Yesterday Kyle was invited by a friend to fly with him from Hanscom Air Force base to JFK to Nantucket and back. His friend pilots chartered flights and thought Kyle would enjoy tagging along as he picked up clients in New York and shuttled them to the island.
Jeanine and I travelled to Providence, RI to join friends Alex and Louanne McKenzie for a wonderful afternoon and evening. We started with a visit to see the Museum of the Moon, a 23ft diameter scale model of the moon featuring detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface.
Next we dined at Los Andes, a Peruvian restaurant where we enjoyed a truly epic meal. I find myself more often than not disappointed when dining at “fine” restaurants because Jeanine sets such a high bar with the food we eat everyday. Such was not the case this evening. The food was really spectacular. We made our way to the state capitol building where we found free parking and my first opportunity for an aerial photograph.
We walked from here down to the river where we secured seats for the evenings WaterFire performance which included ballet dancers, fire performance artists and numerous exhibits celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. I got to touch a meteorite fragment which landed on Earth after being ejected from the moon when it was struck by an asteroid.
When we put our house on the market it will be important to have nice photos for marketing. This evening, as the sun was setting I did some experimentation with the drone to find the best angle from which to shoot. I am favoring the one shown above but I think it needs to be taken from a slightly lower altitude and earlier in the day to avoid some of the shadows. The actual work of prepping the house for sale has been very slow and I hope to spend some time this weekend taking care of a number of issues.
Nicolai has just been named the New England Revolution Community MVP. With this honor, Major League Soccer will donate $1,000 to the charity of his choice (the American Amputee Soccer Association) and will fly him and a companion to the MLS All-Star game in Orlando, Florida where the National MVP will be announced. Should he win that honor they will donate an additional $25,000 to the AASA. This would have a transformative impact on the organization and allow the US National Amputee Soccer Team to compete and train more frequently in preparation for the next World Cup.
PLEA
Voting for the winner begins today and will end on July 31st at 2PM. Anyone interested in voting for the National MVP may cast three votes per day through the end of the contest.
Every single vote will count and each individual can contribute up to 42 votes. I would be most thankful if you could support Nico and the AASA by voting as often as possible and by spreading this message through your social networks.
My camera-mount shotgun microphone went up for sale this morning. Sony just announced a new camera (order placed) which features a digital audio interface and companion shotgun microphone (also ordered). In addition to the cleaner interface the new microphone can be configured with either a shotgun, uni-directional or omni-directional pickup pattern. The new camera and mike should arrive in September.
Jeanine has planted some very lovely flowers in our planter boxes. They in turn are a magnet for our local pollinators. While investigating damage to one of the boxes, I noticed this little fellow drunk on pollen and was able to grab my camera before he was finished doing his thing.
This automotive salvage yard in Somerville is located across the street from the construction site of a new 11 story, life sciences building near my office. Based on the going rate for commercially zoned land in the area, the owner of this lot could replace every single junked vehicle with a brand new one by selling the lot, probably more than the business has made over its entire life.
I just came across an interview that Nicolai did with Major League Soccer. He did not bother to tell me that he did this piece and I am wondering if even he has seen it yet.
Timed for peak blooming season, Jeanine and I travelled to the Rhododendron State Park in New Hampshire this afternoon. As much an excuse to road trip the new Audi, it was an extremely enjoyable afternoon which included a walk around the park’s loop trail and dinner out.
On the way back we stopped to put up the drone for an aerial view of Mount Monadnock with the Mountain Brook Reservoir in the foreground. This scene really wants morning light and it is only a matter of time before I return for another shot.
Maya has been busy cutting dovetails for the drawers that will go into her tiny house kitchen cabinets. She is working in baltic birch plywood which is dimensionally stable but a bear to machine without getting tear out. By using sacrificial backer boards both front and back she is turning out great pins and tails. I can’t wait to see the finished product.
We bid farewell to my brother Mark and his wife Marie after a delightful home made waffle breakfast. We stopped at the hospital one more time to see my mother before heading for the airport and our return flight to Boston. She was considerably weaker than yesterday but still strong enough to recount some of her childhood stories with us. At age twelve she contracted typhoid fever. At that time there were no antibiotics available to treat the disease; at least not in Ecuador. Several of her classmates died of the disease. Her mother pulled her out of the local medical clinic to care for her at home. She was placed in a cool bath several times a day to keep her body temperature in check. After a month she began to show signs of recovery only to regress to the point where her mother’s last resort was to pray for her recovery. Whether it was the prayers or diligent care, she managed to survive. She had to sit out an entire school year but recovered completely. We are hoping that she will find the strength to cheat death for a second time. When we said our goodbyes, however, we did so assuming it might be our last time to do so in person.
