Let's Make Some Art, Dammit

June 25, 2021. This is Julia, still recovering from having a tooth removed, but of a better demeanor than she has been recently (though that might be the drugs speaking). She's eating (soft food) well and seems pretty active, so it's all good news. Did some work on the CovidEA project today, and have been reviewing funding applications for IRAP again. https://flic.kr/p/2m7AWoT

June 23, 2021. These are mallows blooming on our front lawn beside the driveway, take after I returned from another short after-work bike ride. While in St. Albert I discovered my rear tire was soft; the small hand pump I've been carrying around more more than a year but never used was completely useless, as for some reason it would not pump air. But a man came out of his house with a pump and got me back on the road. So, my thanks to the man from St. Albert. https://flic.kr/p/2m7ED5Q

June 22, 2021. This is Charlemagne licking his nose as seen through the wide-angle lens. Today my focus was less on work and more on cats as Julia spent the day at the vet getting a tooth removed - it grew in all curved and was tearing at the inside of her mouth. Poor cat. I'm happy to report Julia made it home safe and sound and groggy. https://flic.kr/p/2m7EAvm

June 21, 2021. This is the view looking down from the bridge over the Little Castor River about 5km east of town. I've vowed to get out more during the week after spending the last three weeks not really getting out at all at lunch or after work. This is what makes the days all blend into each other. I have a meeting first thing this morning, and focused the rest pf the day on the newsletter and making graphs. https://flic.kr/p/2m7BHNH

June 20, 2021. I'm guessing this is a young chickadee, based on the colouring and the mottled feathers. We spotted this and much more during our hike today on Stony Swamp Trail, in Ottawa's southwest. First time we've been there, and it's really quite nice, one of the best of the Greenbelt trails. There's a lot more to this part of the Greenbelt and we'll be back. https://flic.kr/p/2m6GkDM

June 19, 2021. Today was windy and not very pleasant for a bike ride but I put in 66 km anyway just to enjoy scenes like this, a typical day at a typical diner in small town Ontario. https://flic.kr/p/2m6ujSq

June 18, 2021. You can see what sort of weather we had today by these leaves from the front lawn. I like to get a Friday ride in before my Saturday ride (Sundays are reserved for hiking with Andrea) but it wasn't happening this week. I did finally get back to my gRSShopper code, working on creating good graphs. https://flic.kr/p/2m6qbgm

June 17, 2021. These are crabapples developing in our tree in the back yard. This is easily the best season our beleagured little tree has had. Another long meeting today which was moderately interesting, as well as a continuation of the Twitter debate, which saps my energy. https://flic.kr/p/2m6tNpX

June 16, 2021. I have some better photos of a milkweed (a href="https://ift.tt/3xoF9dG this) but I really like this accidental look at what's going on inside it, from the milkweed bugs getting it on to the ant in one of the buds. Our backyard is filled with milkweed in an effort to help monarch butterflies; it's still too early for them but we've seen a couple. Today we bought some new bird feeders in order to replace old reliable, so we'll see what this new look to the back ward brings. https://flic.kr/p/2m6bhpE

June 15, 20921. I asked Andrea what this is and she said 'a weed', which I suppose is technically true, though I think it makes a great photo. Today was another rainy day and I'm still having issues getting productive, though there was a morning meeting, so that's something. https://flic.kr/p/2m69H73

June 14, 2021. It was a thunderstorm day today, as evidenced by this bird balancing on the tangle of wires being buffeted by the wind in front of the house. It's a young robin, just hatched this year, still a bit rough around the edges. My major accomplishment today was to update all my work passwords (not a trivial process). I also felt a bit like that bird, buffeted by the issues and discord sown in the posts and articles I read as part of my regular regimen. So, not very productive, but thoughts and feelings banked for later. https://flic.kr/p/2m5K6yk

This is a dragonfly (six-spotted skimmer) from the Reveler Conservation Area, where we went for a short hike this morning. I'm a little stiff from yesterday, but not really very stiff at all. Today was spent watching the ball game and working with photos. Here's the whole set of beautiful photos from Reveler. enjoy: www.flickr.com/photos/stephen_downes/albums/7215771940965... https://flic.kr/p/2m5ikc2

