My initial posts from my recent visit to the Faroe Islands were entirely focused on the natural beauty of the landscapes. Today, I am sharing photos that celebrate the architecture. Every village, no matter the size, features a modest but lovely church. Interestingly, the other standard fixture, although less photogenic, is a soccer pitch. Every child here plays football and the nation has the highest ratio of soccer coaches to players in the world. Below is a typical village, invariably located on the water where you will either find a fleet of small fishing boats and/or facilities for the building and launching of giant circular pens used for farming salmon.

The capital of Tórshavn is quite modern but also has a well preserved and delightfully charming “Old Town”. Although the weather in the Faroe Islands (rains 2 out of every 3 days) will not be to everyone’s taste, this self-governing nation under the external sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark, has one of the highest GDPs per capita and lowest crime rates (I did not see a single police officer during my entire stay) in the world.

On the day we moved into our new house some 9 months ago, I noticed this very large beetle trapped between sliding panes of glass in what is now our combined office and media room. It appeared to have been dead for some time. My initial attempts to extract it were unsuccessful. Today, I made a much more determined effort and was able to free it without damage. It is quite large, measuring 1.5 inches from stem to stern or 2 inches if you include the legs. It is quite an impressive creature and I am sorry we did not meet under better circumstances.

Why on Earth would someone buy a snowblower in the middle of August. Well, you would do so if the model you are interested in has been sold out for the past 9 months. When we moved to our new house, I sold all of my gas powered outdoor equipment including my huge tracked Honda snowblower. In my opionion, this 2-stage Ego model is the first electric snowblower that has any chance of standing up to a New England winter. Our new driveway is relatively flat but considerably longer than our last one. I am hoping that two sets of batteries will be adequate to handle most snow events. Time will tell but having made the expenditure, it is a virtual guarantee that we will have an unusually mild winter.

A little over a week ago, on the day before my soccer tournament in Copenhagen, I passed my largest kidney stone to date. It measured 6.5mm x 4.0mm and is pictured above on the logo of my laptop computer. I strongly suspect that this stone passed from my kidney to bladder several months ago when I was experiencing very severe pain. I believe that the 70 miles of hiking I did over the prior week probably got it started on the last leg of the journey which proved relatively painless. I apologize to followers of this blog for the inclusion of such entries which I suspect are of little interest and/or gross. I do so because the blog has become very valuable to me as an indexed and searchable journal which makes it easy to keep track of such events which is helpful when doctors inquire about medical history.

Maya is back from Normal, IL where she spent the summer as an intern working for Rivian, the electric vehicle maker. Pictured above with her teammates, she was the program manager for the production of the new Amazon delivery van. Her team shipped the first four units during the last days of her internship, an accomplishment that had her working 10-12 hours a day. Amazon has contracted Rivian to produce 100,000 electric delivery vans by 2030, with the first 10,000 hitting the road by the end of 2022. This was a major milestone for the company and her performance over the summer earned her a job offer. They would like to hire her now on a part-time basis until she graduates next spring and then transition her to full-time. Rivian is an excellent company that will be at the very top of Maya’s list of potential employers. The only downside is that the company is headquartered in California where she would have to relocate. She joined her siblings and college roommate for brunch at our house where we reconnected after her summer absence. Nicolai starts teaching history at the Concord Middle School a week from Monday and Kyle starts a remote Master’s Degree program with Georgia Tech tomorrow.

A close friend of ours was in need of a headshot for work. I was happy to help out. 90% of my studio equipment is in storage and I had to make do with a pair of small strobes plus Jeanine holding a white reflector in just the right spot. I like making portraits of people I know. They are more at ease and I know when I have captured their essence.

This evening we enjoyed a delightful get-together at the lovely home of friends from our community. Even though she has grown allergic to them, Jeanine adores cats. She was very careful not to touch the pair that lived in the house. They immediately recognized her as a cat person and came over to visit and curl up beside her. I am more of a dog person which explains why they ignored me and why the older Siamese gave me the evil eye while I was taking this photo.

Occasionally, photos do not capture the full experience of being in a place. I am posting this video of the Haifoss waterfalls from my visit last week to provide a better sense of the raw power they possess. Unfortunately, my drone does not capture audio which would have provided the full effect.

Nicolai requested a new passport photo and I was happy to oblige this morning. He is looking ahead to an upcoming amputee soccer tournament in Costa Rica. In related news, he learned last night that he has been elected to the American Amputee Soccer Association Board of Directors by his fellow teammates.

Jeanine and I enjoyed a morning walk to her plot at the community garden where she wanted to inspect the weeding she had hired someone to do. She was pleased with the results as was I with the number of beautiful things to aim my camera at.

My entire day was spent traveling back to the states. The airlines recommended arriving three hours in advance of departure to make up for all the new Covid documentation and processing requirements. Pictured above is the church at Viðareiði, one of many images that did not make it into the blog. It serves the northernmost settlement in the Faroe Islands and lies on the Island of Viðoy at the base of Malinsfjall. The current church was built in 1892.

Today, team USA competed in the 4v4 tournament and a penalty kick shootout competition placing second and first respectively. We played 6 qualification matches followed by the finals. Matches are 14 minutes each with the finals being 20 minutes. In theory, it is like playing a full match plus overtime. In reality, it is much more grueling because the intensity of play is so much higher. We were all fully spent by the end of the tournament and then it was time for the penalty kick shoot-out competition. Each team had a total of ten PKs (5 taken yesterday and 5 taken today). The team with the highest total of goals wins. I was the fourth taker today and a goal from me would win the competition for team USA. Happily, I found the right side of the net with the keeper moving to the left. A goal earlier in the day brought my total to 4 and I will go to sleep tonight easily and with a big smile on my face.

The motivation for my trip to Iceland and the Faroe Islands was an international over-60 5v5 soccer tournament billed as the World Cup by its organizers being held in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, of the 26 countries that had planned to come, only a fraction could attend the twice rescheduled tournament due to Covid restrictions in their respective countries. My team represented the USA and we won 2, tied 2, and lost 2 which was good enough for a third-place finish. Considering this is the first time any of us have ever competed in this format it was not a bad result. In one match, we were up 2-0 and earned a “blue card” for not gaining the referee’s attention before an on-the-fly substitution (one of the different rules that apply to 5v5). This cost us a 2-minute penalty which left us a player down during which time our opponents easily scored 3 goals which kept us from being in the finals. Losing 1 of 4 field players is a death sentence and all on account of a technicality. I scored once in each of two games and was the second-leading scorer for our team. The first was a loose ball in front of the net and a quick reaction finish. The second was a very nice shot from distance while the goalie was visually shielded. Tomorrow, the format changes to 4v4 (no goalies) and a new tournament will be run. Another set of rules to learn but also another chance to make it to the finals.

I arrived in Copenhagen shortly after noon and immediately set out on foot to experience the city. Nyhavn is a photographer’s dream, a tiny canal lined by brightly colored 17th and early 18th century townhouses, bars, cafes, and restaurants. Rosenborg Castle was originally built as a country summerhouse in 1606, one of  Christian IV’s many architectural projects. In total, I covered 10 miles taking in the sights including many of the iconic squares and the newly constructed opera house. Later in the day, I connected with my soccer team for dinner at the Gorilla, a beast of a restaurant in the old industrial premises of the Meatpacking District of Vesterbro.