Let's Make Some Art, Dammit

July 31, 2017. 20x50 Day 14. 54.40 kilometers today to Maxville and back. This is the bicycle leaning against a rustic wood fence by an apple tree in the village.

July 30, 2017. 20x50 Day 13. This is an conservation area about 15 km south of Casselman. I visited on my way back from a ride out to Moose Creek and back. Good ride today, sweltering conditions, and the greatest 9th inning comeback in Blue Jays history. Oh, and my computer died last night, so I ordered a new one (a loaded Dell XPS laptop) this morning.

July 29, 2017. 20x50 Day 12. This is the South Nation River near the tiny hamlet of Pendleton, just south of Pendleton Airport, which was my destination for the day. It was a beautiful day for cycling and a bad day for technololy, as MLB's dysfunctional app was acting up again.

July 28, 2017. 20x50 Day 11. I had to do some banking in Chesterville, about 35 km away, so I strapped the bicycle on the back of the car and took the opportunity to cycle from Chesterville to South Mountain and back. This is a *very* scenic route with a lot of interesting things, including this semi-circle of tombstones just outside South Mountain.

July 27, 2017. No ride today because we had to go into the city. These are lilies growing on the front lawn.

July 27, 2017. No ride today because we had to go into the city. These are lilies growing on the front lawn.

July 26, 2017. 20x50 Day 10. 61 km, the highlight (or lowlight) of which was Marionville Road, pictured. This is a good stretch; it got smaller, had huge holes in it, rocky ridges and worse. Not a great road for cycling. I knew I shouldn't use it, but I had to see. I just had to see.

July 25, 2017. 20x50 Day 9. A nice 52 km ride today to Riceville, about 25 km northeast of Casselman. The road to Riceville is one of my favourite in the region and a pleasure to cycle. This barn and corn is just one of many sights along it.

July 24, 2017. It absolutely poured today, non-stop all day, so I took advantage of the weather to get my rear derailleur on my bicycle adjusted. And to do some coding and catching up with stuff.

July 23, 2017. 20x50 Day 8. I cycled to Avonmore and back again today, 50km, making good time at better than 20kph average speed. I wanted to see the Avonmore Fair but ended up seeing this laneway lined with poppies and other flowers. Poppies are rare here and seeing this many in one place was a real surprise. The Blue Jays were blown out again, so the less said about baseball the better.

July 22, 2017. This is a type of Astilbe, or false spirea, photographed in front of the Canadian Labour Congress building on our way to the Ottawa Lebanese Festival nearby. The festival was a bit of a disappointment; we had some Lebanese food but there was nothing really to see (or photograph).

July 21, 2017. 20x50 Day 7. 55 km to Vars and back (simply terrible roads around Vars, a neglected corner of Ottawa). This is between Vars and Limoges, on the edge of the Cumberland Forest. It turns out to be Camp LOA, a horse-riding camp for children.

July 20, 2017. 20x50 Day 6. 55km at 20kph, which is very good for me. This is a house on the main street (Front Street) of Finch. If you want to buy me a house, buy me this one (notice it's for sale!). Really good ride today; maybe I'm over the worse of the chafing and irritation?

July 19, 2017. 20x50 Day 5. This is the LaRose forest where I stopped for a break to drink some water and get eaten by mosquitos. Normally I love cycling through LaRose forest but they have put soft gravel on the 15 km stretch of road through the forest, making it almost impassable to cyclists.

July 18, 2017. 20x50 Day 4. Headed out past St. Isadore today, and the 25 km mark was this cornfield. The corn is only about 2 feet high but it's coming along nicely. I'm getting pretty chafed from the riding but otherwise feel strong.

July 17, 2017. I was up really early this morning (like, about 4:30) and while Alex tried gamely to keep up, as you can see he just wasn't quite able to keep his eyes open. I took a day off 20x50 today to allow the chafing to heal, but I'll be back on the road tomorrow, because I'm otherwise feeling strong and ready to go.

