For large parts of the year, the wetlands in the foreground of the photo above are underwater. We have had very little rain for the last three months, allowing the area to dry out. Surprisingly, this has introduced a lovely palette of colors. Fortunately, there is rain in the forecast for this evening which we badly need.
All the leaves are brown
And the sky is gray
I’ve been for a walk
On a winter’s day
These California Dreaming lyrics came to mind as I took an extended walk today as part of my hamstring rehab routine. While the leaves may have lost all their color, not so for this Purple Japanese Barberry shrub, which I encountered on my excursion. At the time of my injury, I thought my season was over. Now, I feel like there is a 50/50 chance I will have healed enough to play in the finals this Sunday. Time will tell if this is just a dream.
I spent most of the day narrowing down options for a new sofa to replace the old one (less than a year old), which the kids have declared unacceptable. Jeanine has approved the final candidate, although we still have to settle on fabric and color. I verified that it fits in our living area when configured with our two swivel chairs, and the only downside is that it will not arrive until March if we order now.
The hamstring injury I sustained last week kept me off the pitch today. My team qualified for the playoffs in which the top four teams in the combined north and south divisions compete for the championship. I am one of four players sidelined with injuries, leaving our team shorthanded. Even so, the team managed to win in a penalty kick shoot-out determined by the final kick after a come-from-behind 1-1 tie in regulation and a 0-0 tie in extra time. Next week, we will compete in the finals, and I am hoping for a miraculous recovery.
Later in the day, we enjoyed a visit from a close friend that we have not seen in ages. Hayden is the mother of one of Kyle’s classmates and chessmates when he attended the Orchard School in Indianapolis. We did a quick visit to the Old North Bridge, Alcott House, and Walden Pond before enjoying dinner together.
While on our recent road trip in Jeanine’s 2016 BMW X1, we crossed the 100,000-mile threshold. It remains in excellent working order, and it just got a set of four new tires. Even so, we decided it was time for Jeanine to get a new car. It is also an opportunity to divest ourselves of the last remaining carbon-emitting thing in our lives, hence the decision to get an all-electric vehicle. Car shopping is not Jeanine’s thing so I narrowed the set of choices. She has been happy with the mid-size SUV format of the X1 so I down selected for that configuration. The cars I recommended; Volvo EX30, Audi Q4 Etron, VW ID4, Tesla Model Y, Kia EV6. The Volvo was her first pick but will not be available until later next year. The VW is on a sales hold while a door handle defect is corrected (no telling when). Our mutual feelings about Elon Musk precluded the Tesla from consideration as well as my prior issues with the Model X I briefly owned. The Kia was rejected for questionable styling attributes. That left us with the Audi Q4 Etron the baby brother of my Etron. Jeanine insisted I check for a used car before looking at new ones, something I felt would be a waste of time given that the Q4 was just introduced last year. She did not want the pressure of having to worry about being ultra careful with a new car. Low and behold, we found exactly one used car in the color she wanted at a dealer in Connecticut. I made the 100 mile trip to East Windsor, inspected the car for damage, and did a test drive. If not for the 10,000 miles on the odometer, the car was indistinguishable from new and was the fully loaded Prestige 50 Quattro all-wheel drive version with a range of 236 miles. After some price negotiation, I purchased the car and it will be delivered to us in Concord in about two weeks.
Now that we have been living in our new house for some time, we have mostly settled on what should go in each of the 44 drawers in the kitchen. Today, I worked on building partitions to keep the contents organized. It is somewhat time-consuming but also very satisfying once everything has its place. With only five completed so far, I will have plenty to keep me busy over the winter when I most enjoy spending time in the shop.
Maya has been dating Owen for a little over 2 years now. He is Canadian and grew up in Waterloo, where he attended university before moving to Boston for a job with Formlabs as a mechanical engineer. His parents still maintain a home there but temporarily live in Dallas, where his father is Group Vice President for the Quality Division of Toyota Motor, North America. His mother is a retired CPA. Jeanine and I met them for the first time this evening when we hosted them and the kids for dinner. We had a wonderful evening, and we will be reminded of it every day for the next week as we ration out the beautiful chocolates we received as a gift.
