Snowshoe Diaries

Thematic Photographic: Made of Glass

2011-08-20T10:47:00.003-04:00

A very strong thunderstorm rushed through Cambridge yesterday. During the storm the windows in my office had sheets of rain flowing down them. This is looking through them at the building across the street.

To see more Thematic Photographic click here.

Cape Cod Visit

2011-07-23T08:51:00.003-04:00

Spent last Saturday with my sister's family at their campsite on Cape Cod. I was not the most exuberant guest since I got injured in my softball game Friday night, but it was great to see them all. A few pictures from the day.

My sister preparing to clear the site of pine cones.

My sister-out-law looking up from her reading.

After several hours of board games D headed off on his bike with JT.

After several hours in his bike helmet the boy's hair had ridges!

Thematic Photographic: Rough

2011-06-29T22:12:00.002-04:00

Detail of a weathered Adirondack chair (in the actual Adirondacks).

See more Thematic Photographic here.

Thematic Photographic: Signs

2011-06-24T23:23:00.004-04:00

This sign cracks me up everytime I pass it.

See more signs here.

Neighborhood Walk

2011-05-25T23:59:00.003-04:00

I played hooky today and I don't feel the least bit guilty about it. Today was the first sunny day in what feels like forever, and I wanted to take advantage of it. I did some work and spent some time in my workshop. Mid-day I took my camera outside. First stop was my own yard.

First stop was the end of the walk to document the planter I put out last weekend. It was finished last fall but we never got it put into place.
Click on the pictures to see larger versions.

The plants are dragon's breath sedum and pasque flower.

In the garden next to the driveway:

Pinks aka Dianthus

Lithodora - these are tiny flowers about 1/4 inch across.

Salvia thinking about blooming.
When it does it'll be dark purple.

Sage

Moving toward the back yard:

Chives.
We originally got a couple of plants from Amy's Dad.
We now have two window boxes full, though we never use them.

Fern.

Lily of the Valley

And then I headed out into my neighborhood:

Goldfinches enjoying our neighbors feeder.

Pattern on phone pole.
Can you see the heart?

Cornflower

I'm not sure what this pod will be.
I'll have to stop by in a week or so and find out.

Bleeding Hearts.

All in all a wonderful walk.

I know I haven't posted in way too long. I can't promise this will be the start of more regular posting, but I'm going to try.

Birthday Adventures

2010-08-15T22:56:00.002-04:00

Today is Amy's birthday. We don't usually make much of a fuss about birthdays in our house. The absence of children probably has something to do with that. Most birthdays are celebrated with a card or two, a small present or two and a cake. Today was a little different. There were no cards and Amy got her present a week and half ago when we went to see Cirque du Soleil's Ovo.

Yesterday was a busy day. I spent the morning kayaking with my friend Carol. And Amy and I spent the afternoon with friends celebrating the college graduation of their son, grandson, nephew, cousin and friend Bill.

The handsome graduate.

So, we hadn't planned much for today. Amy decided she wanted to spend the day with me, and so she came along to Meeting this morning - though she chose to sit outside in the sun and read rather than participate in Worship. After rise of meeting we shared the cake I made last night with the Friends in attendance. It was once most Friends had left the Meeting House that our adventure began.

Last week our caretaker, Wendyl, had asked for me help and advise on a project she had started. The kitchen of the Meeting House has a wonderful butler's pantry. At the entrance there is a swinging door which opens into the hallway. On the wall perpendicular to that door is a second swinging door which used to open into the dining room. Many years ago that doorway was blocked off to provide space for shelving in the dining room. On the pantry side the door was left in place and toenailed into the frame so that it was no longer operable.

It was this second door which had captured Wendyl's attention. She was eager to remove the door so that shelves could be added into the space of the door frame. When she asked me to take a look last week she had managed to remove several of the nails holding the door closed, but was unable to release it. I gave it an unsuccessful try, and decided that we needed a different selection of tools to attack the problem.

Which brings us to today. I'd reported the details of the project to Amy when I arrived home last week, and she'd volunteered to help (silly girl). So we left the house this morning with crowbar and saw in hand. The crow bar made quick work of getting the door open. The goal, though was to remove the door. This proved to be much more difficult than any of us ever expected.

There are a couple of hinge configurations currently available that allow a door to swing both ways. One involves specialty hinges which are screwed into the frame and the door, like standard hinges. The other variety involves a pin that holds the top of the door and a spring mechanism that does the work that is attached to the bottom of the door. The hinge mechanism on this door was most like that. This might have been a fairly easy extraction had both sides of the doorway been accessible - but one side of this doorway is a wall, so access to the edge of the door was non-existent. Method number one was to unscrew the plates above and below the doors. That didn't work because there wasn't enough give in the door to lift in off the pins at the either the top or bottom.

Then we decided that we should chisel out around the plate that accepted the pin at the top of the door. This necessitated a trip home to pick up chisels. After the trip home (about 15 minutes round-trip) and the yummy lunch Wendyl made for us we went to work chiseling out the wood around the top plate. After this work we were able to wiggle the door more but still could no get it loose. Careful examination with a flashlight revealed that the pin was about the same thickness as my finger, and the plate included a large tab that stuck further up into the framing.

After much discussion, examination of both the top and bottom mechanisms, and much wiggling of the door we decided to go with the slightly less elegant method. We pulled out the circular saw, draped off a good portion of the room with plastic and sliced the door in the middle (side to side). Space didn't allow us to slice completely through the door, but it didn't take much separate the two halves. After cleaning up the cut on the bottom of the door, which we did outside, and some cleanup our adventure was done, for now. The pantry is used for folding table storage, so the bottom half of the door is going back into the frame with shelves above.

We did get a small surprise - a non-structural two by four in the center of the opening. I did attempt to remove it but there was not enough support for the dry wall and that attempt was abandoned.

The end result.

The top pin.

After our adventure we returned home to relax and promptly fell asleep. We both had nice, unplanned, late afternoon naps. Not exactly what we expected this morning, but a nice day anyway.

The birthday celebrations will continue - there's another cake to make (once Amy decides what flavor she wants) and the annual birthday lobster to be eaten (at one of the number of local restaurants that offer such fare).

Paradise

2010-07-17T00:05:00.005-04:00

Sunday morning you will find me here.

For many people vacation means a trip to the sea shore or to a theme park. For me vacation means heading to the Adirondacks - lake water to swim and boat in, a rustic cabin to relax in, family to visit with and friends to reconnect with. For the next two weeks that's where we'll be.

Check out Wakanda if you want to enjoy a little paradise.

Tuesday Lily

2010-06-29T22:31:00.001-04:00

Blooming in the garden today. A sure sign that summer has arrived.

Sunday in the Garden

2010-06-20T22:14:00.003-04:00

Blooming in my garden today.

lavender

coreopsis

and this yellow weed which has popped up in our backyard.

Be sure to scroll down - this is post #4 tonight.

Visitor

2010-06-20T22:10:00.003-04:00

This little fellow decided to investigate our front walk yesterday.
When I took this our walk was covered in dust from the repointing that was done on the top of our chimney earlier in the day. I haven't looked but I'm pretty sure this afternoon's thunderstorms cleaned the walk off.

Thematic Photographic 102 - Geometric

2010-06-20T21:45:00.005-04:00

This week's Thematic Photographic theme is geometric. The first thing I thought of was the circles in Kenneth Snelson's sculpture Mozart III which is installed at Wellesley College.

circle

Here's a shot of the entire sculpture.

Then on the way home I was stopped next to this sign (bonus points if you can tell where this was taken) and thought it fit the theme pretty well too.

circles in square

See more at Written Inc.

The Brownie Dilemma aka What I Do For Love

2010-06-20T21:26:00.002-04:00

I am the baker in our house. When I make brownies there is a dilemma. Amy likes her brownies with nuts. I'm not a great fan of nuts in brownies. Last week Amy asked me to make brownies, and since they were her idea I added nuts. But I would have been much happier without them.

Mini-Vacation

2010-05-27T23:24:00.003-04:00

Our house is not air-conditioned so hot, steamy nights are not welcome. We do have two window air-conditioners built into the walls. One in the living room and the other in the master bedroom. Both of these units scream 1970. When we, in desperation, turn them on normal conversation must cease. Sleeping with the constant, drone is nearly impossible.

The weather reports Monday were calling for extreme heat starting Tuesday night. Amy suggested that perhaps we should find a hotel room for Tuesday night. Normally this is not a big deal, there are three large hotels and several other smaller lodging establishments within 5 miles of our house. This is, however, not normal times for hotels in the greater Boston area. It's graduation season which means lots of out of town relatives descending to see their beloved children, grand-children, nieces and nephews walking across a stage to receive their degrees. These out of town relatives fill our roads (a story for another day) and hotels. Normally we could also have gone a little farther afield but I had to be home early Wednesday to meet the chimney sweep.

So it was with some trepidation that I began to look for a nice cool room for us to sleep in Tuesday night. Online searches were less than successful, unless I wanted to spend a lot more money than I felt I could. As a last resort I decided to call one of the larger hotels (the one whose loyalty card I have). It was late, so late it was almost Tuesday. The clerk who answered the phone mentioned that they only had one room left for Tuesday, and asked how much I'd be willing to pay. After I named a dollar amount we chatted while he looked up some information. During this I mentioned that I was a local who didn't have air-conditioning. He was then interrupted by an arrival (he was the only one working) and took my phone number so he could call me back.

A few minutes later he called back, and after a few more standard questions announced that since our air-conditioning had died (his interpretation) he could give me the bereavement rate for the room about 50% of the normal graduation season rate. (He also fessed up that he got a bonus if the hotel was sold out.)

So after a quick stop at home after work on Tuesday, we headed off to on our mini-vacation. The room was nice and cool. And we enjoyed a movie before bed. I was up in time for a swim Wednesday morning and then it was home for me and off to work for Amy.

Birdhouses

2010-05-23T18:14:00.003-04:00

The past two Sundays my First Day School class has been working on birdhouses. To prepare I cut parts. The plan is pretty simple. You can find it here. The kids loved this project - they had a wonderful sense of accomplishment from this.

Week 1 was assembly.

First step was putting the screws into the front.

Step 2 Glue

Step 3 Nailing on the floor, back and top.