Several days ago my mother elected to decline all further medical intervention after a botched procedure to drain an abscess left her facing another surgery and little optimism for a positive outcome. She was disconnected from all machines and tubes (except oxygen which helps her breathe more comfortably), all medications and IVs were discontinued, and her vital signs are no longer being monitored. The opinion of medical staff at the hospital was that she would die as a result of this decision, one she took with a full understanding of the consequences. She has been phoning friends and relatives bidding them farewell and has been helping to plan her memorial service. There is just one glitch. I don’t think she is dying. Her color is good. She does not have a fever and she is remarkably lucid. Her pain is limited to the surgical incisions. She is rejecting all hospital food but scarfs down the special meals lovingly prepared by my brother (pureed kale, yams and potatoes). To be sure, she has lost a great deal of weight and is extremely weak and still thinks she is dying. Perhaps she is just rallying for the benefit of visiting family but I think there may be more chapters to be written in this story. I would not go so far as to say that her condition is improving but I don’t believe it is declining either. We will know a lot more in the days to come. In between hospital visits, Mark and I checked out the hospice facility we are trying to line up for her. The hospital is likely to discharge her soon and we need to have a care plan in place.
Fresh off a plane from Ireland where they were visiting family for the last two weeks, my nieces, Sophia and Rose caught a second wind and decided to bounce on the backyard trampoline with Nicolai. Both girls are looking more like young women than the “gerbils” I have chased about on prior visits. They are as strong as they are beautiful and a joy to be around. Earlier in the day Kyle, Maya and I flew into Minneapolis where we connected with Nicolai who flew in from Colorado. From there we picked up my brother and headed over to the hospital where my mother is a patient. Every time my brother’s implanted cardiac defibrillator shocks his heart back to life he is not allowed to drive for 6 months. He is currently in one of those periods which will last until September. We spent several hours with my mother whose condition I will report on tomorrow.
It has been 10 days since I last visited with my mother who is in Minneapolis recovering from surgery. When I left, she was in good spirits and able to ambulate with the aid of a walker. At age 90, she was well on her way to a full recovery. When her white blood cell count remained elevated, a CAT scan revealed a tangerine sized abscess in her abdomen, a manageable consequence of her surgery. During a procedure to drain it, her surgeon accidentally perforated her bowel. Faced with the prospects of a third surgery to address the perforation and a less than desirable best case outcome, my mother has decided to forgo any additional medical intervention. It is not impossible but highly unlikely she will recover. Tomorrow morning Maya, Kyle and I will fly to Minneapolis where we will meet up with Nicolai who is flying in from Colorado. There we hope to spend time with her, reminiscing about better days and sharing our love for her. As much as I agonize over losing her, I respect and admire my mother’s decision to die on her own terms, just as she lived her life.
“Building a road to space so our children can build the future”. That is the mission statement of Blue Origin where Maya has accepted an internship beginning this fall. Based in Seattle, the company is developing reusable sub-orbital and orbital launch vehicles and a flexible lander capable of delivering a wide variety of small, medium and large payloads to the lunar surface. Its capability to provide precise and soft landings will enable a sustained human presence on the Moon. Maya was required to submit a headshot on a white background so my services in the photo studio were requested. Prior to taking the photo, Maya, Jeanine and I watched the US women defeat the Netherlands in the finals of the FIFA World Cup. Not normally known for our interest in watching soccer on TV, the three of us, joined occasionally by one or both of the boys, enjoyed watching the US games together.
This morning I played in a soccer match against the English National over 60 team. We were originally scheduled to have 20 players available, half from my Concord United team, half from neighboring teams. Given my cracked rib, I brought my camera gear and planned to photograph the game rather than play in it. When only 13 players showed up, I was needed on the field and wound up playing for a good 70 minutes in the sweltering heat. With the score tied at 2-2 in the second half, I scored a nice goal to secure the lead when their goalie mishandled a header. Unfortunately, they responded with two subsequent goals for the win. We enjoyed a great barbecue with them after the game and I was pleased to have earned my first cap (goal scored during international competition – see better definition here). It is a trivial accomplishment compared to Nicolai’s 17 caps but one I am am happy to have made. In other soccer news, the Concord Journal ran a nice story about our championship victory last week.
