Our local deer have figured out that humans are not really a threat.  This guy is one of a small herd that frequents the field behind our house.  Today I ran into him, or rather, I did not run into him as he crossed ORNAC (Old Road to Nine Acre Corner) on his way down to the Sudbury River.  They always cross the road in the same place so I have learned to slow down and remain very alert at that location.  After crossing in front of me he lingered long enough for me to gather my camera and take a few photos from inside my car.

Between work and finishing my taxes, there was little time today for anything else. I did manage to watch the elite women’s finish of the Boston Marathon during my lunch break at a local pizzeria. Even though I was only a mile and a half from the finish line, I had little desire to be out in the pouring rain, frigid temperatures, and strong winds after enduring much of the same in my soccer match yesterday.  Congratulations to Des Linden, the first American woman to win the event in 33 years.

Jeanine has a special knack for stretching her birthday out for several days. This year’s festivities concluded with dinner at Alta Strada, a fine Italian restaurant in Wellesley.  It is close to Olin College where we collected Maya to enjoy a four-fifths family dinner.  We will see Nicolai in a few weeks when we all travel to Colorado for his college graduation.

The weather today has been a wintery mix of freezing rain and sleet. The temperature was 33 degrees when my soccer match kicked off at 9am.  Our opponents from Nashua, NH had to endure both the frigid conditions and a 0-8 drubbing.  The win placed my team squarely in first place and on a good path to earning promotion this season.9 am

Each spring, I obtain an open burning permit from the Town of Concord.  With all the trees on our property, there is invariably a sizable collection of downed branches that must be cleared. Typically, I only need to activate the permit for a single day. With the unusually fierce storms we had this winter, however, it took three days worth of burning to deal with all the dead wood.  Jeanine and Kyle both joined in today to help complete the project. As we knocked off for the day, the small pile above was all that remained and should be nothing but ash by tomorrow morning.

Jeanine turned 55 years old yesterday and remains the beauty I met 33 years ago. Last night she celebrated with her book group friends and this evening she was all mine.  We dined at Tango, an Argentinian restaurant in Arlington, and then saw Cooking with the Calamari Sisters, perhaps the funniest stage show I have ever seen in my life.  When I purchased front-row tickets, I did not realize (a) that several “volunteers” from the audience would be part of the show and (b) that the Calamari “sisters” were drag queens.  Despite these nontrivial oversights (fortunately neither of us was recruited to the stage), this may go down in history as one of my best birthday gifts for Jeanine.  The show was positively hilarious, even more so for those with some insights into Italian life in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, home of the Calamari sisters and where my father grew up.

Today I managed to wrangle my boss into a portrait session for a new headshot to go on the updated Superpedestrian website. He has been super busy lately so I had to work quickly.  Although I could have dialed the concept in a little better, I am pleased with the results. Now I need some help from his wife and my colleagues to convince him that the picture above is the best in the series.  He favors a version with a more serious expression. Anyone who knows him, however, will tell you this is the guy we work for.

Today at work we had a celebration for one of our colleagues who is beginning a phase of semi-retirement.  An early employee and key contributor to the company, we have convinced him to continue with us on a half-time basis before fully retiring. We toasted him with Champagne and regaled him with stories from the early days. A nicer man and smarter engineer you will not meet.

The mating ritual of wild turkeys is an interesting dance. It begins with the gobbler displaying for hens. Out of the mix, a receptive hen will parade close to her suitor. She will circle him, get his attention and once he becomes interested the two become locked in a beautiful ballet. It is the hen that initiates the actual breeding act. She will seductively wiggle her tail in front of the old boy and then lay down on her tummy. That’s when the gobbler approaches from the back, climbs on her, and begins breeding. On my drive into work this morning, I noticed a rafter of turkeys just off the road and pulled over for a few quick photographs. Unfortunately, the turkeys did not appreciate this invasion of their privacy and quickly moved off to the nearby woods.

The amount of effort necessary to get me involved with a photography project at work is next to zero.  Today I fashioned a makeshift studio in the hallway outside my office where I took headshots of a number of Superpedestrian employees.  They will be used to update the TEAM page of our corporate website. Our CEO has one of the least flattering portraits of all and I have set myself the goal of rectifying that situation.  The second least attractive portrait is my own, something that will be more difficult to address.

