I had enough time yesterday on my drive back to the Raleigh Durham airport to stop at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens on the campus of Duke University for about 10 minutes. I could have stayed for hours and will certainly do so the next time I get to Durham. On this occasion making my flight was the higher priority.
On some level, I was not thrilled about the prospects of flying out of Logan airport on the morning of September 11th. It certainly made me reflect more deeply about all who were traumatized that day 18 years ago and all those who have paid the price since. Nonetheless, I have been very delinquent in visiting our new office in Durham, North Carolina and today I was finally in a position to do so. We currently have two floors of the building pictured above with ambitions to lease it all. Recruiting top talent here has proven very successful and I have high expectations about the work that will be done at this location. I enjoyed a tour of the facility and time getting to know the team better before a same-day return to Boston.
Since I started commuting to Formlabs I have had to endure construction traffic on Cambridge Street where the new King School and Cambridge Street Upper School (CSUS) have been under construction since 2015. The 250,000 square foot, $160M building will be home to 850 students. That’s a bill of nearly $10K per student for the next twenty years. Yikes! Despite the cost, it certainly is beautiful, especially when illuminated at night as was the case during my evening commute.
Normally when I photograph Nicolai on a soccer pitch he is one of the players on the field. This evening, I had a chance to see him in action in a different capacity, as Head Coach of the Concord Carlisle High School JV Men’s Soccer Team. They were playing Boston Latin High School which is not too far from my office. It was a lot of fun watching Nico coach a team he once played for. He is an absolute natural and I have little doubt that coaching will play an important role in his future. A set of action photos from the game can be found here. The game ended in a 0-0 tie despite the fact that CCHS dominated possession and really looked to be the better team.
This morning I started my sixteenth season with the Concord United soccer club. We travelled to Raynham where we secured a 5-0 win getting things off to a good start. I play a wing midfielder and have never kicked off a season in such poor shape. The combination of a demanding work schedule and various procedures related to getting rid of my kidney stones contributed to a summer break with little exercise. It is very clear to me that I am going to have to make a serious effort to get back into soccer shape if I am going to pull my weight on the team.
For the last several years, the shower in our master bathroom has suffered from a progressively increasing drip when turned off. I was confident that this could be rectified by replacing the four washers and seals used in the main valve body (pictured above). The challenge was getting it out. First, there is no water shutoff for the shower which means that it would require turning off water to the entire house. Although this is easy to do, the risk of breaking a pipe during this operation is very real and would result in no water for the house until it was repaired. Second the handle had 31 years of corrosion on its internal spline making it next to impossible to remove. Ultimately, I needed a torch and fairly large pry bars to remove the handle. Once liberated, I had to fight different battles with each of the four threaded joints inside the valve. The entire repair took the better part of the morning but was well worth the effort.
Later in the day, Jeanine and I joined Kyle for lunch and a long walk around Fresh Pond where we encounter this bumper crop of mushrooms.
All the items pictured here were found within a 10 foot radius in our backyard early this morning. It never ceases to amaze me what you can find when you simply take the time to look.
For someone who thought she would be dead after complications from surgery, I would say my mother is looking quite alive. Earlier this week she moved from a hospice care unit into an assisted living residential facility. Little by little she is gaining weight and I am confident it is only a matter of a few months before she returns to ballroom dancing. She sent this iPad selfie to family and friends today as if to announce “I’m back.”
When I returned from a walking meeting with one of my colleagues today, I found this caterpillar crawling up the back of my neck. After recovering from the surprise, I paused to photograph this future butterfly with the camera on my phone. It is absolutely amazing to me that evolution would produce a set of fake eyes to help intimidate would be predators.
Maya started a four month internship with Kent, Washington based Blue Origin today. She will be designing systems to test and validate the sensors used on their spacecraft. When I spoke to her about her first day, she reported being somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of new things she will be required to learn in order to complete her project. I have total faith she will meet the challenge. She spent the weekend settling into her new living situation which included taking her new roommate to the hospital twice for a severe illness she contracted while driving cross country with her father.
Before leaving for home this morning, I took a few minutes to photograph portraits of Mayela and Stephen’s “children.” Peachy is seven and Banjo is three. The pair are the most delightful dogs you will ever meet. Well behaved, frisky, always ready to play or snuggle.
Earlier in the weekend, Mayela went fishing using Peachy for bait but did not catch anything.
Atop 2,690 foot Goodnow Mountain in the heart of the Adirondacks is the 60 foot tall Aermotor LS-40 tower with 7’x7’ metal cab. It was built by the NY Department of Conservation in 1922 and staffed until 1970 when fire towers were gradually phased out. It offers a spectacular 360 degree panoramic view of the Adirondack range and can be reached on a 4.5 mile roundtrip hike with an ascent of 1,100 feet. Mayela, Stephen, Jeanine and I made the hike after a 2.5 hour car/ferry ride from Vermont to Newcomb, NY.
In addition to the views from the top, there were several interesting views along the trail as well.
This morning Jeanine’s sister, Susan, joined us for a visit to the Burlington Farmer’s Market where we met up with my sister, Mayela, and her husband Stephen.
Stephen is currently doing a stint as a traveling cardiovascular access nurse. Mayela has joined him from North Carolina for the summer. They have rented a quaint water front cottage on Lake Champlain in the town of North Hero. There we spent the night after a day full of exploring, fine food, and a wonderful fire on the beach.
After work, Jeanine and I drove to Burlington, VT to visit with her sister Susan and our friend Jean. We arrived shortly after 10pm and promptly retired. It has been a very long week for both of us and we were happy to be getting away for the extended weekend holiday.