Finished

Week 2 Painting
I don't have a lot of pictures of the painting because I was busy working with children who weren't there last week to get their birdhouses together and trying to avoid getting coated in paint. We also had a full-house today - 5 children including one who was new to our Meeting.
Here's the some of the results.

Happy Birthday!

2010-04-04T08:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday, Mother!

Spring

2010-04-01T22:31:00.003-04:00

Thunder of peepers*
welcomes me home -
spring night.

You can read about peepers here. Be sure to scroll down to the sound files on the right.

The back story: our yard backs up to wetlands, and at this time of year the night is filled with the sound of peepers.

New Orleans Day 2

2010-02-10T21:24:00.004-05:00

We ended up being so busy in New Orleans that I didn't manage to post reports from the rest of our trip. I'm working on catching up.

At the recommendation of my college friend, Mary, we started off our second day with breakfast at Brennan's Restaurant, home of Banana's Foster, with Amy's niece Melissa. The building was originally built for Edgar Degas' great-grandfather, during the Spanish rule of New Orleans. It was yummy, though none of us tried the Banana's Foster. We highly recommend the strawberries with double cream.

After our sumptuous breakfast we headed to the French Market, and wandered through the flea market booths. An eccentric Cajun gentleman explained in more detail than we really wanted, how he crafts beautiful jewelry from scrap - making beauty from the destruction left behind by Katrina. And I added a bright pottery fish to my collection. After stopping to stock up on pralines for the folks at work, we stopped for a late morning snack of beignets at Cafe Du Monde.

From there we headed to St Louis Cathedral, stopping to admire the art displayed on the fence along the way.

The outside of St Louis Cathedral.

Looking down the main aisle.

The organ loft.

Then we headed to Uptown to meet my college friend, Mary, at her parent's house. I'd emailed Mary for recommendations on places to eat and things to see and discovered that she was going to be in New Orleans for the weekend too. After a quick tour of her parent's house we headed off to lunch at a local bar for lunch. We spent lunch talking and laughing.

The local drink.

After lunch Melissa took us over to the Lower Ninth Ward to show us two of the oldest houses in that part of the city. Mary kept up a running travelogue on the drive pointing out the sights and offering stories about the city. There are still signs of the destruction of the hurricane throughout the city, but there are also signs of recovery in most neighborhoods. The houses we went to see are called Pilot houses and sit on opposite corners near the levee. Mary enjoyed seeing these almost as much as we did. She'd seen pictures of them before, but didn't know where in New Orleans they were.

The Pilot house closest to the levee. This was taken from the top of the levee.

The second Pilot house. Note the kumquat tree in the yard.

There are more pictures of the Pilot houses here.

Just a block away from the Pilot houses are these new houses. We're pretty sure these are part of Brad Pitt's efforts to rebuild New Orleans. If you click on the picture you can see what almost looks like a fourth house, but is actually a ship docked on the other side of the levee.

I'll save our first Mardi Gras parade for my next post.

New Orleans Day 1

2010-02-04T22:22:00.002-05:00

Today was our first full day in New Orleans. We arrived yesterday afternoon after a slightly bumpy but mostly uneventful flight. Amy's niece, Melissa, picked us up at the airport, which was great. We had a chance to meet her pups before heading to our hotel. We had dinner at Babylon Cafe, a small meditteranean restaurant - no frills but great food. On the way back to our hotel we spent quite a while sitting at an intersection while tractors pulled empty Mardi Gras floats down the street. Back at our hotel we were getting ready for bed when we heard drumming outside. We looked out the window to see what was happening to discover klieg lights illuminating the night, and a small brass band accompanied by a band of revelers following a police car down the street below our window. They got to the end of the block then turned around and walked back to where they'd started. The big fuzzy microphones at the sides of the road were clear indication that they were being filmed. The walk under our windows was repeated 4 or 5 more times.

Sorry about the quality of the photo - this was taken on a rainy night, through a window without a tripod.

Today was rainy so we headed off to indoor sights. First up the Audubon Aquarium.

Detail of the waterfall in the entry hall of the Aquarium.

We arrived at feeding time in the Caribbean Reef exhibit. This ray decided that sucking the food out of the jar was the best way to go.

To me this sea star looks like it's doing the wave.

Lionfish

The aquarium has a few non-aquatic critters, including this owl.

From the aquarium we walked a short distance to the Riverwalk Mall. The mall itself was uninspiring (though we were able to score a superbowl t-shirt for a co-worker). After lunch in the food court, we checked out the Southern and Beverage Museum, before heading back to the hotel.

Melissa will be joining us for our adventures tomorrow which, as long as the sun comes out, will include heading to the French Quarter for gawking, shopping and beignets. Then she's promised to take us on a short driving tour.

See It Sunday: Italian

2010-01-31T14:44:00.002-05:00

Gelati Sign in Boston's North End
taken January 2008

More See It Sunday here.

Thematic Photographic 84 - White

2010-01-15T11:07:00.004-05:00

Willoughby Lake Store
I took this last summer on the way to my cousin Matt's house.

See more White here.

Thematic Photographic 83 - What I Did on Vacation

2010-01-12T22:21:00.004-05:00

Kayaking on Rainbow Lake, August 2010

See more here.

See It Sunday: Tower

2010-01-10T16:26:00.003-05:00

Galen Stone Tower at Wellesley College
taken this morning

See more See It Sunday here.

Two for Tuesday: Road-River

2010-01-07T23:04:00.002-05:00

Looking across the Charles River toward Boston from Memorial Drive.

More Two for Tuesday here.

PhotoSunday: Round

2010-01-03T08:22:00.005-05:00

Macro of mushroom found at Wakanda in the Adirondacks July 2008.

See more PhotoSunday here.

The String of Lights

2009-12-25T19:30:00.002-05:00

It's a simple string of Christmas lights containing 50 all clear bulbs. We've never used it, preferring multi-colored lights, but it's still in our decoration box (or rather one of our decoration boxes). There is nothing special about this string. Strings like this are available at almost any store that sells decorations.

Each year as I pull out the lights to decorate our Christmas tree this set of lights makes me smile. Many years ago we belonged to a neighborhood gay and lesbian group (GLOW) which held potlucks each month. In December GLOW spiced up the potluck with a Yankee Swap.

For those who have never experienced a Yankee Swap let me explain. Each person brings a small wrapped gift. Each person participating is given a number. The person with number 1 selects and opens a gift. Then number 2 selects and opens a gift. At this point the person with number 2 can either keep the gift they opened or swap it for the gift number 1 has. This continues until everyone has opened a gift. As things get further along each person who has a gift taken away can choose to swap with another person, though not the one who just swapped with them, before moving to the next number. At that point the person with number 1 gets to select any of the gifts. There may be variations depending on the specifics of the particular swap - gag gifts vs. useful things. Some swaps require that number 2 decide whether to take number 1s gift or open another before actually opening another. I know of one group that requires the participants to bring the worst gift they received the year before- rumor has it that there is one gift that has been at each of their Yankee swaps each year. The Yankee swap which GLOW did was always a lot of fun - lots of laughing, though we rarely came away with anything we really wanted or needed.

Which brings me back to the string of white lights in our decoration box. At one of the last Yankee swaps that GLOW held our friend Robert ended up with this box of lights. Robert is Jewish and didn't have a use for the lights, so after the swap he gave them to us. I think Amy gave him the gift she'd ended up with. The lights got stowed away with our decorations and there they have stayed. Each time I open that box I think of Robert.

Robert has been a true blue friend over the years. We don't see him often - usually only at our Passover Seder and when we have parties. He does call every once in a while just to check in. We haven't seen Robert much in the last couple of years. He's been battling cancer and has been too tired for much socializing. He did do me a huge favor just over a year ago, and despite the ravages of the treatment he helped me buy my car (he makes his living helping people buy cars), but we only saw each other once during that process.

The other night as I pulled out the lights for our Christmas tree I came upon that box of clear lights, and smiled thinking of our friend. Before continuing on with the decorating I took a moment to think about Robert and all of the love he's given us over the years. We may never use those lights, but they'll stay in that box - a yearly reminder of our friendship with Robert.

Happy Holloween

2009-10-31T21:02:00.002-04:00

No costumes at our house (except at the door), just pumpkin carving.

My sister-in-law, Barbara, and I carved these today.

You can see a few more pumpkin pictures here.

Cooperation

2009-10-25T23:11:00.004-04:00

I've been teaching preschool in the First Day School (Quaker Sunday School) at my Meeting this fall. Our group of 8 is mostly almost 4 year olds. Our current topic is cooperation and working together. This morning we joined together to make a quilt.

Amy helped me cut a bunch of squares from fabric in our scrap basket a few weeks ago. I taped a length of paper to the table (mostly cause it kept curling up) and the children and adults added squares of fabric. Our masterpiece now graces the wall of our classroom (as long as the push pins haven't give way).
The children, even the one 2 year old in attendance this morning, were engaged by this project for a good 20 minutes and a few were actively working for 30 minutes. (By the way two of the arms in the above picture are those of one of the other adults.)

As an aside - if you must use glue sticks (I can go into a tirade about those another time) I highly recommend the colored ones, which dry clear. The color makes it much easier to see where the glue has been applied.

Birthday Girl

2009-10-25T23:02:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was my grandmother's 99th birthday. My aunt hosted a party for her - tea, cake and conversation - and since we live close-by we joined the fun.

See my flickr account (there's a link in the sidebar) for more pictures.

Elephants in Cambridge

2009-10-13T22:17:00.002-04:00

In my head I have an image of a circus parade full of acrobats, clowns, brightly colored wagons and animals decked out in sparkles. This is probably the result of movies like Toby Tyler, a childhood favorite. Circus parades like that are a thing of the past, but in Boston there is a small piece still happening. Each year when the circus comes to town, their train is parked along the tracks that run parallel to Vassar St on the MIT campus. The shows take place across the river at the Boston Garden. The elephants and horses walk through the streets to get from the train to the Garden. In all of the years that I have worked in Cambridge I have never seen the elephant walk.

This year one of the event emails I receive regularly included the dates for the circus shows. And that gave me not only a reminder but also the time to determine when the elephants were due to make their trek.