Ever since purchasing a new sofa for the River House, there has been nothing but complaints from Jeanine and the kids. When Jeanine and I made the selection last year, it met all of the requirements we had established at the time: part of an arrangement to seat five, organic shape, low profile, and sized to fit our space. We forgot to consider sprawl, however. Our kids grew up with a Thayer Coggin couch on which all three could lay down and nap simultaneously. Even though that sectional was still in good condition, it was too large to fit in the new house and we were fortunate to sell it with our last house. Today, I acquiesced to the relentless pressure and began the search for a new sectional sofa. I am doing the leg work while Jeanine is busy with her volunteer work. She and the kids will all be required to sign an acceptance agreement before we buy the replacement. For the record, the new couch will allow for the sprawl of only two adults. A third adult can sprawl on the sofa in the adjacent home theater.
Pictured above are my brother (right) and I attempting to remove a log from the Mohawk River near Cohoes Falls. I was reminded of this image by my cousin Vincent, who shared a remembrance of my father’s best friend, a musician named Alex Rymanowski. We used to go to the river and wade out through the shallow water to an uninhabited island. Vincent came across an article in Modern Machine Shop about a Dennis Rymanowski, the son or nephew of Alex (Al) who with Dennis continued the Rymanowski Band long after Alex passed away and his brother John retired. What a blast from the past. Vincent also shared a story of meeting a guy in Maryland on their first day of work only to discover that he was driving the Corvette previously owned by the Vice Principal of the high school I attended in Schenectady, NY. Hard to imagine the probability of either of these connections and Vincent’s ability to connect the dots.
There are currently six Wienermobiles in existence, all of which are actively used for promotional purposes across the United States. Today, while driving to lunch with Jeanine, we encountered one in the wild. These iconic hot dog-shaped vehicles are part of a marketing campaign by Oscar Mayer and are driven by a select group of college graduates known as “Hotdoggers”. The Wienermobile fleet has a rich history, with the first model introduced in 1936. Since then, the fleet has seen various iterations and upgrades, but the current lineup consists of six vehicles that tour the country year-round, often appearing at events and parades.
The boys joined us this evening to watch the finals of the inaugural Women’s Amputee Soccer World Cup. Kyle arrived with dinner in hand, a godsend since Jeanine was otherwise occupied, and told me I was on my own for food. The finals were between the USA and the host nation, Columbia. The match ended in a 1:1 tie and was decided by a one-goal difference in the penalty kick shootout, with Columbia the victor. Although it was a disappointing result for the Americans, the tournament represents a major milestone in the sport of Amputee Soccer.
My own soccer career may have come to an end this morning. During our final match of the season before the playoffs, I suffered a fairly severe hamstring injury. For some time now, I have been wondering how many more seasons I have in me (or rather, how many more miles I can put on my decrepit knees), and today’s injury may be the signal that it is time to hang up my cleats. Time will tell.
Postscript: We won our match 2:0, and I played 70 minutes as a striker. My injury happened after I intercepted a clearance and had a good opportunity to score.
Jeanine and I enjoyed a plant-shopping outing today. We purchased four small troughs that fit neatly on the window sill over the kitchen sink. I filled one with succulents, and Jeanine filled the other three with herbs and lovely little plants. It was a small effort with a massive joy dividend.
One of my soccer teammates is a season ticket holder for the New England Revolution. He made me aware of a recent article in the organization’s “From The Pitch” newsletter that features Nicolai and amputee soccer. I look forward to the day when Nico makes me aware of such media coverage rather than having to learn about it from friends after the fact.
Conantum, our neighborhood, includes common land shared by all residents. It includes our community gardens, a ball field, and a pollinator garden. It is pictured above in the late afternoon sun. I was on my way to the post office when I stopped for this photo. Something about the play of light, color, and composition appealed to me.
