I had to be in Somerville today and as I was returning home, I passed the pictured house and had to stop for a photo. Located on Main Street, this property is decorated with a huge, colorful variety of found objects. The blue bottle assemblage out front is “Sapphire City” and the animal collection on the roof is “Dance Party.” I have since learned that the home is owned by the artist, Martha Friend, who has lived there for over 40 years. Originally a professional photographer, later earning an MSW, she has always had an interest in assemblage art and collage. If you visit during the yearly Somerville Open Studios in April and May then you can also tour the inside of the house, which is just as visually rich and engaging as the exterior.

My sister-in-law, Lauren, while driving past it, texted a photo of the Indianapolis home that we sold 20 years ago when I took a job in Massachusetts. By any measure, it is a beautiful house but looking back now it is hard to imagine something further from the style of the home we chose to build for ourselves. A 7,400 square foot English Tutor with a magnificent park-like backyard located across the street from the Governor’s mansion in a prestigious historic neighborhood, it recently sold for $1.75M. We purchased it for $850K and sold it for $1.25M eight years later after a good bit of renovation work, much of which I did and where I honed many of the skills I am using today for the new house. It proved to be a good investment, but more importantly, a place where the kids made some very fond childhood memories. I grabbed these images from Zillow.

This final photo is one I took of my office when we lived there. It is now my preferred virtual background for Zoom calls.

Today, I finished machining parts for 27 drawer boxes. 15 will go into the main bedroom walk-in closet and 12 are destined for the guest bedroom walk-in closet. Each drawer box requires a front, back, 2 sides, and a bottom. I am using lock miter joints for the corners which have the advantage of self-alignment and require clamping in only one direction. The price for this is that all four corners must be glued together simultaneously and given the relatively short open time of the glue I am using, it is best done with an assistant. Jeanine has become a very proficient glue buddy and I will wait until she returns from her Midwest road trip before attempting assembly.

The boys stopped by this afternoon to watch the Liverpool vs. Manchester United match. Maya dropped by at halftime and stayed for the remainder of the game even though the primary goal of her visit was to pick up tools for continuing repair work on her tiny house. I feel so lucky that the kids live close by and that we can gather like this at a moment’s notice. I did my best to channel my inner-Jeanine for the occasion. I chilled a couple of beers, put out peanuts (I found Jeanine’s hidden stash) and chips and made chicken with wild rice soup for Kyle. I contend that removing the lid from a can and heating its contents constitues making soup, an assertion that will no doubt be challenged by our resident soup gourmand.

Jeanine met her newest niece today for the first time and from the sound of things they have already bonded. For years now, Jeanine has been trying to schedule a visit to meet her but one thing or another (Covid, job, new house) has conspired to postpone this day.

I spent my day outdoors managing a second open burn in as many days. In light of yesterday’s visit from the fire department, I thought it best to minimize the amount of smoke I generated by limiting my burn to wood only (no pine needles). I also discovered that one of the trees that came down has encroached on our neighbors property, very nearly hitting their house. I reached out to let them know we would cover the cost of removal and any damage.

Conditions today were ideal for an open burn to get rid of all the trees that came down this winter. Air temperature was in the 50s and the sun was out for the first time in several days. Recent rains have left the ground cover very wet reducing the possibility of fire propagation. Unfortunately, the pine needles and limbs I was burning produced a great deal of smoke, enough to fill the entire river valley when the wind was in that direction. Reports of heavy smoke in Fairhaven Bay (about a mile upriver), resulted in a visit from the fire department to our address. Fortunately, my permit was in order, my same-day burn request had been approved, and my fire met all but one criterion; it was too close to the house. The requirement is 75 feet. The fire chief was very reasonable and suggested a different location near the top of the driveway for future fires. I was only able to take care of a third of the detritus and may look into buying a wood chipper to deal with the rest.

Maya shared this photo of Pipa whom she dog-sat for last weekend.

Text message thread:

Maya: Dog sat for Pipa last weekend. She’s a total weirdo. She’s primarily motivated by cheese and fear.

Nico: I like her for who she is.

Kyle: Aren’t we all.

Jeanine shared this picture of Gandalf. He belongs to her sister who she is visiting in Indianapolis. With Jeanine away I have been eating unhealthy foods and binge watching Suits, one of my favorite TV shows.

Our bonsai tree has yet to find a permanent spot in our new house. In the meantime, it has found a temporary home atop my Djembe drum fitted with a circular tray to prevent water from damaging the head. For now, it is enjoying light from two windows in our bedroom.

I neglected to share a photo I took yesterday of this bottle of champagne we received to celebrate the completion of the River House. Although we have our Certificate of Occupancy and have moved in, I still have a few more built-ins to complete in the main and guest closets as well as the mudroom. I completed the later this morning. Jeanine left for a mid-west road trip with her sister Susan. They are headed to Indiana where they will visit with her other sister, Lauren. Then all three will travel to Kentucky to celebrate her niece’s 40th birthday.

Although we have had the kids over for family meals, this evening, we hosted our first proper dinner party in the new house. It was certainly the first of many more. When we designed the house, we did so understanding that the kitchen is where everyone likes to gather and that was certainly the case today. We used the island as a buffet table, the coffee klatch as a drink station, and the pantry counter as a staging area. Everything flowed smoothly and seating at the round dining table was very comfortable.

My aunt celebrated her 97th birthday yesterday and I was so happy to see that my sister Alissa was able to attend the party. Having just completed building the home where Jeanine and I will spend the rest of our lives, I can’t help but wonder how many birthdays we can look forward to. Jeanine’s 61st will be the first, coming up in April.

Based on a very favorable earnings report, the stock price of the company that Kyle works for increased by more than a third last week. Part of his compensation includes stock grants and I was pleased to learn that he decided to cash out 10% of his position. One of the painful financial lessons I have learned in my life is that it is far better to diversify a large position in any one company gradually over time rather than trying to time a peak event.

I created the image above, not with a camera, but with a keyboard. I typed the phrase “baby otter snuggled inside the shirt of a young girl” into an artificial intelligence image synthesizer. I am left to wonder how this technology is going to transform the “art” of “photography”. I am curious to know who will hold the copyright for images generated in this fashion.

Using cherry wood harvested from the bunk beds I built for the boys when they were young, I made legs for an oval glass coffee table top. Jeanine is not a big fan of the design feeling that the components should have been built of thicker stock. I tend to agree with her and therefore will need to revisit this project when time permits. Ideally, we would like the base to have an organic form. I will keep my eyes open for an appropriate tree root ball.

With great regret, I posted listings to sell my remaining Sonos gear today. Although I regard the company and equipment as some of the best in the industry, there is simply no need for it in the new house because of the sound systems connected to our TVs and the open floor plan. I worked at Sonos as the head of engineering during the development of the Play5, pictured above. Of the 100+ products I helped to develop, this is one of my top five favorites.