When I had my head CT done last week I requested a copy of the study. Today I picked up a CD that contained over 700 x-ray slices of my brain. I studied the images for hours before concluding that my brain is completely normal, a fact that my family might choose to dispute, but supported by the included radiologist report. The images of my brain are photographically uninteresting so I have selected a slice that shows my eyeballs, less-than-symmetrical sinuses, and ear canals.
There are few things I enjoy more than listening to world percussion played on hand drums. Whether it is a Djembe or Conga I am entranced by the syncopated rhythms can be produced by a skilled drummer. Nicolai has a natural talent for percussion, something he did not inherit from either of his parents. He is pictured here with the Congas I picked up yesterday, a belated birthday gift.
We said goodbye to Plum Island this morning and stopped for an incredible breakfast in Newburyport. Jeanine and the kids took her car and returned to Concord while I took mine and drove to Dover, NH. There I purchased a pair of used Conga drums for Nicolai who has waited patiently for his birthday gift since July. On the way back I stopped at REI to pick up items needed for my Nepal trek later this year including an ultra lightweight, 28L pack that tips the scales at a mere 24 ounces. At home, I spent the better part of the afternoon devising a method of attaching my camera holster to the new pack and am quite pleased with the solution (likely to be featured in a future entry).
I returned to Concord early this morning for a soccer scrimmage while the rest of the family was still sleeping. My fall season opens next weekend and it was important I get a game under my belt before then. We played Lowell United, last year’s Northern Division 1 runnerup. We won 3-1 and I scored two rather nice goals. The first was off a break-away and one-on-one with the keeper. He closed rather quickly taking away my angles so I slotted the ball between his legs. The second was a powerful full volley from inside the box after the defense failed to clear a corner kick adequately. Torrential rains started in Concord shortly before the end of my game but the weather could not have been nicer when I arrived back on Plum Island shortly after noon. Jeanine and the kids had just returned from a lunch excursion to Newburyport and we all headed to the beach for an intense game of bocce. Father and daughter took on the brothers in an epic match which featured play on the heavily sloped dunes and among the rock outcroppings. The first game went to Maya and I as we spanked the boys. The second saw them rebound and beat us like a drum. In the tie breaker, however, our pinpoint accuracy and control of the pallino led Maya and I to a victory that we will savor until the next rematch.
As the sun began to set I asked the kids to pose for a photo and this may well be one featured in our Christmas card this year. Later in the evening, Nico and I returned to the beach to photograph and make videos of him using his recently acquired light gloves. These gloves have multi-colored flashing LEDs at the tip of each finger and when a skilled performer moves them in rhythm to the music it has a very hypnotic effect on the observer.
Last night the family arrived at Plum Island where we are renting a beach house for the long weekend. We spent the bulk of the day at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge where we enjoyed the wildlife and the Sandy Point State Reservation beach located on the southern most tip of the island. Within minutes of arriving, Jeanine observed a huge Bald Eagle. He was just out of camera range but conveniently perched for viewing through the spotting scope we brought with us. Next we came across a tree with leaves of birds. Click on the photo for an enlarged version if you don’t believe me.
As we continued to drive through the park, a small furry creature scampered across the road. Massive debate ensued regarding what we had just seen until an internet consultation via smart phone confirmed it was an American Mink, the first one any of us had ever seen in the wild. A second unusual spotting occurred at the beach where we came across a floundering stingray. A good Samaritan gently and carefully guided the stranded creature back out into deeper water.
The water was too cold for swimming but the beach offered much to enjoy for each of us.
Better to be safe than sorry, so this morning I stuck my head in this big donut-shaped machine. Every few weeks I experience an insanely intense pain in my brain which lasts for less than a second. I mentioned this to my doctor during my annual physical and he suggested I get the CT scan just to rule out anything serious. This has been going on for years and I just assume it is the price to be paid for using your head to score soccer goals. Expect to see an image of my brain next week when I receive the results of the test.
The horse farm and riding arena adjacent to our property often offers nice photographic subjects. This morning was no exception as I paused for this shot from my car window of what appears to be a new boarder.
This evening, I twisted Kyle’s arm just enough to coerce him into joining me for my Over-50s soccer practice. Kyle has not played since his senior year in high school when he injured himself while snowboarding. He reported that it was still difficult to make sharp cuts but that he felt pretty good running in straight lines. During our scrimmage time Kyle and I played on the same team. We scored a pair of father-son goals together and I enjoyed playing with him as much as he enjoyed being back on the pitch again. He was a little bit rusty but I’m sure he will be in top form in no time.
