Cherubs watching over breakfast

Cast in stone
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Details matter.

Like the little flourishes that fill otherwise empty spaces with wonder.

Like the thoughtful touches that weren't necessarily needed, or rational, but time has proven vital all the same.

Like the subtle cues that can't help but make us smile as long as we work a little harder to notice their presence in the first place.

Like tiny snippets of artwork that define a space and fuse it into your memory.

Because otherwise this would have just been a wall. But because some unknown designer decided to splurge a little, it's now an indelible part of an experience in an extraordinary place that we won't soon forget.

Taking the picture in the middle of the breakfast rush, however, will remain a story for another day. Even watchful cherubs must occasionally keep their secrets.

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #cherub #art #sculpture #texture #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #zoom #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Playing peekaboo with the birds

Strike a pose
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Wherever I end up, at some point I'll end up staring at whatever birds happen to be in the area.

Like so many things in my world, there's no rhyme or reason for it. On the bright side, it's a pretty harmless vice. On the down side, it annoys my family to no end.

Assuming I have a camera in my hand (do you really have to ask?) it's equally inevitable that photos will be taken. Gulls in Grand Bend. Pelicans in Florida. Cardinals in the ravine close to home.

Doesn't really matter what they are or where they happen to be: If they're flying, I'm following them wildly with glass.

So this is how I came to have this particular photo of this particular gull in this particular place so far from home.

The gulls here look a bit different than our Ontario birds, but they"re ust as fascinating to watch, right down to their mastery of the skies and rather antisocial behavior toward one another. They really are angry birds, which makes them hilariously entertaining to watch.

From the looks of this shot, I think this little one was onto me.

Like so many other photos I shot this week, or any week, for that matter, it doesn't reflect a terribly earth-shattering scene. But every photo, like every other aspect of a single person's life, has some sort of back story.

And we'd do ourselves quite the service if we slowed ourselves down long enough to learn what other people's stories are.

Or maybe even share a few of our own.

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #bird #birds #animal #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #beach #zoom #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Staring right into the surf

Ride the wave
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Every day holds the potential to take our breath away. But are we taking the time to notice?

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #beach #sunrise #morning #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Paradise lost in a blink

Poolside before sunset
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Good days never last as long as we wish they would.

They seem to move faster than other days, and are behind us before we realize just how special they are.

We then wonder if we've done enough to drink them in. Or when we might get more days just like them.

We'd probably want to share them more broadly if we had the ability. Or maybe even store them in figurative boxes so we could pull them out whenever we needed them again.

Reality, though, dictates otherwise, so we're stuck with what we've got. Which, in a literal sense, could be perceived negatively.

But what if we flipped it over? What if we looked at rarity, brevity, fleetingness, perishability as the things that make days like this feel special in the first place?

What if we, instead of spending our energy wishing for what we can't have, instead redirected it toward more actively treasuring that which we already do?

And so it was that my wife and I found ourselves walking back to our room after a gauzy, perfect day, and I saw this perfect scene in the fast-fading light. She nodded that I should grab the moment.

And while that moment was over in a blink, and the only tangible leftovers I now have are in pixellated form, I do have the comfort knowing that we had this moment at all, and we've added it to the ever unfolding story of us.

Not every day is perfect, after all. But being able to have a story to tell, a life within which to tell it, and be surrounded by people who share and embrace that story, is easily the most perfect blessing imaginable.

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #pool #reflective #shadow #palm #trees #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Twisting by the pool

The pause that refreshes
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It's easy to sit by the pool with good friends and colleagues, talking about everything and nothing, feeling like you're one of the luckier people alive.

And you'd be absolutely correct.

The challenge is how to replicate that feeling when the crystal-blue swimming pool is a distant memory, the snow is piling up on the windowsill, a day at the office awaits, and you have no choice but to get back on the merry go round and do the things we must all do to keep the lights on.

I don't quite know how I'll pull that one off once we get back to the real world back home. But I do know that scenes like this one, captured during the fleeting in-between moments in a place that often feels more surreal than real, will help me figure it all out.

