Maya seeks to quench her thirst after completing the 4x400m relay at her track meet this afternoon. She also ran in the 800m event. Her form continues to improve and she looked very fast in the relay even though she is suffering from shin splints. She is currently dancing, running track, and playing soccer so it is not too hard to figure out why she is developing this painful condition. If the situation does not improve, we will have to cut back on one or more of these activities.

I can’t ever recall seeing Nicolai so well dressed over the course of a single week. Today is the first of three during which he will argue Roe v Wade in front of his Constitutional Law class. He and a partner will argue Roe while two other students will present Wade in front of the entire class which will question them as if the Supreme Court. It seems like a very powerful way to teach this course and I know Nico has worked hard preparing himself for the assignment. Other landmark decisions will be argued by the rest of the class providing everyone a first-row seat to our constitution at work. Nico, I have often thought, would make a good lawyer. It will be interesting to see how he fares in this highly charged and competitive class exercise.

Earlier this week this blog turned seven years old. It is hard for me to believe that I have kept at it for so long. I often wonder if the kids will ever go back to read any of the older entries or if one day they will show their children what was happening in their lives as they grew up. If nothing else, I plan to return to these pages in my old age to help remember all that transpired during this time of our lives. I will admit that there are days when it is more of a chore than a pleasure to create the next entry but on balance, I have come to enjoy the process.

We had a nice break in the weather this afternoon so I went for a walk on my lunch hour. Had I been in the mood for a turkey sandwich it would have taken no effort what so ever to capture this bird which found itself cornered against a building as I approached to photograph it. Knowing Maya had experience with poultry harvesting (beheading and plucking) and that Jeanine can make a delicious meal out of anything, I actually spent a few minutes considering how I might capture and transport this gobbler home before letting go of the not so unrealistic idea.

This evening I had a chance to post prom photos from the weekend and have settled on this portrait of Nico as my favorite solo of him. I must say that both of my sons know how to make a tuxedo look good. Probably because we trained them from an early age.

Last night after Nico’s pre-prom party I drove to Schenectady with a car full of tools and electrical components arriving at about 11PM. My one day mission is to convert the house from fuses to circuit breakers and to replace the antiquated knob and tube surface wiring with armored cable and modern fixtures. I started work at 5AM and finished 16 hours later before making the three hour drive back to Concord. An exhausting day by any measure. At noon my mother and I joined sister Alissa and her daughter Rachel for a lunch time celebration of Mother’s Day. Not too many moms would appreciate circuit breakers in lieu of flowers but I am pretty sure mine did. Pictured below is the “after” picture which can be compared to the “before” picture from last weekend.

Nicolai invited many of his friends and Jeanine invited all of their parental units to a pre-prom party and photo shoot at the house this evening. In total we had nine couples and 30 or so parents many of whom stayed on after the kids departed for our own little party. This was our first opportunity to meet Lila, Nico’s date. She was both charming and beautiful.

I worked like a mad man herding couples into the basement, a pair at a time, for a studio portrait and then corralling them all together in the backyard for a group portrait. Despite the time pressure, I am very pleased with results and think everyone will be pleased with the outcome. The kids could not have been more cooperative and into the photography which made it a lot of fun for me. I have posted the full album here.

Quite unhappy that she was not able to read her new book, Jeanine asked me to look at her Kindle this morning. It did not take long before I had completely disassembled the unit and identified the source of the problem. Although it looked fine from the front, the back of the viewing screen was badly cracked making a repair impossible. When I explained what had happened, Jeanine remembered “shoving” a water bottle into her purse containing the Kindle last night. Mystery no more.

I luckily arrived just in time to watch Maya run two events in a track meet with Lexington early this evening. She ran the 800m (improving her personal best by 6/10ths of a second) and the third leg of the 4x400m relay (pictured here). Later on, Nicolai joined me for soccer practice with my team. I did some light running and played for a few minutes at 25% intensity. My hamstring has healed faster than I expected but it was totally clear to me that I will not be ready to play this weekend. Nico looked nimble among the over-50 crowd and I suspect that he will gain a lot from practicing with us as he works to stay in shape for his next match with the AASA.

For reasons unknown to me, Maya decided to put on her point shoes after dinner. Rather than inquire what she was doing, I simply asked if I could photograph them. She was more than willing and we completed a series of two dozen images of just the shoes in various states of ballet pose. At the end of the session, I capture a few ful- body portraits. I cherish these times with Maya and will look back on these photos decades from now with fond, fond memories.

According to our local meteorologists, an extended period of La Nina ended in April which means we can expect greater than average rainfall and cooler than average temperatures over the coming months. On the down side, my commutes are far less photogenic, on the bright side, electric and water bills should be lower than normal. In truth, I enjoy a climate with four distinct seasons and have little to complain about the variety we get in Massachusetts.

Maya was in action on the track this afternoon in a dual meet with Lincoln Sudbury. She ran in the 800m for her second time, finishing 9 seconds faster than her first effort. I made my own sprint from work to arrive minutes before her 4 x 400m relay. She ran the second leg making up a huge margin and finishing in fine form. I need to study the best angles for shooting a track event but was rather pleased with this first effort made with my pocket camera. Jeanine and I were thrilled to watch her compete in a new sport and appreciated the team camaraderie that was on display.

Whenever I venture off the beaten path I invariably find some of my most interesting photographic opportunities. I continued working with my mother on her house this morning and left for the return drive to Concord shortly after noon. I have made this trip several dozen times but with no particular deadline to meet I decided to explore nooks and crannies along the way. Above is the Grafton Peace Pagoda, one of two in the United States, built in 1993 under the guidance of Buddhist nun, Jun Yasuda. In 1978 she walked from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. with Native Americans as part of the “longest walk,” a coordinated peace movement and since then has walked cross-country several times in the name of peace.

Below is a building on the RPI campus which I believe is some type of entrepreneurial business incubator. It is an amazing photographic subject that left me with more than a dozen unique perspectives and compositions.

With no hope of playing soccer this weekend on my still recovering pulled hamstring, I drove to Schenectady to help my mother prepare her house for sale. We interviewed two Realtors and selected the clearly stronger one. Initially I thought I would spend a good portion of the day photographing the house and gardens for the listing. My attention quickly turned, however, to rectifying issues with the wiring and plumbing that are sure to fail inspection. In a fluke accident, I put my elbow through a door window and lost an hour and a half of my time to this self-generated project. I didn’t have the right tools and supplies with me to tackle the main electrical challenge which will be the conversion of the home from fuses to circuit breakers and removal of the visible knob and tube wiring which I plan to address during my next visit. Pictured below is the before picture of the electrical panel. After sundown, I attempted to photograph the Super Moon event but was thwarted by heavy cloud cover despite several hours of waiting for a break.

As I pulled into the driveway this evening I was motivated by the great light and Nala’s posture on the lawn to photograph the house. Nala can appear quite regal as she surveys her dominion constantly on guard for potential transgressors.