During her first board meeting since accepting the position of Executive Director at Open Table, Jeanine received this very beautiful hand-made bowl in appreciation for all she accomplished as President over the last three years. We are all very proud of our new family executive.
While traveling through the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York last week, Jeanine and I passed the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum. We did not have time to go in but I could not resist stopping for this photo taken near the entrance. It did not find a place in previous posts so I am sharing it today for the fans of aviation who follow this blog.
When I returned from Costa Rica last month, I did so without most of my camera gear which was stolen there. While I was gone I suffered a second theft, this time at the hands of my dear wife. She picked me up at the airport in my recently purchased BMW X1 rather than her own car and since then has commandeered it. Given that I rarely travel beyond the range of my electric i3, I have no real grounds to object to this “arrangement.” Volkswagon will buy back her Jetta Sportswagon as part of the “diesel gate” legal settlement as soon as it is approved by the courts at a price more than double the current Blue Book value. At that time, Jeanine will want to transport bikes with “her” new car. To that end, I installed an after-market 2″ towing receiver on the X1, a project that took the better part of three hours and turned out very nicely. Our hitch mount double bike rack mounts in less than a minute providing a very secure and easy-to-use solution.
When we selected our campground we had no idea is was located adjacent to the 10,000 acre Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. Although we were not successful at spotting any of the several Bald Eagles that reside here, our morning tour did provide me with the opportunity to take the photograph below which I am especially fond of. The image I made of the Chittenango Falls, taken later in the morning, was not too shabby either.
We stopped in Albany on our way home to have a late lunch with my mother, sister Alissa and brother-in-law, John. We enjoyed a lovely poolside meal and conversed for hours before completing the final leg of our 1400 mile 4-day road trip.
It has been decades since either Jeanine or I have been to Niagara Falls and it was well worth a second visit. The sheer scale of the falls is as breathtaking as the mist induced rain was refreshing on this hot afternoon. We enjoyed lunch atop the 520 foot tall Skylon Tower which offers exceptional views of the falls and surrounding area.
Our visit to Canada lasted only five hours. For all their natural beauty, the falls are surrounded by a tourism megalopolis which held little attraction for us. We made our way back across New York State stopping to camp very near Lock 25 on the Erie Canal.
An evening ice cream run took us into the nearby towns of Auburn and Skaneateles where I captured a nice image of my sweat heart.
Watkins Glen State Park is a photographer’s wet dream (pun intended). The narrow gorge reveals amazing beauty at every turn. The gorge trail is seamlessly integrated with the surroundings and is spectacular in its own right with several bridges, tunnels, and a spiral staircase. We spent the night in the adjacent campground affording us an early start and a good bit of solitude on our five mile hike.
We continued our trek across the Finger Lakes region somewhat disappointed that severe drought conditions have left several waterfalls dry. Our final destination for the evening was Letchworth State Park, renowned as the “Grand Canyon of the East” and winner of the USA TODAY Readers’ Choice Award for Best State Park in the United States. Jeanine managed to secure us lodging at the Glen Iris Inn even though it was fully reserved when I tried to book a room earlier in the week. The inn overlooks the most majestic of three major waterfalls in the park and serves an amazing dinner which we enjoyed after several more miles of hiking in the area.
Jeanine and I departed for a long-weekend, waterfall tour of New York state this morning. We stopped in Albany to visit with my mother and sister for lunch and then again in Schenectady for a brief visit to the “Little Italy” neighborhood. Perreca’s Bakery is mentioned in one of the stories in Jeanine’s forthcoming memoir cookbook and she requested that I take a photo of it. Across the street we visited Civitello’s Spumoni Shop where they make the best lemon ice on the planet. I had a pint and later wished I had order a quart. We continued driving until we reached Watkins Glen State Park where we arrived just in time to pitch our tent before the sun set.
CCHS faced Wellesley today in their second preseason scrimmage coming away with a 1-0 win. Normally, I shoot action photos but could not resist this amalgamation of pony tails and Maya’s cuteness. Her chest trap, captured below, was perfectly executed bringing the ball to her feet where she laid off a nice cross.
During warm-ups, I caught this mid-air image after a blistering shot on goal. A full set of photos from the match can be found here.
Jeanine and I leave tomorrow for New York state where we plan to visit the Finger Lakes region and Niagara Falls over the long weekend. I will post again when we return on Monday. Maya will spend the weekend with her soccer team at a bonding retreat in Vermont while John holds down the fort.
Maya and I visited Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island today, a mere 70 minute drive from Concord. The school seems like an excellent fit for Maya and it is sure to be on her short list for applications. A friend of hers, Sammy, from Farm & Wilderness Camp was also touring the campus with her father. The two previously toured Yale together by arrangement. This meeting was totally serendipitous and made the experience that much more enjoyable. The gate pictured below is opened exactly twice a year (center section). It opens inwards to welcome freshman and outwards as seniors depart graduation. It is said to be bad luck to traverse the gate more than twice in your life.
Maya, at my insistence, poses with an outdoor sculpture of dancers. Might this be the first picture of her on the grounds of the campus where she will spend four years of her life?
No. I took several pictures of her earlier in the day and one with Sammy. This one, however, spoke best to the mood of the day.
Maya saw her first action of the fall soccer season in a scrimmage this afternoon. She will be playing varsity this year but will need to work hard to get game minutes given the quality of the team. Her first touch is as good as anyone’s on the squad, her vision and playmaking is unmatched and she has a powerful left foot. Her endurance, however, is not where it needs to be to compete at this level. Hard work during practice over the next few weeks will no doubt rectify that deficiency.
A complete set of match photos including more of Maya and the entire team can be found here.
Whether it is the approach of fall or the severe drought we have been suffering, pictured above is the last flower in our our garden. If you look closely you will also observe a rather cute spider.
My fall soccer season opened this morning against Belmont, a team which often gives us problems. Today, however, we came away with a decisive 3-1 victory and at times showed great form. I played for about 45 minutes which was more than enough on this very warm day and almost scored on a header.that
The Teaching and Research in Environmental Education (TREE) Semester is a 16-week, residential semester program that mirrors a traditional study abroad experience. Colorado College undergraduate students live and learn in community at the scenic Catamount Center in the montane forest outside Woodland Park, Colorado. Nicolai begins his teaching assignment there next week and he shared this map of the campus with us. He will learn about his students’ development through almost 100 hours of experiential teaching and research.
Jeanine spotted this rather large hornet’s nest attached to the gutter above our front door. It is possible tomorrow’s blog entry will feature a picture of me on a ladder wearing a funny outfit or possibly an image of me laying on the ground in agony. Safe to say that Jeanine is not going to embrace a live and let live philosophy with respect to these little fellows.
UPDATE: After considerable research, we have decided to leave the nest undisturbed. The hornets will abandon the nest over the winter and since they pose no immediate risk to family or guests we will make no attempt to extricate them.
Canon announce their new 5D Mark IV camera today and I have decided to add it to my kit. Fortunately, I was able to return my recently acquired Canon 5DS (replacement for one of my cameras stolen in Costa Rica) for full credit towards the new model which has exactly the same price point. Even though the 5DS is a 50 MPixel body compared to 30 MPixel 5DM4, the later has better dynamic range, better low light performance, a more balanced feature set and is a better fit with my needs. I hope to have the new camera by mid September.