Because this is how I hold onto inspiration. What about you?

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #pool #sun #shadow #texture #waves #stilllife #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Watching the waves roll in

Turbulent waters
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

"The forces of the universe may be relentless, but so am I."
C. Levy
2019

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #beach #sunset #waves #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Don't look directly into the sun

Connected to the horizon
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Shooting the sunrise can often be an exercise in futility.

Once the giant gasbag clears the horizon, the optical equation more or less falls apart. It is so bright - and so much brighter than everything around it - that even with the right filters, it's a tall order to get the kind of exposure that isn't a diverse mess of blown out brightness and muddy shadows.

But shift your perspective a little and you open up a few new doors for yourself. Like this one, where I decided the sun itself didn't need to be a part of the scene at all.

Instead, I zeroed in on the reflection marching all the way from the horizon line to my feet. Not even remotely conventional, but I'm not about to start being conventional now.

As I stood on the pier and stared into the distance, that single line of light made me feel somewhat connected to the massive celestial game playing out so far away from where I was. Which got me thinking.

The day doesn't always serve up concoctions that offer up the perfect light. Or taste. Or kindness. Or whatever other ideal it is that you're hoping to receive.

So we adjust. Shift perspective. Change our expectations. Even try something new.

And somewhere along the way, we learn that life isn't necessarily about getting what we want, but making the best out of what we've been given.

Sounds like the perfect way to start the day, even if it isn't what I originally had in mind when I first set out in the darkness.

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #beach #sunrise #morning #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Meeting our next pet iguana

Isadore basks in the sun
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo shared originally on Instagram

You never know when life will throw tiny bits of randomness into your path. So you probably want to be at least somewhat ready when it happens.

To wit, I'd like to introduce you to my little friend, Isadore the Iguana. He showed up on the path near our room rather by happenstance, as iguanas are often known to do.

This shouldn't be a surprise: This entire area was hacked out of the tropical jungle, so it's still packed with exotic and sometimes kinda frightening wildlife. Iguana sightings are frequent here, and it's no surprise to see bunches of them hanging out on the pathways here.

Isadore is no gator, though, so I wasn't worried he'd have me for breakfast. But I still wasn't too keen to have him take a bite out of me. So I used a long-ish lens to reel him in.

In the overall scheme of things, this is a common photo of a common lizard, nothing we haven't seen before, here and elsewhere. But when the universe sends one your way, you ignore the opportunity at your peril.

Because wonder is all around us. And we owe it to ourselves and those closest to us to embrace it when we cross its path.

I think I owe Isadore a sincere thank you.

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #iguana #reptile #animal #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #beach #sunrise #morning #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Relentlessness in the pre-dawn light

Always there
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

There aren't a whole lot of people on the beach at 6:38 a.m. But this single man is.

His job is a thankless one: Sweep up and carry away the seaweed that relentlessly floats ashore and coats the otherwise pristine, sugar-white sand - that was obviously trucked in - with a layer of material that reminds us all who's in charge.

His job is also never-ending. Before he's completed his trip from one end of the deserted beach to the other, leaving impossibly neat mounds of the stuff at perfectly spaced intervals behind him, more seaweed is already staining the beach where he first started. He'll never win this battle. Or even catch up.

But he's got a job, and despite the obvious futility of trying to hold back a not-so-random force of nature, he's going to doggedly pursue his goal no matter what.

I watch him for a few minutes before the combination of biting bugs and sand in my camera send me scurrying back from the frontier. He's clearly a lot tougher than I'll ever be, and I silently wish him well as I turn around and walk back to terra firma.

Despite the fact that we've never exchanged a word, it's obvious this beach is in eminently capable hands.

I hope all his mornings are similarly quiet and undisturbed. He - and others who work silently and constantly - deserve no less.

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #pclub2019 #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #beach #sunrise #morning #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Leaving on a plane. This time together.

Her. Everything.
Cancun. Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Sometimes you get lucky in life.

