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Showing posts from June, 2019

2019-06-30-1316

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June 30, 2019. Enallagma cyathigerum (common blue damselfly, common bluet, or northern bluet) in our backyard. Quiet day spent napping, watching the ball game, messing with some code, and playing No Man's Sly. https://flic.kr/p/2goajDA

Turkey Vulture

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June 29, 2019. Went on a nice 66 km ride to Kenmore and back on a steaming hot day with moderate wind. Best speed of the year, by far. On the way back (right where I had my flat the other day, within a few feet) I spotted a flock of 6 or 7 turkey vultures gathered around a former turtle. This was one of many good photos I was able to capture. https://flic.kr/p/2gnLC61

Storm Front

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June 28, 2019. Some interesting weather today spotted outside my office window. Last day before vacation, started utterly nothing new today, but got some reading done and worked a bit on content addressable resources. https://flic.kr/p/2gn23bc

Vetch and Honeybee

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June 27, 2019. The day before the day before vacation, which means I wasn't especially productive. I did, however, take this nice photo of the vetch growing wild in out backyard. https://flic.kr/p/2gn2cWf

Construction

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June 26, 2019. We had people up on the roof bright and early this morning to replace our old wind-torn roof with a shiny new wind-proof roof. Meanwhile I spent the day setting up registration for the 2019 E-Learning 3.0 course and reading for OLDaily. https://flic.kr/p/2gku4KJ

Milkweed Flower Buds

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June 25, 2019. It has taken us a few years to coax our milkweeds into flowering but this year we have been successful, as an abundance of milkweed buds demonstrates. Meeting today and then an online seminar - we called it a 'photoconference' because the video was so bad we only got a photo (not a good day for our internet). Good conversation, though. https://flic.kr/p/2gksKq8

Steering Wheel Spider

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June 24, 2019. The perils of living in the country - I was greeted by this visitor in my car as I got ready to drive into the office today. I very gently brushed him out the window. Quiet day spent mostly updating my publications list (still). https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephen_downes/48123451066

Sulphur Cinquefoil

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June 23, 2019. We have a lone specimen of this sulphur cinquefoil in our back yard (in what is proving to be a bountiful year for wildflowers out back). Quiet, relaxed day today after yesterday's bruising trip on the bicycle, watching my Jays take out the BosSox again.

South Nation River

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June 22, 2019. This is km 57 in my 62 km ride to Vars today. It's also where I had a flat tire. It didn't take long to repair, though, even after I had been tossed around all day by a strong wind.

Foul Ball

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June 21, 2019. An elevated pitch and he was just a bit under it, sending the ball into the stands. It was a beautiful evening for a doubleheader. @OttawaChampions

Geraniums

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June 20, 2019. More work on publications today, plus an interview with a PhD student looking at attitudes regarding social media (which was quite fun). These are the geraniums now out on the back porch - the one that looks dead is the one that was unpotted last year by a windstorm - it has been declining all winter and I fear itdidn't make it.

Clouds

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June 19, 2019. I spent the day writing a post and catching up documentation of my publications. https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephen_downes/48109096633

Raspberry Flower

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June 18, 2019. This is a raspberry flower in our front yard, with the photo taken at dusk. I had four meetings today in what was overall a pretty good day. One of them was a podcast interview that will be released in a couple weeks. https://flic.kr/p/2ggLikq

On the Land

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June 17, 2019. I took a personal mental health day today. No work, no newsletter, no stress, nothing but lots of sleep and a long bike ride in the country on what was a perfect day. https://flic.kr/p/2gg9ixS

Los cubanos

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June 16, 2019. We finally got to see the Cuban national baseball team today as they played a doubleheader - we saw all of the first and part of the second before heading to Bella Vista for a Father's Day get together with family. Lovely day; too much sun, maybe, but I'm not complaining. https://flic.kr/p/2gfjHu5

Glow Fair in the Rain

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June 15, 2019. It was a nice plan - go to the Glow Fair downtown and then catch the Cuban National baseball team playing the Ottawa Champions. The ball game was rained out, and the Glow Fair was just rained on. Still, we persisted, taking in as much as there was remaining in the rain, one of the highlights of which was the group of artists painting rain-drippy murals. https://flic.kr/p/2gf4yQ8

