Jeanine, her sister Lauren, the boys plus Karuna and I ventured downtown to Concord Center where we enjoyed the inaugural Middlesex Jazz Festival.  A light rain forced an early end to the music but we were there long enough to conclude that we will be very happy to see the festival return next year. The adults enjoyed ice cream as an appetizer to a Chinese dinner at Chang An with the kids who decided that a trip to Kimball Farm after supper would be a better way to enjoy a frozen treat.

Earlier in the day my soccer team won a critical match (2-1) moving us into a tie for first place in division 1 and clinching a berth in the post season playoffs.  After the game, I announced that I would be moving up to the over-56 league for the fall season and that I had just played my last match with the team since I would be traveling with Maya in Ecuador for our final three games of the season.  I was moved by the kind words and well wishes from my teammates.  I took solace in the fact that all will be joining me on the over-56 squad in due time.

The high school years are officially behind us now.  Maya graduated from Concord Carlisle High School this morning with high honors and an engineering certificate. Jeanine and I are ready for the next chapter in our lives but, I for one, was more than a little sad at the same time. A full set of photos from the day can be found here.

I can’t wait to see how our little powerhouse will change the world!

Visiting for Maya’s graduation are her grandmother, Angela, Aunt Lauren (who created the magnificently detailed and yummy treats above), Aunt Susan (who fashioned a massive “CONGRATULATIONS” banner), Aunt Alissa and Uncle John, and brothers Kyle and Nicolai.  Her graduation party was held jointly with the Budris family and attended by Maya and Sarinnagh’s close circle of friends.  Pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, and a smattering of Middle Eastern appetizers were served in addition to a disproportionate amount of dessert treats. The weather cooperated allowing the kids to dine on the deck and play in the backyard.

A busy day as preparations for Maya’s graduation party were in full tilt. Caleb was an enormous help throughout the day demonstrating great aptitude in the kitchen and lending a hand when the building materials for Maya’s tiny house arrived.

Maya and Caleb moved all the sheet goods from the driveway into the garage, while Kyle and I handled all of the lumber and insulation. At this point the building materials occupy the better part of a full car bay.

A year-plus ordeal to find Open Table a permanent home reached closure yesterday when Jeanine signed the Purchase and Sale Agreement to acquire their new facility in Maynard. There still remains much work to complete the move and transition the organization but this was a major milestone and marks a new chapter in the Open Table story.

Jeanine and I attended Senior Awards Night this evening with Maya who received awards in English, Science, and Sociology.  She was most excited, however, when presented with a gold sash, to be worn during graduation, signifying her completion of the Engineering Certificate program. Mom and Dad were awfully proud.

The Sand Mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition involving the creation and destruction of mandalas made from colored sand. The intention is to focus the mindtowards a peaceful aspiration prayer. Once completed, the Sand Mandala is ritualistically dismantled to symbolize the Buddhist doctrinal belief in the transitory nature of material life. Regrettably, our visit to the  Drikung Meditation Center today overlapped with the lunch break of the Venerable Lama Konchok Sonam and the Venerable Khenpo Choephel who are creating this work of art. Hopefull,y we can find time for a second visit to witness the creation process and/or the dissolution ceremony.

For almost a year now we have been treated to exotic Sunday dinners prepared by our nephew John who has been living with us since graduating from Babson last year. Working from Jeanine’s cookbooks and with some initial guidance from her, he has become a very accomplished cook. Sadly, for us, he has located an apartment closer to his job and compatible roommates to share it with. We are certainly going to miss John when he leaves.

This spring has been unusually rainy and cold. My attempts to regrow grass where it was killed during last year’s drought have been largely unsuccessful.  I took another pass at reseeding today and can only hope that this one will fare better.  Our shrubs, by contrast, are looking magnificent.

David Prifti taught photography at Concord Carlisle High School for 25 years before losing his battle with pancreatic cancer in November of 2011. He was greatly admired and much beloved by students and colleagues alike. In honor of his memory, the school has created the Prifti Day of Service during which seniors are encouraged to donate a half day of their time in some form of community service. The group pictured here elected to help at Open Table where they assembled industrial shelving to be used at the new facility and processed a large batch of donated food. Maya chose to work with Sandborn/Peabody middle school seniors to help them understand what to expect during their high school years and how best to prepare for success.

This coyote is a frequent visitor to the field behind our house.  Such incursions into Nala’s territory provoke a bout of canine hysteria loud enough to wake the entire neighborhood. The coyote seems to understand the boundaries of Nala’s electric containment fence and appears to enjoy taunting her.  When I approached for a closer photo, however, it was quick to depart the area.

Originally, Maya and I decided that it would be most efficient to simply purchase a set of detailed plans for her tiny house project and build to them. It quickly became apparent, however, that this would ultimately reduce flexibility to incorporate new ideas and personal choice.  For the last few weeks I have been constructing a 3D model to aid in the design process. The view above (a highly simplified version) gives a sense of the overall shape of the house and was essential to working out the details for window size and placement.  At $6K for 9 windows, they are by far the single most expensive component of the house. Because the house is mobile, all glass needs to be tempered and the frames need to be extremely strong (we went with all fiberglass construction) which rules out the inexpensive windows you can pick up at Home Depot.

Nicolai sent this photo of himself with long-time friend Oliver Ward who graduated yesterday from Colorado College.  Because of the gap year he took after high school, the pair are now offset in time by one year.  Seems like just the other day that these two were celebrating their graduation from Concord Carlisle High School.

In framing parlance, a California Corner is a combination of three 2×4 studs used to make outside corners.  It provides four correctly located nailing surfaces, two for the outside sheathing and two for the inside walls. Normally these are nailed together on site at the time of construction and they are generally as crooked as the lumber from which they are assembled. Today I pre-fabricated four of them in my shop for use in Maya’s tiny house.  By gluing and clamping them with the right technique you can get an extremely straight column which is many times stronger than if it were fastened with nails. Having these fabricated in advance should help speed up build time considerably.