I have been trying to get exercise everyday and often that comes in the form of a lunch hour walk. I often take a trail through a local wetland and today I encountered this spider who had spanned the path with her web. Between the mosquitoes and ever encroaching vegetation I may have to seek another course until fall arrives. Another alternative would be to start riding my bike to work. Something to consider!

It has taken three weekends to complete construction and finishing of this media center for the living room. The design has the TV situated at optimal viewing height. Most commercial consoles are far too tall. The muscles which control eye motion are in their relaxed state when looking slightly down and forward (makes sense if you think of them as optimized for watching where you are walking). The muscles must work to lift your gaze and the higher your TV viewing height the more fatiguing it is. Commercial consoles also place the media equipment below the TV which means you have to bend over every time you want to make an adjustment or insert a DVD. I have placed these devices above the set for easy access. The face frame and interior is all black to match the speakers and equipment. The sides and TV recess are veneered in book matched spalted beech.

Earlier in the day I scored my first header of the season after my last six attempts all hit the crossbar (statistically almost impossible). We came from a one goal deficit at the half to win 3-1. I had a second header which the keeper bobbled leading to another goal.

Jeanine attended a special service at our church to celebrate the final sermon of Gary Smith who is retiring after a long and distinguished career of service at First Parish.

Maya was in action on the soccer pitch this morning and played very well despite a losing effort. She demonstrates a real tenacity in her defensive role and plays her position extremely well. Given her size and speed, however, I suspect over time she may migrate up to midfield following in the footsteps of her older brothers.

Kyle leaving the house for his final day of high school classes. The last four years have passed by at the speed of light and I thought the motion blur captured in this photograph was in keeping with the sentiment I was feeling at the moment. We will celebrate his graduation next week as family and friends converge on Concord to wish him well as he turns his focus to college and sunny California.

The media center project I have been working on has come together much faster than I expected. Usually, I plan such work in great detail. In this case, I started with a simple hand-drawn sketch and built one section of the 5 piece design at a time. The console will be shouldered by two bookcases connected by a bridge. The glue up shown here is of the crown molding top which will span both bookcases and the bridge.

For several years I have tried to photograph lightning with little success. This evening it was striking almost every minute as severe weather moved quickly through Concord. The storm was responsible for at least four deaths in the state, knocked our power out for several hours and took down a huge tree section in our neighbors yard. Despite their potential for destruction, it was hard not to admire the beauty of the lightning strikes as they bridged heaven and earth with electricity. Nala did not care for the ensuing thunder and sought refuge in the basement.

While climbing in Peru my trekking watch finally bit the dust and I just replaced it with a new one. The watch includes all the standard timing functions (stop watch, alarm clock, dual time zone, count down timer), a compass, altimeter, thermometer, and barometer which is shown here indicating a massive pressure drop signaling approaching severe weather. My favorite feature is a built in sunrise/sunset calculator which is very handy for photography.

We received this photo today from Maya’s point class teacher with compliments on her form. I am looking forward with great anticipation to her next recital. Her joy for dance is apparent and I am pleased to see that she has interest in so many different styles.

Kyle and I returned to Concord last night leaving the rest of the family to enjoy the full Ferry Beach weekend. Kyle had work obligations and I had an important soccer match for which my team was short handed. To make matters worse, our goalie suffered a very severe dislocation of his thumb during warm ups and had to be rushed to the hospital. Another player was disabled during the first half with a torn calf muscle and is lost for the remainder of the season. Despite a lack of subs and the warm weather, we were able to secure a narrow 1-0 win over Lexington and in doing so secured a first place finish in our league with two games still remaining in the season. This also means we will be promoted to Division 3 in the fall. I spent the remainder of the day making good progress on the media center I am building completing all of the veneer work (spalted beech) and face frames.

With little time for photography, I am including photos from yesterday of my own children.

