Several months ago I was asked to serve as a mentor in the MIT Gordon Engineering Leadership Program which seeks to help develop the next generation of technical leaders. Meet Nora, the student I have been partnered with. We meet every couple of weeks for an hour or so to discuss the challenges of leadership, her aspirations and goals, and the obstacles in the way. Usually we meet indoors at Starbucks. The weather this evening, however, was so nice that we decided to chat outside.
Late this afternoon Kyle had a tournament match. His ankle is feeling much stronger and it was apparent from the level of intensity of his play. Here he wins a nice header but is ultimately called for jumping over his opponent. Despite missing just about every other call in the match I have to agree that the ref got this one right. Regrettably, after a 1-1 tie in regulation time, the boys came up one goal short in the overtime period despite playing an extremely strong game.
Kyle joined me for lunch today and we did a campus tour of MIT which is about a ten minute walk from my office. Despite his initial trepidation, I think Kyle really had a good time and especially enjoyed learning of the “hacks” perpetrated by MIT students. Perhaps the most notable was the dismantling and reassembly of a MIT police cruiser on the top of the dome pictured here.
Replacing the Burning Bushes will be this Kousa Dogwood. Complicating the excavation/transplantation is the proximity of our water line, power line, telephone line, cable TV line and irrigation system. So far nothing has been damaged.
Landscapers arrived early this morning to begin transplanting a pair of Burning Bushes from the southwest corner of the house to an area adjacent to the garages.
Nicolai is ready to move to Minnesota permanently. He is having a great time with his cousins and really enjoys playing with all the neighborhood kids. This group, apparently, also includes a number of girls who seem to fancy our young basketball player.
Maya was in heaven equally enjoying her younger girl cousins as well as the older boys. She assisted with her first diaper changing and also perfected the invaluable football hold. Rose is a feisty ball of energy and gives no quarter to her older siblings.
This morning, Jeanine, Nicolai, and Maya left for Minneapolis, where they will be visiting my brother Mark and his family for the next several days. Mark and Marie have four children: Mario (14), Rory (12), Sophia (3 – pictured here), and Rose (15 months).
The British, in a little know fact, where not defeated by the Minutemen with their muskets and cannons but rather by Girl Scout Troop 2665 which is honored each year in the parade. The scouts depleted the British war coffers by selling the Red Coats an endless supplies of Thin Mints.
In addition to a twelve musket volley from the Minutemen observers watch the Concord Artillery Company fire a 3 pound projectile brass cannon. It is a sound you are unlikely to forget (ever).
Patriot’s Day is not something that is taken lightly in Concord, the birthplace of the American Revolution. “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World” was taken here at the Old North Bridge and each year we commemorate the occasion with an early morning parade that literally shuts down the town. When you ask someone from Concord how long they have lived here they are more likely to answer in generations than in years. To say that it is a community steeped in history would be a huge understatement.
This evening Kyle had his haircut, apparently pleased enough with Nico’s new look to let me proceed. With Kyle a haircut is measured in pounds of hair removed rather than inches. I estimate this was a two pounder. Kyle and I both played with injuries today (Kyle’s ankle and my hamstring)and yet managed the only goals for our respective teams. My team came away with a hard fought 1-1 tie and Kyle’s team had a disappointing 2-1 loss.
Nico asked me to give him a haircut today. He requested a buzz cut but I suggested we try something a little less dramatic since we could always go shorter if he was so inclined. Kyle has an appointment for tomorrow. Maya and Jeanine will still not let me cut their hair.
It is not clear to me whether this is a soccer or a boxing match. If the later, Maya seems poised to deliver a nice jab to her much larger opponent. Kyle is still nursing an injured ankle and saw limitted action in 2 matches today. The first a dissappointing loss to a team they should have beat and the second a definitive 5-1 win.
Maya samples the peanut butter chocolate milkshake she made in the new blender. My attempt at a strawberry shake was just shy of a failure, closer to a thick smoothie than a shake.
My parents drove in from Schenectady to join us for the weekend. It was warm enough to dine on the sun porch for the first time this season.
Maya hand carved this stamp which she used to sign her brush painting with.
One of the class projects was to design a windmill using a milk carton for a base and to experiment with different style vanes. Maya’s windmill produced the highest torque (measured by lifting weights in a cup supported by a string wrapped around the shaft) of any in the class.
This morning Jeanine and I attend Maya’s school open house where we see some of the projects she has been working on recently. This poem and Chinese brush painting will certainly resonae with her grandmother who is coming to visit this weekend.
This evening Nico found Kyle and Chloe asleep in front of the TV and grabbed my camera. Either the show was really boring or these guys need to get to bed earlier.
Jeanine has been longing for a powerful blender to make quick work of her various smoothie concoctions. She received this one for her birthday after much research revealed it to be ridiculously capable. At this website you can watch as this unit is used to blend an iPhone, snow ski, and golf balls. What chance do frozen blueberries have against this brute of a machine?
I am met at the airport by the entire family and we have just enough time to make dinner reservations at Henrietta’s Table at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge. Here we celebrate Jeanine’s birthday joined by her sister Susan who drove down from Vermont for the weekend. Chalk it up to healthy living but I think Jeanine gets prettier every year.
My return flight to the east coast takes me over Niagra Falls. Not the best angle but I always hesitate to ask the pilot to turn the plane around for the benefit of my photography. One day I will coerce my brother to fly me around in a small plane with the door open so I can really take some nice aerial shots.
After a heavy photographic diet of intense reds and oranges I thought it would be nice to conclude with an image containing a more muted palette. Tonight I treat myself to a nice Mexican dinner in St. George, a piping hot shower, and a comfortable bed. This week long adventure has been both exhilarating and exhausting. Although I did not reach all of my planned destinations, I found many unexpected and wonderful opportunities along the way. There is little doubt in my mind that I will one day return to this place of natural beauty for continued exploration and image making.
The forecast today is for snow and rain. I opt to head for Zion National Park which due to the lower altitude will be limited to rain. I remember shooting this exact same scene when I was here several years ago with Jeanine. The positive side of bad weather is that you often get really dramatic lighting and I am sure when I compare this to my prior images of this location I will find this one the more pleasing.
I spent the night in Bryce again and woke up at 5am to discover my car covered in snow. I drove cautiously to Bryce Point where I positioned myself for the sunrise. The sun was largely blocked by the clouds unfortunately, but I did get some nice diffuse lighting and great contrast of the snow surrounding the trees and hoodoos.
I would have liked to stay here until sunset, but having had nothing more than a banana and orange for lunch, I decided it was time to head back to civilization for a proper dinner.
After parting ways with Steffen and Alexandra, I head south to a place called the Devil’s Garden. I think a better name would have been the Devil’s Playground. Within the space of a few acres there are countless rock formations which simply invite you to climb on and around them. Many of them look like carve sculptures of human forms.
Shooting at a low angle really accentuates the rock patterns, and every time we got ready to leave, one of us would spot another irresistible wave. Only the onset of threatening weather motivated us to continue on back towards the trailhead.
On the hike back from the slot canyon, Steffen and I stop to photograph the textures of this fascinating “wave” of stone.
Although the most interesting part of this slot canyon is rather short it is not without some interesting challenges due to an extremely narrow section. We arrive in time for noon sun which lights up the interior of the slot perfectly.