A year-plus ordeal to find Open Table a permanent home reached closure yesterday when Jeanine signed the Purchase and Sale Agreement to acquire their new facility in Maynard. There still remains much work to complete the move and transition the organization but this was a major milestone and marks a new chapter in the Open Table story.
Jeanine and I attended Senior Awards Night this evening with Maya who received awards in English, Science, and Sociology. She was most excited, however, when presented with a gold sash, to be worn during graduation, signifying her completion of the Engineering Certificate program. Mom and Dad were awfully proud.
The Sand Mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition involving the creation and destruction of mandalas made from colored sand. The intention is to focus the mindtowards a peaceful aspiration prayer. Once completed, the Sand Mandala is ritualistically dismantled to symbolize the Buddhist doctrinal belief in the transitory nature of material life. Regrettably, our visit to the Drikung Meditation Center today overlapped with the lunch break of the Venerable Lama Konchok Sonam and the Venerable Khenpo Choephel who are creating this work of art. Hopefull,y we can find time for a second visit to witness the creation process and/or the dissolution ceremony.
For almost a year now we have been treated to exotic Sunday dinners prepared by our nephew John who has been living with us since graduating from Babson last year. Working from Jeanine’s cookbooks and with some initial guidance from her, he has become a very accomplished cook. Sadly, for us, he has located an apartment closer to his job and compatible roommates to share it with. We are certainly going to miss John when he leaves.
This spring has been unusually rainy and cold. My attempts to regrow grass where it was killed during last year’s drought have been largely unsuccessful. I took another pass at reseeding today and can only hope that this one will fare better. Our shrubs, by contrast, are looking magnificent.
David Prifti taught photography at Concord Carlisle High School for 25 years before losing his battle with pancreatic cancer in November of 2011. He was greatly admired and much beloved by students and colleagues alike. In honor of his memory, the school has created the Prifti Day of Service during which seniors are encouraged to donate a half day of their time in some form of community service. The group pictured here elected to help at Open Table where they assembled industrial shelving to be used at the new facility and processed a large batch of donated food. Maya chose to work with Sandborn/Peabody middle school seniors to help them understand what to expect during their high school years and how best to prepare for success.
This coyote is a frequent visitor to the field behind our house. Such incursions into Nala’s territory provoke a bout of canine hysteria loud enough to wake the entire neighborhood. The coyote seems to understand the boundaries of Nala’s electric containment fence and appears to enjoy taunting her. When I approached for a closer photo, however, it was quick to depart the area.
Originally, Maya and I decided that it would be most efficient to simply purchase a set of detailed plans for her tiny house project and build to them. It quickly became apparent, however, that this would ultimately reduce flexibility to incorporate new ideas and personal choice. For the last few weeks I have been constructing a 3D model to aid in the design process. The view above (a highly simplified version) gives a sense of the overall shape of the house and was essential to working out the details for window size and placement. At $6K for 9 windows, they are by far the single most expensive component of the house. Because the house is mobile, all glass needs to be tempered and the frames need to be extremely strong (we went with all fiberglass construction) which rules out the inexpensive windows you can pick up at Home Depot.
Nicolai sent this photo of himself with long-time friend Oliver Ward who graduated yesterday from Colorado College. Because of the gap year he took after high school, the pair are now offset in time by one year. Seems like just the other day that these two were celebrating their graduation from Concord Carlisle High School.
In framing parlance, a California Corner is a combination of three 2×4 studs used to make outside corners. It provides four correctly located nailing surfaces, two for the outside sheathing and two for the inside walls. Normally these are nailed together on site at the time of construction and they are generally as crooked as the lumber from which they are assembled. Today I pre-fabricated four of them in my shop for use in Maya’s tiny house. By gluing and clamping them with the right technique you can get an extremely straight column which is many times stronger than if it were fastened with nails. Having these fabricated in advance should help speed up build time considerably.
A more perfect day to play soccer one could not have wished for. Coming from a two-goal deficit at halftime to win 3-2 could not have been a sweeter outcome. My hamstring has recovered fully and I was back in action today although my conditioning is far from what it needs to be. Nonetheless, I made a positive contribution on the field and after the game took the annual team photo.
When I describe Maya to people I invariably start by saying she is extremely bright and hard working. I sometimes forget what a drop dead beauty she is. Tonight was her senior prom and she pulled out all the stops. I have never seen her hair so nicely done and her dress was stunning (she would want me to explain that the lace openings are to a flesh colored fabric). Her boyfriend Caleb, a rising sophomore at Tufts, opted not to attend (his younger sister is a senior at CCHS) but did stop by to give Maya a corsage and pose for photos with her.
