Normally, I would spend much time outdoors photographing the fall foliage at this time of year. This year, however, priorities dictate that I continue to focus on completing my construction projects for the River House. Even so, on this perfect fall day, I could not help to pause for a couple of photos. The first was taken from the site of our future patio. The second, with my drone over the inundated banks of the Sudbury River.
Today, with assistance from Jeanine, we reduced ten 4′ x 8′ sheets of bamboo plywood to the parts necessary to assemble twenty-seven 3-inch thick, 44-inch wide stair treads for the River House. Counting the three prototypes I built yesterday, we will have a total of 29 and a spare. The tops, bottoms, and sides are numbered so I can match the grain for each tread. The end caps are pictured in the foreground. Still to be completed are 800 lineal feet of lock miter joints which will probably take the better part of a day to machine.
Unlike my brother who is a master angler, I have never really had much interest in fishing. The same cannot be said for many of the crew working on our house. Pictured here is one of our masons. He asked permission to fish in the river during his break time and I was happy to grant it. He has been catching fish most days but today he hauled in a really big one, a carp I believe. Should we ever be blessed with grandchildren, I may have to procure a couple of fishing poles for their entertainment.
In preparation for their climb of the Cayambe Volcano, Nico’s group did a training climb on the Imbabura Volcano. Unfortunately, they had to turn back just past the halfway point because of a massive wildfire.
Closer to home, Maya is hiking and camping in the White Mountains with her boyfriend his younger brother, and his girlfriend.
I took the day off from working on the River House to attend a memorial service for Sarah Doherty held in her hometown of Taunton, MA. Sarah lost her leg as a 13-year-old to a drunk driver but never let that loss keep her from her passions. She was very athletic and loved hiking, mountain climbing, and downhill skiing. She summited Mount Rainier, Mount Denali, and Mount Kilimanjaro and completed the 500-mile Camino de Santiago. Her desire for a better crutch led her to cofound SideStix with her husband Kerith. Nico did a two-month internship at the company, located in British Columbia, and we have become sizeable investors in the business. Sarah was one of 9 children including a twin sister and something of a celebrity in Taunton. The service was very well attended and very moving. Nico wanted to attend but is out of the country as did Jeanine who is out of state attending the 80th birthday of our dear friend Jean Cass, pictured below in the white blouse.
I arrived in Taunton ahead of the service and used the time to photograph the very handsome Bristol County Superior Court building.
Today, I turned 65, the traditional age of retirement. Reflecting on my life thus far and looking to the future, I think retirement for me is just a new chapter of work and play focused on my passions. I spent the day in my workshop at the River House, cranking out cabinetry. Ten hours of hard physical labor left me exhausted and covered in dust and yet, I have never been happier. I thoroughly enjoyed my career as an engineering executive and still enjoy the consulting work I do but there is something uniquely satisfying about designing and building things of which I am proud and that will endure beyond my lifetime.
When I returned to the Road House, I discovered my inbox and messages flooded with birthday wishes and photos from the past (Jeanine had put the word out to family and friends to photo bomb me). A shower left me relaxed and free of the day’s accumulation of dust so that I could thoroughly enjoy my requested birthday meal. There is nothing quite like the classic flavor combination of sweet tomatoes with fresh basil and mozzarella served on slices of fresh French baguette and topped with a balsamic glaze. A simple meal for a man who finds joy in simple things.
We will have a family celebration in 2 weeks when all the kids can attend. Maya is off to New Hampshire for hiking in the White Mountains this weekend, Nico is in Ecuador getting ready to climb the Cayambe Volcano, and Kyle is headed to Montana for a wedding and to visit Glacier National Park next week.
I have so much to be thankful for; a truly amazing wife and family, good health, and the means to pursue my dreams. For these gifts I am very grateful.
Jeanine, Maya, and I were treated to a lovely dinner at the Frenchie Wine Bistro in Boston by my second cousin Vinny and his wife Michele. They are visiting their son JD, pictured above with his girlfriend Chelsea, for the Boston College Family Weekend. On the left is Samantha, their daughter who came up from New York City to join the reunion. Maya and Sam seem like kindred spirits and I only wish we would have visited with her family more often as they were growing up.
On the River House front, Jeanine and I made great progress on drawer boxes. We have now completed 54 and had to move them out of the shop because of their sheer volume. Once we have made the full set, I plan to set up my HVLP (high volume, low pressure) spray gun to apply a water-based protective finish.
Perhaps our most admired sub-contractor on the River House project is Marcio. He has been slowly and meticulously tiling each of the four bathrooms. Pictured above is the alcove above the tub in our third bathroom. His attention to detail and craftsmanship is next-level. He has had to suspend work temporarily while the flooring guys moved in to do their thing so he has been helping out the stone masons on the outside of the house. It looks like both the tile and stone work will be completed in about two weeks and the flooring should be done by the end of this week.
With the help of Jeanine who has quickly mastered the art of glue application, we assembled 30 drawer boxes over the last two days. Jeanine applied glue to the lock miter joints on the drawer sides while I did so for the front and back. I then fit the parts together including the drawer bottom while Jeanine readied the clamps. Once we found our rhythm, we were turning out a completed box every 4 to 5 minutes. After each group of six boxes, a lack of more clamps required us to pause for 30 minutes while the glue set up. The final operation was edge routing (to soften all the sharp edges) and sanding. Tomorrow, we will start another batch of 24 boxes which will give us enough to complete the kitchen, pantry, mudroom, and laundry. The remaining 56 will be for the bathrooms, walk-in closets, and shop.
Our landscape plan for the River House includes a small patio in the backyard. It will be accessed from the great room by a set of stone slab stairs. Installation of the steps was completed today and we could not be happier with the way they look. Big rocks will be featured prominently in our outdoor spaces as well as all indigenous plantings.
This morning, Maya helped me prepare parts for 30 drawer boxes; 2 sides, a front and back for each one. That is 120 piece parts each requiring a lock miter joint at both ends and a full-length slot for the drawer bottom. Even with 80 more drawers to go (320 more piece parts) it still feels like we made a major dent in the work. With her help, we completed the work in one-third the time it would have taken me to do it alone. In the afternoon, we turned our attention to repairs for Maya’s tiny house which sustained major damage when a massive tree limb struck the front porch.
We used two hydraulic bottle jacks to elevate the roof ridge beam while simultaneously using a winch to pull the sides of the house inward. In a matter of a few hours, we were able to bring all the walls back to their proper positions and secure them in place. A lot of cosmetic work remains to be done, but we both felt thrilled to have addressed the major structural issues. Jeanine assisted by hauling all of the debris over to the dumpster at the River House.
My sister Alissa shared photos and video of the ceremony to inter the cremains of my parents at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Schenectady where they were members. Their commingled ashes were added to the garden above which sits in front of the sculpture that my mother worked to bring to the church and the Japanese maple tree we planted in their honor.
Nico has a small portion of my mother’s cremains and will spread them when he reaches the peak of the Cayambe Volcano in Ecuador the country of her birth.
Before building more than a hundred drawer boxes destined for the River House, I completed a single prototype today to optimize the construction details and verify the fit with the hardware. I was very happy with the results and will add the bamboo drawer fronts only after all the drawer boxes have been installed.
Meanwhile, the flooring contractors have been making great progress and have completed the entire great room. The 6-inch wide, quarter-sawn white oak can be seen in the photo above as well as a tile sample for the kitchen backsplash.
Kyle is “working” in Cabo this week with other members of his team from Hims and Hers. The company has several such retreats each year which is a great way to make remote workers, like Kyle, feel a real sense of connection to the company. Needless to say, it sounds like he is having a wonderful time.
