I spotted this red-tailed hawk as it took up a surveillance post above the river in our backyard. I suspect it is a male which are somewhat smaller than the females. Unsurprisingly, the squirrel and chipmunk activity in the yard came to an abrupt halt when it arrived. One look at those talons and you know this bird means business, although I have yet to see one actually catch something.
The combination of wind and rain we are experiencing today is bringing down much of the remaining leaves in droves. It is feeling very much like the end of autumn and time to order more bamboo plywood for the winter projects I have planned: a desk, drawers, and bookshelf for Jeanine’s office, and a new bed with nightstands and shelving for our bedroom.
Jeanine hosted her Buddhist Sangha this morning and asked if I would make a fire so the group could meet outdoors. I was happy to oblige. With the right combination of kindling, dry wood, and an industrial-sized propane torch, I produced the pictured fire in under four minutes. Later, I added a couple of full-size logs, which provided warmth that lasted for the one-hour duration of the gathering.
Last week at the Bionic Project Fundraiser, Will Border, the president and co-Founder, included the cartoon above in his presentation. It had such a powerful impact on me that I wanted to learn more about its creator.
Michael Giangreco, a University of Vermont education professor in the special education program, has written more than 300 comics lampooning the bureaucracy, absurdity, and challenges he saw in the implementation of special education. The strips were collected in three volumes, all subtitled Absurdities and Realities of Special Education. In the early 1990s, when he was making presentations of his research, he often used humor to make his point by including cartoons such as those of Gary Larson’s Far Side. It was difficult, however, to find cartoons that were specifically on point, so he eventually started writing his own. Because he was not very good at drawing, he enlisted the help of his friend and Burlington, VT fine artist Kevin Ruelle. The two have been collaborators ever since.
It is these gentlemen we have to thank for this poignant and thought-provoking image.
When my perspective on an issue is changed in an instant, I call that a 2×4 moment, as in being whacked in the head by a heavy bit of lumber.
The Eustis Estate is a historic family estate located in Milton, Massachusetts. Its centerpiece is a large, three-story mansion built in 1878 and designed by the prominent architect William Ralph Emerson in an eclectic Late Victorian style. The mansion features local stone construction with red and yellow brick accents, a red tile roof, Romanesque arches on its porte-cochere, and six chimneys with decorative brickwork. The estate covers 110 acres with forests, ponds, gardens, orchards, and several outbuildings, including a gatehouse, stables, greenhouses, and barns, reflecting a self-sustaining property with its own water and ice supply and even electricity generated in later years. The estate was developed by William Ellery Channing Eustis, a Harvard-educated engineer who owned mines and smelting companies, and his wife Edith Hemenway, who inherited the land from her mother. The estate remained in the Eustis family until 2012, when it was sold to Historic New England, which now operates it as a museum.
I decided to visit the mansion while driving ahead of schedule to an appointment with my urologist, whose practice is in Milton. There, I learned after an ultrasound that I have a 3mm kidney stone in each of my kidneys and “multiple” bladder stones with the largest being 8mm. The latter are ticking time bombs. 7mm is generally considered the largest size stone that can be passed without potentially getting stuck. Should one become lodged in the urethra, it is considered a medical emergency and needs to be treated immediately to prevent permanent kidney damage, among even less desirable outcomes. With my luck, this will happen while I am in Antarctica or on the Bolivian altiplano. With this in mind, I will have surgery to remove the bladder stones and during the same procedure address the root cause, an enlarged prostate (68 grams compared to the normal size of 25 grams). I am still evaluating the various surgical options and will try to schedule around my soccer season and travel plans. Fun!
The video posted above was prepared for the Bionic Fundraiser that we attended last Friday. It is a short and succinct summary of what the Bionic Project, where Nico is the Lead Educator, is all about.
Despite the fact that many of my soccer teammates were in Vietnam for a tournament this weekend, the rest of us took care of business with a decisive 7-0 drubbing of Raynham this morning. It was not one of my better matches, but I was grateful to be on the pitch at all, given how bad my hip had been hurting earlier in the week. I did manage a pretty assist during my 65 minutes of playing time.
After the match, we gathered for our customary post-game aprés, this week hosted at our house. In addition to my over-62s team, we had players from the over-48s and over-55s join us. Jeanine prepared a magnificent chili, which was a big hit, as were the fresh cider donuts she purchased from a local farm stand. Our first outdoor fire of the season took the chill off the crisp fall air and was so big it was still ablaze as the sun set.
