Let's Make Some Art, Dammit

October 31, 2021. Happy Hallowe'en. These fall leaves were photographed in Pine Grove Forest, Ottawa, on our 7 km walk in the rain. We also got an extension pole for the bird feeder and some soup from Farm Boy. https://flic.kr/p/2mFGT2Q

October 30, 2021. I set up the new feeders to get ready for another winter of bird watching. No activity yet but I'm hopeful. I intended to work today but mostly took the day off and puttered. Installed Windows 11 on my Alienware and then tried to make the desktop work for me (it doesn't: I hate it when systems say boxes must be a certain size, and menus in a certain location). https://flic.kr/p/2mFAX47

October 29, 2021. This is the band Sussex playing at the start of tonight's RedBlack's game. They also played at half time and we both quite enjoyed them. They can sing! They can probably also play footbakk better than the RedBlacks, who ran their season record to 2-10 with another loss. Even so, the crowd was pretty good and the football was still pretty fun. https://flic.kr/p/2mFtLqa

October 28, 2021. This is the inside of the Honda dealership on St. Laurent. My plan was to be there all day and write my graphic task application. But I got a call from Mike Rochford and we ended up having lunch at Swiss Chalet, which was a nice surprise. Also, the car was finished early, which means I was home early, and was able to finish my coding task and get the application out to course participants. I was pretty pleased with myself, I must say. https://flic.kr/p/2mFm8t1

October 27, 2021. This is a screen shot from the e21 Symposium, in which (as you can see) I took part. I actually watched or listened to the whole symposium today (including while I drove into the city and back for groceries - as usual, Andrea goes into the store and I stay in the car and (in this case) work. https://flic.kr/p/2mFrssu

October 26, 2021. This is brush on the side of the highway. I like photos like this because of all the detail. Had my semi-annual performance review today, which went fine, and created another course video and began to look at the problem of creating a graphing task. https://flic.kr/p/2mFuFGm

October 25, 2021. This is a photo looking east during sunset. Normally, we think of the red sky appearing in the west, but there are days when the whole sky seems to change colour and this was one of them. Another photo posted several days after the fact - I've been really busy with my course and especially catching up on the videos, which are taking longer to produce than I expected. Also, today in particular I felt so very very tired. https://flic.kr/p/2mFqiGD

October 26, 2021. What are these? We found these nuts in the forest where we walked Sunday, near Cornwall and the St. Lawrence River. We still don't know what they are. Super-tired today. I did some work on the course, including an engaging noon-hour discussion (this course builds from basics to really interesting material) and got my printer back in action to produce some photos. Biggest disappointment of the day was finding that only the first two seasons of Leverage are available on Prime (or, for that matter, anywhere). https://flic.kr/p/2mEuZfK

October 24, 2021. My back was doing well enough today to allow for a 6 km hike in Guindon Park, near Cornwall. It was a nice clear fall day and the colours were brilliant and crisp. https://flic.kr/p/2mE6UmG

October 23, 2021. This was the first frost of the year, as viewed on my front lawn early morning. I'm still not up to cycling, but we did drive into the city for more bird supplies, including a stand more more bird feeders, a tube feeder, and some seed and suet. I also made some pretty good progress on the course, recording a video on how I import data into gRSShopper. https://flic.kr/p/2mE5eJC

October 22, 2021. This is Charlemagne on the top shelf where I sit in the kitchen. You can tell I've been really busy when I fall behind uploading photos and when those photos are mostly cat photos. Today was a better day, though, as I put some of my most significant coding issues behind me and was able to focus on course content. https://flic.kr/p/2mDGbQ9

October 21. These are tomatos that I diced for supper. I have these in a soup with a serving of tuna, some vegetables, sliced mushrooms, and hot spices. Trying to keep it healthy. Though since I haven't really moved for the last 10 bays because of my back, I'm still gaining weight. https://flic.kr/p/2mDEZDw

October 20, 2021. I had two long meetings scheduled for the afternoon following my online course presentation so we went to Costco first thing in the morning, where I took this photo of a late fall flower missing a petal. Loved the light, loved the pale pink colour. https://flic.kr/p/2mDAFpe

October 19, 2021. I started the day with an early morning meeting, then had an hour, then game three presentations back-to-back-to-back, including the one where I am pictured here speaking to the Open Learning 20201 conference about eliminating the need for online course registrations. Then I finished the day with another longish meeting. https://flic.kr/p/2mDAB4k

October 18, 2021. The weather has turned and the geese are flying south in greater numbers. This is a view outside my front door - that was about it for my outside time today as I've been setting up the tasks for the course and preparing presentations. https://flic.kr/p/2mDEEwU

October 17, 2021. These flowers in the front yard barely resemble flowers any more as fall weather sets in. I have been *incredibly* busy this week with my online course - most of my work is self-inflicted as I can't resit trying to add new features to the platform. But the course is also a lot of fun so I'm not complaining. Back is still an issue so there was no Sunday walk this week. Maybe next week. https://flic.kr/p/2mDHVbF

October 16, 2021. Vis is a view from our seats at the RedBlack game out the west end zone. You can see the condo (which, if I ever have to live in a condo, is where I want to live), the threatening skies, and most importantly, the roof over the north side stands. It's a defining feature of Lansdowne Park and makes attending games a lot nicer. The RedBlacks lost again, but it was the most entertaining game of the year thus far. Got more work done on the course before the game. Back issues persist. https://flic.kr/p/2mByHdL