First, I met this beauty of a human being oh so many years ago. Second, she agreed to a second date, which led to a third, and a lifetime of us.

Then, I had the good fortune to join a company that values its staff as family, where we're given the room and the resources we need to do extraordinary work.

I was both honored and humbled to be named to Info-Tech's President's Club this year, among an incredible group of other high-achieving colleagues. We're in Mexico this week, and to say I'm thankful would be an understatement.

Experiencing this with her, after everything we've experienced together - and, to be fair, everything I've put her through - is one of those things that makes you realize sometimes good things do happen if you wish, and work, hard enough.

We'll have more pictures in the days to come, but for now I wanted to share this one. Because everything I do in my work life is made possible by the support she provides at home. We've always been a team, and this week we get to celebrate it - and us - a little.

Onward. Together.

#cancun #mexico #itrg #infotechresearchgroup #presidentsclub #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Climbing out of Pearson

Me and my shadow
Toronto, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Most people never give this particular plane much of a second thought.

It's a Dash 8, Series 400, better known as the Q400, a twin-turboprop commuter aircraft. Sometimes derisively called a puddlejumper, or a people mover, or a bus with wings. Nothing glamorous about it. Just a small-ish, short-range plane that connects smaller airports to major hubs.

But on Friday, it brought me home, as it's done so many times since we moved to London. It was an older model that first brought us to this city a lifetime ago, and later took me back to Montreal when life took one unexpected turn after another. When the universe turned tangent, this unassuming plane always got me where I needed to go.

Watching it leap into the cold, blustery sky once more, I was reminded yet again that boring and reliable beats glamorous on any given day. It's what gets the job done, and reconnects us with those who matter most, quietly and without complaint.

We can always rely on the boring and reliable things in our lives to show up, to be there, to never leave us stranded. To power through any challenges or obstacles that may be thrown in their path.

Kinda like people, right?

I guess that's why I gravitate both toward Q400s and Q400 kind of people, and why I'm the one staring out the window when everyone else has already nodded off. I wouldn't want to miss my favorite piece of flying engineering returning to the place where it does its best work. And I wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to be inspired by something so capable yet unsung.

Because heroes are all around us, and they take on many forms.

#toronto #yyz #ontario #canada #itrg #infotechlive #pearson #international #airport #dehavilland #dash8 #q400 #airplane #aviation #shadow #photography #city #travel #travelphotography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Reflections in neon light

Lighting the way
Las Vegas, NV
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It may not be the official City of Light, but if I had the power, it would be.

#lasvegas #nevada #strip #cosmopolitan #night #landscape #bright #lights #big #city #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Disappearing into the night

Blinding
Las Vegas, NV
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram 

Leaving #LasVegas. For now.

#nevada #vegas #strip #night #landscape #bright #lights #big #city #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #explore #aviation #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Staring at a shiny airport floor

Pondering the trivial before the journey home
Las Vegas, NV
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Scene from an airport, part 82 of an apparently never-ending series.

This is the floor in the departures area of the #LasVegas airport's Terminal 3. It looks like any other airport, though if you squish your eyelids just so, you can barely divine the slot machines that seem to be everywhere here.

I don't know why I feel such a need to take pictures like this when I travel, of the minutiae I encounter along the way. I suppose I just don't want to forget anything from the journey.

Or maybe my mind seeks comfort in the mundane when I'm otherwise moving at a thousand miles an hour. Taking tiny moments here and there to steal scenes like this seems to slow things down just enough that I can breathe again.

I know what you must be thinking: It's just another airport, leading up to just another flight. And to a certain extent, you would be right. But isn't every trip special in its own right? Doesn't every journey deserve to be remembered for the unique experience that it is? Don't the "just another's" merit a piece of the spotlight, too?

Not to worry: I've got plenty of the so-called big pictures, the things you'd expect to see when you go to Vegas. But the small pics are just as important later on when we're trying to remember what it felt like to be there.

So I'll keep shooting small moments along the way. Because they actually loom much larger than we might have originally thought.

