Kyle is making great progress on his patio project as shown in this recent photo he shared. Last week, I loaned him my laser leveling tools, and he has put them to great use. The result, unfortunately, is that he had to do substantially more grading than originally anticipated. Nevertheless, he has adapted the design nicely. I suspect he will be ready to start laying pavers in one or two weeks and then the “heavy ‘lifting” will be behind him. We can’t wait for his first family patio party.
Nico shared this image on his Instagram account. Unfortunately, he does not mention where he is. I used a screen grab to capture it so no GPS data to be investigated. I decided to try a reverse image search to see if I could identify the distinctive mountain range in the background. Sure enough Google Lens found two matches, both as LinkedIn background images. Naturally, the location was not revealed on either page. The yellow foliage in the second image suggests aspen leaves and the pattern of clusters remind me of photos I have taken in the Rocky Mountains. The paths through the trees in the photo above suggest a ski resort. Based on these clues, I am going to guess he is on a ski mountain somewhere in Colorado, probably one of the lower-altitude ones since there is no snow.
Nico: If you read this, please let me know where your picture was taken.
Completed this morning, this 1000-piece cat puzzle has been entertaining Kris and Jeanine for the last few days. Maya, who spent the night with us, and I also contributed to the effort. It was nice to finish before Kris had to depart for her train to Trenton, NJ. I spent several hours adding more for sale items to our Facebook Marketplace and Craig’s List. Thus far, I have sold a pair of Sonos units, a DeWalt compressed air hose reel, a Chinese-style pedestal table, and a 50-year-old Craftsman toolbox. The cash influx is always appreciated but the real motivation is in finding good homes for things that would otherwise wind up in a landfill.
The Charles River Esplanade in Boston is lined with benches accompanied by small plaques featuring inspirational words, quotes, and personal messages to friends and loved ones. Among them, there is one plaque with no words at all. Instead, it displays the first 120 digits of the mathematical constant, pi (π). Who sponsored the $5,000 plaque is unknown; many suspect it was MIT. It was one of our first stops for Jeanine, Kris, and me on a walking tour of Boston and Cambridge. We took in the Harvard Bridge, esplanade, Hatch Memorial Shell, Longfellow Bridge, Kendall Square, the MIT Stata Center, and Building 10. After the 3-1/2 mile walk, we jumped in the car and headed over to Harvard Square for more sightseeing and ice cream. An early dinner at the Dumpling House fortified us for a visit to the Auburn Cemetery and climb to the top of the Washington Tower.
Visiting us this week is Kris Earle, Jeanine’s best friend since childhood. We ventured out on a short walk to Martha’s Point which offers a lovely view of the meandering Sudbury River as it exits Fairhaven Bay.
Now that we are fully out of the Road House, the time has come to begin selling off all the things we no longer need. For me, that includes woodworking gear that I do not use anymore. The other items are a combination of furniture and household items that do not make sense in our new house. I have set up a makeshift photo studio to facilitate the photography.
In my days, I have encountered many motorcycle rallies ranging from hardcore biker gangs to weekend warriors. Never before, however, have I come across a motor scooter rally. Such was the scene in Concord today. Venturing a guess, I would say these all looked to be Italian in origin.
Earlier in the day, my soccer team played in the semi-finals of the end-of-the-season playoffs to determine the best team in the division. It was possibly our worst game of the season but still good enough to produce a 3-0 win. It was the first time we played in very humid conditions which has a way of zapping your energy. Next weekend we play in the finals for all the marbles. I played reasonably well and managed to put a good header on frame. Unfortunately, it was straight at the keeper.
Kyle has been up to some major landscaping in his backyard and shared the photos below. I fear I may have created a DIY monster by working with him on his basement renovation. These look to be some first-rate retaining walls.