Milkweed

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June 14, 2019. We have a bountiful crop of milkweed in our back yard, carefully cultivated over a number of years to provide food for monarch butterflies. Good day today, got some stuff done, including an evaluation report on a funding proposal. https://flic.kr/p/2geJkRP

The Neighbour's Backstop

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June 13, 2019. This consriction sticks up above a very large hedge between the yards. It reminds me of the backstop we built in our yards when I was a kid (my father and I built it). Ours was *way* better, with four sturdy posts and proper chain link fencing, and it went up about 12 feet, with a mast for a flag. Of course, we had a lot more room to work with. https://flic.kr/p/2geJuaK

Common Ringlet

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June 12, 2019. Spent the day catching up on a backlog of recordings, publications, and other stuff that needed to be added to my website. This Common Ringlet (Coenonympha tullia) was enjoying the sunshine in the back yard. https://flic.kr/p/2gdbVXm

Dewberry Trail

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June 11, 2019. I went for a ride on Dewberry Trail in Mer Bleu after work today - I left a bit early because I'm also presenting online tonight at 10 (still in the future as I type this). The morning I spent studying Git some more (it's a brilliant piece of software with simply awful documentation and usability). https://flic.kr/p/2gcGFp2

Dinking from the Tap

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June 10, 2019. Busy and productive day. After a short meeting, I spent the rest of the day working on revisions to a paper, which I sent off in the afternoon. That was it; evening of rest, including making sure the cat has a nice stream of fresh cold water to drink from. https://flic.kr/p/2gcnLuW

Cows in the Shade

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June 9, 2019. Another pastoral scene from the neighbourhood as I went for a 50k ride in a roundabout route to Moose Creek and back. Hot day, lots of sun. https://flic.kr/p/2gbvF8e

Yellow Field

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June 6, 2019. What caught my eye was the brilliant shade of yellow-green this field on Anderson Road showed, so I had to get a photo, even though I knew it wouldn't really capture it. More work on reveal.js and Github, and I prepared a set of slides for a talk I'm giving next week. https://flic.kr/p/2gaeYzG

Grass

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June 5, 2019. Spent a day working on GitHub - my objective here is to create for myself a rock-solid knowledge of GitHub (which has eluded me for so long) so I can use it for OER projects. This is grass outside the bathroom window. https://flic.kr/p/2gaeUGS

First Butterfly

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June 4, 2019. This is the first butterfly of the year, seen through the screen window. I went around for a better photo, but it flew away before I could take it. Short team meeting, then work on slides.js and reveal.js as experiments in HTML. https://flic.kr/p/2gaesbr

Back Yard

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May 3, 2019. I had a generally unproductive day today, aside from reading a whole pile of articles for the newsletter. This is our back yard looking out over the gazebo frame. Loving all that green. It should start to make me feel better within a week or two. https://flic.kr/p/2g9gv7D

Dogwood

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May 2, 2019. This is a Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus Stolonifera) growing in the front lawn under the power pole. Grows into a shrub (if it lives). Watched the ball game (bleah) and studied the inner workings of Git on this cloudy rainy day. https://flic.kr/p/2g9gdwC

Warwick Forest

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June 1, 2019. Went out for a 47km ride today to Berwick and Warwick forest. I would have made it an even 50 but I was in a rush to get home in time for tonight's RedBlack's game. https://flic.kr/p/2g7nYKN

Lilacs

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May 31, 2019. Lilacs in the front yard (ok, technically, the neighbour's front yard, I think). My favourite spring flower. We had a 'town hall' meeting about the new NRC strategy this morning. The contributions from our research centre have taken a step backward, in my view. All AI, no People-Centred Technology. I left the office today with the feeling that my work isn't valued and that I'm not respected as a researcher. It's not a good feeling. https://flic.kr/p/2g6LjUu

Hospital

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March 30, 2019. This is the corridor outside the sleep lab, where I went for a consult and for a new CPAP. I haven't been able to focus on my work in the office because of conflicts. These wear on me and I find them very hard to deal with. https://flic.kr/p/2g6Laqo

Crabapple Tree

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May 28, 2019. This is the crabapple tree in the back yard, flowering this year after a year off last year. It hasn't always been healthy but I still hold out hope for it. Staff meeting today, another meeting, and a day spent pining for the fjords. https://flic.kr/p/2g6KYWh