At Digital Alloys we have been having “virtual lunch” together since the start of the Covid shutdown. Everyone joins in via Zoom over the lunch hour to keep in touch. Today, I made a premature departure when I heard seemingly incessant car horns honking and left my office to investigate. I discovered a caravan of something like 50 cars making the loop through our neighborhood. The caravan led by the Concord police was composed of the teachers and staff from Willard, our local elementary school. They just wanted to let their students know they were keeping them in their hearts. One teacher yelled out of her car as I was photographing the parade, “Hello Mr. Calabria.” It took me a moment to realize she was addressing Nicolai. Boy, do I feel old today.

I spent the bulk of the weekend creating four photo journals from trips I took during my failed attempt at retirement. The company I use was running a 41% off sale which was sufficient motivation to see me through the effort. I have now completed ten such books and have material for at least 30 more. If you click on the photos you will be able to view the books online. Just click on the icon to expand to full screen for best viewing. Be patient as the images download.

I joined Jeanine, Kyle, and Nicolai for a nice hike today. We returned to the Sears Conservation Lands where we had ventured earlier in the week. We encounter more than a dozen small Garter snakes in a very small area suggesting that they were recently born in the immediate vicinity. We were also treated to several nesting blue herons.

As part of our kitchen makeover project, we decided to remove the doors and wood shelves from the cabinets over our drink bar and to replace them with glass shelves and no doors. This also required removing the center stiles from each side of the cabinet which I did several weeks ago. Today, the shelves arrived and took less than 15 minutes to install. Only the backsplash remains to be completed, a job we plan to sub out.

I ordered a bulletin board (4’x3′) from Staples last week. I will cut it down for use on the wall behind the kitchen desk. Not quite sure why they needed such a large truck to deliver it. I guess anything over a certain dimension automatically goes this route. It seems like overkill for a package weighing just a couple of pounds. When I get some free time I will cut out openings for the wall outlets and cover the board with linen cloth before installing it.

I am always the first one up and generally eat breakfast right after my morning shower. Today, however, I waited until the rest of the family was awake having caught wind of a plan to make waffles for breakfast. The wait was entirely worth it.

Late this evening, as the sun was setting, Jeanine and I drove over to the conservation area surrounding the Weston Station Pond for a nice stroll in the woods. Jeanine recently discovered this area and was right to anticipate that I would enjoy it as well. Within the pond is an island that sustains a half dozen Blue Heron nests. There is no doubt a future post will document the occupants when I return with a telephoto lens. Also of photographic interest is the cutest of tiny bridges that we crossed on our ramble.

Having not set foot outside the house since I picked up Jeanine at the airport last week, I relieved my cabin fever with a quick excursion to the Sudbury River where I put my drone up for an aerial photograph. One of these days, I may venture into Boston for some drone shots over areas that would normally be too populated to safely fly over.

Jeanine believes we need to replace our foyer chandelier, or at the very least, paint it in preparation for the sale of our house. I have long put off this project because the ceiling is close to eighteen feet high where the fixture is hung. With my portion of the kitchen make-over all but done, I turned my attention to the construction of a platform from which I can work on the chandelier. The 16″x22″ platform is supported by an extension ladder on one side and indirectly by the floor of the balcony stairway of the second floor on the other. I am confident the platform would support double my weight, but I am not looking forward to standing on such a small surface while wrangling the bulky chandelier.

I spent the majority of the day remounting all the kitchen cabinet doors and drawer fronts leaving only the backsplash work to be completed. I finished just in time for the birthday dinner feast that Jeanine, Kyle, Maya and Bryce prepared for Kyle’s girlfriend, Klaida. She is two years younger than Kyle and the pair have been dating for some time now. In Jeanine’s words, she is a “peach” and we very much enjoyed getting to know her.

Nicolai and Maya worked together to give Kyle a haircut this afternoon. Maya clipped his hair into position and Nico used the shears and scissors to complete the grooming. Despite all the tragedy and hardship caused by the Coronavirus, I am thankful to have all the family back under one roof again and to watch as they support each other. It also makes my heart happy to see a family tradition of in-home hair cutting passing to the next generation. My mother used to cut my hair, I used to cut the kids hair, and now they are cutting each others. I have little doubt that they will do the same for their kids.

As of today, the kitchen is operational. I am waiting until the weekend to reinstall the cabinet doors and drawer fronts but that is not standing in the way of functionality at this point. This evening, I began installing the cement backer board on which the backsplash tile will be installed. Despite marketing claims printed right on the product, cement board is not “easy to cut.” Linear cuts can be achieved by scoring and snapping but openings for electrical outlets are much more challenging.

Our kitchen is almost back to full service. Today, our new countertops were installed; the main one, pictured above, the one in our drink bar area, and Jeanine’s kitchen desktop. After my last meeting of the day (Zooming from my office is now what my workdays look like), I installed the main and bar sink faucets and drains and fit the cabinets with under-mount LED lighting. I ordered new hinges for the cabinet doors and will install them on Sunday when the new hardware arrives. All that remains to complete the project is the installation of the backsplashes. If we can find someone available to do the work we will hire it out. If not, I will be dusting off my tile saw. Jeanine approved of my unsupervised choice of faucets. It can be activated by waving your hand in close proximity to the neck, a very nice feature at a time when we are trying to minimize contact with metal surfaces that are widely shared.

Apart but together. Nicolai returned home today and has joined Kyle in the music room where they have set up their respective computers on folding tables. Between them, I counted seven screens. Safe to assume they could run a small country from here. Meanwhile, Maya and Bryce have taken over the living room where each is working from a laptop while seated approximately 1/16 in. apart on the couch. I am at work in my study which has a line of sight (through glass-paned doors) into both rooms. Even though we are isolated from each other, I take comfort in having them close by. Jeanine has decided to return from Florida early and flies in this evening. She cites concerns over getting stranded there but I think she just wants to be near her babies at this time.