Last season I played my first season in the over-56 division for the Lexington Eagles because my former team, Concord United, had not yet formed an over-56 squad. That situation has been rectified and this season I will be playing for the Concord United Veterans. Two-thirds of my teammates are former Concord United players with whom I have played for the past 14 years. New teams are automatically placed in Division 2 which means our objective for the season is to secure promotion by finishing in first place. We got off to a good start with a 4-0 win over Sudbury. I had one shot on goal, a rocket from distance, but it was just wide of the net. More impressive, I managed to survive the match without sustaining any injuries, a goal not achieved by four of my teammates who all went down with various muscle pulls. Sad to say but soccer at my age is as much about survival as it is skill.

Jeanine and I decided to do a little house hunting today. We looked primarily in Belmont, Arlington, Lexington, and Lincoln. The current plan does not have us selling our home until next year provided we find someplace that suits our needs. We are looking for a small footprint, premium quality home situated in a natural setting. This is proving rather hard to find but such outings help us refine what we are looking for and where we might find it. During our excursion we happened upon what appeared to be a sailing regatta on Upper Mystic Lake.

With the first decent weather, since he arrived in Massachusetts, my nephew Rory got his first chance to try a Copenhagen Wheel.  It is very satisfying to work on a product that invariably produces smiles on the faces of those who sample it. With spring around the corner, it is time to have my CW transferred to a more sporty frame.  The one that was given to me by Superpedestrian is far too pedestrian for my style.

Famed cyclist Tim Johnson was in the office today reviewing data from his Copenhagen Wheel with members of our staff.  He had with him a sweet Cannondale racing bike bearing his name. Tim’s bio and major career accomplishments can be found here.

Although difficult to do it justice in photographs, at least for me, fog can be exceptionally beautiful.  Such was the case this morning on my commute to work. I stopped briefly to capture this scene of the highly swollen Sudbury River.  In another few weeks, there will be no water whatsoever in this scene.

Every weekday I drive to work ahead of rush hour traffic and park my car at the office before setting off on foot for Central Square.  There I enjoy a simple breakfast sandwich at the Clover restaurant.  It is a single soft-boiled egg nestled in freshly baked pita bread with tomatoes and cheese.  I could eat one every day.  In point of fact, I do eat one every day. The one-mile roundtrip walk provides a great opportunity to center myself and plan my day.

Visiting us for the week from Minnesota is my nephew Rory.  My brother’s second oldest, he and Kyle plan to do some sight seeing in between twice a day workouts.  Both are into fitness and healthy eating.  Perhaps some of their virtuous habits will rub off on me.  Jeanine returned from Florida having enjoyed her time there thoroughly.

Jeanine and Kris enjoying Easter Sunday in Palm Beach, Florida. Friends for nearly five decades it sounds like the two are having a grand time.  On the home front, my lack of conditioning was apparent at the first soccer practice of the season this morning. I have a lot of work to do to get back in shape and not much time. Every year the challenge seems to grow.

Knowing that Jeanine would have prepared a delicious homemade feast if she were here, I decided to try and honor that tradition in my own way. Kyle and I picked up a rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, cornbread, and salad which we then took to Olin College where we joined Maya for an Easter Sunday (partial) family dinner.

I returned to the Conowingo Dam a half hour before sunrise just to be sure I did not miss any of the action. It was a bright sunny morning and temperatures quickly rose into the low 50s. Most of the activity was beyond the reach of my lens and into the sun.  Once again I focused on birds flying to and from the trees on my side of the river.

By 9 am I was ready to start heading towards home.  I decided I would make a quick stop in Philadelphia to take in some of the sights. It is really a delightful city.  I visited the Magic Garden, Independence Hall, and waterfront where I put up the drone for a very nice cityscape.

As much as I would have liked to spend the entire day in Philly, I had to be back in Concord for soccer practice tomorrow morning. I got back on the road stopping one more time at the New Croton Dam for a little more aerial photography.  Sixteen hours of driving over the course of two and a half days was a little much but I could not be happier with my brief road trip.

