Nahant is an island just north of Boston connected by a causeway to the mainland. Before the roadway was constructed, it was only accessible at low tide, when a natural land bridge emerged from the water. Jeanine and I spent the better part of the day touring the island after revisiting a home we are thinking about purchasing trying to get a sense of what retirement would feel like in this tiny community. The house we are looking at is in major need of renovation but priced as if move-in ready. As we prepare to make an offer, it is unclear if we will be able to negotiate a more realistic price or if we would be better off putting a bid in on Kent Cottage.

For almost 2 years now, Kyle has been renting a posh apartment in Boston’s very chic Seaport District. While working at Cengage, it was literally across the street from his office, a 1-minute commute. When he took a new position at Touchplan, his walking commute increased to just under 20 minutes. Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck and we encouraged all the kids to come back home and shelter in place with us. With his lease expiring at the end of this month and Touchplan’s decision to encourage working remotely, it made no sense to renew his lease and Kyle is now in the process of looking for a home to buy. The only question is where.

This evening after work, Jeanine and I helped Kyle pack up all his furniture and other belongings into a small U-Haul truck demarcating another new chapter in his life. Meanwhile, Nicolai continues the westward leg of his road trip/vision quest. When we checked in with him, he had just entered Arizona on his way to California. A future post will be devoted to his grand adventure.

When Maya returned from work this evening she entered the house inquiring why one of the trees in our front yard had fallen over. At first, I thought she was joking but a quick excursion and close inspection revealed that it had been hit by lightning and split in two. What I don’t understand is why this tree was struck and not the pines surrounding our house that are easily four or five times taller. Jeanine was particularly upset because this tree was her favorite, planted only a few years ago when we relandscaped the front yard. It is the only tree on our property whose leaves turn yellow in the fall.

Although I am not at liberty to offer many details, I can say that the image above represents a significant milestone achieved by my team at Digital Alloys as we continue to refine our metal 3D printer.

I made an early morning trip to the coast to tour one of the properties Jeanine and I thought might be interesting for our retirement years. The house, in serious need of remodeling or possibly total replacement, is situated above a private cove which is quite lovely. We have thoroughly enjoyed the view of the field in our back yard for the last 16 years and are hoping to find a home with an equally enjoyable vista. We have been focused on wetlands, mountains, or a lake view but now have expanded the list to include an ocean view.

Not one of the more photogenic insects I have managed to photograph recently, but all I could find today. He was sunbathing on the picnic table outside my office at lunchtime. He seemed quite content to share the bench with me. Judging by the amount of pollen on his body, I am guessing this guy was taking a breather after some heavy-duty pollination.

For a change of pace and locale, Jeanine and I spent the day house hunting on the Atlantic seaboard. We started in Beverly and work our way down through Marblehead to Nahant. We found a couple of interesting properties that will make our “saved” list as well as two lighthouses. Pictured above, is the Hospital Point Light Station (now a private residence) named for a smallpox hospital built on the site. It is one of 5 Massachusetts lighthouses that still retains its original Fresnel lens. Pictured below, is the Marblehead Light Station, one of about 14 examples of pyramidal skeletal lighthouses surviving in the United States today, as well as the only one of its kind still standing in New England. The 105-foot tall, cast-iron structure with a central tower cylinder was built in 1896.

We are having our house painted this week including the 34 shutters that flank the windows on the front side. Of that number, four were in need of repair of one type or another. I spent several hours fabricating and installing missing or damaged parts. Thus far, I am very please with the work of our painters who are taking the time to do the job right. Today they spent the entire day doing prep work and probably will not start painting for a few more days.

I joined Jeanine for an evening stroll to Mattison Field just as the sun was setting. Pictured here is the barn of one of my former soccer teammates and brother of Christopher Reeves of Superman fame. On the way home, we enjoyed looking over our cornfield at the home of another neighbor.

Some days at work are more fun than others!

Today, I received an e-mail from a favorite Truevision colleague. She reached out to get copies of the photos I took at her daughter’s wedding for an album to celebrate their five year anniversary. She was specifically interested in photos that the couple may have not seen before. I was able to send her 40 images from my archive. Just to put things in context, I have known the bride since she was 7 years old and she is now pregnant with her third child. Boy, do I feel old.

Occasionally, I have an opportunity to utilize my photography skills at work. Often, it is for marketing photos or employee headshots. Today, it was for forensic failure analysis. I am not at liberty to divulge what you are looking at but can say that having this image helps my team and I identify the root cause of a failure we observed.

A quick visit to Great Meadows on the way into work netted me this image of a Great Blue Heron perched atop a birdhouse. I really liked the composition. The birdhouse has a similar silhouette to the heron and the colors are also very similar.

A gift from my mother, this Japanese lantern has graced our garden since we moved in some 16 years ago. It looked on, as the entire family worked together to clean, declutter, and organize the shed that is attached to the back of our house. The intensity of work was matched only by the oppressive humidity and temperature of the day. The transformation after a couple of hours, however, was nothing short of dramatic. Elsewhere in the yard, there were many late-blooming flowers left to enjoy.