A tour through our garden this morning with my new macro lens produced some interesting images. The rest of my day proved less enjoyable. When someone forgot to reinstall the lint trap on our dryer it led to the ingestion of a towel that wrapped itself around the impeller of the dryer’s blower motor. The repair required a very tedious disassembly of the dryer for the second time in as many months and the better part of my afternoon.

In the evening, the family all attended a rally in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Nico joined friends at the Boston event while the rest of us attended a socially distanced event in Concord. Participants were encouraged to remain in their cars with flashers on or to maintain social distancing if not. This aerial photo of downtown Concord suggests that there was very good compliance with the guidelines.

I did not even need to leave our deck to find this jumping spider lounging on the railing. Jumping spiders are distinguished by their eye pattern, two centrally located large ones, and six smaller ones distributed around the side and back of the head. They are capable of jumping several times their body length and use this athleticism to capture prey but not before attaching a silk line to secure them should they fall. Elsewhere on the deck railing, I found another spider in the middle of enjoying his dinner, possibly a tick or smaller spider. Click on the images for a larger view if you are not the sort to be creeped out by arachnids.

This morning, I got an early start to spend more time with the family of owls I have been visiting for the past few weeks. Maya has named the owlets Luna (the larger one) and Paco. Both left the nest for the first time today and my timing could not have been better. Luna climbed the tree in which the nest is located to a high perch. She was not ready to fly but used the excursion to stretch her wings frequently. Eventually, mom stopped by for some tender preening. Meanwhile, Paco was only comfortable climbing out on the perch in front of the nest and then retreating soon after. He is smaller and less confident than Luna. I took over 500 photos and have uploaded the best 100. Click here to view the full album.

The new macro lens I ordered last week arrived yesterday and it was not long before I was scouring the landscape for interesting subjects. I spotted this spider on a mound of moss and patiently waited until it paused momentarily. When it did, I fired off several shots hoping at least one would be in focus, something very hard to achieve with a manual focus lens of this type. Fortunately, exactly one shot was acceptably sharp and to my great surprise, it showed the spider eating what appears to be a small ant. Click on the image for an enlarged image and then zoom in on that. Most spiders have 8 eyes in addition to 8 legs and they are quite unusual to see up close.

Today’s post is a mystery photo challenge. The first person to e-mail me with the correct identification of the object in this photo will have their initials posted in an addendum to this post.

Congratulations JJ – winner, winner, chicken diner; Kidney Stone.

When Maya and Jeanine both come running through the house yelling “grab your camera,” it is a safe bet that something VERY interesting is happening in the backyard. This evening, we were treated to a fawn that could not have been more than a few hours old. It could barely stand, let alone run. Naturally, I did not have the right lens on my camera, so I lost 30 seconds fitting it with my telephoto zoom. By then the fawn and its mother were out of sight, so I ran into the backyard to see if I could get a parting shot of them. When I entered the field, the mother lept into the air flashing her white tail and darted off into the woods. The baby ducked into a small furrow and went completely still. This allowed me to approach within inches for some close-ups. When I moved some tall grass blocking my shot the fawn decided it was tired of my company and did its best to scamper away.

Located under 3 miles from our home, this 180ft diameter geodesic dome sits atop Annursnac Hill. I discovered it while scouting Google Maps for interesting aerial photography opportunities. At first, I thought it might be a greenhouse or possibly a massive residence. Further research revealed that it is the aluminum cover for a 2.5 million gallon concrete water reservoir, one of two that supplies the town of Concord. Despite promises to the contrary, I am compelled to post another photo of the baby owls I have been visiting almost every day. They have grown substantially and I suspect it will not be much longer until they leave the nest. Rest assured I will share photos of that event should I be so lucky to witness it.

The weather today was perfect and Jeanine and I were desperate to get out of the house and enjoy it. We decided to visit the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island which was open to pedestrians and cyclists only. We parked near Newbury Beach and biked the length of the island to Sandy Point State Reservation, stopping frequently to see what there was to see. The 15-mile round trip and intermittent stops yielded surprisingly few good wildlife photography opportunities. I did manage nice shots of a medium-size snapping turtle and turkey both which can be found within a stone’s throw of our front door.