#nevada #itrg #InfoTechLive #McCarran #international #airport #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #city #explore #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Save Ferris

Spinning toward the clouds
Las Vegas, NV
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

If the wheel in the sky keeps on turning, do we ever really get anywhere?

I don't have the answer to this question - or any other, for that matter. But as I stand on my hotel room balcony and watch the city come alive below me, I decide not every question needs to be answered, and sometimes it's perfectly fine if we just take in the view and reflect on where we are.

It's been non-stop action since the moment I first got here. The #InfoTechLIVE conference has been a monumental success, and as the #itrg team begins the process of packing up and heading for home, we feel like we've set the stage for even more good things - for us and for our members - in the months to come.

We're tired, but it's the good kind of tired, the reward for accomplishing great things and enjoying the journey with like-minded, driven colleagues.

It's a satisfying place to be, here in the sky, counting a few blessings and thanking the universe for the opportunity to learn, grow, and occasionally go wow.

But home is even better, and I'm already counting the hours until I'm back there, surrounded by the people who make me whole. The wheel in the sky may not be going anywhere anytime soon, but it seems to be pointing me in the right direction.

#lasvegas #nevada #building #landscape #ferris #wheel #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #city #explore #streetphotography #photography ##nikon #nikonphotography #niikon_photography #dslr #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

A quick peek backstage

Just before showtime
Las Vegas, NV
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

You’re looking at the backstage area area at #InfoTechLive, deep inside The Cosmopolitan in #LasVegas. If you look just so, you'll see a snippet of the stage itself.

As these kind of things go, it isn’t terribly spectacular. Then again, when are waiting areas behind stages considered spectacular? They don’t have to be. Like so many aspects of a large-scale event, they exist to simply get the job done, and that’s a good thing.

That remarkable presentation you can just make out on the stage is made possible by countless people, elements, and resources. Including this seemingly unspectacular space.

Its unspectacular nature, however, IS its appeal. Living in the margins, as I so often do, means focusing on the trivial even when you should probably be focusing on something more important at that particular moment in time.

Don’t get me wrong: In the leadup to my going onstage, I was completely in the zone, locked into what I wanted to say, how I wanted to say it, and how my time up there would play out. I had visualized it in my mind so many times that I could almost feel what it would be like to hit the stage and do my thing. And this time, I wasn't going to fall on my way up.

But still, the trivial beckons. And why is that?

Here’s what I think: When the stress-meter is pinned past the limits of the instrument, I often look for ways to defuse it a little, to feel a little less freaked, a bit more normal. It’s an attempted reminder to myself that I’m still me, that no matter how big and loud and bright things are about to get, I’m still that doofus with the pink bike who likes to talk to ducks as he rides past.

Or try to remember what important moments in my never-predictable life feel like. And photos like this, strange as they may seem, accomplish just that.

I could also tell you the story about the next photo I took - of my colleague’s rapidly cooling plate of eggs - but that’ll have to wait for another day. There’s lots of trivial yet to go around.

#nevada #cosmopolitan #hotel #itrg #infotech #infotechrg #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #stilllife #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Celebrating an on-stage face-plant

Drink up, responsibly
Las Vegas, NV
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Day 1 of #InfoTechLIVE in #LasVegas is in the books, and a little celebration is called for.

This isn't, however, my drink. I found it in the hallway near the conference site, and decided some photographic decompression was called for.

It was an action-packed day filled with learning and connecting. And my first-ever full-on face plant on-stage in front of an audience of over 500 clients, colleagues, and partners. Which I'm guessing will now indelibly fuse me into the memories of a whole lot of people.

Glass half empty thinking would have me churning the fall in my mind all night long, and quite possibly beyond. The glass half full version of Carmi says I should count my blessings that tripping onto the stage was the worst thing that happened to me today. There's always someone else - or more precisely countless other someones - who must deal with far darker realities.

So don't mind me if I choose to celebrate a successful, if somewhat unconventional, day in an extraordinary place by shooting pics of someone else's long-abandoned glass of wine.

No one ever said life needed to follow a set script, anyway.

