The kids joined us for a late lunch today. I cooked steaks on the grill, and Jeanine made a great strawberry salad. Afterwards, we watched the UEFA Champions League final, which turned out to be a rather boring one-sided affair. We had a chance to catch up on their latest work and relationship status. We feel so fortunate to have them all living close by.
Maya just received another promotion at work, Kyle made an offer on a second house located in Chelsea, and Nico was featured in this week’s Concord Journal for his work promoting the Beautiful Game.
Jeanine and I attended Chopped for Charity, the Open Table fundraiser that she started several years ago when she was the Executive Director of the organization. This evening, the honored guest was Deena Whitfield, former Chairman of the Board. Jeanine was invited to speak about the impact she had on both herself and the organization. Here is her speach:
“Fierce. A force to be reckoned with. Persuasive, indefatigable, strategic, energizing, infectiously positive.” These are the words former Board members who could not attend this evening used to describe working with Deena
It is a privilege to be able to honor – my friend and former colleague Deena Whitfield. As the BOD chair and ED, we faced many major challenges that led to organizational transformations. With Deena as a partner the challenges became bumps in the road toward a greater shared vision. That vision is what I want to thank her for this evening
I met Deena Whitfield in 2013 at my first OT Board meeting. Peter Hilton was president and Lynn Zubrigg the chair. That day, the Board was discussing the recent strategic plan when Deena spoke up: “I think we should be striving to make Open Table the best food relief program in the country.” ….that ambitious statement rendered the rest of the board speechless.
It came as no surprise when, a year later, the Board voted Deena and Patty Chambers in as co-chairs. If anyone had the vision and drive to help Open Table become the best it could be, it was Deena, and Patty would be able to navigate the Maynard local politics.
“Think more strategically” became her rallying cry. Under Deena’s leadership of the Board, OT experienced an accelerated transition from an operations board to a strategic one—a change that has arguably had the greatest impact on Open Table’s trajectory. Yes, she’s an amazing fundraiser and a natural leader. But more importantly, she was able to bring the entire Board along on the journey, paving the way for other major transitions. Little did we know, it would also prepare us for one of the biggest crisis we’d ever face—and no, it wasn’t the pandemic.
In 2015, Open Table lost its Maynard location at the Mill, leaving us just two weeks to find a new home for our community dinner. At the time, it was infuriating, but in hindsight the catalyst for a second major cultural shift-professionalizing the all-volunteer organization.
By the end of her term as Board chair, Deena had accomplished much. She had convinced the Board to hire the first professional staff, she negotiated a lease with a purchase clause for the 33 Main Street site (with the Aubuchon Hardware), then co-led a capital campaign and brokered very favorable mortgage terms with Middlesex Bank to secure Open Table’s “ permanent home”, a term she coined that rallied longtime volunteers to get behind this major shift.
Changes of this magnitude would test any organization, but the strategic culture shifts Deena had cultivated made it possible for Open Table to weather these foundational transitions. This shift later paved the way for Open Table to purchase two more buildings and our refrigerated truck, with Deena, now a volunteer on the fundraising committee, strategizing the campaigns that made these acquisitions possible.
So tonight, let us raise our glasses to Deena’s early vision realized: To creating the best food relief organization in the area if not the country, that vision has had vast impact , and you are still here, inspiring others to join OT on the the journey.
Completing our landscaping plan for the new house will be a multi-year effort. This season, Jeanine and I focused on the small (brown) patch beneath the driveway turnaround and to the right of the garage. Over the last week, we have planted or replanted more than 100 Sedge Grass and Prairie Dropseed Grass plants in an offset grid pattern surrounding smaller randomly placed plants from last year. In a few years, this whole area will be a mass of green with no earth showing, or at least, that is our expectation. Time will tell. The clover “lawn” we planted on the left side of the house has filled in beautifully in just one season, so there is reason for optimism.
