Let's Make Some Art, Dammit

December 29, 2024. TSN broadcasters doing their analysis during the first period intermission at the Czechia-Slovakia game in Ottawa. The game was pretty good through the outcome was never really in doubt. #hockey #tsn https://flic.kr/p/2qCABBP

December 29, 2024 extra photo. This is the IIHF Men's World Jr. trophy, which doesn't appear to have a name, with Andrea and I posing behind it. What you don't see is that the trophy is tilted toward the back, so when it's photographed like this it appears level even though the camera is above the level of the trophy. https://flic.kr/p/2qCFhBt

December 27, 2024. Just outside Peterborough, Double Dz's Diner offers better doughnuts and filling food for the weary traveller. It also features this work of art outside the front. Today we drove back from Barrie through generally good weather. https://flic.kr/p/2qCGefd

December 26, 2024. Springwater Provincial Park, near Barrie. The park was actually closed, but we went in anyways and saw a lot of logging activity. Not old and damaged trees, as you might expect, but the strongest and healthiest. Sad. https://flic.kr/p/2qC2phz

December 25, 2024. This is my brother Bill, who I now realize is the spitting image of my grandfather on my mother's side. We were there at their home near Fergus to visit family for the holiday. https://flic.kr/p/2qC8cyZ

December 24, 2024. Free day in Barrie. We went down to Georgian Mall. This was the scene at the mall Santa booth - I watched for a while while Andrea was in the Shoppers. I picked up a buff and some goggles for my upcoming bike trip. Quiet relaxed day. https://flic.kr/p/2qBZnqX

December 23, 2024. We drove through the snow today to a hotel in Barrie, our usual stop when visiting my brother for Christmas. https://flic.kr/p/2qBWBdc

December 21, 2024. This is my mother, in her 88th year. We went for a visit just before the Christmas break. https://flic.kr/p/2qBMK6F

December 19, 2024. I've had a gap in my smile for a very long time now, but today I got my implant. I felt a bit like a bicycle getting a new rack installed. What's cool is that the whole process was done at the dental office; my tooth was 3D printed. It looks and feels great. https://flic.kr/p/2qBGRvT

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December 18, 2024. This is wall art from Riverside Hospital, where I had my annual doctor's appointment. I also had a good conversation at the bicycle shop preparing for next summer and participated in Reclaim's annual roundup chat. All before lunch! Add some afternoon coding and a visit to Costco and it was a very full day. https://flic.kr/p/2qAM7hP

December 13, 2024. I work on the third floor of this building, on the other side. I thought as I took this that I always seem to work in industrial buildings. No ivy-covered stone walls on a beautiful campus for me! Anyhow, this is what I drive to three times a week. Because it's more 'social'. https://flic.kr/p/2qAEwg1

December 17, 2024. In the home office catching up on my 'daily' photo uploads. This is the the Costco photo being added to my Flickr account. It also gives you a sense of what my home office looks like as seen from my seat in it. https://flic.kr/p/2qAAoKU

December 15, 2024. There's no reason to block this wide sturdy bridge over the winter. But the city government in Ottawa seems to hate pedestrians and cyclists. Blocking winter pathways seems to be the norm, even though Ottawa is supposedly a winter city. https://flic.kr/p/2qAFMwb

December 12, 2024. Doing the weekly shopping after work at the Costco. There was a little snow. The road was predictably fun to drive. Would have been nice to stay home today, but they think it's really important that I work alone in my office. https://flic.kr/p/2qAnPjz

December 10, 2024. This is just outside Petawawa today. A group of us drove up here for the day related to a current project. It wasn't exactly an easy drive as the fog only got worse. But it was cool to see Petawawa, which I had never seen before. https://flic.kr/p/2qArTY4

December 7, 2024. Snow covered crabapple tree in our back yard. Spend all day Saturday working, 'banking' hours for the Christmas shutdown. The same project as usual. https://flic.kr/p/2qznFWK