Tonight was the night. It was not the ideal weather to watch the elephants - it is cold here. And it was dark. But we were determined to see the elephants so we bundled up and walked down to Memorial Drive to watch the elephants. We saw elephants:

The lead elephant.

Bringing up the rear.

And horses:

There was also a duck boat full of clowns, but alas no clown pictures.

It wasn't a fancy parade but it was a lot of fun.

If you're in the Boston area you've got another opportunity to see the elephants. On Sunday at 5 they make the walk back to the train.

Two for Tuesday: City-Country

2009-10-13T22:07:00.003-04:00

Boston at twilight and Barn in the Adirondacks.

See more here.

Kayaking Rainbow Lake, Part 3

2009-09-05T21:42:00.003-04:00

In normal years we have to be out of our vacation cabin by 10am on Saturday, so that our hosts can get it cleaned and ready for the next renters. This was, however, not a normal year. With the economy struggling the vacation rental market is depressed, and Owl cabin (our favorite home away from home) was not rented for the week after our vacation. After trying to convince us to stay (oh how I wanted to!) Soozie and Noel encouraged us to take our time on Saturday. (This turned out to ve a very good thing when the water pump quit working Saturday morning. Noel did get it fixed quickly, though.)

This meant that there was time for one more kayak trip before we left. One of my favorite paddles on Rainbow Lake is that back into the Flow. So that was the choice for my last paddle.

The paddle starts by heading south around the tip of the esker. As I started out that morning I realized that I had never done this in the morning before.

The view looking north from the other side of the esker.

I've haven't seen a lot of turtles in the Adirondacks. That morning I saw 10, including this one.

This heron was alternately grooming and posing, while enjoying the morning sun.

Looking toward the Flow. At this point I had seen only one other boat.

As I head further into the Flow the lilies thicken. In spots this makes the paddle more challenging, since it requires maneuvering around the patches of lillies, and other water plants which thrive here because the water is so calm.

The calm water and the number of fallen trees offer lots of awsome reflections.

Evidence of the calm morning - the water was smooth as glass.

I've seen beavers in this section of the Flow before, but this morning I only saw reflections.

This stretch of the lake ends at this beaver dam. I was able to get close because of this summer's high water levels.

I love the colors of this bright grass.

More fallen tree reflections.

Back at Owl Dock and the end of our vacation.

It was a lovely paddle.

Kayaking Rainbow Lake, Part 2

2009-08-26T22:37:00.004-04:00

According to the real estate listings Rainbow Lake offers either 12 or 15 miles of interconnected waterways to explore. From our spot of the southern end of Rainbow Lake the longest paddle heads north on Rainbow Lake, through the Rainbow Narrows and Kushaqua Narrows and across Lake Kushaqua to the dam. Two years ago I made it as far as the Buck Pond Campground but not into Lake Kushaqua itself.

This year I decided to take an afternoon and head north toward the dam again. Because I hadn't done a lot of kayaking this year (the kayak hadn't been in the water until we got to Rainbow Lake) I wasn't sure how far I'd make it. I loaded up the boat with 2 bottles of water, and snacks and headed out. Spurred on by Soozie, one of our hosts, who mentioned the record time to the dam and back, I decided to see how far I could get. Start time was approximately 1:50pm.

The lake wasn't as calm as I would have liked - stirred up by a light breeze and a few power boats - but was not a it's worst. (I've paddled the length of Rainbow Lake when it had 2 foot waves as a storm blew in - not fun.) Good time was made to the bridge separating Rainbow Lake from Rainbow Narrows. Along the way I stopped to admire the flamingos in one yard.

Note the skeleton flamingos (they're the black ones).

Finally, the bridge comes into view, marking the end of the first segment of the journey. Time check 2:30pm.

This bridge separates Rainbow Lake from Rainbow Narrows.

The water beyond the bridge was much calmer - probably because the narrowness prevents power boats from going very fast.

There are a lot of trees down along the shore. This particular tree sticks out into the channel as the lake widens. To help prevent accidents someone has helpfully added a reflector. This amuses me everytime I see it.

From here you pass a small bog, then the rope swing - known to everyone on the lake. Then under a couple of bridges. I was delayed at the second bridge, which is quite narrow, by four paddlers from the other direction.

After the second (third on the trip) bridge the water widens into the Kushaqua Narrows.

This windswept tree sits on a small island near the Buck Pond Campground. On my previous trip, I circled around this island before heading back. 3:06pm

I made a brief stop at an empty campsite (to the right of the small island) to stretch my legs before heading toward the dam. After winding my way around the next point the water opened up into Lake Kushaqua.

If I'm reading the map correctly this is Little Haystack mountain, which rises on the East side of the lake.

Kushaqua is a wide open lake. I saw a loon as I was headed toward the dam. The closer to the dam I got the rougher the water was. This is not entirely unexpected any time you are near a dam, waterfall or the like there is going to be at the least a more apparent current. The water from Rainbow Lake and Lake Kushaqua empties over the dam - it's used to control water level - and given all the wet this summer there was a significant amount of water heading over the dam.

I ventured up to the rocks at the right of the picture but didn't feel comfortable getting any closer to the dam. 3:38pm

As I headed back across Kushaqua the waves seemed to pick up strength. This may have been an actual change, or the fact that I was now heading into the wind and against the current. I paddled as close to the shore as I felt comfortable doing, as waves broke across the front of the kayak. This was not a fun part of the trip. It was hard paddling. I was very happy to get back to the entrance in the Kushaqua Narrows, and have the opportunity to take a breather.

I made another stop at the empty campsite to rest, and have my snack. I was very quickly joined by a dozen ducks - clear sign that too many people have been feeding them!

One of the hopeful ducks. I did not feed them.

After a 10 minute break I headed back to Owl Cabin.

The first of the two bridges between the Kushaqua Narrows and the Rainbow Narrows. 4:40pm

On the way back I came upon our hosts, Noel and Soozie, Laka (their dog) and a friend finishing up on the rope swing. I declined the tow they offered and headed home.

This loon kept me company as I headed down Rainbow Lake, but refused to move so that it wasn't backlit.

Finally back at our dock - and yes this picture is crooked. 6:00pm
I could have straightened it, but the crookedness is evidence of how truly tired I was.

Total trip time 4 hours and 10 minutes - or so.

It was a fun trip. If we get a nice calm day next year I may have to try the trip again to see if I can lower the total time.

(The times listed are the time stamps from the photos.)

Stay tuned for Part 3.

Kayaking Rainbow Lake

2009-08-23T22:06:00.004-04:00

One of the highlights of our annual vacation to Wakanda is kayaking on Rainbow Lake . There are several routes to take on the lake.

At the southern end there's a bog where I've seen ducks, geese and heron. I headed that direction one afternoon. I did see ducks and geese but mostly just water and flora.

I love the reflections of this boathouse on the water.

The circle of life.

Log becomes home to new growth.

I love the gracefullness of the limbs.

Tree Reflection.

Taking a swing around the end of the esker opens up another stretch of water, heading either to the stretch known as the Flow or through the Clear Pond loop. My brother, nephew and I did the Clear Pond loop one afternoon. As we have many other times, my nephew N sat at the front of my cockpit (I've got a very open cockpit on my boat).

N looking back at me.

This was not the only kayaking N did this year. He's finally big enough to handle a boat on his own, so one afternoon he had a paddling lesson. We got him into a boat, I took hold of the line on front and swam nearby while he practiced his paddling skills.

Note the intensity on his face.

Concentrating on proper technique.

Once we were comfortable that he wasn't going to flip his boat or throw the paddle, we hooked his line to the back of my boat and headed off on a short trip from the afternoon beach to Boot Bay and back. N did very well and made it just over 2/3rds of the way before he got tired, after which I towed him the rest of the way.

Early on during the trip.

Stay tuned for more about kayaking on Rainbow Lake. (I'm tired and this post is long enough.)

Summer Project

2009-08-15T00:06:00.010-04:00

Recipe for summer woodworking fun.

Project parts - in this case for a boat.
The dowels, both large and small, serve to align the other parts.
Additionally, the large ones are also the smoke stacks.
The darker parts are walnut, the lighter (except dowels) are maple.

Tools - clamps, glue, dead blow hammer, glue brushes and sand paper.
We ended up only using the large clamps.

Eager helper.
My nephew, N, 5 years old.
If you look closely (click on the picture to make it larger) you'll see the holes for the dowels.

Ready for clamps.

Clamped and drying - time for a kayak ride.

Look what I made!

(If you look closely you'll notice that the boat still needs sanding and finish.
We'll have to do that the next time we get together.)

A couple of design notes: I'm not entirely happy with the prow of the boat.It needed some more shaping but I was having trouble getting my head wrapped around how to do it so it looked right. Oh and the kid better not drop this on his foot, cause it's heavy!

You may have noted that we used regular wood glue, not waterproof glue, to hold the pieces together. This was intentional . If I were building this by myself I'd have used polyurethane glue. However, as anyone who has ever used it will tell you, it's really messy and if you get it on your skin it turns your skin brown. I wasn't comfortable using it with a 5 year old.

As far as I know, the boat has not been tested for seaworthiness. At some point we will have to see how it floats.

Cape Cod Visit

2009-07-16T23:55:00.002-04:00

My sister and her family are currently camping on Cape Cod with a friend and her son. After umpiring Monday night I headed to PTown for a quick vacation warm-up. I went armed with supplies for a project to do with the boys, who are now 9 and 7. Below are a few shots from our wonderful day together.

First step to the project was having the boys (Sassafras Mama's JT and my nephew D) draw pictures of what they like to do on 'The Cape'.

I don't have any in process pictures of the project, but both Sassafras Mama and the fabulous Shelley (D's mom) took a bunch, so you should expect to see them once they return to civilization.

Two of the six shirts we silk-screened. The blobs are the result of trying to silk-screen on a picnic table, without a flat surface. From my perspective the project was less than successful, but the boys pronounced them "awesome" which is all that really matters. The object between the trees is a tent, and the people on the right are speeding downhill on bicycles.

After we finished with the shirts we headed to the pool at my hotel. D spent most of the time on the pool deck.

JT, meanwhile, spent most of his time jumping off the edge trying to catch the ball D was throwing.

Check out the dimple!

Future tennis star.