Jeanine and I visited a bonsai nursery today. Few things bring me a greater sense of peace and serenity than looking at these living works of art. I am increasingly tempted to acquire one of these trees, but I need to learn more about their care and maintenance before forking over between $2,000 – $4,000 for one that I really like. As a placeholder, I purchased this Gold Mop Threadleaf Cypress from the discount table of our local nursery for $12. I gave it an initial trimming of branches and roots and installed it in a pot we had lying around. I am not sure it will survive but I found the stress leaving my body as I completed the project.
The kids and Jeanine all voted today. I voted early 2 weeks ago. I am pleased that the entire family did their civic duty. Nothing to do now but sit back and wait nervously. To distract myself, I completed the waterproofing around the base of my shop door, something I discovered that our builder failed to do. I used seven lifts of epoxy topped with an outdoor caulk. The epoxy is thin enough to penetrate deep into crevices but is time-consuming to mix and apply; each layer took about 20 minutes and kept me busy for most of the morning. Rather than stressing over the election results, I spent the remainder of the day listening to music. I discovered several new artist that appealed to me including this pair of beat boxers.
Concord 250 celebration to be held on April 19, 2025, commemorates the semiquincentennial, or 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, which began here in Concord and Lexington. Jeanine has volunteered to help with the planning and is working with a team to bring food trucks to the event. This morning, she asked me to take an aerial photo of the downtown parking lot, which will be transformed into a food court with food trucks (orange), food trailers (green), food tents (pink), portable toilets (cyan), and large tents over centrally located picnic tables. I added the graphics per her guidance, and she will use the image for an upcoming presentation. The plan will likely go through several iterations before a final layout is selected.
Jeanine is in charge of food truck selection for the upcoming Concord 250th Celebration. Today, she drove with a fellow committee member to Princeton, MA for the Fall Food Truck Fest to conduct research. She returned with many new connections and a better sense of the logistics involved. She also informed me that she would not be having dinner tonight due to the extent of her research.
This morning, my soccer team was out for revenge against Lexington, the only team that has handed us a loss in the last two years. We emerged victorious 1:0 after they gave up an own goal towards the end of the game, making us the Division Champions for the 13th season in a row. I played in a three-man rotation at the right-wing midfield position. That translates to 30 minutes of playing time in a 90-minute match. Under other circumstances, I would have been disappointed, but today, I was happy for the limited action. Let’s just say that I didn’t get a lot of exercise on our recent southern road trip while being fed almost constantly by each family member we visited. Even so, I managed a powerful shot on goal from the top of the 18 yard box that would have slipped under the bar except for a valiant hand deflection by the goalie. It was possibly the best shot on frame for our team.
When we returned from our road trip last night, it was already dark, and it was challenging to navigate the driveway because it was entirely covered in leaves. While it was wonderful to be back home, it was depressing to see that almost all the leaves are down now. After clearing the driveway, Jeanine helped me install snow sticks so that we are ready for winter. I am sad that autumn is coming to an end, but I am thankful for what has probably been the most spectacular fall ever.
As much as we enjoyed our road trip, Jeanine and I were ready to sleep in our own bed. We decided to complete our ~3,000-mile journey with a 14-hour push for home. We stopped for breakfast and a short hike at the Big Meadows Lodge in the Shenandoah National Park but otherwise just kept heading north. Although the foliage was past peak, even the muted colors created a lovely natural quilt to cover the rolling mountains.