October 14, 2021. Geese in the sky, flying south for the winter. Today was a two-video day for the course, plus a bunch of other odds and ends. Working on this course is taking up a lot of my time - it's all worth while though. I truly think I'm saying something new and interesting about ethics. Still struggling with back spasms, and finished Squid Game. https://flic.kr/p/2mBjtQh

October 15, 2021. This is Charlemagne enjoying his time in a cardboard box. If you look closely you can see the little holes in the cardboard the cats have created while kneading. Two course videos today, including a live session, along with one about course creation, and some nice updates to the software. My head is full of ideas these days. https://flic.kr/p/2mBmKYg

October 13, 2021. Waiting at the tracks in Casselman, in the rain, at the end of my bike ride, for the train to go by. Very productive day today - I wrote a blog post, solved a number of technical problems, made a course video, and more. The only downside is that I've been having back spasms which will put more of a damper on my bike riding than the rain. https://flic.kr/p/2mAGmf3

October 12, 2021. This is a look into a box of Mini Wheats. I have a baggie full of these once a day, near the end of the day, mostly for the fibre. Today I was focused almost completely on my first major session of the course - I had one person in the conference with me and an unknown (but small) number watching on YouTube. It can be disheartening to see such small numbers, but it's doing the work here that's important, not the fame. I have to keep focused on that. I'm also watching Squid Game, which is definitely the viewing event of the year (and probably the number one source of trauma). https://flic.kr/p/2mAhD4S

October 11, 2021. I just stopped to take a photo of the Castor River along rte 650 when this family in a canoe came by. It was perfect timing on a perfect day when I went for an easy 47 km ride to Embrun to visit family for a bit this afternoon (the have a new car, a Ford Edge). https://flic.kr/p/2mzRMCS

October 10, 2021. This week's hike took us back to the Forêt Blanche Ecological Reserve, where we were two weeks ago, along a different trail. This sport doesn't have a name but is right at the junction of the trails to Lac Howard and Lac Robert respectively. Somewhere in there are many small brown birds. Nice day, warm, no rain but very humid. Except for occasional bird calls, the forest was silent and still. https://flic.kr/p/2mzsira

October 9, 2021. On a leisurely 60 km ride to Maxville today I discovered the secret landing sport for geese! They're not on the river this year, they're all here! This is just after I startled then and just before the entire lake of them took off, creating an angry din. Definitely an experience to remember. https://flic.kr/p/2mzkgiJ

October 8, 2021. This is a very healthy spider sheltered just outside the downstairs bathroom window. I liked the way just the centre strands of the web were lit up by the sun. Tough day today as I couldn't figure out why my presentations weren't displaying properly - and were even crashing my course website! It took pretty much the whole day to figure it out and create a fix. https://flic.kr/p/2mznpt8

October 7, 2021. This is a view of the flag over the francophone memorial at St. Albert as seen from the bridge over the Nation River. This was another quick 25 km right to keep my mind clear as I continue to work on the course, combining a set of 'Building a MOOC' videos with actuasl videos for the MOOC, and even a 'Stephen Follows Instructions' video. Lots of videos (but I make transcripts too). https://flic.kr/p/2mzng35

October 6, 2021. Early this morning we had a think fog covering everything, one of the thickest I've seen in some time. I couldn't linger to enjoy it as I had an early morning meeting and then was back working on the course. It's really coming together and I'm pleased with the progress (It will be great when I can put it all in a Docker container and release it as a full package). https://flic.kr/p/2mznbxD

October 5, 2021. This is the Nation River where township road 700 ends up against it. I was getting really tired and found a brisk 25 km bike ride to be the perfect remedy. The day started with a couple of meetings, the recording of a number of videos, and advances on the course development. https://flic.kr/p/2mziAsx

October 4, 2021. Running way behind uploading these photos of the day. catching up. The reason is that today (Monday) was the start of my online course, which has swallowed most of my time as I whip a 2018 version of the MOOC database into 2021 shape. This meanwhile is a quick photo of a regular occurrence outside, the passenger train from Ottawa to Montreal (dig the new modern engine, the 915). https://flic.kr/p/2mzobT7

October 3, 2021. It was a steady drizzle but a nice day to walk in the forest. Everything looks different when it's wet. I got some reading done and worked on a literature review for my upcoming presentation to the Open Learning conference. Also watched the Blue Jays game. It was nice to see the Jays play meaningful baseball right up to the end of the season. https://flic.kr/p/2mx5GzA

October 2, 2021. Rain. This female purple finch greeted me first thing this morning. No bike ride because of the rain, but I was able to spend most of the day working on my online course, getting the website sorted out, setting up the Activity Centre, and configuring Zoom and testing with Zoom streaming. All good, and that takes a lot of the pressure off. https://flic.kr/p/2mx8xr2

October 1, 2021. Sparrow all fluffed up in fall feathers on the gazebo out back. Worked a bit on the course, and of course on the newsletter, but was pretty tired all day. It's hard to recover from mid-week football games, as we're not back until midnight and I don't get to sleep until two. https://flic.kr/p/2mwZD1h

September 30, 2021. Today was in theory a day off, but I spent some extra time on my newsletter today looking up proper Indigenous resources, and also worked on the course a bit, to confirm email was sending properly (it is). But we also visited the Costco (which is where I saw these flowers) and I did a double No Man's Sky episode today. Blue Jays lost. https://flic.kr/p/2mwmzDv

September 29, 2021. Fall is definitely here, as this view of my back yard attests. The birds are still frequenting the feeder, and we'll have to put out the tray feeder for the winter birds soon. Meanwhile, I continue to progress on the online course, setting up the email newsletter and some more pages. https://flic.kr/p/2mwhw6Y