We wrapped up the day with several games of Stratego. And Wednesday morning I headed back to reality.

The Garden

2009-07-05T22:17:00.004-04:00

July 7 Update: S sent me the names of the flowers I didn't know. They're appended below.

We had dinner with our friends B and S tonight. Among their many talents, B and S are incredibly good gardeners. Their yard is always a treat. And coupled with our first sunny day in forever the opportunity to sit amongst the luxurious greenary was one not to be missed. I took my camera along and now you can share some of the beauty as well. Click on the pictures to see them larger.

And by the way we had a lovely evening with our friends.

Clivia - this sits at the edge of their yard offering a splash of color to the dark greens of this shady spot.

I don't know the name of this one, which sits at the edge of the driveway.
Update: Nicotiana

I found this little one hiding under a bush in the front.

Day lily.

Pink roses and yellow primrose.

A delicate pink-purple frond.
Update: Astilbe

Purple blooms.
Update: Angelonia

This spiky red flower was a bit past its prime.
Update: Bee Balm (Monardia)

A bit of garden whimsy.

B reflected in Amy's sunglasses.

Unique's Photo Challenge: Rust

2009-06-29T18:45:00.002-04:00

Rusty Warning seen in a Cambridge sidewalk.
This sign was installed in the last year - so there's no reason for it to be rusty.

See more Rust at Unique's Photo Challenge.

Happy Birthday Shelley!!!!

2009-06-28T08:27:00.003-04:00

The fabulous Shelley is celebrating her birthday today.
In honor of the day I share this photo of her laughing with her boy.
Cape Cod 2007

Visiting TD and Family

2009-06-24T22:35:00.005-04:00

We spent last weekend visiting my brother Tom and his family (wife Cheryl and son N). We had the honor of being the first overnight guests in their new house. N was particularly excited to have overnight guests. In between fixing some things in the house, and trips to the hardware store I took a few pictures of N, though none of the house.

Making lists on the computer with Amy.
I don't know how this started but it kept us all busy for quite a while coming up with words that begin with P.

King of the Stairs.

Hard at work in the sandbox.

Running across the yard to fill his bucket.

A Bit of Sun on a Gray Day

2009-06-24T22:28:00.003-04:00

We added sundrops to the garden this spring, and despite the drenching we've been getting one has decided to bloom.

A closeup view, those are raindrops at the edges.

PhotoFriday: Metal

2009-06-05T18:00:00.003-04:00

Metal Fish Detail
This is the tail of the fish outside the seafood restaurant in the building I work in.
This photo was taken in November 2007.

New Post On Woodworking Blog

2009-05-23T20:58:00.002-04:00

I just put up a new post on my woodworking blog.

Right or Left

2009-04-25T21:37:00.003-04:00

While on my way to Connecticut for a softball tournament today, I noticed a sign on the door at a rest area on the Turnpike which read:

shirt
shoe required

There was no space where an "s" might have been.

So my question is right or left?

The softball tournament is the NEWMAC championships. Wellesley will be playing in the championship game tomorrow. The tournament is taking place at the Coast Guard Academy. On another note it was very odd to be addressed as "maam" after I'd shown identification at the main gate today.

Crumbled Cake

2009-04-06T23:40:00.000-04:00

Sassafras Mama posted today about her weekend battle with cake and it brought to mind a battle I had with a cake many years ago.

For many years we belonged to a lesbian & gay neighborhood group which held monthly potlucks. Most month's our contribution was cooked at the last minute. Our contribution that month was to be a bittersweet chocolate bundt cake. (We'd clearly planned ahead because the cake takes several ingredients that we don't normally have on hand.) The cake went together smoothly and was soon in the oven. While it was cooking I mixed up the glaze for the cake.

When the cake was cool I loosened the edges and turned it out onto a plate. Or at least I tried to turn it out onto a plate. About a third of the cake stayed in the pan. Since there wasn't much time before we needed to leave for the potluck I didn't have time to wallow in sorrow, though I probably let loose with a few curse words. I quickly had to come up with an alternative contribution for the potluck. I'd been at a party where trifle was served a few weeks before this, and so that was where my mind went when presented with the broken cake.

A quick look in the freezer revealed some raspberries, and there was cream in the fridge. The raspberries were quickly defrosted, and the cream whipped. It was quite cathartic to crumble the cake into a clear bowl, where I layered it with raspberries, the chocolate glaze that was intended to coat the outside of the cake, and the whipped cream. The resulting concoction was a big hit at the potluck.

We have made "Raspberry Oops Cake" many times since, and I've never had a problem getting it out of the pan. I keep swearing that I'm going to make the cake as intended one of these days, but so far it hasn't happened. And it's still somewhat cathartic to crumble up the cake.

Unfortunately, I don't have photographic evidence to share.

Best Laid Plans

2009-04-06T22:46:00.000-04:00

Amy and I watch a fair number of home improvement shows on tv. More often than you would expect there are problems caused by poor planning on the part of the homeowner, designer or carpenter. In most cases this is not the point of the show. The exception is one which uses the tagline "why learn from your mistakes when you can learn from theirs". When we approach a project we normally do a lot of planning up front to avoid those sorts of oops moments. This is especially true if Amy is part of the planning. (This is a major component in the delay our renovation.)

My workshop contains a lumber rack I built years ago. I've never been satisfied with the sturdiness, and have been expecting it to disintegrate for years. A couple of months ago one of my woodworking magazines arrived with a supplement full of projects for the shop, one of which was a very sturdy looking lumber rack. I thought it would work well in my shop and so set about acquiring the materials to build it. Because of the clutter in my shop (it desperately needs to be emptied and reorganized) and the size of some of the components (8 ft 2x4s) I took advantage of a couple of warmish, sunny days to do assembly in the driveway (the garage is also suffering from over-clutter).

Much of the early assembly was done with the unit laying on it's side since the shelves are too heavy for me to lift by myself. When it was time to wrap up my work after one of my days in the driveway Amy came down to help me set it upright and move it into the garage. And that was when we discovered problem number 1.

As some of you may remember from the garage door replacement, or from visits to our house, the ceilings in our basement are low. I can touch the ceiling while standing flat footed, and I'm not tall. When I decided to build the shelves I didn't take the height of the ceiling into account. And when we set the unit upright Amy pointed out that it didn't look like it would fit into the garage. So, with the sun setting in the west I pulled out the tape measure and circular saw and shortened the uprights by 6 inches.

I've yet to finish the shelves - mostly because we've been busy and I can't lift the shelves by myself. Meanwhile, we've been entertaining plumbers - each of whom has a slightly different idea of where the tankless water heater we want installed should go. (Stay with me, this is actually related.) The most logical location, given the venting requirements for the water heater, is at one end of my workshop. That end of the workshop is currently home to the about to collapse lumber rack. This has made finishing the lumber rack of higher importance.

Which brings us to problem number 2. The root from the garage to the workshop includes a rather tight squeeze at the corner of the furnace. The new lumber rack is eight feet long and, as my very observant wife pointed out, it will not make it around that turn. We could take the rack via the back yard to the exterior door to the shop, but that is a soggy, weed ridden route. In the post-renovation version of my shop the lumber storage will be in the garage. So we've decided that the new lumber rack will take up residence in the garage a little early.

Now I just need to finish the rack, clean out the garage, and move a whole lot of lumber. Oh, and stop thinking all those people making mistakes on tv are careless.

One Single Impression: Listening

2009-04-04T13:08:00.001-04:00

sitting in silence
listening for the spirit
worshipping Quakers

Feeling the Love

2009-02-21T18:14:00.006-05:00

I love looking at the stars, but I don't really know very much about them. I had a floor-mate, Julie, in college who was an astronomy major, which mostly meant that we didn't see much of her because she spent evenings and nights in the observatory. The other exotic thing about Julie was that she was from Las Vegas. Up until I met her I hadn't ever really thought about the fact that there were families living in Las Vegas. But I digress. During one January Wintersession (a voluntary mini-semester filled with mostly non-academic workshops) she offered a star gazing workshop and a bunch of us who lived near her signed up. If I remember correctly the entire group was people from our floor. It was a lot of fun and I owe everything I know about stars to her. Because it was January the major constellations we could see were Orion, and Cassiopeia. I still think of her when I look up into the winter sky.

My nephew, D, loves learning about space and I'm guessing he knows much more about it than I do. His current plan is a career in astrophysics, though I don't think he would state it that way, yet. When it came time to pick his holiday present this year I wanted to find something that he would love and that would challenge his intellect. It took me till mid-January (D is perfectly okay with receiving gifts whenever they show up) to figure out what to get him, but what I sent was a telescope - what every budding astrophysicist needs.

Yesterday after a very long day at work, I arrived home to find this in my mailbox.

It brought a big smile to my face, and I love that the constellation he drew is Orion, one of the few I can pick out of the night sky.

Unique's Photo Challenge: Urban Landscape

2009-02-21T18:01:00.002-05:00

Post Office Square, Boston
taken February 7th

See more Unique's Photo Challenge here.

Biscotti Weekend 2008

2009-02-21T17:04:00.002-05:00

The long overdue tale of my annual December trip to New Jersey.

Once again as the calendar turned to December I loaded up the car and headed for the wilds of New Jersey for Biscotti Weekend, an annual event that features wrestling, woodworking, reading, and the lovely smell of baked biscotti. I've been making the pilgrimage since my nephew D was 2, and it has become a tradition that we both look forward to.

The highlight of the weekend is the project, usually a woodworking project, that he and I put together for him to give to his parents. This year's project started with a couple of phone conversations in November. After giving D a week to think about the kind of project he'd like to do - this year I offered him the option of making something for his parents, his cousins, or friends. He decided that he'd like to make a stool for his parents (actually he gave me two options but the other will remain a surprise because it's on the table for next year). In the final planning call we settled on wood type and then I headed to the shop.

Or I should say I headed to the crate of plans. My sister, D's Tama, already has a simple footstool that I made for her years ago and I didn't want to duplicate that. In my stash of plans I found a couple different patterns for two step Shaker style stools featuring only a few, relatively simple parts. The only tricky aspect of the pattern I picked was the angled cut on the back edge of the stool. (I'll post details on my woodworking blog and update this with a link when I have.)