Ferry Beach offers our family an escape from our daily routines and an opportunity to socialize with new and old friends while participating in loosely organized activities including kayaking, birdwatching, volleyball, biking, sand castle building, beach combing, and a talent show to name a few. In years past I have taken candid portraits of all of the children and shared them with their families. This year I was greeted with many compliments and heart felt thanks for my prior work and needed little more encouragement to extend the tradition. A candid portrait seeks to capture a spontaneous moment that offers a glimpse into the spirit of a person. I do not claim to have achieved this goal but I believe my efforts are getting better. Here are some of my favorites. the complete set can be seen by following the Ferry Beach Portraits 2011 link to the right.

After work Kyle and I drove to Maine where we caught up with Jeanine, Maya and Nico who had driven up earlier in the day. Each year we make the journey to Ferry Beach (near Saco, ME) where we join members of the Concord and Lexington Unitarian Universalist churches for a family weekend retreat. We arrived just in time for a late dinner and were joined by Maya Rose Pedula (pictured here with our very own Maya Rose Calabria in front of an alfresco painting adjacent to the restaurant) and her mom. In addition to daughters who share the same first and middle names, the Pedula’s have three children identical in ages to ours and an Italian father.

This morning before work, Jeanine and I went for a short walk. She has been wanting to show me a local rookery where over 30 Blue Heron have made their nests. Swarming mosquitoes prevented any real photography but I plan to return with a long lens and proper repellent in the very near future. I am constantly amazed by the proximity of such wonderful animal habitats and am thrilled to have another photo destination to add to my list.

When I returned from work this evening I found Maya and Nico playing a little Frisbee. More often than not they will choose to hang out with their respective friends but occasionally, perhaps when other options are exhausted, they will play with each other and they invariably have a lot of fun doing so.

It has been 6 weeks since I joined a group of my colleagues at work on a voluntary weight loss plan. My start weight was 186 and my goal was 166. Today, after a 6am soccer scrimmage I weighed in below my target for the first time. Losing 3 pounds per week has taken its toll on my muscle mass so now I will shift to strength training with a slight increase to my calorie intake. It is amazing how much speed I have gained on the soccer pitch by shedding 12% of my weight.

Each year the Boston Globe ranks the top 100 public companies in New England in terms of business achievement. iRobot moved from 45th position last year to 4th place. From the Globe: As a group, they matter because they are leading the state out of a painful recession and slowly putting the Massachusetts economy back on its feet. They are selling more, earning more, and becoming more powerful engines for economic revival in a time of need.

My last woodworking project was a kayak and before that the finishing of our basement. This weekend I started a furniture project when all attempts to find an entertainment center of the proper size and proportions failed. The unit will be composed of four sections, a console, two flanking bookshelves and a bridge. I am on pace to complete construction of the carcasses by this evening. Next weekend I will start on trim and veneer work (assuming we can decide on a wood species by then). This morning my soccer team played Wayland and came away with a 2-1 win. I played very well in my leaner form factor and just missed two headers. Jeanine and Kyle are taking advantage of the weather to work outside.

Our friend Doug Yoder celebrated his 50th birthday this evening with a culinary gala at his home. Guests were treated to passed hors d’oeuvres (Maya was one of the passers) followed by a sit down dinner and dessert. The food was out of this world and it was fun catching up with friends I have not seen in some time.

After our Harbor cruise yesterday, as I was waiting to board the bus back to iRobot, about a dozen race cars accompanied by police escorts zoomed through the streets of Boston. Not your every day scene. After work I headed to REI for the start of their big annual sale where I took advantage of the savings to upgrade my tent and sleeping pad which will yield a most welcome 2 pound weight reduction in my overnight pack weight.

In celebration of the production start on two major iRobot products, contributing members of our product development and marketing teams were treated to a cruise of Boston Harbor and an exquisite lunch served on board. Despite a forecast for continued rain, the weather cooperated and we got to enjoy the views without getting wet although the grey skies did little to enhance the quality of the photographs.

After work the family was joined for dinner by Nora, who is about to complete her Master’s Degree at MIT. I have been her Gordon Leadership Program Mentor for the past two years and she will be leaving for Seattle to join Microsoft as a Program Manager when she completes her thesis. It was great having the opportunity to introduce her to the entire family and the kids really enjoyed meeting her. I hope to remain in touch and am expecting great things in her future.

