We are members of a local CSA . Each week we pick up a basketful of in season vegetables and/or fruits. With Jeanine arriving later this evening it fell to me to make today’s pickup. I must admit it was fun to select from the variety of offerings with the knowledge that Jeanine would transform it all into some very yummy and healthy meals.
I spotted this hawk in the backyard and was able to get close enough for a decent shot. This is possibly the largest one I have seen in the area.
Pictured here is my kayak storage / car loading system. A pulley system lowers the kayaks directly onto my homemade car carrier with almost no effort. In the storage position the kayaks are near the ceiling of the garage where they are well out of harms way. I can load and secure a kayak in less than 2 minutes with no assistance.
224 miles into her Montana biking expedition, Maya reached the small town of Choteau today. The kids get to make one phone call each week and Jeanine was the recipient of the first. Maya reports that she is having a great time and that their route is extremely beautiful. I Googled Choteau and found this image by photographer Ann Torrence. Before she left I gave Maya a nice camera and I hope she is making frequent use of it.
Still stiff from the volleyball tournament yesterday, it was not easy to drag myself to soccer practice this morning but I did none the less. After a torrential downpour during the early afternoon, I set out for some photography in the towns of Sudbury and Maynard. My final destination was the Assabett River National Wildlife Refuge where I found an ample supply of subjects.
Each of the following photos contains at least one insect. There are a total of 78 including 6 species.
This evening, Nicolai was the honorary captain of the New England Revolution MLS soccer team participating in the coin toss to start their match against the Columbus Crew. He earned his stripes by winning the toss for the Revs. Nico received ten complimentary clubhouse tickets and invited his friends to join him for the game. When one couple canceled, I was next in line for a ticket and enjoyed the opportunity to see him at center field with Jose Goncalves and Michael Parkhurst, captains for the Revs and Crew respectively.
Earlier in the day I attended the iRobot annual summer picnic at Kimbal Farm. This year I was assigned to a pretty respectable volleyball team and we placed second in the eight team tournament. I was able to make some positive contributions to my team but with each passing year I feel my speed is approaching that of this guest of the farm.
At any given time I own a half dozen cameras. The one pictured here is a Sony RX100 which I carry with me all the time. One day (soon) someone will design a high quality camera phone. These medicines like Kamagra are thought to be the only cause of impotence, but several physical disorders are now known to trigger the problem such as biochemical and biomechanical, acidic changes in the body: aching neck, sore back, sciatic pain, leg cramps, spasms, joint pain, stiffness, and swelling of hands, ankles and feet Increasing blood and lymph circulation Enhancing skin elasticity and muscle flexibility Stimulating the release of endorphins. ordine cialis on line find to find out more Fiction: Erectile dysfunction condition is “all sale levitra in the mind”. This generic ED medication is available in various potencies such as 2.5, 5, 10 and 20 cialis for sale canada mg. The newspaper mainly focuses on the news cheapest cialis from india and issues related to Austin and the Central Texas region. Until then, I will be using a purpose built camera for my everyday “snapshots”. Today I sold this trusted friend and replaced it with the newest generation of the same model, the RX100 iii. It features a better lens, a better sensor, and a pop up viewfinder to name the key improvements.
When people ask me why I love living in Concord it would be easy to explain if I had this photo on hand. Beyond our quaint downtown and our historic landmarks, the town has fought fiercely to preserve open spaces. This scene is less than a mile from our house.
Liverpool F.C. played A.S. Roma this evening in a friendly match at Fenway Park. Who knew you could squeeze a soccer pitch into a baseball park? Roma scored the only goal in stoppage time for the win. I attended the match with Nico as a guest of Lumber Liquidators. They are sponsoring Nico’s amp soccer teammate, Noah Grove (pictured above) who is in town for the event with his parents. The match was not terribly exciting but the company was great.
Jeanine left for California this morning and will be spending the next week with Kyle.
My eye is often drawn to patterns. These can be found across from Verrill Farm on the Old Road to Nine Acre Corner, one of my favorite street names of all time. The tongue-twister title of this post was created with today’s pattern theme in mind.
