I spotted a total of four bald eagles while visiting the Long Meadow Lake unit of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge after dropping my nieces off at school. I happened upon the pair above about two miles from the visitor center. Even though they were rather far away it was hard to miss their distinctive silhouettes.

Nearby Minnehaha Creek was swollen due to significant recent rain making its plunge over 53-foot tall Minnehaha Falls that much more dramatic.

I hiked down the creek until it converged with the mighty Mississippi River.  Along the way I encountered more raptors and a single bubble gum decorated tree, the first of its kind that I have ever seen.

Cameras were not permitted at the Excel Center where we attended a concert featuring the acapella quintet, Pentatonix.  Although I really enjoy the group’s music, the concert was a tad too loud for my taste and a pair of screaming teens in the row behind us did little to enhance the experience.  Fortunately, the girls enjoyed their first concert and staying up until midnight on a school night.

I had the great fortune to spend her 11th birthday with my niece Sophia. After dropping her off at school, I stuck around to witness the “move-a-thon” event for fifth graders.  She completed 70 laps of the beep test and raised a ton of money for an up coming field trip. After school I asked Sophia where I could take her and Rose for a birthday dinner.  She requested Chipotle, one of my favorite restaurants.  I did not bother to mention that I had eaten there for lunch.

At around 7 pm, she was surprised by a group of friends and adults for a proper party.  Mark and Marie and several other family members attended via FaceTime.

Comfort food for this Italian takes the form of rigatoni with home made marinara sauce. It is also one of the few things I can cook well and hence on the menu this evening as I prepared dinner for my nieces, Sophia and Rose, and their friends Tray and Charlie. I arrived in Minneapolis in time to pick them up from school and will remain here until my brother and sister-in-law are able to return from Marquette, MI.  The heart attack my brother suffered this weekend appears to have been caused by an electrical/heart pacing problem rather than coronary blockage which means he should be able to make a full recovery.  He will, however, need to get an implantable cardioverter defibrillator which will shock his heart back to a normal rhythm should it go wonky again. It remains to be seen if he will have that procedure completed in Michigan or after returning home.

Mark was very lucky and we are all incredibly thankful for this outcome. The prayers and well wishes of so many have been much appreciated.

Maya lit this candle for my younger brother Mark who suffered a heart attack on Friday.  The entire family was on a bike ride when he collapsed to the ground.  His son, Mario, immediately began performing CPR which no doubt saved his life.  When EMT arrived on scene they used a defibrillator to restore his heart beat and then Medivaced him to Marquette, Michigan some 100 miles from Houghton where the family was vacationing. He was initially intubated, sedated and chilled for a day and a half. Earlier this morning he was extubated and was responsive to questions although groggy from the medications and had difficulty talking due to a sore throat and possible cracked ribs. More tests will be conducted tomorrow to determine if further intervention is necessary.  I will travel to Minneapolis in the morning where I will care for young daughters Sophia and Rose during the week while Marie stays with Mark at the hospital. Only months after suffering from a stroke, I am left to wonder if the two events are not connected in some way. We are all praying for his full recovery.

My soccer match this morning was rather depressing as we squandered a one point lead and had to settle for a tie despite controlling most of the action on the pitch.  After the game I took the annual team photo before we enjoyed a fine barbecue at the home of Erik Jarnryd.

Later I joined Maya and Jeanine downtown as they volunteered at the Crop Walk as part of their work for the National Charity League.

Pictured above is a photograph of a live model I took while attending the PhotoPlus Expo in New York City today.  Booths for the larger camera manufacturers often feature such scenes so that attendees will be tempted to audition their latest products.  The set, model, and her clothes were painted by an artist creating what could easily be mistaken for an oil painting on canvas.

I decided only this morning to attend the show which was held inside the Javits Convention Center. With traffic, it took four hours to get there and five to return. A lot of driving for a half day on the show floor but I am very pleased I made the journey.