Maya had been planning to attend solo but was invited on Friday by Ben Caruso to go with him. Apparently, Ben asked his mother yesterday if it was too late to rent a tux and get tickets to the prom. What he lacks in advanced planning skills he makes up for in height and rugged good looks.
I consider Fiona and Sarinnagh to be bonus daughters by virtue of their close and lasting friendship with Maya. I hope they will all stay in touch and that I will see them often even as their paths begin taking them in new directions. I took many photos during a pre-prom gathering of which the group shots can be found at the following link.
Over the coming months, you are going to be bombarded with posts about the tiny house on wheels that Maya and I will be building over the summer. Today I picked up a one-piece 32″ x 32″ shower stall using the Audi as a makeshift pickup truck. I am hoping to have most of the building materials delivered before we return from our 3-week trip to Ecuador so that we can start construction the moment we return.
Last week I failed to recognize that my blog has become a teenager, turning 13 years old. According to my website administration tool, I have made 6,564 posts during that time. I certainly never imagined I would keep at it for so long but now for that effort I am rewarded with a personal diary and photo journal documenting our lives.
Just for fun I am reposting an entry from this week 13 years ago.
The children insist they have not been using the side of the house as a surrogate soccer goal despite rather compelling evidence to the contrary.
Maya and Sarinnagh show off their respective college sweatshirts. We are thrilled that the two will only be separated by a three-hour drive and hope they will remain close friends in the future. The pair have decided to celebrate their high school graduation in a joint party to be held on June 2nd.
Maya was back in moot court this evening for her final case. She and her co-counsel Millie Ball argued the case of Pena-Rodriguez v. Colorado which was decided by the Supreme Court just a few months ago. Up until now, trials have been officiated by a panel of three teachers. For the finals, the judges include a sitting member of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, a current and one former member of the Massachusetts Superior Court. Talk about high pressure! Maya was magnificent both in her opening and closing remarks and responses to questions from the bench. Her opponents were equally well prepared and just as poised. The judges deliberated for half an hour and gave what they described as a very close decision to opposing counsel. Even so, Maya received compliments for her compelling closing argument and use of powerful language. The entire trial was recorded and will air on the radio next week. I will try to provide a link to the broadcast when it becomes available.
The CCHS chapter of the National Honor Society held its annual induction ceremony this evening. As a member of the Executive Committee Maya was asked to speak on the importance of leadership, one of the four pillars of the organization’s credo. The sister of Maya’s boyfriend was among the inductees. Both her parents were in attendance affording Jeanine and I the opportunity to get to know them better. They are every bit as charming as Caleb.
I simply do not understand why someone would choose to have paint applied to their toes. I wear gloves and old boots/clothes when painting specifically to prevent such an outcome. That said, Mother’s Day was offered as the justification for a trip to the nail spa for Maya and Jeanine. Eager to show off their newly decorated nails, the women of the family posed for a toe portrait.
When viewed in aggregate some might conclude that I suffer from a flashlight addiction. In point of fact, each serves a distinct purpose including the two new ones which arrived today. One for each of our three cars, one for the shop, one for the master bedroom, one for my office, one that is always in my pocket, one in my toolbox, one for camping, and one more for good measure. All use LED emitters and rechargeable lithium-ion batteries; most can produce well over 1000 lumens, the equivalent of a 75W lightbulb.
Maya and Sarinnagh have been best friends since we moved here almost 14 years ago. It is no surprise then that they have decided to have a joint graduation party. Sarinnagh is headed to Fordham which is but a 3 hour drive from Olin where Maya will be studying. Jeanine and I had dinner with Alan, Sarinnagh’s father, this evening to catch up and work out details for the celebration.
Golden light this evening was unusually beautiful. If you look closely you will find several deer enjoying the lush grass growing in the field behind our house. Everyone has been especially busy this week; Jeanine with Open Table, Maya with moot court preparation, and I with the selection and ordering of appliances and the HVAC system for Maya’s tiny house project.
I found this little fellow on the mirror in our bathroom this morning. He seemed rather lethargic so I ran downstairs to grab a camera and macro lens. Fortunately, he was still there when I returned and was kind enough to pose for me. In return for his cooperation, I opened a window and helped him find his way home.
Jeanine has been extraordinarily busy these past few weeks as Open Table’s new facility nears completion and transition planning is going full throttle. Then there is the small matter of paying for the new building and renovations with a price tag of over a million dollars. This evening Jeanine met with a local philanthropist to make a case for supporting Open Table. She returned with a check for $250,000. Needless to say, news of this extremely generous contribution was received with great joy. Maya and I joined Jeanine and the Open Table board to celebrate at Reasons To Be Cheerful, our favorite local ice cream parlor.
