This morning it was time for Susan to return to Burlington, Vermont. Apparently, between the time I hugged her goodbye and the time she left, a scheme was hatched to kidnap Maya for a week. Jeanine and her sister are both planners so it was somewhat of a surprise to me that this idea moved so quickly from inception to actualization. It was fun to witness all three living in the moment. Maya, of course, was thrilled about the prospects of spending time with Susan, a kindred spirit in many ways. Maya if you are looking in on the blog please remember to eat your vegetables and know that your father is already missing you.
This evening Nico hosted an end of the year party for his friends. Outdoor activities were followed by dinner and a scary movie in the basement home theater. Everyone really enjoyed the event and Nico despite having almost entirely lost his voice seemed very pleased with the outcome. Earlier this morning, Kyle joined me at 8AM for a soccer scrimmage with my team. It was a thrill to be playing with him (even if on different sides) and between the Calabria men we scored a total of 7 goals.
Although the Van der Graaff produced longer lightning bolts, the sound was so intense that I had to chose between photography and retaining my hearing (hands over my ears or on the shutter release). This Tesla coil produced these dramatic sparks and was not nearly as loud.
Next we visited the Theater of Electricity. This Van de Graaff generator is capable of generating 2 million volts and was built by Dr. Van de Graaff himself. It is the largest in the world.
Jeanine’s sister, Susan, has been visiting us for the weekend. The two are seen here on the second floor balcony of the Science Museum where we spent the afternoon with Maya. They had been watching her from this perch as she stood mesmerized in front of the kinetic sculpture on the floor below. The two sisters chose to watch Mystic India while father and daughter opted for wandering the science exhibits. Maya was captivated by the cross section of an internal combustion engine and can explain the operation (intake, compression, combustion, exhaust) in perfect detail.
Maya tends to her garden. We have quite a bounty aided by the unusually rainy spring this year. Every night we enjoy some form of fresh vegetables and Maya seems more receptive to trying new foods when she has had a hand in growing them. I spent virtually the entire day making reservations along the route of our up coming RV adventure through the Southwest.
This evening a small contingent from Sonos participated in the annual J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge, a 3.5 mile run through the streets of Boston with proceeds going to fund summer camp opportunities for underprivileged youth. When I was approached by our Cambridge office manager with a signup sheet I immediately said yes. To resist this women is simply futile. She is going to wear you down and eventually get what she wants so you are far better off surrendering right away. The last time I ran in a race (or for any other reason) was in 1981 when I competed in the Bay to Breakers in San Francisco. I am now of the opinion that this near thirty year hiatus was not long enough. Although playing soccer involves a lot of sprinting over short distances it does little to prepare you to run at medium speed for longer distances. The race itself was rather interesting. With 12,000 participants you actually walk for the first several minutes just to get across the start line and again at several pinch points along the course. When you do start running it is really more of an obstacle course trying to weave through the slow traffic while not being trampled from behind. I actually found this aspect of the race enjoyable as it took my mind off the fact that I was running although it did little to help my finishing time of 37:22. By my estimates, I think I was running at just over 9 minutes a mile when you factor in the delayed start and pinch point traffic jams. Kyle informed me that this was rather pathetic as he returned from a ten mile run this evening. None the less, I made the distance without stopping and enjoyed a beautiful evening in Boston with my fellow coworkers. Next year, however, I will either find the courage to say no or will do more than one training run to prepare.
Nicolai cleans up nicely for the big 8th grade dinner dance held at the high school this evening. He is looking more like a man every day. Having surpassed his mother in height many months ago he has declared that I am next.
For those who wondered if I mistyped my first entry in this series, I rest my case. Click on the photo to enlarge it, and tell me if you think there is more chocolate on Jeanine or the strawberry.
Many men would find it unusual to come home to a kitchen full of strawberries and chocolate-covered women. Not me. Five women dipping 500 strawberries into rich chocolate passes for normal around here.
