Christmas 2024 - The Berkshires

For Christmas this year, we continued our not-quite-annual tradition of renting a house somewhere off the beaten path and share a week with family. This year Emily picked a beautiful spot in the Berkshires — a cozy cabin beside a lake. The new snow and single-digit temperatures made it beautifully chilly. The frozen lake and a blanket of snow were picturesque.

Disclaimer: houses shown above were not where we stayed, lol. Just pretty to photograph

We played loads of board games (Quirkle, Scrabble, and even Conquest of the Empire), shot pool, and played air hockey.

And of course, opened lots of gifts…

Lounged around chatting…

Nightfall on the lake was particularly pretty. Clear skies and the cold weather made for brilliant stargazing.

On our last full day, the weather warmed up a bit and we tromped along the Keystone Arch Bridges trail.

And, of course, I took pics of birds…

Thanksgiving 2024

We finally did it! After years of being subverted by nasty COVID illnesses and precisely the wrong time, this year we managed to celebrate with Gwen, Chris, and family in Boston.

Pedaling around home

After our cycling trip in Ireland, we’ve been a bit more inspired to get out on our bikes around here! We took a short ride into Seekonk to visit the Caratunk Wildlife Refuge. Good to remember the glorious cycling we have nearby.

…and here’s some random pics of Sprocket and backyard flowers.

Ireland 2024

Our big summer vacation this year was a biking trip in Ireland. In late July, we packed our bike shorts and flew to Shannon, then a quick-ish bus trip took us to Galway. We meandered around the city for a bleary day before meeting with our bike trip coordinator.

Seeing Ireland from a bike saddle was pretty fantastic. The first day we pedaled from Galway to the tiny town of Kinvara (pop. 721). Along the way we stopped for some tea, and to snap a few photos of the sights. The end of the day bumped into Dunguaire Castle. We had a great lunch, and then a grocery-store dinner before crashing at our B&B.

Our second day of riding took us across the Burren. With ~1800ft of elevation, it had some rewarding climbs. Emily smartly opted for an e-bike, and was able to gleefully cruise up the hills. Big V and I ground it out, but we all had a ton of fun. We stopped at the Burren Perfumery for tasty bites and sampling of pleasant fragrances (we bought a sampler, then ordered more shipped home).

We stopped at Carran Church (pics below), Caherconnel Stone Fort, and Poulanbrone dolmen (no pics, they didn’t turn out) before arriving in Doolin (pop. 300). It took most of the day to reach Doolin, but it felt like an adventure! It was great to pedal around, detour to see some sights, stop whenever we wanted to take in the sights, and genuinely explore the countryside. We were all struck by how gracious the Irish drivers were on cramped roads.

Our last day of cycling was an out-and-back to the Cliffs of Moher. The cycling was a little more stressful because of the traffic around the cliffs, but the views did not disappoint. After soaking up the vista, we had a little lunch and parted ways. V & E headed back to Doolin to tour the caves and I went on to Moher Tower mostly to get a little more time cycling. The weather throughout our trip was blissfully cool, sometimes rainy, but always gorgeous views. I figured I might as well get as much time on the bike as possible before heading home.

The next morning we shared a cab. I jumped out at Shannon airport to fly home (princess class), and the girls continued on to Limerick to catch a train to Dublin for a few more days in the green. I laid my cycling shoes to rest in the motherland. They had deteriorated rather rapidly over the trip. “Odd, I can’t believe these didn’t last longer.” Then counting up the years… omg, they are nearly 20y old. Time flies…

July Birds

I got out on the kayak in July and took a couple of snaps of more seabirds. Not quite as successful as my last outing, but I did grab a decent image of a Cormorant.

I also tried to shoot some photos of birds from shore. That did not work out. But I got some bugs…

And, the backyard still proves pretty useful for getting close to songbirds. Snapped these of a hummingbird in the rain.

March 2024

Wowza. It’s been a minute since I posted anything. The spring has been incredibly hectic with a big-for-us project for Cirque Du Soleil. As a result, not a ton of time for photos, and apparently even less for posting them.

Let’s catch up. Here’s some photos from the Kent Street Pond that I took in March.

Shore Birds from June 2023

I’m in my usual New Year’s should-I-buy-a-new-camera conundrum (the answer is ‘no’). I went looking for some of my best bird shots from this summer when I went out on my kayak to get closer to the birds. After so many disappointing shots with poor sharpness, I was determined to get closer so I could crop less. The result was predictably great. Proving that more than a new camera or lens, the best bang-for-buck is working on getting closer to the subject. Having more usable pixels in the shot is the best way to improve the quality.

For some reason I forgot to publish these photos over the summer, so I’m dropping them here now so I can find them in the future.

Christmas House 2023 - New Hampshire

Christmas 2023

Not every year, but with an irregular frequency, we’ll all rent a house at Christmas to gather the families and friends. Lots of food, great conversations, plenty of games, and daily outings make it a ton of fun.

