The number and different varieties of mushrooms that can be found in our yard are growing by the day. The one pictured above also features two insects on its stalk. Some of these literally emerge from the ground in a matter of hours. Most get eaten by the local squirrels, chipmunks, and groundhogs, all of which seem to be stoned after dining. It has been joyous to discover and witness the amazing ecosystem that exists just outside our door.

It has been raining on and off, but mostly on, for the last several days. All the rivers in the area are overflowing their banks, including the Sudbury on which we live. Pictured above, you can see the main channel of the river on the right going under the bridge. On the left, the flooded areas have reached lake-like proportions. Fortunately, the lowest portion of our basement is still 64″ above the waterline, as we are located on a small bluff. Pictured below is the Elm St. bridge which looks to have 3 or 4 feet of clearance before its arches are covered.

I am fairly certain this insect is a robber fly. I spotted it on the ground while walking in the yard today. If you click on the image to enlarge it and look carefully, you will see that it is pointy on both ends. It eats most insects including other robber flies. It will not sting or bite humans unless provoked and I am happy to report that he took little issue with being photographed at a close distance.

The gentle sound of raindrops falling upon the earth set the perfect mood for the celebration of Birgit Caliandro’s life. Family and friends gathered in an open-air pavilion to remember and honor a woman whose spirit was as generous as her smile and whose love for her children was boundless. Birgit did not surrender an inch to the cancer which took her last April. She lived life to the fullest and her impact on those who knew her was profound. Her daughter, Isabella, was a classmate of Nicolai’s growing up and the two have remained close friends to this day.

On my first day of work at Markforged in 2015 as their new EVP of Engineering, the then CEO told me that the company would be out of business in 45 days if we could not resolve a production problem with their carbon fiber printing filament (pictured below along with the printer). The original supplier of the carbon fiber had redirected their production to automotive applications and when the company switched to the only other supplier in the world, yield plummeted to near zero. Customers who had been waiting for the material for 9 months were threatening to return their printers and the sales team had lost confidence in any schedule commitments from engineering. The situation was bleak and analogous to trying to sell ink jet printers with an IOU for black ink. During my time with the company, we quickly sorted the carbon fiber problem and introduced a much more reliable second-generation printer that sold like hotcakes. Yesterday, the company started trading on the New York Stock Exchange with a market cap of nearly two billion dollars and the stock I acquired when I left the company is now quite valuable.

A brief tour of the yard yielded a couple of interesting mushroom profiles. These two were in close physical proximity and I am led to wonder if the one below is a younger version of the one above. I will have to keep an eye on them to see what develops.

Also featured today is a television news piece on the Amputee Golf Tournament that Nicolai played in earlier this week.

As we near the start of our new home construction, I took a special interest in this massive new building foundation being built near Kendall Square. I was in the area for a meeting with a potential new client in the life science sector. I have secured three advisor/consulting engagements thus far and would like to pick up one or two more. My goal is to work no more than half-time in aggregate until I transition into full retirement. Anticipating potential traffic and parking delays, I arrived early. I used the extra time to photograph this construction site, launching my drone from the parking garage top level. Every time I see one of these huge buildings going up, I can only wonder what impact it will have on traffic.

Nico placed third in the 2020 Gorham Savings Bank Maine Amputee Open golf tournament held at the Brunswick Golf Club in Maine. The 36 hole stroke play event was run by the Amputee Association of Maine and is Nico’s first competitive tournament. He shot a pair of 81s competing in the above-the-knee amputee category. I suspect he was the only participant who played without a prosthetic and question if that left him on equal footing, no pun intended. I have a feeling this will not be the last post about Nico’s golf exploits. Local television news coverage of the event can be found here.

While attending my soccer teammate’s birthday party yesterday, I captured this image of him with his adult daughter. Steve and I share Italian ancestry and I love that our people demonstrate a propensity for close physical contact with family and friends.

