Let's Make Some Art, Dammit

June 29, 2022. This is a daylily in our back yard surrounded by tall grass, goldenrod and milkweed. We're still awaiting the monarch butterflies. Maybe there will be none. But we have a very healthy milkweed crop this year, so if the butterflies come, there will be food for them. And daylilies to look at. Still working on my recent theories paper; it's rough going. https://flic.kr/p/2nvqonf

June 28, 2022. This is a milkweed plant with flower on our front lawn. Yes, I said front lawn. It has grown a little wild. But here's what's weird - our neighbour has been mowing more and more of our front lawn ever since we moved in seven years (has it been that long?) years ago, and also trimming out tree and cutting back the daylily. We're also expecting it to be dug up during the process of sewer installation some time (July? the fall?). Anyhow, we contracted a surveyor company to actually map our and mark our property line so we can assume the management of our own lawn and shrubbery. Until then... let it grow (and who doesn't love milkweed and goldenrod?). https://flic.kr/p/2nvp4bJ

June 27, 2022. On the weekends this restaurant and store would be pack, but on a Monday afternoon at the St. Albert Cheese Co-op it's pretty quiet (though with a steady stream of local customers going in and out). It's a regular stop for me when I do my weekday afternoon quick ride, the 25 km loop here and back. Worked on my emerging theories paper today. https://flic.kr/p/2nuWTVE

June 26, 2022. This is a path in Warwick Forest and in every one of the puddles (we've had a lot of rain) there are frogs. So Andrea has been sneaking up on them to try to take photos, but the frogs are too, um, jumpy. It was another brilliant hot day. https://flic.kr/p/2nuWLUa

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June 24, 2022. This afternoon we drove down to Brockville to enjoy the tall ships festival, taking a cruise during the Parade of Sails on the Empire Sandy and having dinner on one of the Thousand Island dinner cruises. The weather was about as good as it could get. This is the Nao Trinidad, one of the other ships in the festival. https://flic.kr/p/2nuv2tn

June 22, 2022. Just another field with trees along county road 13 on the way back from St. Albert. Made a TikTok video here. I just wanted to capture how much I like it out here, living in the country. More work on my emerging theories page, and that's basically my day. https://flic.kr/p/2ntWMbp

June 21, 2022. I don't know who looks at the back of a dump truck like this and says "Yeah I want to push that." I spent most of the day today working on my emerging theories article (doesn't look like I'll make the deadline - I should have learned by now not to accept writing assignments, but just to write what I feel). https://flic.kr/p/2ntWp79

June 20, 2022. This bridge is part of my regular ride to St. Albert and points east - it's on a nice quiet road (rte 650) safe and pleasant for cyclists. However, with a tender recently being awarded, it will be closed for a year in a matter of days and long overdue repairs made to the 75 year old structure. I suspect it will be replaced with a concrete slab, which would be disappointing. Today spent most of the day working on an article on emerging learning theories. https://flic.kr/p/2nttaiE

June 19, 2022. We spotted this beauty in the north Limerick Forest, near Merrickville, along Scotch Line Road. We had a nice 6.7 km hike through the forest, getting to a viewing station overlooking the Wolford Bog. Nice walk, lots of flowers, insects and small animals. https://flic.kr/p/2nt8M9P

June 18, 2022. This is the scene at the end of Expedition 7 in No Man's Sky (at least for me, it's different for everyone). I was planning to cycle today but after the late night and kind of a tough week I just stayed indoors and finished the expedition. After that I read more on Mojolicious for a while. https://flic.kr/p/2nt25Vh

June 17, 2022. It was the Ottawa Redblacks home opener today, and they lost a hard-fought game to Winnipeg. But the team is so much better than it was last year. More crazy weather, with rain at time streaking into the stadium from both directions at once. https://flic.kr/p/2nsL5ta

June 17, 2022. This wasn't anything like the storm of a few weeks ago, but with everyone on edge there was a long of nervous sky watching. Some good cloud formations, but nothing like what they had in Toronto. More work on Mojolicious today; it's progressing much more quickly. https://flic.kr/p/2nsTM5e

