A soundtrack for tearing down a garage

As we fin­ished up, my phone’s ran­dom­iz­er deliv­ered Corb Lund’s song “Hard on Equip­ment”, which seemed appro­pri­ate, giv­en it reminds my wife of me and reminds me of my dad.

I had my phone play­ing music through­out the week, and it deliv­ered some gems:

Good times.

What a difference another day makes

The squirrel checks out the dumpster

Anoth­er day, anoth­er bunch of garage demolition.

Above: the fore­man checks the dump­ster’s contents.

Below: some more com­par­i­son photos

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And begin­ning to end.

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There’s still some work to do—mostly cleanup—but we got a lot done in a few days. Huge thanks to Kevin, who lent his exper­tise, his mus­cles, and his chain­saw to the removal of the roof.

After, I sat in the yard and took a few more art­sy photos.

A baby tree and a power line
A baby tree and a pow­er line
A puffy little cloud
A puffy lit­tle cloud
The branches straight above our yard
I’m gonna miss those branch­es when they’re gone

Writing Retreat, Day 4

Canola field panorama

Tues­day’s action:

  • Processed last night’s astropho­tog­ra­phy (it was past 2 AM when I got back to the cabin)
  • Biked up 16A again, fur­ther this time (a bit over 10km round trip), and got a cou­ple panora­mas of the fields and skies (the image at the top is a wide panora­ma of a canola field)
  • Wrote 1,000 words in the morning
  • Went to town for some gro­ceries and a (short) cof­fee / WiFi break
  • Read a few more chap­ters in The Knight
  • Wrote anoth­er 1,000 words before supper
  • Took some comet and Milky Way pho­tos, since it was clear again despite the forecast

I wish I’d noticed that there was some flick­er­ing north­ern lights just as I was pack­ing up for the night; I’d have stayed longer, even though I was tired.

It’s sup­posed to be clear again tonight, and hope­ful­ly the solar wind will strike twice.

As always: if you’re inter­est­ed in prints of any of these pho­tos, let me know. We’ll see what we can work out.

Series: Writing Retreat 2020

The entire series: Writ­ing Retreat 2020; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, Day 1 & 2; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, Day 3; Writ­ing Retreat, Day 4; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, day 5; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, Day 6; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, Day 7; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, Day 8; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, Day 9; Writ­ing Retreat 2020: The Num­bers.

The river is high

Panorama from the bridge

But I guess 155mm of rain in a sin­gle day—honestly, in about 6 hours—and then anoth­er, what, 30mm in about half an hour a cou­ple days lat­er will do that.

Tak­en on a 20km bike ride on Cana­da Day.

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The white lines in the image above show rough­ly where the water should be.

Series: Bike Ride Photos

The entire series: Down by the riv­er; Bike ride birds; The ex-gar­den and the weir; Snap­shots of a ride; Across Town; Black­bird; North Hill cam­pus; Lilacs and coun­try roads; A pop of colour; Back lane flow­ers; More Breniz­ers; The riv­er is high; A bird and a reflec­tion; Rideau Park; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, Day 7; Writ­ing Retreat 2020: The Num­bers; Storm dam­age, sun­flow­ers; Eleanor Kidd gar­dens; Scenes from today’s ride; All right, autumn can be pret­ty; Bike ride, April 10, 2021; Bike ride wildlife; Bike ride, May 16, 2021; Some flow­ers for you; Lilacs; Under the bridge; A fence, a tree, and the sky; Tur­tle Cross­ing; Ceme­tery crit­ters; On Reflec­tion; Week­end rides; Upon Reflec­tion; Deer and paparazzi; Sep­tem­ber Bike Ride; Corn & Sun­set; On Reflec­tion: Oct. 1st; Autumn Trees; A bit of graf­fi­ti; Novem­ber bike ride; Geese; Day 30; Quack quack; Skin­ny deer; Mon­day bike ride; Sat­ur­day snaps; Deer + Flow­ers; Bike Ride — July 17, 2022; The mead­ow; It seems to be autumn; Por­tal fan­ta­sy; Sla­va Ukrai­ni; Writ­ing Retreat 2023: Thurs­day bike ride; Bike Ride, May 20, 2024; Shy; Cana­da Day ride; A long ride; Cook­ie Ride redux; Writ­ing Retreat 2024: 6; Writ­ing Retreat 2024: The End; Bike Ride, Sep. 22, 2024; Today’s Ride — Oct. 6, 2024; Souris Val­ley; Bike Ride Pho­tos — May 19, 2025; Bike ride, May 24; Art in the trees.

Lilacs and country roads

Lilac, close up

Anoth­er week­end, anoth­er 25-km ride with my cam­era. I found lilacs, coun­try roads, and an angel in a grave­yard for you.

Want prints? Let me know, we can work some­thing out.

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I shot the lilacs with a polar­iz­ing lens, which can add dra­ma to the sky. Which one do you like bet­ter? I’m par­tial to the dark­er sky, which makes the flow­ers real­ly stand out.

