Less than five miles from Kris and Rob’s condo are the Wakodahatchee Wetlands. We arrived shortly after sunrise and were treated to all manner of birds, reptiles, and insects. Situated on 50 acres of previous wastewater utility property, Wakodahatchee is a constructed wetlands featuring a three-quarter mile boardwalk that crosses between open water pond areas and islands. Later in the day, we went to see the new Top gun movie, our first time in a theater since the start of the pandemic. Of any movie I can imagine, this is one to see on the big screen.

This morning we flew to West Plam Beach, FL to visit Jeanine’s lifelong friend, Kris, and her husband Rob. Jeanine and Kris grew up together in Lebanon, IN and have remained close for nearly half a century. We enjoyed lunch at the Restoration Hardware rooftop restaurant and then did a car tour of Palm Beach. The Gulfstream Park in Briny Breezes was our destination for a barbecue dinner, where we discovered a very holiday-appropriate message constructed of seaweed on the beach.

All that remains of the old River House is the small pile of rubble pictured above. The rest of the site is now a blank slate for our new house. We will be building on the exact same footprint necessitating a return visit of our surveyor to stake out the house corners. These stakes will guide excavation for the footings and walls of the new basement. Once the footings are poured we will have the surveyor return again to precisely locate the foundation wall corners on the footings. Jeanine and I travel to southern Florida tomorrow and will enjoy a nice respite from work and house.

Demolition of the River House has been completed. Tomorrow the two remaining dumpsters will be pulled and a small load of concrete will be hauled away. The old garage will remain in place providing storage until the end of the project at which time it will also be demolished. After a family dinner this evening, everyone met at the site to check out the progress and to spend some time enjoying the serenity of the river. Next week, excavation for the footings will commence and we will finally be in build mode.

I spotted this little fellow as I was pulling into the garage of the Road House. The abdominal sac is about the size of a kernel of popping corn for a sense of scale. He was rather skittish and I consider myself fortunate to have gotten a couple of in-focus pictures.

On a completely unrelated note, we were granted our building permit for the River House today, the final bureaucratic authorization required to begin construction, and all for the bargain price of $21,000. Demolition of the foundation continues at a pace hampered by the availability of drivers for the dumpsters needed to haul away the debris. Expectations are that we will be ready to start excavation for the footings next week.

While on the way to meet with a client today, I happened to be passing by Brandeis University and was running about 20 minutes ahead of schedule. I decided to stop in for some aerial photography. The last time I visited was in 2012 when Nicolai was here for a campus tour. At the time, I photographed the Usen Castle which consisted of a series of six sections, connected to form an enclosed courtyard. I was entirely surprised and saddened to discover only two of the sections remaining today. Apparently, in 2017, after much of the building was condemned by the city of Waltham, the University demolished Castle Towers C, D and E, and Schwartz Castle to make way for a new residence hall.

Pictured below is an open-air atrium within the Carl Shapiro Science Center which I found to be quite interesting when viewed from directly above.

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I am now spending a few hours every day on the River House work site and decided it was time to purchase a proper pair of work boots. The new ones, pictured above, have a crush-resistant toe box and a sole that is resistant to nail punctures. They are far safer and more appropriate for the application than my hole-riddled trail hiking shoes that I have been using up until now.

Today, Jeanine officially announced her resignation from Open Table. She has served as its Executive Director for the past 9 years and as a volunteer for 5 years before that. This is a decision she has been contemplating for the better part of a year now and one she made with mixed emotions. She loves the mission of the organization, the people she works with, and the clients they serve but has also been craving a new challenge after nearly a decade of service. She informed the chairman of the board last week and offered a three-month notice period but delayed a broader announcement until today so as not to distract from last Friday’s Chopped for Charity annual fundraiser. Her last day will be September 14 after which she plans to take some time off for travel (Istanbul to see Nico play in the World Cup) and to spend more time participating in the design of the River House before looking for her next opportunity.

When Jeanine took the helm, Open Table was entirely dependent on others for their facilities and able to help a relatively small number of people. Under her leadership, Open Table has been transformed from a community-based dinner program to a provider of healthy and culturally appropriate groceries and prepared meals served from their main facility in Maynard and through several mobile pantries and delivery programs. She has been a prodigious fundraiser bringing in millions of dollars allowing the organization to acquire its own food distribution facility/commercial kitchen, offices, trucks, and most recently a food storage warehouse. Open Table now serves people experiencing food insecurity in 17 communities in the greater Boston metro west area. When the Covid pandemic struck, she led the pivot to new ways of working that kept volunteers and clients safe while answering the heightened needs.

