing could be easier, but even with the express train, the trip took about 70 minutes. I think my final solution will be to use the car and avoid rush hour.

 
This morning Maya was intrigued by the these shadows and asked if she could borrow my camera for this shot.

 
I was hoping to get a picture of the Charles River during sunset but it was already dark when I left work. I decided to grab this shot of the lobby of our building.

 
Although I liked my office at Avid, I do enjoy having a big window and lots of sunlight. I bought myself a plant and will try to keep it alive for more than a week.

 
Today was a 15 hour work day. I left home at 6:30AM to beat the traffic and returned home by 9:30PM. I was introduced to the Sonos Board of Directors and invited to attend their meeting this morning. I was extremely imppressed by the group and saw even greater potential for the company than I did when I made my decision to join. I snapped this photo of the building as I drove by in my car on the way in.