The male, Calabria side cousins have gathered in northern California at Kyle’s invitation for what I hope will be the first of many similar reunions. The boys (technically, men; I will withhold the use of that term, however, until a review of their behavior over the next few days suggests it is warranted) are very similar in age and have been very tight-knit since early childhood. My understanding is that they will spend at least one-night camping (Big Sur, I believe) and one day touring San Francisco. Johnny, visiting California for the first time, has lined up a couple of job interviews and will stay on for a few extra days.  Should Maya one day choose to extend this tradition, she will have an equal number of female Calabria side cousins to invite.  Adding Jeanine’s side of the family would bring the total number of first cousins to an even dozen.

The nature of working at a startup is that you wear many hats. In addition to my other responsibilities, I am occasionally pressed into service as the company’s photographer. Today I took some photos that will be used for a company blog posting which speaks to our obsession with strength testing of our materials. Pictured here is one of our top scientists (affectionately nick-named the Bone Crusher) conducting a strength test on a small carbon fiber beam that we printed.

I have been testing a new thermal imaging device that connects to my iPhone. Pixels within the image are mapped to a color palette that reflects the temperature at that location. Pictured here is one of the machines we use at work to produce nylon-impregnated carbon fiber.

Jeanine and I enjoyed an exquisite dinner with former neighbors Gabby and Stephan aboard their Gunboat catamaran off one of the Boston Harbor Islands this evening. The 60 foot carbon fiber sailing vessel is a thing of beauty, equipped with state of the art electronics and all the amenities you would expect to find in a luxury home. The crew of Sebastian and Sophie prepared dinner and saw to our every need as we enjoyed the sunset over a distant Boston skyline. A better way to spend a late summer evening I cannot imagine.

On a bike ride this morning I traveled under the railroad bridge on Main Street where work is underway to increase the height of the bridge over the roadway. The decapitation of more than one truck by this bridge has been well documented on this blog over the years and it is about time that something is being done to address the situation. It would have been far easier to lower the roadway, so I can only imagine that the water table was too high to permit doing so. Pictured in the foreground is the new bridge which has been staged on temporary supports. I imagine it will be lifted and placed by cranes when the old bridge is removed. What is not at all clear to me is how they will increase the height of the tracks to match the new bridge height without disrupting daily commuter train traffic. Rest assured I will be monitoring the situation carefully.

MarkForged, the startup I recently joined is expanding rapidly. We have totally out grown our current facility, an extremely funky converted machine shop in Somerville. Locating a new facility fell to my team which worked on a very short schedule to secure space in this building, located a stone’s throw from the Alewife station in North Cambridge. We will occupy the first floor (production and shop area) and half of the second floor (offices). We will make the move in phases starting in about 6 weeks. The location is as near perfect as one could hope for. The northern terminus of the MBTA Red Line, Alewife station is a short walk from the office which is equally accessible by car from Route 2. Bike riders will have easy access to the Minuteman Bikeway, Cambridge Linear Park, and the Fitchburg Cutoff Path. We will be right across the street from Fresh Pond which is surrounded by several parks and a golf course. The most important attribute of our new location is that it will greatly increase the pool of talent from which to recruit. Our current location is very attractive to urban dwellers (predominately recent college grads) but not very attractive to suburban dwellers (mostly more experienced folks with families). The new location strikes the perfect balance. My commute will be shortened from 17 to 15 miles. Amazingly this will cut my commute time in half because of the terrible traffic as you approach Boston.

Caught this little fellow outside the kitchen bay window this morning. He and his buddies are frequent visitors to our back yard where Jeanine sets out her own hummingbird nectar recipe. When things settle down a bit at work, I will endeavor to get a nicer photo rather than shooting through the window.

Jeanine requested a photo of this magnificent Cobb salad which I am posting a little delinquently with apologies. A lucky man is wise to know he is a lucky man.

It pleases me to no end that the kids have all developed into excellent photographers. The first two images are by Kyle and the third by Maya. Had Nico remembered his camera, I am sure he would have had some wonderful images as well.

Maya will be interning at MarkForged again this week. Today she was given her first design project. She was asked to create a machine for measuring the tension of our fiber extruder assembly and completed her design in one (long) day. It features a sled to which a digital force gauge is secured that slides along the length of an aluminum rail on one end and a registration and anchoring post for the device under test (obscured intentionally) on the other end. A fiber is passed through the extruder and clipped to the force gauge which is then pulled along the track while a maximum force reading is recorded. The design works very well and will be used extensively this week to test new extruder refinements. The magnetic clip may look funny but using it has greatly increased the speed of testing.

Pathetic is the only way to describe my soccer scrimmage this morning. It is incredible to me how much conditioning I have lost in the 4 weeks since my last game. Each year it seems to get harder and harder to maintain the level of fitness I need to be competitive.  Starting Monday, I need to start training seriously for the fall season.

I spent the afternoon editing video footage from our recent tidal bore rafting adventure on the Shubenacadie River in Nova Scotia.

Our return to the United States was by way of the Nova Star ferry into Portland, Maine through the Casco Bay. We were greeted by the Portland Headlight locate on Cape Elizabeth. The light station, completed in 1791, sits on a head of land at the entrance of the primary shipping channel into Portland Harbor. It is the oldest lighthouse in the state of Maine. The light station is automated, and the tower, beacon, and foghorn are maintained by the United States Coast Guard, while the former lighthouse keepers’ house is a maritime museum within Fort Williams Park.  Running to the other side of the ferry, I had a chance to photograph Fort Georges and an abandoned light house.

Digby Neck is a peninsula extending into the Bay of Fundy. Along with Long Island and Brier Island, it forms the northwest shore of St. Mary’s Bay. On Long Island, we hiked the 1.5 mile trail and descended 235-steps to the viewing platform for Balancing Rock, a narrow 30 foot tall vertical column of basalt, balanced on its tip. It was only a matter of minutes before the kids figured out a way off the platform and up to the rock formation for a closer look. A second short ferry ride carried us to Brier Island where our exploration and another short hike took us to a seal colony on the Bay of Fundy side. Jeanine was hoping to find seals all vacation long and it was wonderful to satisfy that desire on our last full day in Nova Scotia. The colony included some two dozen seals with several pups.

On our return to Beaver Lake, we paused in Annapolis Royal. It was the French settlement of Port Royal (briefly Charlesfort) until the Conquest of Acadia in 1710 by Britain. The town was the capital of Acadia and later Nova Scotia for almost 150 years, until the founding of Halifax in 1749. It was attacked by the British six times before permanently changing hands after the Conquest of Acadia in 1710. Over the next fifty years, the French and their allies made six unsuccessful military attempts to regain the capital. Our tour of Fort Anne and its dry moats helped us to understand why it was able to resist so many attacks. Our visit to Annapolis also included a brief tour of North America’s only tidal power station and a visit to Ye Olde Town Pub, allegedly the smallest pub in Nova Scotia. Here we sampled Rapee Pie, quite possibly my new favorite food in the world.

Our new place is quite wonderful, located on Beaver Lake just outside the town of Meteghan River. The kids (led by Nicolai) opted for another round of golf while Jeanine and I did a little touring in the area.

We visited the lighthouse in Gilbert’s Cove and Église Sainte-Marie, a Catholic church in Church Point, the largest and tallest wooden building in North America. The church is exposed to the strong winds from St. Mary’s Bay, so 40 tons of stone ballast were used to stabilize the steeple, and canvas, rather than plaster, was used for the walls.