#nevada #cosmopolitan #hotel #itrg #infotech #infotechrg #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #white #wine #stilllife #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Retrotech in a hotel lobby

Reflective communication
Las Vegas, NV
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It's a big day for our #itrg family here in #LasVegas, and my feed will soon be packed with scenes and snippets from #InfoTechLIVE.

Yet it's an ancient phone, sitting ignored on a table in the shadows of an endless hallway here at the hotel, that captures my attention. Why?

First, I think it's the universe sending us a reminder to slow down every once in a while and soak in the details. Otherwise we might miss the colors, tones, and textures that seem to define lives well lived.

Second, it's a subtle nod to the art of communication, and how we can never stop trying to connect more effectively. No one is on this journey alone, after all, and we can't ignore the fact that we successfully navigate our path with the gentle help of those around us.

Even when we're all alone, as I am now in a quiet 44th floor hotel room in the pre-dawn darkness far from home, I am surrounded, connected, and cared for. So are you - so please let's not allow the frenetic pace of day-to-day life to blot out that very simple, critical reality.

And about that phone? Amid whatever craziness lies ahead for you today, I hope you'll take a moment to connect with someone who matters. We always have the time for that.

Indeed, if I'm going to knock it out of the park at this week's conference - as I have every intention of doing - it'll be precisely because simple, quiet, connections like the one you see here put me right where I needed to be.

#nevada #cosmopolitan #hotel #infotech #infotechrg #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #stilllife #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

A blinding light in the Nevada desert

Bright lights, big city
Las Vegas, NV
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

[Insert obligatory #LasVegas skyline photo here.]

I shot this at 12:35 a.m., but thanks to the magic of time zones and sub-supersonic travel, my brain thought it was 3:35. So of course the thing to do was shoot photos off the balcony. Because, you know, priorities.

Actually, I shot this because of community. I'm here this week to participate in our company's biggest ever conference. It's called Info-Tech LIVE (follow the #itrg and #infotechlive hashtags for more) and it promises to be packed with incalculable amounts of learning, connecting, and inspiration. Many hundreds of our members are coming in from all around the continent - and even the world - and I can't wait for our team to a) showcase the brilliance that is Info-Tech, and b) learn from our community's brilliance, in return.

As my colleagues have arrived here through the weekend, they've all been sharing their own first views of this frenetic town. We're here to work, not play, but there's something incredibly inspiring about a like-minded group of dedicated professionals who routinely share moments from the road. It might seem like a small thing to an outsider, but it's yet another example of why I love what I do, and where I do it.

It's going to be a wild and memorable week, and I hope you can join us along the way.

#nevada #building #architecture #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #city #explore #streetphotography #photography #light #darkness #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Leaving home, for now

Office Anywhere
Toronto, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Scene from an airport (redux).

I'm on the move again, heading to a faraway land to work with, learn from, and be inspired by some of the smartest folks I know.

Before I get there, though, work needs to get done. Thankfully I have power, connectivity, and a bit of residual brain capacity. Airports and productivity are apparently a great combo. Who knew?

I may be sitting at the gate all by my lonesome, but I'm hardly alone. I'm lucky enough to have a family that stands both with and behind me whenever stuff needs to get done. Work travel is a team effort, even when I'm the only Levy boarding the plane.

My wife and kids will keep our house spinning on its axis while I'm gone, and for that, and so much more, I'm profoundly thankful.

More to come. Let's do this, shall we?

#toronto #ontario #canada #itrg #infotechlive #pearson #international #airport #photography #city #travel #travelphotography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Hockey Night in London

Light from within
London, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It's 6:19 on a Friday night, and I find myself on the outside looking in.

On the after-work walk back to the car, I find myself surrounded by throngs of London Knights fans, all scurrying around the Budweiser Gardens arena before the game.

Friday night matches at the Bud are a deep-rooted tradition for our minor league hockey team, and tonight the downtown core, under clear, cold, dark skies, is blanketed with a sea of green.