Lilly celebrates her first birthday surrounded by balloons sent by Jeanine and her sister Susan. Lilly is the daughter of Jeanine’s niece, Erica.
A fairly large portion of the day was devoted to getting Maya packed for her Apogee bike trip. She leaves early tomorrow morning for Montana where she will bike an average of 40 miles per day for the next three weeks. In addition, she will complete 30 hours of community service on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, raft the Flathead River, and bike the “Going to the Sun” road in Glacier National Park, one of the most scenic highways in the country. After a special family dinner (Maya requested Mexican Torta for her farewell meal and Jeanine added a healthy quinoa salad) we had a long FaceTime chat with Kyle who has settled nicely into the house he is renting. I was back on the soccer pitch this morning working on my touch and conditioning. I will be playing in a big summer tournament in August and need to stay in shape.
We are fortunate to live less than a mile from 200 acre, family run, Verrill Farm, established in 1918. Today was the Blueberry Pancake Breakfast and Pie Eating Contest, one of many seasonal festivals held throughout the year. With Jeanine and Maya driving back from Vermont this afternoon, I was thrilled to have a good reason to head out for breakfast. The fresh blueberry pancakes are really quite delicious and worth the 30 minute wait in line.
The pie eating contest is broken up into different age groups. Contestants may not use their hands at anytime and the first to produce a clean pie tin is the winner. Many participants care less about winning a ribbon and more about enjoying the pie.
My favorite benefit at iRobot is half-day Fridays. During the summer months you can leave at noon if you have put in 40 hours before then. I decided to spend the afternoon on the water in my home built kayak. The weather was ideal and I encountered dozens of turtles, hundreds of damselflies, and a hand full of huge blue herons. I covered about 7 miles so as not to overdo things on my first outing of the summer. My right shoulder is still hurting from beach volleyball in Brazil so I kept my pace fairly slow.
I learned to appreciate a beautiful sunset from my father. He knew how to pause whatever he was doing and give his full attention to the appreciation of nature’s light show. This was also true of a good campfire. I am pleased that I inherited his mindfulness and ability to really live in the moments of such beauty. With Jeanine visiting her sister in Vermont, Maya at ballet camp in Montreal, and Nico on a date with Koruna, I enjoyed the sunset this evening with memories of my father.
Gerbil B wished to be photographed with a funny face. Rose has a distinctly different personality than her sister and I am reminded of the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character when I am around her. She is a bundle of energy and a force of nature. I enjoyed this visit and was sad to see the girls leave today. Jeanine heads north to visit her sister in Burlington, Vermont today before the pair continue on to Montreal to pick up Maya from ballet camp.
We are enjoying a visit this week from my two nieces, Sophia and Rosie. They are here with my brother’s wife, Marie, who is in town on business. Yesterday, Jeanine spent the day with them at White Pond and today took them to the Science Museum in Boston by way of the commuter rail and “T”. When I returned from work, I conducted two belly button inspections, clearing both children for dinner after which I singled out Sophia for a few photographs. Their time with us has been positioned as a visit to camp Calabria. As such they have been given camp names. I call Sophia, Gerbil A. Tomorrow, the blog will feature a picture of her sister, Gerbil B.
Jeanine’s raspberry patch produced the first fruit of the season. Always a good excuse to break out the ice cream, I sampled the crop and am During the 1976 American presidential campaign, Jones met with slovak-republic.org levitra 40 mg Vice Presidential candidate Walter Mondale on his campaign plane. Around the globe, rising medical cost is becoming one of the major concerns of people as it constitutes cheap cialis slovak-republic.org one of the major expenses of household. Dosage information: You should take buy cheap levitra this medicine only when a man is sexually aroused. This sexual dysfunction is seen as one of the most common of them all is the inability of the arteries in the brain owing to the inhibition cheap levitra http://www.slovak-republic.org/levitra-1612.html of PDE5, the body experiences augmentation in nitric oxide release. prepared to declare it will be a good year for berries. The trick now, is to visit the patch everyday to gather the ripe fruit before the deers and birds make off with the harvest.