Preparations also included loading up my iPod with holiday music. My new car features an iPod connector and this meant that I didn't have to haul a bag full of cds with me.

I got a later start than I'd wanted, probably because I had my woodworking class Thursday night and didn't get packed until Friday morning. Friday's entertainment was limited to dinner at Teriyaki Boy, though D opted for pizza instead.

Saturday morning started bright and early with D's wrestling practice. He's been wrestling for 3 years and is very serious about it.

Preparing to take on his opponent.

He's got him down.

He should be looking at the back of him opponents neck.

While D and I were out of the house Shelley got started on her biscotti baking. Over the course of the weekend she made dozens of batches which were then shipped off to family and friends.

We split up for the afternoon, T took D and his friend, I, to see Bolt while I went to see The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a very powerful movie. I definitely recommend it, but be prepared to have it stick in your mind for weeks and months afterward - I still find myself pondering the ending. Bolt, which I saw last month with my pal RT is also very good, though definitely a kid's movie.

Once we got back from the movie we headed to the basement, where a temporary workshop was set up. I had done most of the preparation of the parts, since the R-K house does not have a workshop. Step 1 was to cut several notches in the sides of the stool. D decided he much rather have me do that task. Given the setup it was slow going. We got one or two done before dinner with D making sure the clamps remained tight.

After dinner we dropped the grown-ups off at a concert and returned to the house for several rounds of Hang on Harvey. D was the undisputed champion. After a few stories D headed off to bed, and I headed to the basement to finish sawing the notches.

On Sunday morning I joined Shelley and D at Princeton Friends Meeting.
While I attended meeting for worship Shelley tended to the babies, and D went to First Day School. I spent a few minutes in the meeting house after rise of meeting taking pictures. You can see them here.

Once we arrived back at their house it was back to the basement for D and me. The first order of business was drilling countersink holes and pilot holes for the screws that would hold the stool together.

D suited up to help drill.

D decided he wasn't up doing the actual drilling, but he did keep the parts organized. Twenty four holes later we were ready for assembly. (Side note Norm Abram pronounces this a-sem-ba-ly and it drives me crazy.) D volunteered to start all the screws. After giving them a coat of akempuky, he screwed them into the slats and steps.

We chatted while he turned screws and D was occasionally distracted by the conversation.

Finally, it was on to final assembly. Where we discovered that the holes I had drilled in the one angled slat were on the wrong side. That and a couple of other errors had me a bit frustrated. My very intelligent nephew reminded me that "It's homemade. It doesn't have to be perfect." We decided that the stool would be fine with a couple of visible screws, the rest were to be covered with plugs and continued on. We also ran into an issue screwing on the top. I had not taken into account the location of the screws holding on the slats just under the top and the holes for attaching the top made the screws run into each other. Several additional holes were drilled and the top was finally attached.

D applying glue before attaching the slats.

Next step was to plug all the screw holes. I had cut plugs before heading down there, with my plug cutters. (I made several dozen by cutting lots of holes almost all the way through a piece of maple.) While I was working on cutting the notches, D had taken charge of popping the plugs out of their holes. After placing glue in each of the holes we added the plugs.

D using the dead-blow hammer to seat the plugs in their holes.

After a short drying time D used the flush-cut saw to trim off the plugs.
He had great fun teaching Shelley all about the flush-cut saw.

The almost finished product - still needs sanding and wax.

D and Snowy (at least I think that's his name) - slightly blurry.
My mind is already working on ways to get a better picture of them next year.

I would be remiss if I didn't include a picture of the multi-tasking Shelley - cooking and watching videos on-line.

Monday morning before I headed home I was able to drop D off at school. One of the best parts was the map that D drew to show me how to get to his school.

See It Sunday: Key

2009-02-14T21:23:00.002-05:00

The key to the medical cabinet we use for storage in our kitchen. The cabinet used to be in Amy's Dad's office.

See more See It Sunday here.

Macroday: Nuts

2009-02-14T09:45:00.001-05:00

Pistachios - the nut I've been craving recently.

See more MacroDay here.

How I Met My True Love

2009-02-04T22:49:00.009-05:00

I don't remember the first time I met her. She was a freshman when I was a senior, and joined the choir second semester. She was good friends with a couple of freshman with whom I was friendly and a second alto, like me, so I'm sure we met early in the semester. Choir officers helped run auditions and as the Business Manager I'm sure I did auditions that semester, but if I participated in hers I don't remember it.

My first memory is of her requesting to be excused from a concert. Our choir had rules about how many rehearsals you could miss, and all concerts were mandatory. In order to be excused the choir member had to make their case to the officers. We did this in a storage area next to the room we rehearsed in during a break. She was asking to be excused so she could attend her sister's wedding (number 2). I don't know why I remember this because , but it's stuck in my mind.

Toward the end of the year our choir was able to add a couple of last minute concerts, singing for alumnae clubs. Because the concerts were last minute we didn't have enough money in the budget to rent two large buses, but we wouldn't fit in one. We solved the problem by renting a van and a station wagon. The choir president drove the van, and I drove the station wagon. On the trip to New Jersey my passengers were all freshmen. Most of what I remember about the drive there is that our friend T was reading Little Women and kept giggling.

It is the drive home that sticks in my mind. Our choir director was a very dear man, but also very nervous. On the drive to New Jersey he had been driving the incoming choir president nuts, and she begged me to take him in the car on the drive back to school. So one of the freshmen road back on the bus and WAH rode with us. For reasons that escape me now Amy and T sat in the front seat with me (this was in the days of bench seats), and WAH and the remaining freshman, who was reading Ayn Rand, sat in the back.

When you sing in a choir one of the reminders you hear frequently is to enunciate the final consonants in words, so that they don't get lost. During the drive back to Massachusetts the three of us in the front seat spent a good portion of the drive singing along with the radio, over enunciating the final consonants in each and every word (or rather wur-duh). I don't know exactly why we did it. We certainly didn't discuss it before hand. That trip was when our friendship was forged.

The next year I worked on campus, as a teaching intern at the lab nursery school (a story for another day), and lived just off campus with a family for whom I did child care in return for room and board (that too is a story for another day). Most of my classmates were either long gone or living in the city. But Amy, T and J all friends from choir who were now sophomores were only a short walk away. I spent a good portion of my free time with them. We talked, played games, went to movies... As the fall semester went on I ended up spending more time with Amy than the other two.

Our college has a January session, at the time a month of alternative courses - learn to knit, star gaze and the like. It was optional and Amy spent that month at home in the mid-west. Since this was well before the age of email and text messaging we wrote a lot of letters. Instead of spending most of my free time with Amy I spent my free time writing her letters.

Once she returned we spent as many hours together as possible. We went to the movies (My Favorite Year) and should have been thrown out because we talked through much of it. (My sincere apologies to everyone else in the theatre that night!) We talked late into the night, each night, after which I would walk home through the quiet streets of the suburban town.

About a week later I had to be home, partly to care for the children during a party and partly because I was taking GREs the next morning. There was at least one and possibly two phone calls that night. After the GREs we went and played in Boston with T, went to the movies, and out to dinner. Amy and I ended up sitting, or more correctly cuddling, and talking all night. There was a kiss, and the rest is history.

Tomorrow is the 26th anniversary of that kiss.

Inspired by a request from Maria way back in January.

The Storm

2009-02-03T20:46:00.003-05:00

Following the progress of today's storm from my office window. There is about an hour between each shot.

Taken using the black & white setting on my camera.

My Favorite Wrestler

2009-02-02T15:00:00.002-05:00

Check out the cool video my sister-out-law took of our favorite wrestler, my nephew D (he's in the orange singlet).

Princeton Friends Meeting

2009-01-23T19:18:00.003-05:00

Pictures of Princeton Friends Meeting's Stonybook Meetinghouse taken during my December visit. The meeting house was first built in 1726 and rebuilt in 1760. It's a lovely old building and each December morning when I have visited there has been a welcoming fire in the fire place.

click on pictures to view them larger

Note that the bags on the porch are not trash, but clothing donations.

Interior light fixture

Note the width of the floor boards.

The old glass really entertains me.

Simple benches.

The black square to the left if the fireplace.

Thursday Challenge: Experimental

2009-01-23T18:49:00.004-05:00

Back in December I was taking pictures of our Christmas tree and started playing with taking unfocused pictures of the lights. This is my favorite. The white snowflake shaped blob is one of the snowflake lights in the window behind the tree.

In photography terms this is called bokeh.

See more Thursday Challenge here.

Cold

2009-01-16T12:31:00.003-05:00

I realize this may make you all roll your eyes, but I love the squeeking sound that snow makes when it's really cold. It's cold here, but not as cold as a whole lot of other places. I spoke to a colleague in Minneapolis this morning - it was -20 there which makes the 8 degrees when we left the house a veritable heat wave. Keep warm!

(This picture was taken during one of the December storms.)

Moody Monday: Athletic

2009-01-12T12:32:00.002-05:00

My nephew D during wrestling practice.

You can read more about the program he wrestles with here.

See more Moody Monday here.

Taking Thanksgiving on the Road

2009-01-08T22:00:00.005-05:00

We are somewhat notorious for making plans for major holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas...) at the last minute. Way back in November Amy headed off to Arkansas to visit her mother leaving me to determine how we were going to spend Thanksgiving. My little brother and I had already begun how to figure out how to provide Thanksgiving dinner for my parents and grandmother, without my mother having to clean her house or cook. (My brother lives near my parents, while I'm 160+ miles away.)

My brother lives in a small, second floor apartment which wasn't an option. Transporting my parents and grandmother to Boston also wasn't an option. At some point my brother said he wished we could rent an apartment for a day. That's when it hit me - that's what Residence Inn style hotels are. We'd stayed in a Residence Inn while visiting in New Jersey and it was quite spacious. So I did a search and discovered two relatively close to my parents and a room was reserved.

Amy learned of the plan when she returned from her trip the week before Thanksgiving. Planning began immediately. As much of the food as possible would be made before hand and be taken to heat up when we got there. Amy'd been reading up on cooking turkey, reading recipes is one of her favorite entertainments, and was eager to try brining a turkey. This presented a challenge. The plan was to head west Wednesday evening. The turkey needed to brine for 4-6 hours. The drive takes 3 1/2 hours. So, we decided that we would brine the turkey on the drive. The next challenge was figuring out what container to transport the brining turkey in. We have several large coolers - all of which would hold the turkey and it's brine. Amy was concerned though because any of those would require increasing the quantity of brine and since this was the first try at this method she was reluctant to make that change. The solution - a 5 gallon bucket lined with plastic bags.

