After spending a good portion of the day working with Jeanine in the yard on what has been one of the first days remotely suggestive of spring, I spent the hour before sunset at the Great Meadows Reserve where I found this fellow getting his portion of vegetables for the day. Muskrats are not the most photogenic of creatures but this one was at least kind enough to tolerate my close approach. They spend much of their time in the water and are well suited for their semiaquatic life, avle to swim under water for 12 to 17 minutes. Their bodies, like those of seals and whales, are less sensitive to the buildup of carbon dioxide than those of most other mammals. They can close off their ears to keep the water out. Their hind feet are semiwebbed, although in swimming, their tails are their main means of propulsion.

I also had a chance to observe the bird pictured below fishing for its dinner. Although he landed quite a fine fish, it was too big for him and even after a dozen attempts to fly with it back to his nest he had to leave it behind.

For the second time this week I enjoyed dining with colleagues from iRobot. This evening Jeanine and I shared an amazing meal at the home of Christian and Isabella Cerda, General Manager of the Home Robots division along with Oscar Zamorano, SVP of Operations and his wife Angela. The conversation was as entertaining as the food and by the time we left it was one in the morning. I no longer remember what point Oscar was trying to make but I am sure it was very important.

In the last years of the 18th century, the Reverend Charles Stearns became “Lincoln’s first author of note” when he published several books of poetry and moralistic dramas. Stearns and some of his neighbors joined to form the private subscription “Social Library of the Town of Lincoln.” This small beginning led, in 1884, to Lincoln resident George Grosvenor Tarbell donating $27,000 for a handsome Victorian red brick library designed by noted Boston architect Wiilliam G. Preston as a public library for the use of all residents: The Lincoln Public Library. This afternoon I had occasion to pass by the library while returning from a meeting in Waltham and decided, despite the drizzling rain and poor light, to pause for a photo.

I had the pleasure of dining with a group of former iRobot colleagues at The Bancroft this evening. Unique to this modern American steakhouse is a glass-enclosed room for ten situated in the middle of the restaurant where our table was located. Here, you are able to have a quiet conversation while still being connected to the energy of the restaurant. Standing to my right is former COO, Jeff Beck, under whose leadership the assembled group turned an unprofitable division into the financial backbone of the company, which today generates 100% of the profits and 90% of the revenue.

I currently own four carbon fiber tripods. One small, one medium, and two large (one short with 3 sections, the other tall with 4 sections). Based on lack of use, I have decided to sell the large tall one and it can now be found on Craig’s List. When Maya leaves for college in two and a half years it will be just Jeanine and I in our very large home. We are both committed to downsizing when that day arrives and have already begun to systematically divest ourselves of things which see little use and are simply taking up space.

Located on 890 acres just outside of Austin, TX, the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a 3.4-mile motor racing circuit. It is the host of the Formula One United States Grand Prix, the Motorcycle Grand Prix of The Americas, the FIA World Endurance Championship, and the Tudor United SportsCar Championship. I photographed it during a day trip to Austin which started at 4 am in the morning and ended at midnight.

Jeanine prepared an Easter basket for Maya who was giddy as a four year old as she investigated the contents. We then were treated to Easter brunch by Alan Budris and his daughter Sarinnagh at AKA Bistro in Lincoln. A wonderful meal and even better company. Maya spent the better part of an hour driving my (her future) Audi around the neighborhood in preparation for Driver’s Education which she will be starting in June. I suspect she will be able to teach the class by the time it starts.

Although we still have a 3-foot-high pile of snow on our deck our lawn is now absent of it. Nala has been enjoying increasingly greater amounts of time outdoors and seems to be as ready for spring as the rest of us. All the local rivers are swollen and I must make a point of taking my kayak out one of these days to explore the expanded river basins.

After Kyle and I returned from Yosemite he left with Karina for San Diego where the two seem to be having a wonderful time. He forwarded this photo to Jeanine and she to me. In between excursions, Kyle went into the medical center where his strep throat was diagnosed and an antibiotic prescribed. He reported feeling better almost immediately and from the photo appears no worse for the wear.

