Maya goes up for her first header in a game. She executed perfectly and was quite proud of herself afterwards. Jeanine’s father, Larry, has taken a turn for the worse after emergency surgery earlier in the week revealed a large tumor in his bladder. After learning of the developments she decided to leave right away for Indianapolis and was able to make it in time for a brief visit this evening.
Without a doubt my favorite. Great light and phenomenal colors. I think I may have to print this one at poster size. Click on the image for a higher resolution view.
My window seat on the return flight offered up many gems for my collection of aerial photographs.
Despite the beauty and wealth everywhere, my 6am walks to the office took me past many homeless people. It is hard to reconcile the gross inequity between the rich and the poor here. I know there are homeless people in every city, but to see the degree of contrast in this community was very sobering.
I really enjoy the colors, textures, and architecture to be found in the city. Everyone here seems to be very health concious and it was nice to be afforded such an array of organic and natural cuisine.
Located adjacent to the wharf is Santa Barbara’s museum of natural history, the Ty Warner Sea Center. On a future trip I will have to make time to visit.
After work I went down to Stearns Wharf just as the sun was setting. I like the fact that the hotel I am staying at is walking distance from both the office and the ocean. The weather has been delightful and one can see why many have fallen in love with this part of the country. Unlike much of the California coast, the beach here runs East/West rather than North/South providing morning and evening light similar to the Mediteranean coast.
Today I woke up at 5am to catch a flight for Santa Barbara where I will spend the remainder of the week meeting my colleagues there. This unusual bit of architecture was located adjacent to the hotel I was staying in. Travel included it was an 18 hour day.
I returned from Ferry Beach early to ensure I would make my soccer game against Lexington, currently our main challenger for the top spot in our division. I received a nice pass at the top of the 18, turned and released a very strong low shot that found the right side of the net to give us a 1-0 victory.
The talent show featured a man who could stand on one leg, hold his big toe, and then jump through the opening.
One of the cornerstones of Ferry Beach weekend is the annual croquet tournament and the intense competition for the coveted Elephant Trophy. This year I am proud to say that my partner Adrian and I were able to claim the trophy after fending off the field of thirty two. The semi-finals had us pitted against Nicolai (a former champion) and his partner. There was quite a bit of trash talking and this only sweetened the victory over the perennial favorite who eliminated me in last year’s competition. Adrian and I will have our names engraved onto the elephant and will keep the trophy until next Memorial Day when it will be the subject of another contest. Serious crouquet actually involves a lot of skill and strategy. Tough matches can go on for hours.
Maya spends most of her time on the beach with friends. She has become very independent and if not for refueling breaks we would scarcely see her. Jeanine and I agree that this totally unstructured time is something we need to provide more of for her.
Nicolai would play until he was positively starving and then return to the cafeteria for a quick recharge before returning to his friends.
One of my favorite portraits from the weekend. It took several attempts to catch the hulla hopp in exactly this position.
Maya has become the families most consistent marshmallow roaster. After attending to her own nutritional needs, she offers to roast marshmallows for anyone in need.
I love this Glossy Ibis. Last year I was lucky to get a couple of shots of a single bird. This year I was able to locate a large group by searching for their favorite habitat. They like a combination of 4 inch deep water with plenty of adjacent mud banks and short grass.
This landscape was taken at the Scarborough Nature Preserve where I spent a good bit of time.
Every Memorial Day weekend we drive up to Ferry Beach in Maine where we join members of our church and the neighboring Lexington congregation for a family retreat. This year we took two cars so Jeanine and the kids could get an early start and I could put in an extended day in on the new job. Each morning I woke up with the sun (5:30am) and treated myself to two hours of nature photography. I was able to get very close to this heron and captured a very nice series including this shot as he took flight.
Jeanine had another healthy cooking class this evening featuring her own creation which Maya has named the Highly Nutritious and Very Delicious Veggie Wrap. During class I am banned from the kitchen but waited patiently like a vulture for the tasty leftovers.
I decided to try the train for my commute today. I boarded at the West Concord station and switched to the T at Porter Square. Nothing could be easier, but even with the express train, the trip took about 70 minutes. I think my final solution will be to use the car and avoid rush hour.
This morning Maya was intrigued by the these shadows and asked if she could borrow my camera for this shot.
I was hoping to get a picture of the Charles River during sunset but it was already dark when I left work. I decided to grab this shot of the lobby of our building.
Although I liked my office at Avid, I do enjoy having a big window and lots of sunlight. I bought myself a plant and will try to keep it alive for more than a week.
Today was a 15 hour work day. I left home at 6:30AM to beat the traffic and returned home by 9:30PM. I was introduced to the Sonos Board of Directors and invited to attend their meeting this morning. I was extremely imppressed by the group and saw even greater potential for the company than I did when I made my decision to join. I snapped this photo of the building as I drove by in my car on the way in.
Today was my first day on the new job at Sonos. This is the view out my 6th floor office window overlooking Cambridge. The inbound commute leaving at 7:30AM took 90 minutes. The return home at 8PM took 35 minutes (the same as my Avid commute). I am definitely going to time shift my day to work around rush hour or may opt to take the commuter rail and work on the WiFi enabled trains. The company has a great vibe and I can already tell this job is going to be a very good fit for me.
This evening for family night we went to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in search of a family of foxes that have been seen in the area. We did see a ground hog and a mallard duck but no foxes. Nico grew bored and suggested a sequence of interesting photos which we post processed at home.
On the way back from the match I ran across this fellow grazing in a field and had to stop for a quick photo.
Kyle took this picture of me this morning as I was leaving for my game. We played Lexington on their home field which has artificial turf. This surface plays very fast and favors my style of play. I scored a pair of really sweet goals to help my team to a 4-1 win and we remained undefeated on the season. The sun was out and it was surprisingly hot. I downed a gallon of lemonade when I returned home and was still thirsty.
Kyle has taken on the job of mowing our lawn. Apparently he thought he would work on his tan at the same time. He displayed an interesting finger gesture when he discovered I was photographing him from the porch. Kyle is certainly no red-neck, but you can get a very nice look at a soccer tan by clicking on this photo for a larger view.
Maya, every bit as tough as her older brothers, fends off a much larger opponent during her game this morning. By establishing inside shoulder position she is guaranteed to win this ball. Maya had her first chest trap and full volley in this game which ended in a 3-3 tie.
This evening Jeanine hosted another healthy cooking teaching session. Pictured here are an assortment of beans that will make their way into the final dishes. Jeanine, working with my sister Alissa, came up with a catch phrase for her new business . The Earth Mama: Collaborative cooking, nourishing the heart, body, and soul.