To celebrate Valentine’s Day, I treated the love of my life to breakfast in bed. The menu included a red pepper, onion, cheddar cheese omelet, sourdough toast, orange slices, and coffee with frothed whole milk. Later in the morning, we drove to Gloucester, where we had lunch at George’s. I ordered a Reuben sandwich, the best one I have ever had in my life. Thus fortified, we continued to Niles Beach, where we started a walk to the Eastern Point Lighthouse. Although the air temperature was in the low 30s, the high winds made for a very chilly outing. We continued our adventure with a stop in Rockport before returning home.

In mid-July, we will be traveling to Galway, Ireland, to attend the wedding of Brooke and my nephew, Mario. He is the first of his generation of Calabria’s to get married, and we are thrilled for him. Brooke is the nicest person you will ever meet, and we are delighted she will join our family. Mario is the son of my brother Mark, who also got married in Galway. Our entire family plans to attend the wedding, although Nico may have a schedule conflict with the World Cup qualifier tournament.

Concord is well known for its poor cell phone coverage/reception. This is due to the community’s disdain for cell phone towers and the consequent lack thereof. Finally, however, approval has been granted for a new tower to be constructed on the town’s retired landfill site. I am hopeful, that this will improved service at our house which is less than 1-1/2 miles away. What remains to be seen is how the ~175 foot hill that lies between us and the antenna will impact coverage.

Until today, we have not seen icicles hanging from our roof, something that was a frequent occurrence at our prior homes. The pictured icicles looked like a frozen crashing wave and were only present on our garage, which is unheated and uninsulated. In the winter, the air temperature in the garage is always higher than the outside air due to three sources of heating; (1) solar heating of the outside walls, (2) thermal bleed from the wall shared with the house, and (3) the heat thrown off by the electric cars after being driven. It is easy to imagine a scenario where the garage roof becomes warm enough to melt snow while the outside air temperature is below freezing. By contrast, the roof over our living areas are highly insulated and made from light-colored aluminum which reflects solar radiation. The surface is much less likely to ever become warm enough to melt snow while outside temperatures are cold enough to make icicles.

While on a walk in the neighborhood today, Jeanine and I came across this shoveled-off area of ice in the woods. Jeanine postulated that the unshoveled area in the center was formed in the shape of a football and that this was a tribute of some kind to the Super Bowl. I theorized that this small patch of ice was cleared to form a mini ice rink, although there were no carved tracks to support this idea. For now, this sighting will remain a mystery.

Last night, we received only 4″ of the forecasted 5-8″ of snow for our area. This was just fine by me, as it is my job to clear the drive and walkway. This photo is courtesy of our surveillance system, which e-mails me photos of anyone entering or leaving our driveway. Our snowblower is battery-powered and thus far has managed to clear everything on a single set of fully charged batteries. I always have a second set on trickle charge, should they be required for deeper or wetter snow.

Jeanine and I took advantage of the perfect winter day for a half-day road trip to Boston’s south shore. Our first destination was the Scituate Lighthouse, which we reached by way of a 3-mile walk around the Scituate Harbor. We rewarded our effort with lunch at the Lucky Finn Cafe, which lived up to its reputation.

Our next stop was the Lawson Tower. Described as the most beautiful, most photographed, and most expensive water tower in the world, it is said that Lawson’s wife Jeannie was thrilled with her new home until, in 1901, the Scituate Water Co. decided to build a 276,000 gallon, 153’ high steel water tank in the town center. Mrs. Lawson saw this massive standpipe as a monstrosity and urged her husband to do something about it. Having made a fortune in the stock market, he was happy to oblige her wish.

Our stop at Cohasset Cove was the first place we observed sea ice. The cove is fed by a brook whose fresh water mixes with the salt water, resulting in a brine that freezes at higher temperatures.

Glastonbury Abbey in Hingham, was founded in 1954, and is part of the Swiss-American Benedictine Congregation.  This property was previously the summer estate of William Skilton, a wool merchant who had died in the early 1930s. After Skilton’s death, the estate served various purposes, including being used as an inn, dance parlor, bachelor officers’ quarters during World War II, and a day camp. Pictured below is the observation tower.

We ended the day beach-combing on Nantasket Beach where we collected several lovely shells and completed Jeanine’s 10,000 steps for the day.

Kyle has moved on from Santa Marta to Medellin, which he describes as his favorite city in Columbia so far. I have little doubt that this has something to do with the food he is enjoying. When I last spoke to him, he was considering extending his travel to either Ecuador or Peru.

When designing our house, we hired a close friend to help design some of our interior spaces. Her plan for the first-floor half bath included four square framed black and white photos taken from a single image. Jeanine and I both loved the idea, but finding the right photo has taken some time. Pictured above is our choice. It captures the river theme of our home, and the North Bridge is arguably the most iconic landmark in Concord. Jeanine would have preferred a non-winter version (of which I have many), but I believe the snow adds significant drama in a black and white rendering. In the final installation, the frames will be separated by an inch or two.

For the third day in a row, I have been burning off dead wood from around our property. Today, I worked in the front yard near the road. With snow forecasted for tomorrow, I decided to make a final big push. It will take a couple of years to deal with the entire lot but I am very satisfied with how much I got done this season and will probably call it quits until next year. Nico took this photo as he was pulling into the driveway and posted it with the title, “Fire King.”

Jeanine sent more photos from New Orleans, where she is having a great time with her sisters. She reports that crowds are growing, and security is high with the Super Bowl set for this weekend. I am really looking forward to her return tomorrow. I miss her.

Jeanine and her sisters seem to be having a blast in New Orleans. I believe these pictures are from the warehouse where they store Mardi Gras floats. I am very tempted to make an inappropriate comment about one of these photos, but I will restrain myself in the interest of marital bliss.

On the home front, I took advantage of optimal weather to burn off tons of wood from our waterfront area. Representing decades of accumulation, it was a major undertaking. Because of recent rain and snow, the fire burned very slowly and required constant tending. While physically exhausting, the all-day effort was most satisfying.

I understand that cats do not like to be bathed, but I cannot say that I approve of Maya’s solution to the problem. What is clear is that Maya is in heaven now that she is living with two felines. I look forward to the daily photos and videos she has been sending of the cats being stupid. They almost make me want to adopt one, but that would not work out so well, given that Jeanine is allergic to them.

Jeanine left for New Orleans this morning, where she will be meeting her two sisters, Susan and Lauren. They will spend five days there in celebration of Lauren’s 70th birthday. Each sister has planned one of the days, and I hope to receive photos of their activities.

On the home front, I obtained 3 out of 4 visas that Jeanine and I will need for travel later this month.