Rose has become quite an accomplished volleyball player. Her team competed today in an all-day tournament winning 10 out of 10 matches to claim the championship. Rose is a powerhouse at the service line where she launches serves with such force that most cannot be returned by her opponents. She also has cat-like reflexes and is able to “dig” the ball when it seems all but a lost cause.
After the tournament, my mother treated the entire family to a wonderful dinner out bringing the extended weekend to a very happy close.
Every parent of an exhausted teenager will recognize the posture above. Sophia has returned from a very arduous gymnastics training session and seeks the comfort of her mother’s lap. Since last we saw them, Sophia and Rose have matured into young women both taller than their older cousin Maya and no longer sized to curl up in the same chair with their mother.
For dinner, we were joined by Mario and his ever-delightful, long-time girlfriend, Brook. Mark carved the brisket he has been cooking for the last 48 hours and served it with baked potatoes the size of your head.
Later in the evening, Jeanine, Maya, and I stepped out with my 93-year-old mother to go dancing. Maya has clearly inherited Angela’s grace, poise, and aptitude for dance. Led by a female instructor, Maya looked like a pro in her first-ever exposure to the Tango, one of the most difficult of the ballroom dances.
While investigating kitchen cabinets, Jeanine and I both found ourselves attracted to ones made of bamboo. It is a sustainable species, wears like iron, and is naturally light-colored. We were particularly impressed with one manufacturer that uses a very thick veneer (~1/4 inch) over a laminated core. yielding a very stable structure (will not warp) and the ability to refinish multiple times without sanding through the outside layers. The company that makes these cabinets is located in Plato, Minnesota, less than 45 minutes from where we are staying. Jeanine, Mark, and I drove over to see their showroom and cabinet-making shop this afternoon. I think Mark and I enjoyed the factory tour as much as looking at the cabinet on display.
In the evening, Mark, Marie, Jeanine and I went out for a very nice dinner while Maya hung out with her cousin Mario and his girlfriend Brook.
Maya, Jeanine, and I arrived in Minneapolis this afternoon. We rented a car and drove to Minnetonka where my brother Mark and his family live. High on the priority list was the preparation of a brisket to be served over the weekend. Here, Mark is seen trimming the fat from an enormous slab of beef before placing it in a 5-gallon drum with a sous vide submersion cooker where it will tenderize for the next 48 hours. In case it is not immediately apparent, my brother takes food preparation as seriously as I do photography. We were joined later in the day by my mother and nieces, Sophia and Rose. I enjoyed sharing our house plans with everyone and Mark had some really good suggestions to optimize the kitchen which we will incorporate.
I found time this evening after a very long day of consulting work to finalize the HVAC trunk line routing for the River House. Normally, this is not an especially difficult task but I wanted a design with no protruding ductwork in the basement and no routing in exterior walls or the ceiling. Those constraints made it a much more challenging task. I am pleased with the result and hope the plan will stand up to scrutiny from our architect, builder, and HVAC contractor. Also shown are the intake and exhaust pipes for the ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilation system) that we will be installing.
One of the biggest challenges in the design of our new home is how to handle seating in the living area. With spectacular views out of both the east and south-facing windows, it makes sense to orient seating to look out over the river but that is at odds with fostering social interaction which favors seating that has people facing each other. Furthermore, we will have a second large flat-screen TV in the living area for when the family gathers and wants to watch a soccer match together for example. That screen is oriented opposite the river. Today, I happened on what I believe will be the perfect solution, one Jeanine was already thinking about. Instead of couches, we will have chairs that swivel. This way you can pivot to look across the river, down the river, make eye contact with a guest, or watch TV. It is really the perfect solution. Of the swivel chairs I looked at, the one pictured above is my favorite (perhaps in a different fabric). It is described as very cozy and I love the simple lines and organic form. Best of all, four of these organized in a partial arc around a coffee table fits exactly into the space we have available and centers perfectly on the windows.
