Last night it rained heavily and this morning we were treated to a beautiful sky. 

I rose early (4:30 – 5:30AM) each morning to do a little bird photography and was rewarded for my effort with good light and some great sightings. I spent most of my time at the Scarborough Salt Marsh. Pictured here are a Glossy Ibis, Great Egret (having breakfast), Black-Bellied Plover, and a Willet. 
 
 
 

Maya was very dissappointed that her friend Madison did not come to the camp this year. She consoles herself on the beach feeling the weekend has been ruined. Thirty minutes later she has hooked up with another 7-year old girl named Maya Rose. Not only do they share the same first and middle name, their father’s families both came from Calabria, Italy. 

Lauren, one of the girls Jeanine mentored this year, for reasons unknown to me, hoists Nicolai off the ground. Motives aside, the light was great and Nico was unable to run away. Perfect time for a photograph. 

Kyle wasted little time connecting with friends Seth and Zach. The object of this game is to make Seth puke. Fortunately, Kyle was not up to the task and Seth was simply rendered unable to walk in a straight line for several minutes. 

Jeanine makes a bee-line for the kitchen where she spent a good portion of the weekend. Please note the huge smile on her face. I hope she will consider becoming a professional chef because she never seems happier then when cooking for hundreds of people in an industrial size kitchen. Her efforts did not go unnoticed and the appreciation she was shown simply ensures that next year she will not come out of the kitchen at all. 

Memorial Day weekend is synonomous with Ferry Beach for the Calabrias. Each year Jeanine and the kids pick me up from work and we drive to Ferry Beach, Maine where our church has a camp/conference center. We are joined by members of the Lexington parish and this year numbered 280 in total. 

Because the percussionist stand at the back of the stage, it was hard to get a good photograph of Nico playing. Here he is actually playing the bongos which are hidden by the conga drums. 

This evening was the Spring Concert and Nicolai helped introduce the song in which he had a drum solo. During the course of the evening, Nico played the snare, triangle, bongos, and a bass drum. 

On the way into work I spotted this Catbird. Click on the photo for a more detailed view. 

Intense pressure on my brother Mark finally yielded a photo of my neice Sophia although his taste in sleepware has now been called into serious question. 

I keep telling Maya to stop clowning around when it is time for bed. Clearly she is taking me very seriously. 

In a matter of days, this pile of rocks will take the form of four walls that frame our as yet to be agreed upon landscaping plan. I was amazed at the amount of progress made by the time I returned home this evening. Tommorrow, I plan to observe the wall building process. It is a job I have never tackled and I would like to learn how. 

A drop of dew on a blade of grass. The halos on the left are from other dew drops.