Since Tuesday, we have been enjoying a visit from Kris Earle, Jeanine’s best friend from childhood. The three of us were in the mood for an outing and decided to head to Essex where we had lunch at Periwinkles Restaurant, famous for their New England clam chowder and seafood. Our next stop was the Peabody Essex Museum to see their newest exhibit, “Audacious: The Fine Art of Wood.” As both a woodworker and engineer, I was blown away by the collection. I found myself unable to comprehend how some of the pieces were fabricated. My appreciation for their aesthetic beauty was equally matched by an awareness of how difficult they were to create. We ended the day with a brief tour of historic Derby Wharf in Salem.

It was my turn in the carpool to drive Maya and three of her friends to crew practice at CRI. While the girls were working out, I took a nice 5 mile stroll along the Charles River. I kept looking for Maya on the water but later learned her crew was practicing indoors. Aside from pausing for the occasional photo I had plenty of time to formulate the perfect April Fools day prank. With the help of her team’s assistant coach, I hid behind the main counter of the facility when the girls came down from their workout. When Maya called to inquire about my ETA, I answered from my concealed position on the other side of the counter telling her I had gone to do photography in the Mount Auburn Cemetery and had become lost (Jeanine had taken the power cord from the Garmin and I had to rely on her friend Maddie for driving instructions to CRI so this was a very plausible scenario). I asked Maya to put Maddie on the phone to try and give me directions. Naturally I ensured this was a fruitless conversation and the phone was passed back to Maya. I told her that it would take me 40 minutes to get there with traffic. As she expressed her considerable exasperation, I stood up from behind the counter while still talking to her on the phone. It took her more than several seconds to realize it was me since her mental frame of reference placed me in my car very far away. As a bonus, I roped Jeanine into the prank when she texted to remind me of my pickup obligations (knowing I am prone to forget these sort of things). I played on her guilt for removing the Garmin power cord (reason I was lost) as well as her knowledge of my absent mindedness when emerged in photography. Her final text to me before calling all the other parents to inform them of my tardiness was, and I quote, “You suck at carpooling.” The joke was appreciated by all in the car but probably less so by their parents who had called to inform the girls of the non-existent delay.

Fort Mifflin, originally called Fort Island Battery and also known as Mud Island Fort, was commissioned in 1771 and sits on Mud Island on the Delaware River near Philadelphia International Airport. During the American Revolutionary War, the British Army bombarded and captured the fort as part of their conquest of Philadelphia in autumn 1777. The United States Army began to rebuild the fort in 1794 and continued to garrison and build on the site through the 19th century. It housed prisoners during the American Civil War. I flew over the fort on approach to PHL where I connected for my return flight to Boston bringing my ten-day vacation to a close.

Apart from the Visitor Center, Biscayne National Park’s 172,971 acres are only accessible by boat. On New Years Day, 1966, the schooner Mandalay ran aground on Long Reef within the park’s boundaries and that is the snorkeling destination I will explore today followed by a brief visit to the Island of Boca Chita. The following images represent my first attempts at underwater photography and were taken with a very inexpensive camera which is to say they are not up to my normal standards.

I don’t have a lot of experience snorkeling but it is hard for me to imagine a more enjoyable site. I was surrounded by huge numbers of fish of seemingly infinite variety and could have easily spent the entire day in the water except for that small matter of the setting sun. On the way back into port I was able to frame some para-sailers against the Rickenbacker Causeway and the Miami skyline for an interesting photo.

My bucket list includes visiting all 59 US National Parks and my trip to Florida was motivated by a desire to add two more, bringing my current total to 22. Florida in the spring is THE time for bird photography and the reason you have been treated to (or tortured by) so many avian portraits in recent days. My visit to Corkscrew Swamp today should be the last for bird photography for some time. I had good luck on the trail and stayed until the light got harsh before driving to Miami Beach.