The beach, which runs the length of the island, was desolate but not for the reason that may jump to mind. The endangered Piping Plover makes its nests on the beach and dunes at this time of year and access is strictly restricted. The picture below was taken from within Sandy Point State Reservation where a small section of the beach is open.

The day started innocently enough with some macro photography. These tiny flowers are from our garden. I use a 100mm Canon macro lens on a Sigma adapter with my Sony camera. It is not an optimal configuration. After a bit of research, I decided to buy a new macro lens from Venus Optical. It is a 65mm lens that features 2x magnification (double my current setup) and weighs half as much. Paired with the new lightweight flash I also ordered, it will make for a compact rig I can use in the field. The photo above was taken in our kitchen after I retrieved the flowers. In the afternoon, Jeanine and I returned to the owl’s nest we have been watching for weeks only to find the babies and parents asleep. While there, we met up with an Acton resident who told us about another nest located in the area around Mount Hope Cemetary. He directed us to a trail that led to the teepee landmark pictured below.

Once in the vicinity, Jeanine managed to spot one of the fledglings and one of the parents. The former was so well hidden that it could take minutes to find it again if you looked away for even a second. Talk about finding a needle in a haystack. For someone who has spent 15 years trying to find an owl in the wild, the last two weeks have yielded a total of 3 adults and 3 juveniles. I could not be happier and have also really enjoyed my owl outings with Jeanine.

I had an occasion to do some photography at work today. This image of a 3D printed tooling insert (post machining) will be featured in an upcoming book on additive manufacturing. I have two LED gooseneck lamps and a two-sided light tent at work. Not much to work with, but I am very pleased with the result.

The Horn Pond Recreation Area is located just over ten minutes from my work. I decided to make a brief visit over my lunch hour. In addition to getting a bit of exercise by walking the trails, I encountered a lot of birds, including a fledgling owl. Fortunately, the owl was located way up in a tree and you will not be subjected to any more owl photos today.

How about a fish and a chipmunk to round out the mix?

I am sorry for the recent deluge of owl photos but every time I return to the nest, I manage to capture something of interest. This morning, Jeanine and I left at 6 am to catch the early action. It was a little more than 10 minutes before we spotted this owl landing on a branch with a small squirrel in tow. The interesting part was that the owl decided to leave the dead squirrel in the tree (see the second photo, click to zoom in, and study the branch), presumably to continue hunting. We are guessing that it will return later and feed it to the owlets as soon as they wake up. Unfortunately, we did not have time to wait around to verify the hypothesis. For the sake of a little variety, I am including a picture of a bluebird I took on the way out of the forest.

Early this morning, I ventured back to the owl nest I discovered last week. The babies did not make an appearance but I was fortunate to get a photo of mom and dad near the nest. Dad appeared to have a bloody beak and mom is holding a headless chipmunk (you can fill in the story). I fully expected mom to swoop down to the nest and feed the owlets. Unfortunately, this did not happen and after an hour of waiting, I had to leave for work.

At one point, dad flew to a perch right behind me. In the back of my mind, I was wondering if he was going to swoop down and claw my head in an effort to clear the way for mom to feed the babies. Fortunately, such was not the case and I was able to get a rather nice portrait.

After dinner, Jeanine joined me for a second visit to the nest. The light was not as good but I was able to get my first shot of both of the owlets together.

My visit to iRobot headquarters earlier this week triggered a bit of nostalgia and I decided to visit Avid headquarters on my lunchtime walk today. It is even closer to Digital Alloys, a mere 1000m. The logo is a bit cryptic but quite clever (do you see the pause control?). I worked at Avid for 5 years as its VP of Engineering when it was located in Tewksbury. As I peered into the lobby, I was able to see the company’s collection of Emmy Awards (16 in total). I accepted one of them, some 30 years ago, for pioneering work in the field of desktop video when I worked at Pinnacle Systems. Emmy’s for technical achievement are awarded to companies rather than individuals. When Avid acquired Pinnacle Systems, they took possession of the Emmy, and that is how it has come to rest where it is.

Jeanine, Maya, and I returned to the owl’s nest we had discovered a few days ago in hopes of spotting the owlet reported to be living there. We were rewarded for our effort when the little fellow made a very brief appearance just as we arrived.

