Jeanine and I waiting in the cell phone lot at Logan Airport for Maya’s return from Europe. Her flight from Amsterdam was slightly delayed so we got out to stretch our legs a little. My sister-in-law, Susan, was the photographer. She drove down from Burlington, VT to celebrate the boy’s combined birthday which we are celebrating tomorrow. After collecting Maya who was ripe with stories of her travel adventures, we connected with Kyle for a late lunch and then were treated of a tour of his new office. Cengage recently moved into a new building on the waterfront with commanding views of the Boston Harbor. It takes poor Kyle about 90 seconds to walk from his apartment to his new digs which includes first rate amenities from top to bottom. Pictured below is the vertical garden on the 14th floor roof deck and view of the harbor.

The beauty of solid wood floors is that they can be restored to like new condition in a matter of hours. We have lived in Concord for 15 years and it was time to refinish the hardwood floors in our dining room and music room. We will not move the furniture back in until the second coat of polyurethane varnish is fully cured.

Today we had the wood floors in our living room and music room refinished. The polyurethane that was used to finish the newly sanded wood produces some powerful fumes as it dries. I believe that this dragonfly was overcome by these fumes and came to rest on the floor in the foyer where it expired. I was sad for the dragonfly and paused for a moment to capture its beauty before returning it to the outdoors.

I finally got around to downloading some photos I took on the Bridge of Flowers last Sunday. The beauty of flowers never ceases to amaze me.

Although the Audi e-tron has an EPA rated range of 204 miles, I was please to see a new record range prediction of 244 miles. This no doubt the result of a very leisurely drive to and from Schenectady, NY over the weekend. I was able to average 3.0 miles/kWh on the return trip, a far cry from the 1.8 miles/kWh I started off with this morning. Most of my commutes average out to 2.6.

This morning I finalized a lighting formula for photographing factory test prints from the new Formlabs Form 3 printer. The goal was to reveal surface finish in a consistent and repeatable way so that we can image parts in China and study them in the US. The next step will be to specify/design a standard camera/jig which we can use at the factory.

As we returned to Concord from Schenectady, Jeanine and I stopped for a brief visit to Shelburne Falls. There we visited the Bridge of Flowers which was as pretty as we have ever seen it with virtually everything in full bloom. It made for a very nice stopover and opportunity to stretch our legs.

I took advantage of the drone for aerial photographs of the bridge and the falls for which the village is named.

I am the executor of the estate which owns the home I grew up in. In light of her recent health issues, my mother has asked me to sell it. This weekend, Jeanine and I drove to Schenectady to ready the house for sale and to take photos for the real estate listing. Both my sisters are helping with the project while my brother continues to care for my mother in Minnesota. The house is located in the historic GE plot and while it needs some modernization, it was built in an era where craftsmanship ruled the day. The back yard features a Japanese style garden created by my mother and despite her absence remains in very good shape.

Earlier this week, Jeanine and I visited the Old North Bridge at sunset for a very tranquil stroll. It is also possible that we ended our outing with a visit to Kimball Farm for ice cream.

Maya seems to be enjoying her European travel holiday, pictured here in Lisbon for a second day. Four years ago, Jeanine and I spent a lovely vacation in the Azores, an archipelago located in the Atlantic Ocean some 1,000 miles to the west, thus far our only visit to Portugal.

My soccer teams is currently planning our next international friendly against Portugal and I am increasingly looking forward to making that trip.

Maya is traveling with friends in Europe and sent this photo from Lisbon. Her parents look forward to every message and photo we receive. Meanwhile, her brother Nico has extended his visit to Colorado and has sent zero photos thus far (yes, this is a hint).

A month ago my mother elected to forego all further medical intervention after a botched surgical procedure left her with a dismal prognosis. She was prepared to die on her own terms and said her goodbyes to family and friends. Today she celebrated her 91st birthday and is showing every indication that she is on a road to recovery. She still needs to gain some weight and rehabilitate her atrophied muscles but I predict I will be posting a photo of her dancing at her 92nd birthday party a year from now.

Kyle, our first born child, turned 27 years old today. It seems like only yesterday that Jeanine and I were starting our journey as new parents. We could not be more proud of the person he has become.

Kyle lives in the Seaport District of Boston where he works as a Data Analyst for Cengage, a digital textbook company which just merged with McGraw Hill. I have always admired him for his brains and athleticism but more recently have come to appreciate how genuinely empathetic and kind he is (no doubt gifts from his mother). Happy Birthday Son!

I finally had some free time today to work on our lawn irrigation system. The first order of business was removing the yellow jackets nest that had been constructed around the underground valves for the sprinkler heads. A few week ago, I sprayed the nest and it appears that all of the residents departed for greener pastures or are now part of the pasture helping to make it greener. Nests of this type are engineering marvels; structured to maximize enclosed volume with a minimum of supporting wall material. Even more amazing is the fact that construction is done by multiple members of the colony in parallel. Imagine if 100 humans were each tasked with building one room of a 100 room hotel. What do you think the chances are that it would all just fit together perfectly? Regrettably, once I was able to access the valves, I could only isolate one of two that is stuck in the open position. Without a map to the location of other underground control valve boxes, my chances of finding the right one are pretty slim. I rarely outsource home maintenance work of this type but lacking the equipment needed to trace the control wires and locate the other boxes it is time to call in the pros.