The very last thing you want to discover the week you are set to depart on a 100-mile trekking adventure is a hole in your boot. It can take weeks to break in a new boot and blisters will end a trek faster than almost anything else. The only option is to find a cobbler who can replace the sole and/or heel in time for my departure this Saturday. The good news is that I noticed the problem before departing. Kyle and I will be hiking through water, mud and snow as we amble through Patagonia and a leaky boot will be a really serious problem. Borrowing a line from Apollo 13, one of my favorite movies, “Looks like we’ve had our glitch for the mission” and hoping our story does not follow the rest of the script.

A project for her French class was the perfect vehicle to expand Maya’s woodworking skills beyond those used for kayak building (which is largely an exercise in fiberglassing). Students are each assigned a different type of building which can be found in a typical French village. They are expected to research the style of architecture and create a design on paper and then a scale model. All of the buildings are organized into a model village and facilitate conversations about life in France (“How do I get from the train station to that little hotel next to the bakery?”). Maya’s two-story bookshop features bookshelves, window displays, actual windows, a cloth awning, stucco paint, a slate roof, and wrought iron balcony rails. During the course of the project, under careful supervision, she learned to use the table saw, chop saw, jigsaw (both stationary and cordless), and pneumatic pin nailer. The result is likely to be the talk of the town. In order to light the interior, I placed a radio-controlled flash inside the structure.

It never ceases to amaze me how much anxiety a creature not one and a half inches in length can generate in my wife. She announced the discovery of this adolescent field mouse in our garage with a shriek. After failing to kick it out of the open door, she instructed me to capture and evict the cute little fellow. We have differing opinions about the relative level of menace represented by this tiny mammal but on this subject, I have learned it is simply best to follow the instructions of my dear spouse. After returning him to the outdoors, he was kind enough to hang around for some portraiture.

With the kids otherwise occupied, Jeanine and I did some shopping at REI (probably my favorite place to spend money, other than a good camera store) followed by a late dinner at the John Harvard’s Brewery and Ale House. Probably best known for their beverages, none of which I imbibe, we found the food to be quite good as well. Jeanine and I shared our meals and an hour of uninterrupted pleasure in each other’s company absent the distractions of our normal life.

Maya and her friends Sarinnagh and Fiona performed an excerpt from the Pirates of the Caribbean during the winter recital for her drama class. The girls delivered their lines flawlessly, with great projection and dramatic flare. I videotaped the performance for the benefit of Jeanine who was obligated to attend a Board meeting for our home owner’s association.

Nicolai shared his life-size, abstract body map with the family this evening. He completed this self-portrait for his Rivers and Revolutions class, an avant-garde program that has had a profound effect on him, impacting his perspectives on both college and career. Students started by tracing their outline and adding the outline of a loved one which they then embellished with iconography of personal significance. The photo suffers from excessive glare and does not do the original justice.

My indoor soccer season started this evening and with my various injuries healed I was feeling unstoppable and was able to find the back of the net three times. We led for the entire match but had to settle for a 4-4 tie as our endurance waned in the closing minutes. We had one sub to their five which made all the difference.

This year, we are trying an experiment with two different holiday card formats. This version follows the theme we have used for years. The second, inspired by a card we received last year, will be in the mail shortly. I spent the evening completing both versions and updating our mailing list with Jeanine. We generally wait until the last minute, and it feels good to be slightly ahead of the curve this year.

My work commute is 90% across the grain which is to say that I spend very little time in traffic. There are, however, two choke points where things can back up. Having studied the exact details of these traffic patterns for more than two and a half years, I have developed strategies to most efficiently bypass the delays. One of these involves a brief excursion into a lane more generally reserved (as in all the time) for travel in the opposite direction. If properly timed to the signals this maneuver is entire safe as there is no oncoming traffic. This little trick can shave five minutes off my return from work and also benefits other drivers since I reduce the amount of congestion they face. A perfect win-win scenario except for the small matter of being distinctly in violation of traffic law. This evening, after an all day product road map planning session, I was anxious to get home and combined my normal maneuver with a higher rate of speed than usual; all of this in front of a well hidden Bedford Police cruiser which promptly pulled me over. I was prepared for the speeding and lane violations but did not realize that my registration had expired in September. As is my practice in such situations, I was extremely contrite and acknowledged all guilt. I find that if you are polite and own up to your actions, many police officers will show some lenience. In this case, the officer let me register my car on the spot using my smart phone, thus avoiding a mandatory tow to the local impound. He gave me a $100 citation for driving with an expired registration and let me off with a warning for the speeding and illegal lane travel. I was very fortunate that I did not pick up any moving violation points which would have jacked up my insurance rates. The $100 fine seemed entirely reasonable given that I have saved more than 50 hours of commuting time since I began using the maneuver. The downside is that I have used up my good will with the Bedford Police. I can expect that a repeat offense will earn me a much less favorable outcome and must therefore revise my choke point strategy accordingly.