When she returned home this evening, she was much relieved having shared her news with the entire Open Table team. She decided a celebration was in order and invited a few close friends and colleagues over to the house for an impromptu celebration which included a cheese board and mixed drinks, expertly prepared by Maya.

Since the demolition commenced, I have been recording time-lapse videos of each day’s work. Every morning, I arrive on-site to place the camera and freshly charged extended battery pack in a “birds nest styled” enclosure that I fashioned wood salvaged from the old house. Every evening, I retrieve the camera and download the footage. When the entire project is completed, I plan to stitch all the clips together to create a full time-lapse video of the entire project. Today, I installed a solar panel on the back of the tree to extend the recording time.

After completing the grueling Presidential Traverse, Maya and Nico treated themselves to the Northlands Jazz festival before returning to Massachusetts. Once here, we got to see their trove of photos and hear stories from the adventure.

This evening, Open Table put on Chopped for Charity, their big annual fundraiser. Three high-profile local chefs were given 30 minutes to prepare a meal with the ingredients provided, after which a panel of judges selected the winner. Jeanine was of two personas during the event. She started out as the serious, empathetic, and compelling voice for those who live with food insecurity. When it came time to whip up the donations, she transformed into a hilarious and sassy sidekick to the Master of Ceremony, her close friend Stefanie Cloutier.

Both Kyle and Jeanine’s sister Susan were able to attend the highly successful event and I took pictures throughout the evening which can be found here.

One of the great hikes in the White Mountains of New Hampshire is called the Presidential Traverse. It’s so-called because hikers climb all of the mountains in the  Presidential Range of the White Mountains in one continuous hike that’s nearly 23 miles long with close to 9,000 feet of elevation gain. The traverse includes the following mountains:

1. Mt Madison – 5367 feet
2. Mt Adams – 5774 feet
3. Mt Jefferson – 5712 feet
4. Mt Clay – 5533 feet
5. Mt Washington – 6288 feet
6. Mt Monroe – 5384 feet
7. Mt Franklin – 5001 feet
8. Mt Eisenhower – 4780 feet
9. Mt Pierce – 4310 feet
10. Mt Jackson – 4052 feet

Maya and Nico completed the very challenging hike together over a period of three days. I think their smiles tell the entire story and we are all very happy for them and also quite relieved that they seem no worse for wear. Earlier this week an experienced male hiker died on Mt. Washington when he encountered snow and 80mph winds.

Jeanine was named a Commonwealth Heroine of Massachusetts and honored with other recipients at a luncheon today. She was nominated by Massachusetts State Representative, Tami Gouveia who is currently running for Lt. Governor. The keynote speech was given by current Lt. Governor, Karyn Polito. Heroines are recognized for their acts of public leadership and volunteerism which help to advance the status of women and girls in Massachusetts. Jeanine’s contributions appeared in the program as follows:

Jeanine is the Executive Director of Open Table, Inc., a 33-year-old organization which aims to end hunger and food insecurity in 17 communities in the greater Concord area. Through her leadership, a mobile delivery program, a drive-through, and an online option were developed throughout the pandemic to meet the food and nutrition access needs of area residents. Jeanine has led the transformation of the organization to grow vastly in size. In 2017, Jeanine successfully co-led a capital campaign leading to the purchase of a permanent, welcoming, and vibrant facility in Maynard. Under Jeanine’s leadership, Open Table served over 47,000 meals this past year and has recently secured culturally appropriate food and goods to support Afghan refugees. Jeanine is currently writing a memoir cookbook that she hopes to have published soon.

She is pictured above with State Senator Jamie Eldridge and State Representative Tami Gouveia.

After nearly two years, the day finally arrived for the demolition of our River House to make way for the new one. The entire process took less than 4 hours of actual work. Several neighbors stopped in to watch and Jeanine was able to catch the early stages. Work paused for a few hours while a hydraulic hose was repaired, damaged while pulling down a section of the roof. The excavator operator was highly skilled and brought the entire structure down very neatly within the footprint of the building. I filmed the day from start to finish with three different cameras in 4K resolution. Above is a single-camera edit sped up by 100 times and reduced to HD resolution. It is 2 minutes long. Below is a version that is 10x real-time and 20 minutes long for anyone who wants to really scrutinize the gory details.

In preparation for demolition, which is scheduled for tomorrow, it was necessary to excavate the water main so that a temporary water spigot could be established. This job was performed by an excavator which started by digging down to the base of the foundation (10 ft down) to find the water main where it exits the house and then opening a trench in the direction of travel to expose the line. Once the line was stripped back to the garage, we bent the pipe up so that a meter and spigot could be installed on the outside wall of the garage. Next, the trench was backfilled and compacted. This project took the better part of the day and necessitated the removal of our rhododendrons and several stumps on that side of the house.