It has been 13 years since our family moved from Indianapolis to the Boston area.  When we arrived Jeanine and I planted a small Japanese Maple tree just off the deck in our backyard.  Today it stands some 20 feet tall and is the source of great pleasure year round but especially in the fall as it turns orange and red.

Hard to explain how much time and grief this failed piece of technology (3TB hard disk drive with 128GB solid-state cache) has cost me.  I spent the entire day trying to coax my precious data from it to no avail. Fortunately, my backup archive was fairly up to date and the only file of consequence that I have been unable to restore is Maya’s 18th birthday video interview.  Perhaps she will allow me to film another.  I am also tempted to make another video featuring me, the above drive, and a sledgehammer.

Jeanine prepared an end of garden soup from the ingredients pictured above combined with many others not shown.  I can say with both pride and confidence that no one makes better soups than Jeanine.  Of the hundreds I have enjoyed, this one may well be my favorite.

As if to punish me for abandoning it during my “drive about,” my iMac computer failed to boot up when I returned.  It took Apple a week to replace the defective hard disk drive and I picked it up this afternoon. I spent the balance of the day reinstalling software and restoring all of my archived photos.  Unfortunately, I lost about 2 weeks of photography and my archived e-mails.  I am still working on recovering these files but the probability of doing so without employing an expensive recovery service is rapidly diminishing.

Another perfect fall day compelled me to get outside for some local photography.  Searching for and locating these idyllic settings is as much fun as shooting them. In another week or two such scenes will have disappeared and I intend to squeeze every bit of color out of this autumn as I can.

I was honored when Maya’s best friend, Sarinnagh, asked me to photograph her senior portrait.  For 13 years I have enjoyed watching her grow up hand-in-hand with Maya. She is as sweet as she is beautiful and it would be impossible for anyone to take a bad photo of her.

The results from my soccer match this morning were not nearly as satisfying.  We squandered a 2-0 lead and had to settle for a 2-2 tie against the number one team in our division. My 16-day road trip took its toll on my conditioning and let’s just say I have some work to do to get back into shape.

Maya’s interest in a nearby college compelled Jeanine and me to join her there for an all-day computer science open house today.  I have been admonished from sharing any additional details for reasons known only to the women of the family.

A more perfect fall day I can not remember. Cool weather, clear skies, and autumn color in full glory.  I made an afternoon excursion to Mount Monadnock in Jaffrey, NH stopping frequently to take photographs along the way.

I paused for an hour to climb the tiny (1832 feet tall) Mount Watatic. Views from the summit were somewhat limited although I did manage the shot below, taken through a gap in the trees. Fall colors this year are outstanding, perhaps due to the severe drought.  I can’t recall a time when the full spectrum of hues were so abundantly present.

By the time I reached Mount Monadnock it was too late in the day to climb so I had to settle for a photograph of the mountain itself.

In addition to two of my soccer games, I have missed several of Maya’s as a result of my recent travels.  This afternoon the CCHS Women’s Varsity was in action against Acton-Boxboro.  After a scoreless first half, Concord Carlisle gave up two avoidable goals in the second half.  Maya has mostly recovered from a foot injury that has nagged her but did not get any playing time in today’s match.  Photos from the first half of the game (rain and darkness infringed on the second half) can be found here.

One of my bucket list ambitions is to visit all of the US National Parks of which there are currently 59. My recent road trip added 8 more bringing my current total to 40. The National Park Service administers all manner of national sites including monuments (124), preserves (19), historical parks (50), historic sites (89), battlefield parks (4), military parks (9), battlefields (11), battlefield sites (1), memorials (30), recreation areas (18), seashores (10), lakeshores (4), rivers (5), reserves (3), parkways (10), historic and scenic trails (23), cemeteries (14), and heritage areas (49).  Of the ten maps/park brochures I collected on my “drive about” see if you can guess which two fall into a category other than national park.