Here we stand in line before boarding the Bluenose II out of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, acknowledged to have the largest working mainsail in the world. It measures 4,150 square feet. The total sail area measures over 11,000 square feet and is 143 feet in length. Since 1937, an image of the original Bluenose has graced the Canadian dime. That ship, the undefeated racing champion among North American fishing schooners, reigned as Queen of the North Atlantic until it foundered on a Haitian reef in 1946. Her daughter, Bluenose II, was launched in 1963, built to original plans by many of the same workers.
Maya and I head over to the Charleston Navy Shipyard to take in the visiting Tall Ships. This week long annual event feature some of the most beautiful antique sailing vessels in the world as well as many modern naval ships.
This morning Maya and I dropped Nicolai off at the Boston airport for his trip to Minnesota. When asked to pose with his sister as we bid him farewell, Nico seems to be setting a double chicken wing. This, I suppose, should come as little surprise after he spent the last week in wrestling camp. I cannot begin to imagine how he is going to great his cousins when he sees them this evening. Nico was very pleased with his camp experience which included three 2-hour wrestling sessions per day. He feels he made significant improvements to his technique and returned with arm muscles that would put a gorilla to shame.
Nicolai’s wrestling camp culminates in a tournament today where he placed 2nd to the New Hampshire state champ winning two of his three matches. Tomorrow he leaves for Minneapolis where he will spend a week with my brother’s family. Before he left for wrestling camp he completed this set of croquet mallets as a gift for his cousins. The heads were made from the trunk of a cherry tree we harvested from our property. I rough cut the blanks and Nicolai did everything else including the finishing. Kyle suggested making a chipper club for situations where you need to jump an opponents ball. We combined that concept with a shorter mallet head which comes in handy in other situations.
This morning I found these two girls on the couch. To say that Maya loves Nala would not really capture the full measure of their bond. Jeanine and Kyle left this afternoon for a 10-day adventure in Transylvania. Jeanine is one of the chaperons travelling with our church youth group to visit with our sister church in Romania. Most Americans associate Transylvania with stories about Dracula, the rest of the world regards this part of Central Europe as a scenic region nestled below the Carpathian Mountains.
Today I flew from LAX to Boston and this particular route covers some of the most spectacular landscapes in the country. My window was clean, the air was crisp and I captured dozens of really nice images. I like this one for the color palette (you will need to enlarge it to appreciate it fully). I did a shorter than normal trip to California so I could see Nicolai on his birthday. He is attending wrestling camp this week on the campus of Boston University. I found him in the cafeteria having diner with his buddies who were not aware it was his birthday. By the time his Happy Birthday song was done I would say several hundred people in the cafeteria were pitching in at full volume. We had a chance to catch up on his camp experience to date and then he had to ready himself for his third training session of the day.
I believe that Michael Jackson had some serious psychological issues but there is no denying that he was one of the most talented and iconic entertainers of our time. We were born in the same year and I grew up dancing to his music. His death shocked me and caused me to reflect on my own life at the fifty year mark. Had I not had to work today I would have probably taken the time to witness his memorial service at this satellite venue in Santa Barbara.
Work takes me to Santa Barbara again, where the weather is simply delightful. I made a ten-minute pit stop at the beach before arriving at the office. I need to spend a weekend here on one of my visits and take some time to enjoy more of the beauty that is everywhere.
Today Jeanine and I dropped off Nicolai at Boston University where he will spend the next week in residence at the Carl Adams Wrestling Camp. Helping Nico get situated in his dorm room provided a 4-year flash forward to his departure for college and it left us both feeling very sad. We know he will enjoy the camp but for us it was a powerful reminder that we only have two years left with Kyle and another two after that with Nico. The program features intensive training with top caliber coaches and wrestlers, rigorous physical conditioning, and concludes with a tournament among the camp attendees.
Maya returned today from a week long visit with her Aunt Susan. She seems to have grown up over night and looks less and less like a little girl every day.
Nicolai, against all odds, is one of the best players on the court having really mastered the full complement of volleyball skills. I can not express how much pleasure I took from spiking a ball that was set to me by Kyle who received the pass from Nico. If I can hold out for a few more years then my ultimate dream will be realized when Maya joins the squad.
If it is the Fourth of July and we are in town then you will find us enjoying the hospitality of my high school wrestling partner and good friend Tom Metzold. Each year Karen and Tom throw a wonderful party with great food and numerous sporting options for the kids. This year I really enjoyed playing volleyball with my boys. Kyle relies heavily on his athletecism but I can see his technique improving dramatically with each game.
Today is a work holiday for me and I spent the morning getting our tractor back in shape. Forensic evidence suggests that one of the two boys drove the tractor into a tree, damaging the front bumper which also serves to support the hinge mechanism for the hood. Unable to determine who the guilty party was they split the cost of the new part and I made the repairs. Nico who recently managed to drive the blades into the ground while mowing for a neighbor paid for a new set which I installed as well. I am hoping the boys will treat the tractor with greater care in the future especially in light of the fact that they are using it to generate outside income.