Every three years I go in for my annual checkup. I passed all physical exams and my blood pressure was in a good place. Blood work will be back in a few days at which time I will get the verdict on cholesterol and triglycerides which are always out of whack. I got a prescription for Diomox (for high-altitude climbing) and vaccinations for Typhoid and Hepatitis A for my trip to Nepal later this year. I was covered in Band-Aids as I left the office and hungry as hell having skipped breakfast as required for accurate blood work. As I get older I might consider having my annual checkup every two years.
Strategic offsite meetings are invariably accompanied by tempting food. Not necessarily a good thing when you are on a diet. I am allowing myself a photographic gear weight budget for Nepal equal to the amount of weight I can take off my body between now and the end of November. I’d rather carry cameras than fat on my 150 mile trek. I am off to a good start but took a slight step backwards after the full day meeting accompanied by food at every break. My presentation at the meeting went very well and the entire day was extremely well organized concluding within minutes of the scheduled end.
I had a lot on my plate when I returned to work this morning and by the time I was ready to leave it was near midnight. Therefore, I am taking the liberty of posting some additional photos taken yesterday after we completed our climb in the White Mountains. Not shown on maps and known only to locals is a unique jumping hole offering multiple diving platforms and a deep pool in which to land. Initially, Maya was not interested in joining her friends in the ice cold water. Eventually she fell in. There is on going debate as to whether I was trying to help her or may have actually been pushing her at the time she went over the edge. Here is a sequence of the Spiderman Jump. You run along a thin ledge and up onto the vertical rock face before diving off into the pool.
We got an early start this morning on the short but fairly steep ascent to South Twin Mountain (4902 feet). The kids are at the perfect age for hiking. They are strong enough that they view the climb as a challenge and they are motivated by their own desires to reach the top. Rather than coaxing them along, the parental role is now simply trying to keep up. South Twin offers what I believe is one of the best views of the White Mountains. The centrally located peak offers a 360-degree panorama of the entire range. Perfect weather and low haze made for a magical visit. Having left early we had the peak to ourselves for quite some time before other hikers began to arrive. We hung out at the top for about half an hour before setting out across the saddle to North Twin (4761 feet) where we paused for lunch. We completed our 6.4-mile hike by mid-afternoon and joined Jeanine and Louanne for well-deserved ice cream.
Alex Mackenzie, one of my former soccer teammates and father of Maya’s close friend Fiona invited Maya, their mutual friend Sarrinagh, Jeanine and I to join his family for a hiking weekend in the White Mountains. Last night we stayed at their mountain condo located in the vicinity of Crawford’s Notch. We enjoyed a hearty breakfast before setting out on our adventure. Fergus, Fiona’s twin brother, joined the girls, Alex and I for a 4.6-mile ascent to the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) Galehead Hut (3800 feet) while Jeanine and Fiona’s mother, Louanne, did a day hike on their own. After getting settled in at the hut, we made quick work of the one-mile round trip to the summit of Galehead Mountain (4024 feet). Incorrectly assuming that the tree-covered peak would not offer any photo-worthy views, I opted to leave my camera and tripod behind only to discover a wonderful vista showing our hut nestled in the Pemigewasset Wilderness. I decided I had to have the shot and made a second ascent with my photo gear.
By the time I returned, the sun was beginning to set and I put the golden hour light to good use chasing the kids about as they frolicked upon a giant slab of granite.
Rarely at work do I get a chance to participate at the engineering level with members of my organization. For the last four days, I have enjoyed working with the team pictured above to develop a new product concept at the request of one of the General Managers at iRobot. I am not at liberty to reveal the idea, but I can say that the group, with significant contributions from every single member, produced a design that we are all quite pleased with. Each member contributed their own time to the special project and many will labor through the weekend to finalize a working prototype. I treated the team to lunch at the Macaroni Grill to celebrate the highly successful design sprint.
Often when you see macro images of insects they have either been chilled or frozen or gassed. This keeps them from moving during setup and exposure. I am no big fan of bugs but do not feel any creature should be harmed for the sake of a photograph. While doing a little routine maintenance on the kayaks this evening, I noticed a motionless wasp on the driveway. Upon further investigation, I determined it had recently died and decided it would make for an interesting subject. As I was setting up my shot, Jeanine came in from her garden with a live white caterpillar. When she set the little fur puff down it remained quite still. I thought posing the two insects together would make for a more interesting image and was pleased that the caterpillar was so cooperative.