The easiest part of the packing was our clothes. It was to be a quick trip so we didn't need much in the way of clothing. The rest of the packing was to accommodate the dozen people we were expecting (my parents, my grandmother, my younger brother, his wife and son, my older brother, his wife, son and daughter and Amy and me). The Residence Inn's provide kitchen equipment but not for that many people. We packed plates, glasses, silverware, kitchen equipment that Amy (who was doing most of the on-site cooking) couldn't live without, food - rolls, cranberry sauce, apple sauce, stuffing, vegetables, pumpkin pie, crackers, two card tables and eight folding chairs, napkins and table cloths.
Just to make things even more interesting Amy came down with the head cold I'd been fighting for weeks the week of Thanksgiving. The crowd ended up slightly smaller than anticipated - my brother and co-conspirator succumbed to the stomach bug that his son brought home from school, my older brother's wife was too exhausted to spend 5+ hours (round-trip) in a car and my oldest nephew needed to stay in Montreal (where it wasn't a holiday) and go to class. (For those keeping track that gave us a crowd of 9.
After dinner my nephew, N, who is five and my niece, S, who is 16 and I went down to the lobby to play Sorry. At one point N was frustrated because he wasn't doing so well, S and I were chatting about something (probably her swim season) and he decided we weren't taking the game seriously enough. He announced "stop talking and concentrate on the game". I smile every time I think about it, partly because it shows how much he's matured since July when he got frustrated by a game we were playing and wanted to quit.

A good time was had by all, though I don't know that we'll ever try it again.

(I do know that this post is month's overdue, but I didn't want to let this go undocumented.)

Clear Your Car Roof

2009-01-08T21:32:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I became a poster child for why you should always clear the snow off your car roof. The weather yesterday was cold, wet and generally yucky. There were about 2 inches of snow on the ground when we got up. By the time we headed out to clear the cars (or more correctly by the time Amy headed out to clear the cars) the snow had turned to sleet. Even though we were driving into work together both cars needed to be cleared because her car doesn't have 4 wheel drive and has to be parked at the top of our steep driveway and we were driving to work in my car which does have 4 wheel drive. I've been nursing a sore knee this week (it's getting better but I'm not very steady on my feet) so she did the bulk of the work.

When I got out I finished clearing my windshield, but skipped clearing the roof because there was only 1/2 inch of icy frozen stuff on it. The drive was basically uneventful, except perhaps dodging the chunks of frozen stuff flying off trucks on the Turnpike, and the constant rain. As is typical the off ramp was clogged with traffic. As we stopped at the first traffic light (there are two before crossing the river) a small amount of icy stuff slid off the roof. It was easily removed by the wipers, which were on because of the rain. However, when we stopped for the second the bottom third of the windshield was suddenly filled. This wouldn't have been too bad except that the wipers tried to clear it and because it was icy about 3 inches of the driver's side wiper got shredded. Once across the river I pulled into a gas station and cleared the accumulated snow and ice from the windshield. The wiper was clearing enough of the windshield for me to see so I continued on to drop Amy off at work.

Then I headed directly to the car dealer. The service guys were nice enough not to turn me away, and I spent just over an hour watching tv and reading old magazines. The only repair was the wiper blade, and because it's a new car and the service guys like me they didn't even charge me for it. It could have been worse - not only could there have been more damage to the car (one of the service guys mentioned that another customer's car had required body work when ice came crashing off his roof) but it could have caused an accident.

And so we add another rule to the Chelle/Shelley's (pronounced the same) rules of driving: no leaving the neighborhood without clearing any accumulated snow or ice off the roof of the car.

Summer Vacation

2008-12-31T14:24:00.006-05:00

It's almost January and outside the window the world is white. Snow is falling and from the comfort of my living room I can just tell that it's cold. As an antidote to the cold I thought I'd offer this tale of our summer vacation, which I have previously failed to record.

As regular readers may recall way back in July we once again headed off to Wakanda on Rainbow Lake in the wilds of the Adirondacks for two weeks of rest and relaxation. The day we left was hot, really, really hot. I stopped to let the neighbors know we were leaving and their grandson, A, who's about 9 offered to help pack the car. Given the weather I took him up on his offer. First step was to load the kayak onto it's rack, then drive the car up to the front of the house, unload the kayak and load the car. Into the car we packed games, puzzles, food (there are always a few things we take from home), clothes, and books - lots and lots of books. A carried/dragged most of the bags and boxes out of the house. Particularly amusing was watching this boy try and propel our large, rolling duffles down our bumpy front walk. The duffles were almost as big as he was and very definitely out-weighed him. I really wish I had a picture of that. Finally the kayak, once again, took it's place of honor on top of the car and we were ready to head out.

The drive was uneventful, or at least uneventful enough that I don't really remember it 5 months later. We did stop at a liquor store near my parent's house to pick up wine for a co-worker. (The back story on this is that he'd been to a wine tasting and fell in love with a particular dessert wine that he then couldn't find near Boston. He found it at a liquor store in New York, and asked if we would mind picking some up for him. Since the liquor store was on the way to my parent's house, the halfway point of our journey, we were happy to oblige.

We arrived at Owl Cabin well after dark, perhaps our latest arrival. We quickly unpacked and finished just as the clouds opened up and rain began to fall. It rained for days. We were prepared so this did not impact the enjoyment at all. We read, worked puzzles, baked, and I swam.

Oh, and played with my then new macro lens.

My brother T and nephew N joined us for a few days of fun in the mountains.

N enjoying a kayak ride.
T gave kayaking a try and loved it. I'm guessing I'll have a partner for some longer paddles next summer.

Helping Amy with a crossword puzzle.

Working on the project I brought for us to do.
(I did not make the parts for this.)
The finished project.

Other highlights of the trip

loon sightings

fresh blueberries from the bushes surrounding the cabin

the beautiful lake - the sun did finally come out

our hosts bountiful flower garden
The path to the morning beach.
(This is my entry in the current Thursday Challenge.)

The morning that T and N left, N and I headed down the path above with a bucket of Legos which we were returning to Loon cabin. N was carrying the bucket and we were chatting when a tree root jumped up and tripped him. He was devastated, but I quickly let him know it wasn't a problem, and we spent several minutes searching under bushes and leaves for Legos, some of which are quite tiny. There are probably a few still along the path.

We finished up our vacation with an overnight visit from my parents. It was great to be able to share our favorite spot in the woods with them again. Then it was time to load up the car again and head home.

Only 6 1/2 months till we return.

Editted: Click here to see more pictures from our Adirondack vacation.

Thursday Challenge: Light

2008-12-21T21:38:00.002-05:00

One of the string of 5 snowflake lights that are hanging in our living room window.

See more Thursday Challenge here.

Thin Ice

2008-12-21T07:59:00.004-05:00

This picture was taken nearly a year ago but it's fairly close to the view outside our windows now, though instead of sun we've got light snow falling. Through those trees, if you know what to look for, you can see the pond. There is only one house between us and it. It's a small pond and with the exception of the access path that runs down the hill on the other side of our next door neighbor is fairly inaccessible. It's set down from the few surrounding houses and ours is the only nearby road.

It's a small pond and doesn't get a lot of use - an occasional fisherman, teenagers looking for a spot to be alone, and in the depths of winter ice skaters. Yesterday our little pond was the focus of a lot of activity. Early in the afternoon Amy noticed fire trucks and police cars parked, lights flashing near the access path.

My first reaction was that someone had fallen through the ice, but the lack of an ambulance and the quick departure of the police car - sirens blaring - had us thinking that maybe we were wrong and they were just checking the barrier on the access path. But the fire truck didn't leave and we heard shouting. The only words I could make out were "talk to us". The fire trucks were there a long time.

Amy was out shoveling when a neighbor walked by headed back to his house. He'd been more curious than we were about the activity and had gone to see what was happening. As it turned out my first instincts were correct - someone, or rather two someones had fallen through the ice. Apparently two teenage boys, 15ish according to the tv reports, had decided to walk across the pond. They almost made it falling through the ice just before reaching the far side of the pond. The very good news is that the fire department was able to rescue them and they are going to be okay.

It was not been cold here for very long, in fact until the last three days it has mostly been in the mid-30s. There's been frost but we have not had the kind of sustained cold to form reasonable ice on any pond. Given the lack of cold I'm amazed that these boys didn't fall through within feet of the shore on this side.

The boys, despite their really bad decision to walk across the thin ice on the pond, did a couple of things right once they ended up in the water. They removed their shoes and pants - which worsened their hypothermia. They were able to pull themselves out of the water. When the firefighters finally got to them, after what the news reported as a mile long trek through the pathless woods, two of them removed their cold water protection suits and wrestled the boys into them.

The fire trucks and the news vans that arrived in their wake are now gone. The memories of this will stay with me. My heart goes out to the families that came way too close to losing their children. The outcome of this incident could have been much, much worse.

Please remind all those close to you - stay off the ice!

Don't Bake While Tired

2008-11-23T23:15:00.003-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I was up late finishing cupcakes for a party the next day. I'd gotten a late start and I had to have the cupcakes ready to go first thing in the morning so even though I was really tired I was determined to finish. When I added the confectioner's sugar to the mixer for the frosting I realized that I needed to mix it in by hand because the mixer was putting too much of the sugar into the air. I reached for the switch to turn it down. In my sleepiness I did not turn the mixer off as was my intent, no I switched it to high. The result, as you can see, wasn't pretty.

The powdered sugar was everywhere. I was coated, the counter was coated, everything on the counter was coated. So take it from me - if you're tired step away from the mixer.

Thinking about Marriage

2008-11-16T15:32:00.004-05:00

Maria posted a link to a commentary by Keith Olbermann on gay marriage which I think should be read or listened to by everyone. You can find the commentary here. It's a little long, 6 1/2 minutes, but worth the listen.

In other news, the cold I've been fighting and yesterday's wet weather kept me from joining in on the protests against California's Prop 8. But I was there in spirit.

