My soccer team participated in a charity tournament this weekend. With the fall season set to begin next weekend, I thought it best to save my knees by sitting this one out.  Last night, however, a call went out for more players to make up for those injured yesterday or unable to make the matches today.  I was able to join the team for the finals match and got enough minutes to confirm how out of shape I am. Fortunately my knees held out and I made a few nice defensive plays to help my team secure a 1-1 tie which was good enough to win the tournament on points.

Later in the afternoon, Maya, Jeanine, and I attended a summer party for Olin students hosted by the same family which has generously allowed Maya to store her tiny house on their property. Maya enjoyed giving tours of her construction project to her classmates.

I found this little (could fit entirely on the head of a quarter) fellow struggling to traverse the carpet in our living room. How he got inside the house is something of a mystery although at least one house member confessed to have possibly left a door open for an extended period of time.  He was extremely dehydrated and so entangled in dog hair that he could barely move. I placed him in a glass, added some water, and carefully used tweezers to remove strand after strand of hair. The procedure took 15 minutes after which I released him on our rear deck. He seemed infinitely happier and was kind enough to pose for me before hopping away.

It is hard enough to find true love once in a lifetime. It is a rare gift to find it twice.  Our friends Bill and Karen both lost their first spouses to lengthy illness having endured the “for worse” half of the “for better or worse” marriage covenant.  Widowed late in life they probably could not have imagined finding love again, but they did. Jeanine and I had the honor of witnessing their marriage this evening on the grounds of the Fruitland Museum.

Featured prominently in the ceremony and at the reception was Bill’s dog Beau.

When I returned home from work with a pint of ice cream in hand, Jeanine shamed me into getting some exercise to offset the caloric damage. I completed a four-mile walk along our new (although technically still not open) rail trail.  I pause for some drone photography of the adjacent wetlands.  When we moved to Concord some 15 years ago, this was a field.  Amazing how a couple of beavers can transform the landscape.

My stroll took me past White Pond where the kids used to swim as youngsters.

Today at work I conducted a half-day Engineering Leadership Team meeting. We spent the first 2 hours doing a design and construction competition. I am very found of these kinds of projects because they allow me to gauge how well my teams works together and to spot behaviors that are unproductive. They are also a ton of fun. The second half of the morning was devoted to a series of exercises design to help clearly define roles and responsibilities.  I recently added two new Directors to the engineering leadership team and experience has taught me the value of spending time early on to delineate boundaries and clarify accountability.

At the end of the business day we regrouped to see which team constructed the stronger bridge.  The prize?  Bragging rights for the coming year.  The team with less mechanical engineering education won so there will be a lot of crow to eat.

By the time I got my camera out and adjusted the shutter speed to my liking, the torrential downpour I was trying to photograph had already subsided.  I had a meeting at our contract manufacturer in Westford this morning and spent the balance of the day working from home.  I am preparing to facilitate my first team-building event at Superpedestrian tomorrow and worked well into the evening to fine-tune the exercise and presentation materials I will be using. 

Nico recently posted a couple of images from a long hike he did with Karuna and their dog Kubo.  I am unclear on all the details but I believe they covered 8 miles.

Even more painful than putting our piano up for sale was listing this 8″ jointer from my shop.  It has served me incredibly well over the years but must find a new home.  After an hour of cleaning it looks as new as the day I purchased it some 20 years ago.  Delta has since exited the jointer market so it may even have some incremental value for the right collector.

In 1995 we purchased a grand piano hoping it would encourage our children to play and as the centerpiece for a rather large living room.  All three kids took lessons and developed a reasonable degree of proficiency.  Nicolai went on to become very accomplished and now plays the keyboard for a jazz band in Colorado for fun. On visits back to Concord he will spend hours every day tickling the keys to the pleasure of anyone in the house. For that reason, it was with great regret that I listed it for sale today.  At nearly 7 feet in length, the piano effectively requires a room of its own which is incompatible with our future plans to downsize.

Jeanine enlisted my photographic services to shoot the image that will be used for their annual appeal marketing materials.  The concept (“Help Fill the Truck”) was developed by the Open Table team and my job was to execute it.  In the background is Open Table’s new refrigerated truck that is used to collect and transport food. In the foreground is one of Open Table’s youngest volunteers. This was my first time using such a large prop and young model.  I had to position the truck in the shade and at an angle to manage the reflections from the windshield and truck side. I lit our tiny model and the wagon full of food independently and shot from a very low angle to increase the relative size of the girl to the massive truck. Even though I can think of ten ways to have made this an even better image, I am pleased with the outcome given I had to work very quickly and was limited to roughly twenty exposures.