Massachusetts driver’s licenses are oriented vertically until age 21 after which they are oriented horizontally to help ensure alcohol is not served to minors. Kyle has been using his passport to prove his age for the last few weeks and was pleased when his new license arrived in the mail today. This tiny document identifies the owner as a true adult. Even though my memories of Kyle as a child remain vivid, and as much as I want to hold on to that image of my little “Champino”, I too see an adult before me these days. I must say that I like the man he has become.
When I look out my second floor office window there are certain things I generally do not expect to see. A man in a yellow hard hat safely falls into this category. The window seals of our building are in need of maintenance which prompted this most surprising visit. Hard to describe the response I had to this floating head as it ascended into view.
Formerly the Bromfield School, built in 1877, this building is now home to the Town of Harvard’s Public Library. When I arrived early to pick Maya up from a soccer evaluation (she is considering playing for a club team next spring) I opted to look for a nice photographic opportunity rather than wait in the parking lot. When I spotted this library, the sun was already setting which lit up the clouds nicely. I looked for a shooting angle that would isolate the building from others in the background and reveal only the historic portions of the structure. I settled on this perspective and am quite happy with the result.
This female Common Yellowthroat has one mighty headache after trying to fly through one of the glass windows on our sun porch. He rested for ten minutes, mostly with his eyes closed, before flying away. When I saw him in the same place on the deck for more than 5 minutes I realized what had happened and grabbed my camera. I got a quick soccer practice in this morning and spent the balance of the day in my woodshop.
I completed the top for a table I am making for the deck and deconstructed the 20-foot long pallet on which the deck boards were delivered. Some of the wood will be used for projects the remainder will be added to the fireplace pile.
When his friends invited Nico to go for a hike up Devil’s Staircase with their dogs, he decided he would bring Nala with him even though she hates riding in cars. If not for the fact that he can lift her with one arm, there would be no other way to get her into the car. I was so surprised that he actually got her to sit in the front seat that I quickly grabbed my camera to document this rare occurrence. In the evening we belatedly celebrated Kyle’s 21st birthday (August 5th). His cake featured 4 tiny shot glasses filled with liquor acknowledging his right to legally consume alcohol now, not that legal concerns have ever stood in his way.
Maya asked for and received permission to sample one of the shots. Rarely does a photograph tell the entire story but the one below comes pretty close.
Maya attended the Slocum Soccer Camp all week with several of her friends to get tuned up for the fall season as a high school freshman. This year her 4v4 and 11v11 teams both won their respective all-camp tournaments, the latter of which Jeanine and I were able to witness this afternoon. Her play is looking very strong. She shut down the offense while playing sweeper and contributed a beautiful assist after being moved up to a wing midfielder position. The soccer-themed cake she prepared with fellow campers Fiona and Sarinnagh did not fare so well in the baking competition but she was nonetheless pleased with her two awards for athletic competition.
Normally teenagers do not respond well to 6:30am wake up calls. My niece Rachel, however, was up and at’em in anticipation of our early morning kayak outing on the Sudbury River. We covered a good four miles and saw as many herons and dozens of swallows during our one hour paddle which started with a light fog hovering over the water. I taught Rachel to paddle the last time she visited and she needed no additional instruction this time looking like an old pro. We were quiet on the water but I had a nice chance to check in with her on the car ride to and from the put in.
It is not often when my iRobot duties include taking small children out for ice cream but this evening that is exactly what I did. As a result of the decision to consolidate our California offices in Pasadena we have two families visiting Bedford to explore the area and look at potential housing options should they elect to relocate here. I decided that plying their children with ice cream and bumper boats at Kimball Farm could only enhance the chances that they look favorably on a move to the Boston area. I enjoyed meeting both spouses and hope I will be seeing them again.
My nephew John is a frequent visitor and has spent part of the summer living with us. Far more rare is a visit from his sister Rachel who is two years older than Maya and her closest cousin in age. Needless to say, we are thrilled to have her with us and it was very nice to have all our kids plus two cousins around the table for dinner this evening.
Our vacation has come to an end and it is time to return to Boston. The return flight offered an opportunity to review all my photographs and to reflect on our time spent together. The quality of any couples vacation can be maximized by correctly solving for SHE (the Spousal Happiness Equation). This multi-variable measure of contentment is difficult to express quantitatively but easy to measure photographically. I think I can safely say that this vacation yielded an extremely high SHE index and I submit the following photos as evidence. The entirely different but highly correlated HE index is directly proportional to the SHE index although photographic corroboration would not be suitable for this blog.
