Our walk concluded at the Wayside Inn and the kids paused for a group photo framing a plaque commemorating Nathaniel Hawthorne. The careful observer will note that I have lost one of my charges. Fear not for he is behind the rock. I will say that the boys in this group were rather rambunctious and it took more than a little self restraint to keep from tying the whole lot together.
We started at the Hillside Burying Ground where we lined up the children before seperateing them into smaller groups. I had Maya, Julia, Kyle, Avi, Connor, Jack and John. Our tour focused on the pre-1775 homes and I shared information about life in Concord at that time, the architecture of the homes, the families that lived there and some funny stories we had learned about during my training the week before.
Today I joined Maya’s 2nd grade class for a field trip to historic Lexington Road in downtown Concord. It has been a very long time since I rode a school buss and I was surprised by all the memories that came flooding back. I was also amazed by how little has changed.
I woke up to find Maya eating breakfast on the stairs with her pig. Oddly, this passes for normal behavior at the Calabria house. Today marks three years of continuous posting on my photo blog. What started as an exercise to improve my photography has morphed into a journal of our lives. Although it does take considerable time to keep up, I think it is one of the projects I will look back on with the greatest pride and hopefully be something the kids revisit for many years to come.
Here I am in the process of bonding the deck and hull together (inside joints). I built three suspension cradles so that I could let gravity help me for a change. Fitting a 2 inch wide fiberglass tape to the internal seam over a 16 foot length is no easy task. I attached a brush to a 4 foot stick to allow me to reach into the far ends.
Today I made great progress on the kayak. Here I am using a high intensity lamp to speed the epoxy cure time on the hip plates (this is where the back band attaches). I made a nice little reflector (triangular affair sitting on the bottom of the hull) to focus the heat from above on both plates. In the background you can see two hatch cutouts and one of the two bulkheads.
Today after school Maya and Jeanine went out to make animal track castings. This plaster of paris casting is of a mink. See if you can make out all five toes.
Today is the first day of a one week vacation before I start my new job at Sonos. With any luck I hope to finish my kayak. Pictured here is the hatch opening. I fabricated the gasket channel out of carbon fiber and am extremely pleased with the results. After varnishing I will fit the channel with a 3/8 inch wide closed cell foam gasket.
Mother’s Day begins with breakfast in bed, prepared entirely by Maya featuring scrambled eggs, toast, tea and orange juice. Jeanine has prepared a Mother’s Day Wish List having learned over the years that this is the best way to ensure a happy day. Amazingly this list contains items that seem to fall naturally to each member of the family. Kyle cleaned the Honda and removed the white paint which inexpicably jumped from the garage door trim to the side of the van. He also installed the bicycle computer he had given to his mother on her birthday. Nico organized the tea cabinet and planted Dahlia’s in the garden. Maya cleaned and organized Jeanine’s jewelery and also repaired the mirror in her jewelery box (using her now significant expertise in the preparation and use of epoxy). I installed three jewelery holders in the dressing room and hung a belt holder. I also purchased a trellis for the garden and repaired an outside faucet. Jeanine was treated to a chinese dinner to bring the day to a luxurious finish. I was back in action this morning and scored the only goal in our victory over Needham.
Maya after finishing Blue Danube for her spring piano recital. I rarely take naps, but this afternoon I had a 2hour siesta. I think it is my body’s way of resetting after changing jobs. Come to think of it, I remember taking a nice long nap after leaving Pinnacle to join Avid.
A quick rotation reveals how I feel about saying good bye to Avid and the great folks I have had the privilege of working with there.
Packing all my photos, artwork, and books took longer than I anticipated and I was lucky to squeeze it all into my car. Last to go was the mask which has graced my door since my trip to South Africa.
Today was my last day of work at Avid after nearly a five year run. I was granted early release for good behavior (I had committed to stay through June but the transition has gone smoothly and our big release is on track for a June 6th ship date). While I am very anxious to start at Sonos, it was very hard saying farewell to so many wonderful and talented people. I will always remember Avid fondly and am thankful for the opportunity that brought our family to New England and afforded me such a great environment for professional growth. I was roasted during a Cake for Carl going away party and used the opportunity to project a slide show of the thousand plus photos I had taken of my colleagues over the years. It was a very nice note to end on.
