I spent a good portion of the day repairing various items around the house.  Pictured above is the vacuum breaker for our lawn irrigation system. The most challenging aspect of the job was locating a replacement washer for the now-discontinued valve.  Happily, the repair was successful. Regrettably, it was not the only source of leaking in our system and I now need to look for the next one.  Other repairs included replacing the electronic ignitor in our outdoor grill, replacing a visor retention clip on the Audi, and various other small projects that needed attention.

The birdhouses at the edge of our property are home to a pair of Bluebird families.  I think it is fair to say that they will be spending the day indoors as long as this rather large hawk remains in the immediate neighborhood.

Although we had no particular plans to do any mountain climbing, Jeanine and I found ourselves in Keene Valley and decided to hike to the summit of Hopkins Mountain which offers a stunning panoramic view of the Adirondack Mountain range. We completed the 6.4 mile climb to the 3183 foot bald peak in just over 4 hours returning to our car as it began to rain heavily.

When I was a small boy my family visited Ausable Chasm, the “Little Grand Canyon of the East.” The 2 mile long sandstone gorge begins at Rainbow Falls and eventually empties into Lake Champlain. My mother tells the story of my brother Mark who crawled under the railing to drop leaves into the chasm and how she snatched him back from the edge of the cliff. Only now can I appreciate how terrifying that must have been. Jeanine and I got an early start and took the ferry from Vermont to New York arriving ahead of the Memorial Day weekend crowds.

The Pink Lady Slipper orchid below is one of two Jeanine spotted while hiking along the chasm trails. They have become very rare in this part of the world. After completing the gorge trails we ventured upstream to investigate Rainbow Falls.

In the afternoon we visited Lake Placid, home to the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics and one of the more pristine lakes in the Adirondack Mountains. A boat tour of the area provided a wealth of information about the lake and close views of the “summer camps” of the rich and famous who flock here during the warmer months.

Jeanine located a primitive campground adjacent to Taylor Pond where we enjoyed my rudimentary camp cooking, a nice fire, and the company of three loons.

On a whim, Jeanine and I decided to head off on a road trip.  Our first destination was Burlington, VT where we dined with and spent the night at Jeanine’s sister’s house.  Before arriving we went for a leisurely stroll on the town’s boardwalk/bike path which borders Lake Champlain.  There, preparations were underway for the Vermont City Marathon and Relay to be run on Sunday.  We encountered what appear to be the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz and a litter of baby Rottweilers which could not have been more adorable.  Good thing we left Maya at home with Nicolai and Johnny, otherwise we would have been returning home with another dog.

I purchased this camp stove some 30 years ago.  Today I sold it on Craig’s List for a profit.  It really pays to take care of your equipment.  The stove can run on unleaded gas, kerosene, or white gas.  I am replacing it with one that runs on propane which is a much easier and safer fuel to work with.  Still up for sale is a vintage Coleman lantern which I also expect to sell at a profit.

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When my new Tesla X arrives I am looking forward to some serious cross-country travel and car camping.  I currently have a 1 person ultralight tent for solo backpacking, a 2 person tent that Jeanine and I use when flying to a destination where we will be car camping and a giant 6 person tent that we use as a family for car and backyard camping.  Today I picked up a 4 person tent that will be used by Jeanine and I for road trips. It is tall enough to stand in and has room inside for a pair of chairs and a small table.  Our 6-person Marmot is now up for sale on Craig’s list.  All initial tent testing happens in our master bedroom.  If I don’t like the dimensions, setup, tear-down, or features it goes right back to REI without getting dirty.  This one is a keeper.

It has been a long time since I paid any attention to the Audi which has been complaining about a failed side marker light bulb for several months.  Realizing last week that the MA vehicle inspection had long since expired, I decided to take care of numerous minor issues and take it in for inspection.  Accessing the bulb required removal of a fair number of large components in the engine compartment but in the end proved to be fairly straightforward.  A small plastic clip which holds the sun visor in place needed to be replaced.  The dealership wanted $35 for the $1 piece of plastic.  I found an identical replacement on eBay for $2.89 including shipping from China.   I also took time to document 3 dents on the car for a repair estimate.  If the quote is reasonable, I’ll have these taken care of as well.

