I flew to Seattle this morning arriving in time to watch the Super Bowl at a sports bar near my hotel. I am not a fan of American football but always make a point of watching the championship game. Today’s game will be one for the history books. For some reason, the people here do not seem to like the Patriots and I was part of a VERY small contingent of New England supporters. Sorry I was not back home to celebrate with all the folks who must be going crazy right now.
Maya napping on the couch this afternoon after sleeping in this morning. Who would not be exhausted having to carry all that hair around? I neglected to mention that she went shopping today with her mother. Unlike most girls her age, Maya has little interest in spending time, energy or money on clothing. That said, she has excellent taste and returned with some very fashionable items; all purchased on sale.
I leave for Seattle tomorrow morning and am hoping to spend some time in the North Cascades National Park, weather permitting. I am going to miss watching the Super Bowl with Jeanine. Although neither of us follow football it is the one game we watch each season (as much for the commercials as anything else) and has become something of a ritual for us. To make up for our separation, we previewed several commercials which are already available online. My favorite is from Audi. Bravo!
As technology marches forward, I constantly seek to optimize my photography gear for image quality and size. Pictured above are three different camera/lens combinations that will shoot in the telephoto range. From top to bottom (Canon 5DM4 / 100-400mm; Sony a6300 / 105-450mm; Sony RX10M3 / 24-600mm). Each represents the state of the art for their sensor size (full frame / APS-C / 1″). Comparing weight and cost we have (89.3oz, 46.7oz, 40.0oz) / ($5.5K/$2.0K/$1.5K). I spent some time today doing side-by-side testing. As you might expect, the biggest and most expensive combination produced the highest image quality and the smallest and least expensive the lowest image quality. The differences, however, are no where near as dramatic as the price range. For the near term, I am going to keep all three sets as my testing made a case for each camera. My favorite/go-to combination is the Canon provided I do not have to carry it very far. When I will be traveling or hiking, the medium size Sony goes into my bag. If I am birding or kayaking, the small Sony is my first choice.
Jeanine hosted her writer’s group monthly meeting this afternoon. Before it was over it morphed into a birthday celebration for one of its members. I was summoned to capture the moment and accepted payment for services rendered in the form of chocolate cake, a very satisfactory arrangement.
Jeanine and I enjoyed a nice long walk on the Minuteman Trail this morning. It afforded us an opportunity to discuss a number of important topics including where and when we would be moving from our current home. We are committed to downsizing once Maya has left for college. Our house was a good fit for a family of five but is not an environmentally sound choice for a pair of empty nesters. Given Jeanine’s work and our community of friends it is most likely we will choose to remain in the immediate vicinity and that we will put the house on the market in the spring of 2018. Until then we will start looking for a suitable one fireplace home (we currently have five).
Having lived in Concord for some 14 years you would think I would be totally familiar with my immediate neighborhood. On a 4 mile walk this afternoon I discovered this was not the case. At the end of Williams Rd. I began following a set of abandoned train tracks. These took me past an extensive marsh which I had never seen before and through a tunnel under Powder Mill Road that I have driven over hundreds of times not knowing it was there. I finally arrived at White Pond where I found some very interesting snow patterns in the ice (pictured above).
While driving to my annual dental check up I passed a small farm with a number of exotic looking cattle. No two the same and none like the typical herds one finds in the area. I suspect the owner raises them for show. I stopped for a few minutes to give them an opportunity to practice.
After losing 6 weeks of photographs when my computer’s hard disk failed last summer I got very serious about protecting my data. As of today I have four copies of all my data. It took 4 months of continuous uploading to transfer more than 100,000 images to Carbonite. The initial back up was painfully slow but incremental ones should occur with minimal delay. This is my primary offsite backup and contains all of my high resolution source files. I have a local copy on my Time Machine server located in the basement. I will use this archive for file restoration if needed since it is much faster than Carbonite. The problem with any local backup is that you are not protected from a fire, flood or lightning strike that impacts the entire home. For further redundancy, I use Google Photos to store medium resolution JPEGs and rely on its search function to locate photos quickly and access them from any browser in the world. Finally, I have all my original photos stored on my desktop computer.
Jeanine hosted a Volunteer Appreciation Brunch for Open Table today. She thanked the tireless contributors for their years of service and she was appreciated in kind for her efforts as Executive Director and her work towards realizing the dream of a new permanent facility. As always at such events, the food was wonderful. I enjoyed listening to Jeanine as she spoke to the organization. She is very inspirational and inclusive. I think she should run for President of the USA.
During the afternoon we relaxed with Maya enjoying the movie “Keeping up with the Joneses” before dining out with friends at a tapas bar.
We often enjoy spectacular sunrises and sunsets here in Concord. This morning was particularly enchanting. Click on the image for a more detailed view.
When we redecorated our kitchen shortly after moving in some 14 years ago we had the foresight to paint one of the walls in our breakfast nook with a base layer of magnetic paint before covering it with wallpaper. Each year we use magnets to affix holiday cards from our friends and family where they remain for the entire year. In the sea of cards is a 4K television which serves as a display and picture frame for my photography. Each slide show contains 1000 images which change every 20 seconds.
I found myself in Auburndale late this afternoon and had to pause to photograph the Woodland Golf Club illuminated by golden light. Earlier in the day I was also motivated to stop for a shot of the Sudbury River. Relatively warm temperatures have melted much of our recent snow and the river is rising accordingly.
Kyle received news today that he passed the CFA Level 1 exam that he took in December. Only 43% of the people taking the exam passed. We are very proud of and thrilled for him. There are two more levels to pass before he will obtain his CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) credential, a highly regarded certification in his field.
When I woke up this morning, I discovered that my right leg was no longer working properly. Attempts to lift my right foot were met with non-compliance and acute pain. It is probably safe to say that I overdid things yesterday. A very hot shower and large dose of Vitamin-I (Ibuprofen) made walking marginally possible but stair climbing and getting in or out of the car remained a painful exercise. Fortunately, today’s cooking and cleaning responsibilities were largely borne by the students. I only had to worry about packing the BMW with what remained of the food and driving back to Concord. Once there, I did little more than operate the TV remote control from the couch and post-process the photos I took over the weekend (which can be found here). Fortunately, my fingers were among the few body parts that were neither sore nor damaged. Pictured above is the Ellis River which I paused to photograph as we left Jackson.