For the second week in a row, my soccer team played short-handed (footed) but still managed to pull out a 2:1 victory against a skilled Russian team. Once again, I did little to distinguish myself on the pitch but played my position well and made no mistakes, carefully conserving my energy for an hour of playing time.

After the match and a brief stop at the aprés, Jeanine and I packed up her car and took off on the first leg of a 2-week road trip to visit with family. I plotted a course designed to follow the fall color. We traveled west across Massachusetts through the Berkshires to Albany and then south to Binghampton, skirting the Catskills. Our desire to arrive before nightfall did not permit stopping for photos, but the entire journey was a feast for the eyeballs. It was without a doubt the most dramatic fall drive I have ever taken with peak color along the entire path.

Pictured above is the St John’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church located a stone’s throw from our hotel. Binghampton has a large Ukrainian community, many first generation who came to the US under refugee programs offered to Christians leaving the soviet bloc during the Reagan and Bush senior terms.