This female Eastern Downy Woodpecker is a regular visitor to the trees around our property, as are its much larger cousins the Pileated Woodpecker. I am pleased to say that so far they have shown no interest in our house, which cannot be said for the last two we have owned in Concord. At one point, I thought I heard a woodpecker pecking on our aluminum roof, which seemed quite implausible to me. I have since theorized that it was pecking on a dead branch that had fallen on top of the roof. Since our roofs are fairly low-pitched (3:12), detritus can often remain there until a good rain storm or strong wind comes along. One of the selection criteria for our siding was that it not attract woodpeckers or rather that it would not host the insects that they are hunting for. So far, knock on non-wood, we seem to have achieved our goal.
This evening, Jeanine, her friend Barbara, and I attended the Western-themed Bionic Project fundraiser held at Loretta’s Last Call adjacent to Fenway Park. I volunteered to photograph the event, which proved to be quite a challenge given the dim and multi-colored lighting, as well as the dark ceilings, walls, and floors, making bounce flash impossible. Still, I made a good go of it. The full set of images can be found here.
Country Western music was provided by the Clay Street Unit after an emotionally stirring video explaining the work of the Bionic Project, a message from the Chairman of the Board, and a live auction. The event was a great success, and I would estimate that they raised $100,000.
Pictured below are the prettiest cowgirls of the evening and two handsome dudes.
Over the years, I have taken several aerial photos of the Concord Carlisle High School. Today, I discovered an entirely different perspective, which may well be my favorite. The reason I have never considered this angle before is because it features the back side of the school. I think the architects might have gotten the orientation decision wrong. The only reason I can think of to support their choice is that construction on the new school started while the old one remained in use. This no doubt would have limitted some options and complicated the logistics.
I had a deep tissue massage this morning to try to get my hip in shape for my soccer game this weekend. It helped, but I will be hitting the Ibuprofen pretty hard if I am going to make it onto the pitch.
At Jeanine’s request/insistence, out of concern for my safety, I will be joining a photography tour when I travel to Bolivia in March. This afternoon, I secured my reservation with a small group led by a Peruvian photographer that will visit the Uyuni Salt Flats and Altiplano Desert. I hope to combine this with a visit to Guyana, where I plan to visit the Kaieteur Falls. I generally prefer to travel alone on such photo adventures, but I can see the wisdom of going with a guide. Since the group is composed exclusively of photographers, I am hopeful that the itinerary and shooting times (sunrise/sunset) will be similar to what I would have chosen if traveling solo.
My hip has been bothering me so much since Saturday that I failed to notice a foot injury I sustained during my soccer match on Sunday. This is what happens when a defender wearing cleats steps on your foot. It is a tactic used by unscrupulous players to slow down attackers. In this case, however, it was inflicted unintentionally. If anything, I was more of the aggressor last weekend and felt compelled to apologize to my defender after the game for being too rough. I consider this injury to be karmic payback that I deserved.
With fall color peaking in Concord this week, I don’t even need to leave the house for a great photo. This shot, taken on our first floor, reminds me of a photo I took in December of 2023 from the basement window directly below it. I am now inspired to capture all four seasons through the same window with the same framing and perspective. Stay tuned.
Jeanine and I joined the Thoreau Fitness Center yesterday and went in for our first session today. I had the good sense to take it easy, given my left hip remains quite tender. Even so, I can tell I will be waking up with some sore muscles tomorrow. We have scheduled two workouts a week that we will do as a couple, and a third, which will remain floating for the time being.
iPage is the web hosting service I use for this blog. Each month they send me usage statistics generated through their hosting control panel and analytics modules. A “visit” represents a single session of activity from a unique visitor until the visitor leaves or remains idle for roughly 30 minutes.
Over the last few month the number of visits to this site have increased substantially to nearly 7,000 per day and I have no idea why. In the last year, the number of visits was more than 1.2 million which is hard for me to wrap my head around given my target audience is just friends and family.
After further investigation, I learned that for hobby-level websites like mine, it is common for between 30% to 80% of all visits to be from automated bots or scrapers. I wonder if the recent increase in daily activity is linked in some way to the increased use of AI.
Regardless, it is nice to know that more than a few people take a moment each day to visit and this serves to motivate me to keep posting.
Fall color is now moving through our neck of the woods. Pictured above is an aerial view of the section of the Sudbury River adjacent to our home, the roof of which can be seen on the left bank. Also visible in this photo, if you look carefully, is a kayaker and a Great Blue Heron.
