Where the heck are the meteor photos in this dubiously titled post?

Last night, the annual Perseid Meteor Shower was at its peak. Even better, there was a new moon providing optimal conditions for photography. Unfortunately, cloud cover obscured the celestial light show for all but a brief moment just after nightfall, and I saw a single meteor trail from my vantage point on the high grounds of the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard. Unfortunately, it did not show up in the 300 photos I took.

To photograph a meteor shower, you put a wide-angle lens on your camera, put it on a tripod, aim it at some part of the sky, and use an intervalometer to take back-to-back 15-second exposures for several hours. When you get home, you download the images and look through hundreds of photos to see if you were lucky enough to catch one. Pictures you may have seen with multiple meteors are made by compositing several such images.

The forecast for this evening called for clear skies and a 5% crescent moon. Although past the peak rate, there are still plenty of meteors burning through our atmosphere. For optimal viewing and photography, I drove an hour and a half to Dennison Lake in central Massachusetts, a Bortle Class 3 dark sky site. Although I visually observed 5 meteors (one was spectacular), I did not capture a single image in over 600 photos. If you are not lucky enough to have your camera trained on the right part of the sky at the right moment, you miss the photo. Had I let my camera run all night, I have no doubt I would have caught something. I decided to bail just after midnight, given the 90-minute drive home.

Pictured above and below is Mount Monadnock. Given its proximity to Dennison Lake, I used my drone to get a few shots before sunset. Thankfully so, or I would have gone empty-handed for the day.

Had I decided to photograph today’s partial solar eclipse a few days ago, I would have had time to buy the necessary solar filter for my camera. Such a filter reduces the amount of light by a factor of one million to one, allowing for proper exposure and preventing the destruction of the camera’s sensor. Yes, the sun is THAT bright! Determined to memorialize the rare celestial event in some way, I aimed our spotting scope at the sun and placed a piece of white paper on the ground behind it. I did not have time to angle the paper such that it was orthogonal to the scope, so the geometry is slightly distorted (stretched horizontally). Nevertheless, I was able to photograph the image projected onto the paper, where you can see the moon taking a bite out of the sun. It was a quick hack that let me “see” a partial solar eclipse for the first time in my life. The next total eclipse will be on August 2, 2027, and will begin over the Atlantic Ocean, cross southern Spain and Morocco, then proceed across North Africa through Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, before moving through Saudi Arabia and Yemen and passing over Somalia and the Indian Ocean. Perhaps I will time a visit to one of these countries to catch totality.

Later this evening, we have another celestial event that I hope to capture for tomorrow’s post.

Today, I decided to clean up a rather large downed limb from an oak tree that came down a few days ago during a storm. The effort took the better part of 2-1/2 hours and left me drenched in perspiration and totally exhausted. Cutting the limb up is the easy part compared to moving and stacking it near our fire pit at the back of the house. Even worse is picking up the nearly infinite number of small branches strewn in all directions from the impact zone, 90% of which are outside the frame of this photo. On the bright side, this was the type of full-body workout that is helping me to get in shape for the fall soccer season, which is less than a month away.

This season, Jeanine added a small grouping of the unusual gladiola pictured above to the edge of our patio. They are quite lovely, especially when viewed from a low angle. The cone flowers that our resident groundhog has not eaten are starting to drop their blooms but remain quite something to admire. After completing the laundry project at Nico’s place following a 4-mile run on the elliptical at the gym, I was quite spent and content to wander about the garden looking for photo opportunities.

My favorite image of the day is the one below. There is something very pleasing about the patterns within patterns created by a starving artist.

I continued work today on the laundry hookup for Nico and Teddy. The stacked washer and dryer (LG Washtower) will completely block entry to the closet where it will be located, rendering the remaining area in the closet inaccessible. I chose, therefore, to locate all of the connections in that space so that the machine can be pushed further into the closet, providing clearance for the closet’s folding door. I also installed two perfectly leveled skid plates to facilitate sliding the Washtower into place and avoiding the need to have to adjust the feet to get the machine leveled. I completed the drain and electrical connections (both 120V and 240V) in the basement and will finish up the water supply lines tomorrow. The dryer is a ventless heat pump design, which explains the absence of an exhaust vent.

Jeanine shared this photo of me with one of the elephants we visited last night. It reminded me of the photo below, taken in Thailand ten years ago.

I spent most of the day at the Somer house beginning to install a washer-dryer hookup in Nico’s unit. The fact that he is on the first floor made this possible, since all the connections (hot water, cold water, drain, 120V, and 240V) can be made in the basement and run right up through the floor. I anticipate it will take another day or two to complete the work.

