Autumn has given way to winter with temperatures plunging this week to below freezing.  Ponds and marshes are beginning to ice over and soon we can look forward to snow.  Images of sun-drenched Mexican beaches are starting to become more vivid in this final week before we leave for Culiacan.

Growing up, I attended the First Unitarian Society of Schenectady with my family.  This past Sunday my mother (pictured left) was honored for her 50-year membership in the society along with one other member who had reached this milestone.  Raised Catholic, my mother was reluctant to embrace a new religion but did so after some coaxing from my father who was a quick convert after attending his first service.  Attracted by Unitarian’s acceptance of other religions, she also found a home in the society and went on to volunteer as the chair of the Visual Arts Committee, the performing arts committee, and teaching arts and crafts to the young children.

I have fond memories of my religious upbringing and feel fortunate for the decisions my parents made.

The group pairings for the amputee World Cup have been posted.  The USA drew Group E which contains Turkey, a perennial powerhouse. Nico is positively revved up for the tournament and we are all looking forward to our trip to Mexico and watching him compete.

I have now been a member of the Concord United soccer team for eleven years, first on the Over-40 squad and now with the 0ver-50 team.  The club has been around for twenty years and in that time has never won a match against Stoneham, a club that invariably wins the northern division regionals and more often than not, the Division 1 championship.  Today that all changed during our semi-final match with them.  Ninety minutes of play had us tied.  Thirty minutes of overtime produced the same result. Penalty kicks were tied 3-3 after five rounds.  It then came down to sudden death penalty kicks which went to eight rounds before our goalie made a decisive save giving us the win.  We celebrated at a local pub and I think it is the most meaningful victory we have ever enjoyed.  We now advance to the finals next weekend and we have a solid chance of winning the whole enchilada.

Dressed for a night out on the town, Maya looked lovely as she prepared to join her friends for a birthday party being held at a restaurant in the North End.  I spent the day winterizing the house which included turning off the outside water, purging the irrigation system, setting up snow sticks along the edges of the driveway (so you know where to snow blow when everything is covered in white), and assisting Kyle who got a good start on cleaning the gutters.

In preparation for the Amputee World Cup soccer tournament being held in Mexico later this month, I have been consolidating and updating my camera equipment.  I will be shooting stills and have engaged Maya and Kyle to assist with videography.  A critical piece of kit that I use to shoot soccer is a gimbal head.  It is the component sitting between the camera and tripod in the photo above. It is used to fully support the weight of a camera and telephoto lens while allowing perfectly fluid panning (left to right) and tilting (up and down).  Most pros use a monopod but I am not competing with others for space on the sidelines and prefer a tripod which allows me to shoot with a second camera without laying down the first.  Even better it would be nice to have a lens that is light enough to hand hold. I have such a lens on order and am therefore putting my trusty gimbal up for sale.

This morning the Massachusetts Air National Guard flew five F-15s at low altitude (1000 feet) over several landmarks in the eastern portion of the state.  Their first destination was Hansom Air Force Base and I correctly guessed that their approach would take them over Great Meadows where I set up to photograph them.  Scheduled to arrive at 8:10am they were 15 minutes late and I was just starting to leave when I heard them approaching.  Without a doubt, these are the biggest and fastest birds I have ever observed at this wildlife sanctuary.

Developed in Brazil and Uruguay, futsal is a variation of soccer played on a hard surface with five players to a side. The surface, ball, and rules create an emphasis on improvisation, creativity, and technique as well as ball control and passing in small spaces.  Having concluded her outdoor soccer season, Maya has joined an indoor futsal league and will train and compete through the winter months. Although she has never played the sport before, she got the hang of it very quickly and scored a few nice goals in her first scrimmage.

Maya hosted an end-of-the-season celebration party for her soccer team and coach.  Jeanine prepared pulled pork sandwiches, a healthy salad, and a fruit medley.  The otherwise healthy meal was balanced by the cookies and treats furnished by the players.  A more congenial and polite group of tough-minded girls you will not find.  I predict they will all go on to do great things.

The pear trees that line the drive into iRobot are always the last to turn and do so with great vibrance.  Not a bad way to conclude my morning commute.  In a week or two, even these holdouts will be reduced to bare branches in anticipation of winter.  All in all, this has been one of the most glorious autumns I can recall.

My soccer team was graced with ideal weather for the final regulation match of our fall season.  We cruised to an 8-2 win securing a second place finish in Division 1 South and qualifying us for the play-offs to begin next weekend.  I was not feeling my best but managed to finish the game with one assist, one impressively bad shot on goal (missed high, VERY) and most importantly, with no further aggravation to my slowly mending left hamstring.

Our over-50 (years old) league is composed of 5 divisions, each with a southern and northern region except for division 5 which also has a central region.  Each regional division has 6 teams for a total of 66 teams with a typical roster of 18.  That is nearly 1200 over-50 players in Western Massachusetts.  The playoffs pit the top 4 teams against each other to determine the league champion.  We are underdogs in the semi-finals to perennial winner,  Stoneham, but I like our chances this year.

Jeanine and Maya created an autumnal-themed floral centerpiece using a pumpkin for a vase.  It is a gift for the hostess of a gourmet dinner/birthday party we attended this evening.  When asked to take a photo of it, Maya was first in line with her new camera.  Once captured we reviewed her images on the computer which led me to show Maya the collection of images she has made over the course of her life, nearly 2000 in total.  Seeing the world through the eyes of your child is a rare gift and we both enjoyed our trip down memory lane immensely.

I was up with the sun for a little photography before breakfast. Hoping for dramatic light that often accompanies inclement weather, I had to make the best of what nature provided.  Any morning spent walking on a beach, however, is nothing to complain about and I was highly invigorated by the fresh air and sea breeze.

Pausing from our meeting, I dragged everyone to the beach in a light drizzle for a team photo.  There was a tiny amount of grousing but I insisted on taking the shot with the ocean in the background.  What is the point of traveling to a beautiful venue if you are not going to take advantage of it? Our team has grown to include a new head of marketing, head of North American Sales, and head of European Sales.

iRobot’s Home Business Unit leadership team retreated to the Stage Neck Inn in York Harbor, Maine for a two-and-a-half-day strategic planning meeting.  Our objective was to identify a 4-year path to a billion dollars in annual revenue.  Before we left, I could see a line of site to 2 billion and had a chance to get to know three new members of our team.  The weather was gray and rainy but the ambiance made up for it.