I am the oldest member of my over-55 soccer team at 62 but some of my teammates are not far behind. Steve, pictured center, enjoys a surprise 60th birthday to which we were invited. The gathering included dozens of friends and family but I think Steve was most surprised to see us there. We gave him a signed soccer ball and a Team Italia soccer jersey with his name printed on the back. Later, a group of us met up at a local sports bar and grille to watch the EuroCup finals. Obviously, I was rooting for Italy based on my ancestry and represented a small fraction of the bar patrons I was surrounded by. Their victory was even sweeter as a member of the vocal minority. Even so, I do feel sorry for all of my English friends who had to endure yet another penalty kick defeat.

Seemingly overnight, our backyard has erupted with a crop of mushrooms. Fortunately, our groundhog, Gary, cannot get enough of them and can be seen dining on them throughout the day. I used to think bird identification was difficult. The world of fungi is something on an entirely different level. Currently, scientists have identified some 120,000 species of fungi and recent estimates put the total number on this planet between 2.2 and 3.8 million! Identified mushrooms, however, number a mere 14,000. Suffice it to say, I gave up trying to identify this mushroom rather quickly.

Nicolai and his soccer teammate, Rafa (left), met with the Mayor of Revere, Brian Arrigo (2nd from left), and Artur Braga, a representative of Brazillian radio station Nossa Ràdio USA. They have secured the use of the Revere Stadium for a US National Amputee Soccer Team intrasquad friendly to be held August 7th. Over that weekend the American Amputee Soccer Association will be conducting an ID camp to determine which players will represent the United States in upcoming international competition.

We celebrated Nico’s 27th birthday at the Dumpling House in Cambridge this evening. The dinner was great, the conversation even better, and the opportunity to enjoy each other’s company; priceless.

To date, I have been the keeper of birth certificates, social security cards, and vaccination records for the children. This evening each received an envelope containing their respective documents and are now in charge of their security and retention. They all groused. Perhaps the handoff represented the final acknowledgment of their status as bonafide adults. I, on the other hand, felt a sense of liberation from a responsibility I had grown weary of. Although he chose to pose with the meal’s leftovers, Nicolai’s package also included his Master’s Degree diploma which arrived at our house earlier in the week.

My nephew Mario, a day older than Nicolai, turned 27 today. A scholar and athlete and the nicest person you will ever meet. Among the cousins, he is the most proficient at self-levitation.

Nico, Maya, and I drove to Hartford, CT this afternoon to watch the US National Women’s Soccer Team (USNWST) play Mexico in their final match before heading to Japan for the Olympics. The US looked very sharp in the first half, scoring 4 unanswered goals, each a masterpiece in its own right and very exciting. The scoreless second half was played with less intensity and I suspect that the priority was to ensure no one got injured ahead of the Games. It was a great outing that will be long remembered and left us with an even greater desire to follow our women’s team on their quest for gold.

Jeanine took this photo of her sister Susan over the long weekend while visiting with her in Burlington, VT. The two spent a lot of time indoors playing Dominos with friend Jean Cass because of inclement weather but did manage an outing to Lake Champlain during a break in the rain.

Each 4th of July, the USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”), the world’s oldest ship of any type still afloat, sails 1 nautical mile from the Charlestown Navy Yard to Castle Island and fires a 21-gun salute. She is often incorrectly described as the oldest commissioned warship. That honor, however, belongs to the HMS Victory, but she has been in dry dock since 1922. This morning, I drove down to Fort Independence to experience the 21 cannon salute in person. It was quite thrilling and definitely worth the effort. I hope one day to photograph her with more than one tiny sail deployed.

On my way home, I stopped at the Mount Auburn Cemetery and climbed Washington Tower for a view of downtown Boston. I contemplate returning in the evening to photograph the fireworks from this vantage but learned that the cemetery closes at 8 pm.

