Nico has been named to the U.S. Amputee Soccer Men’s Team that will travel to Honduras in September for the inaugural Gold Cup which will include the national teams from Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Although it will likely conflict with my own soccer schedule, I think I would like to attend this tournament.
It is hard to believe but our second child will be thirty years old starting tomorrow. We celebrated today with an outdoor feast that included family and friends. Nico reminds us all how to live in the moment and to suck the marrow out of life. He is the Lead Educator for the Bionic Project, captain of the USA National Amputee Soccer Team, and all-time leading scorer for the US, a brand ambassador for Arc’teryx, a board member of the American Amputee Soccer Association, and assistant soccer coach for Regis College. He was the first to summit Mount Kilimanjaro on crutches, has been a guest on the Ellen Degeneres Show, and has received numerous awards, including a Heros Among Us from the Boston Celtics, and was named an Honorary Captain of the New England Revolution Soccer Team. We are very proud of him and can’t wait to see what he does next.
Jeanine and I had little trouble agreeing on the design of our new house since we share a common aesthetic for architecture. The same cannot be said for artwork. On this front we are off to a slow start, often finding it difficult to agree. That was not the case for the pictured sculpture that was created by my mother. We both love it. We also agreed that it needed a stand to elevate it from the floor. Today, I fashioned one by extending the contours of the sculpture’s base using a lamination of leftover LVL studs. I think my mother would have been very pleased with this solution.
The galette has its roots in French cuisine and dates back to ancient times. The term “galette” comes from the French word “galet,” meaning a flat, round stone, which reflects the flat and round shape of the pastry. Historically, galettes were simple, rustic cakes made from coarse grains, often served as a staple food.
In Brittany, a region in France, galettes made from buckwheat flour became popular, especially for savory versions filled with ingredients like cheese, meats, and vegetables. Over time, the concept of the galette evolved, and sweet versions with fruits and other fillings became common.
The modern galette, known for its free-form and rustic appearance, is celebrated for its versatility and ease of preparation. Pictured above is one of two galettes prepared by Jeanine for a dinner party we attended this evening. And yes, they were as delicious as they looked.
Jeanine and I traveled to Medford this afternoon for a 4th of July barbecue with Kyle. We lounged on his partially completed patio, enjoying burgers, salad, watermelon, and homemade strawberry and lemon sorbet that Jeanine prepared. Before dessert, we took a long stroll around the lake in nearby Fellsmere Park where waterfowl outnumbered people and the soothing sound of the fountains was in stark contrast to exploding firecrackers that peppered the tranquility. Nico joined us after dinner, having just flown back from his western states road trip, and regaled us with tales of his travels. Maya is on Nantucket staying with several of her high school girlfriends and we hope to see her on Sunday when we will be gathering again to celebrate Nico’s birthday.
After nearly two days of research, I pulled the trigger on purchasing the pictured wood chipper. What I learned is that size matters. A chipper rated at 3″ capacity is lucky to handle 2″ diameter branches. A unit specified at 4 inches is best used for 3″ and under. This knowledge was gained by watching at least 100 YouTube videos of chippers in action. I also discovered that designs featuring a combination chipper (fed through a narrow side-mounted tube) and shredder (fed through a large hopper on top) are sub-optimal at both tasks and limited to smaller size machines. I found one company that makes a battery-powered unit but its capacity and run time were both insufficient for the type of work I can anticipate. In the end, I settled on a Power King 5″ 14hp model with an electric starter. What impressed me about the company is that the founder demonstrated the machine successfully chipping a 6″ diameter log which is above its rated capacity. I liked the robust construction quality and ease of serviceability. I also contacted customer support in advance to make sure I could speak to a knowledgeable human, easily order replacement parts, and/or get help with a technical issue.
I am not happy to have purchased a machine that requires gasoline to run, especially after having purged my garage of all such tools and replacing them with battery-powered substitutes. As a consolation, rather than burning all of our downed trees and limbs, we will be converting them into wood chips to be used as mulch around the yard.
UPDATE: I decided to cancel this order before it shipped. I just could not get past owning a gas-powered tool again.
I often make morning coffee for Jeanine and serve it to her in bed. She really likes this treatment. Today, I opted to use a cat-inspired coffee cup I found at the back of the cupboard. It looked especially cute with the frothed milk hairdo. When I decided to photograph it, the shadow reminded me of the bat signal. Suffice it to say, Jeanine found this cup as humorous as I did.
One of my soccer teammates let me know that he saw a nice video of Nico’s amputee soccer team on AppleTV. I searched YouTube and found the video above. Not sure if it is the same one but interesting nonetheless.
This morning, my soccer team competed in the championship finals for the over-62 division in which we play. High temperature and humidity made for a brutally exhausting match. We faced our toughest opponent of the season and had to dig deep for the 2-0 victory. I played for 55 minutes of the match and was utterly spent by the end. I hope to increase my fitness level (i.e. drop some weight) over the summer so that I can be more competitive when our fall season begins in September. For the moment, however, I am just going to enjoy the win.
Kyle is making great progress on his patio project as shown in this recent photo he shared. Last week, I loaned him my laser leveling tools, and he has put them to great use. The result, unfortunately, is that he had to do substantially more grading than originally anticipated. Nevertheless, he has adapted the design nicely. I suspect he will be ready to start laying pavers in one or two weeks and then the “heavy ‘lifting” will be behind him. We can’t wait for his first family patio party.
Nico shared this image on his Instagram account. Unfortunately, he does not mention where he is. I used a screen grab to capture it so no GPS data to be investigated. I decided to try a reverse image search to see if I could identify the distinctive mountain range in the background. Sure enough Google Lens found two matches, both as LinkedIn background images. Naturally, the location was not revealed on either page. The yellow foliage in the second image suggests aspen leaves and the pattern of clusters remind me of photos I have taken in the Rocky Mountains. The paths through the trees in the photo above suggest a ski resort. Based on these clues, I am going to guess he is on a ski mountain somewhere in Colorado, probably one of the lower-altitude ones since there is no snow.
Nico: If you read this, please let me know where your picture was taken.
Completed this morning, this 1000-piece cat puzzle has been entertaining Kris and Jeanine for the last few days. Maya, who spent the night with us, and I also contributed to the effort. It was nice to finish before Kris had to depart for her train to Trenton, NJ. I spent several hours adding more for sale items to our Facebook Marketplace and Craig’s List. Thus far, I have sold a pair of Sonos units, a DeWalt compressed air hose reel, a Chinese-style pedestal table, and a 50-year-old Craftsman toolbox. The cash influx is always appreciated but the real motivation is in finding good homes for things that would otherwise wind up in a landfill.
The Charles River Esplanade in Boston is lined with benches accompanied by small plaques featuring inspirational words, quotes, and personal messages to friends and loved ones. Among them, there is one plaque with no words at all. Instead, it displays the first 120 digits of the mathematical constant, pi (π). Who sponsored the $5,000 plaque is unknown; many suspect it was MIT. It was one of our first stops for Jeanine, Kris, and me on a walking tour of Boston and Cambridge. We took in the Harvard Bridge, esplanade, Hatch Memorial Shell, Longfellow Bridge, Kendall Square, the MIT Stata Center, and Building 10. After the 3-1/2 mile walk, we jumped in the car and headed over to Harvard Square for more sightseeing and ice cream. An early dinner at the Dumpling House fortified us for a visit to the Auburn Cemetery and climb to the top of the Washington Tower.
Visiting us this week is Kris Earle, Jeanine’s best friend since childhood. We ventured out on a short walk to Martha’s Point which offers a lovely view of the meandering Sudbury River as it exits Fairhaven Bay.