Other than a loose plan to visit a number of national parks, I do not have a fixed itinerary for this road trip. The Australians go on “walkabout” which has come to signify “temporal mobility.” I think what I am up to could aptly be described as a “driveabout.” Today I covered 751 miles, arriving at a campground in North Platte, Nebraska well after sunset. I captured this grasshopper somewhere along the way when I stopped to stretch my legs.
The first stop on my road trip was at a campground near the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge near Seneca Falls, NY. Jeanine and I stayed at the same location several weeks ago and it was nice to find a familiar location given my late night arrival. I was treated to a spectacular sunrise and an abundance of birdlife. Despite the need to cover ground, I stayed for several hours before hitting the road. I drove 765 miles in about 12 hours and spent the night in Altamont, Illinois. I would have stopped sooner, but I was listening to the Presidenatial Debate and did not want to stop until it had finished.
The Ride for Food, organized by Three Squares, is a bicycle ride fundraiser to help local organizations seeking to eliminate food insecurity. Jeanine completed the 25-mile course and personally raised over $3,000. In aggregate Open Table participants raised $23,000 for the organization, more than double from last year.
Immediately after my soccer match this morning I set off on a road trip of indeterminate duration and with an open itinerary. I do plan to meet up with Jeanine and Nicolai in Colorado next weekend but other than that nothing else is pinned down and I will go where my cameras take me. Stay tuned as I hope to post blog updates from the road.
Kicks for Cancer was started 10 years ago to raise money for cancer research in honor of Lois Wells, the mother of several former CCHS soccer players and current assistant coach Steve Wells. For the first three years, the event only included one game. Beginning in 2010, the event grew into two matches. A year later, there were six matches and today it includes 16 teams. The event has raised close to $300,000 since its inception. Players wear special jerseys which include the name of a loved one affected by cancer. I find it more poignant to photograph for those names rather than player’s faces as is my normal practice. Pictures from the entire match can be found here.
Jeanine is preparing to publish her memoir cookbook and I have been enlisted to help with photography. Today’s assignment was for a story called Figs & Lemons. Still life photography is not my strong suit so I took over a hundred variations of this theme so that Jeanine and her book designer will have many options to choose from.
Determined to never again lose photos while traveling, I purchased a 13″ MacBook Air today. This will allow me to download photos each day while traveling and potentially post blog entries from the road (internet connectivity permitting). This was prompted by my decision yesterday to embark on a 2-3 week roadtrip to Colorado starting this weekend. Jeanine will fly to Denver joining me there for a long weekend that we will spend in the mountains with Nicolai.
One plant, four different pollinators. It is fascinating to me how different these insects are and that they should all be so interested in the same sedum plants growing in our garden. With a little patience I was able to sneak up on each one for a nice portrait. They seemed quite intoxicated by the pollen allowing me to place the end of my lens two or three inches from them.
After considering feedback from friends and family, Maya has selected the image above for her high school yearbook senior photo. In our one hour session we created at least four pictures that were good candidates. I am glad she chose this one as it was my personal favorite. I believe it captures her natural beauty and the warmth of her personality while showing off her beautiful hair. Can this really be my little girl all grown up?
Last Friday I noticed the sudden appearance of a very large number of floaters in my left eye as well as a slight decrease in the overall brightness of my vision in that eye. In retrospect, I should have had it looked at right away. Fortunately, after a thorough examination today, the problem has been diagnosed as a posterior vitreous detachment. This condition is not uncommon in near-sighted adults over the age of 50. It is very distracting but does not threaten my vision. Despite spousal concerns to the contrary this condition was not caused by playing soccer and I have been cleared to return to the pitch in 2 weeks provided I do not experience any further changes in my vision. Asymptomatic PVD carries a 10% risk of retinal tear which was not observed during my examination. There is no therapy for PVD and the floaters usually become less noticeable over time. Aging sucks!
Gaining Ground, a non-profit organic farm in Concord, Massachusetts, grows vegetables and fruit with the help of hundreds of community volunteers and donates all of this fresh food to area meal programs and food pantries including OpenTable. This afternoon they held their annual Harvest Celegration which we attended together with my mom, sister and nephew. It was a target rich photographic environment and I wasted little time touring the grounds and capturing images.
Jeanine and I joined SideStix founders Sarah and Kerith for dinner this evening at the Lolita Cocina & Tequila Bar in downtown Boston. It was an interesting departure from the restaurants we usually frequent although not one I would chose to visit again. That said, the company was fantastic and it turned out to be an extremely enjoyable evening.
Established in 1950, the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum is the largest park of its kind in New England encompassing 30 acres. Providing a constantly changing landscape of large-scale, outdoor, modern and contemporary sculpture and site-specific installations, the sculpture park hosts more than 60 works, the majority of which are on loan to the museum. Inside, the museum features a slate of rotating exhibitions and interpretive programming. My mother, Jeanine, Maya and I enjoyed a nice visit this morning.
Later in the afternoon, I photographed Maya for her senior portrait. It was great fun and I am very pleased with the outcome. I believe Maya is as well. I will wait till Maya finalizes her choice before posting the image.
Joined by my mother, sister Alissa, nephew John and Maya’s very tall boyfriend, Chris, I was treated to an early birthday dinner on the deck this evening where the hint of autumn was in the air.
Eastern Massachusetts is suffering from a severe drought this summer. Residents of Concord are currently prohibited from washing cars or watering lawns. To help in the conservation efforts, I decided to tackle a long overdue home maintenance project today. Three of the four toilets in our house have slow toilet tank leaks (a small trickle of water constantly flowing down the sewer pipe). Over time I am sure it adds up to significant amount of waste and it also causes the tank valve to cycle throughout the day and night which is very annoying. It took about 90 minutes to remove, completely rebuild and replace each of the toilet tanks. Not the most pleasant task in the world but well worth the effort.
Jeanine asked me to post a photo in remembrance of her mother, Eunice, who was born on this day in 1928. She died at the age of 75 in 2003 having lived a life of service to her community and family. Initially, I do not believe she cared for me that much. I drank orange juice from a water goblet, was living with her daughter before we got married, and drove a go-fast Porsche (probably mostly that middle thing). In the end, I feel I had mostly won her over. I think she admired my approach to parenting and recognized that Jeanine was happy and well provided for. I never did learn to drink OJ from a juice glass, if not for which, I would have gained unconditional approval.
Maya saw action this afternoon against arch rival Acton-Boxboro even though she is still battling a cold. Regrettably, the team did not fare well suffering a 0-4 drubbing. And yes, the AB players do seem Amazonian in comparison to Maya. Also in action (for the first time) was my newly created Swivel Pod which performed exactly as I had hoped. It is rather clunky to carry around, however, which may limit how often I elect to use it.