The entire reason for our Northwest vacation was so that we could attend the wedding of my friend Nora Micheva. I was her Gordon Engineering Leadership mentor while she attended MIT and I have enjoyed watching her grow academically, professionally, and personally. When she moved to Seattle with Simon, her fiance, to take a job with Microsoft, I introduced them to Cindy and Rob (who launched his career at Microsoft). I was able to spend a few minutes with Nora to wish her well and am happy to have this photo of us together which Cindy took with my camera. The intimate wedding was held on the grounds of the DeLille Cellars winery in Woodinville.
Our pace today is decidedly more relaxed than yesterday as we make our way from Lake Wenatchee to Seattle where we will be staying at the home of Jeanine’s close friend Tess Robins and her boyfriend. Along the way we stopped for numerous landscape photo opportunities and to pick up lunch in the small town of Leavenworth, population ~2000. The city struggled until 1962, when business owners cooperated to form a mock Bavarian village, inspired by the California town of Solvang which I visited several times while working out of Sonos’ Santa Barbara office.
Jeanine and Tess have been friends for half their lives. They met while working together at a restaurant in Indianapolis shortly before Jeanine and I were introduced and have remained close since.
After dinner Jeanine left with Tess while I lingered for a few tourist shots of Pike Place Market at sunset.
The timing of our visit to Lake Wenatchee could not have been more ideal. The weather has been spectacular and the lake was opened to Sockeye Salmon fishing last week because the natural spawning escapement goal of 23,000 fish had been exceeded by 7,000. Jeanine has long wanted to fish for salmon and she was up bright and early with a twinkle in her eye. Rob, an expert fisherman, positioned our boat and set the depth of the lure (~80 feet) perfectly. In less than two minutes we had a strike and Jeanine was on the pole to reel in what turned out to be the biggest fish of the day and dinner for this evening.
Less than thirty minutes after starting, we reached our four fish limit and returned to shore where Rob cleaned and filleted our catch before we were treated to a gourmet breakfast.
Next on the agenda was a hike to Minotaur Lake (5,550 feet) and Labyrinth Mountain (6,376 feet). Short and steep, the trail to Minotaur Lake ascends through hemlock forests into a sub-alpine region of heather and huckleberries before reaching this emerald lake filling a cirque below Labyrinth Mountain.
Another 100 feet further and a great view of Theseus Lake opens up. Jeanine and Cindy opt to pause for lunch at Minotaur Lake while Rob, Ann and I continue on to Labyrinth Mountain for an exceptional 360 degree view of the Cascades.
Customs inspection started at 9am for a 10:30am ferry departure from Victoria bound for Port Angeles. We were 10th in the standby line and among the last six cars to make it on board. Our journey today to the eastern slopes of the Cascades Mountain Range took us across Puget Sound on our fifth ferry ride in as many days. From the water we could see the Seattle skyline in front of the distant but enormous Mount Rainier.
We arrived late in the afternoon at Lake Wenatchee where we will spend the next two nights with great friends Cindy and Rob Shurtleff and their friend Ann. Cindy and I first met while I was attending Stanford and we have stayed in touch over the years. Rob is a venture capitalist in the high tech sector with whom I share a great many interests.
A delicious meal was followed by what Jeanine described as a sunset champagne cruise around the lake. Lake Wenatchee is glacier and snowmelt fed with the North Shore and South Shore state parks, separated by the Wenatchee River. The lake covers 2,480 acres and reaches a depth of 244 feet. The Shurtleff lake house has many attributes that Jeanine and I can see in our post-empty nest home and we thoroughly enjoyed the ambiance during our stay.
Jeanine and I are up at the crack of dawn to ensure we catch the 7:30am ferry from Vancouver to Vancouver Island where Victoria, the provincial capital of British Columbia, is located. The ferry is an essential mode of transportation in this neck of the woods where all things interesting seem to be separated by large bodies of water. I enjoy spending time on the deck while Jeanine reads a novel comfortably ensconced in the passenger lounge.
Our initial destination this morning is Butchart Gardens. Created by Jennie Butchart, wife of a Portland cement magnate who transformed an exhausted limestone quarry into a magnificent sunken garden which was completed in 1921. They named their home “Benvenuto” (“welcome” in Italian), and began to receive visitors to their gardens. In 1926, they replaced their tennis courts with an Italian garden and in 1929 they replaced their kitchen vegetable garden with a large rose garden. The gardens now attract more than a million visitors each year and it is easy to understand why. My favorite section was the Japanese style garden which was authentic in every way albeit difficult to photograph.
