Let's Make Some Art, Dammit

April 29, 2021. I got out for a short bike ride after work today along a stretch of the Nation River that appears to have been flooded in the spring. It's just a short stretch and not far from home, but I've been meaning to cycle along it for ages. Spring tree flowers and buds are very much in evidence. https://flic.kr/p/2kVNvX4

April 28, 2021. This is Charlemagne settling in on the bed beside me this evening. There's something about watching a cat just happily doing its thing oblivious to the world. I took part in an almost two-hour seminar first thing this morning with a task force working at a university in Kazakhstan, then spent the rest of the day putting the presentations online, catching up on email, and resting after what was quite a bit of effort over three days. Worth it, though. https://flic.kr/p/2kVzpjc

April 27, 2021. These are buds just beginning to form on some shrubs beside the driveway in the front yard. Not sure what they are. My full day was devoted to preparing for my talk on Connectivism this evening, a two hour presentation with almost an hour of additional questions after, starting at 9 p, and ending late. Overall I was happy with the result, and it was good to get a relatively comprehensive overview on the record (there wasn't time, though, to talk about theory formation, and objections to connectivism, both large sets of slides I deleted from the deck before we started. https://flic.kr/p/2kVJvTK

April 26, 2021. This small flower has appeared on the front lawn, and is at the moment the only flower on the front lawn. Work day today, starting with an 8:00 a.m. meeting (ugh), evaluations, and reading. I'm getting ready for two talks within 12 hours of each other starting tomorrow evening. https://flic.kr/p/2kVe4RG

April 25, 2021. This is a trillium growing in the Pine Grove Forest, the same place where we walked last week (and saw them about to bloom). I had to get right down onto the ground to get this shot. Andrea and I managed about 4 km of slow walking today, and with the bending I was doing to take photos, that was plenty of exercise for my still sore back. https://flic.kr/p/2kV2nDA

April 24, 2021. This is a maple sugar shack on a dirt road maybe 10 km from Casselman. I passed it while cycling very gingerly and very slowly on a 30km loop through St-Albert. The back is still tender but this was good exercise for it, the first time I've been my bike since I hurt it. My ride was about exactly the length of the Red Sox 8-1 loss this afternoon, so that was a nice bonus. https://flic.kr/p/2kUKS2c

April 23, 2021. This is a Robertson screwdriver, also known as an ANSI Type III Square Center screwdriver. It's one of several I keep handy at my work desk and became my photo of the day for lack of anything else to photograph. Had a meeting today, a doctor's checkup by telephone, did some evaluation work, and postponed cycling yet another day even though it was beautiful out. https://flic.kr/p/2kUJEqM

https://flic.kr/p/2kUu3tU

April 21, 2021. Yes, that's snow on the lawn. It snowed a good part of the day but by evening it was mostly gone and we were headed in a good direction again. I spent most of the day attending the CNIE online conference, which turned out to be pretty good overall. https://flic.kr/p/2kUiKQt

April 20, 2021. The tulips are trying, but it has been cool recently and it's hard to start blooming in the snow, which is what we have predicted for tomorrow. Cool and windy today. Indoors at the CNIE conference all day, including giving a workshop this morning. https://flic.kr/p/2kU8gBK

April 19, 2021. This is the crabapple tree in our back yard. It always seems like it's barely alive but it's trying again for another year. Nice sunny day but I spent it indoors working on my presentation for the CNIE conference while at the same time watching other peoples' presentations.. https://flic.kr/p/2kU2H7b

April 18, 2021. Still no cycling but we got out for a short 3km walk along Pine Grove Trail today. As you can see, it was a beautiful day and the forest is coming back to life. Watched the Blue Jays game in the afternoon while editing the photos and that's basically my day. https://flic.kr/p/2kTDUX8

April 17, 2021. You may recall how Charlemagne gets stuck on the ledge; I took a photo back in February. Well, he's still doing it. He goes down there, wails until he is rescued, and enjoys the attention. It has become a game, almost. Still nursing my sore back, but I got quite a bit of coding done - database backups and management - and watched the Jays split a doubleheader. I also wrote a blog post on what it means to enrol in a course. https://flic.kr/p/2kTEoR3

April 16, 2021. I've been playing the new Expeditions version of No Man's Sky - it's a new twist on a familiar classic. This is a screenshot from the game. Otherwise, I got a bunch of stuff done today, including recording another video. Also (even better): no painkillers today. Not sure if I'm ready to ride again, but it's definitely progress for the better. Maybe some time on the trainer. https://flic.kr/p/2kTjiCU

April 15, 2021. These are the three kittens. I know, they look like they should be posing for the cover of their latest album. I had a surprisingly productive day today, working on a number of different projects, making a video, and getting a tooth filling fixed. Still on painkillers but things are getting better. https://flic.kr/p/2kTddAs

April 14, 2021. This cowbird is a recent arrival in the back yard. We assume she has deposited her egg in one of the local birds' nests (or maybe she's just about to). We've seen her male companion around as well. Today it was back to work, still nowhere near 100%, but I managed to have a reasonably productive day catching up with proposal evaluation duties. I don't think I'll be on the bicycle until the weekend at the earliest. This brings me up to a total of 765 bird photos from around the world - you can view them all here . https://flic.kr/p/2kSYr54

