I have admired this painting, which has hung in the cafe at work for more than a year now. It reminds me of the farm in France that belonged to Jeanine’s relatives there.

Why would a high school boy play soccer while injured? A close examination of the spectators might offer some clue. CCHS defeated Boston Latin by a score of 5 to 0 and Kyle’s game looked strong with some nice moves and creative passing.

 
Maya is going to be a cupcake for Halloween. We worked together to fashion the skeleton over the weekend. Today she requisitioned one of my speaker stands as a modelling platform and is applying sprinkles to the frosting with hot melt glue. Of our children Maya has emerged as the most construction project oriented and I am still holding out some hope for one engineer in the family.

Jeanine spent the afternoon picking apples with Maya and her friends, Isabel and Kelan. The harvest was great, and I am sure there will be a photo of an apple pie in this journal’s future.

More often than not, obtaining a leaf required climbing high into the tree. Why Nico would choose to do this without a shoe only reinforces my belief that the teenage brain is still missing some critical executive thinking functions.

I am thrilled that my calf has recovered sufficiently to allow me to play soccer. Even though I could only go at about 70% effort it was great to be out on the pitch this morning. We have a make up game on Thursday and I hope to be in even better shape by then. Back to the leaf hunt. Nicolai uses a field guy to verify that he has the correct specimen.

I spent a good part of the afternoon with Nicolai hunting for leaves. He has a science project which involves collecting leaf and needle specimens from a list of 50 trees. He can earn extra credit for having 20 photographs showing him in the act of collecting. This project took us all over the town of Concord guided by a Google Earth map showing us where each tree type could be found.

Nico was in his element hanging out with a bunch of soccer players. He would rather take part in a juggling circle than spending five minutes to eat dinner. The game itself was a bit of a let down but it was still well worth the time spent with the boys. I posted photos from the event on the CCHS Men’s Varsity photo sharing website (link can be found in the panel to the right).

Kyle is nursing a turned ankle and pulled groin muscle. I am encouraging him to sit out a few games and practices so that he can fully recover.

This evening, the boys and I attended a Revolution soccer game in Foxboro, which was attended by most of the other soccer athletes from the high school. Before the game, the team enjoyed a first-rate tailgate party.

Another great day for aerial photography on my return flight to Boston. One of the more gruelling weeks of my professional career, with a long weekend on the horizon as well.

Too busy with work (fourth 18-hour day) for photography. A quick self-portrait conveying the pace of my life right now.

Another killer work day in the office. Third 18 hour work day in a row. I am exhausted but my team made a nice breakthrough on the design issue we have been chasing. The major IT transition is largely completed and has gone fairly smoothly. No time for photography so I am posting an image I took of Kyle last weekend. He and Nico were kicking the ball around in the backyard. These days they travel in such different circles it is rare when they get to hang out with each other and it gave me great joy to watch them playing together as they did when they were younger.

On the boat ride to the island, the team was treated to a dolphin escort. I am disappointed to have missed the opportunity to share this day with my staff, but I have decided to repeat the adventure with Jeanine when I one day ask her to join me on a business trip to California.

Although I could not join them, I sent my camera out with their guide, and she captured some nice images of them.

Today my staff enjoyed a team building kayak adventure that had them exploring water caves near the Scorpion anchorage off Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands National Park. Regrettably it was necessary for me to remain back at the office to deal with urgent matters. I had to revamp the team building exercises at the last minute since I would not be present to facilitate. I often do my most creative thinking under the gun and came up with a good back up assignment. The weather and tide conditions were perfect and the team returned from their 10 hour adventure both exhausted and thrilled. We enjoyed dinner together as they recounted the exploits of the day and compared wounds (minor cuts and abrassions from close encounters with mussel cover sea cave walls).

I will be working in Santa Barbara this week and enjoyed a window seat with a clean window on my flight from Boston to Los Angeles. It is important to relax now because I am in for a high stress work week the second I touch down. Over the weekend, Sonos transitioned our e-mail system from a local server to one managed by an external IT services provider. About a million things can go wrong and since this initiative was the result of my direction there is a lot at stake for me. Couple this with an unresolved design issue on a product we are about to launch and you have the ingredients for the perfect storm. It will be a 21 hour work day before all is said and done.

