I am a proponent of the artificial Christmas tree. Jeanine is not. I do not like the idea of cutting down live trees year after year only to dispose of them a month later. Also, I like the fact that they can be pre-wired and set up quickly with little mess. Jeanine likes the beauty and fragrance of a real tree. This year, I acquiesced to her wishes. Consistent with our smaller house, we found a smaller tree, which may be a good compromise for us. It was easy to find, transport, and set up with little fuss. It took less resources to grow and will produce a smaller amount of waste. We are hoping the kids will join us tomorrow to begin decorating it.

Jeanine, Susan, and Jean visited the Concord Museum this morning before traveling to Medford to visit Kyle and see his new house. Upon their return, they launched into a serious dominos tournament. I took advantage of Black Friday sales to do some needed shopping. Of most significance, and after extensive research, I ordered a sectional couch to replace our one-year-old sofa. The latter did not meet with the kids’ approval because it was too formal and not conducive to sprawling out. Jeanine was not a fan either, as it did not provide adequate seating for larger gatherings. The new couch is a custom order and is expected to arrive in early April.

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving in the new house with much to be thankful for. We were joined by the kids, Aunt Susan and Jean, Maya’s boyfriend, Owen, and Kyle’s flatmate, Heloisa. Maya and Owen caught a quick nap after competing in a 5K turkey trot this morning.

Nico had a visit from Robin, a close friend from Colorado College while Maya invited her high school friends Grace, Claire, and Zoe over for coffee after the race.

We also received wonderful news that my nephew, Mario, will be getting married on July 20th in Ireland. We are already starting to plan for the nuptial and family reunion.

Jeanine baked a pumpkin cheesecake for our Thanksgiving meal tomorrow. She used one of the steam modes available on our oven for the first time for this recipe. Based on appearance alone the results were excellent. The proof will be in the pudding.

Nicolai informed us that he will perform as part of a movement installation at the Harvard Art Museum next week.

“The work invites performers and audience members alike to consider societal “norms” about disability and celebrates difference as an affirmation of our humanity. Performers– a mix of Harvard students, staff, and community members– will create sculptural compositions of their own making which will slowly evolve in real time over the course of the hour.”

We are so accustomed to hearing about his athletic exploits that this came as a surprise, a delightful one. We are both planning to attend.

My soccer team, the Concord United Dragons, secured our over-62 division state title this afternoon. I had hoped to play, but a few warm-up sprints convinced me that my hamstring injury from two weeks ago had not yet healed sufficiently. It was a very competitive match, which remained scoreless through the first half. Early in the second, we picked up a beautiful goal that felt like it could be the winner, but Everett, our opponent, responded with an equalizer 15 minutes later. With less than three minutes remaining and both teams playing flat out for the win, we found the back of the net, earning us the championship and trophy. After the match, we gathered at a local pub and enjoyed a rather raucous celebration.

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Jeanine’s office has been the repository for all the boxes containing books we kept during our recent moves. She has recently started sorting them and selecting ones to keep and donate. I have been enlisted to move the keepers into the basement until such time that I have completed building the bookshelves for her office. Some of the boxes contain old photos, including the one above featuring me and my Alpha Romeo Spider, perhaps my favorite cars of all time. This car accompanied me on my journeys, first from Schenectady, NY, to Indianapolis, IN, and then on to Stanford, CA. It was with me during some of the most transformative times of my young life and is a reminder of some of my fondest memories. Hard to imagine it has been 45 years since this photo was taken. It seems like only yesterday if I look past the full head of hair and fit body.

Kyle has initiated a plan to purchase a triple-unit home somewhere in the Boston area. The idea is that each sibling would own one of the units. The concept is still in its infancy, but Nicolai and Maya seem interested in exploring the possibilities, and Kyle has already started identifying possible candidates. Jeanine and I like the idea and will be very interested to see what develops.

Pictured above is the Cambridge Reservoir. It is almost entirely devoid of water. We have been experiencing drought conditions in Massachusetts for the last several weeks. This has led to the highest level of wildfire warnings we have ever seen since moving here some twenty years ago. Thankfully, we received rain today, and more is forecast for tomorrow.

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.

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.