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.