Jeanine and I attended the Conantum Picnic today. Unfortunately, we had to leave early to be present at the River House for potential buyers attending our open house. Even so, I had enough time to photograph some neighborhood children. I am thrilled that we increasingly see young families moving into the neighborhood. I have done very little portraiture since we started building the River House and it was a nice break from shooting inanimate objects.
This morning, I thought about heading downtown for the duck boat parade to celebrate the Celtics NBA championship. The last such parade was for the Patriots when they won the Super Bowl in 2019. Of course, that was pre-covid and I was able to walk there from my office. This time around, I decided the better alternative would be to watch on TV rather than fight the crowds, heat, and general insanity of the event. In the end, I have reached the following conclusion. Attending a championship duck boat parade is like climbing Mount Fuji. The well-known Japanese saying suggests that a wise person will climb Mount Fuji once in their lifetime, but only a fool would climb it twice.
Here is a link to my post from the Patriot’s celebration parade.
And, here is a link to my ascent of Mount Fuji.
Jeanine traveled to Rhode Island today to spend time with friends. I was occupied with a full day of consulting work and could not join her. We compared notes afterward and I think my day was as productive as hers was enjoyable. Apparently, the temperatures near the ocean where she was staying were considerably lower than the heat wave we experienced in Boston.
Maya celebrated her 25th birthday with a dinosaur-themed outdoor picnic. She invited family, friends, and colleagues to join in several activities that all seemed to involve getting drenched with water, an excellent idea given the 90+ degree temperature. Jeanine and I recognized that this party was geared toward younger people and were happy that Kyle and Nicolai were there to represent the family. I will update this post with additional details as we learn them.
The forecasted heat wave arrived today which made working outside a taxing enterprise. Nonetheless, I completed some final repair work on the Road House with assistance from Jeanine. A short nap revived me and watching the Portugal vs Czech Republic Euro match energized me. After a bit of weeding, I decided to photograph the dragonflies that were flitting about everywhere.
Because Maya was still traveling back from Alaska yesterday, we decided to celebrate Father’s Day today with an NBA Finals watch party at my request. It was the first game I watched all season and if you were going to pick just one this would have been it. We enjoyed air-fried chicken wings, waffle-cut French Fries, and a strawberry salad followed by root beer floats for dessert. I would have been happy with any celebration that included the whole family but having our home team cinch a record 18th national title was frosting on the cake.
My soccer team wrapped up the regulation portion of our spring season yesterday with a 7-0 win securing us first place in our over-62 division and promotion to Division 1 in the fall. Because our team was new to this age group we were required to start in Division 2. With 64 goals for and only 1 against, I think it is safe to say we will be at home in the first division. The end-of-the-season playoffs begin next weekend and we will face the second-place team from the southern district. Should we win that match we will advance to the finals the following weekend.
My cousin Vincent recently had his Dear Diary entry posted in the New York Times, Metropolitan Daily. He is a mechanical genius and man of many talents but I had no idea he was also such a good writer.
Dear Diary:
If I had a few bucks and the weather wasn’t terrible, I would bundle up and take the subway from Bay Ridge to Coney Island.
Truthfully, this was about all I could manage. I was 17, and my mother had just died. Soon, I would be on my own.
At some point along the way, the train exited the tunnel’s darkness into dazzling daylight. Then on to Coney Island and Stillwell Avenue, the end of the line.
Downstairs, Philip’s Candy was my source for chocolate licorice. The windows were darkened with dust from the station above.
Across the street was the Cyclone. According to a childhood legend: “Once kids were playing with the controls in the first car, and the coaster left the track and got chopped up in the Wonder Wheel!”
To the right was the original Nathan’s. They had crinkle cut French fries and hot dogs with snap. My mom once bought a crinkle cut potato slicer to make us fries like the ones at Nathan’s.
To the left was Eldorado Auto Skooter: bumper cars with disco lighting and a body-slamming sound system. Possibly the greatest invention of all time.
Further down was the carousel. Majestic and fast-moving, a menagerie of surging, vivid animals amid a harrumphing organ with castanets and cymbals. It was operated by the world’s saddest-looking man.