I spent the bulk of the day making preparations for my up coming adventure to Patagonia with Kyle. I spent hours agonizing over which cameras, lenses and tripod to bring. We will be trekking in excess of 10 miles every day so weight is an important consideration . My photography equipment is hovering at around 12 pounds which I would like to trim to 10. To put this in context and to illustrate my priorities; my day pack, tent, sleep bag, sleeping mat, pillow, and all my clothing for 12 days (less boots) weighs less than 10 pounds. I decided it would be easier to lose a couple of pounds between now and our departure in 2 weeks than to give up any gear. With that in mind I took a 4.5 mile walk with my loaded day pack and camera gear. Along the way I found this nice scene which I must remember to photograph again in spring and fall.

Although I have thousands of pictures of each child, I have almost none of them interacting in pairs. The downtime in Minnesota has afforded me a great opportunity to catch them enjoying each other’s company. Kyle will fly back to California tomorrow while the rest of us return to Boston this evening.

Despite having taken more than 10,000 photos this year I do not have a single family portrait to use for this year’s holiday card. Frigid temperatures and snow, therefore, did not stand in the way of several outdoor family portraits which included this grouping of the cousins. Maya has started to learn how to properly use my DSLR (thoughtful control of aperture, shutter speed and exposure compensation) and produced a rather nice portrait of me which I have paired here with one of my beautiful bride. The balance of the day included various activities many of which featured me in service as a horse being ridden by Rose and Sophia. Mark prepared a magnificent prime rib dinner which was followed by an early celebration for my sister Alissa’s 50th birthday (Dec. 2).

It has been 19 years since my family last reunited for Thanksgiving in Minnesota where my brother Mark and his family reside. We missed my sister Mayela and her husband Stephen who were not able to make the trip from North Carolina. Joining us for the gathering was Jeff, Rory’s tennis coach, who would have otherwise celebrated the holiday alone. To know my brother is to understand that the Thanksgiving meal would be something to remember for years to come. The feast lived up to our highest expectations and then some. Most enjoyable for me was watching the 9 cousins interacting. The boys all look like men now and the girls are all going to break hearts. Here are a few portraits of the young beauties.

Dinner was preceded by an assortment of cheese, sopressata, home made pate and pesto, with freshly baked bread. The 22 pound turkey just barely fit in the oven with wings just touching the sides. Mark insisted it rest for 40 minutes before serving. While this no doubt produced a more succulent result, it caused near mutiny in the kitchen as the aroma tortured us with the promise of what was to come.

Maya had her hair done today. I am not sure exactly what the process entails but I believe at some point her head is placed inside a vice. I like the new look and enticed Maya to sit for me. She got the idea to throw her hair about and I have 2 dozen photos, each better than the last. We both had a lot of fun and enjoyed reviewing the results.

It has been a few days since Kyle returned home from college and I have been delinquent in posting a photo of him. He reports that he is enjoying his classes and doing well scholastically. His various injuries have healed to the point where he is running and lifting regularly. He looks very trim and healthy again which is helping to motivate me to get back in the gym where I could stand to shed more than a few pounds. His sleeping schedule is still quite shifted from ours, a combination of the three hour time zone difference and the three hour college lifestyle difference. Last night I tried to repair his computer which is no longer functioning after he attempted to water it (more beneficial for plant life, as a future reference) and he is experiencing withdrawal symptoms from Facebook. Fortunately, he did not water his phone which is now his only lifeline into his social network.