In the 20-year history of this blog, I do not believe I have ever recognized a company for superior customer service. Today, I would like to talk about my experience with Kite Optics. About a year ago, I decided to purchase a new pair of binoculars for use at the River House. I already owned a Canon 12×36 Image Stabilized binocular, which I bought more than a decade ago for use in the field (weight was an important consideration). The Kite Optics 14×50 APC Stabilized unit that I purchased offered more magnification and better low-light performance at the expense of being heavier. Weight was not a consideration since I intended to use it exclusively from within the house to observe the river critters that visit so frequently. From the day it arrived, I have enjoyed this glass immensely. The optical and stabilization performance are superb. When Jeanine and I returned from New Zealand I noticed that the stabilization did not seem to be working. The unit has built in rechargeable batteries so I assumed that after a year of use they finally needed charging and gave it a full over night charge. The next day, the image stabilization still did not work. I then asked Nico, who was house sitting for us while we were away, if anything traumatic had happened to the binoculars. He assured me they had been used with care. I then noticed that the alignment mark on the power switch did not seem to be properly registered to the ON-OFF symbols on the body. At this point, I contacted RSD Outdoor, the exclusive US distributor of Kite Optics and explained the situation. I was asked to return the binoculars for examination. A few days later, I received confirmation that they had received the binoculars and that they would be sending me a brand new replacement. Bear in mind that I paid close to $2,000 for this unit. No muss, no fuss, just a commitment to get me operational again. Based on this experience and the performance of the product, I can give Kite Optics and RSD Outdoor Inc. my highest endorsement.
Jeanine and I spent much of the day in the garden, planting and replanting tall grasses in the front yard. They need to be installed on a 24″ x 24″ offset grid. The initial installation we paid for was less of a grid and more of a random scattering. Because the soil in this area of the yard has a high density of buried rocks, each hole must be excavated with a pickaxe, making it tedious work. Even so, it was very satisfying to install about 40 pants. Tomorrow, we hope to complete the grid with an additional 25 plants.
Even though I featured our rhododendron in yesterday’s post, the blooms are so magnificent right now that I thought a second entry was warranted. The foreground is the clover we planted last year, and it is looking quite robust this season.
I returned to Concord today to find our rhododendrons in full bloom, a lovely welcome home gift. My journey was uneventful until I reached home and began unpacking. Only then did I realize I was missing the telephoto lens I had taken for the trip. There is a possibility that I left it at the team hotel in San Benedetto del Tronto.
UPDATE: I have learned that the hotel has my lens and I am making arrangements to have it shipped to me. What a relief!
After four straight losses, my soccer team finally found its footing and won our final two games of the tournament this morning. It was just enough to secure a third-place finish and rehabilitate our confidence and psyche. A ten-course meal at a hilltop restaurant with a commanding view of the Adriatic followed the competition. We had a scoreless tie in our first match which went to penalty kicks where we won 2-1. In our second match, we produced a compelling 3-0 win. I made my first positive contribution to the team with an assist on our first goal. Trophy and finishing place aside, we earned the respect of our Italian hosts after two days of amateur performance.
After the three-hour lunch and trophy presentation, it was time to catch a bus back to Rome. The return was made infinitely more pleasant because I was traveling with three of my compatriots, one of whom is a fellow photographer and kindred spirit. As we passed over/through the mountains that separate Italy’s east and west coast, I managed a picture of the ~10,000 foot peaks through the window of the bus.
As I predicted before the soccer tournament started, my team was either going to do very well or very poorly. Unfortunately, the latter option seems to be the case. We played two more matches today, losing the first 0-1 and the second 1-2. The only positive outcome was the fact that we scored our first goal! In the words of our acting team manager, “The Italians are all tall, thin, fast, ex-pros.” Once again, I did little to distinguish myself on the pitch. In the photo, taken by one of my injured teammates, I managed to steal the ball and drive it to the end line only to mishandle it out of bounds. We have two more matches tomorrow and lost another player to injury today. Suffice it to say, we aren’t optimistic about our chances.
After returning to the team hotel, I went for 4-mile walk in the Spiaggia Riserva Naturale Sentina (nature reserve along the beach), where I encountered many interesting scenes.
Our tournament got off to a rough start despite the ebullient mood in the locker room before our first match. We faced Nazionale Italia and lost 1-0. If I am being honest, we were lucky to have given up only one goal. The weather was wet and chilly at kickoff time. We did our customary half hour warm up. These guys walked out of the club house with no warm up and beat us like a drum. I did manage to make a breakaway down the right wing and put a cross into the box and onto the head of our striker. It was my only productive moment of the game. Unfortunately, it was a little behind my teammate who had to step back to get his head on it thus losing all power on the shot.
Our second match started less than ten minutes after our first one ended, and our fatigue was apparent. We lost this match 0-2 to S.P.V. Master Team PD in their first match of the day. Realistically, this is a game we could have tied or won, but luck was not on our side.
Tomorrow we play another two matches, this time without our star striker, who has a strained Achilles tendon, and our manager/striker, who is headed for the UK to watch his son graduate from college tomorrow.