Pictured here is the Concord School of Philosophy located on the grounds of the Orchard House (home of Louisa May Alcott). The school for adults was designed, built and run by her father, the Superintendant of Concord Schools. It is still used today for summer lectures.
Today after work I participated in a walking tour of historic Lexington Road. Next week I will be a volunteer in Maya’s class and will lead a small group of children on the same tour hopefully remembering much of what I learned.
It really feels like spring has arrived. Today was one of those simply glorious days.
Jeanine launched her new business venture this evening. The Earth Mama hosted a healthy cooking lesson for eleven participants who each left with a container of Jeanine’s Special Broth, seen simmering here, renewed appreciation for the dreaded pressure cooker, and new found love for Seaweed Salad. The event was a great success and Jeanine had that happy smile she gets when working with industrial size cooking vessels.
Alyson is so beautiful she literally stopped traffic (a true and funny story I will leave for her to tell).
This evening I did a photo shoot for Alyson. She is writing a book and may use some of the photos for her project.
Emmanuel who celebrates his 32nd birthday today joined Nico for practice and the interview. I loaned him a pair of my custom crutches that are sized for when Nicolai get’s older. Despite playing in a street shoe, Emmanuel showed he’s got game.
Nicolai and I were interviewed by the Fox Soccer Channel for a piece they are doing on Nicolai’s story. Nico was unusually brief with his comments and told me later that he is tired of doing interviews and was much more comfortable when they videotaped him during his soccer practice. He had some really nice headers which I hope they caught on tape. I will post air date when we receive the details. We learned that the fundraiser last night brought in another $21,000 in contributions raising his total to over $130,000.
Emmanuel presents Nicolai with the Ability Through Mobility Award. Nicolai was very thankful to be receiving his award from the man who inspired him and thanked everyone in a very heartfelt and well delivered speech.
Low light precluded a lot of photography during the banquet, but I took this photo to capture the mood.
My sister Alissa drove in from Albany, NY to join us in for the evening, a wonderful suprise that added to the magic of the evening.
This evening, Nicolai is being honored by the Free Wheelchair Mission for his fundraising efforts on their behalf. His total now stands at $110,000 which translates into 2500 wheelchairs for the disabled of Tanzania. The banquet is being held at the beautiful Fairmont Copley Hotel and we are treated to this vision of our boys looking quite dignified.
This afternoon, Mark and I drove with Kyle to Princeton, MA for his soccer match. I took portratis of all the boys and this team photo before the game started. Kyle has fully recovered from his bout with mono and was in fine form. His team was leading 2-0 at halftime when we had to leave in time to make Nicolai’s award ceremony. I had a slight muscle injury and decided to miss my game to avoid further aggravation but should return to action next weekend.
Emmanuel shares the story of his mother, the other source of his inspiration, with the congregation. When he was young, his mother carried Emmanuel on her back for the 6 mile round trip to school. When he became too heavy for her, he hopped the distance on one leg before he eventually got a pair of crutches. Try hopping one block and you will learn what indomitable spirit and unrelenting determination means. Emmanuel proudly showed off the high tech prosthetic he now wears and thanked his supporters in the US for their generosity.
This morning begins a big day for Nicolai. At church he joins Emmanuel Efosa Yeboah of Emmanuel’s Gift fame, in front of the congregation to discuss the importance of inspiration. Seeing Emmanuel’s movie inspired Nicolai to raise money to buy wheelchairs for the diabled poor of Tanzania. Emmanuel was inspired by disabled athlete Jim MacLaren who lost his leg in a horrific accident and went on to become a world class triathlete and to overcome even greater challenges. Follow this link to learn more about this amazing human being.
Mark has a serious tete-a-tete with his daughter about her eating manners.
Mark and Jeanine tag team to feed Rose who wound up with as much food on her face as in her mouth. Verify this claim by clicking on the photo for an enlarged view.
Despite the damp and cool conditions today, the older kids enjoyed playing outdoors. Mark and I spent the better part of the day working on the kayak. It was Mark who really got me interested in building one and it was a lot of fun working with him. We were able to fiberglass the inside hull and prepare the inside deck for fiberglassing, two very big tasks.