Downtown Concord is about as quaint and photogenic as any town in the country. Living here I often take the beauty for granted. Today on the way home from work I paused briefly to capture the ambiance.

 
Nicolai has been attending a volleyball clinic for several weeks and last night his instructor recommended he join an intermediate level group. My work schedule has not afforded me the opportunity to see him play yet but I am really looking forward to see how his skills have developed.

 
I sold one of my camera bodies today to offset the cost of a newer model which I should receive in the next few weeks. Here is the glamour shot I used in my for sale listing.

 
I had ocassion to look at some of my old photos today. This one taken in 1981 documents my last visit to the Grand Tetons. My cousin Vincent and I stopped here briefly as we drove cross country from California to Indiana. I had just completed my Master’s degree at Stanford and was moving back to the Midwest. When Maya sees this photo she is going to point out that my feet should have been together and my toes more pointed. I recall that the other side of this wall was a steep cliff and will use this as my excuse for poor form.

 
Between sleep-overs and soccer practice, Jeanine and I found ourselves kid free late this afternoon. We decided to go out for ice cream and stopped along the way to buy fresh organic produce at Hutchins Farm Stand. Jeanine was stocking up for her next cooking class while I was shooting this still life. When I looked up I saw one of my soccer teammates with a couple of stems of broccoli in his hand. I let him know they would be closing any minute and he gave me a funny look. I then learned that he and his brother are the owners of the farm and stand and could not believe the synchronicity. This man who I so enjoy playing soccer with also grows the food which my wife prepares for our family and to which I am drawn as a subject for my photography.

 
This musician plays an instrument of her own design consisting of nested glass bowls of increasing diameter on a long pole connected to a crank. A member of the audience was asked to turn the crank while she moistened her fingers and applied them to the various bowls to play music using the harmonic vibration of the glass. The sound was as beuatiful as it was difficult to describe.

 
We took a brief rest on the longest sofa in the world. It stretches for a city block and measured 213 feet in length.

 
Diversity was well represented as was homogeneity. Here we have an all accordion, all male band.

 
A Honk band does not even require musicians. Chanting and dancing suffice.

 
We’re All in the Same Boat.

 
Today we had an early family night and arrived at the Harvard Square Oktoberfest and Honk Band Parade Festival by noon. What is a Honk band? Think marching band crossed with political activism combined with a healthy dose of irreverence.

 
After we find the well hidden cache, Maya leaves an entry in the log describing all the things we have discovered on our search.

 
Maya found this partially decomposed carcass but we were not able to figure out what kind of animal it was. I think it was a dog.

 
Next, Jeanine spots this snake moving in the leaves. I got as close as I dared for the photo because this snake took a very aggressive posture rather than fleeing. We theorized that it was a mother and she was protecting her nearby young.

 
Maya, Jeanine, and I went geochaching this afternoon. We selected a starting point that necessitated bushwhacking through the Lincoln Nature Conservancy Land. As a result of this unusual path we encountered many interesting things along the way. Here Maya has scampered to the top of a deer blind. Fortunately for us she is not armed with any weapons.

 
Maya spent the evening shopping with her friend for a Halloween costume which she models here in character. It is something of a Fred Astaire dance outfit compete with cane and top hat.

 
After eleven hours in the office, I had a two hour dinner with a member of my team before meeting a candidate for an interview that went almost two hours. While waiting to rendezvous for the interview I captured this image of a scene which passes for normal in Santa Barbara.

 
I do not mean to suggest that Santa Barbarbrans are wierdos but there are some very colorful characters on every street corner.

 
Each Tuesday in Santa Barbara there is a Farmer’s Market in the heart of downtown. I purchased a baguette and some fresh fruit and made this my dinner.

 
Today I flew to Santa Barbara for my monthly visit with my team there. The beauty of the Western US from the air never ceases to leave me in awe. I finally located this area on Google Earth. Pictured is the Colorado River traversing the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Utah.

 
This evening we hosted a party for the group of our friends that recently travelled to Nicaragua as part of a social service project. Kids and their parents watched a video/slide show of their adventure. After the show they finalized plans for a benefit concert to raise money to build a water well for one of the villages they visited. Earlier in the day I was back on the soccer pitch and felt healthy for the first time since the beginning of the season. We were trailing 0 to 2 at the half but were able to tie the game up just as time expired.

 
I started the day with a brief nature walk and my macro lens. After replacing the electric containment fence for the dog (last one was fried by a lightning strike) I went for a 6-mile paddle on the Concord. I put in at the Cow Pasture and travelled down stream beyond the Great Meadows Nature Preserve. The return trip was against the current and wind requiring a lot more effort than I had planned. Later in the day I watched Nico’s soccer game. His team beat a stronger opponent with a single goal in the closing minutes. It was a great victory.

 
Friends from Indianpolis, Peggy Sutphin and daughter Sara (pictured here)stop by for a few hours while touring prep schools in the area.

 
Nala enjoys sitting on the kitchen deck surveying her kingdom. The local mamals seem to have learned that encroachment on her two acres is a life threatening exercise.

 
Today I took a vacation day to attend the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Councils Innovation 2008 unConference. Participants created an agenda in real-time and broke off into small groups to discuss issues of common interest. It was a great networking and learning opportunity. Pictured here is the ad hoc meeting schedule.

 
I am milking my birthday for all it is worth. This evening we enjoy banana splits after dinner. I carefully instruct Maya in the proper sequencing of ingredients and she is soon a master of this creation.