Thursday Challenge: Sound

2008-11-13T20:41:00.002-05:00

The pianist for the Broadmoor Chamber Singers (Amy's chorus).

See more Thursday Challenge here.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-11-12T23:08:00.002-05:00

As a child growing up in a household with a dog, I knew what a veterinarian was. I did not understand what a veteran was. And so I thought that November 11th was Veterinarians Day. I remember the conversation when my mother explained the difference between veterinarians and veterans. Veterans Day was, and is, an important day in my life. Not because it's Veterans Day but because it is also my birthday.

Because my birthday is a holiday I have almost always had the day off from school and work. (There was one year when the government decided to make Veterans Day a Monday holiday at the end of October, but I digress.) My current place of business does not give us Veterans Day off. We get the Friday after Thanksgiving instead. However, I do get generous vacation time. So I was able to take both Monday and Tuesday off to play.

I spent most of Monday in my woodshop, working on a project for Hiker Boy. (I haven't posted about it yet, but will soon on elf business.) And I installed the car rack on my new car .

Yesterday, I headed off early for a paddle. I'll post about that tomorrow. My timing was perfect. The morning, when I was on the river, was full of sun and clear blue skies. By the time I had the kayak and all it's equipment put away it was gray and threatening to rain. I spent the afternoon watching a movie (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - recommended).

After dinner out at our favorite Chinese Restaurant, we returned home for cake, complete with squiggly candles.

In addition to the new ipod, which goes with the new car (there's a connector so the ipod can be played through the car audio system), I also got the way cool bumper sticker from my sister-out-law, Shelley (who will be getting a proper thank you). It now holds a place of honor on my car.

Comfort Food

2008-11-12T22:30:00.002-05:00

One of the casseroles my mother made when I was a child, was this concoction of egg noodles, ham and peas with a sauce of cheese, milk, ketchup and horseradish topped with bread cubes. She made it with velveeta cheese and spam. I don't remember it being a favorite of mine during my childhood, but as an adult I occasionally find myself craving it.

I haven't been able to eat it for years because my body can not successfully digest milk fat. I am able to eat goat cheese, though. And earlier this fall while perusing the collection of goat cheese at the local Whole Foods, I discovered that they carry fat-free cheddar cheese. It's taste's pretty good and doesn't upset my stomach.

So, when I got a craving for this casserole last week - on one of those cold wet gray November days - I realized that I could satisfy my craving. So for tonight's dinner I had ham and noodle casserole. It was delicious. Amy missed out, since she left this morning to visit her Mother in Arkansas.

Melancholy Excitement

2008-11-12T20:27:00.000-05:00

We bought this car in early 2000, when we finally decided that we needed to become a two-car family. It was the first car we bought with the help of our dear friend Robert, who runs a car buying service (he does all the negotiation for a small fee).

Late this summer I took it in to the shop to have the air conditioning fixed. While it was there the service guys (who I really trust) determined that the car needed several major fixes. Since these weren't life threatening I decided to ponder whether to fix the car or replace it. This was a tough decision because I really love this car. After consulting with Robert, I decided it was time to replace it.

Test drives were made and two weeks ago I picked up my new car. It's a new Subaru Forester. I don't love it as much as the old one, but it's a very nice car.

The new car has:

heated wipers

radio controls on the steering wheel

cool blue speedometer

moon roof
(this is looking out the moon roof at the edge of our yard)

chrome door handles

And best of all the new car comes with peace of mind, but I still miss my old car.

Poster for WFM Anniversary

2008-10-17T18:47:00.002-04:00

This weekend Wellesley Friends Meeting is celebrating its 50th Anniversary. There will be speeches, plays, worship, food, and fellowship. As an added decoration several people have put together posters highlighting the major work and concerns of the meeting. The picture below is the poster I put together of pictures from our participation in Boston's Lesbian and Gay Pride parades. The wording on the finished poster is slightly different, but the sentiment is the same.

I'm lucky enough to have access to a poster printer at work. Back in September, when I was really thinking I'd get this done ahead of time, I was reminded that the poster printer is booked solid for a good portion of the month. Once the event which causes this demand was over, I'd moved on to other things. Last weekend I finally got back to thinking about the poster. I got it put together Sunday afternoon, but didn't get around to thinking about printing it until yesterday.

So this morning I grabbed my thumb drive moved the poster file to it and headed off to work with Amy. I got to the other building (home of the poster printer and Amy's office) and was opening the file to show it to one of the poster printing experts when I realized that the program I created the poster in does not import the image files, but links to them. This was a major problem because I had not put those files on the thumb drive.

After some agonizing, there'd already been a couple of issues with the payroll posting that I'd had to deal with remotely, I headed home again to retrieve the files. Given that it was mid-morning it was an easy drive. Then back to print the poster. Which also went relatively smoothly. The good news is it's printed, the bad news is I'm still not happy with the wording.

I'll mount it to foam core tonight, and deliver it to the Meeting House tomorrow when we head over to help set up for the afternoon and evening festivities.

PhotoFriday: Freeze Frame

2008-10-17T13:27:00.003-04:00

Duck taking off over Rainbow Lake.
Taken during our vacation in July.

The back story to this is that the first thing I do each morning during our two week vacation at Wakanda is head out to the lake to swim. Most mornings I take along one of my cameras (The working arsenal includes 2 digital (slr and waterproof), 2 film and a video camera.) Early in the morning the lake is usually crystal clear. Most mornings I see some sort of wildlife. Managing to photograph the wildlife is a rare occurence. This was taken when the camera was ready at the same time as the wildlife.

See more PhotoFriday here.

PhotoSunday: Sunset

2008-10-12T21:17:00.003-04:00

Sunset over New London Harbor in Connecticut

See more PhotoSunday here.

(It has been brought to my attention that I haven't been posting anything. I'm not offering any excuses, but it's been a really busy month or so. The picture above was taken while I was in Connecticut for the fall conference for the users group I'm the president of.)

Photo Honors

2008-09-09T22:41:00.003-04:00

I stopped by MacroDay this evening to check this week's challenge, and there at the top of the page was my name. My photo of one of the lane marker's in the pool at Wellesley (repeated below) was voted on of the top 3 favorites for the "Wet" challenge. That put a smile on my tired face. (Tired because I've been getting up earlier that usual to go swim, in the pool, next to the lane marker....)

Now I just need to find something on the floor to photograph (this week's challenge).

PhotoSunday: Metal

2008-09-07T08:46:00.003-04:00

Detail of the sculpture Mozart III which is installed at Wellesley College.
A couple more photos of it are here and here.

See more PhotoSunday here.

Tuesday Challenge: Beads

2008-09-03T22:53:00.002-04:00

part of the chain on my glasses

See more Tuesday Challenge here.

Kayaking with RT

2008-08-31T22:08:00.003-04:00

As most of my friends and family know I love kayaking. I like nothing better than spending hours on the water. And given the chance I will extol the joys of kayaking to anyone who will listen. My college roommate, and good friend, RT has heard much about my kayak trips and more than a year ago we started talking about getting her out on the water. She was having shoulder issues earlier this summer, but they have improved and our schedules finally aligned (despite her partner's broken arm) so this morning instead of heading out to Meeting, I picked RT up and we headed off for a kayak adventure.

For this first trip, we chose to launch from Charles River Canoe & Kayak in Newton. This site offers rentals and is on a gentle portion of the river. CRCK also has rental sites on Lake Cochituate in Natick and on the Charles in Boston. I don't recommend large lakes for a first kayaking experience because of wind induced waves and power boats, and the Charles in Boston tends to have quite a few power boats as well. The stretch of the river in Newton and Waltham is narrow enough to avoid the waves of open lakes and doesn't tend to have many power boats, so it met all the criteria for RT's first kayak paddle. We headed out early to avoid the inevitable crowds on this beautiful, sunny Sunday.

After making sure that RT was being taken care of by the rental staff I headed to the parking/duck feeding/launch area on the opposite shore. Once on the river it took me a couple minutes to find RT. I'd expected her to be hovering on or near the dock, but she had ventured out further to watch a blue heron having breakfast. I was entertained to discover that the rental staff had given her a boat that matched her hat.

We headed downriver, which is not my usual choice when doing a loop. Heading upriver first takes you under a number of roads (rt 30, on ramps for the turnpike and 128, the turnpike, and 128) so it takes a while to get to a section where you aren't listening to constant road noise. By heading downriver first we escaped the road noise fairly quickly, and the current on this stretch of the river is fairly minimal. Adding to that this morning was a stiff breeze blowing into our faces which we both decided was better to have at our backs on the way back.

We chatted as we paddled - about paddling, family, friends, and everything under the sun. Our pace was relaxed, a pleasant paddle on a gloriously beautiful day.
If you look closely you'll notice, as we did, that there are signs of fall in the plants at the river's edge.

The river critters were quite active this morning. During our paddle we saw ducks, herons (3 in total), and to RT's delight swans with cygnets. We did resist the urge to sing the ugly duckling, though it was a close call.
It was a lovely trip and we will do it again sometime.

Sunday Scribblings: Somewhere

2008-08-29T20:36:00.004-04:00

I have never been a regular at bars. The dark, the noise, and the smoke just are not my idea of a good time and I'm not much of a dancer, so there's no draw there. But there was a time in my life when I frequented a Boston bar. To tell the story we need to go back to the late 80s.

At the time I was on the Boston Lesbian and Gay Pride Committee. We met on Thursday nights at Boston City Hall. After meetings the women of the committee, Darryl, Janet, Carol and I would adjourn to the one lesbian bar in the city, Somewhere Else, which was conveniently located blocks away in the Financial District.

Thursday nights were not a big night at Somewhere during that time, so we were able to settle in at a table near the bar and talk without shouting. Over drinks we would debrief from the meeting, complaining about the boys, or worrying over the work still to be done. We didn't talk about the other aspects of our life - dating, family, our paid work - we stuck to talking about our shared work. I do remember Darryl talking about when she had worked in a bar, though I don't remember what bar that was or where.

Somewhere Else featured a bar area on the first floor, with a stage on the opposite wall, and tables scattered around. Bathrooms were down a narrow staircase in the basement. In the way of lesbian bars there was a men's room and a women's room - to meet code requirements - but the designations were ignored. Upstairs featured a dance floor, a second bar and a room with a pool table.