July 16, 2017. 20x50 Day 3. Cycled north to Bourget today, which is now a part of Clarence-Rockland. Just south of Bourget is the northern part of the LaRose Forest. This is a pond in that forest that caught my eye on the way back. I saw a number of my old friends the Twelve Spotted Skimmers playing around the edges. Frogs gronked. Pretty idyllic. Now I'm sitting in the back yard listening to Tangerine Dream and wondering what my 18 year-old self would think of this, 40 years later.

July 15, 2015. 20x50 Day 2. 50.96 km. This is a male Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula pulchella) spotted at a pond on the way back from Avonmore. I was taking photos of the pond and it just landed close enough to get a nice shot. Anyhow, like I say, I did anothr 50km today, a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

July 14, 2017. Cool, windy and rainy today, so we went to Costco and then I did some coding for a while. This is outside our house and down the road, behind the gate at the new railroad crossing, in no-man's land separating us from the new housing development.

July 13, 2017. 20x50 Day 1. Distance: 52.96 km. This is Marvelville, which is just over 25 km from Casselman. It is best known as the home of Larry Robinson. The old ball diamond is long gone (but I remember it well) and the only reminder of this tiny town is the community centre, pictured here.

July 12, 2017. Spent the day writing a script to analyze my posts (and other documents) and extract company names, etc., to put into my landscape database. This luscious hydrangea is in our back yard.

July 11, 2017. These weeds are at the end of my driveway - though as you may have guessed, I don't think of them as weeds at all. Linaria vulgaris (common toadflax, yellow toadflax, or butter-and-eggs).

July 10, 2017. We're back from Mont Tremblant and I was back in the office working on the code for my learning landscape. This is in our back yard - well, just over the little creek and in our neighbour's yard. Maybe it's a crabapple, maybe not?

July 8, 2017. This morning I gave a workshop to college and institute presidents on leading into the future. After lunch, Andrea and I took the gondola up to the top of Mont Tremblant and, among other things, watched a demonstration of brds of prey. These birds were tame, but they flew freely in the outdoors, which is where we watched them. Brilliant. Among many photos I offer this one of a barn owl flying directly toward us.

July 7, 2017. Got a bunch of work done (including more proposal evaluations) and then we drove up to Mont Tremblant where we were greeted with the Blues Fest. Nice. This is the Ghost City Blues Band from Memphis.

June 7, 2017. We have a bumper crop of wild raspberries around the house this year. These are from out along the railway tracks, but there are others all around. Finhsed gRSShopper JSON import and export today, though I think I want to add some capacity to it.

July 5, 2017. Another evening out on the deck, and I spent some time admiring some young Queen Anne's lace growing right along the edge. Good day with the usual workload.

July 4, 2017. Quiet day today. Did some funding proposal review and coding in the office, then came home to see the first of the day lilies of the season has opened. This is it, at the end of its day.

July 3, 2017. In a flurry of a ctivity we got the canopy onto the gazebo frame on the deck in the back yard, and then hauled out some of the camping equipment. Long story shot, it resulted in me sitting on the deck watching the ball game and playing with the computer. Oh, and taking a photo of this cardinal. Not the best in the world, but hey, the summer is young. What's significant here is that I have never before in my life enjoyed this simple pleasure. I've never had the set-up - never had a house with a deck.

July 2, 2017. 44 km bike ride today in between thunderstorms. I went to Reveler Conservation Area, which is just a little north and east of Chrysler and had a nice walk in the forest while resting from the bike ride (my calf muscles are bothering me this year). I saw a brows thrasher, a turkey vulture, and as you can see, this friendly chipmunk.

July 1, 2017. I had expected to have Canada Day photos goday, but the rain dissuaded me from attending (as did the security arrangements and self-contradictory information from Ottawa Transit). But I dd photograph the malva flowers on the front lawn (complete with ants and rain drops). Spent the day (as I did both days last wekend) working on my new book, which will be out soon.