Hiking

This year Emily found a great house just north of North Conway, NH. It stood on the side of Mt Stanton, with easy access to hiking trails. Well… not so easy that we could find our way through the woods. Emily & Izzy had no problems navigating, but the rest of us got lost at least once. Navigation issues aside, we all had fun hiking up the minor mountain.

On my way back down from the summit hike on day #2, I bumped into a bunch of birds feasting in the woods by the house. It was pretty dim, so most of the shots weren’t keepers, but I did nab this one of a wood pecker:

Gifts and stuff

On Christmas Eve we had a Yankee Swap, which has taken the place of years’ past Secret Santa exchanges. The swap is fun and low-key — a great time to sit together and enjoy some really thoughtful gifts. I made off with 2 games which we’ve already played a bunch of times. Good stuff!

Gwenda got a lackluster clementine 🤣

Christmas morning we exchanged intra-family gifts.

Fog

Fog rolled in on Christmas and hung around for the next few days. Up on the mountain, we were above the blanket, but venturing around town was soupy. Vic got some great shots from the front yard.

Diana’s Falls

On our last full day, we drove to Diana’s Falls. A short hike led to a picturesque scene. Vic got some close up shots (very nice!) and I concentrated on wide angle views.

Winter Birds

With food scarce, and trees bare, it’s a lot easier to get some bird pics….

The day was very overcast, so I tried playing with over exposure to blow out the background. I like the result, better than a bunch of muddy gray shots.

Post-Turkey NJ Trip

After Turkey Day, we drove down to New Jersey to see Lori, Luis, and their adorable baby. The baby is just starting to walk, which is super-fun to see. And, she is unusually easygoing around new faces. Happy to grab the fingers of any willing big-headed walking support agent.

We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard in Newark. The parking garage abutted an old building that had been half-demolished to make room. Leaving some of the building was probably more economical than tearing it all down. Doesn’t add to the vibrancy of the area, but does make for a cool picture.

And here's a bird & a bird house, totally unrelated but from the same weeks.

More sunrise on the river

I went back to the river on Sunday with a better sense of what compositions I wanted to capture. I think the results were pretty good. I also got a few more shots of robins.

Sunrise on the river

A little disappointed after missing peak fall colors, I decided to try a sunrise photo session. It paid off. The colors at sunrise were bonkers. And after the sunrise, the robins were in a frenzy so I got a few fun shots.

October 2023

I missed the best weekend for colors, but there are still a few pretty leaves out there.

Homecoming, London, and Backyard Birds

Big V is enjoying her new high school. Fall is Homecoming season and she had a great time!

In September I traveled to London for a conference. The business aspect was a bust, but I took a couple of photos.

I continue to be oddly fascinated taking pictures of birds. Here’s some snaps from the backyard of finches, chickadees, and a tufted titmous.

Memorial Day and more birds June 2023

Memorial Day was absolutely gorgeous. Pleasantly cool and sunny. Vic performed Flanders Field for the ceremony at Town Hall. Well done!

After the ceremony, Emily went back home to stitch, Vic hung out with friends, and I walked around with my camera. Earlier that day, I woke with the sunrise to attempt some bird photography. Total bust, didn’t get even one decent shot. However, just wandering around with my camera proved much more fruitful. Bumped into an Egret by town hall, and then another on the Massasoit bridge.

I also spent some time on the Hampden Meadows Greenbelt over the holiday weekend.

One day during the week, I grabbed my camera at lunch time and headed for the Massasoit bridge. I spotted a large bird that I thought was a hawk. After processing the photos I discovered it was a Turkey Vulture. Not a pretty bird, but impressive.

As it flew, it was being harassed by a red-wing black bird.

On that same lunch break, I got a few shots of more Egrets (the place is lousy with ‘em) and some gulls, and a Cormorant (at a distance).

The first weekend in June, I tooled around with Sprocket and got some more bird shots. A couple keepers of the osprey on Hundred Acre Cove, and some tiny swallows (or swifts?) eating bugs on Kent St. pond. Those little guys were a challenge to shoot. They fly so fast and erratically that it at first seemed impossible to both track them and obtain focus. Pretty quickly I gave up on trying to use autofocus and just set manual focus to a spot in the pond. Whenever the birds would fly near the focal plane, and fire of a burst of pics. Managed to nab a few keepers (out of >100 exposures).

Lori, Luis, and Bea visit RI - Spring 2023

Emily’s cousin, Lori, and her husband, Luis, stopped by RI on their way back from a vacation on the Cape. This was my first chance to meet their adorable baby. Too cute!

Spring Birds 2023

I’ve been on a birding kick recently. No idea why, except it’s spring and they are abundant. Here’s a few shots (plus a fiddler crab).

The Woods - May 2023

Saturday turned out to be a beautiful May day. The sun is out, the air is warm, and the everyone is enjoying spring. I took Sprocket for a walk in the little woods near our house and snapped some photos of the busy birds (and a turtle).