June 15, 2022. Andrea bought an extension to the cat tunnel, so it's a full circle now, and the cats have taken to it; here's Charlemagne enjoying it. Back to more work on Mojolicious today (I know I should be writing, not coding, but I've spent so much time writing this year I feel like I'm missing out). https://flic.kr/p/2nsRf8X

June 14, 2022. No Man's Sky has had a new expedition running over the last few weeks; this is a scene from it. It's their most difficult expedition to date, and to my mind, the most fun. Some meetings today, and the newsletters feel like they're going to be extra good this week. https://flic.kr/p/2nsSkn3

June 12, 2022. View from our hike on Petrie Island. The park on the Ottawa River was flooded and had a lot of storm damage. Trails were impassible; they were either lakes or blocked by fallen trees. We tried anyways, which was probably a mistake. Our attempt to take a short cut straight through the forest to get past a flooded section was definitely a mistake. This is what it looked like. Challenging, impassible terrain. But very beautiful. https://flic.kr/p/2nrDFMM

June 11, 2022. This was lunch at the Finch Restaurant in Finch, Ontario. This is a normal sized burger and (believe it or not) a small poutine. I didn't even attempt to finish it, not with another 25km to cycle to wrap up my three-day shakedown ride. Oh, but it was absolutely delicious. Nice and warm and sunny today, and the easiest of the three days; I could easily have done more than the 45km I did. Total for the three days: 152 km, with a full load. I'm calling the shakedown a success. https://flic.kr/p/2nrJRhc

June 10, 2022. I woke up in my tent at Enchanted Forest Camp near Curran and cycled about 50km to reach Avonmore Oasis, seen here in the evening sun. It was quite a challenging day not the least because I was bitten by a dog, had to cope with rain, and set up my tent in a strong wind. But I got some good gravel work in with a full load despite the challenges, and these are the days that prepare me for my summer adventure on Anticosti. https://flic.kr/p/2nrL1JV

June 9, 2022. Spent the morning getting set up (and recording a video of same, which should be up soon on my YouTube page). My intent is to be out bikepacking for three days, starting today (so I'm uploading this photo early). https://flic.kr/p/2nqVr43

June 8, 2022. Julia sits on her shelf overlooking the back yard, waiting impatiently for attention. Today was mostly a day of meetings, but I also got a good start on my upcoming handbook paper submission. https://flic.kr/p/2nqXQiY

June 7, 2022. The cats have a new place to fight over. Andrea bought them this tunnel and they took to it like cats and small containers. Some meetings today, a bit more newsletter work, and a repair to gRSShopper to make sure the newsletter is send automatically. https://flic.kr/p/2nqVhBr

June 6, 2022. These are goldfinches on the feeder in our back yard, a bright yellow male and more subdued female. I realize I should have removed the price tag from the rain shield. Wrapped up some lingering email and prepared a lot of OLDaily posts in preparation for being away later this week. https://flic.kr/p/2nqXNe7

June 5, 2022. This is the flower of a pitcher plant. These plants are more well known for their leaves, which curl into a pitcher shape and trap insects for food. The flower, though, is something quite unique. They were about today in the Glengarry Forest, near Alexandria, where we went on a 7.7 km mosquito-filled hike. https://flic.kr/p/2nq1hjj

June 4, 2022. This is some wall art along Richmond Road. I needed to pick up my new warmer sleeping bag and also to rest a bit so we went for a walk through the Ottawa neighborhood of Westboro today. https://flic.kr/p/2npSSmT

June 3, 2022. This is a corner about 10 km south of Casselman and a place where I frequently stop for a short break and some water. It was a late afternoon ride after work (maybe too late because it interferes with sleep, but it's hard to resist a warm and sunny day). I put some finishing touches on a new project outline and did some experimenting with Perlbrew. https://flic.kr/p/2npU4FY

June 2, 2022. This is displayed outside a farm near St. Rose, partway on the route to St. Isadore. It was a nice day and the Blue Jays were playing an afternoon 'getaway day' game, so I booked off a little early and rode 40 km in a nice comfortable ride. https://flic.kr/p/2npSYA3

June 1, 2022. Our old coffee machine with all the electronics died a mysterious death by error code. This new machine has minimal electronics and brews a delicious cup of coffee. I spent some time trying to rework my data literacy stuff into a paper, but it wasn't really working for me today. https://flic.kr/p/2npU1Pk