Jeanine is still feeling under the weather, and I am now starting to show the same symptoms. Nevertheless, we both felt the need to get out of the house. We went to Idylwilde Farms for lunch, then to Kimbal Farms for the last ice cream of the season (they close tomorrow), and on to the Groton area for a little photography. Every time I drive past the pictured barn, I feel compelled to stop for a photo. There is something about the setting and composition that speaks to me. Despite having attempted several times, I feel I have yet to capture the optimal perspective.
Jeanine has come down with a nasty cold, and I am not feeling 100% either, so we decided to spend the day indoors. Even so, we still enjoyed the beautiful fall day from our living room. I made a chicken soup run and we curled up in front of the TV to watch the season finales of “Slow Horses” and “Bad Monkey,” two of our favorite series.
After doing some morning landscape work, I drove to western Massachusetts to enjoy a perfect fall afternoon. I traveled as far as the Connecticut River, where I paused to photograph the French King Bridge. The foliage is only beginning to change and it would be nice to return to the area in about a week with Jeanine.
My sister Mayela and her husband Stephen ventured out to visit their mountain cabin located in western North Carolina, 75 miles northeast of Asheville, to see if it was still standing. They witnessed massive destruction along the route messaging photos to the family as they drove. We were all relieved and thrilled when they reported that their home had been spared, and had electricity and water.
Once they ascertained that their house was intact, they continued further inland to deliver supplies to those less fortunate.
The family gathered this evening to celebrate my 66th birthday. We got to hear all about Maya’s single-day Presidential Traverse, Nico’s ascent of Mount Cotopaxi, and Kyle’s exploits in Panama. Joining us were Owen, Maya’s boyfriend, who shot this photo, and Heloisa, one of Kyle’s housemates. I grilled steaks while Jeanine prepared a wonderful salad, Brussels sprouts, and baked potatoes, which we enjoyed on the patio warmed by a fire. We retired indoors for a delicious ice cream cake that Jeanine had prepared at my request.
My soccer team enjoyed a 2:0 win over Medfield earlier in the day. For the first time this season, I felt good about my game. I made zero mistakes and did something productive every time I handled the ball. My hip joints have been bothering me for the last week and I was pleased that they did not hurt at all during (or after) the match.
Although my birthday was front and center, today is Jeanine and my 34th wedding anniversary. How lucky can one guy get?
In a recent post, I shared the news that the Bionic Project, where Nico works as the Lead Educator, had been selected as a finalist in the national Land Rover Defender Service Awards!
The winner of $25K and a Bionic-branded Land Rover Defender will be determined by public voting, which has already begun.
I am pleading with all my followers to support the Bionic Project by voting every day for the next 12 days. It costs nothing and would mean so much for the organization.
The forecast called for sunny skies and peak color in the White Mountains, so I grabbed my cameras and headed north for the day. I left at 4:30 am to arrive in time for morning light and covered 400 miles in my search for autumnal beauty. The weather was ideal but I estimate that peak color is still a week away at most elevations. Nonetheless, I returned with several nice photographs. I traveled north to Franconia Notch, spending most of my time in New Hampshire. I detoured into Vermont to charge my car and found some nice subjects there as well. Fall is by far my favorite season and such excursions recharge my soul.
We received word today that Nico reached the summit of Ecuador’s Mount Cotopaxi and descended safely. Part of the Pacific Rim of Fire, it is a glacier-covered, active stratovolcano that has erupted 87 times, most recently last year. He is in Ecuador with the ROMP organization on a fundraising drive to provide prosthetics to those who cannot afford them. Celebrating the organization’s tenth anniversary, this year’s event has teams climbing Chimborazo (20,549 ft), Cotopaxi (19,347 ft), and Cayambe (18,996 ft) and has already raised $320,000. Pictured above is the entire group on one of their acclimatization hikes.
