I joined Jeanine and her friend Maria on a lovely hike to nearby Fairhaven Bay. The trail passes by our house on the other side of the river and ends at the former summer home of the Robinson family. The 240 acres through which the trail passes were donated by Helen Robinson Wright to the Concord Land Conservation Trust. She was the granddaughter of Miles Pratt, founder of the Walker and Pratt Company, manufacturer of stoves, furnaces, and heaters who prospered during the Civil War, supplying the Union Army with ammunition and gun carriage castings. All that remains of the summer home is a terrace overlooking the bay and the stone boathouse far below at the water’s edge.

The Concord Journal featured a nice article about a recent grant received by Open Table. The pandemic has not only increased the need for food assistance but has also changed the logistics for gaining access to it. Open Table has had to discontinue the community dining aspect of their program in favor of food delivery. Not many organizations of its size could pivot so quickly to an entirely different operating model without skipping a beat.

I have to admit that geese are some of my least favorite birds. Even so, I am thankful for them every time I don a coat containing their down feathers. One of only a few birds that can be found in every US state at some time during the year, their numbers are on the rise worldwide.

The Covid-19 pandemic has all but shutdown amputee soccer for the last year. The US national team has not had a single match or in-person practice since the outbreak began. It has not, however, stood in the way of recruiting for the sport. Nicolai and a local teammate have made a big push to develop a regional team. They currently have six field players and are constantly working to build out the roster. Nico asked me to take headshots and a team photo at their practice this afternoon which I was more than happy to do.

There seems to be no end to the interesting ways ice can form. In the case above, the river level dropped leaving a horizontal ice cloud clinging to a pair of branches.

I really like the different patterns in the water which make up the foreground and background. of this photo. Having a nice subject in the middle doesn’t hurt either.

On days when the temperature hovers around the freezing mark, ice formations on the river can be quite interesting. I found this early morning shot quite beautiful. In it, one can find crisp linear patterns, diffuse undulating waves, and everything in between.

Last week, I thought I might have photographed a juvenile bald eagle. It turned out to be a red-tail hawk. This time, I am fairly certain this is an eagle but will wait for the neighborhood experts to opine. S/he is perched on a branch that is about 30 feet from our house and I will ensure that our new plans include a window positioned to take advantage of this view. Again, I must apologize for the poor photo quality. I shot through double pane glass at 6:40 AM with overcast skies.

Common Mergansers dive underwater to catch fish. After the chicks leave the nest in summer, the female stays with them as they grow up while males gather in flocks. In winter, mergansers form large flocks on inland reservoirs and rivers. They stay in these tight flocks to feed and court during the cold months. In migration and winter, they mix with other fish-eating, diving ducks such as Bufflehead, goldeneyes, and other species of mergansers. For several weeks now, their numbers have been increasing on the river and it has been fun to watch them fishing.

The most difficult part of designing our new house by far has been working out the details of the stairs. Because they connect two floors, their placement affects the floorplan of both which means a change on one cascades to the other. If they are stacked, one over the other, for efficient use of space as is the case in our west wing, a change on one floor affects three. Stair rise and run determine climbing comfort and the total number of treads determines floor to floor spacing. Today, I finalized all three staircases and have settled on a rise of 7 1/4″ with a run of 10″ and 14 treads resulting in a floor-to-floor height of 9′ 3/4″ (7.25 x (14+1)). This is a huge improvement over the as-built condition of the house which has an 8 1/2″ rise and 8 1/2″ run with 11 treads, a design that is no longer code compliant and very unpleasant to climb or descend. Most importantly, the east basement, where my new shop will reside, will now have a finished ceiling height of 8′ 3″ instead of 7′ 8″ which makes a HUGE difference which will be appreciated by anyone who has ever worked with 4’x8′ sheet goods.

Maya provided this macro image of a peacock feather she took using her iPhone and hand-help loupe. She is taking a class now which looks to the natural world for the wonders of engineering. The iridescent plumage of the peacock originates in the fine side branches of the feathers. Pigment particles are embedded into the newly grown feathers during the molting season. They absorb light of certain wavelengths, or disperse the reflected light, and so contribute to the color of the plumage.

Yesterday, while brunching with the kids at Kyle’s apartment, Maya asked me to photograph this object she found. Obviously originating from a tree or bush, it really is quite fascinating when viewed close up. Anyone who can provide an ID please do so and I will update the post.

UPDATE: This is a seedpod from a Sweet Gum tree. Thank you to SteveK for the ID.

The river menu today included a pair of wood ducks. As the temperature increases, so does the variety of birdlife on the water. Regrettably, the recent spate of warm weather will be short-lived as cold temperatures are expected to return next week. For the second week in a row, Jeanine and I joined the kids at Kyle’s apartment for brunch. Featured was a french toast casserole and Nicolai’s signature egg sandwiches. I suspect a picture of these delights would have been a nice break from all the recent wildlife images but I forgot to bring my camera with me.

Today’s visitors included a pair of beavers. They can be hard to distinguish from muskrats but the combination of some tail slapping on the water and a telltale photo of one sitting on the bank left no doubt. They appear to be building a lodge about 20 feet down the shore from our house. If that is the case, you can expect to see a lot more of this couple (they mate for life).

A female and male hooded merganser on the river today. The lighting was not good and once again I am shooting through a double-pane glass. In our new house design, I will strategically locate windows that open for taking better photos of this type.

