Essex Junction, VT celebrated Memorial Day on Saturday with the 25th annual parade. We were on hand to pay respect to those who served our country, and to represent my daughter’s elementary school and the schools playground fund raising project.
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My wife Jennifer helping with the playground banner as one of our daughters lounges in the wagon!
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You just have to love those Shriners! .jpg "20100529_Chawla__035 copy")
On Sunday, I photographed my 5th UVM College of Medicine Commencement at Ira Allen Chapel in Burlington. It was a beautiful day, probably the best I’ve seen. One of the things we do is to gather the 106 recently minted doctors on the steps of the chapel for a group photo, which requires that I use my loud voice and try to move 200-300 family members out of the way, and stand on top of this rickety ladder. There is one nice gentleman holding the ladder, and also a guy standing right underneath! Obviously not superstitious. Thanks to Andy Duback for this photograph. Also, I hate heights. This made me more nervous than the Spartan race.
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Last Sunday, I ran in the innaugural Spartan Race at the Catamount Outdoor Family Center in Williston, Vt. The Spartan Race is a 5k with 12 great obstacles, like a fire jump, a barbed wire crawl, a vertical wall, a short swim, and what seemed like a 1/2 mile run uphill through a deep mud field. There were about 500 racers, a bunch of people in Spartan wear (seen 300?) a beer tent and band. This race is a qualifier for something called the Death Race – I’ve seen video, I’m not ready for that.
It was a beautiful spring day, I think the first we’ve had. If this had been a week earlier, it would have been snowing.
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This guy has issues. He went easy on me, but others weren’t so lucky.
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Emily McManamy at the Burlington Free Press took this photo of me making my first of two trips under the barbed wire. It really wasn’t that low. Check out more of her photographs from the race.
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I made it – I won’t share my time. It was more about finishing anyway. I did beat some friends and that’s all that really matters, right? .jpg "20100516_Chawla__109")
Ryan, below, is the one who suggested that I run this race. Really, he made it so I couldn’t say no. You’d think he won the race with that smile on his face.
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Andy Duback, another Vermont photographer, finished a bit ahead of me, but he’s taller and has a longer stride. That’s my excuse.
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Did I mention the mud? .jpg "spartanmedal")
We had another spring snowstorm here in Vermont. It began early Tuesday morning and as of Wednesday morning, it’s still coming down hard. I have 6 inches at my house in Essex Junction, with up to 18 inches being reported around the area and in the mountains. I spent part of my day at UVM wandering the campus and trying to juxtapose the snow with signs of spring. To view more images, visit the Medical Photography website.
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The Proctor Maple Research Center, UVM’s very own sugar house, sponsored a Sugar on Snow party on Tuesday in front of the Bailey Howe Library. A fitting spring event considering the weather!
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Cherry blossoms and snow on UVM’s central campus.
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Some sad news for my family. The heavy, wet snow collapsed 6 key limbs and the upper portion of the trunk on the pear tree in our front yard. This tree was planted about 4 years ago in memory of my wife’s mother, and we were thrilled this spring with how it has grown. I’m not sure how we will prune it and how it will regain it’s shape.
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