For better or worse, we live in the affluent town of Concord, MA. When I saw this property advertised in the local paper for $18,000,000, I was curious to see what you get for that kind of money. I copied the Zillow listing below, complete with a spelling error.

This exceptional 6-acre estate offers supreme privacy and tranquility on a quiet cul-de-sac bordered by conservation land and completed fenced in with 3 gated driveways. The luxurious main residence includes 7 bedrooms, a gourmet kitchen with scenic views, solarium, library, private theater, billiards room, 2025 Built state-of-the-art Fitness Center with infrared room, juice bar, club house with a connecting wing to the Indoor Outdoor Heated Pool with full spa experience. Two greenhouses, multiple fruit tree orchards, tennis court w 4 Bed guest house, 2 add’l guest houses, commercial kitchen with live in chef’s suite. A multi-car garage completes the offering.

It was originally listed for $21.5M two years ago and I suspect the price will fall further before this property sells.

When I first noticed this parking lot located along Route 2 about 5 miles from our house, I assumed it was for a shopping mall. If you study the picture, however, you quickly realize that the buildings are way too small to require this much parking space. My next guess was a park-and-drive lot for the airport, but there are no shuttle buses anywhere to be seen. Finally, I thought it might be a huge car dealership with lots of inventory, but there is no form of signage whatsoever. After some sleuthing, I discovered that this is where used cars and trucks are auctioned at wholesale. Once a week, hundreds are sold all over the northeastern region of the country. The inventory comes from rental car companies, fleet managers, manufacturers, dealerships, and finance companies. The company is called ADESA and has 56 such locations across the USA. It was recently acquired by Carvana.

It has been two weeks since my surgery, and it is now safe to start doing increasingly strenuous activities, although full recovery will take another month or two. Several months ago, the motion-activated floodlights on the corner of our garage started behaving erratically. Replacing the light fixture has been on my to-do list for some time, and I was happy to complete the task today. I spent 30 minutes on the ladder and another couple of hours waiting until it turned dark for testing and adjustments.

In our family, Nico is the most famous soccer player. Kyle, however, is also a gifted athlete and soccer star in his own right. After watching the World Cup Final with our friends Tom and Karen, I remembered a video I shot of a teenage Kyle playing indoor soccer and his skillful antics. It took me hours to find in the massive amount of video I shot of the kids as they grew up. Unlike my photo library, I have not made the effort to add keywords or an index to the collection. Once located, I edited the game down to the short highlight reel linked above.

Nico enjoyed the World Cup final in person and shared this photo as his group entered the stadium.

Known as Tenshin-en, or the “Garden of the Heart of Heaven,” this serene 10,000 square-foot space behind the Museum of Fine Arts merges Japanese symbolism with the natural beauty of New England. Designed by Kyoto garden master Kinsaku Nakane, the contemplative space is a karesansui (dry landscape) that uses meticulously raked gravel to mimic water and over 200 carefully placed stones to represent mountains and islands. It features over 70 plant species, including towering pines, cherries, and Japanese maples.

Jeanine and I have decided to integrate a Japanese garden into our home’s landscape. It is still an early notion, and we have decided to visit several gardens to seek inspiration. Our outing this morning also included a visit to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and a rare rhinoceros sighting.

When Jeanine and I go for walks together, it is almost always in our immediate neighborhood. For a change of pace this morning, we took our walk in the Minuteman National Historical Park near the Old North Bridge, where I photographed a new perspective of the bridge and monuments. Because of the early hour, we encountered few visitors other than the Rock Pigeons that are invariably perched on the bridge railing.

While out for a morning stroll, I encountered this Brown-belted Bumble Bee (Bombus griseocollis), a native pollinator widely distributed across North America. It is pictured foraging on the bright purple flowers of a Purple Loosestrife plant. It was so engrossed in feeding that it was oblivious to my camera positioned about three inches away for this close-up.

The air quality today was terrible due to the smoke drifting in from wildfires in Canada. On the positive side, the sunset was spectacular. Wildfires cause highly vibrant, intensely red and orange sunsets primarily due to a physics phenomenon known as Mie scattering. Under normal conditions, clean air particles are tiny and scatter short wavelengths of light—like blue and violet—which is why the midday sky looks blue. However, wildfire smoke pumps millions of much larger particulate matter and aerosols into the upper atmosphere. Because these smoke particles are significantly larger than standard air molecules, they act as an aggressive filter. They completely scatter away the shorter violet, blue, and green wavelengths of light. This allows only the longest wavelengths—vivid oranges and deep reds.

The flower pictured in its bud stage is an American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea), a large aquatic perennial also commonly known as the yellow lotus, water-chinquapin, or volée. It is the only lotus species native to North America, thriving naturally in quiet ponds, lakes, and slow-moving river systems. While typical water lilies float directly on the surface of the water, the American Lotus is an emergent plant characterized by its massive, umbrella-like leaves and single flowers that are held high above the water on long, stiff, vertical stalks. When fully mature, this pale-green bud will open into a fragrant, cream-to-pale-yellow blossom that can reach up to ten inches in diameter. Thousands can be found at the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, where I took this photo.

I decided to do a little drone photography today, revisiting the Annursnac Hill Reservoir. Several weeks ago, I lost my drone while shooting images for the Concord Bridge. The model I replaced it with has three cameras instead of one. The two additional cameras provide a mid-telephoto and full telephoto capability in addition to the standard wide-angle field of view. This allows for much greater latitude when framing an image. In the photo above, I decided to include the Northeastern Correctional Center in the background, which I think makes for a more interesting composition.

Earlier in the day, I visited the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, where I found fewer birds than in our own backyard. That said, I spotted the Great Egret pictured below which we have never seen on our stretch of the river.

Maya and Brennon (nickname: “Brog”) joined us for lunch today after taking the kayaks out for a paddle on the Sudbury River. Jeanine prepared a special lunch for the hungry kayakers, including this zucchini ricotta pie. We learned that Brennan is not a fan of tomatoes or mushrooms, and this fact will no doubt influence Jeanine’s future menu planning.

The Sail Boston Parade of Sail is a maritime procession featuring over 50 majestic tall ships and naval vessels from more than 25 countries. Held as the signature event of Sail Boston, the parade celebrates America’s 250th anniversary and Massachusetts’ rich seafaring heritage. Led by the USS Constitution, the fleet glides from Broad Sound into Boston Inner Harbor, turning around at Charlestown before heading to assigned docks. Jeanine and I joined an estimated million spectators to watch the stunning flotillas from LoPresti Park with the Boston skyline as a backdrop. The event kicked off with an F/A 18 flyover and cannon fire from “Old Ironside.”

If you have ever wondered how sailors dry off when they get drenched by a rogue wave the answer is revealed in the photo below.

For many years, I have been trying to capture an iconic photograph of the town of Concord. Even though we have an abundance of quaint shops and historic landmarks, I have yet to find a single composition that captures its essence. Today, I may have come close with this aerial photograph, which includes the Wright Tavern in the foreground and the First Parish and TriCon churches in the background.

Today we enjoyed a visit from Brennan, Maya’s boyfriend, Fiona, and her boyfriend Ben. They arrived by canoe after paddling here from Framingham, about 13 miles upstream. We fed them snacks to fuel the remainder of their journey, another 2 miles to the Lowell Rd. bridge. Although Fiona appears to be enjoying a free ride, I understand that she did her fair share of the work earlier in the day. We enjoy having visitors, and somehow it is even better when they arrive by way of the river.

Jeanine suggested a photo on the couch Maya purchased from a neighbor, but has yet to sit in.