At just over 2000 feet high, Mount Wachusett is really more like a really big hill. Even so, it is a popular ski area given its close proximity to Boston. It is flanked on one side by a number of very pretty lakes which I thought would make for a nice foreground. It proved a pleasant distraction after I spent nearly the entire day repairing the dust collector in my workshop. It is a massive 2HP cyclone which stands 10 feet tall and weighs several hundred pounds. It is so tall that I had to position the top mounted motor in between joists of my 9 foot high shop ceiling. Even without a cracked rib, I would be hard pressed to lower the motor and fan assembly without assistance. Working alone, I had to devise various rope and pulley based schemes to lower one section at a time and to hoist them back in place once the repair was completed. It took three hours to disassemble and lower the system to the ground and four hours to put it back up. The repair took about fifteen minutes. Not a very satisfying ratio of overhead to actual repair work but I was pleased that I could bring a $3000 piece of machinery back on line with a bit of ingenuity and elbow grease.
Pictured above are the Thacher Island Twin Lights (aka the Cape Ann Light Station) located near Rockport. These are the first lighthouses built in the US to warn of danger rather than to demarcate the entrance to a port. More than 500 shipwrecks lie below the waters of Cape Ann. Thacher Island is also where the witness protection program got its start when notorious Boston hitman Joe “the Animal” Barboza, who agreed to testify against the New England mob in 1967, became the first participant along with his family. A movie entitled “Thacher Island” telling his story is being readied for release. Today, Jeanine and I took a road trip to the Cape Ann peninsula where we lunched on the patio of the Beauport Hotel before meeting up with one of our friends whose mother owns a spectacular home in the area. We also visited the Paper House and the Ten Pound Island Lighthouse.
The Rockport Paper House’s walls, doors, and furniture are made of varnished newspapers—roughly 100,000 of them. 215 layers of paper were stuck together with a homemade glue of flour, water, and apple peels to make 1-inch-thick panels for the walls.
All the furniture, including a clock, desk, and chair, is functional and made entirely of paper. The only exceptions are the piano, which is only covered in paper, and the fireplace. The house has stood intact for over 80 years, with no more upkeep than the occasional varnishing. What’s more, the walls and furniture are still readable, displaying headlines such as “LINDBERGH HOPS OFF FOR OCEAN FLIGHT TO PARIS.”
My mother appears to be on the road to recovery thanks in no small part to the lovingly prepared food my brother has been making for her now that she can eat again. She is scheduled for an additional surgery tomorrow to remove a tangerine sized abscess. With any luck that will be the last procedure and we can look forward to her full recovery.
I gained access to an initial set of photos from last weekend’s Tough Mudder. These memories will last for a lifetime. The pain of my cracked rib should abate in a couple of months.
Ordered on September 18 of last year, I picked up my new Audi e-tron after work today. Thus far it has met my expectations and should help make my 2+ hours of commuting each day a little more tolerable (think front seats with built in massage function).
My very first car, a Triumph Spitfire, was also blue although that would be hard to figure out from the black and white photos which remain. With every new car purchase I pause to reflect on my former cars and their significance to me. Here is the list in chronological order.
For the second season in a row my soccer team, Concord United, won the Division 1 Championship for our age group besting the other 27 teams. Regulation play resulted in a 0-0 tie. The ensuing penalty kick shoot out ended with a score of 4-3 in our favor. I played despite a cracked rib and sore muscles from yesterday’s Tough Mudder and finally managed a good photo of the whole team. The winning PK by our stopper is shown below.
In other soccer news, Nicolai worked with the New England Revolution MLS team to have an amputee soccer demonstration (3v3 no goalies) during half time over their game this evening. The American Amputee Soccer Association flew in a couple of players for the event and they all stayed at our house last night. Here is an Instagram recording of the demo including a goal and subsequent forward flip by Nicolai.
Today I participated in the 2019 Boston Tough Mudder Classic. Billed as a 10 mile course with 25 obstacles it was closer to 8 miles for which I have no complaints. Pictured here is the 3-story cargo net Mudderhorn, the last and one of the easier obstacles with the Tough Mudder Village in the background. Organizers emphasize that this is not a race but rather a challenge. The goal is to complete the course and as many obstacles as you can with an emphasis on using teamwork to get everyone through. I successfully completed 24 of the 25 obstacles and helped teammates on the team oriented ones. I was unable to get all the way across the Funky Monkey inclined horizontal ladder which required more upper body strength than I could muster. The consequence is falling into a deep pool of water which at this point in the course is a welcome way to wash off all the caked on mud that you have accumulated. Below is a video from the Los Angeles version of this event which shows most of the same obstacles. The Gauntlet was by far the hardest one for me and the most satisfying to complete. I finished in a little over 3.5 hours and was completely spent by the end. My arms were so fatigued that lifting a can of Coke was a challenge. I have several cuts and scrapes and a broken or cracked rib. Am I glad I did it. Hell yes! Would I do another one. Not likely!