December 8, 2024. Dried and perfectly preserved wild cucumber. We went for a walk along Crysler Trail today, just near the town of the same name. It was a crisp December day, windy and sunny at times, with plenty of birds. https://flic.kr/p/2qyF2eE

December 4, 2024. Working from the office today, even though it's snowing. I'm in that state of mind where I'm immersed in a project that has me being otherwise irresponsible on other obligations, but I don't want to stop because it's going so well. These bursts of creativity are rare enough I don't want to waste this one. https://flic.kr/p/2qyvN8f

December 3, 2024. This is a genuine used CFL football signed by four RedBlacks players and now my newest office decoration. We purchased it at the annual RedBlacks locker room sale. Another day working at home; same project. https://flic.kr/p/2qy8mkD

December 2, 2024. We got a dusting of snow overnight; here it is reflecting the morning sunlight in my back yard. Working from home today, on my CList app. https://flic.kr/p/2qy8iUb

December 1, 2024. We went to the RedBlacks annual locker room sale today and then stayed to watch an Ottawa 67s Jr. A hockey game. The 67s did not fare well, though it was entertaining and the first place London Knights did not disappoint. https://flic.kr/p/2qxp3VU

November 30, 2024. We had a much smaller Christmas Festival than usual this year, but there was still road hockey. Also chili dogs and other treats. I released an OPML2JSON application today, part of the larger app that has been consuming all my attention recently. Also did an awstats install. https://flic.kr/p/2qxiQWg

November 22, 2024. This is what remains of my office farm. I overwatered it before leaving for Croatia and a lot of it died off. I found a couple of small potatoes. But it's still alive and I'm letting the soil dry out some before watering again. https://flic.kr/p/2qwEb8H

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November 24, 2024. This is an impressive pitcher plant at Garry Fen, near Alexandria, Ontario. We could see a lot of them all along the shore of the fen, bright red in their fall colours. https://flic.kr/p/2qw9s9T

November 17, 2024. We went to a nature preserve in Ottawa called Mud Lake and took photos of birds and squirrels, including this one. https://flic.kr/p/2quQFyn

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November 12, 2024. Costco run after work. Demoed CList today. https://flic.kr/p/2qtJFAJ

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October 31, 2024. The banks of the Sava River in Sisak, Croatia, near the triangular fort where the battle of Sisak was fought between the Austrians and the Ottomans in 1593. Sisak is smallish, about 40,000 people, and I spent the day wandering around (mostly walking out to the fort and back) on a cool fog-shrouded day. Last full day in Croatia. https://flic.kr/p/2qsiu61

October 30, 2024. I took the train for what turn out to be a three hour trip to Ljubljana, Slovenia. I had all day to explore the city in alternative fog and sunshine. https://flic.kr/p/2qs7H1D

September 28, 2024. Sljeme is a mountain peak just north of Zagreb, and after the conference ended today I took a tram, bus and cable car to get to the top. This resulted in a lot of up-and-down hiking, but he peak was shrouded in mist and it was certainly beautiful. https://flic.kr/p/2qs7smD

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October 21, 2024. Worked from the home office today mostly fixing bugs in gRSShopper. I need it functioning properly because I'll be on the road again soon. https://flic.kr/p/2qpgCfE

October 20, 2024. Today's walk was through Pine Grove Forest in Ottawa to enjoy the fall colours. It also included a trip to Costco and the Metro. https://flic.kr/p/2qp1tK8

October 19, 2024. Went out for a short bike ride today on a beautiful fall day. This is the local harvest, locally called 'cow corn'. As cattle feed, it supports the eastern Ontario dairy industry. Watching the football game as I upload this; it is not going well. https://flic.kr/p/2qoEoxJ

October 18, 2024. On the way home from Mont Tremblant we stopped to see the Sentir des cimes, a skywalk and forest tower. The season was perfect with brightly coloured leaves and nice fall weather. Along the way there were birds, and this was one. https://flic.kr/p/2qoBzQH

October 17, 2024. Hiking near the top of Mont Tremblant. My foot won't allow me to climb it or descend, but I did manage 100 meters of ascent. https://flic.kr/p/2qoo2Lp