Yesterday, I woke up almost completely unable to walk with severe pain in my left hip joint. Apparently, all the driving I did on Friday (10 hours in the car) did not sit well with my hip, pun intended. A combination of Ibuprofen, icing, walking (4 miles), and a massage from Jeanine made it possible for me to play soccer this morning, a seemingly miraculous recovery. Not only was I able to play, but I also scored my first goal of the season, and a beauty at that. I intercepted a pass at midfield and made a Nico-class juke to evade my defender. I then passed to a teammate who attacked the goal. His shot was rejected and fell to their sweeper, who I stripped and then beat a second defender to face the goalie one-on-one from the 18-yard line. He charged to cut down the angle as I fired a left-footed rocket which bounced off the inside of the far post for the goal.
I should note that this is the first game I played with a new set of cleats that I purchased to replace the pair I blew out last month, making them forever lucky.
Jeanine and I attended the Concord No Kings Rally at the Minute Man National Park today. Considering that we are a town of 18,300, the turnout was significant. I estimate close to 1,000. The photo’s resolution is good enough that you could actually get an exact count if you were so inclined. I was able to spot Jeanine in the image, but only because I knew where she was standing. As one would expect of Concord, it was a peaceful demonstration that was as frivolous as it was sagacious.
For the first time in a week, the sun was out, demanding that I jump in the car for a road trip in search of fall color. Unfortunately, the 400 miles I covered driving through three states provided few scenes that lived up to my expectations. Instead, I turned my attention to waterfalls, making stops at Moss Glen Falls, Warren Falls, and Bartlett Falls.
Work on our front walkway was completed today after a few days of rain delay. We are delighted with the results. It would have been far easier to make the curves had we chosen smaller bluestones, but I am pleased we held out for the larger ones. I think the scale is a perfect match for the house.
The two river rock streams are there to carry rainwater away from the house. The one on the left-hand side of the photo captures a substantial amount of water from our downhill-sloping 300-foot driveway. The one that crosses the new walkway collects the relatively small volume that falls from the four leftmost panels of the 2nd-floor metal roof. Not shown in this photo is one additional river rock stream that collects water from the garage roof and carries it down to the Sudbury River.
While the new walkway has added some formality to the “front yard,” we are looking forward to when all the plantings we have installed develop into the more natural oasis we are hoping for.
Conditions this year are conspiring against my efforts to photograph the spectacular fall foliage we usually get in New England. It has been raining nonstop for the past 72 hours, and today, by the time I reached Shelburne Falls, the clear skies above Concord gave way to heavy cloud cover. On the positive side, all that rain made for spectacular flow over the falls.
No doubt, I will continue to make leaf peeping excursions over the next two weeks, but most observers are reporting muted colors this year, likely the result of a rainy spring and summer drought.
I found this photo of me taken by my cousin Vincent while perusing my archive this afternoon. Initially, I thought it was taken in Montana while on a road trip from Indianapolis to California. When I reached out to him for confirmation, his memory proved to be substantially better than mine, and he provided a full accounting of the adventure. He flew out to California to help me drive my Alfa Romeo Spider from Palo Alto, where I had just completed my Master’s Degree at Stanford, to Indianapolis, where I was expected to report for work at Bell Labs a week later. In the photo below, I am seen servicing the car in advance of our departure. I believe I changed the plugs, oil, and front brake pads, the latter of which will be significant to the end of the story.
After bidding farewell to my California friends, we drove up the California and Oregon coast, stopping to see giant redwood trees and the ocean rocks of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Then we started heading east through Idaho and into Wyoming, where the handstand photo was taken in front of the Grand Tetons. As we were running short of time and money, the remainder of the trip was something of a high-speed blur through Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. Vincent drove the final overnight shift through dense fog while I slept. He did this without the benefit of working brakes. Apparently, while hanging the calipers to change pads, I damaged one of the brake line hoses which led to the eventual loss of all brake fluid. Vincent used the mechanical emergency brake to complete the journey without incident.
Looking back, it was probably the most epic road trip of my life and a fond memory I will share with my cousin (now that we have collectively recalled it). I have omitted several details such that my children (and wife) will continue to hold me in high regard. Suffice it to say that we narrowly avoided confrontations with the police, collisions with wildlife, and other general consequences of debauchery.
Pink Martini is an American band renowned for its eclectic, cosmopolitan style, blending classic pop, jazz, Latin, big band, and international influences. The group describes itself as a “little orchestra” that emphasizes multicultural connection and inclusion through a glamorous, accessible sound. Founded in 1994 by pianist and bandleader Thomas Lauderdale in Portland, Oregon, Pink Martini has enjoyed global popularity for over 30 years, performing at iconic venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Sydney Opera House. This evening, Jeanine and I were invited to join our good friend, Aliza, and another couple to attend their concert in Lexington’s intimate Cary Memorial Hall.