Jeanine is spending the long weekend with her sister in Burlington, VT. I spent most of the day at Kyle’s new house where I helped him to deconstruct part of the basement. When he purchased the house, he did so with an eye to renovating and then renting out this space. We spent a little more than 4 hours removing walls, drywall, ceiling tiles, and paneling. Nicolai arrived at noon with burritos which we enjoyed while watching the Denmark vs. Czech Republic UEFA/Euro 2020 quarterfinal soccer match. We put in another hour of work before relaxing to the England vs. Ukraine match. Although my back continues to bother me, Kyle did all of the heavy lifting and I otherwise thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with my boys.

My semi-retirement is off to a good start. I picked up two additional technical consulting clients this week and have a line of sight on two more. My goal is to work no more than half-time in aggregate and only on projects that are really fun. Speaking of fun, my soccer team had our end-of-season dinner in the Seaport District at Davio’s, a northern Italian steakhouse. The food was phenomenal, as was the company. With each season, the tales of past glory seem to grow ever more impressive.

I had a meeting in Cambridge this afternoon with a venture capital/startup incubator that is looking for an engineering executive to help out with some of their portfolio companies. It sounds like a very interesting opportunity and one that is compatible with my desire to transition to part-time work only. While I was in the neighborhood, I decided to stop in at Superpedestrian to visit with my old colleagues. The guys have done a tremendous job with the business which has grown from 20 employees to roughly 200 by way of a strategic acquisition. When I left, we had just completed our first electric scooter prototypes. Now the company has some 35,000 deployed around the world. Bravo! On my drive home, my car registered an outside temperature of 103°F while passing the Alewife T Station. Boston reached 97°F, the highest temperature ever measured for this date since records have been kept.

There are two very large trees on our property that are a threat to the house. Earlier this year, we received permission from the Concord Natural Resource Commission to have them removed. To offset their loss, we were asked to plant four bushes from a list of native species. We choose Spartan High Bush Blueberries. Thus far, they seem to be very happy along the river bank and have been undisturbed by the local critters. This cultivar produces berries that are quarter-sized and very delicious. Hopefully, we will get to taste them in a few weeks.

In recent days, the number of geese swimming past the house has increased dramatically. The collective noun for a group of geese on the ground is a gaggle; when in flight, they are called a skein, a team, or a wedge; when flying or swimming close together, they are called a plump. Fortunately, they seem very content in the river and have not visited our shores, a big relief to us.

Jeanine and I joined Kyle and Nico for a burrito diner in Davis Square this evening. It was our first chance to see Nicolai’s new apartment which overlooks the Somerville Community Path and the Bikeway Community Garden. The short walk to Davis Square takes you past some really fun outdoor sculptures.

Earlier in the day, my soccer team played our last match of the spring season in the Division 1 finals. We battled in the sweltering heat to a 0-0 tie at the end of regulation absent our starting sweeper (badly injured in an accident earlier this week) and our 2nd leading scorer who was not able to play the entire game due to a lingering injury. Unfortunately, our penalty takers were unable to deliver the victory and we had to settle for a second-place finish. I played one of my better games but failed to put two header opportunities on frame among many chances our team had to score. After the loss, no one was in the mood for a team photo but I did get one from the start of the match.

Rarely encountered indoors, I found this Golden Rod Crab Spider on the moulding of the door that leads to our basement. Thinking ahead to Jeanine’s response to my discovery, I relocated it outside to continue my photoshoot. This is one of the few spiders in North America that are capable of actively changing their body color from yellow to white, or vice versa, depending on the flower they are perched on. They do this by transferring a liquid pigmented material to the cuticle. The color change can take anywhere from one to twenty days to complete. I am certain this is a female which are 3 to 4 times larger than males. She will only produce one brood in her lifetime and my hope is that she does so outdoors.

When it comes time to demolish our house, it will be done with a massive excavator, probably in a day or two. Once the above-grade structure has been removed, the excavator will be fitted with a massive jackhammer to break up the 4″ thick foundation before removing it. The water main for our house enters through the foundation in the corner of the basement. To prevent it from being damaged by the heavy equipment, I carefully removed a section of the slab around the pipe so that it is completely free of the structure. I did this with a hammer drill (baby jackhammer) taking a surgical approach to the task. One false move and I could have ruptured the pipe resulting in a very expensive call to the water company. Patience and the right tools allowed me to complete the task in under two hours with not so much as a scratch on the pipe.

