This afternoon Jeanine and I attended Kyle’s high school graduation while the rest of our family watched the live telecast from home. Threatening rain forced the ceremony indoors and limited the number of guests to two. Kyle has been accepted to the Business School at Santa Clara University where he will attend classes in the fall. Until then he plans to continue managing his landscaping business to help fund his education.
It is hard to believe that our first born will graduate from high school tomorrow. We are filled with a combination of pride and joy, tempered with a measure of sadness as a chapter of his life comes to a close. Tonight we celebrate his journey joining together with the Silverman and Lishansky families to honor our graduates; Kyle, Jamie, and Dave.
The party started at 5PM for adults with students arriving around 7:30 after returning from their senior class outing to Six Flags. We set the yard up for volleyball, croquet, ping pong, and a seating area around a fire pit.
Volleyball seemed to be the most popular activity. Between games everyone enjoyed a simple summer feast with wonderful foods prepared by each family. A very large cake featuring an edible picture of the three boys in their thinkers pose, an assortment of Maya’s miniature cupcakes, and customized graduation fortune cookies provided the decadent balance to an otherwise healthy array of foods.
Jeanine’s sister Lauren and her nephew and niece, Luke and Erica have traveled from the Midwest to join us for Kyle’s graduation party and ceremony. Jeanine’s other sister Susan and my mother also arrived today. This group has been like an army helping Jeanine and I ready the house and prepare for the big party tomorrow.
Kyle and Hannah are attending their senior prom this evening. They joined 15 other couples for group photographs and to share a bus which will take them to the Copley Square Hotel in downtown Boston for the gala.
Kyle’s aunt Lauren and cousin Luke arrived today from Indianapolis for his graduation party on Friday. There will be a steady flow of arrivals until then and we are looking forward to a house full of family.
As I left the house for my 6AM soccer game I paused to enjoy the fog lingering over our field which invariably lends itself to a nice image. Temperatures are heading up this week and we have our fingers crossed that the weather will remain nice through Friday when we are planning to celebrate Kyle’s graduation.
I have been trying to get exercise everyday and often that comes in the form of a lunch hour walk. I often take a trail through a local wetland and today I encountered this spider who had spanned the path with her web. Between the mosquitoes and ever encroaching vegetation I may have to seek another course until fall arrives. Another alternative would be to start riding my bike to work. Something to consider!
It has taken three weekends to complete construction and finishing of this media center for the living room. The design has the TV situated at optimal viewing height. Most commercial consoles are far too tall. The muscles which control eye motion are in their relaxed state when looking slightly down and forward (makes sense if you think of them as optimized for watching where you are walking). The muscles must work to lift your gaze and the higher your TV viewing height the more fatiguing it is. Commercial consoles also place the media equipment below the TV which means you have to bend over every time you want to make an adjustment or insert a DVD. I have placed these devices above the set for easy access. The face frame and interior is all black to match the speakers and equipment. The sides and TV recess are veneered in book matched spalted beech.
Earlier in the day I scored my first header of the season after my last six attempts all hit the crossbar (statistically almost impossible). We came from a one goal deficit at the half to win 3-1. I had a second header which the keeper bobbled leading to another goal.
Jeanine attended a special service at our church to celebrate the final sermon of Gary Smith who is retiring after a long and distinguished career of service at First Parish.
Maya was in action on the soccer pitch this morning and played very well despite a losing effort. She demonstrates a real tenacity in her defensive role and plays her position extremely well. Given her size and speed, however, I suspect over time she may migrate up to midfield following in the footsteps of her older brothers.
Kyle leaving the house for his final day of high school classes. The last four years have passed by at the speed of light and I thought the motion blur captured in this photograph was in keeping with the sentiment I was feeling at the moment. We will celebrate his graduation next week as family and friends converge on Concord to wish him well as he turns his focus to college and sunny California.
The media center project I have been working on has come together much faster than I expected. Usually, I plan such work in great detail. In this case, I started with a simple hand-drawn sketch and built one section of the 5 piece design at a time. The console will be shouldered by two bookcases connected by a bridge. The glue up shown here is of the crown molding top which will span both bookcases and the bridge.
For several years I have tried to photograph lightning with little success. This evening it was striking almost every minute as severe weather moved quickly through Concord. The storm was responsible for at least four deaths in the state, knocked our power out for several hours and took down a huge tree section in our neighbors yard. Despite their potential for destruction, it was hard not to admire the beauty of the lightning strikes as they bridged heaven and earth with electricity. Nala did not care for the ensuing thunder and sought refuge in the basement.
While climbing in Peru my trekking watch finally bit the dust and I just replaced it with a new one. The watch includes all the standard timing functions (stop watch, alarm clock, dual time zone, count down timer), a compass, altimeter, thermometer, and barometer which is shown here indicating a massive pressure drop signaling approaching severe weather. My favorite feature is a built in sunrise/sunset calculator which is very handy for photography.
We received this photo today from Maya’s point class teacher with compliments on her form. I am looking forward with great anticipation to her next recital. Her joy for dance is apparent and I am pleased to see that she has interest in so many different styles.
Kyle and I returned to Concord last night leaving the rest of the family to enjoy the full Ferry Beach weekend. Kyle had work obligations and I had an important soccer match for which my team was short handed. To make matters worse, our goalie suffered a very severe dislocation of his thumb during warm ups and had to be rushed to the hospital. Another player was disabled during the first half with a torn calf muscle and is lost for the remainder of the season. Despite a lack of subs and the warm weather, we were able to secure a narrow 1-0 win over Lexington and in doing so secured a first place finish in our league with two games still remaining in the season. This also means we will be promoted to Division 3 in the fall. I spent the remainder of the day making good progress on the media center I am building completing all of the veneer work (spalted beech) and face frames.
With little time for photography, I am including photos from yesterday of my own children.