We continued our northward journey today, traveling again along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Although not as intense as the peak color we had last week, the foliage was still quite dramatic. Occasionally, we encountered showers of falling leaves and the distinctive sound of them crunching under the weight of our tires. We started the day at the Rusty Rooster just outside of Mt Airy for an amazing breakfast (not to be missed on future travel to the area). We stopped throughout the day for photos including the one above of Mabry Mill, the most photographed location along the parkway, and for good reason. As the sun was setting, we turned our attention to lodging and dinner. After a few false starts we found our way to the Zen Suites at the White Lotus Eco Spa. When we arrived we found the entire facility vacant. Absent the confirmation e-mail we were expecting we had no way to gain entry to our suite. We decided to let ourselves into the kitchen and dining hall area where we enjoyed an authentic and delicious Salvadoran dinner that we had picked up in town. After much investigation, I discovered the confirmation e-mail in my gmail account and we used the code to finally gain access to our room.
The 400-year-old Angel Oak Tree measures 65 feet tall and its trunk is 31.5 feet in circumference. It is the largest east of the Mississippi and is magnificently beautiful. I visited the site this morning while Jeanine remained at the hotel to conduct a Zoom call for the consulting project she is currently leading.
My next stop was a brief visit to the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. I could have spent the entire day there, but I had to return to the hotel to collect Jeanine. We started heading north at noon, but not before securing a pulled pork and chopped brisket grilled cheese sandwich for the road.
Jeanine and I arrived in the historic downtown district of Charleston early this morning. After a few hours of exploring on our own, we joined a walking tour, which really enhanced our understanding of the history and significance of the area.
The French Huguenot Church was of particular interest to Jeanine.
Jeanine chose to explore the International African American Museum while I chose the Charleston Museum where I encountered a replica of the U.S. Civil War submarine HL Hunley. For those who do not know, I am obsessed with all things submarine. On the evening of February 17, 1864, her crew of 8 rammed the Federal blockading vessel, Housatonic, with a spar-mounted torpedo. It was the first submarine to ever sink an enemy vessel. Unfortunately, it never returned to port and its crew including Horace Hunley were lost at sea.
I used my drone to fly to Fort Sumter from Sullivan’s Island and get a full-profile view of the USS Yorktown. We ended the day having ice cream in place of dinner.
We left Raleigh this morning destined for Charleston. Along the way, we stopped at the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park. Vollis Simpson (1919-2013) created a whimsical environment of intricate, whirling whirligigs eleven miles outside of the City of Wilson in North Carolina. Simpson worked hard, building equipment for house moving and opening a repair shop on his property. Over time, he started building whirligigs until his property held constructions over 50 feet tall. Powered by the wind, the whirling spectacles began to attract art lovers and tourists. The reflective material lights up in the moonlight or in the headlights of a passing car, creating quite a spectacle. Many became familiar with Simpson’s work when four of his whirligigs were installed in downtown Atlanta for the 1995 Olympic games Today, self-taught artist Vollis Simpson is internationally recognized as an important American artist.
Our next stop was Pawleys Island, where we enjoyed an extended walk on the beach. See if you can find Jeanine in the aerial photo. Pawleys Island is a charming coastal town located in Georgetown County, South Carolina, known for its rich history and serene atmosphere. The island spans approximately four miles and is part of the “Hammock Coast,” a region celebrated for its beautiful beaches and laid-back lifestyle. The area has been inhabited for thousands of years, originally by the Waccamaw and Winyah Native American tribes. European settlement began in the early 18th century when Percival Pawley received land grants in 1711, leading to the establishment of plantations aimed at escaping the malaria-carrying mosquitoes prevalent in the summer months.
Grits and omelets were on the menu this morning as Burton prepared another exceptional meal. We then made a short 30-minute drive to Heather and Burton’s daughter’s new house in Durham. Toni just moved into the top floor of this duplex and is thrilled to be a homeowner for the first time.
Her house is situated next to a state forest, where we enjoyed a leisurely stroll helping Jeanine to hit her 10,000 step daily target.
After fortification with hot beverages and a shared cinnamon roll, we visited the Duke University Chapel and sat in on a choral performance.
Today, we traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina, where we connected with my cousin Heather and her husband Burton. After a minestrone and charcuterie board lunch inspired by my father’s favorite foods, we enjoyed a lovely hike in the William B. Umstead State Park. Our subsequent attempt to visit the North Carolina Museum of Art was thwarted by overflow parking for the state fair.
