Jeanine and I leave on a 5-week adventure today. We will spend a month in New Zealand and a week in Sydney, Australia. While we are away, Nico will be house-sitting for us.
This has been a much-anticipated trip for us, and we are happy that all the planning and preparation is behind us and that we are ready to embark on our journey. I decided to review some of my photographs from past adventures to places of natural beauty and can only hope that I return with as much bounty on this trip.
Pictured above is Mount Fitz Roy on the border between Argentina and Chile taken with my drone when I traveled there with Nico. Below is the village of Gasadalur on the Faroe Islands.
Unified basketball is a sport that combines students with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team to promote friendship and understanding. Nico and Brian Scalabrine were celebrity referees for today’s game at the Concord Middle School. Brian is a current television analyst and former player for the Boston Celtics. They are pictured here with Justin Cameron, the CMS Principal, before the start of the game.
Maya and Nicolai joined us for brunch this morning. Kyle is still traveling in Columbia. Jeanine prepared Japanese pancakes for the first time, and they were a huge hit. In the afternoon, we spotted a Bald Eagle perched right outside the kitchen window. Unfortunately, a tree branch prevented me from capturing a better image.
Jeanine and I completed packing for our upcoming trip to New Zealand and Australia. My two bags are pictured above. They contain clothing for 5-weeks, including rain gear, a camera and three lenses, a drone and controller, a tripod, trekking poles, and a laptop. If not for the fact that trekking poles are not permitted in carry-on, checking bags would not have been necessary. On this trip, I have allowed myself a few luxury items; a pair of slippers, an inflatable neck pillow, and a windshield mounting kit for my phone to facilitate navigation while driving.
Our niece’s daughter, Charly, celebrated her birthday with what must be her favorite meal: mac and cheese, tacos, and fruit. If I had to guess, fruit may not have been on the wishlist. I have yet to meet Charly, a situation that must be rectified before her next birthday.
Jeanine and I agreed that the landing between our main floor and basement would be ideal for displaying a dozen family photos taken over the years. I completed the project this evening, and we are both very pleased with the outcome. They are perfectly located to draw the eye when traversing our main hallway. Because they are most closely observed while going up and down the stairs, any given photo can be viewed at eye level, depending on which tread you are standing. It will probably take as long to furnish the house with art as it did to build, but it feels good to have started the process.
Recent snow, freezing rain, and sleet have left most driveways in our neighborhood covered in thick, bumpy ice. I am pleased to report that our drive is in excellent shape and to share the reason why. Our most recent precipitation event took the form of 4″ of dry snow followed by an inch or so of sleet and freezing rain. The trick was to snow-blow the snow the moment it started switching to sleet (4 AM) and then to snow-blow and shovel again when the sleet stopped and before temperatures dropped below freezing (8 AM).
I have spent the better part of the last three days editing over 3000 individual posts on this blog to remove advertising content that was inserted by a malicious attack. Ice-covered streets and sub-zero wind chill temperatures have made it easy to focus on the task. The last repaired entry included the image shown here which I thought I would repost. Has there ever been a more angelic child?
Left to my own devices, I buy over-salted soup in a can. Fortunately, I had the good sense to marry Jeanine, who creates masterpieces from healthy ingredients. Yummy.
Occasionally, it is fun to look back in time. Today, we venture to February 2005, when the family was on vacation in Florida. As I recall, I had to twist a few arms to convince the kids they would enjoy a visit to the Kennedy Space Center, given their strong preference to remain at Disney World for an extra day. When we see the kids (Maya and Nico; Kyle is still in South America) next weekend, I will inquire as to what they remember of the visit.
To celebrate Valentine’s Day, I treated the love of my life to breakfast in bed. The menu included a red pepper, onion, cheddar cheese omelet, sourdough toast, orange slices, and coffee with frothed whole milk. Later in the morning, we drove to Gloucester, where we had lunch at George’s. I ordered a Reuben sandwich, the best one I have ever had in my life. Thus fortified, we continued to Niles Beach, where we started a walk to the Eastern Point Lighthouse. Although the air temperature was in the low 30s, the high winds made for a very chilly outing. We continued our adventure with a stop in Rockport before returning home.
In mid-July, we will be traveling to Galway, Ireland, to attend the wedding of Brooke and my nephew, Mario. He is the first of his generation of Calabria’s to get married, and we are thrilled for him. Brooke is the nicest person you will ever meet, and we are delighted she will join our family. Mario is the son of my brother Mark, who also got married in Galway. Our entire family plans to attend the wedding, although Nico may have a schedule conflict with the World Cup qualifier tournament.
Concord is well known for its poor cell phone coverage/reception. This is due to the community’s disdain for cell phone towers and the consequent lack thereof. Finally, however, approval has been granted for a new tower to be constructed on the town’s retired landfill site. I am hopeful, that this will improved service at our house which is less than 1-1/2 miles away. What remains to be seen is how the ~175 foot hill that lies between us and the antenna will impact coverage.
This website is dedicated to sharing, with family and friends, the day-to-day adventures of the Calabria family.