Meet the Penguin, a gift from the family to me for Father’s Day. You would be hard pressed to guess that this device is used for carbonating water. It contains a CO2 cartridge which charges a 1L carafe of water in about 5 seconds. Given the amount of carbonated water I drink, this present will also benefit the environment by saving 100’s of plastic bottles and the fuel used to ship them around. My day started with an early morning soccer scrimmage against the over 40 Concord team. I scored three very pretty goals (pivoting full volley over the keeper, low hard half volley after beating the wing fullback, nice trap and move to dribble around the keeper finishing just inside the post). The day ended on a high note as well with a family dinner at my new favorite Mexican restaurant, Acapulco’s in Sudbury.
The 16 hour birthday event has come to a close. Maya and her friends seemed to have a fantastic time, the house remained in tact, and the parents were left standing, if a little sleep deprived.
Maya’s birthday slumber party spills over into day two, according to plan. Maya made a poster-sized schedule of events and party rules, which we followed to the letter.
Nicolai was extremely helpful throughout the evening and is seen here coordinating the Capture the Flag game after dinner. When darkness ended the competition the girls returned to the house, opened presents and settled into the basement for their movie and slumber party. Jeanine stayed up to supervise and was to be found asleep on the living room couch the next morning.
A macaroni and cheese and hotdog dinner was served, followed by ice cream and cupcakes decorated as dogs (see an earlier posting for a close up). Vegetables and fruits were also served but seemed to provide little more than decoration for the table, given the level of interest in the less healthy parts of the meal.
Next was a massive indoor/outdoor scavenger hunt which culminated with a race to the bird house in our field where the rubber chicken prize was roosting.
As of today, our little girl requires two digits to write down her age. We are celebrating this auspicious milestone with a sleep-over birthday that has entirely dispossessed me of any notion that girls are less rambunctious than boys. What boys exhibit in shear physicality the girls more than make up for with cacophony of sound and kinetic energy.
Despite a very long day in the office, I took time this evening, at his request, to cut Nicolai’s hair. After the first pass he accused me of intentional barbarism (pun intended) declaring that I had butchered his hair. I subsequently did a little more work addressing his bowl cut concerns and am actually very pleased with the outcome. This photo (taken the day after) as he raced for the school bus is being offered in defense of my hair cutting skills. Click on it for a closer inspection.
Early this morning Jeanine and I attended school with Maya where she and members of her class presented their Magazine Projects. Each child published a spiral bound color magazine on the subject of their choice. Little surprise that Maya chose a magazine entitled Dog-On-It featuring nothing but canines. The magazines contained feature articles, advertisements, poetry, fun pages, subscription cards, letters from readers, photo essays and just about everything else you would expect to find in a real magazine, all created by the student. With all the parents present each child gave a brief barker style presentation extolling the virtues of their publication. I was sold but Maya refused to sell me her only copy for the newstand price of $3.89.
After Nico’s doctors appointment Jeanine dropped me off at the office and drove my car back to Concord. After work I made the 45 minute walk from Sonos to Porter Square (with a very pleasant traversal of the Harvard campus) where I boarded the commuter rail to Concord. Taking the T would have saved time but it was a beautiful evening and I enjoyed the exercise.
Nicolai, after months of waiting, was able to see a specialist this morning to look at his knee. As you might imagine, hopping on one leg tends to put excess strain on one’s knee and Nico is having some pain in his. Playing soccer, volleyball, basketball, and wrestling probably don’t help the situation either. After reviewing new x-rays the doctor found nothing inconsistent with normal growth plate development, suggested some PT and agreed with the parents that basketball was probably something that needs to be done in much greater moderation since it puts the most strain on the knee.
Jeanine’s garden is now filled with vegetables which find their way to our dinner table every night. This is one of three beds and I am informed that I will need to build more next season. So far the deer have not been eating our crops and for this we credit Nala who patrols the yard constantly.
This website is dedicated to sharing, with family and friends, the day-to-day adventures of the Calabria family.
