Day 77: Rowing Graffiti

I was up on the roof of our office building yesterday (Friday) taking practice shots for a company photo on Tuesday.  This just caught my eye.

Day 76: Backyard Poppy

Poppies are in full bloom in the yard these days.  I think I can make a drug out of these plants.....hmm.

Day 75: Like a Bump on a Log

Stopped at the pond by the house because I thought I saw that dang beaver.  Instead, I got a photo of a dragon fly.  Not sure if I told you, but I had the beaver in my sights last weekend.  I was about 20 feet from him in the kayak.  He came out of his den and didn't notice me....I had been waiting about 20 mins.  As soon as I was about to take the photo, my cell phone started ringing and spooked him under the water.  Thanks Mary!

Day 74: Morning Crew

No time to shoot these days.  Just too much going on.  Took this one morning from the car while stopped at a light about a block from the office.  Nice days in Cambridge lately.

Day 73: Motorcycles are Everywhere.....yeah, right.

Those signs you see from everywhere that say "Stop and Look, Motorcycles are Everywhere" really annoy me.  A lot of the motorcycle clubs put them up on streets and in their yards.  But then you have yahoos like this idiot who is trying his best to make the Darwin Awards List.  I see 2-3 bikers everyday doing this on the way into work....zipping and weaving down the centerline, between lanes, at 15-20 mph FASTER than the moving traffic.  Just can't say enough about how diluted our gene pool has become.

Day 72: Becky's Bees

Becky, our neighbor, opened her hive up today.  She said there were over 40,000 bees in there.  I was able to get in real close with no problem.  The top photo is of Becky pulling out one of the honeycomb slats that is filled with honey and drone larvae.  In the lower photo, she is pointing to the Queen, which has the white dot on it.  The dot is painted on so she is easy to find.  It was amazing to watch all the bees working and how much honey they produced in just the past few weeks.

Day 71: Hanging out at Uncle John's Pool

Katie and Aiden hanging out poolside yesterday.  Can't say much else other than cute kids.

Day 70: Proud Turtle

Painted turtle sunning himself in Spofford Pond (taken from the kayak).  I was fortunate to get a nice reflection in the background from the angle I was shooting.

Day 69: Supine Lupine

The deer came to our bird feeder overnight and trampled some lupine plants.  This lupine is laying sideways (hence, supine) in a vase and photographed indoors in a photo cube.  I love the alternating color pattern.

Day 68: Too Tight of a Squeeze

Came upon this little "accident" on the way into work yesterday.  This is an on-ramp midway up the Tobin Bridge (the Mystic River is quite a long distance below at this juncture).  The semi on the left was broken down when the Peter Pan bus tried to squeeze through and hit the truck and got stuck.  Traffic was in gridlock behind these two vehicles.  Luckily I came up the main portion of the bridge (to the right of this frame), pulled over, and got this photo.  I'd like to see the bus driver explain this one to his company.

Day 67: Family of Gobblers

After a couple years of incresing turkeys (hens and young), last year we had none.  A local Fisher (mean animal in the weasel family) came in and wiped out the nests of 3-5 hens last year.  So we were happy to see this hen 2 days ago in our backyard.  She has 9-10 chicks that we will follow to see if they all make it. 

Day 66: Memorial Day in Boxford, MA

I was driving through town on Monday morning and came across our town's Memorial Day Parade.  Luckily I had the camera in the car and decided to take part in the parade.  My leg got pretty darn swollen after this.

Day 65: Blooming Iris

Title says it all.  Rather than get in close with my macro lens, I stepped back about 6 feet and used my 300mm f/4 lens.  That lens does a great macro job on larger objects like flowers and butterflies.

Day 64: Back to my stand-in model

Out of time on this day and approaching sunset fast.  So I talked my beautiful model into letting me take photos of her biking again.  The 5-8 shots after this one had a menacing glare.

Day 63: Annual Fishing Day

Went Cod fishing with 16 guys on a private charter.  Our 3rd year doing this.  Lots of fish, beer, stories, and another absolutely gorgeous day.