My sister suggested we visit the North Carolina State Fair today. From a caloric consumption point of view, the visit was a total disaster, but in every other regard, it was a blast. Mayela and Stephen attend almost every year and know the fair intimately. Except for the midway rides, which none of us have an affinity for, we visited every nook and cranny of the fair grounds. I enjoyed the bonsai exhibit and blacksmithing demonstration most. Jeanine ensured we experienced the dog, pig, and camel show; hard to describe with words but thoroughly entertaining. Mayela and Stephen guided us to all the best foods and local artisans. The giant pumpkins (watermellons, gourds, sweet potatoes, etc.) were truely hard to believe. When the sun went down we boarded the State Fair Flyer for a dramatic aerial view of the grounds at night.
Our destination today was Sanford, North Carolina. Once again, we chose to drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway even though it added a few hours to our journey. The tradeoff in extra time is a ten-fold more beautiful drive with almost no traffic and zero trucks. If I had to pick the most beautiful road in all of the United States, the Blue Ridge Parkway would be a top contender.
When we arrived at my sister Mayela’s new home, her husband Stephen attempted to burn the house down while preparing bourbon butter sauce for our steaks. In truth, he is a masterful chef, and our meal was delicious.
Today, our road trip took us to Radford, Virginia, where we visited with our nephew, Rory. He gave us a complete tour of the Radford University campus, where he is working towards his master’s degree in organizational psychology. He then prepared homemade risotto, one of my favorite dishes, serving it with asparagus and beef spare ribs. What a delightful meal.
Our day started with a visit to Harper’s Ferry, where we got out and explored the historic village. The town is located at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers and was a key battleground during the Civil War changing hands eight times between 1861 and 1865.
Jeanine managed to score us a private tour of St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church which was otherwise closed to the public.
We opted to drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway for as long as possible. When we stopped at Humpback Rocks, the ranger informed us that the trees were at peak color. Indeed, it was like driving through a tunnel of color interrupted by turnouts offering awesome vistas of the surrounding countryside. It was one of the best fall time drives we have ever taken.
Another day of perfect weather in Frederick and a second evening of outdoor dining with Vincent, Carol, and her twin sister Emily (and Millie the dog whose real name s Minnie – another story). Vincent grilled his famous salmon, and Jeanine threw together her “poked potatoes.” Understanding the extent of my cooking skills, I was wisely assigned to seat cushion placement and table setting. Dinner was followed by a few rounds of the spelling game Quiddler, in which contestants benefit from memorizing a list of sanctioned 2 letter words like “AA” and “ZA”.
Earlier in the day, Jeanine, Carol, Millie, and I made the short hike to Cunningham Falls, at 78 feet, the tallest cascading waterfall in Maryland. We approached by way of the moderately difficult Cliff Trail and returned by way of the easy Lower Falls Trail. Jeanine continued to question the accuracy of the moderately difficult trail characterization throughout the remainder of the day.
Today, we continued south on our road trip through Pennsylvania stopping throughout the day whenever the spirit moved us. I suspect we are among a very small group of people who have ever stopped to see the Pioneer Woman Granny Statue in Altamont, PA relegated to a back alley way.
We also chose to detour slightly to stop in Hershey. The Hershey Story museum chronicles the community’s creation as a model town for the workers at Milton Hershey’s chocolate factory. Hersheypark opened in 1907 as a modest green space but grew to include rides and attractions, including a zoo. We decided to spend our time at Hershey Gardens which also features a butterfly house (with a few frogs).
Our final destination was Frederick, Maryland where we are visiting my cousin Vincent and his wife Carol. After a lovely walking tour of the city, we sat down for a delicious feast followed by a screening of short holiday movies created by Vincent and family members. They will not be up for any Emmy awards but will remain an enduring tribute to our crazy and hillarious family.
