Sterling Memorial Library is architected in the style of a cathedral per the wishes of its benefactor but all religious symbols have been replaced with Yale inspired secular icons.

This sculpture, Women’s Table, by Maya Lin, winner as a Yale senior, of the design competition for the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington, D.C. depicts the growth in number of female Yale graduates over the years. Women now outnumber men at the school by a wide margin.

We stopped for a lunch break in downtown New Haven. I opted to visit the Yale campus instead of eating and was fortunate to catch up with a student led tour which was both informative and entertaining.

When we came down for breakfast this morning we learned that the entire tournament had been cancelled due to heavy rains which had rendered the fields off limits for play. Needless to say this was not a very well received message and we had no real option but to re-board the bus and head for home. Eddie, our very skilled and accommodating driver was at the ready and so began the second half of our 800 mile journey.

As has been the case since buses were invented, the adolescents commandeered the rear, and parents were relegated to the front. The bus featured a nice video system, and the boys selected Borat for the movie, after which video choices were made by the parents.

I took a vacation day to travel with Kyle and his soccer team by bus to Baltimore for a major soccer tournament with many of the best teams in the East. The trip took just over 8 hours and I put the time to good use finishing up on some work items and planning for my upcoming trip to Utah and Arizona.

My return flight from California arrived at about 7am and I slept in for a couple of hours. I then spent the entire day working from home on performance reviews with no time for any photography. This is an art shot from earlier in the week.

Not my best photo but I was determined to get a shot of this mother looking after her eggs.

Another 12-hour day in the office starting at 4am still leaves me with ample time to use back roads rather than the highway on my drive to LAX to catch the red-eye back to Boston. To my surprise I came across a bunch of ostriches running about in a field. Only in California! For the record they are not as friendly as you might think.

I enjoy another pretty sunset before turning in for the night.

I am not sure what this fellow is although I am reminded of an Ibis. He is focused on this tide pool and could care less about the volleyball action on the beach. Update: A blog follower has informed me this is a Whimbrel. The Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is the one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic North America, Europe and Asia as far south as Scotland.

This is a migratory species wintering on coasts in Africa, South America, south Asia into Australasia and southern North America. It is also a coastal bird during migration. It is fairly gregarious outside the breeding season.

Major discovery on the way back to my tent this evening. I found a beach with dozens of volleyball nets and some serious players in action. The caliber of play was quite high and I will have to tune up my game a little if I want to join play on a future trip.

I woke up at 4:20am this morning, left for the airport at 4:30am, boarded my flight at 6am, arrived in LA 6 hours later, drove 90 minutes to Santa Barbara, worked from noon till 5:30, made camp, did a little photography, and 17 hours after my day started I watched the sun dip into the Pacific ocean. I then dipped into my tent and slept like a log.

I believe this is a Snowy Egret and he is hunting for dinner about 10 feet from where my tent is pitched. In New England I drag 20 pounds worth of camera, telephoto lens, and tripod through the marshes for hours to get this close. In California I use my 8 ounce point and shoot camera after an exhausting 12 step expedition. No wonder the folks here are so laid back.