April 13, 2021. I got outside for a very short walk today and saw these hyacinths in our back yard, the first splash of colour in the new year. It was a second sick day for me today, though like yesterday I still managed to do a reasonable amount of work. https://flic.kr/p/2kSNJ1X

April 12, 2021. The grackles descend on the bird feeder in mobs, scaring away the other birds and sifting through the seeds looking for their favourites. But they're still birds so I still like them. This was an indoor day as I nursed a pulled back muscle (i has been a rough spring). https://flic.kr/p/2kSJrzg

April 11, 2021. We went for a walk today along the Mer Bleue Bog trail. It was a beautiful early spring day with a sky half-blue and half cloud. It would have been even better had I not reinjured my back while trying to tie my shoe (of all things!). Still, we had a good walk and I got a nice collection of photos. Now, back to the painkillers. https://flic.kr/p/2kSrHXE

April 10, 2021. This is a pond along the Township road just next to Warwick Forest. It's a temporary pond; it's very full now, but will be completely empty by summer. I viewed it while doing the 50 km loop to Avonmore on the road bike. It feels pretty early to be doing that, but it was a gorgeous 26 degree day with a light wind; couldn't ask for better. https://flic.kr/p/2kSfgKb

April 9, 2021. This is the new part of the Chrysler Trail - it's still coarse gravel - along the Nation River. They've done a really nice job winding it up and down the little river valleys. Since it's so new, it's gravel bike only. I took off an hour early from work to explore this trail for the first time, in all a 40km round trip from home. https://flic.kr/p/2kSjx8K

April 8, 2021. This is the 909 going by on the tracks near my house, with the new subdivision in the background. Today started out with back-to-back meetings, then I did some evaluation work, wrote a bit, and did some dev. It was generally productive. That said, even though it was beautiful out (as you can see) I needed to give my cuts and bruises one more day to heal before going cycling again. https://flic.kr/p/2kSeuD4

April 7, 2021. There's nothing growing in the yard yet, but I did notice this baseball has sprouted at the very back. It's rare to see them come up so early in the year. Anyhow, a moderately productive day spent mostly doing assessments and a little bit following an online conference. Also a Costco day; the highways were thick with people trying to catch Covid before the stay-at-home order makes it a lot harder. I booked my vaccine appointment for about two weeks from now. Except for my bike rides, I'll be staying at home. Still banged up from last Monday, though. https://flic.kr/p/2kRG6r3

April 6, 2021. This is Julia giving me attitude for daring to take her picture while she's in her favourite sleeping container. I started the day with back-to-back meetings and did some work on project reviews before turning my attention again to the chmod problem in Docker, which thanks to Luc has been resolved. Nothing is easy, but I forge on. Still feeling pretty bumped and bruised from yesterday, but I'll live. https://flic.kr/p/2kRvFHt

April 5, 2021. This is a birds-only island in the Ottawa River somewhere west of the Chaudiere Falls. I had to leave my car in the shop in Ottawa all day so I took the opportunity to go for a longish bicycle ride, even though it was a bit early in the season. 52 stop-and-go kilometers through the busy city in mid-teems weather and a cool north breeze felt longer than it was. A solid crash about two hours in didn't help. But it was a fun day, I got to see parts of Ottawa I haven't seen before, and I have a bunch of nice photos to show for it (also scrapes, a sore back, and damaged handle bars). https://flic.kr/p/2kRnrAR

April 4, 2021. Birch bark peeling away to reveal a fresh spring layer. Andrea and I went for a walk in the Pine Grove forest in the Greenbelt today, a tame 5 km to preserve my strained muscles. I also worked a fair bit with Docker compose, with my efforts ending with nothing solved. https://flic.kr/p/2kRjvTC

April 3, 2021. If you're wondering where to find the Cosmos, try this barn just outside Embrun. I cycled the 34.8km to visit family today, and report that they are well and in good spirits. I listened to Laura Ritchie's 'Yes I Can' on the way, covering the sections on connectivism and perception. This evening I watched 'Cold Mountain' again (Amazon Prime) and it continues to rank as one of my favourite movies. https://flic.kr/p/2kR6bmG

April 2, 2021. Yes, I know, it's another bird photo, because it was another indoor day, but I plan to be back on the bicycle tomorrow. Still, it's a testament to the variety of species we have out here that I can add yet another new one to this year's collection. Meanwhile, I had a nice relaxing day, puttered with my Twitter API interface and watched the Red Sox lose their home opener (always makes me happy). https://flic.kr/p/2kQHxU4

April 1, 2021. We stopped for a brief photo opportunity at Mer Bleu on the way home from Costco. One more day of rest and I think I'll be able to resume activities again. Meanwhile I made huge strides on gRSShopper, and have solved most of the big problems, which means I will be able to add capabilities soon. https://flic.kr/p/2kQwRAk