For some time now Maya has been volunteering in a soccer program offered for mentally challenged athletes. She coaches, provides motivation, and plays in scrimmages. This evening Kyle and I dropped in on the program and it did not take long before Kyle was recruited into the action. Here he helps his sister prepare for a scrimmage.
An interesting combination of patterns that caught my eye.
Inspired by the new year, I spent the majority of the day organizing my photography and camping equipment. From Jeanine’s perspective this translates to “cleaning up our bedroom (which looks like the inside of an REI store) and my study”. In addition to organizing, I have decided to sell some of my least used equipment. Followers of this blog understand my obsession with tripods and it is with some deep reservations that I have put up for sale my last Gitzo. This model is extremely versatile and especially useful for macro photography. Alas, I use it very infrequently and it deserves to find an owner who will put it to better use. I am very pleased with the way this product photo turned out which is remarkable since I used three lights and nailed the exposure and lighting angles in just one take. I am either getting good at this stuff or just got lucky.
Meanwhile, Kyle, just back from a couple of days visiting with friends in New York City, is off with other friends for a few days of snowboarding in Vermont. He is just now fully recovering from the injuries he sustained the last time he went snowboarding some three years ago. Jeanine and I are more than a little nervous and hope he will take fewer risks this time out.
I thought I would close the year with a post featuring my favorite photo from 2012. After an hour of struggling to select a single image, I have opted to reflect on my growth as a photographer instead. As I looked through the 8713 pictures I elected to save from last year (probably shot five times that number) I concluded, perhaps with a somewhat biased perspective, that my landscapes have improved noticeably. I think I have finally got the knack of rendering a three-dimensional scene in a two-dimensional medium (hint: it is all about the foreground). 2012 was also a year where I made the effort to put myself in remote places of beauty and grandeur. As more of my life is behind me than in front, I am increasingly taking advantage of every opportunity to travel the world in search of natural wonders and cross-cultural experiences. I am so very thankful for my family, for my health, and for the means to pursue my passions. I wish all my followers the happiest New Year.
Photo credit to Kyle who captured me doing what I love.
We received our first real snow of the winter last night. I was up at 5 AM to clear the 6 inches from our driveway so that I could get out for a little sunrise photography.
Maya was in fine form this evening scoring her first hat trick during an indoor soccer match. She shot from distance, she dribbled past defenders and she went head-to-head with the goalie. I was able to sneak in with the players so I did not have to photograph from behind the dingy and scratched glass walls.
My adventure in Patagonia came at a high price. I missed seeing Maya in 4 dance and 3 acting performances in the weeks before Christmas. She is pictured here during her performance of The Shepherdess Dance in the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors.
Normally prepared on Christmas Eve, this year’s batch of Zeppeli (fried dough covered in honey and sprinkles) was postponed for a few nights. Joining us this evening in the preparation were Hannah, back from Emory for winter break, and Nicolai’s friend, Taylor. The kids made short order of the work and the results were excellent.
For all the pictures I take it is surprisingly rare when I get one of all three kids together. I never did inquire as to the source of their fascination but was pleased with the formation of bodies it created.
If it is Christmas morning, then you know the Calabria’s will be enjoying popovers and lingonberries for breakfast, a tradition from Jeanine’s side of the family. Popovers can be a little tricky and if not prepared in exactly the right way then they do not rise, leaving you with something more akin to a muffin. The proper popover is hollow inside ready to be filled with any combination of butter, jam, syrup, berry, bacon, fruit, you name it. This year’s batch was prolific in size and the overflow batter which fell to the bottom of the oven created a new form of treat, which we have dubbed popovers. Rather than rushing through the process, we linger over the investigation of stockings and opening of presents. This year we completed stockings in time for lunch and presents in time for dinner. Many stockings were found to have reproduced and contained babies (regular socks) which were initially misidentified as ear warmers prompting the photo below of all who received them.
We are delighted to have both my mother and Jeanine’s sister, Susan, staying with us for Christmas this year. We attended the children’s service at First Parish in which Maya participated. It concluded with the singing of Silent Night by candle light which inspired this photo, taken after we returned from our traditional Christmas Eve Chinese dinner with the Budris family.
