Today we had the wood floors in our living room and music room refinished. The polyurethane that was used to finish the newly sanded wood produces some powerful fumes as it dries. I believe that this dragonfly was overcome by these fumes and came to rest on the floor in the foyer where it expired. I was sad for the dragonfly and paused for a moment to capture its beauty before returning it to the outdoors.
I finally got around to downloading some photos I took on the Bridge of Flowers last Sunday. The beauty of flowers never ceases to amaze me.
Although the Audi e-tron has an EPA rated range of 204 miles, I was please to see a new record range prediction of 244 miles. This no doubt the result of a very leisurely drive to and from Schenectady, NY over the weekend. I was able to average 3.0 miles/kWh on the return trip, a far cry from the 1.8 miles/kWh I started off with this morning. Most of my commutes average out to 2.6.
This morning I finalized a lighting formula for photographing factory test prints from the new Formlabs Form 3 printer. The goal was to reveal surface finish in a consistent and repeatable way so that we can image parts in China and study them in the US. The next step will be to specify/design a standard camera/jig which we can use at the factory.
As we returned to Concord from Schenectady, Jeanine and I stopped for a brief visit to Shelburne Falls. There we visited the Bridge of Flowers which was as pretty as we have ever seen it with virtually everything in full bloom. It made for a very nice stopover and opportunity to stretch our legs.
I took advantage of the drone for aerial photographs of the bridge and the falls for which the village is named.
I am the executor of the estate which owns the home I grew up in. In light of her recent health issues, my mother has asked me to sell it. This weekend, Jeanine and I drove to Schenectady to ready the house for sale and to take photos for the real estate listing. Both my sisters are helping with the project while my brother continues to care for my mother in Minnesota. The house is located in the historic GE plot and while it needs some modernization, it was built in an era where craftsmanship ruled the day. The back yard features a Japanese style garden created by my mother and despite her absence remains in very good shape.
Earlier this week, Jeanine and I visited the Old North Bridge at sunset for a very tranquil stroll. It is also possible that we ended our outing with a visit to Kimball Farm for ice cream.
Maya seems to be enjoying her European travel holiday, pictured here in Lisbon for a second day. Four years ago, Jeanine and I spent a lovely vacation in the Azores, an archipelago located in the Atlantic Ocean some 1,000 miles to the west, thus far our only visit to Portugal.
My soccer teams is currently planning our next international friendly against Portugal and I am increasingly looking forward to making that trip.
Maya is traveling with friends in Europe and sent this photo from Lisbon. Her parents look forward to every message and photo we receive. Meanwhile, her brother Nico has extended his visit to Colorado and has sent zero photos thus far (yes, this is a hint).
A month ago my mother elected to forego all further medical intervention after a botched surgical procedure left her with a dismal prognosis. She was prepared to die on her own terms and said her goodbyes to family and friends. Today she celebrated her 91st birthday and is showing every indication that she is on a road to recovery. She still needs to gain some weight and rehabilitate her atrophied muscles but I predict I will be posting a photo of her dancing at her 92nd birthday party a year from now.
Kyle, our first born child, turned 27 years old today. It seems like only yesterday that Jeanine and I were starting our journey as new parents. We could not be more proud of the person he has become.
Kyle lives in the Seaport District of Boston where he works as a Data Analyst for Cengage, a digital textbook company which just merged with McGraw Hill. I have always admired him for his brains and athleticism but more recently have come to appreciate how genuinely empathetic and kind he is (no doubt gifts from his mother). Happy Birthday Son!
I finally had some free time today to work on our lawn irrigation system. The first order of business was removing the yellow jackets nest that had been constructed around the underground valves for the sprinkler heads. A few week ago, I sprayed the nest and it appears that all of the residents departed for greener pastures or are now part of the pasture helping to make it greener. Nests of this type are engineering marvels; structured to maximize enclosed volume with a minimum of supporting wall material. Even more amazing is the fact that construction is done by multiple members of the colony in parallel. Imagine if 100 humans were each tasked with building one room of a 100 room hotel. What do you think the chances are that it would all just fit together perfectly? Regrettably, once I was able to access the valves, I could only isolate one of two that is stuck in the open position. Without a map to the location of other underground control valve boxes, my chances of finding the right one are pretty slim. I rarely outsource home maintenance work of this type but lacking the equipment needed to trace the control wires and locate the other boxes it is time to call in the pros.
Meet Noah. He is the 6 week old son of a Formlabs colleague and I was very happy to snatch him up for some baby time. It has been far too long since my last baby fix. He was being heavily guarded but I managed to grab him when attentions were diverted. If not for his ever vigilant grandmother, I might have successfully kidnapped him for the afternoon.
Maya joined us on our journey into Cambridge for the baby party so we could drop her off at the airport afterwards. She is headed to Portugal where she will connect with her best friends, Sarinnagh and Fiona for further travel to Spain and Amsterdam. Although she is a veteran traveller we still worry about our kids when they head out on adventures.
After saying goodbye to Maya we drove into the Seaport District to drop off Kyle’s golf clubs and then on to Lexington for a mystery date. I chose a nice Italian restaurant where we dined before Jeanine revealed our mystery date. She had tickets to see Lori McKenna in concert. McKenna was raised in a Boston family of six children. She met her husband Gene in third grade. They have five kids. And over the last three decades, as she became a wife and mother, she has also emerged as one of the most respected, prolific singer-songwriters in popular music. Her 2016 release The Bird and the Rifle netted three Grammy nominations. Then, she made history: In 2016, she became the first woman ever to win the Country Music Association’s Song of the Year two years in a row thanks to co-writing Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” and penning Tim McGraw’s no. 1 “Humble and Kind” solo. Both songs also clinched back-to-back Grammy wins for Best Country Song. In 2017, she became the Academy of Country Music’s first female Songwriter of the Year.
There are upwards of 350,000 species of beetles worldwide, the largest order of the animal kingdom. My best efforts to identify this one, found in our garden, have proven fruitless. If there are any entomologists among this blog’s followers who can identify this little fellow, please drop me a line.