Last night we hosted friends from the church we attended when we lived in Indianapolis. They are on their way to a retreat on Star Island off the coast of Rye, New Hampshire. This morning, Jeanine guided us on a tour of murals in West Concord before we went for a nice stroll on the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail.

In the evening we celebrated Maya’s 23rd birthday with her. Jeanine prepared a fruit pavlova at Maya’s request. The pavlova is named after the famed Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who toured Australia and New Zealand in 1926. As the New Zealand story goes, the chef of a Wellington hotel at the time created the billowy dessert in her honor, claiming inspiration from her tutu.

The family gathered this morning for a joint celebration of Father’s Day and Maya’s birthday. When Kyle and Nico were young, we had a Saturday ritual called Boy’s Breakfast. The three of us would go to the Club Car Cafe in West Concord, mere feet from the railway tracks and station. When given the opportunity to pick a place to eat out for Father’s Day, it was my first choice. I strongly associate this restaurant with fond memories of fatherhood. Every time we came, I ordered the same breakfast meal and was given the same choice of bread for toast. Each time, I would ask if they had sourdough toast. Each time they would inform me that they did not. After the first few times, this routine became a source of great embarrassment for the boys and amusement for me. I argued that they would eventually start offering sourdough bread if I kept asking for it. Anticipating that I would again request sourdough bread today, Kyle purchased a sliced loaf and asked our server to prepare it for me. Best toast I have ever had! After breakfast, we all drove over to the River House and bid it farewell. Demolition is scheduled for next Tuesday.

After our farewell gathering, everyone headed off in different directions. Nicolai loaded the kayaks for an outing with one of his friends in New Hampshire. Jeanine and Maya headed into Boston for lunch with my niece Rachel for a further birthday celebration. I joined Kyle at his Medford home where we installed a new exterior door from the basement to his garage.

Posted by Nicolai on his Facebook page:

It is officially summer  This year, Kellee Lauren and I shared a classroom at CMS. Kellee teaches 8th-grade Civics and I teach 7th-grade World History. We had lots of fun together (except for when Kellee was throwing her tantrums). Today we cleaned out the classroom. A little life update: I have decided to take a year-long leave of absence from teaching in order to pursue sports full-time. The Concord school district has been incredibly generous and flexible to allow me to take this time. First mission is World Cup in October. Not sure how to make ends meet exactly, but I can’t wait to see where this coming year takes me!

Maya and Lauren visited Watkins Glen State Park yesterday and again this morning as their road trip approaches its conclusion. One of my all-time favorite state parks, I am very happy that Maya took my advice and added this detour to their itinerary. I generally prefer that places of natural beauty remain undeveloped. Watkins Glen is an exception. The way the trail has been integrated into the canyon walls and behind the waterfalls really allows for a more engaging experience and they have been built in a way to blend into the surroundings. These photos we received from Maya make me went to jump in the car and head there myself.

Jeanine and I attended a Sake Tasting event this evening organized by the Concord Nanae Network and held under a tent at Verrill Farm. The group fosters Concord’s relationship with our sister city, Nanae, located on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. The connection to Hokkaido dates back to 1876 when Dr. William Clark, then President of Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts in Amherst) was invited to help create the Sapporo Agricultural College (now Hokkaido University). Accompanied by three graduate students, including William Wheeler of Concord, their primary mission was to introduce northern agriculture and dairy farming to the region. Clark served as President of the college until 1879 at which time Wheeler took over. A century later, Massachusetts and Hokkaido became official sister states in 1990, and in 1997 Concord and Nanae, which share the same geographic latitude, officially became sister cities.

Bearing gifts of fine Japanese Sake, Setsuo Ohmor, the Consulate-General of Japan in Boston, talked about our special relationship with Japan and some of the finer points of Sake making. I had an opportunity to speak with him for some time and learned that he grew up in a very rural part of Japan and wanted to experience something more. He has since lived in Brazil, the UAE, Sudia Arabia, and now Boston.

All in all, it was a delightful evening where I also had an opportunity to reconnect with a former colleague and a new Conantum neighbor with very similar interests.

Maya stopped at Niagra Falls on her way back from Chicago. She has been on a road trip for the past week or so and stopped there to pick up Lauren, her college roommate. I am not sure what type of camera she used for the selfie below but I am fairly certain her legs are not that long in real life.