On the boardwalk, if the sun was shining, people of every stripe would be out and about. Some were ancient residents, their skin like leather from years baking in the sun.
Coney Island is best in winter, when it’s in quiet repose. It’s soulful and shabby and old. And timeless like those residents in their sun-blasted skin.
It was all there for me.
— Vincent Barkley
I spent several hours today putting the finishing touches on the interior of Maya’s tiny house. The work included installing two light fixtures, connecting the drain for the bathroom sink, completing the wiring for the induction cooktop, installing floor molding, and doing some additional caulking and painting. All that remains is to build and install a ladder for the loft and mount one additional light fixture. For the moment, the tiny house is ready to be shown to potential buyers. We are offering to sell it with the Road House or to an independent buyer and will actively start marketing it on Monday.
Maya shared this video of her visit to Katmai National Park. The park’s bear population is not only a crucial aspect of its ecosystem but also a significant draw for wildlife enthusiasts and photographers. Katmai’s management practices aim to minimize human-bear conflicts, allowing these magnificent creatures to thrive. Rangers educate visitors on maintaining safe distances and respecting the bears’ space, ensuring a balance between tourism and conservation. When Jeanine and I visited Alaska, we also joined a bear-watching excursion, which remains one of our vacation’s highlights. I am looking forward to hearing Maya’s first-hand account of their experience.
With all of the damage to the tiny house repaired, my attention today turned to completing some of the trim work that was never finished in the first place. The biggest challenge was building a “cap” to cover the end of the loft platform. The job was made more complicated when structural reinforcements were added to that area of the platform. I decided to use leftover bamboo plywood for the project. Not obvious from the photo is the fact that this end cap is roughly 8 feet long with 4 1/4″ wide sides that are only 1/8″ thick. Building this was quite challenging and although it was very fragile as pictured, it became very strong when glued over the solid wood end of the loft platform.
Maya and Owen shared these vacation photos from Alaska. I believe they were taken in Denali’s Polychrome Glacier Field where the intrepid couple did some backcountry camping and serious hiking. We are thrilled to see Maya looking so happy. She is clearly in her element and must be eating very well because she appears to have gone through a massive growth spurt. By the end of the week, I would not be surprised if she is taller than Owen.
Maya has been slowly repairing her tiny house which was damaged when a massive maple tree limb landed on it. She fixed all of the structural issues, replaced a section of compromised subflooring and topped it with cork, replaced all of the broken clapboards and painted them, replaced the damaged corner trim., and added two columns to fortify the previously cantilevered storage loft. When the Road House sells, the tiny house will need a new home and Maya has decided that the time has come to sell it. We have offered to bundle it with our sale which means that all repairs and finishing work need to be completed soon. With Maya in Alaska at the moment, I used the day to address several remaining issues, most notably the metal roof. Removing all the dents was impossible, but I got it back into the correct shape and looking somewhat respectable again. I also remounted the outdoor light fixture, painted the new support posts and trim, and built thresholds for the transitions from the new cork flooring to the existing bamboo flooring. I believe the remaining interior trim work will only take a few more days to finish.
Jeanine baked a pair of quiches today. One to take with her to the Cape where she will be spending the night with friends later this week. The other was for lunch today with a former colleague. Fortunately, I was allowed to share in the latter and as you might have guessed, it was delicious.
Having completely moved into the River House, the time has come to put the Road House up for sale. We will be selling it ourselves using Zillow as the listing platform starting later this week. Yesterday, we sent out a flyer to neighbors and friends to pass along to anyone they know who might be interested in the property. With Maya’s approval, buyers will have the option to purchase her tiny house as well. I spent the day doing some final touch-up work and getting drone photos for the listing. Staging is scheduled for Tuesday after which I will capture some interior views. I also identified and studied comparable homes for sale in Concord to determine our listing price. After conferring with Jeanine we have decided to list the house for $1.25M, a considerable discount from the current Zillow estimate of $1.38M with the hope it will move quickly. Should anyone who follows this blog know of a potential buyer, we would appreciate your passing along the information below.