Lauderdale is a flamboyant pianist who, in the photo above, performed briefly in a chicken suit, a nod to recent ICE protests in Portland. Leftmost in the photo is Ari Shapiro, acclaimed radio journalist, cabaret performer, and author, most widely known as a host of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
Lead singer Storm Large, pictured below, exudes a magnetic stage presence, mixing raw emotional energy, glamor, humor, and vulnerability. She delivered a captivating, uninhibited performance that combined vocal power with theatrical charisma. Each of the other singers and band members, to a person, was an exceptional artist in their own right. We had a great time at the concert, which ended with us on stage dancing in a Conga line.
Earlier in the day (8 am), I had a soccer match in Haverhill, which proved to be a very close match. Although we dominated the run of play and despite numerous opportunities, we struggled to find the back of the net. Our defense held them scoreless, which allowed the one goal we did score to secure the win. I played well despite lingering symptoms from the cold I caught while on vacation.
Initially, Jeanine and I thought we would be happy with a stone dust walkway to our front door. It imparted the casual feel we were after. Having lived with it through four seasons now, we have decided it is not really the right material. When wet, two problems emerge. First, the sand-like stone dust sticks to the bottom of shoes, which then tracks it into the house. Second, it becomes soft and particularly prone to denting from point loads such as a high-heeled shoe or crutch tip. Finally, when using a snowblower to clear the walk, it is very difficult to avoid scraping up material into the augers, bad for the machine and the walkway.
Yesterday, the installation of a bluestone slab walkway started. The large stone slab “bridge” over the river rock river drainage channel remains in place. With any luck, the job will be completed before the forecasted Nor’easter hits us on Sunday afternoon.
Every once in a while, I take an unintentional photograph that holds my interest. This morning, a mystical fog was lifting over the river in front of our house. I decided to photograph it from above with the drone and set out to launch it from a bistro table on the patio. I accidentally snapped the photo above before takeoff and have decided I like it better than the aerial photos I took once airborne.
I have been to Canada several times in my life, but this past week has been the longest stretch of time I have spent in the country. It is said that Canadians are polite, friendly, humble, and community-oriented, with a strong emphasis on respect for others, fairness, and multiculturalism. Based on my experiences here over the past week, I can confirm these generalizations to be correct. I found myself constantly compelled to apologize for the manner in which our administration has been characterizing the country. It is so insulting to suggest that Canada would be better off if they became our 51st state. In fact, we could stand to learn a lot from them. Canada may not be a perfect country, but it is full of truly wonderful people who we are lucky to have as neighbors.
Pictured above is the boarding area inside the Calgary Airport where we waited for our departure. Unlike our flights to get here, our return was uneventful, and we enjoyed sharing stories of our adventure with Maya, who picked us up at Logan Airport.
Thus far on our vacation, we have been fortunate to dodge inclement weather, if not, more than our fair share of cloudy skies. Today, on our drive from Jasper to Calgary, we experienced an hour of rain, an hour of snow, and three hours of clear skies. We stopped in Banff for lunch and to enjoy the Vermilion Lakes area. It has been a wonderful vacation during which we celebrated my 67th birthday and our 35th wedding anniversary. Having both caught colds, we did not do quite as much hiking as we had originally planned but were able to reach more than 90% of our planned destinations. I return with a treasure trove of photographs, only a small fraction of which I have posted here, and the satisfaction of finally visiting a part of the world I have wanted to see forever.
The drive from Banff to Jasper took us about 5 hours with stops at the Sunwapta Falls (above), Athabasca Falls (below), a second visit to Herbert Lake, and an unnamed horseshoe bend in the Athabasca River. Forecasted rain never materialized, and we were bathed in sun for most of the day. Should we get percipitation this evening, it may take the form of snow which could slow us down tomorrow as we make the long trek back to Calgary.
Thirty-five years ago, I had the good sense to marry Jeanine. Some men talk about their “better half” when referring to their wife. Jeanine is my better two-thirds. She is a genuinely kind and wonderful human being, a loving mother, and still a sexy dish. She puts up with me because I am good at fixing things. I consider myself a lucky man and look forward to the many adventures we have yet to share.