After consulting with Maya over the weekend and finalizing on a rough layout for the tiny house she plans to build over the summer, I placed an order for a 20′ x 8′ trailer that will serve as its mobile foundation. Lead time is 6 weeks and transit from Alabama will add another which should have it here by late June. Maya and I will be returning from our planned trip to Ecuador on June 27th so the timing lines up nicely. Five years ago, no one was making tiny house-specific trailers. Today there are at least a dozen manufacturers, a good indicator that the demand for tiny living is on the rise. Our DOT-certified trailer is from Tiny House Basics and is rated for a load of 14,000 pounds.
We were joined for a casual Sunday dinner by a close family friend, Aliza Edwards, who worked with Jeanine and John to prepare a wonderful vegetarian meal. Later we took a stroll around the neighborhood and past the house where she lived until recently.
Despite having felt strong in practice earlier this week, I pulled out of my soccer match this morning after two shifts when I felt my right hamstring starting to tighten up. I have learned the hard way that it is best to stop playing the second I feel that first twinge of pain. Adding insult to injury, the man I was marking got away from me and scored our opponent’s first goal. They scored again to lead 2-0 at which point we answered with a goal. Our hopes were immediately dashed when they scored again bringing the score to 3-1. We persevered, however, and clawed back two goals in the final minutes to secure a come from behind tie.
I have been relentlessly pruning my collection of cameras and lenses putting my least used equipment up for sale. Today I added several items to Craig’s List including the ones shown here. The trick now will be to overcome the temptation to use the recovered funds to purchase new equipment.
Kyle and Nico will both travel to Vancouver, British Columbia on June 10th to compete in a Spartan Race for SideStix-sponsored, Team Defy Convention. The grueling obstacle course will be a test of strength, stamina, and mental toughness. I would love to support my sons and witness the event in person but will be in Ecuador with Maya at the time. Jeanine has expressed interest in going and I hope to share the experience through her eyes. Nicolai was an early adopter of the high-performance forearm crutches manufactured by SideStix. He has served as a field tester, brand ambassador, sponsored athlete, and summer intern for the company. When asked by Nico to join the team, Kyle was quick to step up and lend his support, something he has always done since they were small boys. We could not be prouder of both of them.
Maya was honored with three awards at the high school this evening. Oddly, she choose to celebrate afterwards by covering her face in green mud. Had there been an award for frog like appearance she would have won that one as well. She was nominated by both her soccer and cross country skiing coaches to receive the Rotary Club’s Class Act Award, one of only two students to do so in two sports. She also received an award for Excellence in Community Service based on her volunteer work throughout the year.
I attended the ceremony in my soccer gear so I could leave for practice immediately afterward. My hamstring felt strong and I expect to be back on the pitch for my match this weekend.
Ever since we moved into our house, the 1″ main supply valve for our irrigation system pictured above has leaked. An annoying drip every hour, enough to fill a small bucket in 6 months. I decided to replace it today which required shutting off the water supply to the entire house and completely draining the pipes. Installing the new valve took all of 15 minutes, a small fraction of the time needed to drain the water and then bleed the air once service was restored. Next I painted all the window sills on the first floor, a total of ten windows. Finally, I improved the wiring to the charger for my BMW. I ran all the wires through metal conduit bringing the installation up to code, added a 50 amp outlet to the supply line and wired the charger with a matching plug. Now when it comes time to power the tiny house on wheels that Maya plans to build over the summer we will have a convenient place to connect.
I started shooting digital in 1999 with the Sony DSC-F505 pictured above. It was a revolutionary camera in its day offering a whopping 2.1 Mpixel sensor! I eventually moved from Sony to Canon’s line of DSLRs maxing out with the 50 Mpixel 5Ds and now am down to just the 30 Mpixel 5D Mark IV. Recently, I started moving back towards Sony and currently have a pair of a6300s and an RX10 Mark III. My only Nikon is the inexpensive AW120 which I use for underwater photography.
In order to keep up with the state of the art, I have bought and sold nearly 50 cameras over the last 18 years (see a partial list of the ones I remember below, in some cases I owned multiple copies). Needless to say, I have become something of an expert at buying and selling cameras and have generally recovered more than 80% of my purchase price on new cameras and closer to 100% on the ones I purchased used. This list of lenses I have owned is even longer and may be the subject of a future post.
I enjoyed this trip down memory lane while waiting for the rain to subside this morning so I could tackle the replacement of another pair of window sills.
Water and wood are best separated by a well-applied layer of quality paint if a window sill (or any other wood component exposed to the elements) is expected to last. The previous owner of our house did not kept up with painting, allowing several to deteriorate beyond the point of patching. Today I spent the better part of the day replacing two of four. Weather permitting I will tackle the remaining pair tomorrow. Not particularly the kind of woodworking I enjoy but a long overdue repair that simply needed to be done.
