My brother Mark, a pilot for one of Delta Airline’s regional carriers, had a layover in Boston this evening and joined us for dinner. Although I am the more handsome brother, one cannot deny that he looks rather dashing in his uniform. Maya, with a little lighting assistance, was happy to take our portrait with her new camera. I think she did a great job.
Maya is an incredibly self-motivated student and applies herself to learning more than either Jeanine or I can take genetic credit for. She is equally strong in all her subjects but I see the inquisitive and creative mind of a scientist or engineer blossoming in front of me. Few things bring me more pleasure than chatting with her about how something works or how to solve a challenging real-world problem.
A nice sunset was the reward for an otherwise miserable weather day. Temperatures during my soccer game this morning hovered in the mid-30s. Winds were so strong that a ball placed on the field for a direct kick would often start rolling away. When it began to rain/snow it was more horizontal than vertical. These conditions led to great difficulty in scoring and we had to settle for a 0-0 tie. I had the best shot on goal for my team, a strong volley from a lofted ball, no mean feat given the wind. Unfortunately, it found the keeper rather than the back of the net.
The latest cameras do not make me a better photographer but I take great pleasure in using fine tools. Last week I added two newly released cameras to my collection and therefore am selling the cameras they are replacing. Pictured here is Canon 70D which I have replaced with a Canon 7DM2 and a Sony RX100M3 which I have replaced with a Canon G7 X. Last month I gave each of the kids their own camera from my collection which reduced my total from 7 down to a marginally justifiable 4 (landscape, sports, hiking, everyday carry).
Maya hosted a Halloween party this evening which was a great success. I resisted the temptation to photograph the kids understanding that this would have been met with much resistance from Maya.
Concord Power & Light took the entire Mattison Drive neighborhood offline this morning while they replaced several aging transformers. Pictured above is the one that will service our home. High tension lines connect to the red terminals and split phase 220V is produced on the spatula-shaped terminals. The planned outage was a nice test for our automatic emergency generator which kicked in and kept all our essential circuits up and running while the work was being completed.
A blustery day seemed fitting for the last game of Maya’s soccer season. The Concord Carlisle girls scored the only goal of the game in the final minutes despite having controlled possession for 90% of the game. A nice finish to the season which has seen the team make huge strides in their play and bodes well for next year. Maya has become every bit the soccer player her brothers are and I am looking forward to seeing them all play together (perhaps when we travel to Mexico later this month for the Amputee World Cup tournament). I am very proud of Maya for the way she embraced her role as co-captain of the team. She led by example, promoted a strong work ethic, always had a positive outlook and did so with great humility.
It would be safe to say that iRobot takes Halloween pretty seriously. Many areas within the building are decorated for the children of employees who visit for a portion of the day. Employees compete for best costume awards while the rest enjoy trick-or-treating without the need for one. Oddly, I am teased for wearing a mountain trekking costume for the entire year except for today.
Her next-to-last game of the season ended in a defeat to arch-rival Acton Boxborough by a score of 1-3. Despite the loss, the team has secured first place in the DCL league, a terrific outcome. More importantly, from my perspective, the team has improved tremendously over the course of the season and is really playing a much improved game of soccer with thoughtful passing and movement off the ball. I have no explanation for the picture above but thought it worthy of a snapshot.
Peak color has long past for the season but one can still find enclaves of outrageously vibrant foliage. This has been, without a doubt, the most colorful autumn I have ever witnessed in New England. I feel fortunate to have enjoyed it so thoroughly.
The mission of the National Charity League is to foster mother-daughter relationships in a philanthropic organization committed to community service, leadership development and cultural experiences. This afternoon we hosted a NCL quilting party for some twenty members. The quilt will be donated to a family in need or offered for auction with the proceeds going to charity. Maya’s grandmother, Angela, is an excellent seamstress and it is clear that she will follow in her footsteps.
My soccer team won a crucial match against a difficult opponent this morning by a margin of 4-1 inching us into first place with just two games remaining in the season before the playoffs. I had a very nice assist in the first half but had to leave the game early in the second when my left hamstring started to give me problems again. I am hoping it is a minor re-tweek and that I will be back in action next week. After the game I took the season’s official team photo.
Maya’s soccer coach asked if I would take this year’s team photo for the junior varsity girls team. I was happy to oblige and am reasonably pleased with the result. The girls went on to win by a huge margin and look much improved on the season. Maya’s distribution was excellent and she dominated at her center midfield position. For the first time this season I shot action photos of all the players and hope to post a portfolio before the weekend is out.
A rather hectic day at work prevented me from doing any photography today. This is a photo I will take tomorrow while on a solo nature walk through the bog behind Alcott Elementary School.
Despite the gray and rainy day, our Japanese Maple is turning in total splendor. Peak color in Massachusetts looks to have occurred while we were in Colorado and the weather forecast for the remainder of the week does not look promising. Visitors to the blog are probably tired of all the fall foliage images but I can never get enough and try to squeeze every bit of hiking and photography into this brief window of autumnal transition.
Every five years my routine dental cleaning appointment includes a full set of x-rays. A rather unattractive self-portrait, I hope all of the crowns and fillings will be an incentive to my children to brush more frequently than I did as a youth.
Penny, my dental hygienist for over a decade has left the practice and I was surprised to learn of this when I arrived. I will probably switch to an office that is closer to home since her skills and the rapport we developed over timeweres my main reason for making the haul to Tewksbury.