A herd of 100 life-sized elephants has just arrived on Commonwealth Avenue Mall in Back Bay. The sculptures are part of a touring public art exhibition called The Great Elephant Migration. Since 2024, the herd has traveled across the United States, including stops in New York City, Newport, Rhode Island, Miami, and Houston. The elephants range from small calves to large adults. They are made from a repurposed invasive plant called Lantana camara by indigenous artisans from in Southern India. Each sculpture takes three to four months to complete and is inspired by a real-life elephant that lives in the region. Jeanine and I stopped to walk among the herd on the way home from the kids’ house, where I spent the afternoon installing a new washer/dryer hookup in Nico’s unit, and Jeanine did some gardening.

By way of comparison, below is a photo I took in 2004 of a real herd of elephants in South Africa. At the time, I was lying on top of a minivan that was rapidly backing up to make way for the procession.

Jeanine and I have decided to create a Japanese-style garden at the entryway to our house. My mother would have been thrilled with this prospect and would have dropped everything to help us with the design. Absent her guiding presence, we met this evening with a gardener whom we have decided to work with. While surveying the area with him, I noticed this golf-ball-sized object, which I later identified as a Lycoperdon Marginatum mushroom, more commonly known as a peeling puffball. Some sources suggest it is safe to eat, while others describe it as poisonous. You gotta wonder who decides to eat a mushroom hoping to determine its toxicity. In Mexico, the puffball is used to produce auditory hallucinations, although chemical analysis of fruit bodies has not revealed the presence of any substances that would cause this effect.

Buying a car sight unseen is a nerve-wracking experience, especially when it comes to picking a color. Thankfully, I had a chance both yesterday and today to rectify that situation. My dealer alerted me to the location of a local 2-day training session for sellers of the just-introduced car. I would have been thrilled to see just one car. When I arrived and saw 8 iX3s in a multitude of colors and trim packages, I was over the moon with joy. Both of the colors I am considering were among the group. Pictured above is my initial and final choice (Eucalyptus Green), with the same trim and wheels I have ordered. Only the interior was a different color, and I had a chance to sit inside for a few minutes. Despite the name, the color appears greyish-silver with only a hint of green.

Pictured below in the foreground is an iX5, the larger and more luxuriant version of the iX3. It will not even go on sale until next year, so I was shocked and delighted to find it in the mix. It is even larger than my Audi eTron and seeing it side-by-side only reinforced my choice of its baby brother.

Living in Concord, we are fortunate to have several family-owned farms within a stone’s throw. Verrill Farm is the closest to our home, and we shop there often. While driving past the fields today, it was hard to miss their massive sunflower crop, with their heads standing proud.

Jeanine, Susan, and I joined Kyle, Maya, and Brennan for an impromptu dinner at Trina’s Starlight Lounge in Somerville. Having spent the entire weekend with Nico, Susan was looking forward to some time with her niece and other nephew. Jeanine realized that Kyle was leaving for Nantucket on Wednesday, his 34th birthday, and decided to smuggle in her mouthwatering blueberry-lemon cake, candles, and a lighter for an unscheduled surprise celebration. We sang Happy Birthday at a whisper until the end, when I ramped up the volume to Kyle’s mortification. Like his father, Kyle does not enjoy being the center of attention. Also, my singing voice is so cringe-inducing that all members of the family prefer it when I remain silent and focus on taking the family photo.

Nicolai’s New England Revolution saved its best performance for the national championship finals, decisively beating Metro New York 4 to 0. Nico had a great tournament with 5 goals and 9 assists, earning him the Most Valuable Player Award.

A full set of photos from the tournament can be found HERE. I took over 4000 and winnowed it down to 1200. My goal was to ensure that every one of the ~100 players would have an action photo to memorialize the event. Below is my favorite shot of Nico.

Attending the Amp Soccer Cup weekend with us are my sister Alissa (center) and Jeanine’s sister, Susan (left). Despite the +80F temperature, the trio was determined to meet their step goal. Also among the spectators were Teddy (Nico’s girlfriend), her friend, and her roommate, Caroline.

Temperatures on the artificial turf fields were easily 10 degrees hotter, where Nico’s team added two victories to their win last night, paving the way to the championship match to be played tomorrow. The winner will be the best team in the country and take home the Cup.

In the evening, we all attended the Cleats & Cocktails fundraiser held in a massive hotel ballroom. Nico was the Master of Ceremonies, a role he was not exactly thrilled about. Nonetheless, he did an excellent job, and by the end of the evening, a total of more than $33,000 had been raised. The event included several speakers who talked about the importance of amputee soccer in their lives and two moving tributes to players who were taken by cancer this past year.

Jeanine, her sister Susan, and I made our way to Islip, New York, on Long Island to watch Nico compete in the US Amputee Cup. We took the Cross Sound Ferry from New London, CT, to Orient Point, affording us views of several lighthouses along the way.

We arrived just in time for the opening ceremony and introduction of the 7 men’s teams and two women’s teams vying for the national amputee soccer title. The tournament, now in its fourth year, was originally established and organized by Nico and has grown in size and stature every year since. In addition to the 14 games that will be played over the weekend, a youth clinic will be offered on Saturday to help identify and develop the next generation of Team USA.