Two weeks ago when Kyle and I departed for our adventure in Patagonia he made one simple request. He asked that we grow our beards until we returned. Although I have maintained a beard at various times in my life, I have not done so since having children. The last time I saw my own beard, there was a much younger man on the other side. Despite the itchiness, there were days on our trek when I appreciated the extra layer of warmth and protection it provided. As we prepared to board our return flight to Boston, Kyle and I made a final father-son photograph to document the growth of our facial hair. What is not apparent from the photo is the growth we experienced in our relationship. I am so pleased that Kyle joined me on this adventure and I feel much closer to him as a result of the long periods of time we spent together uninterrupted by smart phones, iPads, TVs and computers. Sometimes we trekked for hours without speaking a word. Other times we had deep and extended conversations about our respective lives and aspirations. When Maya and Jeanine leave for India in February, they will complete the last Coming of Age adventure for the family (age 13). I would like to initiate a new parent-child tradition called the Journey of Discovery to be repeated with Nicolai and Maya when they turn twenty years of age.
With only one day to see Buenos Aires, a city of some 13 million residents described as the “Paris of South America”, we opted to take an open air bus tour with on/off privileges. The 3 hour, 25 stop circuit provided comprehensive coverage of the main attractions of the city. We completed the first lap listening to canned descriptions of the various sites through headphones. We used the second lap to jump on and off where we wanted to spend our time on the ground. The La Boca neighborhood was our first stop and destination for lunch. We enjoyed delicious roasted chicken although Kyle observed that we failed to order in the incremental fashion of the locals who can turn any meal into a three hour affair.
La Boca has a strong European flavor, with many of its early settlers being from the Italian city of Genoa. Known among sports fans for La Bombonera, the home of Boca Juniors, one of the world’s best-known football clubs. It is a popular destination with its colorful houses and pedestrian street, the Caminito, where tango artists perform and tango-related memorabilia is sold.
Our next destination is the open-air market at the Plaza Intendente Alvear where each of us peruse the artifacts produced by local artists. The challenge was selecting items that were small and light enough to add to our packs for the return flight home.
Our final destination was the San Telmo neighborhood where we settled in for an Argentinian style dinner. Kyle was determined that we order in the fashion of the locals and we stretched our dinner experience over two and a half hours. Shortly after dessert we were treated to a live tango show and music bringing our South American adventure to the perfect end. I was enjoying the dancing so much that I did not think to video the performance until it was almost over. For all the ballroom dancing experts in my family I am not sure if this clip is of a tango or another style.
Having gone to sleep quite early the night before, it seemed quite natural to wake up at 2AM. With nothing else to do, I decided to make the 3 minute walk out of the forest in which we were camped to an open meadow where I could take in the night sky. The storm had completely abated and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The star field was incredible and Mount Fitz Roy was totally visible. I quickly returned to the tent and insisted that Kyle wake up to enjoy the celestial panorama. Kyle was amazed by what he saw but was too cold to remain outside for more than a few minutes. I managed 30 minutes before the cold got the better of me as well, but not before making some of my favorite images of the trip by the light of the stars, the moon being no where in sight.
Inspired by the absence of clouds in the sky, I departed for the Laguna de Los Tres vista at 4AM with the goal of catching the sunrise on Mount Fitz Roy at 5:15AM. Kyle opted for the warmth of his sleeping bag given he had already seen the peaks in normal daylight. This one hour ascent was without a doubt the most demanding yet. The trail rises relentlessly gaining 1,700 vertical feet in under 2 miles of climbing. I found the slope to be reminiscent, if only half the vertical ascent, of the summit day climb on Kilimanjaro and also best climbed by the light of a headlamp to minimize my feelings of vertigo. My reward for the effort was glorious morning light. Unfortunately, Fitz Roy was partially shrouded by clouds even though its two brothers were out. In these mountains you take what you can get.
I chose to descend very slowly to protect my knees and reunited with Kyle as he was waking up. We had just enough cooking fuel and food for a breakfast of hard boiled eggs and hot soup (again). Out of fuel and out of food (either good planning or dumb luck), we broke camp and descended to El Chalten by way of Laguna Capri.
After a nice lunch we snagged front row seats on the 1PM bus to El Calafate and rested our weary feet as we enjoyed the view. A gamble to jump an earlier flight to Buenos Aires paid off and we arrived at our hotel by midnight affording us a full day to see the city tomorrow.