I spent several hours today scanning old family slides and continue to discover images I have never seen before.  I appear to be about five years old in the picture above.  Believe it or not, the item in my hands is a Kodak Flash Dial used to determine lens aperture based on film speed and distance before the days of camera automation. Didn’t realize my interest in photography went this far back.

Below is a picture of my uncle Ernie, his wife Barbara, and their close friend Tony Bennet.  Ernie was a professional musician who often accompanied Bennet on the acoustic guitar. 

Apparently my siblings and I received much needed training in the art of kissing under the direction of my mother. Early efforts by Alissa appear to be targeted at the nostrils of sister Mayela and I seem headed for my brother’s lower lip. I think it is safe to say that we all eventually got the knack of it when left to experiment on non-siblings.

Jeanine is on Martha’s Vineyard enjoying a girl’s weekend with friends. Charged with the nutritional sustenance of Maya during her absence, I suggested that we make a burrito run for lunch.  Black beans, brown rice, chicken, salsa, and lettuce make a healthy substrate for cheese and sour cream included only to satisfy our daily dairy requirements. Sending this selfie which Maya snapped to her mother did not elicit the good housekeeping stamp of approval I was hoping for.  I guess it is true what they say; “When the cat is away the mice will eat burritos.” Next thing you know I will be tearing the house apart to locate my stash of black licorice which Jeanine has hidden from me (admittedly at my own request.)

I found this pathetic scene in the living room shortly after Maya returned home from Nordic ski practice this afternoon.  I am still trying to solve the mystery.

Moving from the master bathroom to the kitchen bay window has been to the liking of this bonsai even though the light there is no better.  I think it prefers being around people for most of the day rather than tucked away.  I spent the morning in Cambridge on business and on a whim called good friend Bill Warner who was available to join me for lunch. The founder of Avid Technology, I have known him since my early days at Truevision (some 30 years). He shared his latest project with me, a website where historical maps of Boston (going way back) can be compared with maps of today. Have a look at MapJunction.  Move the cursor left/right and up/down to compare maps which can be selected from the lower right and left corners.

When winter arrives it is less appealing to be outside taking photographs and more productive to be inside post processing or scanning old photos. Today I scanned a collection of old negatives that captured some very rare images.  While I was in my twenties, I co-founded a company called Truevision.  Running it consumed my entire life and there are very few pictures of my from that era. Below is one of the products we designed and manufactured, a component in our Horizon series of videographic processors.

Pictured below (on the right) is my mother.  This photo was taken in 1953 at Lago Pichincha, north of Quito, Ecuador where she spent her summers away from the oppressive heat and humidity of her home in Guayaquil.  This image was from a collection of 30 slides we discovered while I was visiting her last weekend in Schenectady.

Less than an inch in total, the first snow of the season arrived today.  In one month I will be making another visit to the southwest and have some rather lengthy hikes planned.  Feeling it would be prudent to get some training under my belt, I did a 4-mile hike with my pack this afternoon.  I started at a cranberry bog near the Great Brook Farm State Park and finished at the dairy farm within the 1000-acre park.  The temperature was right at the freezing mark which led to some very interesting patterns of ice and snow on the local ponds.

As co-captain of the Nordic ski team, Maya is responsible for hosting at least one “psych dinner.”  Food was provided by members of the team which numbered about 25. Jeanine and I minimized our intrusion on the party but could not help but notice the ratio of desserts to healthy entrees. Jeanine did not approve. I, on the other hand, was not nearly as displeased and made several visits to the kitchen to sample the offerings.

While returning from Schenectady to Concord, I took a 5-minute detour while passing through Troy to visit the Emma Willard School, a prestigious all-girls private high school whose buildings and campus are reminiscent of the fictional Hogwarts School of Harry Potter fame. 

Just 16 miles further down Route 2 one can find a very different form of architecture at the Grafton Peace Pagoda. Cars are not permitted on the property but visitors are welcome to visit on foot.

I was fortunate to celebrate her 54th birthday with my sister Alissa, her husband John, and my mother this evening.  I drove to Schenectady earlier to help with a re-feathering project. My mother decided last month that she was tired of the food at the assisted living center where she has been living for the last two years. She has decided to return to her home in Schenectady to resume living independently for as long as possible. Initially, she rented out the eight-bedroom, three-story, hundred-year-old house and then last spring put it on the market but had no takers.  I met her there this afternoon to help with projects to help with the transition.  At 88 she is still quite spry and sharp as a tack.  We were extremely productive working together despite the fact that I had to reprimand her several times for climbing the ladder or on top of chairs to help me hang window treatments. I had planned to leave the ladder here when I return to Boston but am beginning to reconsider that decision. 

Jeanine and I enjoyed a brisk 4-mile hike to and around Walden Pond on this blustery afternoon.  Despite heavy recent rains, the water level is the lowest I have ever seen it. The path visible in the photo above is normally underwater and taking it for the first time added a new dimension to our visit.  Jeanine paused to gather some decorative winterberry branches that now adorn our farmer’s porch.

It has been a while since Nala was featured in a blog post.  She remains a vigilant guard over the yard ensuring we are safe from squirrels, geese, woodchucks, deer, and foxes. The latter two have figured out the extent of her electronic fence boundaries and pay her little mind which drives her crazy. She has figured out how to get fed twice for dinner by privately approaching both Jeanine and me with her I’m starving act. I still lament the fact that we wound up with a cat in a dog’s body but she has been the source of much joy for our family.

Open Table’s Tuesday Giving Appeal went out today.  Jeanine was very pleased with her team’s work on the project including her in-house photographer who created the lower image.

If you would like to contribute to a truly impactful charity, you can do so by following the link below.

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Six weeks after purchasing a new MacBook Air, Apple announced the latest MacBook Pro.  The new model is just as light as the Air and has a far superior display.  I fought the desire to upgrade for a month and then caved last week when I found a good online deal.  My virtually new Air went to Jeanine, replacing her three-year-old Air which is pictured above and is now for sale on Craig’s List.  Now that I have a personal laptop (all my prior computers were issued by employers), I no longer feel I will be using my iPad and it is also up for sale. As usual, I enjoyed the task of creating nice “glamour” shots for my listings.

Visiting us today are Diane (far right) and her daughter, Indigo (far left).  Friends of ours from the church we attended in Indianapolis, they are in Boston for an interview at the New England School of Optometry which Indigo is thinking about attending.  Dinner was followed by a brief night time tour of downtown Concord and a visit to our local ice cream shop.  When we returned home, I was able to locate a photo I took of Indigo in 2003 while our families were attending Bayside Camp in Wisconsin.