Nicolai decided to begin a woodworking project earlier this week. He is using cherry which we harvested from a log I have been saving for about five years now. I provided assistance as we rough cut the blanks but he is doing a lot of the finishing work. Nicolai has asked me to keep the details of the project a secret for reasons that will become apparent in the coming days. Here he is using a router which is mounted to my table saw and features a custom built fence.
This morning it was time for Susan to return to Burlington, Vermont. Apparently, between the time I hugged her goodbye and the time she left, a scheme was hatched to kidnap Maya for a week. Jeanine and her sister are both planners so it was somewhat of a surprise to me that this idea moved so quickly from inception to actualization. It was fun to witness all three living in the moment. Maya, of course, was thrilled about the prospects of spending time with Susan, a kindred spirit in many ways. Maya if you are looking in on the blog please remember to eat your vegetables and know that your father is already missing you.
This evening Nico hosted an end of the year party for his friends. Outdoor activities were followed by dinner and a scary movie in the basement home theater. Everyone really enjoyed the event and Nico despite having almost entirely lost his voice seemed very pleased with the outcome. Earlier this morning, Kyle joined me at 8AM for a soccer scrimmage with my team. It was a thrill to be playing with him (even if on different sides) and between the Calabria men we scored a total of 7 goals.
Although the Van der Graaff produced longer lightning bolts, the sound was so intense that I had to chose between photography and retaining my hearing (hands over my ears or on the shutter release). This Tesla coil produced these dramatic sparks and was not nearly as loud.
Next we visited the Theater of Electricity. This Van de Graaff generator is capable of generating 2 million volts and was built by Dr. Van de Graaff himself. It is the largest in the world.
Jeanine’s sister, Susan, has been visiting us for the weekend. The two are seen here on the second floor balcony of the Science Museum where we spent the afternoon with Maya. They had been watching her from this perch as she stood mesmerized in front of the kinetic sculpture on the floor below. The two sisters chose to watch Mystic India while father and daughter opted for wandering the science exhibits. Maya was captivated by the cross section of an internal combustion engine and can explain the operation (intake, compression, combustion, exhaust) in perfect detail.
Maya tends to her garden. We have quite a bounty aided by the unusually rainy spring this year. Every night we enjoy some form of fresh vegetables and Maya seems more receptive to trying new foods when she has had a hand in growing them. I spent virtually the entire day making reservations along the route of our up coming RV adventure through the Southwest.
This evening a small contingent from Sonos participated in the annual J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge, a 3.5 mile run through the streets of Boston with proceeds going to fund summer camp opportunities for underprivileged youth. When I was approached by our Cambridge office manager with a signup sheet I immediately said yes. To resist this women is simply futile. She is going to wear you down and eventually get what she wants so you are far better off surrendering right away. The last time I ran in a race (or for any other reason) was in 1981 when I competed in the Bay to Breakers in San Francisco. I am now of the opinion that this near thirty year hiatus was not long enough. Although playing soccer involves a lot of sprinting over short distances it does little to prepare you to run at medium speed for longer distances. The race itself was rather interesting. With 12,000 participants you actually walk for the first several minutes just to get across the start line and again at several pinch points along the course. When you do start running it is really more of an obstacle course trying to weave through the slow traffic while not being trampled from behind. I actually found this aspect of the race enjoyable as it took my mind off the fact that I was running although it did little to help my finishing time of 37:22. By my estimates, I think I was running at just over 9 minutes a mile when you factor in the delayed start and pinch point traffic jams. Kyle informed me that this was rather pathetic as he returned from a ten mile run this evening. None the less, I made the distance without stopping and enjoyed a beautiful evening in Boston with my fellow coworkers. Next year, however, I will either find the courage to say no or will do more than one training run to prepare.
Nicolai cleans up nicely for the big 8th grade dinner dance held at the high school this evening. He is looking more like a man every day. Having surpassed his mother in height many months ago he has declared that I am next.
For those who wondered if I mistyped my first entry in this series, I rest my case. Click on the photo to enlarge it, and tell me if you think there is more chocolate on Jeanine or the strawberry.
Many men would find it unusual to come home to a kitchen full of strawberries and chocolate-covered women. Not me. Five women dipping 500 strawberries into rich chocolate passes for normal around here.
Meet the Penguin, a gift from the family to me for Father’s Day. You would be hard pressed to guess that this device is used for carbonating water. It contains a CO2 cartridge which charges a 1L carafe of water in about 5 seconds. Given the amount of carbonated water I drink, this present will also benefit the environment by saving 100’s of plastic bottles and the fuel used to ship them around. My day started with an early morning soccer scrimmage against the over 40 Concord team. I scored three very pretty goals (pivoting full volley over the keeper, low hard half volley after beating the wing fullback, nice trap and move to dribble around the keeper finishing just inside the post). The day ended on a high note as well with a family dinner at my new favorite Mexican restaurant, Acapulco’s in Sudbury.
