Jeanine finished writing and editing her memoir cookbook some time ago but the process of layout and formatting has been fraught with delays. By my count, she is working with her third designer, each prior one having failed to complete the project for one reason or another. I am the in-house food photographer and was happy to create what I expect will be the last image for the book. With most of my photography studio in storage, I did the best I could with available light and an on-camera flash. Not my best work, but the client seemed happy. Fittingly, Jeanine prepared the pictured rainbow salad for her writer’s group farewell luncheon. She joined the “chapter” (my name for a group of writers) shortly after we moved to Concord and they have been a source of shared passion, support, candid feedback, and professional guidance.
Jeanine took the kayak that Maya built out for a quick paddle down to Fairhaven Bay this morning. Our neighbors have a nicely sloped area from which to launch and have kindly given us permission to use it. Our river frontage is on a fairly steep incline which does not really lend itself to a graceful put-in point. The Conantum community in which we live has a shared dock and kayak storage area that is a very short walk from the house. Once we have settled in, I suspect we will take advantage of this option because it offers a totally dry entry and exit.
Now that plans for the overall house are essentially done, I have turned my attention to a more detailed model of the kitchen. Jeanine and I both like natural bamboo for the cabinetry and have settled on basic appliance sizes; 42″ refrigerator freezer, 30″ double oven (steam over convection), 36″ induction cooktop with downdraft vent. Countertop color, lighting fixtures, and hardware are still open, as is the style of the sink. Not shown is the walk-in pantry to the left of the refrigerator. In addition to the CAD model, I have created a spreadsheet detailing the contents of each drawer, cabinet, and shelf to ensure we do not overlook anything in the design. The kitchen area is ~230 sqft. and the pantry is 55 sqft. Smaller in comparison to our previous kitchens, it feels perfectly scaled for our retirement years.
For the past week, this cormorant has been sharing a branch with Herman, the blue heron who fishes from it almost every morning. It is nice to see two different species coexisting peacefully. This is in sharp contrast to the hummingbirds which visit our feeder. They invariably compete to the bitter end until one is driven off even though the feeder can accommodate several diners. Regular visitors to our home get names. The cormorant will be called Cory.
Just for fun, see if you can correctly guess the outcome of this leaf top encounter. The answer will be at the bottom of this entry and will require some decoding.
Spider and ant peacefully share the leaf
Spider attacks and eats ant
Ant is the first soldier of a trailing army that engulfs the spider
It has been over a month since we received approval from the Concord Natural Resource Commission to proceed with our new home building project. Per requirements, I mailed the Order of Conditions we received to the Middlesex Registry of Deeds for recording. In addition to the filing fee, I included a self-addressed, postage pre-paid envelope for them to return a certified copy. Having yet to receive it, I spent several hours tracking down the problem and driving into Cambridge to obtain a copy. Nothing I enjoy more than dealing with Massachusetts state bureaucracy. While I was at it, I contacted Concord Municipal Light Plant to see if they would come and retrieve a utility pole that has been lying next to our driveway since we moved in. Prior dealings with the CMLP have always been great so I am optimistic that this will get resolved quickly.
Design for our new home is approaching completion. We incorporated a few minor changes based on the homes we visited last weekend. Windows, 63 of them, feature prominently allowing us to enjoy views of the lovely Sudbury River. The above grade finished space will be 3,000 sqft and the basement will add another 1,900 sqft. We will have an open floor plan living area, dining area, and kitchen with walk-in pantry and media enclave, two offices, three dedicated bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, an aviary, exercise room, laundry, woodshop, and photo studio. Next on the schedule, our architect will complete construction drawings while we line up a builder. We are still probably a year away from completion, but it is exciting to have reached this milestone.
Over the weekend, we visited the Waitsfield Farmers Market in search of breakfast. After quickly satisfying that objective, we leisurely visited many of the booths. Jeanine scored some local honey and I several colorful photos. As luck would have it, we ran into a former neighbor from Concord who now has a home in the area. It seems like many of our friends have gravitated to this picturesque valley at the base of Sugarbush Mountain.
My soccer team’s fall season kicked off this morning. We played a very chippy team from Peabody on an incredibly slow grass field. Despite controlling possession for 80% of the first half, we were not able to score until the second half when we did so twice for the 2-0 win. I took the team photo but did not play. Having missed practice last week, I was relegated to standby status for today’s game. Rest assured, I will not be missing any more practices this season.
At noon, the entire family got together for lunch at Kyle’s place. I arrived early to help him with planning for a basement renovation project he is undertaking. I captured measurements to create an as-built drawing of the space. Later in the evening, I put together a preliminary concept for Kyle’s review.
Two of Vermont’s most charming waterfalls share the same name. There is Moss Glen Falls of Stowe, and there is Moss Glen Falls of Granville, pictured above. Located a short distance from where we spent the evening, Moss Glen Falls is a lovely, 25-foot wide, fan-shaped waterfall with a roughly 30-foot drop and easily accessed from RT 100. Other interesting sightings during our afternoon tour of the Mad River Valley included a sandpiper, glider, and daredevils.
Jeanine and I drove to Montpellier, Vermont this afternoon for a short weekend getaway. After a brief stop to tour the lovely state capitol, we met up with my former boss, Duncan, his wife Joy, and a small group of their friends at the Barr Hill distillery and craft cocktail bar. Afterwards, we retreated to Duncan’s mountainside home in Warren, situated on 80+ acres with a commanding view of Sugarbush Mountain. There, we spent the night and enjoyed more great food and conversation.
My initial posts from my recent visit to the Faroe Islands were entirely focused on the natural beauty of the landscapes. Today, I am sharing photos that celebrate the architecture. Every village, no matter the size, features a modest but lovely church. Interestingly, the other standard fixture, although less photogenic, is a soccer pitch. Every child here plays football and the nation has the highest ratio of soccer coaches to players in the world. Below is a typical village, invariably located on the water where you will either find a fleet of small fishing boats and/or facilities for the building and launching of giant circular pens used for farming salmon.
The capital of Tórshavn is quite modern but also has a well preserved and delightfully charming “Old Town”. Although the weather in the Faroe Islands (rains 2 out of every 3 days) will not be to everyone’s taste, this self-governing nation under the external sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark, has one of the highest GDPs per capita and lowest crime rates (I did not see a single police officer during my entire stay) in the world.
On the day we moved into our new house some 9 months ago, I noticed this very large beetle trapped between sliding panes of glass in what is now our combined office and media room. It appeared to have been dead for some time. My initial attempts to extract it were unsuccessful. Today, I made a much more determined effort and was able to free it without damage. It is quite large, measuring 1.5 inches from stem to stern or 2 inches if you include the legs. It is quite an impressive creature and I am sorry we did not meet under better circumstances.
Why on Earth would someone buy a snowblower in the middle of August. Well, you would do so if the model you are interested in has been sold out for the past 9 months. When we moved to our new house, I sold all of my gas powered outdoor equipment including my huge tracked Honda snowblower. In my opionion, this 2-stage Ego model is the first electric snowblower that has any chance of standing up to a New England winter. Our new driveway is relatively flat but considerably longer than our last one. I am hoping that two sets of batteries will be adequate to handle most snow events. Time will tell but having made the expenditure, it is a virtual guarantee that we will have an unusually mild winter.
This website is dedicated to sharing, with family and friends, the day-to-day adventures of the Calabria family.