We lunched at the gardens before completing our journey to Victoria where we walked around a bit before taking a Hippo tour (very similar to Boston’s amphibious Duck Boat tours).
Victoria is ideally suited to an amphibious tour with the most prominent architecture facing the bay including the British Columbia Legislature Building and the Empress Hotel. The Edwardian, château-style hotel was designed by Francis Rattenbury for Canadian Pacific Hotels as a terminus hotel for Canadian Pacific’s steamship line, whose main terminal was just a block away. The hotel was to serve business people and visitors to Victoria, but later as Canadian Pacific ceased its passenger services to the city, the hotel was successfully remarketed as a resort to tourists in the mid-to-late 1920s.
Quite hungry by the end of our tour we enjoyed dinner at the famous Bard and Banker Scottish pub. Opened in 1862 as the Bank of British Columbia, the building remained a bank until 1988 under an array of different banking establishments’ control. Of all the bank employees to work at this location in the 126 years it was a bank, the most notable was the bard of the Yukon, Robert Service. These two elements of history led to the moniker for the pub. After parking our car in the standby line for tomorrow morning’s ferry, we made a final walking tour of the city as the sun set. Pictured here is one extremely relaxed and happy wife.
We venturing further north towards Pemberton this morning stopping at Nairn Falls Provincial Park. The falls were far less impressive than those we encountered yesterday and the long hike in would have been a bust if not for the opportunity to climb down to the Green River and dip our toes in the crystal clear water.
Our next stop was the trailhead for the Jofree Lakes (Lower, Middle, and Upper). Time did not permit a 5-hour excursion all the way to the Upper Jofree Lake so we had to limit our visit to the Lower Lake which is easily one of the most beautiful bodies of water I have ever laid eyes on. The picture here does not do justice to the turquoise water color or pale green grasses emerging from it. The position of the sun precluded shooting across the lake which would have included snow capped mountains in the background. We hiked around to the backside of the lake, Jeanine for the exercise, and I for a chance at a well lit photograph. My goal was largely thwarted by dense under growth which effectively made access to the shore impossible.
After returning to the car we decided to venture deeper into the mountains and shortly thereafter arrived at Duffey Lake, a long dark blue lake with a well established log jamb on one end. I teetered across the logs in search of the perfect foreground while Jeanine rested by the water’s edge just soaking in the serenity and beauty before us.
We returned to Whistler just in time to catch one of the last gondolas up the mountain where we switched to the glass bottomed Peak-to-Peak gondola from Whistler to Blackcomb Mountain. It is the first lift to join the two side-by-side mountains and holds world records for the longest free span between ropeway towers (1.88 miles) and highest point above the ground (1,430 feet).
The view from the top was spectacular as was the open air ride down the Blackcomb side on a chair lift. We treated ourselves to a fine Italian meal in the Whistler Village before driving back to Vancouver. En route we paused for a nice sunset.
An unconventional and eclectic community, Robert’s Creek is home to quiet beaches, rambling gardens, superb hiking and biking trails, and many talented artisans. After a very nice breakfast at the locally famous Gumboot Cafe, Sarah and Kerith took as on a walking tour which included the Robert’s Creek Pier where local artists create a unique Mandala style painting each year. We then drove to SideStix headquarters for a tour of the facility where Nicolai will be working during his internship this fall. The small shop is very well organized around material flow and Nico’s experience here should leave him thoroughly skilled in crutch building and repair. Before returning us to the ferry we were treated to what is easily the best sorbet Jeanine or I have ever sampled. Unfortunately, Nico will arrive too late in the season to enjoy this treat.
Acclaimed as one of the top three scenic drives in Canada, the Sea to Sky Highway, a 100 mile portion of Highway 99 North that connects Horseshoe Bay in Vancouver to just past Whistler, B.C. lived up to its reputation. Stunning views of lakes, mountains, fjords, inlets, and waterfalls are incomparable. We stopped frequently for photos and to take short hikes to both Shannon Falls (1000 feet) and Brandywine Falls (210 feet).
Our destination for the evening was the resort town of Whistler where most of the alpine, Nordic, luge, skeleton, bobsled, freestyle skiing and all snowboarding events were hosted during the 2010 Winter Olympics. It has a permanent population of approximately 10,000, plus a larger but rotating “transient” population of workers. Over two million people visit Whistler annually, primarily for alpine skiing and snowboarding and, in summer, mountain biking.