The motivation for my current trip to Europe is to compete in an over-60 soccer tournament with my Concord United team. The Italian Police Association is organizing the competition, and the other teams appear to be made up of police from different regions of the country. This evening our squad converged on the small seaside town of San Benedetto del Tronto located on the Adriatic coast. I traveled from Rome by bus. The trip took only two and a half hours which was faster than the train that many of my compatriots used. The competition starts tomorrow with two matches in the afternoon. I am predicting that we will either win big or lose big. Stay tuned.
Vatican City is the world’s smallest independent state, an ecclesiastical state ruled by the Pope. With a total area of 0.17 square miles and a population of approximately 882 people, it is the smallest sovereign state in the world by both area and population. I got up very early so I could avoid the crowds and get a clean aerial photo of St. Peter’s Bascillica and Square. I did not go into any of the museums or chapels as I hope to share that experience with Jeanine on a future visit.
One of my personal lifetime goals is to have visited the same number of countries as I have years of age. It is a way of incentivizing myself to get out and experience the world. My visit to the Vatican City today put me one over my age, and later this summer Jeanine and I will be visiting Northern Ireland, which will put me at two plus. Another goal it to have visited all the US National Parks. More about that in a future post.
Castel Sant’Angelo.
Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II.
Piazza del Popolo.
A typical street in Rome. Notice the numerous rooftop gardens and crowded narrow streets. Unlike other major cities I have visited in the past few months (Prague, Sydney, Christchurch, Auckland) Rome was not all that I expected. Certainly, the history, the architecture, and the art are unmatched, but the city itself is dirty, noisy, and chaotic. As someone who is half Italian, this is hard for me to write. During the course of my two days here, I have seen at least 500 police men and women suggesting either a major problem with crime or a fear of attack, neither reason inspiring much confidence. To be balanced in my perspective, there are moments when you walk into a square and the view just takes your breath away. We have nothing like this in the United States.
This is my fourth visit to Italy and, oddly, my first time in Rome. My travel from Prague was a bit tiring, considering I walked about 2 miles with a 40-pound backpack and another 6 miles with just my camera and drone. Cars, planes, and trains did the rest. It was raining when I arrived, so I did not get out until late afternoon. The walk revealed one amazing scene after another. I resisted the temptation to tour any of the sites pictured as I hope to do that with Jeanine when we return.
The Vltava River is the longest in the Czech Republic. The river meanders through the entire country and the heart of Prague. I was determined to photograph two of the most beautiful horseshoe bends, which are found in the south. Had the skies been a little less gloomy, I would have been a bit happier with the photos.
While I was in the neighborhood, I visited the Karlštejn Castle, a large Gothic castle located about 16 km southwest of Prague. It was founded in 1348 by King Charles IV, who later became Holy Roman Emperor. The castle was originally built to safeguard the Imperial Regalia, the Bohemian Crown Jewels, holy relics, and other royal treasures. The construction was personally supervised by Charles IV and took nearly 20 years to complete. The castle was designed with a hierarchical layout on three terraces: the Imperial Palace on the lowest level, the Marian Tower above it, and the Big Tower at the highest level. The Big Tower houses the Chapel of the Holy Cross, a unique and heavily fortified space where the crown jewels and important documents were kept behind multiple locked doors. Strategically built on a promontory surrounded by hills and steep rocks, Karlštejn was designed to be difficult to besiege. Notably, the castle had a secret water supply system involving a deep well and an underground channel, known only to the emperor, the burgrave, and the miners who constructed it. Legend says the miners were killed afterward to keep the secret safe.
I ended the day back in Prague where I decided to make a 180-degree panoramic photo of the Vltava River. Such photos are geometrically distorted (this section of the river is actually straight) but allowed me to show the bridges in both direction.
While walking through a street market, I spotted these beautiful fruit arrangements and had to pause for a photo. Now that I am looking at the image more closely and am somewhat hungry, I have decided to return to buy a basket.
I gave myself a break from serious photography and walked as little as possible today to recover from my adventures of the past week. I spent last night in Brno primarily because of its strategic location on my driving circuit rather than anything I wanted to photograph. I spent most of the day culling photos and updating this blog which took more time than usual because of the amount of writing. I am spending the night in Dubno, where I have rented an entire one bedroom flat for a whopping $32.55. Jeanine will be the first to tell you that I am not keen on spending a lot of money on lodging when traveling for photography. My requirements; near where I want to be, clean, quiet, hot shower, free Wi-Fi, and free parking. I generally arrive post-dusk and leave pre-dawn so I would rather spend my money on entrance fees or tour guides or food.
This website is dedicated to sharing, with family and friends, the day-to-day adventures of the Calabria family.