I have been so busy with my consulting work and design of the River House that I failed to pause last month to note the 17th anniversary of this blog. According to my Dashboard, I have added 8,257 posts during that time (in the early days, I would treat each image as a stand-alone post which explains why the number is higher than 17 x 365 = 6,205). It is hard to believe so much time has passed since I started. It is also sobering to realize just how much time I have invested in creating the content which appears here. Assuming 20 minutes per day to capture a photograph, import it, edit it, post it and compose the text entry that equates to a total of 2,068 hours or 52 work weeks of effort. Was it worth it? In some ways, that is not for me to judge. What keeps me going, however, is knowing how many people look in from time to time. Over the course of a year, the number is roughly 325,000 which works out to an average of about 900 visits per day. To all of you, I am grateful for the inspiration you provide.

Over the coming days, I will be migrating the blog to a new hosting company. My current provider is prone to hacker attacks of which I was a recent victim (for about the fourth time). The transition to a more intrinsically secure provider should be seamless but if the site goes dark for a few days, that will be the reason for it.

Nicolai spent the weekend in Dallas training with the US National Amputee Soccer team. He is seen here mimicking a statue in front of Toyota Stadium. What a clown. For the third time, he has been named captain for the team that will compete at the World Cup to be held in Istanbul this fall.

Maya has been on a solo road trip through the midwest for the last week. She is pictured here in Kentucky with her second cousin, Charlie (Jeanine’s niece’s daughter). We had hoped to meet her when we traveled to Indianapolis for her uncle’s wedding last year. Unfortunately, Covid intervened and we missed that opportunity. Maya will travel to Chicago next to meet up with her college roommate, Lauren, and the two will drive back to Boston together.

I spent a good part of the day with Kyle working on his basement renovation project. We removed the oil-fired furnace, relocated the fuel oil tank, and began the installation of a new exterior door to the garage. Note to Kyle: Please send your father some of the photos you took.

With Father’s day around the corner, I decided to sell some of my less frequently used camera gear. This included one camera body, and three macro lenses. They will join the 2 drones I have already listed on Craig’s List and FredMiranda.com . I find that demand for such items peaks just ahead of Father’s Day.

We are very pleased that we found someone who was interested in recycling the River House windows prior to demolition. They will be used to build a greenhouse in their second life. Most were removed successfully but the one pictured above shattered during the process. Because the glass is tempered it remained in place with a very mesmerizing fracture pattern. It is so interesting, that I have half a mind to preserving it in some way for the new house build.

I spent the day working on the River House in preparation for demolition which should commence any day now. The septic tank and pump chamber must be moved to accommodate the future garage. This necessitated pumping out both which happened this morning. In the afternoon, I harvested all the blue stones from our entry walkway. I am not sure yet what we will use them for but I am certain an application will emerge. If not, I got a really terrific workout for free.

Yesterday, I received a new drone which I ordered some time ago. For the second day in a row, I found an excuse to fly it. I have wanted to contextualize the location of our River House ever since we purchased the property. I finally found the right altitude and angle to do so. In this shot, you can get a sense of just how close our house is to the Sudbury River and how thoroughly surrounded by nature we are. You can also get a good sense of what we describe as the “long view” of the river which is available at ground level looking past a few tree trunks.

I grew up in Schenectady, NY where my family lived on Wendell Ave two blocks from Ellis Hospital. Over the years you become so accustomed to the sound of an ambulance siren that you sleep right through it. At the Road House, we are located across the street from Emerson Hospital. As was the case in my youth, I sleep through the sound of an ambulance (or fire truck or police car) like a baby. The same cannot be said for the sound of a helicopter. On rare occasions, we get a medical emergency landing at the hospital. For the longest time, I have wondered where the landing pad was. Initially, I assumed it was on the roof. While flying my drone today, I discovered that it is located directly behind the hospital.

Kyle returned from his Costa Rican vacation today but not without some excitement while returning his rental car. Apparently, there was some damage to the underside of the bumper. It does not look too serious and he also purchased the insurance option. We can’t wait to hear all about his Central American adventure at our next family dinner.

My left hamstring was sufficiently healed to allow me to play soccer this morning. I played for about 60 minutes before tweaking my right hamstring (I stopped immediately and I think it is entirely possible I will be back in action next week. for our final match of the season). The game was very close, tied at 1-1 until we scored a really nice goal with 5 minutes to go.

This afternoon, I attended a combination 60th birthday, 40th wedding anniversary, and retirement party for one of my soccer teammates from Concord United. It was quite the event, held at the Dover, MA home of his daughter-in-law’s parents. The celebration featured live music and was held outdoors on the absolutely spectacular grounds of the 6-acre estate. Pictured below is the garage. The main house is so well nestled into the landscaping that it was hard to photograph.

Meanwhile, Nico offered to share an extra Lake Street Dive concert ticket with Maya who jumped at the opportunity to join him on a road trip to Burlington, VT for the show. Jeanine decided to join them and all three spent the night at her sister’s house.