What a difference a day makes. Clear skies and unlimited visibility have been replaced by thick clouds and the threat of rain. Determined to reach home in time for the World Cup finals, I skip breakfast and break camp before dawn. In my haste, I managed to miss the turn for the Zealand Hut and found myself atop South Twin Mountain. I was in no mood to retrace several hours of my climb and decided to continue over North Twin and back to civilization via Haystack Road. I was extremely fortunate to meet a trio of Tufts students at the end of the trail who were kind enough to drive 30 minutes out of their way to return me to my car. I made a beeline for home and only missed the first 5 minutes of the game, which I watched, flanked on either side by my visiting nieces. The extremely rocky trails, four 4000 footers and a total of 16 hours of climbing have left me very sore but equally happy.
On the advice of a colleague who is an avid White Mountain climber, I am headed for Bondcliff today. Located in the middle of the Pemigewasset wilderness, this very remote 4,265 ft. high peak offers a pristine 360 degree view of the Whites. I start from the Zealand trailhead at 6:30am arriving at the Guyout tent site five and half hours later. Here I pause for lunch and to setup tent (the yellow one) on the provided wooden platforms (3 to a site to accommodate the maximum number of campers).
With a much lighter pack I departed camp at 1:30pm reaching Bondcliff by 3:30pm after a leisurely stop on top of 4698 ft. Mount Bond.
The view from Bondcliff was spectacular and I could not have asked for better weather conditions. If not for my fear of heights, I would have ventured out onto the small rock platform atop the cliff edge for a truly memorable selfie but had to settle for the less dramatic version below. On my return to Guyout, it was my plan to take the spur trail to West Bond for the sunset. My water ran out about the same time my legs did and I thought the better of finishing the day hiking by headlamp.
Before leaving for work this morning I decided I would spend the bulk of the weekend in the White Mountains and quickly packed my backpack for a 2 night excursion. I left work at noon and drove first to Franconia Notch where I stopped for a little photography at the Basin.
I continued on to the Mount Washington Cog Railway, the world’s first mountain-climbing rack-and-pinion railway and a National Historic Engineering Landmark. The three mile railway is the second steepest rack railway in the world with an average grade of over 25% and a maximum grade of 37.41%. Unfortunately, I arrived too late for the last run and had to settle for photos of the descending trains.
I decided to treat myself to a nice dinner in advance of several camp site prepared meals (read dehydrated food) at the famous Mount Washington Resort.
As I was enjoying their strawberry-balsamic soup from the veranda, I was treated to a full moon rising over the mountains. My final stop for the evening was the Zealand campsite.
Jeanine and close friend Irene head out this evening for a long weekend on Martha’s Vineyard. With Nico off to a multi-day concert and Maya in Montreal, I am on my own for the next three days. If the weather holds, I may head to the White Mountains for some climbing or look into a multi-day kayaking trip.
I think it is safe to say that Nico and I returned from Brazil with more clothing and bags then when we left. The Coca-Cola hospitality package included warmup-jackets, rain-jackets, shirts, scarves, umbrellas, hats, tambourines, workout bags, luggage tags, Coke tumblers and this does not even include the Powerade items that Nico received. I had occasion this morning, as I was starting to unpack, to lay many of the items out for a quick photograph. This is not even the whole package. I am not sure about the tambourines, but everything else is going to be put to very good use.
Nico celebrated his twentieth birthday today with friends who joined him to watch the Germany-Brazil semi-final World Cup match at the house. Later he and Koruna went out for a nice dinner and allowed me to make a nice portrait upon their return. It is hard to believe that we our down to one teenager and she is currently in Montreal attending ballet camp.
While Nico and I were in Brazil, Jeanine and Maya were visiting with Kyle and his girlfriend, Isabella, in California. Mother and sister helped Kyle feather his new nest, the house below, which he shares with a few classmates. Maya assembled a complicated Ikea dresser for her brother while Jeanine ensured the driving safety of his car by having the brakes serviced. Since he will not be returning this summer due to his internship at Palo Alto Networks, I will plan to visit him sometime this summer.