The spring soccer season kicked off this morning, and for the first time in many years, I am playing for a new club. I have graduated from the over-56 age group to the over-62 league. Since I am one of the oldest players on my Concord United team, I am generally the first to move up an age bracket. In 2 or 3 years, the rest of my former teammates will move up and I will rejoin them. Until then, I will be playing for Boston Villa. We started our season on a positive note with a 4-0 win including a goal I scored from the wing midfield position. I made a far-post run and received a perfect pass about 25 yards from the goal. I really concentrated on my first touch which set me up nicely as I dribbled in on the keeper. When I reached the top of the box he started to cut off my angle to the right and I calmly slotted the ball past him into the lower left-hand corner. It never hurts to score a goal on your first outing with a new team.
For some time now, Nicolai has been organizing a New England Amputee soccer team. This evening they played an abbreviated match at Gillette Stadium during halftime of the Revolution-Red Bulls match. Nico had a hat trick in the 3-2 win and both teams received a standing ovation from the crowd of 16,000+. I know this because one of my teammates was at the match and called me to share this information. Best of all, many of Nico’s students and colleagues were in attendance after the Principal at the school where he teaches arranged for discounted tickets and bus transportation to the stadium. I am hoping someone took photographs during the game and will share them in a future post if I can find any.
With many of the large-scale design features of the River House starting to settle down, I have turned my attention to the kitchen details. Since Jeanine is the master of this area, I have been very careful to address her every wish. I am happy to report that she seems very pleased with the way things are shaping up. Here is a partial list: ample room around the island for multiple cooks to work at the same time, a large galley style sink (46″) with cutting board and colander accessories overlooking the river, a dedicated drink/coffee nook, a dishwasher adjacent to both the sink and storage for flatware, dishes and glasses, pull out bins for trash, compost, paper, and metal/glass recycling located next to sink, large landing zones for the refrigerator, double oven, dishwasher, cooktop and sink, island seating for four with views of the river, ability to see the TV from either the sink or cooktop, a walk-in pantry (not shown), pots and pans storage under the cooktop, and easy access to the dining room table. Some details remain to be worked out but I think the basic layout is looking really solid.
While visiting our friends on Harbor Island last weekend, I offered to work on any jobs they might need help with. Chuck and I, with shovel and hoe in hand, excavated several areas to restore water flow to a spring-fed creek running through the center of the island. The work was less than glamorous but also quite rewarding as each section of the creek was reconnected and water gushed downstream. Today, Jeanine informed me that our hosts have named the restored rivulet “Carl’s Creek.” I feel quite honored by this tributary tribute.
Our River House design is approaching completion. The last area of refinement is window placement and sizing. The latest riverside elevation is shown above. Our initial concept was very modern but also had something of a “commercial store-front” vibe. In this version, we have established a three-floor repeating pattern covering the living area, aviary, and game room, and the dining area gets its own window centered on a circular table. Much of the initial design was driven by the outside appearance of the house. We have now shifted our focus to make sure that the windows make the most sense from the inside looking out since that is where we will be spending 99% of our time.
After an extremely restful night in the guest house (to the right of the long deck in the photo above), I was up with the sun for some aerial photography. Because of the location of many trees, I struggled to get a perspective that did justice to the house design which is modern with interesting angles everywhere. We picked up many ideas for incorporation into our new house plans. Not shown is a large barn that houses the woodshop and additional living area. I spent a portion of the morning helping Chuck to reestablish proper flow to a small rivulet on the island while Jeanine enjoyed an extended walk with Lydia. We returned to Concord in time for the Academy Awards, hoping to see Geoff McLean win an Oscar for his short documentary, “Audible..” Unfortunately, the award went to “The Queen of Basketball,” a very well-done interview with Lusia Harris chronicling her legendary career in basketball. While very good, I personally believe that “Audible” was a far superior documentary in terms of dimensionality, nuance, and overall storytelling.
Jeanine and I drove to Sebasco, Maine early this morning to visit with friends, Lydia and Chuck, who have recently finished building a new home on Harbor Island. Transit to the island, located only a few hundred feet off the coast, was by way of their amphibious vehicle; half Zodiac style boat, half three-wheeled rock crawler. The hydraulically deployed wheels carry the boat over rugged terrain and are retracted once in the water. VERY COOL! It is the ultimate mode of personal transport between the cars they leave parked on the mainland and their home which is a fair distance from the landing cove on the island.
After a nice lunch, we were treated to a tour of their home and the ~65-acre island, much of which they own.
This website is dedicated to sharing, with family and friends, the day-to-day adventures of the Calabria family.