Jeanine and I, accompanied by Open Table colleague and friend, Ray, climbed Mount Wachusset today. Weather conditions were perfect even if the ground was often soggy due to last night’s torrential downpours. We used the Balance Rock trail for a just-right sized 5-mile hike.

When we reached the summit, we paused for a nice bagged lunch while letting our weary legs take a nice break. At the end of our hike, Jeanine spotted this enormous chair and insisted on a photograph. I was happy to oblige and to join her for a couples photo taken by Ray.

My new job is half a mile, as the crow flies, from iRobot where I spent 5 years of my career as the VP of Engineering. Regrettably, the company recently had to lay off a large number of talented employees, in part due to the coronavirus pandemic. I have reached out to a number of them who might be qualified for a position we have open at Digital Alloys. As it is right on my way to work, I thought I would swing by for a quick look at my old stomping grounds. I found the main entrance to the building had been renovated which was reason enough for an updated photo.

During the course of my life, I have only encountered a few owls in the wild, most of these while visiting Florida (see this post and this one). Thus far, my luck in Massachusetts has been dismal. That changed today while on an evening hike with Jeanine in Acton. There, we came across a magnificent Barred Owl. A knowledgeable woman at the site indicated that there are two owlets in the nest. Expect me to return several times in an effort to photograph the little ones.

When I started this photo journal on May 13, 2005, I did so without a thought as to how long I would continue with it. I certainly would not have predicted that it would be going strong 15 years later. Even now, I am somewhat amazed that I have been able to sustain the commitment to posting at least one photo and a brief journal entry every single day. To be sure, there were many times when I fell behind a few days and questioned if it was worth trying to catch up. Thankfully, I have managed to persevere and in doing so have done something in my personal life that has always been the ambition of my professional life; creating works of enduring value.

In the beginning, I thought of the blog as something I was creating for myself; a vehicle for helping to improve my photography. It was only when I started to view it is a gift to my family that I found the motivation to stick with it. Eventually, I discovered that it was also something that helped me stay connected with friends and colleagues and even total strangers with shared interests. Today, the site averages ~3000 visits per day! Talk about motivation to keep posting.

I generally spend 15-20 minutes a day on the blog (2 minutes for photography, 2 minutes for downloading and post-processing, and 15 minutes for writing and posting). Over 15 years that works out to more than 1800 hours, roughly the amount of time a person spends at work over the course of a year. Looking back, there are many other things I could have done with that time. From where I stand today, however, I am happy with the choice I made.

Over the coming years, I am planning to clean up formatting issues on early entries (introduced when I switched to WordPress) and to replace many images with higher resolution versions. Once that is completed, I would like to export the entire blog into a book (or set of books) so that all this work will live on beyond the last payment to the web hosting site when I am not around to make them.

On my drive into work, I had to stop for these gorgeous tulips. Of all the seasons in New England, spring is the shortest and most intense. If the weather permits, I am hoping to do some hiking this weekend. For now, long lunchtime walks will have to suffice.

This charming building is called Kent Cottage. I passed it while on a lunchtime stroll today. Built in 1850, it was originally situated on more than 100 acres of land, just a stone’s throw from a pond and the Vine Brook. Today it is surrounded by Burlington’s massive commercial developments, the lone survivor of a bygone era. See if you can find it in the aerial shot below.

The building has been abandoned for decades and is now owned by a real estate developer. Other than the stone exoskeleton, everything else is in a terrible state of decline. The windows in the photo are actually pieces of plywood painted to look like windows. There is a hole in the roof on the backside big enough for a person to fit through and the interior has been totally trashed. I can’t, however, help but imagine what this place might look like if fully restored.

Jeanine was treated to an especially nice mother’s day this year. The kids prepared a lovely vegetable quiche dinner from scratch, we all worked on the jigsaw puzzle together, and we joined my side of the family for a Zoom reunion with my mother. Jeanine went for a long walk with her friends during the morning and found herself featured in a new slideshow running on all of our digital picture frames when she returned. In the evening, everyone worked together to make Zeppole Balls so that I could photograph them for Jeanine’s memoir cookbook, the last photo needed for her to complete the project.

