Although she has appeared on this blog many times, I would like to pay a special tribute to my mother today. While I cherish the gifts I have that can be traced to my father, I have no doubt that it is my mother I have to thank for those traits that have most contributed to my success in life. My mind for engineering, physical dexterity, head for business, eye for beauty, capacity for work, and desire to forever improve, all come straight from my mother. All mothers give life to their offspring. Mine gave me a bounty of gifts for which I am eternally grateful. From the toddler above to the octogenarian below she is a rare beauty and wonderful mother.  I am looking forward to her visit next weekend.

The boys earned big points with their mother today by sending her flowers. Let’s just say that prior years have not been quite up to par. Not to be outdone, Maya prepared a strawberry-spinach salad with homemade dressing to accompany the omelets prepared by her father for a midday brunch. Scheduled to race twice today, Maya’s team elected to pull her quad from competition when the day’s schedule made it apparent that the rowers would not be able to survive back-to-back heats of quads and eights. She was disappointed but concurred with the decision to maximize her chances of winning the eights. My early morning soccer match ended with a 4-1 win, a nice change from the ties we had earned over the last two outings. I did not play in the second half after a slight tweak to my left hamstring but feel I should be back on the pitch fairly soon since I stopped before any real damage was done.

Maya has been coxing an eight for the CRI Boat Club for the last several weeks. Today at the Lowell Invitational, held on the Merrimac River, she was asked to be the coxswain for a four. The former is driven from the rear with eight rowers in the line of sight. The later is driven from a highly recumbent position in the front of the boat with four rowers behind you. Despite the new boat configuration, Maya adjusted well and guided her team to a 10 boat length win in the qualification round held this afternoon. You will need to look carefully to find Maya’s head in the boat.

This section of a quadcopter was created on a desktop 3D printer capable of embedding carbon fiber, Kevlar, or fiberglass continuous filament in a nylon substrate. This results in parts of exceptional strength which can be used in demanding applications for which traditionally printed parts would fail immediately. I met with the company’s founder yesterday in what proved to be a very interesting conversation.

Jeanine and I attended Freshman & Sophomore Award’s Night this evening. It was the first event held in the auditorium of the town’s brand new $76M high school and our first time in the building. Maya received High Honors and award certificates in English, Social Studies, and Health & Fitness. We could not be prouder of her. After the ceremony, she gave us a tour of the new building which is reportedly the “greenest” in the state. Once the landscaping is completed, I will post photos of the exterior.

A monumental, aerial sculpture is suspended over Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway as the signature contemporary art installation in the Greenway Conservancy’s Public Art Program. Created by Janet Echelman, the sculpture spans the void where an elevated highway once split downtown from its waterfront and was made by hand-splicing 100 miles of rope and knotting twine into an interconnected mesh of more than a half-million nodes. I had occasion to enjoy it while I was downtown attending a design and manufacturing trade show being held at the convention center.

Rain this morning gave way to a half decent spring day. I found an hour this afternoon for a little photography and decided I would search for a nice panoramic scene which I found from a vantage point over the Sudbury River (click on the image for a larger view, click on the image again to pan around). I also encountered a Six-Spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata) flitting about. Perseverance afforded me the shot below even though I did not have my macro lens with me.

Our family was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of 22-year-old Grant Backerman, a senior at Wake Forest University this weekend. Growing up 3 houses from ours, Grant was on the CCHS wrestling team with Nicolai and worked briefly for Kyle’s Yard Dogs business. Pictured here at age 12 attending a neighborhood block party, we remember a very intelligent, thoughtful, and polite young man. Our prayers and condolences go out to the Backerman family and to all those who have a hole in their hearts today.

Prettiest flower in the garden.

The prettiest flower in the garden.

Maya guides her crew off the dock as they take to the Charles for a morning of practice. Recently elected co-captain of her CRI team, Maya’s boat won their first race last week in Saratoga. I was unable to attend due to my soccer game and am looking forward to her first competition at home. Coxswain is the perfect position for a naturally bossy child and I enjoy hearing about her exploits on the water each time we return from practice.

The arrival of May has brought with it what feels like the beginning of spring. Trees and flowers are beginning to bloom everywhere. New England sports a very short spring but it is oh so glorious. Below are the buds on our Japanese Maple tree. In addition to the flowers you can see the leaves poised to unfurl.

This winter was arguably the worst in Boston’s history. A total of 8 feet of snow took its toll on the roof, the gutters, and tree limbs. While workers replaced 55 tiles on our slate roof, Jeanine and I gathered and burned off all of the downed branches from around the yard. Today is the last day on which a permit can be obtained to legally do so. There is something very satisfying about completing such a task although I am sure my sore muscles will inform a different feeling tomorrow.

As I looked through all of the photos Maya took while in Paris last week, I settled on this one as my favorite. I love the composition, the tonality and the use of patterns. It makes me infinitely happy that all three kids have become such proficient photographers.

I had the pleasure of lunching with former iRobot head of marketing, Nancy Dussault Smith and Firdaus Bhathena, CEO of Lineage Labs. The company they co-founded is working on a product called “Bevy,” an easy-to-use solution for storing and sharing photos and videos for the entire family. Our conversation turned to a discussion about ways we might work together. An exciting possibility to be sure and one which I will give some serious consideration over the coming days.

I have been playing indoor soccer for the entire winter in a D1 Men’s Over-40 league. This evening was the year-end tournament to determine a champion. We accepted a forfeit in the first round, won 2-1 in the semi-finals scoring the winning goal with just 3 seconds on the clock, and clinched first-place honors with a 3-0 victory in the finals. For this effort we received an iPhone quality team photo and champion’s t-shirt, … oh … and bragging rights until next winter. Giving up 16 years to some of my opponents, I am just happy I made it through the season without a significant injury.