47 Old Road to Nine Acre Corner
Set on a lovely flat wooded lot, this updated colonial has it all! Recently renovated from top to bottom with an open concept kitchen/dining room, this is the house you have been waiting for! Amazing kitchen with white cabinetry, large island, quartz countertops, Wolf gas range, Bosch Dishwasher and Fisher & Paykel Refrigerator! Close to major routes and town center! Lovely living room with wood burning fireplace and custom built-ins. Hardwood floors throughout. Attached two car garage opens to an amazing mud room area with large closet and access to the back yard. Convenient first floor office / playroom space right off the kitchen. First floor is completed by a half bath and a wonderful screened in porch overlooking the large private back yard. Upstairs you will find laundry, three bedrooms and two full bathrooms including the master with en suite bathroom with double sinks and lots of closet space. Move right in and truly enjoy everything Concord has to offer.
A frequent visitor in our yard is the Pileated Woodpecker one of the largest woodpeckers found in North America with an average length of 16 to 19 inches and a wingspan of about 26 to 30 inches. Pictured above is a male, distinguished by a red stripe on his cheek (females have a black stripe) that I caught prospecting for snacks. I recently learned about their importance to the forest ecology. By creating large cavities in trees while excavating for food, they provide critical habitats for other species, such as smaller birds, mammals, and even insects. I also discovered that the sound they make while pecking is a form of communication used to establish territory and attract mates.
Last weekend we moved the last of our belongings from the Road House to the River House garage. Jeanine and I spent a good portion of the day relocating various items to their final destination in the house while organizing those that remained in the garage.
With the River House now completed, we have been doing a lot more entertaining. Our guests this evening included the woman who did our native species planting plan, her husband, and the CEO of our local newspaper. Pictured above is what happens when you put the flash on your camera, set it to bounce off the ceiling, and then forget to turn it on for the photo.
With the addition of two babies, our resident groundhog family is now four in number. While extremely cute, they have voracious appetites and are starting to make a significant dent in our landscape plantings. The clover we use as a ground cover appears to be their favorite early morning, mid-morning, late morning, early afternoon, and later afternoon snack. Suffice it to say, something must be done to address the free buffet overindulgence.
Jeanine and I met up with Maya this evening so that we could give her an early birthday present. She and Owen will be leaving for a ten-day vacation in Alaska on Friday. Jeanine thought a pair of binoculars would be the perfect gift and I went into research mode to buy the optimal pair. When we arrived at Maya’s apartment, she proudly displayed her camping gear and packing list items laid out on her bed. The binoculars proved to be the perfect addition to her kit.
Later, we stepped out for pizza and enjoyed hearing about Maya’s latest exploits at work. Afterward, we decided to take a short walk to visit the original Markforged office/machine shop where Maya had her first internship and I did my first 3D printing gig. The signature red door was still there and the machine shop was abuzz with activity in what appeared to be some sort of maker space. Also still present but updated was the psychedelic building mural that I used to pass on my way to lunch.