I had to drive to Northborough to pick up our revised site plan drawings for delivery to the Concord Natural Resources Commission before tomorrow. On the way back, I decided to detour through the quaint little town of Groton. Once there, I decided to photograph the First Parish UU Church, a local farm, and the Shirdi Sai Temple. My return home may or may not have included a brief stop at Kimbal’s where I may or may not have enjoyed a small cup of Chocolate Almond ice cream.

I took advantage of ideal weather for a late afternoon 4-mile walk and brought my drone with me. Less than 2% of the state’s river miles are designated wild and scenic and today’s photo provides a definition of that label. It has been more than 6 months now that we have been living in our new home and there isn’t a day that goes by when we do not wake up and admire the beauty of the river. We are situated (see the red dot on the map) just south of where the Sudbury and Assabet Rivers meet to form the Concord River. It is possible with two short portages and a small section of class III and IV white water rapids to reach the Merrimac River which flows into the Atlantic Ocean. I should rather like to attempt that journey over a weekend once our house building project is complete.

This little fellow is a regular visitor at the feeder that Jeanine set up just outside one of our windows. It rained for a good part of the day and I spent most of it indoors working on the house design. When I needed a break, I thought it would be fun to capture some hovering hummingbird photos. The light was terrible and I did not want to set up a strobe out in the rain. The resulting images are very grainy but good enough to remind me how magnificent these little creatures are. When the weather improves, you can expect to find a future post with improved lighting.

Last week I shared some images of dragonflies. Today, on my morning walk, I noticed some lovely damselflies. Damselflies are smaller than dragonflies, with bodies that typically range between 1 1/2 inches and 2 inches, while dragonfly bodies are typically longer than 2 inches. Dragonflies have much larger eyes that take up most of the insect’s head. Damselflies also have large eyes, but they are smaller than a dragonfly’s and there is always a space between them. Both dragonflies and damselflies have two sets of wings. When not in flight, a dragonfly’s wings stick straight out, perpendicular to their body like an airplane’s wings. A damselfly’s wings fold back so they are in line with their body, giving them a more sleek, slender appearance at rest. 

At a joint party held at Kyle’s new house, we celebrated Maya’s 22nd birthday (actually yesterday) and Father’s Day. Our family was joined by my nephew John and his girlfriend Quinn (plus new puppy; Miso) and Maya’s roommate Lauren and her boyfriend. Maya flew back from Normal, IL for the weekend. There, she has a summer internship with electric adventure vehicle maker, Rivian. With the newly recognized Juneteenth national holiday, Maya will always be assured of a day off on her birthday going forward. My Father’s Day included a long afternoon nap after playing soccer in the 80+ degree heat of the morning sun. We won 3-0 and will advance to the division finals to be held next Sunday. I had an opportunity to score what would have been a very spectacular goal after making a nice trap at the top of the 18 and beating two defenders. It was a side volley and I got all of it. Unfortunately, the resulting rocket went wide of the left post and I had to settle for imagining what might have been.

I decided to float in the wind this afternoon. I got in my car and headed west with no particular destination in mind. I eventually wound up in Worcester where I photographed the brand new Polar Park baseball stadium and the very old Union Station. The Woosox were in action and I had half a mind to stay for the game. Then I remembered how boring I find baseball. On the other hand, it is a very intimate ballpark and I think it might be fun to take in a game at some point. Most amazing to me about this park was the precision with which the grass is mowed. Close inspection will reveal near-perfect geometry in the mowing lines.

Union Station was built in 1911 and is the western terminus of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s commuter rail line, with inbound service to Boston, and a station along Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited passenger line which will take you as far a Chicago.

During my wanderings, I came across the unidentified building pictured below. Currently, in a state of disrepair, I would venture to guess it was once a church based on the stained glass windows..