This weekend, the family started a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle called Curious Kittens. It has proven to be quite an enjoyable distraction and way to spend time together. At times, all of us were working the puzzle together. At others, one or two would continue the effort. We have made excellent progress although not without issues. My participation in the project has been threatened several times just because I like to loudly voice a victory chant every time I place a new piece into the puzzle. At first, I was restricted to celebrations of key pieces only but eventually, this restriction was broadened to disallow all celebratory vocalizations. You will notice a lack of curious kittens in the completed portions of the puzzle. This is because they all look the same and will be the hardest part to complete.

This evening before going to bed, I heard Maya laughing from the dining room. When I looked in on her, I found her seated at the computer wearing my bomber hat. I concluded she was playing a game of Dungeons & Dragons online with friends and decided the scene demanded a photograph.

Although I have cut the hair of all our children throughout their lives, Jeanine has never trusted me with that task. Today that changed due to the stay-at-home advisory in place for all Massachusetts residents. Initially, she requested I cut off 2″. Then she updated the request to specify shoulder length. To an engineer, shoulder length implies hair even with the tops of the shoulders which for Jeanine was more like a 7″ trim. I decided to split the difference at about 4″. I have since learned that a woman who specifies shoulder length actually means that her hair cover her shoulders when dry. Let’s just say that I did not get a tip nor can I expect another visit from this particular customer. Advice to all followers of this blog. There is no upside to cutting the hair of your significant other.

Yesterday, Open Table distributed 99 meals to families in need. The dinners included the flank steak that our family prepared over the weekend. I do not know if the pea soup that we made will accompany the meal or will be distributed separately. It is very gratifying to see the final “product” and to know that so many people will enjoy a meal they might not otherwise have had. No better way to endure the COVID lockdown than volunteering to help those who may be struggling more than usual during this unprecedented crisis.

The Middlesex School campus is located in Concord, just a few miles from our home. Jeanine and I enjoyed our evening walk behind Bateman’s Pond pictured in the background on a trail neither one of us knew existed before. Click on the photo for a more detailed view of the campus, designed by the famous Olmstead Brothers. Most of the campus buildings are located around The Circle, a grassy field at the center of the school. There are four dorms for boys, five for girls, and three academic buildings. In January 2019, the School opened the new Bass Arts Pavilion, a complex that contains two theaters, a gallery, and enhanced studio space for visual arts. All of my kids are fans of the TV series, “The Office.” I suspect they will be surprised to learn that the lead actor, Steve Carell, was one of many famous graduates of the Middlesex School.

Yesterday, while waiting for Jeanine to finish our cooking project at Open Table, I took a few minutes to do some aerial photography over Maynard’s Clock Tower Place, originally the Assabet Woolen Mill, then headquarters to Digitial Equipment, and now the Mill & Main complex. Open Table was operating out of one of these buildings when Jeanine took over as President. Shortly after, the property was purchased by a new owner who summarily evicted them. Taking over at that pivotal moment, Jeanine helped guide the organization from one dependent on the charity of churches and businesses for their operating facilities to one that now has a permanent, fully paid for, building in Maynard.

The family plus Kyle’s girlfriend, Klaida, spent the morning preparing meals for distribution by Open Table. Never has the demand for food been so high and the availability of volunteers to prepare it so low. We had the entire Open Table facility to ourselves and were happy for the opportunity to help out, especially as a family activity. The menu included flank steak and pea soup with ham. Cooking enough food for a hundred people is an altogether different thing than doing so for a single family. Everything in the kitchen is industrial in scale as was the volume of ingredients (22 cups of diced carrots for example; that’s a lot of carrot pealing). Just stirring the pots could easily replace a full upper body workout at the gym. Working together for a great cause was very rewarding and our family was pleased for the opportunity to help those in need during these unprecedented times.

Jeanine and I enjoyed a nice 4-mile walk to White Pond. A nearby former blue heron rookery was unusually devoid of wildlife with the exception of the hawk pictured above. While wildlife was hard to find, that was not the case for interesting photo opportunities. First, a makeshift parking lot for tiny vehicles replete with marked parking spaces, and second, a drying rack for small children.

A portion of our driveway is lined with a stone wall that defines the edge of a flower and shrub bed. At this time of year, it seems like each day brings a new flower to enjoy. Pollinators are busy at work and almost oblivious to close approach.