Meanwhile, back in Wayland

I took a LONG ride to a really cool place I didn't know existed: the Haystack facility in Westborough, MA. It's an MIT facility with a bunch of sci-fi space telescopes and what-not, some of them dating back to the cold war, when the facility's primary objective was monitoring Soviet activities. Fascinating, cool, a little creepy...

We've also started back up with the QuaranTeam backyard gatherings, though getting the whole Team together is proving more of a challenge, as lives intervene.

The dogs remain blissfully unaware of global events.

For those who have wondered, this is the answer to the question: how many novelty T-shirts do you have, Dan?

Love this time of year. It is hard to take a bike ride on a sunny day without stopping repeatedly to take a snap.

While M was in NYC this last weekend, I still had the Holsts over for some smoked meat. Josie came along for the first time in a while. In the interim, she became a chatterbox! She still LOVES our dogs, and will put up with absolutely anything from them.

And I got another visit from an old athena colleague - Steph, who was my sidekick during the government affairs years, and her little one, Ellie (also a chatterbox of recent vintage).

On to October! We can't wait to have our own little chatterbox back!

More shots from Fall Camp

 The kid is being really good about FaceTime. I wasn't sure about the month away thing, but being able to see her face most every day has made it a lot easier than the two weeks this summer were!

Syl is in a super-pretty place this fall. 

Here she is "participating" in what looks to be a square dance (?)

Her co-campers have good taste in football teams.

Seems a run of the mill cold is making its way through camp, in the way colds do. Syl has it pretty bad, but remains in good spirits. And, somehow, a common cold is sort of reassuringly normal these days!

Fun at camp/school

Selfie pout, toddler style

Back to Camp (and other tales of September)

 Once again, the eyes have it - this time in colored pencil.

My art is more tactile.

Trying to get in some extra Syl time in advance of her monthlong absence, we went to Dairy Joy after she endured yet another pre-camp COVID nose intrusion.

This is what school orientation looks like in the pandemic: up against the wall, kids! Masks on, six feet apart! Yikes. But the kids were all smiling to see each other again.

Got  home to learn, from the landscaper, that we've been narrowly skirting painful trauma all summer, as this monster bald faced hornet nest has slowly grown in the hedge not five feet from our fire pit...

The dogs are going to miss Syl.

Day before departure lunch: Noon Hill Grille.

Welcome to camp! Here's a three inch swab up your nose!

This kid is a trooper.

Moment of truth...

Bye, kiddo! See you in a MONTH(!!!).

Meanwhile, Patriots season is upon us. 

Caught this guy watching our cycling departure Sunday morning. He is HUGE.

Melissa is invested in our outdoor entertaining as the cold weather looms. Here's the yard's latest addition.

Bruschi and Sophie are already eagerly awaiting Syl's return.

As for Syl, she called us on the second night, fresh from a chilly dip in the lake, and reported that she's doing GREAT! Her first day of virtual school today was "boring but fine" - the technical and support propositions for camp seem to be holding.