July 13, 2021. We have an outbreak of beetles in the back yard – they’re munching on this berry tree along with the willow and the ash. Their bright golden shells glinting in the sun were what caught my eye. Today was mostly a catch-up day, with one meeting and…

July 11, 2021. As seen in Stony Swamp Trail (NCC 25) where we went for an 8 km hike today. The trail varied between a wide bike pathway to a narrow path alternative between roots, stones and mud. Great hike. Felt much better today now that all my systems have…

July 8, 2021. This is Julia checking out the bird life in the back yard. Worked on a paper today but I’m finding it a struggle to write. I’ve decided, I think, that I need a vacation – so, one more week or work and then that’s it for the…

July 9, 2021. Emma and Char were snuggled together in the box, which by itself was a great photo, and then Emma decided to raise the stakes. Today I got my second vaccine, bought a power bank, and attended a longish meeting in the afternoon. https://flic.kr/p/2mauDfF…

July 7, 2021. We have dedicated almost our entire back yard to milkweed in an effort to help the monarch butterflies. It doesn’t seem to be helping. They were numerous two years ago, but much fewer last year, and this year I’ve only seen a couple. Nonetheless, we’ll keep up…

July 6, 2021. These are daylilies growing in the back yard (we also have some in front) and they grow wild all over this area. I took this photo after a quick bike ride to St. Albert and back. Finished a paper draft today; it still needs a lot of…

July 5, 2021. This is our front lawn, right next to the driveway, an assortment of wildflowers that looks nicer than any manicured lawn. Took a rest day after all the cycling and walking on the weekend, let my sore muscles heal, and focused on working on a paper. https://flic.kr/p/2m9WyY8…

July 4, 2021. Many nice photos today, but this chipmunk wins the day only because there were so many on our walk we were actually tripping over them! This was out on the Lime Kiln trail in the western Greenbelt, which ranged from forest to beaver dam to marsh to…

July 3, 2021. The thistle is probably the most appropriate image for my ride today which took me on a 107 km loop through the north of Glengarry county, stopping in Dunvegan, Alexandria and Maxville. I pushed against the wind the first 50 km out there, and maybe a quarter…

July 2, 2021. This is the scene on a country road just west of Maxville. I took a lot more care before leaving on my ride today, making sure I had two spare tubes, a proper pressure gauge, batteries charged, etc. and had a much nicer ride. It was pretty…

July 1, 2021. South and west of Finch is the former town of Sandtown, once the site of sand quarries, now mostly peaceful agricultural land. This piece of equipment is a reminder of the early days. I had a tough 70 km ride today, complete with a flat, a broken…

June 30, 2021. These are male and female purple finches enjoying our new feeder. Days like this I wish I had a better lens to capture them. But I’m still pretty happy with this photo. I did a little work on my paper and learned that while one A&W mozza…

June 29, 2021. This is the Castor River where it meets the Nation River just west of Casselman. It was a perfect day for a bike ride today, and after repairing my flat yesterday I went for a brisk loop to St. Albert. My paper is also progressing well. https://flic.kr/p/2m8Lzme…

June 28, 2021. This is a telecom truck out front running cable. Is it fibre? What else could it be? No idea. Ironically, I’m also testing a modem for TechSavvy, which means that the internet signal was interrupted at exactly the time the truck was out front. The two events…

June 27, 2021. This is grass as seen from the bathroom window in the basement. I like the way we see the clouds behind it. Still working on papers. I’m not actually posting this until a few days later – you can get a sense of my state of mind…

June 26, 2021. Andrea says this is a type of finch, because of the shape of the bill, and although it looks like a sparrow I am inclined to agree. It’s probably a female, and might be a purple finch. Anyhow, as you can see, we have a new feeder,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…