Checkout time this morning was 9am and our shuttle to the airport is not until 6pm. We decided to fill the day with sightseeing and hopped into a taxi to Sugarloaf Mountain immediately after breakfast. Unlike my first visit, the atmospheric conditions today are absolutely perfect. With minimal crowds and 20 mile visibility we lingered on top until we had absorbed the amazing panoramic views.
After descending we were fortunate to find the Rio Splash Tour on the verge of departure. We jumped on the amphibious open-sided bus akin to the Boston Duck Boats for a tour of the harbor. The views were exceptional and offered a very different vantage point from which to enjoy the city.
Our final stop for the day was the Copacabana beach where we enjoyed a late lunch, a visit to the FIFA Fanfest Store (a total waste of time), and a stroll on the beach. Never have I seen so many people on such an extensive beach in all my life.
The moment I learned I would be visiting Rio, I knew there was one iconic image I wanted to capture, that of Christ the Redeemer looking down over the city and harbor. This morning, while Nico was sleeping in, I made my way to a local heliport where I boarded a short sightseeing flight. Only an aerial platform could offer the perspective I was looking for. I could not be happier with the resulting image or the many others I captured from the air.
When I returned to the hotel, I joined Nico for some beach volleyball which left me nearly paralyzed after an hour of play. Despite the sore muscles and aggravation to my dilapidated shoulder joints, I was still able to hold my own with the younger players. We then had lunch and enjoyed the Argentina-Belgium quarter-final match in the lounge. During our stay, Nico befriended Anna, one of the few women his age, who is here with her father Brian. The four of us decided we would head down to the Copacabana beach and take in the Netherlands-Costa Rica match from the FanFest that is so often featured in media coverage of the World Cup.
Minutes after the kick-off, it became apparent that people come here to party en masse. The fact that there is a soccer game being projected on a huge screen is almost inconsequential. We wisely chose to return to the hotel 15 minutes into the game as the crowd continued to grow. There we enjoyed the second half, overtime, and exciting penalty kick shoot out. Another perfect day in paradise.
The big day has arrived. We are headed to Maracana Stadium for the quarter-final World Cup match between Germany and France. Nico shows off our complimentary tickets before boarding the bus. The bus for the French National team is also boarding and the security detail to protect them is insane.
The bus ride to the stadium went very quickly as today has been proclaimed a national holiday due to the quarter final match between Brazil and Columbia later this afternoon. We arrived at the Coca-Cola pavilion for lunch and refreshments before the game. Nico poses with Andra in front of a nice locker room backdrop provided just for this purpose.
I nearly had to twist his arm off before Nico would agree to pose for this photo with a dancer we met while making our way to the stadium entrance. I suspect he is now happy I forced him to do so or will be in a couple of years when he revisits the blog. My rule of thumb: Only good things come from the combination of large feathers and beautiful women.
When Nico first got the call from Powerade some 9 months ago we could not have imagined that his journey with the campaign would land us in Brazil for a World Cup match in the Maracana Stadium. I am thrilled that he chose me for his +1 (Kyle and Karuna were both in the running) but even more so that the video I shot of his childhood has been woven into such a compelling story of his life in soccer.
Aside from the caliber of play, a World Cup match is defined by the fervor of the fans rooting for their country. To be among the sea of supporters intent on propelling their team to victory was a truly memorable experience.
The game itself was not as high scoring as some of the matches so far but suffered no lack of intensity by either squad despite the sweltering conditions. Germany’s single goal off a brilliant header was enough to send France home.
After the match we returned to the Sheraton lounge where we all gathered to watch the Brazil-Columbia match on the big screen TVs openly rooting for the home team knowing a win would trigger massive celebration across the nation. Andra, Nico, and Kevin show off their pro Brazil tattoos during half time.
When Brazil emerged victorious we joined a few newly made friends and some of the Coke folks for a sampling of the local pub scene.
I was up with the sun for a little photography on the resort grounds. The rock formation below is situated directly in front of the hotel and was one of my favorite subjects. For this image I used a very long exposure time to blur the motion of the water.