June 12, 2021. This is the United Church in Kars, which is a village across the Rideau River from Osgoode. Kars was the furthest point of my 135 km bike ride today. It's a very quiet community but without any real services, aside from neighbourhood churches and schools. As you can see, the weather was brilliant and it was a bike ride for the ages (at least for me). https://flic.kr/p/2m5mEGw

June 11, 2021. This is Emma photographed up close withthe macro lens. This is the last of my days on European time as I close out my involvement with the FairsFair book sprint. I also had the time this morning (aka noon European time) to do a quick ride out to St. Albert and back. And I spent time working on coding graphs in the HTML canvas element. https://flic.kr/p/2m5heq5

June 10, 2021. This is the top end of a stalk of grass on the front lawn. We mow the lawn... but not all of the lawn. Today was the last FAIRsFAIR meeting, and then was followed by several hours of AiP program kickoff meeting, during which I got some coding done as well, finishing off the functional aspects of the Analyzer and smoothing out the interface. Now that I can make graphs again, I can get back to drawing them, which in turn is part of the data import-export functions. https://flic.kr/p/2m4LsV9

June 9, 2021. I think this is some sort of ragweed, though I can't be sure. It's growing alongside the driveway. Still on European time and missing being out in the beautiful summer weather. Though I did get to drive Andrea to the dentist. https://flic.kr/p/2m4Qmd1

June 8, 2021. This is a birdfoot trefoil along with the tail end of some green insect I don't recognize. I capture a lot of insects on these flower photos, which is funny, because I never see them when I'm actually taking the photo. Same as yesterday: early morning European meeting, plus time spent on the Analysis functions. https://flic.kr/p/2m4Lkqz

June 7, 2021. This is fleabane, which can be found on both the front and back lawn. I like it, though I guess it's a weed. I've been working on JSON import-export, but as is so often the case, I needed to fix something to make it work, then to fix something to make that work, and now I'm updating the Analyze routines on gRSShopper. Still on European time, still attending FAIRsFAIR sprint meetings. https://flic.kr/p/2m4Mjma

June 6, 2021, second time out https://flic.kr/p/2m3Z4Rf

June 5, 2021. These owls watch over Vankleek Hill, the destination for my first long bicycle ride of the year, 103 km for the round trip. I started just after 6 am (which made it just after 12 European time) and was home before the worst of the heat in early afternoon. My major concern was running out of power on my phone - I need one of those chargers. I was also caught in a thunderstorm. All in all, though, an excellent day. I saw a skunk, a rabbit, a wild turkey, a hawk, and almost ran over a chipmunk. https://flic.kr/p/2m3UKBc

June 4, 2021. Got out for a quick 25 km ride after work today and photographed these daisies. Today was another FAIRsFAIR meeting on European time, and I focused more on letting things go and learning what I can from the experience, which resulted in some good posts for OLDaily, https://flic.kr/p/2m3TrFY

June 3, 2021. This is another attempt to photograph a cat with the macro lens. They don't like to sit still for photos, but Charlemagne held this post just long enough. Still on European time, but spent the full work day working on data exports from gRSShopper. https://flic.kr/p/2m3Xnqt

June 2, 2021. There's a lot going on in the humble clover. This specimen was found in the bright sunshine on the front lawn. It survives in a harsh environment by keeping low to the ground, and yet is surprisingly nourishing and occasionally lucky. Today was my second day on European time; I was up at 2:00 a.m. for a full day of work, including an 'afternoon' meeting and a blog post. The book sprint is interesting but occasionally frustrating. I need to learn to let things go, even if in my mind they're really wrong. Like the humble clover. https://flic.kr/p/2m3fuQZ

June 1, 2021. This is a tiny tiny pink flower growing in the shade at the very back of our in our back yard. It is a bit wider across than a blade of grass. Today was my first day on European time as I was up early for a 4:00 a.m. meeting, the first of a series of meetings over the next two weeks constituting a 'book sprint' for FAIRsFAIR. https://flic.kr/p/2m3j5Y1

May 31, 2021. If it weren't for cat photos, photo of the day wouldn't exist. This is me trying to get a cat picture with the macro lens - as you can see, I didn't get that close. It was the best I could do after a full day focused on writing code to export the graph from a gRSShopper instance. https://flic.kr/p/2m3pyKs