Series: Bike Ride Photos

The entire series: Down by the riv­er; Bike ride birds; The ex-gar­den and the weir; Snap­shots of a ride; Across Town; Black­bird; North Hill cam­pus; Lilacs and coun­try roads; A pop of colour; Back lane flow­ers; More Breniz­ers; The riv­er is high; A bird and a reflec­tion; Rideau Park; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, Day 7; Writ­ing Retreat 2020: The Num­bers; Storm dam­age, sun­flow­ers; Eleanor Kidd gar­dens; Scenes from today’s ride; All right, autumn can be pret­ty; Bike ride, April 10, 2021; Bike ride wildlife; Bike ride, May 16, 2021; Some flow­ers for you; Lilacs; Under the bridge; A fence, a tree, and the sky; Tur­tle Cross­ing; Ceme­tery crit­ters; On Reflec­tion; Week­end rides; Upon Reflec­tion; Deer and paparazzi; Sep­tem­ber Bike Ride; Corn & Sun­set; On Reflec­tion: Oct. 1st; Autumn Trees; A bit of graf­fi­ti; Novem­ber bike ride; Geese; Day 30; Quack quack; Skin­ny deer; Mon­day bike ride; Sat­ur­day snaps; Deer + Flow­ers; Bike Ride — July 17, 2022; The mead­ow; It seems to be autumn; Por­tal fan­ta­sy; Sla­va Ukrai­ni; Writ­ing Retreat 2023: Thurs­day bike ride; Bike Ride, May 20, 2024; Shy; Cana­da Day ride; A long ride; Cook­ie Ride redux; Writ­ing Retreat 2024: 6; Writ­ing Retreat 2024: The End; Bike Ride, Sep. 22, 2024; Today’s Ride — Oct. 6, 2024; Souris Val­ley; Bike Ride Pho­tos — May 19, 2025; Bike ride, May 24; Art in the trees.

The light, the light

Soft pale light on a grey wall

I went on cam­pus yes­ter­day for the first time in a month, and took a few min­utes to check just how emp­ty the Knowles Douglas/Student Union com­plex was. No lights were on; it was all lit, soft­ly, by the sun.

Above is the cor­ri­dor that con­nects the Stu­dent Union build­ing to the KD space, where the book­store and the cof­fee shop are. Below is a view of the closed cof­fee shop.

The coffee shop
For­bid­den Flavours, closed for now

And, as a bonus, today I saw a robin in the yard. I snapped a few pho­tos at a high zoom through the screen and win­dow. I think the lines of the screen con­tribute to the slight­ly sur­re­al look of the photo.

Robin redbreast in my yard
Robin on a downed branch

The ex-garden and the weir

The erstwhile Eleanor Kidd Gardens

Pho­tos from today’s bike ride: the once and per­haps future Eleanor Kidd gar­dens, and the weir on the riv­er near First Street.

There’s some evi­dence that the city (or some­one) has plans to ren­o­vate the gardens—there’s a rough road along­side the space, where before there was noth­ing, and some dirt piles near­by. I most­ly hope some­thing gets done. It was a love­ly space, back when it was cared for. I went to a wed­ding there, and it was full of flow­ers of all colours and scents.

(The part of me that finds beau­ty in decay likes it how it is. Well, except maybe for the spray-paint­ed penis on one of the pillars.) 

Series: Bike Ride Photos

The entire series: Down by the riv­er; Bike ride birds; The ex-gar­den and the weir; Snap­shots of a ride; Across Town; Black­bird; North Hill cam­pus; Lilacs and coun­try roads; A pop of colour; Back lane flow­ers; More Breniz­ers; The riv­er is high; A bird and a reflec­tion; Rideau Park; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, Day 7; Writ­ing Retreat 2020: The Num­bers; Storm dam­age, sun­flow­ers; Eleanor Kidd gar­dens; Scenes from today’s ride; All right, autumn can be pret­ty; Bike ride, April 10, 2021; Bike ride wildlife; Bike ride, May 16, 2021; Some flow­ers for you; Lilacs; Under the bridge; A fence, a tree, and the sky; Tur­tle Cross­ing; Ceme­tery crit­ters; On Reflec­tion; Week­end rides; Upon Reflec­tion; Deer and paparazzi; Sep­tem­ber Bike Ride; Corn & Sun­set; On Reflec­tion: Oct. 1st; Autumn Trees; A bit of graf­fi­ti; Novem­ber bike ride; Geese; Day 30; Quack quack; Skin­ny deer; Mon­day bike ride; Sat­ur­day snaps; Deer + Flow­ers; Bike Ride — July 17, 2022; The mead­ow; It seems to be autumn; Por­tal fan­ta­sy; Sla­va Ukrai­ni; Writ­ing Retreat 2023: Thurs­day bike ride; Bike Ride, May 20, 2024; Shy; Cana­da Day ride; A long ride; Cook­ie Ride redux; Writ­ing Retreat 2024: 6; Writ­ing Retreat 2024: The End; Bike Ride, Sep. 22, 2024; Today’s Ride — Oct. 6, 2024; Souris Val­ley; Bike Ride Pho­tos — May 19, 2025; Bike ride, May 24; Art in the trees.