October 13, 2024. Stairway to an abandoned building on Rue Bleury in Montreal. We're here for the football game tomorrow (go RedBlacks!) and are driving up to Tremblant for a short vacation right after. I've missed maybe a month of daily photos but whatever, I may upload more later, and whatever I feel like for now. https://flic.kr/p/2qny5Vv

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September 17, 2024. My teeth, up close. Started today productively, meeting and work, but then was at the dentist to get a post for a dental implant. Took a couple tries (ack) but I survived. https://flic.kr/p/2qh5Yuz

September 16, 2024. Found Charlemagne sleeping on the rug this morning. Good productive day working from home. https://flic.kr/p/2qh1i1t

September 15, 2024. We walked the Stonebridge Trail today along the Jock River, north of Manotick. Beautiful warm day. https://flic.kr/p/2qgDKhV

September 14, 2024. Long bike ride today; this was right near the end, in evening. Visited both Dunvegan and Maxville. So warm! https://flic.kr/p/2qgCjQo

September 13, 2024. Friday. Beautiful warm day, so after a productive day coding I went for a bike ride. Must keep descriptions short or IFTTT fails. https://flic.kr/p/2qgErwj

September 11, 2024. The moss-covered apple tree trunk outside my office building in the city. It was the first of three office days this week, a result of the uninformed and arbitrary decision made to reduce work-from-home. Traffic was awful and wasteful, especially considering that my only interaction was by email and Zoom. People who do the sort of work I do should be able to work from anywhere in the country, not just in a designated office. https://flic.kr/p/2qgkkuh

September 10, 2024. Here's a serving of my curry with green onions and, buried under the spicy goodness, a portion of Atlantic Canada salmon. So delicious! A second day of working on a Mastodon client from the home office. https://flic.kr/p/2qga7BY

September 9, 2024. Each week we get a new batch of vegetables and that prompts me to cook them up as a spicy curry. Here's this weeks' sweet potato and carrot curry. Worked from home today, building a simple Mastodon client. https://flic.kr/p/2qga4BK

September 9, 2024. It was fungus day on our weekly forest walk. We went out to Rogers Pond in Marlborough Forest in rural south-west Ottawa. Very few animals or birds. The light was low and I wasn't really set up for dark fungus pics. Evening was spent on a No Man's Sky expedition. Here's the full album https://flic.kr/p/2qfj1Xk

September 7, 2024. The RedBlacks played the Argos this afternoon. A rare day game, it could have been fantastic, but is was cold and poured rain for pretty much the entire game. Nice to see a convincing win, though. Got home, went to sleep right away. Back-to-back events aren't as easy on me as they used to be. https://flic.kr/p/2qfizRd

September 6, 2024. I wanted to share a photo from the Jimmy Carr and Jim Jeffries show tonight, but all I'm allowed to show is this. The show was great but it would have been nice to have something more to remember it by. The evening followed a great day working at home where I got tons done on my CList app. https://flic.kr/p/2qfg3vh

September 4, 2024. This rose is found in the parking lot by the Costco where I went for lunch. Office day, which I spent heads-down all day writing 'Why Free Learning Needs Free Artificial Intelligence'. https://flic.kr/p/2qeQt9e

September 3, 2024. Another nightstand photo. That's what we get when I have a busy day. Today I wrote a script that allows me to post from OLDaily into BlueSky. Pretty happy about that - in the past, it would have taken me a week. https://flic.kr/p/2qecZE4

September 2, 2024. Went out for a nice 63 km ride today that included a jaunt through this, the Larose Forest (which is in my mind always referred to as the Emerald Forest). Cool with a strong northwest breeze. Watching football this evening. https://flic.kr/p/2qdNfiM

September 1, 2024. We went for our weekly hike to South March highlands in Ottawa's west end today. It was a bit cool and a bit breezy, but nice after the earlier rains. Here's the full album https://flic.kr/p/2qdFdgZ