Jeanine spotted this bird when it landed on a branch just outside our living room and immediately alerted me. We were not sure if it was a juvenile bald eagle or a red-tailed hawk. After posting the image to our neighborhood list server, several resident experts confirmed it was a red-tail hawk. I was between work meetings and had to shoot this quickly through a window which did not help with the quality. Still, I never imagined I would be photographing a scene like this from inside our house.

Pictured above is my Zoom meeting setup. I use my mirrorless camera positioned over my computer screen aimed down the Sudbury River. Strong lighting is needed to balance the exposure of the outside scene. This setup gives my audience a lovely background and allows me to look at an angle that simulates “eye contact”.

If Maya was an ancient dinosaur she would have been one of the nice ones. I am not sure why this image of her skeleton that she sent me made me think of that, but I did. Unfortunately, she is experiencing lingering back pain from an injury she sustained while moving a heavy Fuse printer at Formlabs when she was interning with them last year. We are hopeful that some good chiropractor work will address the situation.

Maya sent these pictures of a Rex Begonia that she is studying for an assignment in living organism observation. Clever girl that she is, she used a handheld magnifier held up to the lens of her iPhone camera for a macro close-up.

Kyle texted us this photo of his Sunday dinner. I thought we were living large when we joined him and the rest of the family for brunch earlier in the day. Then, we were treated to takeout from Tatte and various scrumptious pastries. Apparently, he had even grander plans for dinner with his girlfriend Sabriya. In offspring news, Nicolai starts a new teaching assignment at Lexington high school on Monday, Maya is in the thick of her studies at Olin, and Kyle has decided to pursue a master’s degree in computer science. He plans to apply to Georgia Institute of Technology’s on-line program which will allow him to continue working at TouchPlan while obtaining his degree.

For those who know me well, it will come as no surprise that I spent 20 hours today (5 AM until 1 AM) refining the floorplan for our new house project. I must have completed at least two dozen versions before settling on this one. The massive effort was triggered when Jeanine and I agreed that we would move our main bedroom from the first floor to the second. Since we are hoping to age in place here, we initially decided that a first-floor bedroom would be advantageous when eventual infirmity makes stair climbing less desirable. When that day comes, in our new concept, we will move from the upstairs main bedroom to the downstairs guest room which is being designed for wheelchair accessibility. Hopefully, that day is a long way off and in the meantime, we will enjoy what are arguably the best views of the river from the second floor.

I completed my third model of our new house this evening. Each one has been a refinement of the previous one both in terms of design and fidelity. At this point, the basic shape feels right (plus or minus some roof pitch adjustments) and the next phase will be tuning of window size and placement. Although it will probably be a year or more before our new home will be a reality, it must be said, that I really enjoy the design process and the phase we are in now.

After many days of sub-zero temperatures, we finally got a small break from the frigid cold. Our collection of icicles were in melting overdrive. I was lazy and shot this image from indoors through a window. A more determined photographer would have gone outside and set up an off-camera flash to really freeze the motion of these streaming droplets.

On a walk through our neighborhood, I encountered no less than three snow people. This one was my favorite. I am a fan of the carrot for nose school of design and also felt the hair treatment was upstanding (outstanding).

Kyle with his girlfriend, Sabriya, on the Cape visiting his buddy’s airplane hanger earlier in the week. Jeanine is attempting to lure the kids home for Valentine’s Day with the promise of homemade lasagna. I spent a few hours building a foam core model of the new house. Doing so led me to make a few dimensional adjustments to the roof heights and I will make one more model when all of the window elevations have been finalized.

Jeanine is taking advantage of our recent snowfall to get some outdoor exercise. This morning she set out on her snowshoes for an early hike around the neighborhood. This is what happy looks like.

The fun continues at work as we continue to experiment with new shapes. Now that we have cracked the code on our metal deposition, we are printing a new part every day. This one is interesting because it would be very hard to machine using conventional methods given the hardness of the material and the thinness of the wall. It is just a tad smaller than a tennis ball. By next week, I predict we will have printed a part that is impossible to make using machine tools.

The Holy Grail for metal 3D printing. An unsupported 45-degree thin wall part. This morning, my team achieved what is arguably the ultimate milestone in our development journey thus far. Today, the uphill battle may have transitioned into a downhill sprint. While there is still much refinement to be done, we have without a doubt reached an inflection point in the life of the company. We celebrated at the office with Champagne and ice cream.

Using last week’s discovery, my team printed this cylindrical tube demonstrating our ability to print arbitrary shapes. Tomorrow we will go for broke and try to print a part with a cantilevered structure. It is the last hurdle we need to clear to demonstrate the ultimate value of our technology. Fingers crossed.

The icicle pictured here was hanging from our carport this morning. When I first noticed it, there was little to distinguish it from all the other icicles dangling from the roofline. Then I realized that what I assumed was a forming water droplet at the tip was actually frozen solid. As I scanned the other icicles, it became clear that this was a very unique occurrence, especially when one considers how necked down the pinch point is. The whole experience was a poignant reminder to me about how much beauty can be found around us if one simply pauses to look for it.

This morning we woke to more snow and further evidence of our resident coyote’s penchant for strolling up and down the frozen Sudbury River. While the ice is thick enough to support a coyote, I opted not to test it with my weight despite a great desire to make a closer inspection of the tracks. Jeanine suggested we set up her trail cam near the shoreline and perhaps we will see a future post featuring the results of that effort.