Kyle prepared a lovely dinner for Jeanine and I this evening. We had freshly picked sweet corn (which is as good as I have ever tasted), roasted potatoes, cheeseburgers, grilled chicken, and a green bean and asparagus salad. He cooked in large enough quantity to provide food for the next week which is a real lifesaver for Jeanine who is up to her ears in work challenges.
For the last two years, Jeanine and I have been on the lookout for a new home. Although we have enjoyed living in our current one, it is twice the size we would like for our rapidly approaching retirement years. We wanted something in a natural setting with an exceptional view above all else. For 16 years we have thoroughly enjoyed the view of our field every day. Our new home is situated on the Sudbury River, located just around the bend in the photo below. Our view across the river includes wetlands and a hill covered in deciduous trees (think autumn splendor). Looking upriver to the right is the long view featured in a photo from earlier this week. These views can be enjoyed from inside the house because of how it is situated on the 1.8-acre lot. The house was on the market for a total of 9 days and our offer was substantially over asking price to win a bidding war with two current residents of Conantum, the Concord neighborhood where the home is located. Our closing date is tentatively set for October 15th.
Ikebana, “arranging flowers” or “making flowers alive” is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. The tradition dates back to the Heian period when floral offerings were made at altars. Later, they were placed in the tokonoma (alcove) of a home. Ikebana reached its first zenith in the 16th century under the influence of Buddhist tea masters and has grown over the centuries, with numerous distinct schools extant today. The arrangement pictured above was created by my mother during a Zoom class which she participated in along with my sister who organized the activity. She never ceases to amaze us with her artistic talent which apparently does not extend to photography. I may have to request that she take another picture without the fire alarm, nature sign, and lighting sconce in the background.
This image is of a component we will be using on the latest revision of Digital Alloy’s metal 3D printer. I thought the tooling marks left from the machining process were quite beautiful.
Despite our decision to postpone house hunting until the market returns to something approaching sane, I found a property that features an incredible river view. We will be bidding against several other interested parties and I put the chances of our coming out on top at 25%. Once again we will be grappling with the same question we face on every home that we like. What is a view worth?
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A couple of videos from Nico’s Instagram account. To see the second one, click on the right arrow in a circle located on the right side of the frame. It is scarier than the first. It should be noted that one parent will lose sleep thinking about these very risky exploits. The other wishes he had the skill and courage to join in the fun but shares the concerns of the responsible parent.
Maya and her college roommate, Lauren, pose in the home they have rented for the fall semester. They will be joined by four other Olin students in the three-floor house in Medford. Maya has elected to extend her internship at Formlabs rather than to attend the fall semester at Olin under the current Covid-19 restrictions. Maya chose Olin for the project-based, hands-on, collaborative learning approach, much of which cannot be realized while adhering to the schools appropriately conservative temporary safety policies. Jeanine prepared a nice meal for the girls which we shared with them while visiting this evening for the grand tour.
The master bedroom in our house has a 128 sqft walk-in closet which opens to a sitting area that is 90 sqft. The latter is separated from our bedroom by an open double-wide door frame and offers little practical utility. Today, we decided it would make more sense to integrate these two spaces to create a spacious 218 sqft walk-in. I spent the better part of the day working on deconstruction. In order, I removed the carpeting, padding, and carpet tack strips in the sitting area followed by the door, door molding, door frame, and floor molding. Finally, I removed the drywall from one side of the wall. Tomorrow, I plan to remove the remaining drywall and wall framing.
It has been more than three years since I last visited the Fruitlands Museum. This evening, I revisited the campus with my drone as it is only accessible by prior arrangement due to Covid-19. While perched upon Prospect Hill where the museum is located, I also initiated a long-range flight down to the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge located on the Nashua River. I was careful not to encroach on the adjacent Fort Devens Range Control, a 5000-acre military training ground which I assumed was off-limits to drones. The Fort Devens ranges are used for live-fire training with pistols, rifles, machine guns, hand grenades, grenade launchers, and mortars. The complex’s tactical training areas can be used for land navigation, orienteering, field training exercises, and airdrop.
Standing next to me in this 2008 Concord United team photo is John Bemis. Twelve years my senior, we only played soccer together for two seasons before he retired his cleats. Even so, we developed a friendship that endured off the field. He is possibly the warmest and most caring person I have ever known. This morning, Jamie, his wife of 40 years was struck and killed by a car as she crossed Thoreau Street in Concord. The 91-year old woman driving the car drove on for some fifty feet before coming to a stop and it took rescuers twenty minutes to extricate the body from under the car. Jamie will be remembered for her philanthropic work and as the founder of Gaining Ground, now a nonprofit organic farm that grows vegetables and fruit with the help of several thousand community volunteers and donates all of this fresh food to area meal programs and food pantries. John will discover how deeply loved he is by all that have come to know him.
The latest chapter of Nicolai’s cross country travel adventure has taken him to Glacier National Park where he hiked the Highline Loop Trail yesterday. Generally regarded as one of the most scenic hikes in America, the trail follows the Continental Divide and is sometimes called the Garden Wall for reasons which should be obvious from the photo that Nico sent us. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, I had planned a 10-day vacation in Morocco and Portugal shortly after completing my first 100-days at Digital Alloys. Two days prior to my departure, all flights in and out of Morocco were canceled. It has now been close to 9 months on the new job and I have taken just 4 individual vacation days and that was so I could provide consulting services to Formlabs. It has become apparent to me that I sorely need some time off and the imminent expiration of my American Airlines frequent traveler miles has only served to compel me to start planning a getaway, either with Jeanine or solo.
Located just two miles from my office is Mary Cummings Park, one of the great public parks of Greater Boston. This over two hundred acres public park on the Burlington-Woburn border was created when the Boston City Council accepted Mary Cummings land in 1930 to be kept forever open as a public pleasure ground. Adjacent to Mary Cummings Park itself is another 100 acres of protected conservation and recreation land, including a 75-acre parcel known as Whispering Hill, now owned by the City of Woburn and held as public parkland and 25 acres which is part of the Quail Run Conservation land. Now that they are on my radar, it is safe to say that I will be spending many a lunch hour exploring these parks.
It has been more than 13 years since I last posted a picture of a snail. I suspect it has been that long since I have seen one. I encountered this little fellow on my noontime walk. He is about a half-inch long and I found him stuck to the underside of a broadleaf. He was not all too happy with me when I turned the leaf over to facilitate the shot exposing him to the bright midday sun. He quickly slobbered (not sure what the proper name is for snail propulsion) his way to the edge of the leaf and climbed over to the shady side.
Earlier this week, Kyle turned twenty-eight. Today we celebrated with a special meal prepared by Jeanine followed by a yummy lemon cake served with mango sorbet. We missed having Nico at the table; at last check-in, he was headed for Mount Hood in Oregon. Kyle has settled into working remotely and all the challenges that come with it. Like us, he has decided to postpone his plans for buying a home in anticipation of significantly lower prices and better inventory next year.
I spent the better part of the day decluttering my workshop which included burning off enough scrap wood to build a small house. Jeanine suggested I use an antique copper cauldron that we own as a fire pit rather than selling it on Craig’s List as I had originally planned. It turned out to be a great suggestion allowing for a very compact and controlled burn.
