Mother swan and her three cygnets out for a leisurely paddle on Sabbatic Lake. This photo is the only positive outcome of a one-hour journey to Taunton this morning where the Division 1 Over-50 Soccer Championship was contested.  My team’s lackluster performance allowed Western Mass Lusitano to win by a score of 2-1 and secure first-place honors and the trophy. Hard to be disappointed with a second-place finish in a field of 66 teams,  but I am.  We beat this team earlier in the season and it would have been very nice to do it again this morning.

Jeanine and I slipped away this morning for brunch at our favorite spot for this meal, Nancy’s Airfield Cafe. The food is locally sourced and expertly prepared if somewhat overpriced. We both ordered “Green Eggs and Ham” which we enjoyed while watching several planes coming and going.  Our conversation was centered on the idea of learning to fly and buying a plane.  No decision was made but it remains a possibility still under consideration.

A visit from nephew John Quinn was all the motivation necessary for Jeanine to prepare a small feast.  The menu included several items from one of her favorite cookbooks featuring the foods of Jerusalem. I was too busy enjoying the roasted sweet potatoes and fresh fig salad to photograph it.

For all the photos I take, I have been reluctant to print many.   Perhaps it is because I spend so much time viewing them on a computer monitor which features emitted light rather than the reflected light of a print. About two years ago, I mounted a 47″ flat-screen TV on the wall in our breakfast nook where a slideshow of some of my better photos runs continuously.  A large digital picture frame if you will.  With the recent arrival of 4K TVs on the market, I decided to upgrade to a 55″ model that features 8 million pixels compared to 2 million. I have never enjoyed my photographs so much.

Jeanine appeared on the cover of the Concord Journal this week.  She accepted a donation for Open Table generated by an event at the Concord Umbrella, our local artist studio enclave.  Donors purchased “Empty Bowls” fashioned by local pottery students with all the proceeds going to feed the hungry.

Autumn has given way to winter with temperatures plunging this week to below freezing.  Ponds and marshes are beginning to ice over and soon we can look forward to snow.  Images of sun-drenched Mexican beaches are starting to become more vivid in this final week before we leave for Culiacan.

Growing up, I attended the First Unitarian Society of Schenectady with my family.  This past Sunday my mother (pictured left) was honored for her 50-year membership in the society along with one other member who had reached this milestone.  Raised Catholic, my mother was reluctant to embrace a new religion but did so after some coaxing from my father who was a quick convert after attending his first service.  Attracted by Unitarian’s acceptance of other religions, she also found a home in the society and went on to volunteer as the chair of the Visual Arts Committee, the performing arts committee, and teaching arts and crafts to the young children.

I have fond memories of my religious upbringing and feel fortunate for the decisions my parents made.

The group pairings for the amputee World Cup have been posted.  The USA drew Group E which contains Turkey, a perennial powerhouse. Nico is positively revved up for the tournament and we are all looking forward to our trip to Mexico and watching him compete.

I have now been a member of the Concord United soccer team for eleven years, first on the Over-40 squad and now with the 0ver-50 team.  The club has been around for twenty years and in that time has never won a match against Stoneham, a club that invariably wins the northern division regionals and more often than not, the Division 1 championship.  Today that all changed during our semi-final match with them.  Ninety minutes of play had us tied.  Thirty minutes of overtime produced the same result. Penalty kicks were tied 3-3 after five rounds.  It then came down to sudden death penalty kicks which went to eight rounds before our goalie made a decisive save giving us the win.  We celebrated at a local pub and I think it is the most meaningful victory we have ever enjoyed.  We now advance to the finals next weekend and we have a solid chance of winning the whole enchilada.

Dressed for a night out on the town, Maya looked lovely as she prepared to join her friends for a birthday party being held at a restaurant in the North End.  I spent the day winterizing the house which included turning off the outside water, purging the irrigation system, setting up snow sticks along the edges of the driveway (so you know where to snow blow when everything is covered in white), and assisting Kyle who got a good start on cleaning the gutters.

In preparation for the Amputee World Cup soccer tournament being held in Mexico later this month, I have been consolidating and updating my camera equipment.  I will be shooting stills and have engaged Maya and Kyle to assist with videography.  A critical piece of kit that I use to shoot soccer is a gimbal head.  It is the component sitting between the camera and tripod in the photo above. It is used to fully support the weight of a camera and telephoto lens while allowing perfectly fluid panning (left to right) and tilting (up and down).  Most pros use a monopod but I am not competing with others for space on the sidelines and prefer a tripod which allows me to shoot with a second camera without laying down the first.  Even better it would be nice to have a lens that is light enough to hand hold. I have such a lens on order and am therefore putting my trusty gimbal up for sale.

This morning the Massachusetts Air National Guard flew five F-15s at low altitude (1000 feet) over several landmarks in the eastern portion of the state.  Their first destination was Hansom Air Force Base and I correctly guessed that their approach would take them over Great Meadows where I set up to photograph them.  Scheduled to arrive at 8:10am they were 15 minutes late and I was just starting to leave when I heard them approaching.  Without a doubt, these are the biggest and fastest birds I have ever observed at this wildlife sanctuary.

Developed in Brazil and Uruguay, futsal is a variation of soccer played on a hard surface with five players to a side. The surface, ball, and rules create an emphasis on improvisation, creativity, and technique as well as ball control and passing in small spaces.  Having concluded her outdoor soccer season, Maya has joined an indoor futsal league and will train and compete through the winter months. Although she has never played the sport before, she got the hang of it very quickly and scored a few nice goals in her first scrimmage.

Maya hosted an end-of-the-season celebration party for her soccer team and coach.  Jeanine prepared pulled pork sandwiches, a healthy salad, and a fruit medley.  The otherwise healthy meal was balanced by the cookies and treats furnished by the players.  A more congenial and polite group of tough-minded girls you will not find.  I predict they will all go on to do great things.

The pear trees that line the drive into iRobot are always the last to turn and do so with great vibrance.  Not a bad way to conclude my morning commute.  In a week or two, even these holdouts will be reduced to bare branches in anticipation of winter.  All in all, this has been one of the most glorious autumns I can recall.