Yesterday Nico received an interview request from a producer at CNN who learned about him through his work at Camp Coleman in Atlanta. While he slept in, exhausted from volleyball, I coordinated their request for a live interview with CNN Newsroom anchor, Brooke Baldwin, for later in the afternoon. I looped in the Powerade PR team who then managed all of the logistics. Arriving just in time to escort us to the CNN “studio” overlooking the Maracana Stadium was Andra London, Senior Global Communications Manager for Coca-Cola. She has really been the point person for Nico’s involvement with the Powerade brand and one of the only people on the campaign who we had yet to meet.
The French National team, under intense security, is also staying at the Sheraton this evening. When Nico noticed Olivier Giroud in the lobby without an entourage, he introduced himself and asked for a picture together. He is still (justifiably) mad at me for not taking a better photo for this one time only opportunity.
Traffic was horrendous as we travelled by taxi to Maracana. CNN has rented an apartment that overlooks the stadium and has converted it to a studio. We arrived with only moments to spare for the live to tape segment, Nico’s first remote interview (Brooke was in Atlanta). We had time for a quick photo with Andra just as the sun was setting. The interview lasted all of five minutes and Nico did a great job. We celebrated with a fine dinner and really enjoyed getting to know Andra who is a remarkable woman and the friendliest person you will ever meet.
We arrived back at the hotel just in time for a special presentation of Brazilian carnival music and dance by last year’s champions, Tijuca. Many of my photos and all of the video I shot are not suitable for posting on this G-rated site but the one below should give you a flavor of the atmosphere.
Despite having seemingly endless beaches, the Sheraton Rio is the city’s only resort actually situated on the water. Our home for the next five days could not be a more welcome sight after a sleepless night in the airplane.
The view from our 11th floor window overlooks the resort grounds and Ipanema Beach to the north. Coca-Cola has literally taken over portions of the hotel where it is hosting guests from around the world for the duration of the World Cup. The entire fifth floor has been converted to a Coca-Cola guest exclusive lounge, discotheque, cafe, big screen viewing area and game arcade. Facades have been built over every wall and decorated with a Brazilian/World Cup/Coca-Cola theme. Meals that would earn praise from Jeanine for their taste, variety and healthfulness are served buffet style in the cafe which easily accommodates the ~300 guests here this week. These include consumer prize package winners from around the world as well as Coca-Cola employees who won internal prize packages. Nico and I are special guests by virtue of his involvement with the Powerade World Cup media campaign and we see his commercials running everywhere from the lounge to the TVs on the buses.
Our host for the week is Bachir Zeroual who we meet upon our arrival. He provides us with our photo credentials and orients us to the excitement that lies ahead.
As soon as we are settled in and have had lunch, Nico makes a beeline for the beach and volleyball. I opt for an afternoon tour to Sugarloaf Mountain.
Situated at the mouth of Guanabara Bay, Sugarloaf Mountain is a peak rising 1,299 ft above the harbor. Its name is said to refer to its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. The mountain is only one of several monolithic granite and quartz mountains that rise straight from the water’s edge around Rio de Janeiro. A glass-walled cable car runs between the peaks of Morro da Urca and Pão de Açúcar from which visitors enjoy a spectacular 360 degree, panoramic view of Rio, the harbor, and the ocean. Unfortunately, hazy weather makes for poor photographs and I decide I will return with Nicolai on a clearer day.
The Calabria’s departed Boston in opposite directions today. Jeanine and Maya are headed to California where they will spend the balance of the week visiting Kyle. Meanwhile, Nicolai and I are headed to Brazil where we will be the guests of the Coca-Cola company for the next five days enjoying a front-row seat to the World Cup quarterfinals. We timed our arrival at the airport so that we could watch the USA vs. Belgium match after clearing security and before our red-eye flight to Rio de Janeiro. Our disappointment over the loss was quickly replaced with excitement when we landed in Rio the following morning and were greeted at the airport by our “lollypop” bearing hosts.