Day 62: The Iris is back

Ok, so I really like this photo.  The iris' were about ready to pop open last week when I took this photo.  It was late in the day and the sun was setting, casting a nice warm light through trees in the front yard.  The flower bud is in shade, but the pachysandra ground covering behnd the iris is in dappled sun, creating perfect light for a soft focused background.

Day 61: Wanna a Bud?

I have no clue what this bush is, but it had a cool little white bud.

Day 60: Water Grass

Thought I saw the beaver swimming in Spofford Pond on the way home from work this day.  I missed him, but took a picture of the water grasses reflecting on the surace.

Day 59: I should have left her stuck in there

Emily was playing and "supposedly" got stuck in one of Bailey's scratch towers. Best Shot I could get this day.

Day 58: Starburst

I have no idea if this is indeed a Starburst flower, but hey....I'll take anything on a sunny day.  This is one of several oddball flowers we have in the yard.

Day 57: Another Moody Morning

Thick fog again on this morning.  At first it was difficult to see across the pond, but I caught a break.

Day 56: Kincaids Bayhouse Restaurant

Had an excellent meal at Kincaids Bayside Restaurant.  This was taken from the deck (with my crackberry, again) and the restaurant had 365 degree views of the bay.  It was close to the airport and I had a red-eye flight back to Boston on Friday night after the meeting.  Had dinner with a couple of friends from Pfizer and ate WAYYY too much food.  I don't every recall being so uncomfortable on a plane, which was completely full, and then having to fly all night.  Yes, it was hell.  I got a hangover halfway through the flight from the wine we had at dinner.  To top it off, I got home around 8:30am on Saturday, went to softball tryouts, and tore my calf muscle.  Should have warmed up first, I guess.

Day 55: Genentech Campus in South San Fran

I had to travel to San Fran for a conference on Thursday and Friday.  Knowing that I would be busy at the meeting both days, without any time to play downtown, I decided to leave my camera and home and use my Blackberry to take photos for 2 days.  Well, my Blackberry really sucks at taking photos, but at least I did not miss a day in this 365 challenge.  This photo is just a small portion of the Genentech campus taken during a meeting break.  To the right of this photo is the bay, but it really didn't look that good with industrial stacks and parked cars in the foreground.  Not that this is any better.  I need a better blackberry.

Day 54: Reflecting on Spring

These reflections caught my eye while driving through Boxford on another grey morning.  I think bright sunlight would have wrecked this photo.  The original photo captured about half of the trees above ground, but I cropped down to get the photo above.  The original one looked too distracting.

Day 53: Waking in Fog

This morning was very foggy and in the middle of a long stretch of rainy, drizzly, foggy days that we had around May 17th.  Spofford Pond photographed here on the way to work.  There was a nice white swan in the middle of all the fog, but my car spooked it off when I pulled up.  So you have this photo instead.

Day 52: Hard Drive Woes

This is what set me back a couple of weeks in this blog....plus a trip to San Fran, plus a torn calf muscle.  Ah, heck, I'm just getting old.   Anyway, this is my hard drive that crapped out on me.  Luckily I have all my videos and photos and separate dedicated hard drives - and those are backed up.

Don't worry - photos coming

Yes, I know it has been a while.  My hard drive crashed on Sunday, just after posting the Bailey in the grass photo.  I installed a new hard drive, then had to take off to San Fran for a meeting.  I have finally reloaded all the programs and plan to catch up on posting last weeks photos tonight.  Stay tuned.

Day 51: Out on the Hunt

Today we let Bailey outside for the first time.  She had a blast chasing chipmunks, but was a bit spooked of all the new sights, smells, and sounds.  I thought she looked like a wildcat in the tall grass in this photo.  I need to get a photo of her in a chase scene with a chipmunk.