I'd been to Somewhere Else a couple of times before with my wife and other college friends. But those visits were infrequent. The bar wasn't convenient and since we weren't single we weren't looking for places to find love. There was one memorable night when shortly after Amy and I left Somewhere Else we shared a kiss while stopped at a redlight. The driver in the car behind us flashed the lights and honked the horn - letting us know they'd seen the kiss. When the light turned green they pulled into the lane next to us and passed, taking a second to take a peek at us. I happened to look over as they passed and was rewarded with the sight of jaws dropping as this hetero couple realizing that we were both women. Amy and I laughed most of the way home, and thinking about it still makes me smile.

Shortly after we bought our house I left the Pride Committee - burned out from the politics of it, busy with work and the new house, and not willing to make the drive home after those evening meetings. And not too long after Somewhere Else ceased to be. A fire that started in the bathhouse that shared the building and a lack of appropriate insurance proved to be too much for the owners.

Other bars have come and gone since then, but I've rarely visited them. In my mind when I imagine a lesbian bar it is Somewhere Else that comes to mind. And invariably I think about Darryl, Carol, and Janet. I've lost touch with all but Carol and I don't speak to her very often, but there is a warm place in my heart for each of them, the work we did together (planning a party for 40,000 - 50,000 of our closest friends), and the friendship we shared over drinks at Somewhere Else.

To read more Sunday Scribblings go here.

(I haven't participated in Sunday Scribblings in a while, though I used to be a regular.)

PhotoSharks: Temperature

2008-08-28T23:50:00.002-04:00

Gallileo Thermometer

See more PhotoSharks here.

Thursday Challenge: Wheels

2008-08-28T23:47:00.001-04:00

Taken on the Wellesley College campus in May.

See more Thursday Challenge here.

Lensday: Alone

2008-08-28T23:24:00.002-04:00

lone sailboat

This is evidence of the magic of composition. When I took this the river was full of sailboats. By positioning myself carefully I was able to capture this boat looking like it had the river to itself. The river really looked like this:

See more Lensday here.

Tuesday Challenge: Clouds

2008-08-26T14:08:00.002-04:00

Evening sky a couple of weeks ago.

See more Tuesday Challenge here.

Macroday: Wet

2008-08-25T23:46:00.003-04:00

Lane marker in the pool at Wellesley College.

(Taken underwater)

(We had a great vacation, and there is much to tell. I hope to have time soon...)

See more MacroDay here.

Rainbow Lake

2008-07-19T07:47:00.003-04:00

For the next two weeks you can find me here, Rainbow Lake in New York's Adirondack Mountains. We've spent 2 weeks of each summer since 2000 here, and it's always like coming home. We'll be swimming (Actually I'll be swimming at least once a day, Amy thinks the water is too cold and will probably get in only a couple of times.), kayaking (me), reading (you should see the stacks of books we have ready to go), baking bread (me), doing puzzles (jigsaw and pencil), and generally relaxing.

I will be taking lots of pictures, but since we'll be at the edge of the grid (electricity, running water and indoor plumbing but no phone (cell or land), tv or internet) I most likely won't have an opportunity to post anything. If our hosts are willing I will post a picture a day up on my aminus site.

Lensday: Flower

2008-07-16T23:18:00.002-04:00

Platycodon (balloon flower) bud.
This will turn blue and then burst open.

A sure sign that it's time for vacation (we leave Saturday).

See more Lensday here.

Thematic Photographic: Animals

2008-07-16T23:10:00.003-04:00

Plotting ducks (or are they geese?).
Taken last winter.

To see other animals visit Carmi's blog Written Inc.

Ball Macro

2008-07-13T12:46:00.005-04:00

The Macroday challenge this past week was ball, and I've been thinking about this shot since last Monday. As it turns out the moderator at Macroday posts the new challenge on Sunday not Monday, so I've missed the boat. This is the stitching on a softball, and yes it is a used softball.

You may notice, however, that this is a closer macro (more macro macro?) than I've posted in the past. That is because yesterday I acquired a macro lens for my camera. I'm having a lot of fun investigating it's capabilites. You can expect to see more macro shots in the future.

See It Sunday: Apple

2008-07-05T23:59:00.002-04:00

Taken back in October while apple-picking with my friend RT.

See more See It Sunday here.

PhotoFriday: Spiral

2008-07-04T15:12:00.001-04:00

Playground Spiral

See more PhotoFriday here.

Unique's Photo Challenge: Power Lines

2008-06-28T07:51:00.002-04:00

Power Lines over the Sudbury River.

See more of Unique's Photo Challenge here.

Shutterday: Grass

2008-06-27T21:30:00.002-04:00

Marsh Grass along the Sudbury River

(One of these days I'll get around to writing up my kayak adventures.)

See more Shutterday here.

Pride

2008-06-15T21:31:00.004-04:00

Thirty-nine years ago police raided a gay bar in Greenwich Village in New York City sparking a riot that is commemorated each year in Pride parades throughout the US. In the years since that riot and the first Pride parade, the purpose and tenor of the parade has changed.

We didn't stay long at the first Pride event we attended taking just a small amount of time to wander before heading off. Pride became a regular part of our lives during our active membership in GLOW (Gays and Lesbians of Watertown), a neighborhood social group. Most of the the years I sat at GLOW's table at the festival passing out information. Through GLOW I got involved with the Boston Pride Committee.

When I was a member of Boston's Pride Committee in the late 80s and early 90s, being gay or lesbian meant there was always the possibility of losing a job, friends, family and even your life. And the chants and speeches of the Pride parade and festival reflected that. Pride was the one time when it felt safe to be completely out. This was also a time when AIDS was at the front of the minds of many in the LGBT community and that was also reflected in the Pride events.

It has been years since I regularly attended the Pride parade and festival. We attended one or two Pride festivals after I left the committee, but other aspects of life have taken priority most years. I went to Pride on Saturday and did something I have never done before - I marched in the parade from start to finish. In all my previous years of involvement I have always been at the festival site, and only occasionally joined GLOW or the Pride Committee for the last couple of blocks.

What drew me to march this year is a group of people who have become an important part of my life since January. The story begins about 5 years ago. At that time I attended Meeting for Worship (Quaker) with my sister-out-law (the fabulous Shelley) at Princeton Friends Meeting. On each visit since then I have attended Meeting. At first it felt strange to sit in silence in a room full of people. But over the years it has become a treasured part of my visits. I thought about going to the Meeting closest to my house a number of times. Shyness and the need to be up and out early on Sunday morning kept me away. This January I took a class at the North Bennett Street School in Boston which required me to be up and out of the house before 7am for 5 Saturdays. Being the creature of habit that I am, it also meant that I was up and ready to be moving early on Sunday mornings.

So that first Sunday of January I went to Worship at Wellesley Friends Meeting. What I have found there is a welcoming community. I knew a couple of the members before, they sing in the Broadmoor Chamber Singers with Amy. When I first walked through the doors I wasn't sure if I was going to become a regular attender, but I have. Meeting has become a regular part of my week, and the people are becoming not just Friends but also friends.

Which brings me back to Saturday when I joined 13 other people from the Meeting to march in the Pride parade. There was a party atmosphere at the start. There were balloons and beads and lots of smiles. We took lots of pictures as we waited for the parade to start. The only politics evident were the political candidates working the crowd, and the Obama supporters just ahead of us in line.

We walked through the streets of Boston to the cheers of the crowd, though at least a few of those were for the free t-shirts being tossed from the motorized trolley in front of us. There were familiar faces in the crowd, and lots of smiles. I did okay until the pace picked up as we headed up Beacon Hill toward the State House. At that point I had to drop back, rest a moment and catch my breath before continuing on. I did finish the march – mostly by myself as a major gap had developed – and connected with the rest of our group on City Hall Plaza before heading home.

And now some twenty years after I attended my first Pride event, I can finally say that I have marched in the Pride parade.

Waiting for the start.

Ready to go.

Garden Tour

2008-06-08T22:16:00.003-04:00

As my neighbors will no doubt tell you, I am a bad gardener. My lawn is mostly weeds, the bushes are in need of trimming and there are still fall leaves scattered about. The one bright spot is the perennial garden. Situated in the sunny spot where our driveway curves down to the garage the perennial garden is thriving. At the moment it is a study in purple and green with a splash of pink. Soon yellow will join the mix. When I went out to take pictures of it today I discovered that one of the lupin, which I thought had all died, has survived, though I don't have pictures of it.

Another element on which I am a terrible gardener is that I don't have a good chart of my garden and can't remember what a couple of the plants in it are called.

Looking across the lavender, which is starting to think about blooming.

Purple flower (the name escapes me).

Sage

Salvia

Another one I don't remember the name of.

Coreopsis bud.

This pale weed is growing at the edge of the garden.

Lensday: Sunshine

2008-06-04T07:53:00.002-04:00

Shining Through the Trees

See more Lensday here.

Unique's Photo Challenge: Trio

2008-05-24T23:51:00.003-04:00

Our dogwood has been loaded with blossoms this year, providing a visual feast and drawing my camera on an almost daily basis. The blossoms are fading now.

See more Unique's Photo Challenge here.

Tuesday Challenge: Towers

2008-05-20T09:49:00.001-04:00

Galen Stone Tower
The carillon tower at Wellesley College.

See more Tuesday Challenge here.

Macroday: Cap

2008-05-17T09:32:00.001-04:00

The top of one of my baseball caps.

See more Macroday here.

Photo Published

2008-05-16T15:37:00.008-04:00

I've just gotten word that the picture of the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco shown above is being included in the Schmap guide to California. While there is no monetary compensation for this it's cool that my picture is being included. The Schmap guide is an online travel guide. The homepage is here, and the page with my picture is here.

Thursday Challenge: Shapes

2008-05-16T08:59:00.002-04:00

Looking out the barn window at Codman Farm in February.

See more Thursday Challenge here.

PhotoSunday: Yellow

2008-05-11T18:33:00.002-04:00

early spring daffodil

More PhotoSunday here.

See It Sunday: Bright

2008-05-11T18:24:00.002-04:00

A bright orange flower in the bouquet Amy gave me on our anniversary in February.

More See It Sunday is here.