Pictured below are two of the easier but muddier obstacles. I went back after a shower and change of clothes with my camera to grab a couple of pictures. Crawling under the barbed wire is not that difficult but your knees take a beating on the embedded gravel and rocks. This trick is to lift your body up on your toes. Easier said than done. The net which is staked to the ground is very heavy. Ten steps in and you are exhausted. The trick is to work with teammates and to walk backwards. Doing so allows the netting to ride up more easily and once it is elevated teammates can pass under it with less effort.
I was able to visit my mom one more time this morning before my flight back to Boston. She is making slow but steady progress every day. Because she is unable to sleep for more than an hour or two at a time (general discomfort from being connected to so many tubes and nurses doing blood draws or other checks throughout the day and night, she now show signs of ICU delirium. She has wild and vivid hallucinations which can be very disconcerting. We are told this is not uncommon and that they should abate once she is able to get more sleep.
While In Minnesota I am staying with my brother Mark and his darling wife, Marie. This is my first time to see their new home. It is located within walking distance of the kids school and is quite spectacular. I helped my brother with some shop projects in between visits to the hospital where my mother is making slow steady progress. It is clear that her road to recovery is going to take some time. So far it has been two steps forward and one step back.
I flew to Minneapolis this morning to visit my mother in the hospital. She is recovering from surgery, which appears thus far to have been successful. She is expected to remain in the hospital until early next week and her prognosis at this time is guardedly optimistic. My mother is as energetic a 90 year old as you will ever meet which made it especially difficult to see her so fragile after her ordeal. She is already very skinny so the loss of several more pounds has been less than ideal. She cannot have any food or liquids until her digestion resumes which is not expected for another few days. She was aggressively treated for a dramatic drop in blood pressure this morning which had stabilized by the time I visited in the afternoon. She is connected to more tubes than I could keep straight and this has made it difficult for her to rest. She was alert and coherent during my visit and I left the hospital with a sense of relief.
Pictured here at her 90th birthday party last year, my mother underwent emergency surgery early this morning for an obstructed bowel. She is visiting my brother and his family in Minneapolis which is fortunate because they were quick to seek medical attention when she fell ill and there she has access to a world class health system and excellent doctors. Surgeons removed a section of her upper intestine and feel she will make a full, if lengthy recovery. I will leave tomorrow to visit with her and try and lend a hand to Mark and Marie who have had to handle this difficult situation alone.
While at Fenway yesterday, we learned a bit of Green Monster trivia. The ladder pictured to the left above was used to access the roof for maintenance before it was replaced with additional seating. No longer needed it was left in place and has figured prominently in two major plays in which a fly ball took an unexpected carom off the ladder. A close-up of the American League standings reveals Morse Code embedded messages in the vertical white stripes. It will be left as an exercise for the reader to determine their meaning.
The family treated Maya to a baseball game outing at Fenway Park to belatedly celebrated her twentieth birthday. Kyle managed to get us great tickets at the last minute (see out view of the field below). Unfortunately, the Red Sox did little to make the game memorable as they lost to the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1. Later we dined at the Yard House while watching the tail end of the France – Brazil World Cup match.
Also in attendance but seated in a different area were my cousins who received complimentary tickets from an inside connection as well as a nice welcome on one of the giant screens in the outfield.
Earlier in the day my soccer team won our semi-final championship match by a well earned margin of 3-1. Next Sunday we play in the finals for all the marbles. I will be competing in a 10-mile, 25 obstacle Tough Mudder on Saturday so it remains to be seen how much I will be able to contribute to that effort.
After Nicolai cooked breakfast for everyone, Jeanine and I joined my cousins, the Sanchez family, for a paddle down the Sudbury and Concord Rivers to the Old North Bridge. There we went ashore for a tour of the grounds and brief history lesson.
Later in the afternoon, we visited Kimball Farm for mini golf and ice cream. Please note that we all enjoyed small portions compared to the banana split I could not resist photographing even though it was ordered by someone else.
Tony, Nick and Dom are the children of my cousin Gina’s son Rob and his wife Jennifer. I believe this makes them my cousins twice removed. The entire family is staying with us this weekend having travelled here from Chicago. Each summer they take a vacation to visit a different baseball stadium (Fenway in this case). This year they are also using the trip to visit colleges. Below is a picture of the older two with our kids and more cousins from Rob’s brother, Vincent.