Day 50: Feed Me

My sister, Patti, repeatedly emails me that the salamander blog photos are "gross".  So this one is for you, Sis.  I can't get one to sit on quarter for size comparison, but these guys are still much smaller than a quarter.  Some have small rear legs, but most have only front legs, like this guy.  His stomach is full of grindal worms...another little culture of live food I am growing in the house for these critters

Day 49: Don't Attack Me

This cat looks like it has an attitude, but it is really kind of shy.

Day 48: Peeping Tom

I see this guy everyday on my way into work.

Day 47: Co-ed Running

Lots of runners on Mem Drive these days.  This group is running by one of the boathouses along the Charles River in Cambridge.

Day 46: Emily and Bailey

Emily is always wanting a picture of her and her cat (kitten?) Bailey.  No better time than when she gets out of the shower with a towel on her head.

Day 45: Catch This

Infinity's softball season opener was today.  Pictured here is Jason at short....no comment on how the play transpired.

Day 44: Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there.

Day 43: Another Day Another Oriole Photo

He seems to come by every afternoon.  Ran out with my tripod and grabbed a quick shot before he took off.

Day 42: Baltimore Orioles Return

Each Spring we wait for the orioles to return.  This was the second day we say this male Baltimore Oriole in our yard.  He's likes the oranges but has ignored the jam.

Day 41: Morning Commute on Memorial Drive into Cambridge

Morning drive along the Charles River

Day 40: Salamander Update

Head-on shot of the salamander larvae

Day 39: Bridge from a Bridge

Taken from my car on Tuesday morning.  Boston in the background, bridge into Cambridge in the foreground.

Day 38: Riding Free

Emily biking in the backyard this afternoon.  Yes, she wears a helmet on pavement.

Day 37: Hiking in the White Mountains

Had a great day hiking today with Tati, Justin, and Eduardo on the Mount Chocorua trail in New Hampshire.  Nice waterfalls and great weather, but the upper part of the trail was still snowed in quite well.  Yes, I took this photo and did not hand over my camera to some stranger on the trail (used a tripod).

Day 36: Cleaning up Spofford Pond

Staying with the people theme.  Emily and I look forward to Boxford's Earthy Day, which is usually two weekends after the real Earth Day.  Everyone comes out and cleans a section of roadway, pond, etc and then get free ice cream and a plant from the Garden Club.  This year we decided to clean up Spofford Pond from the kayak.  Spofford Pond is down the road from our house and has the beaver that I will hopefully capture with pixels one day.  On this fine Saturday, we saw the beaver house, turtles, birds, and picked up some trash.

Day 35: Cambridge Dude

So Mary and Patti say I need more people photos.  Ok, what better place to shoot people than the daily freakshow in Cambridge.  Took this photo from my car on Friday while driving home.

Day 34: Still growing

Emily's Salamanders are still growing and getting larger every day.  About a half inch long in this photo.

Day 33: Foggy Morning in Boxford

Stop at the pond by my house on the drive in this morning to see if that pesky beaver was out.  It was fairly foggy and I couldn't even see the beaver den, and no beaver.  So I grabbed a photo of another Boxford nuisance.

Day 32: 1st Day as a Salamander Larva

Not the sharpest photo.  These guys don't look too great after hatching.  My personal theory is that their gills are still developing somewhat outside of the egg.  I had to shoot this guy from an angle above, through the glass, which distorted the photo a bit.  He has only been out of the egg for a couple of hours.  I hope to get a clear shot in the next day or two after they grow a bit.

Day 31: Hatching!

Same guy from Day 30, but you can see that he is halfway out of the egg mass and heading for a new world.

Day 30: Growing Embryo with Full External Gills

This is the final stage of embryo development.  You can clearly see the developed external gills and eyes, though still closed.  This guy hatched from his egg the next day (see Day 31 photo).  I wish I had something in the photo to show the proportional size, but trust me, this eggs is about 1/4" in diameter.

Day 29: Tron

Close-up of a RAM stick from an old PC that was upgraded.  I can't even give these away on Craigslist nowadays.