Mulching was the order of business this morning. Jeanine had 4 cubic yards of finely chopped leaf mulch delivered earlier this week and we have been installing it in 2 hour shifts. Today it was my turn as she prepared food for an evening gathering we hosted. Nicolai joined us for the party and chipped in as our expert “Tangerita” maker and guacamole chef.
At Formlabs, where Maya works, you know you have “arrived” when you get “photochopped”. A picture taken of you at work is distributed to the photochop group and is edited into several outrageous and funny versions that are then circulated within the team. The original image shows Maya and a colleague presenting a soon-to-be-released new product. Regrettably, I am not at liberty to show that photo. The chopped version, however, requires no explanation. Go Maya!
Jeanine borrowed a page from Maya’s playbook and offered to puppy-sit for a friend so she could get a dog fix. I was invited to join the fun but was busy with several projects. One was to build a simple open box to hold small cloth hand towels. We use these to replace paper towels and wash them when soiled. They have been sitting on our kitchen counter in an undersized store-bought box for months and it irks me to see them stuffed inside. I used box joints for the new box and started the project by fabricating a simple jig to cut them. It still needs another finishing coat but I already like the appearance of the joints. Now that I have the box joint jig, I can see knocking out several other storage boxes for the kitchen.
It is hard to believe but this is my 9000th post. That works out to one per day for nearly 25 years. In fact, it has only been 19 years and a couple of months. In the early years of the blog, I posted each picture as a standalone post, sometimes several in one day. Later, I switched to a single post per day which explains the discrepancy.
Jeanine and I spent a good portion of the morning weeding and mulching our newly planted yard. It is tedious work and the key is to do a little bit every day rather than trying to get it all done at once. This is especially true on really hot days like we have been experiencing for the past week. So far, most of our plants are doing very well, the one exception being our elephant ear hostas which have succumbed to the nourishment of our local deer population. Fortunately, our smaller hostas do not appear to be on their dining menu.
Over the years, I have been adding only cordless handheld power tools to my shop. It is hard to quantify just how much easier and more pleasurable they are to use without having to worry about cord management. Today, I put several corded tools up for sale for which I now have cordless equivalents or no longer use. I was motivated by the discovery that several companies now make tools that are compatible with the DeWALT battery system in which I am heavily invested. To justify a new tool purchase, I feel the need to sell tools that I use infrequently. New tools arriving shortly include a cordless soldering iron, cordless hot melt glue gun, and cordless plastic welding gun.
Nico has been named to the U.S. Amputee Soccer Men’s Team that will travel to Honduras in September for the inaugural Gold Cup which will include the national teams from Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Although it will likely conflict with my own soccer schedule, I think I would like to attend this tournament.
It is hard to believe but our second child will be thirty years old starting tomorrow. We celebrated today with an outdoor feast that included family and friends. Nico reminds us all how to live in the moment and to suck the marrow out of life. He is the Lead Educator for the Bionic Project, captain of the USA National Amputee Soccer Team, and all-time leading scorer for the US, a brand ambassador for Arc’teryx, a board member of the American Amputee Soccer Association, and assistant soccer coach for Regis College. He was the first to summit Mount Kilimanjaro on crutches, has been a guest on the Ellen Degeneres Show, and has received numerous awards, including a Heros Among Us from the Boston Celtics, and was named an Honorary Captain of the New England Revolution Soccer Team. We are very proud of him and can’t wait to see what he does next.
Jeanine and I had little trouble agreeing on the design of our new house since we share a common aesthetic for architecture. The same cannot be said for artwork. On this front we are off to a slow start, often finding it difficult to agree. That was not the case for the pictured sculpture that was created by my mother. We both love it. We also agreed that it needed a stand to elevate it from the floor. Today, I fashioned one by extending the contours of the sculpture’s base using a lamination of leftover LVL studs. I think my mother would have been very pleased with this solution.
The galette has its roots in French cuisine and dates back to ancient times. The term “galette” comes from the French word “galet,” meaning a flat, round stone, which reflects the flat and round shape of the pastry. Historically, galettes were simple, rustic cakes made from coarse grains, often served as a staple food.
In Brittany, a region in France, galettes made from buckwheat flour became popular, especially for savory versions filled with ingredients like cheese, meats, and vegetables. Over time, the concept of the galette evolved, and sweet versions with fruits and other fillings became common.
The modern galette, known for its free-form and rustic appearance, is celebrated for its versatility and ease of preparation. Pictured above is one of two galettes prepared by Jeanine for a dinner party we attended this evening. And yes, they were as delicious as they looked.
Jeanine and I traveled to Medford this afternoon for a 4th of July barbecue with Kyle. We lounged on his partially completed patio, enjoying burgers, salad, watermelon, and homemade strawberry and lemon sorbet that Jeanine prepared. Before dessert, we took a long stroll around the lake in nearby Fellsmere Park where waterfowl outnumbered people and the soothing sound of the fountains was in stark contrast to exploding firecrackers that peppered the tranquility. Nico joined us after dinner, having just flown back from his western states road trip, and regaled us with tales of his travels. Maya is on Nantucket staying with several of her high school girlfriends and we hope to see her on Sunday when we will be gathering again to celebrate Nico’s birthday.
After nearly two days of research, I pulled the trigger on purchasing the pictured wood chipper. What I learned is that size matters. A chipper rated at 3″ capacity is lucky to handle 2″ diameter branches. A unit specified at 4 inches is best used for 3″ and under. This knowledge was gained by watching at least 100 YouTube videos of chippers in action. I also discovered that designs featuring a combination chipper (fed through a narrow side-mounted tube) and shredder (fed through a large hopper on top) are sub-optimal at both tasks and limited to smaller size machines. I found one company that makes a battery-powered unit but its capacity and run time were both insufficient for the type of work I can anticipate. In the end, I settled on a Power King 5″ 14hp model with an electric starter. What impressed me about the company is that the founder demonstrated the machine successfully chipping a 6″ diameter log which is above its rated capacity. I liked the robust construction quality and ease of serviceability. I also contacted customer support in advance to make sure I could speak to a knowledgeable human, easily order replacement parts, and/or get help with a technical issue.
I am not happy to have purchased a machine that requires gasoline to run, especially after having purged my garage of all such tools and replacing them with battery-powered substitutes. As a consolation, rather than burning all of our downed trees and limbs, we will be converting them into wood chips to be used as mulch around the yard.
UPDATE: I decided to cancel this order before it shipped. I just could not get past owning a gas-powered tool again.
I often make morning coffee for Jeanine and serve it to her in bed. She really likes this treatment. Today, I opted to use a cat-inspired coffee cup I found at the back of the cupboard. It looked especially cute with the frothed milk hairdo. When I decided to photograph it, the shadow reminded me of the bat signal. Suffice it to say, Jeanine found this cup as humorous as I did.
One of my soccer teammates let me know that he saw a nice video of Nico’s amputee soccer team on AppleTV. I searched YouTube and found the video above. Not sure if it is the same one but interesting nonetheless.
This morning, my soccer team competed in the championship finals for the over-62 division in which we play. High temperature and humidity made for a brutally exhausting match. We faced our toughest opponent of the season and had to dig deep for the 2-0 victory. I played for 55 minutes of the match and was utterly spent by the end. I hope to increase my fitness level (i.e. drop some weight) over the summer so that I can be more competitive when our fall season begins in September. For the moment, however, I am just going to enjoy the win.
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 MountFuji once in their lifetime, but only a fool would climb it twice.
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.
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.
This website is dedicated to sharing, with family and friends, the day-to-day adventures of the Calabria family.