I arrived at the Conowingo Dam by 9 am.  It was raining lightly and the sky was overcast.  More importantly, a few eagles were still fishing.  I captured a dozen or so really nice images making the entire trip worthwhile.  My only regret is that I sold my 800mm telephoto lens a few years back.  It would have been a far better choice than my 400mm given how far from shore the eagles were.  Some would return to the tree tops on my side of the river to enjoy their breakfast giving me a chance to photograph them at a reasonable distance as they flew past.

By 11 am the action was over so I ventured upriver to visit the site of Lock 12, the most well preserved of the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal.

The countryside here and in Pennsylvania is just beautiful. I could have easily spent the entire day roaming about but decided I would head back to Conowingo for another check on the action and then on to Havre de Grace where I spent the night. I managed to reach the Concord Point lighthouse on Chesapeake Bay just as the sun was setting.

The Conowingo Dam on the lower Susquehanna River in Maryland provides hydroelectric power and a drinking water reservoir for the area.  It may not be much to look at unless you are a Bald Eagle.  Hundreds migrate here during the winter months for the buffet-style restaurant.  Fish coming over the spillways or through the turbines are temporarily disoriented making them easy prey. The optimal time to visit is November but I read a report this morning suggesting that as many as eighty Bald Eagles were still present.  After work, I jumped in the car and began the 7-hour journey. With Jeanine in Florida, Kyle working on his final data science project and the beginning of spring soccer just over a week away, I decided this would be my last chance this year to make the journey.  I made it as far as Philadelphia where I stopped for the evening.

Jeanine is off to Del Ray Beach, Florida for a short vacation and visit with her lifelong friend, Kris Earle. I dropped her off at the airport very early this morning before joining a former colleague for breakfast in Boston.  Jeanine has been working like crazy for months now and really deserves a relaxing getaway.  We have reached a point in our lives where we enjoy vacationing together sometimes, with the family sometimes, and by ourselves sometimes. She has already sent some photos suggesting she is well on the path to deep relaxation and has sworn she will not respond to work e-mails while away.

Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox since 1912, is just 2 miles from my office and was my destination today for my morning walk.  I have been here a few times to see the Sox play but never have I had a chance to walk around the entire park absent the throngs of fans that normally clog the streets on game days. I understand that tours of the park are quite good and must make sure to join one in the near future. In 2004, the year we moved to the Boston area, the Curse of the Bambino was reversed ending an 86-year dry spell without a World Series win. Since then the team has won two more world championships. I believe, the Calabria family, can make a pretty good claim for having brought good luck to the team.

Today’s images must be viewed at higher resolution to be fully appreciated. Click on each to open a separate window and then click again to zoom in.  I stopped on my commute home about a mile from our house to capture the very swollen Sudbury River in golden light. What appear to be lakes now will shrink to a narrow river not more than 30 feet in width in a matter of months.

Located less than 30 feet from our property line, we rarely have an opportunity to look upon this pond. Shortly after moving here, our neighbors planted a tree which now blocks the sightline from the back of our house to the water. Just across the street from us is a horse farm which includes several fields, a barn, stables and an indoor riding arena. It is quite amazing to see unobscured aerial views of these immediately adjacent areas which reveal many details not known to us previously.

Maya is home for spring break having just returned from a trip to Montreal with friends. She continues to enjoy Olin and is beginning to prepare for a summer internship with the jet engine division of Rolls Royce in Indianapolis.  Jeanine orchestrated a turkey dinner this evening pressing the kids into service in preparation of the mashed potatoes.  It was a wonderful meal enjoyed by all including Nala who rarely if ever gets to sample table scraps. We also connected with Nicolai via FaceTime and heard all about his week-long canoeing adventure on the Green and Colorado Rivers. Meanwhile, Kyle is starting work on his final data science capstone project and is beginning to look ahead to a job in the industry.

The Bunker Hill Monument is not far from where I work in Cambridge. Today I decided to use my lunch hour for a quick visit and aerial photograph.  Drones are not permitted in any national parks or monuments so I had to launch and shoot from outside the park boundaries.  I was not satisfied with either the lighting or background and therefore will return at some point in the future for another attempt.  I think morning light shot from the back side of the monument with the Boston skyline in the background will produce a much more compelling image.