My nephew John contributes to the household by cooking dinner on Sunday nights. He has become quite a proficient cook and we look forward to what he will select each weekend.  This evening we enjoyed meatballs with fava beans and spinach/date/sourdough bread salad in addition to a delicious tomato soup prepared by Jeanine. I had quite an appetite after my morning soccer game in which I played 80 minutes.  We managed a 1-1 tie despite the fact that we had only one sub to our opponent’s 6.

We celebrated my niece Rachel’s 19th birthday this evening with my sister Alissa, her husband John, their son Johnny, and the rest of our family. Rachel is in her freshman year at Babson and seems to be enjoying college life immensely. In addition to being an excellent scholar, she is a highly accomplished ballroom dancer who competes with the Harvard dance team.

Jeanine joined me for a 5 mile paddle on the Sudbury River after completing a 22 mile bike ride earlier in the day.  A more perfect day for kayaking I cannot remember as we enjoyed numerous wildlife sightings and the serenity of being on the water.  Meanwhile, Nicolai had a speaking gig in Great Barrington, MA and was joined for the road trip by cousin John. The pair continued on to spend the night at my sister’s house in Slingerlands, NY and will return tomorrow.

My nephew, John Quinn, has settled nicely into his new Product Manager job at Nielson. He continues to live with us and is a great addition to the household. Today he prepared an enormous batch of homemade granola to bring to the office and left a portion at home for the family to enjoy.  He prepares exotic dinners every Sunday night which take half the day to prepare only to be consumed in a matter of delicious moments.  We chat on topics from technology, entrepreneurship, and management to SUVs and politics.

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Maya was inducted into the National Honor Society during a ceremony this evening at the high school.  Inductees must satisfy requirements in the areas of scholarship, leadership, service, and character. Her mother and I were members of the NHS and could not be more proud that she has also been recognized with this distinction.

The hummingbird feeder outside the bay window over our kitchen sink has seen a lot of visitors over the past few days. I decided to try and capture a few this afternoon.  It was both cold and windy so I bundled up before taking up a position on the deck with a long telephoto lens.  I don’t consider these to be very good photographs and will try again with better lighting and more interesting background.

Nicolai is back for the summer break after completing his sophomore year at Colorado College.  He drove straight through from Colorado Springs with his friend Oliver and is seen above unloading (tossing) his gear from the SUV.  Nico has been doing very well academically and remains very excited about school and his choice of CC. He looks to have put on a few pounds, much of it muscle, some of it not, since our last visit.  The US National Amputee Soccer Team is tentatively scheduled to attend a tournament in Costa Rica this summer so he is going to have to start training again to get back into world class soccer shape.

Even with 4 and a half inch heels on, Maya appears petite compared to her prom date, Chris Ruediger, an excellent student and talented musician (Chris’ website). We hosted a pre-prom party at our house for a large group of Maya’s friends providing an opportunity for everyone to get photographs of the kids before they boarded a bus for the Boston Park Plaza where the event was held.  I orchestrated some group shots in the backyard (will post tomorrow) and did indoor and outdoor portraits for many of the couples. Because my photo studio is adjacent to my woodworking shop, some of the kids found objects to use for props. I am particularly fond of the photos below featuring matching hearing protectors. I am still working on a clever caption.

For 11 years now I have been posting a photo and short message every day on this blog.  It all started with the photo of Maya above taken when she was 5 years old.  According to my website this is the 6,194th post I have made.  There have been many days when I struggled to find the inspiration or energy to create an entry. Fortunately, I managed to persevere and am very proud of the journal I have created for the benefit of my family and friends. At some point, when Maya graduates high school perhaps, I imagine I may scale back to weekly postings. I am also starting to look for some software that can convert this blog into a PDF book. When I am long gone and no one is left to maintain this website, I’d like to ensure that there is a permanent record of this photo journal for my kids and theirs.

We could not have been prouder of Maya who was presented three academic awards this evening by the Principal of Concord Carlisle High School. She earned High Honors for Academic Excellence, an Excellence Award for Electrical Engineering, and a Certificate of Merit with Highest Honors from the Society of Women Engineers for three years of excellence in science and mathematics.