Jeanine believes it is her responsibility to ensure our local hummingbirds are properly nourished.  She makes her own hummingbird food recipe which they seem very fond of.  During the early morning and late afternoon hours, there is usually a parade of visitors with occasional jousting over who will visit the feeder first.

Nico flew out last week for his grandmother’s birthday/family reunion and returns to Colorado tomorrow.  He and Jeanine enjoyed doing some shopping together at REI.  They returned with a very nice backpack, padded gloves, and two pairs of boots (more accurately, 2 different left-footed boots, sold at a deep discount).  These were belated birthday presents. Nico turned 24 back on July 8 and this is the first time we have been together since then. New this year are glasses that seem fitting for someone pursuing a career as a professor.

I finally had a chance to upload the video I shot of my mother dancing at her birthday party last weekend.  How many 90-year-olds do you know who can do this? She is an inspiration to all who know her.

Over the weekend, I used my drone to capture images of famous Schenectady landmarks including Nott Memorial on the campus of Union College, the Saint John Evangelist Church, and City Hall. Schenectady fell on hard times when General Electric moved much of their operations out of the city decades ago. Now it feels like things are on the rebound with a new sense of vibrance at every turn.

Although his grandmother was the center of attention yesterday, Kyle was the star today. We celebrated his 26th birthday at a family reunion brunch this morning.  He will start his third week of work at Cengage tomorrow with a trip to Ohio and then on to New York City for a programming conference.  Last week he joined the Boston Sports Club where he works out every day before heading into the office. Below he takes my sister out for a spin at his grandmother’s party last night.

My mother celebrated her 90th birthday today (technically not till Aug 6).  Pictured here with her four children, their spouses, and her nine grandchildren, she chose to have the party at a dance studio.  Why? Because she loves ballroom dancing and can easily keep up with partners half her age.

Watching her grandchildren take to the floor demonstrating both interest and aptitude in ballroom dance was probably the most rewarding part of her evening. A full set of photos from the party and reunion weekend can be found here. I prepared a retrospective slide show dedicated to my mother which played on a TV in the studio. Those images can be found here.

Tomorrow members of my family and loved ones coming from far and wide will celebrate my mother’s 90th birthday.  This evening the first wave arrived and gathered to celebrate the birthday’s of my sister-in-law Marie, above with my sister Mayela and nephew Mario, and brother-in-law Stephen, below.

Niece Rose.

Daughter Maya.

Man seeking employment as a shopping mall Santa Claus?

Niece Sophia.

Sister Alissa and Jeanine.

Nephew Rory.

A member of the US Congress for 41 years, Ed Markey is the junior Senator from Massachusetts.  He is pictured here with Caleb Symons, Maya’s boyfriend, who is working over the summer as a Legislative Fellow for Markey. Caleb is a rising junior, studying Political Science and International Relations at Tufts University and is also a managing editor of the Tufts Daily. Because her flight from Indianapolis to Boston was delayed, Caleb was able to pick her up at the airport after work.  Maya is back for the weekend to attend the 90th birthday celebration for my mother being held in Schenectady, NY this weekend.

I would venture to say that this is a photographic perspective of Canadian Geese that has not been shot too often.  This gaggle was completely undisturbed by my drone flying not more than 5 feet overhead. I approached them gradually expecting them to fly away at any moment. These are obviously urban geese who have grown acclimated to the various and loud noises to be found in the city.

Every day I walk from work to Central Square and back twice; first for breakfast and again for lunch.  Over the past several weeks, I have been watching as a new high-rise building goes up. At the risk of posting more than my quota of construction cranes for the week, I decided to get an aerial photo of the project now that the central elevator shaft seems to have reached its final height.

One of my fondest memories of our early days in Boston was taking the family out on a Duck Boat tour.  The driver/captain was very funny and gave the kids a chance to drive once we were on the water.  At the time, I did not pay attention to where we entered or left the Charles River.  Today, on my early morning walk, I discovered the answer.