I am afraid my trekking shoes met their match in Nicaragua.  I managed to wear off the outside portion of both heels while using my feet to steer and brake on my boarding descent of Cerro Negro.  Even though the entire run was probably just over a minute, the scree was so abrasive that it removed a major chunk of Vibram sole from each shoe. This pair of trekkers has served me well and I will be sad to retire them.  By my estimate, they have visited more than half the US states and well over a dozen countries.

About half way through my visit to Nicaragua, I discovered that it is illegal to bring a drone into the country without a permit (which is rarely approved) from their equivalent of the FAA. Had my quadcopter been discovered at customs, it would have been confiscated and impounded for the duration of my stay.  Getting it back would have involved some serious paperwork and fines.  For a moment I considered packing up my kit and mailing it back to the states. I opted instead to continue shooting and take my chances getting back out through customs.  In a country where bicycles do not require lights or reflectors, where you can stop your vehicle in the middle of the road to chat with a friend, and where you can walk up to the edge of an active volcanic crater with no barrier, I am not prepared to respect any arguments about restricting drones for safety reasons. While it may get me in trouble at some point in the future, I intend to continue to operate my drone according to the following principles regardless of applicable overly constrained regulations. (1) Do not create a safety hazard for people, animals, or property. (2) Do not invade anyone’s privacy. (3) Do not diminish other people’s enjoyment of a place or event.

With a major Nor’easter forecasted to coincide with my scheduled arrival in Boston tomorrow, l decided to return a day early and avoid the inevitable canceled flight and night spent sleeping in the Miami airport. En route to the Managua airport, I stopped briefly in the capitol to take in a few of the sights. Pictured above is the Santiago of Managua Cathedral and below one of the Trees of Life (a virtual mini-forest can be found throughout the city, commissioned by Rosario Murillo, the omniscient and omnipotent wife of President Daniel Ortega.)

More than any other photo I have taken in Nicaragua, the one above best captures the essence of the country for me.  Happy, proud, and friendly people with close family bonds and strong work ethic. Dusty and rock-strewn dirt roads traveled by more horses than cars.  This mother and her daughters seemed to be chasing to catch up with the truck I was riding in on the way to the Telica Volcano for a sunset crater ascent.  From the top, you can see a dozen or so of the volcanic peaks that form the Ring of Fire within Nicaragua. I actually found the moonrise to be more photogenic than the sunset and the view of the magma to be less than impressive. Still, I enjoyed the climb and the company of a family from Sweden who made up the rest of our group.

The descent by flashlight was trying on my knees but otherwise uneventful until our guide spotted a scorpion.  The first I have ever encountered in the wild you know I had to stop for a photo.

Earlier in the day I drove to the coastal towns of Poneloya and Las Peñitas where I found beautiful beaches, abundant birdlife, and laid-back beach bars and beachgoers (all 5 of them).

Cerro Negro is an active volcano that has erupted 23 times since it was formed in 1850 and most recently in 1999.  It is basically a steep black mountain (sides are a mixture of burnt sand and stones that give it a dark tone) with no vegetation. The climb to the top took about an hour revealing a spectacular view of the crater and nearby volcanoes Telica and San Cristóbal.  Scrape away a half inch of the surface and you can feel an enormous amount of heat emanating from below leaving no doubt that this mountain is very much alive.  Click on the wide-angle panorama to best appreciate the beauty of the surroundings.

Reaching the mountain is best done with any one of the tour groups that come here for the “volcano surfing.”  Given that my knees much prefer ascending than descending mountains, the idea of climbing to the top and sliding to the bottom was very appealing.  My tour provided the “surf board”, protective jump suit, googles and gloves. Traveling at speeds of 50km/hr is quite the thrill but not without intrinsic danger.  It is also important to protect your face from the flying stones. I fashioned a buff from a child size tee shirt I purchased in León the day before. While this activity is better suited to the twenty year olds in my group, I managed the fastest run that did not result in a crash.  I followed the directions exactly; legs out for stability, both hands on the handle, lean back for speed and low center of gravity, stay on the course.  The bulge in my midsection is not a result of weight gain but rather where I stored my camera for the descent.

The guy who followed me down was easily doing 70km/hr until he lost control and wiped out.

I was pretty tired by the time we returned to León so I decided to relax and do a little people photography.