Spring has arrived and with it rowers on the Charles River.

Monday’s are always very busy for me at work.  Even so, I was able to find 90 minutes shortly after lunch, between meetings and the rain, to take in a bit of the Boston Marathon.   The four mile round trip walk took 80 minutes leaving me only 10 minutes to shoot. While spectating from a bridge over Commonwealth Avenue, I was standing next to a man with one child on his shoulders and another by his side. He was checking on a phone app telling his young kids that mommy was getting close.  When she appeared they began yelling and she spotted them.  I captured a nice sequence and gave the dad my contact info and told him I would send the photos.  This evening I made good on that promise and was happy to provide this family from Asheville, NC a happy souvenir from their visit to Boston. 

The kids were all home this afternoon for a family celebration of Jeanine’s birthday as was our niece Rachel.  Jeanine had requested that here children prepare a meal together as her birthday gift.  Kyle expertly prepared a lamb dish, Nicolai roasted cauliflower and broccoli, and Maya was in charge of the cake (not sure who made the rice).   Jeanine was thrilled to be surrounded by family and to witness her children sharing her gift for cooking.  Unfortunately, I had procrastinated on preparing income taxes and had to spend a good portion of the day involved with that less than enjoyable activity.  My mood was not enhanced by my soccer game this morning which resulted in a 0-0 tie.  Our opponents did not make a single serious shot on our net but managed to pack the box with defenders throughout the game frustrating our many attempts to score.  I may have had our best opportunity with a header that just missed the lower corner.

Once a year, spouses are invited to the book group to which Jeanine belongs.  This year, for the first time, we met at a restaurant, the Forge and Vine in Groton. Reservations must be obtained months in advance and this was reflected in the quality of the food.  Our group of ten enjoyed a quiet semi-private room which lent itself to conversation.  As I have suspected for many years, the book group is really a cover for monthly social gatherings. I was one of only two participants who actually completed the assigned book, Michelle Obama’s, Becoming.  For the record, Jeanine was not the other.  As is her habit and right, Jeanine is stretching her birthday into something of a week-long event which made for a very delicious end to the evening. Tomorrow we are celebrating again, this time with the kids.

Our little Jeanine is all grown up.  Today she celebrates her 56th birthday.  Seems to me she becomes more lovely each year.

Many of my recent posts feature new buildings going up in Cambridge or Somerville. For better or worse I have exhausted most other photographically interesting subjects within walking distance from my office. For every new building that goes up, there are old ones coming down. Today I walked passed the pictured construction site and watched for several minutes as this excavator made quick work of its demolition task. I think the water is to keep dust down rather than fire prevention.

Boston is well known for our fleet of Duck Boats. These military surplus amphibious vehicles are used to give tours of the city from both land and water. Our whole family took one when we first moved to the area and enjoyed it immensely. In addition to the driver/captain being a very funny guy, he let the kids skipper the duck while on the water. In Boston, Duck Boats are also used for “rolling rallies” to celebrate national sports championships, eleven in total since 2002. Pictured above is one of the fleet in front of the Boston Science Museum.

Located a few blocks from Formlabs, the Zinc Apartments building seems to carry some kind of cryptic message on its exterior.  When time permits I may try to solve the puzzle.  Monthly rents range from $2500 to $10,000.  

I just learned that Mark Krauss, a former Concord United soccer teammate of mine, passed away yesterday at the age of 56. He was afflicted with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and ALS, possibly a consequence of Lyme’s disease which he also suffered from. He leaves behind his wife, a school teacher, and their five children, three of them in college. It is a heart breaking situation and our soccer community is coming together to support the family. His nickname on the pitch was “Mouse” but he played with the heart of a lion. He was a true gentleman on and off the field. We are all extremely saddened to lose one of our own and reminded to live life to the fullest each day.

His daughter, Jessie, organized a fundraising 5K run to benefit the Massachusetts General Hospital FTD Unit. It was scheduled for yesterday which only seems to amplify the sense of loss. Pictured below with our Concord United squad.  He is the one with my arm over his shoulder.

Nicolai has been accepted to Lesley University’s graduate degree program.  High school teachers in Massachusetts require a Master’s Degree in Education in order to gain certification.  He is currently living with us but is actively looking to find a friend to share an apartment with.  Even so, we rarely see him.  This evening he was home and we enjoyed a nice Sunday dinner with him before he left to hang out with friends.

“Before kickoff I said I wanted the game to be over by half-time. For the first 20 minutes some shambolic defending meant that without a few superb saves from Rob we would have been sunk. After that we sorted ourselves out… Carl under a lot of pressure and moving away from goal outside the box curled one top corner 1-0.  Tony made a run down the wing and a pinpoint cross onto Bob’s head, 2-0 at half-time. In the second half we buried them in the first 5 minutes…   A dazzling dribble from Jamie resulted in a ball across the box and Joe hammered it home. A corner from Joe found Frank two feet in the air and he headed it top corner, 4-0 and their heads went down. We kept going with some great team work resulting in Jeno and Tony both scoring.  6-0 and no cards a perfect start to the season!”

Little by little we are preparing to sell our house. Last week we had the wallpaper in our foyer removed and the walls repainted.  Today, I removed the carpeting, padding, and tack strips from our front hallway stairs so the refinishing and paint work can continue next week.  I left the remnants neatly stacked to keep my boss happy.

Pictured here is the Program Manager for our recently announced Form 3L 3D printer.  The “L” in “3L” stands for large and hence the tag line on these shirts passed out to all 500 employees of the company.  On the other side is a graphic depicting the new machine.  Interest in the Form 3L has been overwhelming and we are now in a race to get it into full production.

On my daily walk today I came across this clever adaptation of a tree stump in Cambridge.  I was tempted to sit down for a spell but it is most definitely a “high chair” which would have required a running start and half gainer to deliver my backside to the correct location.  I thought it better to maintain my aerobic walk and paused only for the photograph.

Timed perfectly to coincide with our big product announcement yesterday, Built In Boston just published their Insider Spotlight on Formlabs. I wish they had used the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots picture (featured on this blog last week) but still very pleased with the piece. Here is another photo that I really liked which also did not make the cut.