A major project to replace the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge is underway in Boston. This morning I walked over to the construction site and watched for a good 30 minutes. It was amazing. To facilitate the work, a large number of adjacent streets and bridges have been closed to the combined 56,000 daily car and train commuters. These closures have spawned dozens of sub projects designed to take advantage of the suspended traffic. After a few minutes of observation I was able to identify the small group of workers from the crew of 200 that were actually working on the bridge replacement. In the course of 20 minutes I watch three guys install a massive steel I-beam across the highway. One guy operated a 440 ton crane while the other two secured the 150 foot, 45 ton beam to the end of its hoist cable. They then moved the beam from the flat bed truck on which it arrived to its anchoring foundations with a level of speed and accuracy that I would not have thought possible. The project will use a total of 44 steel girders, 267 concrete deck panels and a fleet of 5 cranes to install them. The staging and choreography of equipment and materials is nothing short of incredible. After the Big Dig fiasco, I would not have thought it possible for Boston planners and worker to execute such a massive project so well.

While in New Hampshire yesterday, I had an opportunity to shoot more than just the ocean. After a nice bike ride with Jeanine this afternoon, to visit Maya’s tiny house, I had a chance to post process a couple of my favorites. 

When plans to go sailing with friends in Rhode Island were postponed due to the potential for bad weather, Jeanine and I decided to head north to the New Hampshire coast for an afternoon at the beach. We stopped at several beaches along the way before settling down on one just north of Concord Point in Rye.

Jeanine was attracted to the water with all the zeal of a small child. The result was predictable and she returned from her initial foray dripping wet.

Later we set out chairs and a blanket and relaxed until dinner time. Contrary to our normal practice, I selected the restaurant. Using my very sophisticated algorithm (number of cars in the parking lot divided by the number of available spaces times the square root of two) I selected Petey’s Summertime Seafood which proved to be an excellent choice.

This morning I decided to walk over to the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge where major construction started today on what is planned to be a two-week project to replace the bridge. I will post some photos once construction is midway. On the way back to Superpedestrian I decided to put my drone up for an aerial view of Magazine Beach Park. Construction of a new kayak launch can be seen in the foreground and I plan to be one of the first to use it once completed.

Groupings for the 2018 Amputee World Cup were live-streamed today on Facebook.  The top team in each group plus the next two highest finishing teams will advance to the round of 8.  The USA draw has it grouped with Turkey which placed third at the 2014 World Cup.  The good news is that Nicolai does not get along with Turkey’s star player (photo below from their 2014 World Cup encounter) and I am sure this will only serve to motivate him as he trains for the tournament which will take place late October and early November in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Rain every day this week has turned the far end of the field behind our house into a beautiful sea of flowers.  More rain and high humidity are forecasted for several more days.  On the bright side, this coincides with a very busy time at work so the reduced temptation to be outdoors is welcomed.

We finally found time to look at all the photos Kyle took during his recent visit to Europe. His adventure took him from Dublin to Galway, Ireland, and then to Paris and Marseille, France. This photo was taken a few blocks from Sacré-Cœur which was featured in a previous post including some of his other photos. I really liked this image because I felt transported back in time to my college term abroad in France. I very likely walked the very same street when I visited Sacré-Cœur some 40 years ago.

Slate rooves are attractive but they require regular maintenance to stay ahead of potential issues.  The unusually harsh winter and the fact that we skipped having any work done last year has left a fair bit of damage to be addressed.  Our regular slater quoted us a staggering figure based on replacing 50 tiles.  A thorough, close-up survey of the roof with my drone revealed a far smaller number of damaged tiles.  The pictures should prove a compelling resource when I discuss the job with our guy.

Several years ago I installed an automatic back-up generator for our homes electrical system.  It was a rather complicated project requiring gas line plumbing, partitioning of the wiring at the circuit breaker box into critical and non-critical circuits, and installation of an automatic transfer switch.  Recently I moved the 12V battery which starts the generator from within the outdoor generator housing to the interior of our house where it stays warm all winter.  During two prior power outages, the generator did not start automatically (first time due to high winds affecting the gas to air ratio, second time due to depleted battery from sub-zero temperature).  When the power in most of West Concord failed this afternoon, the generator kicked in and everything worked as planned.  The computers, phones, routers, and TV (all on battery backup) bridged the automated switch over without a glitch and essential functions of the house remained operational (full kitchen except for ovens, one zone of HVAC, garage door openers, family room and media center).  The outage only lasted for two hours but my satisfaction with the system finally working exactly as planned lasted all day.

Jeanine suggested a visit to the Revere Beach Sand Sculpting Festival this afternoon and it proved to be a great outing. The weather was perfect and the sand sculptures were truly amazing. We both agreed that it would be fun to return next year while the artists are still working on their creations. In addition to the works of art, we enjoyed live music by saxophonist Mike Rollins.