Stair tread construction for the River House is now complete. I will probably finish them with the same product we are using for the floors, Bona Traffic HD Raw. It is a water-based, commercial-grade floor finish that leaves the wood looking completely natural with no sheen whatsoever. Each tread weighs about 25 pounds so I have been getting a pretty good workout just moving these all around the shop.

We are seeing good progress on the outdoor hardscaping as well. We will have a small patio off the great room fashioned from large 2-inch thick stone slabs. These are set on a base of pea gravel and are intentionally placed to have wide gaps. These measures will allow rainwater to be absorbed into the ground rather than running off the top. The large rectangular stone will serve as a bench and we plan to complete the patio with a fire pit.

Nicolai is now working as the Lead Educator for the Bionic Project. The organization brings its message of inclusion and community to schools nationwide through educational programs that combine disability anti-bias classroom teaching with on-field adaptive sports clinics. Since starting he has worked with over 1,000 students in the Boston and San Francisco areas. Click the link to learn more about the Bionic Project.

In a welcomed respite from stair tread and cabinet building for the River House, I spent the day in Somerville doing consulting work for a client. While taking a break for lunch, I encountered an employee who was wearing a sweater that was very similar to the one I had on. A colleague who was watching us compare patterns was quick to grab a photo. The sweaters are both from the Long Wharf Supply Company SeaWell Collection. They are made from a soft blend of recycled oyster shells, recycled water bottles, and natural lambswool. The company reseeds up to 30 oysters with the sale of each sweater providing up to 1,500 gallons of naturally filtered seawater every day.

For the second day in a row, Nicolai has helped me with work at the River House. Today, we started refining the stair treads. I put a rounded profile on the edges with a router and Nico followed up with the sander to produce a very smooth surface. We completed all 29 treads and then began the process of adding end caps. I will be tied up with consulting work tomorrow but hope to have the treads ready for finishing by the end of the week.

For weeks I have been putting off the installation of the third Wi-Fi access point in our new house. This is because it is mounted on a very high ceiling located over the stairwell. I chose the location to maximize signal coverage on the second floor using a computer model and did not pause to think about the challenges of mounting it. I finally came up with a simple if somewhat sketchy-looking solution to gain access to the ceiling. I was also able to install the smoke/carbon monoxide detector using the same setup.

With the flooring completed, it was possible to finish the assembly and installation of the kitchen island and induction cooktop. The left side of the island has a recess for stool seating and a hidden outlet with two USB-C charging ports. The far side endcap has several shelves for commonly used spices and cooking oils and an easy-access outlet. On the cooktop side, there are twelve extra deep drawers. The aisles are wide enough for someone to walk past the open dishwasher or refrigerator or to accommodate multiple cooks in the kitchen.

Tile work throughout the house is largely complete and I have now installed the wall controls for the digital shower mixer valves. The photo above is of the main bathroom and the one below is in the guest shower. We really like the riverstone tile that our interior designer recommended.

Nico was among 13 in his ROMP expedition group of 20 to summit the Cayambe Volcano in Ecuador yesterday. We have yet to hear about the details of the climb but we can expect a full download when Nico returns to the States on Monday. This is his second successful high-altitude summit only a few hundred feet lower than Kilimanjaro which he climbed with me when he was 13. At these elevations, you are literally above the clouds and the views are awe-inspiring. I believe the distant peak in the photo below is of the Antisana Volcano some 35 miles away.

UPDATE: We have now learned that Nico was the first on the team to reach the summit. The guides referred to him as “The Machine.” He waited at the top for the rest of the group for 45 minutes but then became so cold he had to begin his descent. Unfortunately, the professional photographers on the expedition kept pace with the main contingent and this left Nico with only the photographs taken by his guide. While on the summit, he released a small portion of my mother’s cremains. She was born and grew up in Ecuador and would have been so proud to learn of Nico’s exploits in her homeland.

Had it not been for some unexpected distractions, Jeanine and I would have completed the primary assembly step for all the stair treads to be used in the River House. As it stands we glued up 22 of the required 29 treads. They still need to be trimmed to length and to have end caps added.

In the evening, we enjoyed our first dinner at the River House to celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary. Jeanine picked up gourmet takeout from Woods Hill Table and grabbed a couple of camping chairs from the Road House on the way over. It was the perfect way to end a week of working together. In Jeanine’s words, a couple that glues together sticks together. I have now spent half of my life stuck to the best partner I could wish for. My hope is that we can spend another 33 years together in our new home.

Normally, I would spend much time outdoors photographing the fall foliage at this time of year. This year, however, priorities dictate that I continue to focus on completing my construction projects for the River House. Even so, on this perfect fall day, I could not help to pause for a couple of photos. The first was taken from the site of our future patio. The second, with my drone over the inundated banks of the Sudbury River.

Today, with assistance from Jeanine, we reduced ten 4′ x 8′ sheets of bamboo plywood to the parts necessary to assemble twenty-seven 3-inch thick, 44-inch wide stair treads for the River House. Counting the three prototypes I built yesterday, we will have a total of 29 and a spare. The tops, bottoms, and sides are numbered so I can match the grain for each tread. The end caps are pictured in the foreground. Still to be completed are 800 lineal feet of lock miter joints which will probably take the better part of a day to machine.

Unlike my brother who is a master angler, I have never really had much interest in fishing. The same cannot be said for many of the crew working on our house. Pictured here is one of our masons. He asked permission to fish in the river during his break time and I was happy to grant it. He has been catching fish most days but today he hauled in a really big one, a carp I believe. Should we ever be blessed with grandchildren, I may have to procure a couple of fishing poles for their entertainment.

In preparation for their climb of the Cayambe Volcano, Nico’s group did a training climb on the Imbabura Volcano. Unfortunately, they had to turn back just past the halfway point because of a massive wildfire.

Closer to home, Maya is hiking and camping in the White Mountains with her boyfriend his younger brother, and his girlfriend.

I took the day off from working on the River House to attend a memorial service for Sarah Doherty held in her hometown of Taunton, MA. Sarah lost her leg as a 13-year-old to a drunk driver but never let that loss keep her from her passions. She was very athletic and loved hiking, mountain climbing, and downhill skiing. She summited Mount Rainier, Mount Denali, and Mount Kilimanjaro and completed the 500-mile Camino de Santiago. Her desire for a better crutch led her to cofound SideStix with her husband Kerith. Nico did a two-month internship at the company, located in British Columbia, and we have become sizeable investors in the business. Sarah was one of 9 children including a twin sister and something of a celebrity in Taunton. The service was very well attended and very moving. Nico wanted to attend but is out of the country as did Jeanine who is out of state attending the 80th birthday of our dear friend Jean Cass, pictured below in the white blouse.

I arrived in Taunton ahead of the service and used the time to photograph the very handsome Bristol County Superior Court building.