Maya shared this photo of her trip to Saint Louis last weekend. She is really enjoying her internship with Rivian and is being recruited for a full-time position after she graduates. Although she is working at their factory in Illinois, the company is headquartered in California. I plan to ensure that Maya has several equally exciting offers from Boston-based companies when it comes time to chose.

If all goes well at the passport office on Thursday, I will be leaving for Iceland on Friday for a 2-day visit before continuing on to the Faroe Islands for 5 days and ultimately to Copenhagen where I will be playing in a soccer tournament. I spent a good part of the day confirming the latest Covid testing requirements for each destination. I will need a negative test result less than 72 hours before leaving for Iceland, again upon arrival to the Faroe Islands, and again 72 hours before returning to the US. Rapid testing is available at the respective airports but I am not keen on the potential for long lines and highly inflated costs. Instead, I purchased a couple of the home test kits pictured above. When combined with a $15 Video Observation service, the final reports can be used for travel. Basically, the tester has a Bluetooth chip that communicates test results to your phone while an observer confirms your identity and watches you administer the test. Should I fail any of the tests or get a false positive, I will be spending a lot more time in one of my destinations or stuck at home before getting started.

I decided to check on the blueberry bushes I planted earlier this year and was not pleased to find someone chomping away on the leaves. See if you can find the well-camouflaged katydid in the photo above. Normally, I prefer not to disrupt the ecological web in which we live. I must admit, however, a special affinity for these blueberry bushes and the anticipation of delicious quarter-sized berries at some point. Fueled by a great sense of outrage, I flicked the katydid into a new time zone. Later, while out for a walk in the neighborhood, I encountered another unwelcomed diner. She was so acclimated to humans that when I walked over to punch her in the nose, she simply stood there and watched until I opted for a photo instead of a confrontation.

I spent several hours culling and processing photos and video from yesterday’s soccer match between the amputee soccer teams representing the NE Revolution and the NY Red Bulls. Follow the links below.

Photos

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ULmpYJP1YD4s6vr2A

Videos

https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UC8n9sWvhM9i_CuUASmQVNkA/playlists

This afternoon, amputee soccer teams representing the New England Revolution and the New York Red Bulls played at the laters training facility in Whippany, NJ. It was the first amputee soccer intra-regional match contested within the United States. The facility could not have been more pristine and the Red Bulls organization could not have been more welcoming. Nicolai scored the opening goal for the Revs with a lovely, outside of the foot, one-touch flick off a perfectly-served cross. The Red Bulls equalized to end the first half. A new addition and youngest player on the team, Musa, scored a second goal for the Revs from a well-placed pass delivered by Nico. With 30 seconds remaining to play, the Red Bulls equalized sending the match into extra time. Absent any subsequent scoring, the game was settled with penalty kicks and New England emerged victoriously. After the match, the entire team and family members who came to spectate were treated to tickets to the evening soccer match between the actual Red Bulls and Revolution. I had originally planned to attend but thought the better of it with a 4.5-hour drive standing between me and my own bed. I will post more photos from the game tomorrow.

Located on 80 acres near New Canaan, Connecticut, Grace Farms is a humanitarian and cultural center serving local and global communities. Pritzker Prize-winning architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, designed the dramatic River Building pictured here. Whenever I make a car trip, I spend some time on Google Earth surveying my planned route for interesting features that I might want to photograph. Naturally, this unique architecture jumped off the screen. I am headed to New Jersey to watch Nico play amputee soccer in a match tomorrow. I also paused at the Croton Gorge Dam, another really beautiful place that I like to revisit any time I am in the area.

Despite its beauty, this female Downy Woodpecker is a less than welcome guest in our yard. She and her friends are responsible for several holes in the soffits and siding of our home. Woodpeckers aren’t interested in the wood but rather the insects that dwell within. Hopefully, we will not have the same trouble with the new home we are building. Properly installed siding will shed water and allow for proper ventilation and drying from the back surface. When dry, woods like cedar are naturally resistant to insects.

I captured this male ruby-throated hummingbird in the backyard this morning. With wings flapping at 50+ beats per second very high shutter speeds are required. Professional photos use strobes to freeze motion. Unfortunately, my lighting gear is all in storage and it will likely be a full year before I have access to it again.

Today, I was invited to attend a Zoom meeting to celebrate a key milestone for a company that I have recently added to my client list. The company makes a consumer product that connects to the telephone network and solves a problem experienced by anyone with a landline. The product will enter beta testing shortly and I will share more details once they become public.

During her return flight from Seattle, Jeanine flew over one of the wildfires raging on the west coast and took this photo. In Massachusetts, much of the state is under an air quality alert due to the smoke which has travelled here from across the country, an indicator of just how massive these fires are. I can only imagine how bad things are for folks closer to the devastation. My heart goes out to anyone who has suffered due to this natural disaster.

You can tell if you have Morton’s toe just by looking at your foot. If your second toe projects out farther than your big toe, you’ve got it. A study of American college students found that 45.7% of men had longer second toes. Other populations report the frequency to be less than 10% for this hereditary feature. Research suggests that Morton’s toe may even be an advantage in athletics. A 2004 study comparing professional athletes to non-athletes found that professional athletes tended to have Morton’s toe more frequently than non-athletes. Toe length aside, this post is about the passage of time. The bruise under my big toenail has been growing out since December when a heavy piece of deconstruction debris fell on my cuticle. There is a good reason why professionals wear steel-toed boots when doing this kind of work. I estimate it will take another 3 or 4 months before it has grown out completely.

Pictured above is the Concord Carlisle High School campus. The nearer of the two soccer fields is my team’s home turf. I showed up there at 8 am this morning expecting to find my teammates for a practice session. I must have mixed up my days because I was the only one present. Instead, I returned home where I did a stationary bike workout while watching the second half of the US National Women’s Soccer team’s match against New Zealand. Later in the day, I replaced the drive belt on the dryer that was left here when we acquired our new house. It self-destructed yesterday while drying our only set of sheets and towels (we are in “camping” mode until the new house is built). Amazing how unpleasant sleeping and bathing are without these essentials. I was amazed that I was able to secure an overnight replacement for a dryer that is probably twenty years old. The repair took about an hour and I now have dry linens and will look forward to a better night’s sleep.

Someone in this building holds the keys to my upcoming travel to Iceland and Denmark. When I booked the trip many months ago, I checked to ensure my passport would still be valid. I did not realize that when traveling to countries in the European Union, your passport must be valid for 6 months after your scheduled return. My passport will expire in October providing only 2 months of extension. Renewing a passport by mail, even with expedite fees is currently taking three months. My only option now is an emergency renewal which must be done in person in this building not more than three days in advance of travel and by appointment only. The problem is it is currently IMPOSSIBLE to schedule an appointment. The online system for doing so was taken out of service on Wednesday because third-party bots were booking all available appointments and selling them to desperate would-be travelers. The automated phone system they put in place to replace it is currently non-operational and no matter what you do, you wind up with a busy signal. Out of desperation, I drove into Boston to try and get an appointment in person. The very well-armed security staff there made it abundantly clear that you could not enter the passport office without already having booked an appointment. What a complete and total cluster f**k.

Jeanine travelled to Seattle this morning to attend the wedding of her close friend Tess. She has been living with her partner, Ed, for something like 20 years. Apparently, they have concluded that they like each other and are ready to tie the knot. I thought my six-year courtship of Jeanine was prolonged. These guys are in a league of their own.