Frequent rain over the past few days have caused the Sudbury River to expand well beyond its banks. This is most apparent from the air. Normally, the river is rarely wider than 30 feet. Now it has turned massive swatches of land into marshes.
My collection of photographs numbers roughly 101,000 at the moment. For the last several years I have tried to keep the number capped at 100,000 by routinely culling weaker or less memorable images from the archive. This evening I spent some time engaged in that exercise when I came across this flamingo. At the time I took this image, I don’t think I fully appreciated how good it was so thought I would post it again as a reminder to myself to get out and do more photography.
Three years ago on a trip to California, I took the photo above through the dirty window of the airplane I was flying in. I remember thinking how much I would enjoy going back and photographing in this area. Today, after reverse-engineering the flight path, I was able to locate this place using Google Maps (screen capture below). At some point in the future, you can rest assured I will be featuring some drone photos taken of this area.
I travelled to Mansfield, MA this morning for my league soccer match. The drive took 45 minutes and I was not all too happy when our opponents decided to throw in the towel shortly after the start of the second half. We were leading by a score of 4-0 at the time and it was clear that our scoring would go higher. The game was stopped when half of their players took a knee, signaling they did not want to continue (no mas). 90 minutes of driving for 30 minutes of playing time did not seem like a good ratio to me. On the bright side, I was able to return home for a shower before heading out to an Easter brunch with the family and my sister Alissa and Maya’s Olin roommate, Lauren. The original plan had me driving directly to the restaurant from the game, a much smellier proposition. Lauren was kind enough to take this family portrait with my camera before I captured additional shots of the kids.
I spent the better part of what proved to be a very rainy day indoors working on renovations to our downstairs powder room/bathroom. I installed a new faucet set and drain in brushed nickel to replace the now tarnished gold set I previously installed some 14 years ago. Connecting the drain inside the sinks support column proved to be a most frustrating exercise given almost zero space to operate. Later, I added a new triple-sconce light fixture over the future location of an oval mirror that is next on my list to install.
When they were first announced more than 4 months ago, I immediately placed orders for two new cordless DeWalt tools. A router and barrel grip jig saw. This week after numerous delays, they finally arrived. If ever there was a tool that wanted to be cordless it is a trim router and I am surprised it has taken this long for DeWalt to introduce one. Immediately after ordering the barrel grip jigsaw, I sold my “D” grip jigsaw on Craig’s list. I prefer the handling of the former by far. Now, if only DeWalt would offer a cordless biscuit joiner, I could replace my final corded tool with an untethered version.
We mourn with the French. Kyle is in the foreground during our trip to France in 2000.
I was very busy at work today. Too much so to participate in a campus-wide Easter Egg Hunt. As I was leaving for the day, I ran into the CEO and his wife who were on their way to Hoppy Labs.
I had not planned to attend because a beer party (hoppy) is not really my thing. When I learned that the event would also feature baby bunnies (hoppy) and goats I had to stick around. Next year I will invite Maya who would have surely smuggled out some furry friends.
Spring has arrived and with it rowers on the Charles River.
Monday’s are always very busy for me at work. Even so, I was able to find 90 minutes shortly after lunch, between meetings and the rain, to take in a bit of the Boston Marathon. The four mile round trip walk took 80 minutes leaving me only 10 minutes to shoot. While spectating from a bridge over Commonwealth Avenue, I was standing next to a man with one child on his shoulders and another by his side. He was checking on a phone app telling his young kids that mommy was getting close. When she appeared they began yelling and she spotted them. I captured a nice sequence and gave the dad my contact info and told him I would send the photos. This evening I made good on that promise and was happy to provide this family from Asheville, NC a happy souvenir from their visit to Boston.
The kids were all home this afternoon for a family celebration of Jeanine’s birthday as was our niece Rachel. Jeanine had requested that here children prepare a meal together as her birthday gift. Kyle expertly prepared a lamb dish, Nicolai roasted cauliflower and broccoli, and Maya was in charge of the cake (not sure who made the rice). Jeanine was thrilled to be surrounded by family and to witness her children sharing her gift for cooking. Unfortunately, I had procrastinated on preparing income taxes and had to spend a good portion of the day involved with that less than enjoyable activity. My mood was not enhanced by my soccer game this morning which resulted in a 0-0 tie. Our opponents did not make a single serious shot on our net but managed to pack the box with defenders throughout the game frustrating our many attempts to score. I may have had our best opportunity with a header that just missed the lower corner.
Once a year, spouses are invited to the book group to which Jeanine belongs. This year, for the first time, we met at a restaurant, the Forge and Vine in Groton. Reservations must be obtained months in advance and this was reflected in the quality of the food. Our group of ten enjoyed a quiet semi-private room which lent itself to conversation. As I have suspected for many years, the book group is really a cover for monthly social gatherings. I was one of only two participants who actually completed the assigned book, Michelle Obama’s, Becoming. For the record, Jeanine was not the other. As is her habit and right, Jeanine is stretching her birthday into something of a week-long event which made for a very delicious end to the evening. Tomorrow we are celebrating again, this time with the kids.
Our little Jeanine is all grown up. Today she celebrates her 56th birthday. Seems to me she becomes more lovely each year.
Many of my recent posts feature new buildings going up in Cambridge or Somerville. For better or worse I have exhausted most other photographically interesting subjects within walking distance from my office. For every new building that goes up, there are old ones coming down. Today I walked passed the pictured construction site and watched for several minutes as this excavator made quick work of its demolition task. I think the water is to keep dust down rather than fire prevention.