This morning, my soccer team competed in the championship finals for the over-62 division in which we play. High temperature and humidity made for a brutally exhausting match. We faced our toughest opponent of the season and had to dig deep for the 2-0 victory. I played for 55 minutes of the match and was utterly spent by the end. I hope to increase my fitness level (i.e. drop some weight) over the summer so that I can be more competitive when our fall season begins in September. For the moment, however, I am just going to enjoy the win.

Kyle is making great progress on his patio project as shown in this recent photo he shared. Last week, I loaned him my laser leveling tools, and he has put them to great use. The result, unfortunately, is that he had to do substantially more grading than originally anticipated. Nevertheless, he has adapted the design nicely. I suspect he will be ready to start laying pavers in one or two weeks and then the “heavy ‘lifting” will be behind him. We can’t wait for his first family patio party.

Nico shared this image on his Instagram account. Unfortunately, he does not mention where he is. I used a screen grab to capture it so no GPS data to be investigated. I decided to try a reverse image search to see if I could identify the distinctive mountain range in the background. Sure enough Google Lens found two matches, both as LinkedIn background images. Naturally, the location was not revealed on either page. The yellow foliage in the second image suggests aspen leaves and the pattern of clusters remind me of photos I have taken in the Rocky Mountains. The paths through the trees in the photo above suggest a ski resort. Based on these clues, I am going to guess he is on a ski mountain somewhere in Colorado, probably one of the lower-altitude ones since there is no snow.

Nico: If you read this, please let me know where your picture was taken.

Completed this morning, this 1000-piece cat puzzle has been entertaining Kris and Jeanine for the last few days. Maya, who spent the night with us, and I also contributed to the effort. It was nice to finish before Kris had to depart for her train to Trenton, NJ. I spent several hours adding more for sale items to our Facebook Marketplace and Craig’s List. Thus far, I have sold a pair of Sonos units, a DeWalt compressed air hose reel, a Chinese-style pedestal table, and a 50-year-old Craftsman toolbox. The cash influx is always appreciated but the real motivation is in finding good homes for things that would otherwise wind up in a landfill.

The Charles River Esplanade in Boston is lined with benches accompanied by small plaques featuring inspirational words, quotes, and personal messages to friends and loved ones. Among them, there is one plaque with no words at all. Instead, it displays the first 120 digits of the mathematical constant, pi (π). Who sponsored the $5,000 plaque is unknown; many suspect it was MIT. It was one of our first stops for Jeanine, Kris, and me on a walking tour of Boston and Cambridge. We took in the Harvard Bridge, esplanade, Hatch Memorial Shell, Longfellow Bridge, Kendall Square, the MIT Stata Center, and Building 10. After the 3-1/2 mile walk, we jumped in the car and headed over to Harvard Square for more sightseeing and ice cream. An early dinner at the Dumpling House fortified us for a visit to the Auburn Cemetery and climb to the top of the Washington Tower.

Visiting us this week is Kris Earle, Jeanine’s best friend since childhood. We ventured out on a short walk to Martha’s Point which offers a lovely view of the meandering Sudbury River as it exits Fairhaven Bay.

Now that we are fully out of the Road House, the time has come to begin selling off all the things we no longer need. For me, that includes woodworking gear that I do not use anymore. The other items are a combination of furniture and household items that do not make sense in our new house. I have set up a makeshift photo studio to facilitate the photography.

In my days, I have encountered many motorcycle rallies ranging from hardcore biker gangs to weekend warriors. Never before, however, have I come across a motor scooter rally. Such was the scene in Concord today. Venturing a guess, I would say these all looked to be Italian in origin.

Earlier in the day, my soccer team played in the semi-finals of the end-of-the-season playoffs to determine the best team in the division. It was possibly our worst game of the season but still good enough to produce a 3-0 win. It was the first time we played in very humid conditions which has a way of zapping your energy. Next weekend we play in the finals for all the marbles. I played reasonably well and managed to put a good header on frame. Unfortunately, it was straight at the keeper.

Kyle has been up to some major landscaping in his backyard and shared the photos below. I fear I may have created a DIY monster by working with him on his basement renovation. These look to be some first-rate retaining walls.

Jeanine and I attended the Conantum Picnic today. Unfortunately, we had to leave early to be present at the River House for potential buyers attending our open house. Even so, I had enough time to photograph some neighborhood children. I am thrilled that we increasingly see young families moving into the neighborhood. I have done very little portraiture since we started building the River House and it was a nice break from shooting inanimate objects.

This morning, I thought about heading downtown for the duck boat parade to celebrate the Celtics NBA championship. The last such parade was for the Patriots when they won the Super Bowl in 2019. Of course, that was pre-covid and I was able to walk there from my office. This time around, I decided the better alternative would be to watch on TV rather than fight the crowds, heat, and general insanity of the event. In the end, I have reached the following conclusion. Attending a championship duck boat parade is like climbing Mount Fuji. The well-known Japanese saying suggests that a wise person will climb Mount Fuji once in their lifetime, but only a fool would climb it twice.

Here is a link to my post from the Patriot’s celebration parade.

And, here is a link to my ascent of Mount Fuji.

Jeanine traveled to Rhode Island today to spend time with friends. I was occupied with a full day of consulting work and could not join her. We compared notes afterward and I think my day was as productive as hers was enjoyable. Apparently, the temperatures near the ocean where she was staying were considerably lower than the heat wave we experienced in Boston.

Maya celebrated her 25th birthday with a dinosaur-themed outdoor picnic. She invited family, friends, and colleagues to join in several activities that all seemed to involve getting drenched with water, an excellent idea given the 90+ degree temperature. Jeanine and I recognized that this party was geared toward younger people and were happy that Kyle and Nicolai were there to represent the family. I will update this post with additional details as we learn them.

The forecasted heat wave arrived today which made working outside a taxing enterprise. Nonetheless, I completed some final repair work on the Road House with assistance from Jeanine. A short nap revived me and watching the Portugal vs Czech Republic Euro match energized me. After a bit of weeding, I decided to photograph the dragonflies that were flitting about everywhere.

Because Maya was still traveling back from Alaska yesterday, we decided to celebrate Father’s Day today with an NBA Finals watch party at my request. It was the first game I watched all season and if you were going to pick just one this would have been it. We enjoyed air-fried chicken wings, waffle-cut French Fries, and a strawberry salad followed by root beer floats for dessert. I would have been happy with any celebration that included the whole family but having our home team cinch a record 18th national title was frosting on the cake.

My soccer team wrapped up the regulation portion of our spring season yesterday with a 7-0 win securing us first place in our over-62 division and promotion to Division 1 in the fall. Because our team was new to this age group we were required to start in Division 2. With 64 goals for and only 1 against, I think it is safe to say we will be at home in the first division. The end-of-the-season playoffs begin next weekend and we will face the second-place team from the southern district. Should we win that match we will advance to the finals the following weekend.