While I was in Peru, Nicolai attended the Sophomore Semi (semi-formal ball at the high school) with his friend Chloe and we just received this photo of them together at her house. I hate missing an opportunity to photograph the kids when they are all dressed up and I am simply going to have to wait until the junior prom for my next chance.

My Audi was in for its first scheduled service today. While waiting, it was hard not to admire the R8s on the showroom floor. While I appreciate the beauty and awesome engineering, I no longer find myself coveting such cars. Now that I can afford one my priorities have shifted to a car that can carry the whole family, a couple of kayaks, and never be stranded in the snow. The thought of a second car just for tooling around is simply too wasteful to consider.

Sporting the alpaca sweater I purchased for him while in Peru, Kyle does internet research on a company which has a very similar business model to Yard Dogs. He is trying to decide if it makes sense to expand his general landscaping business to include lawn mowing. Doing so would mean buying mowers for each of his crews. I enjoy discussing the various options with Kyle and watching the mind of a true businessman at work. There is little doubt in my mind that his career is destined to follow a very entrepreneurial path.

A team photo I took earlier in the season was missing a couple of players so we took another today after our match with Ashland. Spirits were high as we avenged our only loss of the season and moved solidly into first place. We scored twice, late in the first half and held them scoreless for the 2-0 win. I have lost ten pounds in the two weeks since I last played and was feeling down right speedy.I had one shot on goal, a chest trap to a left foot volley which was just wide of the net. Jeanine and I went out for lunch and then spent the afternoon shopping for furniture, something we do about once every five years. We were unable to find what we were looking for and agreed that it made more sense to complete our shopping on the internet. Poor excuse for a date, but I was happy for the time together.

Occasionally I am presented with a photo opportunity which defies my own imagination. This afternoon Maya and a group of her friends created this human collage and I was actually requested to take a photo so they could see the results of their artistic endeavor. Earlier in the day, during her soccer match, Maya scored a very nice goal off a full volley and I enjoyed listening to her retelling of the story.

After work this evening I met Jeanine and our friend Carolyn Haney at the CCHS soccer fields where Maya has practice until 7PM. We did some power walking on the course used by the cross country team. It was a very healthy way to pass the time. We also paused to watch the high school students attending the Junior Prom emerge from the school, dressed to the 9’s, promenading in pairs to the buses which would take them to the gala. I found it both entertaining and a little sad to watch all the young girls struggling to walk in their ultra high heel shoes and have made a note to discuss the insanity of these foot torture devices with Maya before she is brain washed into thinking that fashion trumps comfort.

After each quarter in which my division at iRobot exceeds its business plan objectives we head out to a different venue to celebrate. Q1 was a great success and our destination today was Waxy O’Connor’s Irish Pub and Restaurant. I made a point of socializing with folks outside my department and was glad to meet and get to know several folks from the sales and marketing organizations. The party began at 4PM at this unlikely looking building which looked more like a high end home than an Irish pub. Once inside, however, there was little doubt as to the authenticity of the theme.

Maya is generally an enthusiastic kid but today she could hardly contain her excitement as she modeled her new ballet point shoes for me. Jeanine was equally happy about the mother-daughter experience of fitting and buying the shoes together. A future entry will no doubt document Maya’s first ballet recital on point. Her interest in dance and ballet continues to grow and it appears she will be the Calabria from this family who will carry on the tradition of dancing established by my parents.

My red-eye from Lima arrived in Houston early this morning. I was able to clear customs quickly allowing me just enough time to catch a much earlier direct flight to Boston, shaving 8 hours off my planned return travel time. The flight took me over the Mississippi River which is experiencing terrible flooding. The photo quality is not good but if you click to enlarge you should be able to see many farms and homes that have been surrounded or inundated by water.

For the first time on this vacation I sleep in until 7AM and enjoy a proper breakfast before setting out on a walking tour of Cusco.