I returned to the hospital this morning to find my mother feeling quite well and in good spirits. Her surgeon felt that she had tolerated the procedure well and could be released. We made our escape by early afternoon and joined her sister, Maruja, for a late lunch. My mom will stay with her sister and brother-in-law for at least a week at which time she needs to check in with her doctor again for the all clear.  They live just minutes from the hospital on the shore of Little Neck Bay.

My mother was hospitalized on Sunday when she began to experience severe pains in her abdomen while dancing at a studio in Astoria, NY.  She was taken by ambulance to St. Francis Hospital on Long Island where tests suggested that she had an infected gallbladder. Her symptoms subsided after being treated with antibiotics but the doctor recommended it would be best to remove the organ.  At 87 any surgery is risky but we all agreed that it would be best to have the operation.  I left early in the morning for NY so I could ensure that she was being well cared for and provide some measure of comfort.  My cousin Edward, a Nassau County police officer, also stopped by and threatened to arrest her if she did not cooperate with hospital staff. The 1 hour laparoscopic surgery was successful and she was resting comfortably when I left the hospital late in the evening. The surgeon said the gallbladder was 8 times the normal size and was “nearly gangrenous”. The decision to have it removed was clearly the right course of action.

I prepared another batch of items for sale on Craig’s List today including a macro lens, subwoofer, and high resolution computer monitor. Photographing black objects can be very challenging. The trick is to emphasize the highlights and I enjoyed discovering the best lighting arrangements to do this.  These three items alone will net over a thousand dollars so the work to get good images is well worth the effort.

Maya prepared breakfast in bed for a Mother’s Day treat. The meal included French toast, eggs, sliced apples, and coffee.  I managed to score a couple of slices of French toast in the deal.  The boys both called to wish Jeanine a happy Mother’s Day and all three kids are off the hook for their recent dismal performance on her birthday.

I called my mother to wish her well and am posting a couple of pictures of us together for her enjoyment. Yes, I once had a lot of hair and yes my mother is and was a beautiful woman, both in appearance and spirit.

I played one of my better soccer games this morning but not well enough to help my squad defeat Belmont.  I almost scored on a diving header which would have been a spectacular way to break the 0-0 tie we had to settle for.

In preparation for Maya’s pre-prom party to be held here next weekend, I constructed a massive light panel to aid in full-length couples photography.  The panel, measuring 6ft x 4ft, is made of three light troffer fixtures that I salvaged from a remodeling project at work some ten years ago (I knew they would come in handy someday). I refitted the fixtures for LED bulbs and mounted the whole affair on casters.

Maya's Amplifier from Carl Calabria on Vimeo.

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My workshop is illuminated by more than 50 fluorescent bulbs each 4 foot long and all powered by instant start electronic ballasts. The ballasts seem to last for about three or four years before they burnout which makes for a tedious repair task. I decided to replace all the fluorescents with LED bulbs which have a rated life of 50,000 hours, consume half the electricity and do not require a balllast at all. The conversion required removal of the ballast from each fixture, installation of new bulb sockets on one end, and rewiring of the lights. The project took the entire day but was well worth the effort. There is nothing more enjoyable than a well lit workspace except one that uses half the electricity.

For years, Jeanine has saved the cutoff pant legs from Nico’s trousers. Now she has decided to make a quilt out of the them. Clearly a labor of love, I am looking forward to photographing the final result.  Whether she will keep it for herself or, at some point, gift it to Nicolai remains to be seen.

I spent a good portion of the day scanning old photographs I located while cleaning out the attic. Pictured here is my future bride who is still just as cute and lovable today.

Part of our downsizing effort includes digitizing all paper documents and artwork for more compact digital storage.  I came across this long-forgotten invitation I received to attend the 1976 Olympic Training Camp. It arrived after I won the NY state freestyle wrestling championship during the summer after I graduated high school. I chose to take a job with Bell Labs in the fall rather than training for the Olympics. Looking back, I realize what a critical fork in the road that decision represented.  I am left to wonder how my life would be different today had I taken the other path.