It has been quite some time since I have done any aerial photography. Despite very high winds, I decided to make a quick flight down the river this evening. I was less focused on photography than I was in brushing the rust off my flying skills. I am hoping to make extensive use of my drone when I visit the Faroe Islands later this summer and it is almost always windy there. Not quite the same as riding a bicycle, it took a while before I felt comfortable in the pilot’s seat again. A few more practice sessions and I will be ready to tackle the North Atlantic winds.

The female red-winged blackbird displays neither of the attributes contained in its name. It makes one wonder, how differently birds would be named if the female was the headliner. I photographed the one pictured here at Great Meadows this morning.

The painted turtle is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. I found these ones in a small stream near work during my lunch break. Fossils show that the painted turtle existed 15 million years ago and to look closely at one (the claws, for example) it is not hard to imagine. Reliant on warmth from its surroundings, the painted turtle is active only during the day when it basks for hours on logs or rocks. During winter, the turtle hibernates, usually in the mud at the bottom of water bodies. Adults in the wild can live for more than 55 years.

Jeanine is spending the week in Provincetown taking a well-deserved vacation. I am banking my vacation time to compete in a soccer tournament being held in Denmark later this summer. She sent me a number of photos she took yesterday. This one is my favorite and as good as any I have ever taken. She is really becoming an excellent photographer.

By the time I got home from work, there was not much light left but did manage to capture this mallard in front of the house.

One of the things that differentiate Concord United, my soccer club, from other teams, is that we get together to socialize after most games. We call these gatherings an après. I volunteered to host today in combination with my beer duty assessment from last weeks’ match for roughing up the opposing goalie, a matter of some considerable disagreement. Given that most of our furniture is in storage, I had to ask folks to bring their own chairs. I provided a crockpot full of Tenessee Whisky infused pulled pork, sesame seed buns, a fruit salad, and chips with salsa in addition to the beer. Teammates added a freshly baked loaf of bread and guacamole for a spread that Jeanine might even consider respectable. The mood was great having just defeated arch-rivals, Juventus, by a score of 2-0. I managed to strip their star midfielder of the ball which set up our first goal making the game very satisfying for me on a personal level as well.

Nicolai is rock climbing in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge with high school buddies Oliver and Raz. Did he send us this photo? No. We got a hold of it through Oliver’s mom.

After a few weeks of spring-like weather, it felt odd to have snow again. In Concord, we received about two inches but it was here and gone within 2 days.

It has been over a year since my last kidney stone. Earlier this week, I began passing another. I have tolerated the pain for almost five days but this evening it reached a peak and even double doses of Ibuprofen would not do the trick. I headed for the emergency room at about 11 PM and several hours later learned by way of a CAT scan that I was simultaneously passing two stones, 3mm on the left and 2-3mm on the right side. Armed with this knowledge and a shot of Toradol, high dose Ibuprofen administered by injection, I returned home in the early hours of the morning to continue the waiting game. The doctor also informed me that the radiologist had identified more than a dozen stones currently rattling around in my kidneys that will each one day try to make the great escape. Not the best news after 5 days of relentless pain. On a less depressing note, let me know if you can spot a Harry Potter character in my CAT scan.

Meet Gary, our resident groundhog. I think he must be a juvenile because he seems smaller than the groundhog who lived with us on Mattison Drive. I am concerned that his dietary interests may include our newly planted blueberry bushes and plan to install some mesh fencing to protect them this weekend. Jeanine noticed him early in the day and I encountered him after work suggesting we will be seeing a lot of him.

I can only imagine that these ants are having some kind of food orgy. Every day, this intense concentration of ants can be found swarming around a different part of our walkway. You could take out the entire population with a single misplaced footstep. As long as they stay away from the house this is going to be a live and let live relationship. Click on the image for a closer view.

I think it is safe to say that spring has arrived in Massachusetts. This scene is across from the entrance to Heath’s Bridge Road where our house is located. The magnolia tree is in full bloom as are the daffodils that line the fence.

Jeanine’s sister and brother-in-law joined the family for an outdoor celebration of Jeanine’s birthday this evening. Lauren and Bob were in New Jersey for a wedding and are returning to Indiana by way of Massachusetts and Vermont to visit with family. We had a delightful time spent mostly outdoors by the fire. Lauren and Bob are both fully vacinated and our family has all had their first shots. Earlier in the day, I was on the soccer pitch for my second match of the season, scoring my first goal of the year to help with an easy victory over our opponents from Arlington.

Jeanine and I went to Great Meadows for a nice late afternoon walk. The great weather made up for the lack of good photo opportunities. On the way home, Jeanine spotted a bunch of deer in a field near our old house. I stopped to pull out my camera and then Jeanine spotted a couple of distant turkeys. I set off on what turned out to be a half-mile hike to track down this tom. I am glad I did.

When Jeanine called my attention to this spider in our bedroom, she became very unhappy with me when my initial response was photographically motivated. She promptly took matters into her own hands and executed a catch and release before I could set up some decent lighting.