“Q5 is an immersive learning experience leveraging the curiosity, knowledge, and passions of students and faculty to foster complex thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration. Q5 complements our academic program and seeks to inspire students and faculty to pursue shared interests and ideas.”

At CCHS, where Nico is teaching, they offer a variety of one week long, end of the school year, elective programs for non-seniors. Nico is staffing the All Things Paddleboarding course in which students spend half the day learning to paddleboard and the other half kayaking. Today they are headed to the Charles River and Nico will be paddling in style using the kayak I built several years ago.

On the day after climbing Mount Fitzroy in Argentina, I noticed blood in my urine, never a good sign. It persisted for a few days and then everything returned to normal. When I got back to the US, I saw my GP and then a urologist who ordered a CAT scan which revealed a number of kidney stones (5mm, 3mm x 2, 2mm). I decided to give them 6 weeks to pass before considering more invasive remedies. The journey from the kidney to the bladder can be excruciatingly painful (renal colic) and totally debilitating. The pain comes in intense waves that last for 30-90 minutes. Once in the bladder, passage out of the body is not as painful. Starting last Thursday, I have been having 2 to 3 episodes per day. Yesterday on the way back from my soccer game (non-driver in a car pool), I had a particularly painful attack. This morning, I produced over a hundred tiny stones, mostly sub millimeter, several 1mm, and a couple of 2mm. I believe that the strenuous activity may have helped break down the 5mm stone into all the remnants pictured above. Time will tell.

This morning we faced the top team from the other flight in our division, the Black Rhinos from Wellesley. We took a 1-0 lead at the thirty minute mark and scored three additional unanswered goals in the second half for a 4-0 result. I had a blistering one touch shot that rang off the cross bar. Obviously, it would have been far nicer if it had gone in but to strike the ball with such power is a nice feeling in and of itself. After the match I lined everyone up for a team photograph and could not be more disappointed with the results. I put the sun to our backs so we would not be squinting and had a fill flash mounted on the camera that was suppose to provide the correct exposure for faces. It did so for the guys standing but not for those on a knee. This is exactly what you would expect if you exceed the camera’s flash sync speed, which I did. When in that situation you turn on the HSS (high speed sync) function to prevent it from happening, which I did. Clearly, something went wrong and I have to figure out the mystery. Because the photo does not meet my standard, I will have to coerce everyone into posing for another one before the season ends. I will no doubt catch a bunch of grief when I request the do over.

Several years ago I tiled over our brick fireplace and hearth. Unfortunately the tiles that were subject to intense heat eventually cracked. Today I removed the damaged tiles and poured a new concrete base in the heat zone and behind the fireplace screen. Other than making a hot mess of the kitchen when I over revved the mixer I was using, the project came out well.

Maya is spending the summer completing work on her tiny house. What remains to be done are the built in cabinets and flooring. After about a week in the design phase she is now working on construction. Pictured here are a number of plywood panels to which she is gluing 1/2 inch solid stock edging. In the background she is doing the same to stretchers that will divide drawer sections. She is using a European style frameless cabinet to maximize space utilization and has opted for push to release closures to eliminate the need for handles. Eliminating handles buys back an inch and a half of extra maneuvering room for occupants of the kitchen.

I ordered a new flash for my camera system earlier this week and it arrived this evening. This unit features a round reflector in contrast to the rectangular system used by most flashes. The result is a much more uniform field of illumination but not the reason I ordered it. Whenever I use flash I make every effort to bounce it off a white ceiling or wall. When used this way the uniformity of light pattern makes little difference. What attracted me to this unit is a much improved user interface and mechanical coupling to the hot shoe. Anytime I update my system I put up the replaced item for sale. Below is one of two flashes that are now up for sale on Craig’s List.

I discovered an additional video featuring Nicolai from last weekend’s US National Amputee Soccer Team training camp. This one produced by the team’s host, MSL Soccer League team FC Dallas.

I took advantage of delightful weather for a lunch hour walk to the Boston Museum of Science. I didn’t have time to go in but did pause to photograph the 5-story Foucault Pendulum in the lobby. Originally  conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth, the device is mesmerizing to watch.

Nicolai spent the weekend in Texas at a US National Amputee Soccer Team training camp. Local TV covered the story.

With my new Audi e-tron set to arrive shortly (I placed my reservation last September) it is time to put my BMW i3 up for sale. I cleaned it from top to bottom and photographed it for listings on Cars.com, eBay Motors, and Craig’s List. Earlier in the day my soccer team was in action against the top team in the other flight in our age division. Our over-56 league has two divisions (1 and 2). Each has a North and South section. We are in the D1 South section which has two 4-team flights. We play teams in our flight twice and the other flight once. Winners of each flight go to through to the playoffs with the North section to determine the best of the 28 team league. We went up 1-0. They scored two in a row. I was credited with the equalizer when a teammate headed the ball off a corner kick into the top of my back from there into the net. Hardly a goal to be proud of but it gave us the tie and preserved our undefeated season.

The field behind our house is hayed a couple of times each year. The farmers who do the work charge us nothing and in return get to keep all the hay. It is really something to watch the expertly choreographed operation. Another tractor proceeds this pair to leave the grass piled in straight rows. While these guys were at work, I relocated the EVSE (Electric Vehicle Service Equipment) used to charge my electric car. It is essentially a box with fuses, a big contactor, a 25 foot cable, charge port connector and a little logic. My BMW i3 has its charge port at the back right whereas my soon to arrive Audi e-tron has its charge port at the front left. The whole project took less than 2 hours and will allow me to easily connect the cable to my new car rather than draping it over the roof. I went on to completely clean and organize the garage with Maya’s assistance.

Pictured above is an aerial view of “The Wave.” It is centered on the two puddles which can be seen in the image. Look even closer and you will find a couple of photographers (of the twenty permitted per day). I suspect they may not be all that happy because of those puddles. They aren’t big enough to use for a reflection pool but they are large enough that they will detract from an otherwise uniform image. When I was last there on foot, I had to deal with fresh snow. The upper puddle in the image above is the same one that can be seen in my photo below.

Here is a reverse angle taken on an earlier sortie. Notice the shadow that is no longer present in the image at the top.

I am always hesitant to post panoramas on this blog as they can only be appreciated at full resolution. Click on the image for a better view. This was taken just off the highway as I was approaching Page, AZ.

While hiking off trail just outside of Canyonlands NP I came across a bleached white skeleton of what I assume was a cow. The contents of its stomach remained undisturbed between its ribs. The scene left me wondering how this bovine met its demise.