It would have taken less time had a realized earlier that we were not suppose to eat the berries as we picked them.

 
…. Jeanine and Maya discover wild blueberries along the roadside which we harvested for almost an hour. When we returned home Jeanine turned our gatherings into an unbelievably yummy pie which we shared with my cousin Anita and her boyfriend Dave who called out of the blue and are visiting with us this evening as they travel through the area.

 
While I stopped the car for this photo of Bear Lake ….

 
This B&B is known for their collection of Nubian goats and the cheese they make from their milk. I wandered into the barn for a peek at a couple of the young Nubians. There is a good joke here, but I will pass it up in favor of maintaining a G rating for this blog.

 
We spent last night at the Fern Hill bed and breakfast just as we did last year. After their numerous performances on Saturday, campers unwind with an all camp dance that evening. Parents return on the following day to collect them necessitating the overnight stay. The proprietor is a veteran mountain climber and was a little skeptical last year when I told him that Nicolai and I intended to climb Kilimanjaro. This year having heard of our adventure on the radio was most congratulatory and thrilled to discuss the climb at length.

 
This morning Jeanine, Maya and I left the house at 6am to make the three hour derive to Sweden, Maine where Nicolai has been attending music camp Encore Coda for the last three weeks. Maya is the first to embrace her brother and he is thrilled to see her.

 
In his final performance, Nico played drums in a rock band. we were all very impressed with the set and it was great to see Nico having so much fun, not that you could tell by his facial expression while performing. Not cool to smile I guess. How do you get a guitar player to stop playing? Put some music in front of him. How do you get two picolo players to play in tune? Shoot one of them. Nico now has a full complement of musician jokes and he was very happy to share them with us.

 
After playing percussion for the symphonic orchestra he then played drums for a jazz ensemble. It’s a shame they always put the drummer in the back. Nico asked me why it was important to make sure the drums are set up perfectly level. It is so the drummer will drool equally from both sides of their mouth. He then asked me what you call a trombone player without a girl friend? …. Homeless.

 
Nicolai performed in four seperate groups. This year he participated in the Jazz Choir. Click on the photo and see if you can find him among the singers. Bonus points if you find Waldo as well.

 
Because we arrived earlier than expected we had some time before Nico’s first performance. Maya entertains herself using a crab apple to draw with on the concrete foundation of the administration building.

 
Nicolai gives us a tour of his cabin and shares stories of his teachers and bunk mates.

This evening I attended the wake for Hakim and was overcome with emotion. My soccer team is a band of brothers and his father’s loss is our loss. When I returned home to learn that Kyle had obtained his driving permit and had driven home I could not see past my fear of losing my own child to share his enthusiasm for reaching this milestone. I know that Bahi will carry the burden of his son’s loss for the rest of his life and I will do what I can to ease that pain. This reminder of how quickly we can lose a loved one will also cause me to find more moments to cherish my own family.

 
As part of camp Jeanine, Maya and her friends have been making their own tote bags. Here is Maya’s creation which she completed entirely on her own. It did not occur to me until after I took the photograph, but the seat cushion on the chair was sewn by her grandmother.

 
Earlier this week Maya and I constructed a buzzer. It is a little crude, but it works nicely and Maya learned a lot about electricity. The nail is wrapped in fine guage wire to form an electromagnet. It is covered in electrical tape and hot melt glued to the backing board. The metal clapper pivots about a nail and is returneded to its resting position by a spring. The white wire forms the interrupter switch.