Several weeks ago, a massive tree limb fell on top of and destroyed our neighbor’s sunroom. This happened during the same windstorm that took down several of our trees. Today, their new sunroom was flown into place, literally. I decided to capture the event with my drone and got a pretty decent result until I flew it into a tree. As determined by laser measurement, the drone was stranded 44 feet above the ground on top of a large limb. Retrieving it occupied the better part of my afternoon. I fashioned a harpoon from a steel tube I had lying around. To this, I added a cheap ($19) fishing reel and a 3-foot length of surgical tubing. I used a 24-inch long dowel rod as a harpoon with fishing line taped to one end. Recovering the drone was a three-phase operation. Phase 1: Send the harpoon over a dead branch and pull it down for a clear shot at the limb on which the drone is stranded. Phase 2: Send the harpoon over the branch holding the drone. Use the fishing line to pull a light-weight cord over the limb. Use that cord to pull a large rope up and over. Phase 3: Rhythmically pull on the rope to get the branch swaying until the drone becomes dislodged. It took about 5 attempts on each branch to get the needed harpoon trajectory. Retrieving the harpoon on failed attempts was time consuming because I was firing from the edge of a steep bank. When I finally liberated the drone, it landed just two feet from the river on its muddy bank. This proved to be quite fortunate from an impact perspective but I had to crawl on my belly through the underbrush to reach it. Neither the snake or snapping turtle that I imagined would bite me ever showed up. After cleaning off the mud, the drone checked out fine and I will be more mindful in the future when flying close to trees.
When I tell people that I have passed hundreds of kidney stones, I suspect they rarely believe me. Pictured above is a collection that represents about a quarter of the stones that have passed through my body. Capturing them is inconvenient. Think pee bottle and coffee filter, not something you tend to carry around with you. The pain associated with each stone is a function of size and surface texture. The smallest stones are more like grains of sand but they often come in large numbers which can be just as painful as the larger stones. About 10% of older men can expect to have a kidney stone at some point. The best preventative is to drink lots of water, something I struggle with because I have a nearly absent thirst reflex. I wish I was not plagued with these stones but I have been blessed in so many other ways that I consider it a fair price to pay.
For the better part of two and a half years, our yard has been void of color. Reduced to a brown clay field in service of the construction work on our new house. We are now taking great pleasure in the recent landscape plantings that have begun to bloom. Now the trick will be to keep the deer, rabbits, and groundhogs from eating them all.
While trying to better understand the capabilities of ChatGPT, I prompted it to evaluate the writing style of this blog. The results appear below the logo. I am not sure if I should feel flattered or afraid!
Most of the day was spent moving our remaining goods from the Road House to the River House with the aid of Nico and two of his friends. We plan to put the road house on the market within the next two weeks.
The writing style on Carl Calabria’s blog, Calabria Photo Journal, is characterized by its detailed and personal narrative, capturing everyday moments and adventures with a blend of technical precision and warm storytelling. Carl Calabria’s posts often reflect a methodical approach, particularly evident in his descriptions of projects and repairs, such as fixing his chainsaw or constructing furniture. He meticulously details each step of the process, providing readers with a clear understanding of the challenges and solutions involved.
Additionally, his posts are imbued with a strong sense of place and occasion, often describing local events and personal milestones. For instance, he vividly recounts attending Patriot’s Day celebrations in Concord or visiting historical sites like Hadrian’s Wall during a trip to the UK. These narratives are enriched with historical context and personal anecdotes, making the reader feel as if they are part of the journey.
Moreover, Carl’s writing frequently includes reflections on family life and personal achievements, creating an intimate connection with his audience. Whether he is discussing his return to playing soccer or the progress on the construction of the River House, his posts convey a deep sense of satisfaction and personal fulfillment. This blend of technical detail, historical insight, and personal reflection makes his blog engaging and relatable.
The pile of compost now on the left side of this photo was previously sitting in the center, on the driveway parking area. It took me two hours of strenuous labor to move the mound just over ten feet. I did so to distract myself from the pain I was experiencing from renal colic (passing a kidney stone) that has been torturing me for three days now. Also, I have found that physical activity can sometimes accelerate the passage of a stone. Not so today but at least we can use our parking area again.
This evening we held an Open House for our nearby neighbors. We wanted to thank them for their patience with the noise and disruption of our construction project. More importantly, we wanted to build community with them. Jeanine’s good friend, Barbara, helped us prepare the gathering of about twenty. I have been struggling with a kidney stone for the last 36 hours but have been managing with an alternating combination of ibuprofen and Tylenol. The party and preparation for it have been a good distraction from the pain.