Nico’s team of 20 began their ascent at midnight to reach the summit by sunrise. Only 9 reached the top; of that group only 3 were amputees; of that group he was the only one on crutches. Recent eruptions altered the climbing routes making the final ascent considerably more difficult than in year’s past. Nico reported that it was the most physically demanding and terrifying climb he has ever made. While traversing a crevasse, he lost his balance and dropped one of his crutches. Had it not been tethered to his other crutch, it would have been lost to the volcano, leaving him stranded on the mountain. Had he not been on belay, we would have had one less Christmas present to shop for this year. The day before he left, Nico and I were reviewing his gear and discussing safety. I asked what he would do if he broke a crutch while climbing. He thought it far more likely that he would drop one and it would slide down the mountain. Ten minutes later, I had fashioned a bungee cord with slip locks to secure the crutches together and still provide the range of motion needed for climbing.
The team climbing Cayambe encountered snow and high winds, forcing them to forfeit the summit. The Chimborazo group will start their ascent later this week.
Nico returns on Sunday, and I hope to post photographs of the climb then.
An unexpected benefit of removing trees that threatened the house is that I can get a better photographic perspective of the house than was possible before. Regrettably, it is still not possible to position my drone for an unobstructed view of the river side of the house. I expended a great deal of effort to ensure that the windows on all three floors were of equal width and perfectly aligned, a detail that is essentially masked from view.
Maya shared this photo of the vest she knitted for herself. Completed just in time for the fall season, she started the project while we vacationed in England. My mother was an accomplished knitter and would have been so pleased to see Maya pursuing the art. Unlike knitting in a single color, the attention to detail necessary to make a multi-color, complex pattern is an order of magnitude higher.
The Kingfisher is an aptly named bird. With its huge dagger-like black bill, it is a lethal hunter. This morning, I spotted this one having just secured breakfast. Unfortunately, the angle of this photo does not reveal how large the fish is; so big in fact that the kingfisher was having trouble getting it down its gullet.
Maya and Owen hiked the Presidential Traverse yesterday. They started their 19-mile hike at 3:30 am with headlights, saw the sunrise from atop Mount Madison, and bagged seven 4,000-foot summits. Completing the traverse in a single day is arguably the most difficult climb in New England, with over 8,000 feet of elevation gain.
Nicolai arrived in Quito, Ecuador in time to connect with his climbing team for their attempt to summit 19,347 ft Cotopaxi later this week. If successful, this will be his highest ascent, a whopping 6 feet higher than Kilimanjaro.
Kyle sent us greetings from Panama, where he decided to travel at the last minute. Perhaps the smartest of our children, he seems focused on enjoying the food, sights, and nightlife rather than subjecting his body to intense physical strain.
I ventured into my shop this morning and then completed an 11-foot ascent back to the first floor. On a less sarcastic note, I followed that arduous climb with 60 minutes of playing time in a soccer match against the defending division one champs in our age group. We beat them 2:0, which made my birthday all the more joyous. As if the day couldn’t get any better, our dentist gifted me several huge slabs of spalted beech wood from which I will eventually build a desk for Jeanine’s office.
This evening, we attended the Conantum Harvest Supper, a gathering of our neighborhood with a long history. New this year was the venue. It was held at Verrill Farm, which made it possible to include children for the first time and to make it easier for seniors with mobility issues to attend. Jeanine was instrumental in driving the change. It resulted in record attendance and far greater inclusivity than in years past. I was on photo duty and enjoyed capturing both young and old. The full collection of photos can be found here.
This morning, Nicolai set out for Ecuador to join his ROMP climbing team for their ascent of Cotopaxi. Unfortunately, he only made it as far as the Logan Airport check-in desk, where he learned that his flight to Atlanta had been delayed due to Hurricane Helene and that his connection to Quito would be missed. He is rebooked for tomorrow and believes he can still meet up with his team before they depart for the mountains. Fortunately, I decided to visit nearby Constitution Beach after dropping him at the airport and was only 5 minutes away when he requested that I pick him up for a return to Concord.
This website is dedicated to sharing, with family and friends, the day-to-day adventures of the Calabria family.