After a few hours of walking I happen upon the main area where the locals shop, a tented open air market with rows and rows of tiny stalls organized by the type of merchandise for sale. I decided to buy alpaca wool sweaters and hats for the entire family. At half the price asked by the street vendors with no haggling over price I was happy to pay $7 per sweater and $1.50 per hat. Had my backpack not reached capacity I would have purchased twice the amount. With my gifts in hand I returned to the hostel, packed for my return and left for my flight from Cusco to Lima which arrived at about 2PM. With more than 9 hours until my departure for the US I left my main bag in a locker and hired a taxi to drive me around for a tour of the city. We visited the Miraflores and Barranco districts before heading downtown to the historic center where I left the taxi and completed the remainder of my tour on foot.

In order to catch the sunrise and beat the crowds I woke up at 4AM this morning to begin the climb from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu. Using a headlamp to illuminate the path, I made a one hour vertical ascent to the main entrance gate. This is an arduous trek with 20 pounds of camera gear, water, and food for the day in my day pack. Most early risers are interested in getting one of the limited number of stamps permitting access to climb Huayana Picchu (the tall peak rising behind the ruins). Although I obtained a stamp, my sole focus was on photography and I immediately entereded the grounds and made a final ascent to the the guard house. I was the first to arrive and immediately awestruck by the magnificence of the birds-eye view of the citadel. I quickly began to photograph the ruins before they were over run with visitors.

Even small adjustments in positioning expose new perspectives on the ruins and I spent several hours photographing the site. Over the coming weeks, I will process all my images and select a few favorites for enlargement. Included here are some of my initial picks.

When my appetite for photography was sated, I relaxed and started a leisurely exploration of the ruins. Rather than move between points of interest at the pace of the tour guides, I dwell in each location and imagine what it must have been like to actually live in this place of amazing beauty and architectural sophistication. Food is not permitted on the grounds but I have smuggled in a small lunch which I enjoy in the privacy of a tiny nook which overlooks the majesty of the Andes careful to leave behind no trash. The true purpose of Machu Picchu is still a matter of scholarly debate. What is clear, is that this place was created by a people filled with a deep spiritual connection to the natural world, an appreciation for beauty, and engineering skills far ahead of their time. This place is indeed one of the wonders of the world.

I descended Machu Picchu by bus, collected my main back pack at the hostel and then proceeded to the train station. The rail journey to Ollantaytambo offered spectacular views at every turn not to mention a fashion show by the crew (modelling Peruvian knitted wear). Next I shared a taxi with a very friendly couple from Uruguay for the final two hours of the return to Cusco. After settling into my hostel and showering I headed out for a light dinner followed by a one hour ($12) massage leaving me totally relaxed. I slept like a baby.

Our trekking group (pictured above later in the day) is off to another 5 AM start to what will be a predominantly downhill trekking day along the Rio Santa Teresa. Temperatures continue to increase as we descend into the jungle, and the flora we encounter today includes some extremely beautiful varieties. I find myself stopping continuously to capture images of flowers and having to scamper to keep pace with my comrades.

Included here is a small sampling of the flowers that I encountered today.

In addition to my fellow trekkers, Roberto and Taylor have been my constant companions on the trail, responsible for managing the horse that carries my gear. Although he speaks no English and I little Spanish, we were able to communicate fairly well, and he came to anticipate when I would be most likely to reach for my tripod and when I was likely to make a lens change. He also made some good suggestions for photographs, and I did my best to explain to him what I was doing. I gave him a very handsome tip at the end of the trail and also shared my water with him throughout each day.

Because of my limited time in the country, I must leave the group a day early and take the train from Hidroelectica to Aquas Calientes, where I have a hostel reserved for the night. We coordinated a plan to share contact information, and I truly hope we will stay in touch, or better yet, see each other again. The train ride was an adventure in itself. Five minutes out of the station, it stopped and started going backwards. I assumed we had forgotten something at the station. The train was navigating a set of switchbacks needed to climb the steep grades.

As the train approached Aquas Calientes, there was a great view of a mountain adjacent to the one upon which Machu Picchu sits, giving some perspective as to why the Spanish never discovered the Incan Citadel during their years of occupation. Compared to other mountain ranges I am familiar with, the Andes have the most sheer vertical edges of any. After arriving in town, I stowed my gear at the hostel, grabbed a quick bite, and then set out for a little nighttime photography before enjoying my first hot shower in days and a really good night’s sleep.