This shot took a little more patience and a bit of luck to capture the tiny flying creature on the right. Patience is something I could use more of. My right calf muscle is still too tender to play soccer and the frustration is almost unbearable. I had breakfast with the boys and afterwards we went over to watch the tail end on my team’s game. We were leading the first place team in the division 2-1 late in the game but had to settle for a tie when they equalized.

I decided to do a little macro photography today and found some interesting subjects within a few feet of the back door.

This evening, we attended a mixer for CCHS freshman parents. It was very fattening.

Jeanine and I had dinner this evening at Bullfinch’s in Sudbury with my high school wrestling partner Tom and his wife Karen. Every year the Metzolds host a Fourth of July extravaganza which we enjoy immensely but rarely does that give us an occasion to spend one on one time with them. Karen and I share the same birthday (I am one year older) and Jeanine arranged for this intimate celebration. It was a delightful evening of fine dining and great conversation. Outside of my family I have known Tom for longer than anyone else in my life and feel fortunate that we live in such close proximity. The Metzold’s son Evan is in his first year at the NYU film school and son Eddie attends Concord Academy. Tragically, one of Evan’s close high school friends died earlier this week of swine flu serving as a painful reminder that life is short and must be lived fully each day.

The CCHS Men’s Varsity team had to settle for a tie today against Weston due to some very questionable officiating at the end of the game. Kyle played with great intensity and had a nice breakaway for a good attempt on goal. He is still being played on the front line and I continue to hope he will get a chance to play midfield where I feel his game is even stronger.

Nicolai had a great game today, assisting on three goals and threatening the goal on this cross. Concord-Carlisle beat Weston 5-0. Nico’s distribution was really strong, and once again, he was dominant in the air.

This is the first of a three-page letter from Maya that was waiting for me as I entered Maya’s classroom. My favorite line: I sit with a table of all boys, they’re still learning who’s boss! This child is going to go far.

Today Jeanine and I had to split up to cover back to school activities. I met with Maya’s teacher, Ms. Lyons, and toured the new Willard school which is state of the art in every way. Classrooms have CO2 monitors and adjust the HVAC system to increase oxygen levels as needed to keep students and staff maximally alert. Need I say more. Meanwhile, Jeanine attended a meeting at the high school to learn about everything we need to do in preparation for the college selection process.

I was thrilled to receive this fire pit as a birthday present from the kids and spent a relaxing hour on the patio with Jeanine enjoying the warmth and glow. Jeanine gave me two pair of furry slippers, something I will enjoy as the days and nights become colder. Anticipating that Nala would eat the new slippers as she has every other pair I have owned Jeanine decided to buy an extra set in advance. Time will tell if these are actually a present for me or the dog.

I was late for my own birthday party this evening due to something of a fire drill at work. Fortunately, Jeanine kept my lovingly prepared dinner warm and the kids took a break from their studies to join in the feast. I requested healthy birthday food and Jeanine out did herself with this fantastic fresh fruit tarte with almond crust. Just looking at this on the screen has convinced me I need to go back for seconds. I decided to use my birthday wish to rectify a design issue on our about to be released new product.

It was a very long day in the office, so I am posting another image from the mother-and-daughter NYC adventure. Maya and Lydia pose in front of the fancy restaurant they will be dining at.

This evening Nico and I attended the kick-off meeting for his Coming of Age program at First Parish, our Unitarian Universalist church. The year long program of self reflection culminates when each child addresses the entire congregation and shares their personal credo. UUs do not dictate a credo but rather encourage each member to discover their spiritual perspectives and to embrace a set of beliefs of their own distillation. Nico will join a small circle of peers guided by one male and and one female mentor and will participate in a number of retreats during which they will explore and develop their belief systems. I did my best to get a nice portrait of each child in the program and was pleased when Nico took the camera from me and reciprocated. Followers of this blog relize that Nicolai and I have already celebrated a Coming of Age adventure when we climbed Mount Kilimanjaro two years ago. The UU COA will be on the spiritual/intellectual level rather than in the physical challenge domain.

Today’s main destination for the female foursome was the Museum of Natural History which I am told was a big hit.

While the girls enjoyed a fancy breakfast in NYC, the boys and I went out for brunch at our new favorite breakfast spot at the West Concord Train Depot. My calf muscle is still out of commission so I was very thankful when my soccer game was rained out. While Jeanine was enjoying time alone with her daughter I got a chance to hang out with my sons and really enjoyed our conversation. I have decided we should do a monthly manly breakfast going forward.