We departed our hotel in Banff at 5 am to arrive at Lake Moraine in time for sunrise. Waiting in the bitter cold for the sun to kiss the mountain tops was totally worth it. A light snowfall last night had left the mountains and trees covered with a dusting that made the scene even more magical. What is not shown in this photo are the several hundred other people interested in capturing the exact same moment. I was able to use my tripod on top of a retaining wall to shoot over all the distractions.
By the time we left Lake Moraine, the parking lot at Lake Louise was completely full, so I used my drone to get an aerial view, including the famous Fairmont Chateau.
We decided to spend most of the remainder of the day in Yoho National Park, stopping at Takakkaw Falls and Natural Bridge.
By late afternoon, the light on the Icefields Parkway was not very flattering, so our drive there was mostly a scouting mission for tomorrow’s outing.
Jeanine has been feeling a little under the weather and slept in this morning while I drove from Banff to Calgary to pick up a new drone. When I returned, we enjoyed a leisurely walk about the town, which is nestled between massive peaks and the confluence of the Bow and Spray Rivers.
Later we drove to the Surprise Corner Viewpoint for views of the stunning Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel and Bow Falls.
When your drone lands on a highway, there is a good chance it will get run over by a car. Lately, I have gotten lazy and allowed my drone to self-navigate back to its home point, which gets established during take-off. Provided you wait until the drone gets a GPS satellite fix on its location this results in pinpoint accuracy (within inches). Apparently, during my last flight of the day, I did not allow enough time to get the fix before launching. Rather than landing directly in front of our rental car parked on the side of the highway, it landed on the roadway. Even the micro SD memory card was cracked in half and I lost all my aerial photos for the day (adding insult to injury).
Fortunately, I took several land-based photographs during our 6-hour drive from Whitefish, Montana, to Banff, Alberta by way of the Kootenay National Park. We made several stops, including Olive Lake, the Paint Pots, and the Stanley Glacier viewpoint.
For the third time in as many days, I drove to Many Glacier, hoping for clear skies. I timed my arrival for sunrise and captured the image above during a window that lasted 3-4 minutes. Pictured below is Grinnell Lake with just a tiny bit of Grinnell Glacier and the Garden Wall showing beneath the clouds. Jeanine, who seems to have picked up a cold, slept in this morning.
Pictured below, as the sun was rising, is Swiftcurrent Lake in the foreground and Lake Sherbourne in the background
Our plan for the morning was to hike the Hidden Lake Overlook Trail. When we arrived at the Logan Pass trailhead, returning hikers reported zero visibility due to the clouds, so we opted to hike the Trail of the Cedars and the Avalanche Lake Trail instead. All in, we covered 6 miles with 750 feet of elevation gain; worth every step for the idyllic views.
Virginia Falls is a striking 50-foot waterfall located along one of the park’s most scenic trails, a 3.8-mile round-trip, with roughly 500 feet of elevation gain. It also passes Saint Mary Falls and several smaller cascades. It was the perfect destination for another cloudy, drizzly day.
While picking up food supplies, we encountered a group of four tricked-out Mercedes-Benz Sprinter-based RVs that we have been crossing paths with around the park.
Sometimes when traveling, you just have to roll with the punches. When planning this trip, I optimized the timing for fall foliage, missing only one soccer game, and allowing us to attend the Conantum Harvest Supper, the latter pushing us back a week more than what would have been optimal. What I did not realize is that on October 1st almost everything in this part of the world shuts down for the winter season. This includes the hotel where we just spent the night, the Carway Border Crossing we are relying on to get back into the States for our visit to Glacier National Park, the Many Glacier Hotel, access to the Two Medicine Lake area, and the restaurant where we had dinner. Although we just squeaked under the bar today, the outlook for tomorrow is questionable, especially in light of the likely government shutdown which could potentially close all national parks.
Uncertainty notwithstanding, we made the best of the day despite overcast skies and intermittent drizzle. We drove to Many Glacier and hiked around Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine and then drove to Logan Pass on the Going to the Sun Road, which on this day would have been more aptly named Driving In Clouds Road. We found slightly better weather as we ventured further south to the Two Medicine Lake area where we hiked to Paradise Point.
We had dinner at the Cattle Baron Supper Club in Babb, where I was served a rib-eye steak the size of Montana, one of the few menu items still available on this, their last night of operation for the season. Between Jeanine and me, we ate about half and saved the rest for dinner tomorrow. We are staying at a cozy little cabin near Babb where we slept well after a long day of driving and hiking.
This website is dedicated to sharing, with family and friends, the day-to-day adventures of the Calabria family.