While debate over Don Cherry's firing continues to rage - my $0.02: He's a racist. He deserved to be fired years ago. End of story - the real story of Canadian hockey lore is playing out right here, in the shadows of century-plus-year-old buildings where this city first came to life.

The Covent Garden Market building you see here is barely 20 years-old, but the market's history stretches back to 1835, older than the city itself. And on this night, the showpiece facility buzzes with life, the bright, boisterous scenes inside spilling through the huge windows, casting their warmth onto the frozen courtyard.

I imagine this is what community should look and feel like, and rather deliberately close my eyes and drink it in before I continue my journey home.

As I hear and feel how the energy of a simple game can paint an otherwise frozen, harsh landscape with such vibrant color, I realize that this is what hockey means to Canadian towns like ours. It's not just a game. It's the glue that binds us together no matter what might surround us.

Well, if we let it.

I hope everyone on the other side of this window appreciates just how good we have it.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #winter #snow #weather #wx #downtown #urban #street #photography #city #coventgardenmarket #market #hockey #king #walkabout #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

That fresh laptop smell...

Pristine keys, all potential
London, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The laptop Santa brought me a new machine at work this week, and for that I am thankful.

I know it seems weird to celebrate the arrival of a new machine. But first, I am indeed weird. And second, I remember when these things were a big deal.

Whenever a new PC of any sort showed up, we gathered around it, marvelling at what it could do. Laptops held even more cachet, and opening one up in the middle of a meeting more often than not stopped the conversation cold.

But time eventually renders all technologies invisible as they are inevitably replaced by something newer, faster, shinier. The ThinkPad that once defined business cool is now a standard-issue device. Almost everyone has one now, and almost no one gives it much of a second thought.

For reasons that sometimes feel like a mystery, though, I do. Hence the photo.

See, it replaced another ThinkPad that had been my trusty sidekick ever since I rejoined the company. When you write for a living, your writing tools become more than mere forgettable implements. They become extensions of you, with every key, button, port eventually becoming indelibly committed to muscle memory.

My old one was battered and struggling by the end, but it still did what it could to keep me in the game, even as I leaned ever more heavily on its well-worn keys. Dare I say it had a certain personality.

The new one is lighter and faster, and it has that new-laptop smell. It still feels a bit strange to the touch, but before long it'll become just as familiar as the old one was.

The keyboard you see here will be hammered on relentlessly, without complaint, as I crank out countless new words in support of my colleagues, the clients we serve, and my family, the very reason I do any of this.

Just a machine, then? Hardly.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #laptop #lenovo #thinkpad #t490 #computer #keyboard #345ridout #infotechrg #itrg #stilllife #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Redefining the meaning of temporary

Shelter from change
London, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

There's a huge construction project a block or so away from my office, another massive condo tower for a part of downtown that's in particularly desperate need of new residents.

The builders kindly installed a covered walkway in an adjoining alley, a small nod to anyone who still needs to get around the neighborhood. As I walked past it on my way home the other day, I stopped for a closer look.

It reminded me of all the temporary things that come and go from daily life, and how we never seem to take the time to remember that they were ever there at all. I thought I should take at least one photo of this structure before it would inevitably disappear, as well.

I kept thinking of this as a temporary thing. And while that's not wrong, it skews how we view everything else. We think of the other buildings in this and other neighborhoods as permanent, yet that isn't entirely true. Perhaps longer-lived than the few months allocated to this "temporary" walkway, but they, too, will eventually disappear. We are, after all, but a blip in the overall path of time.

The timeline for the buildings that define our communities may indeed be longer than our own time here, though. Any given building is only permanent to us because we may not be around when it finally goes. Doesn't make it any less temporary. Doesn't make it any less meaningful to those whose lives it touches during the time that we have it.

We all simply have different perspectives. Which, looking at the way this photo was taken, seems like a nice way to end this vignette so we can all get on with the day.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #building #construction #downtown #urban #street #photography #city #king #walkabout #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

A single abstract light

Light from above
Toronto, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Abstractions are all around us. The question we must ask ourselves is whether we're doing enough to really see them. And what we lose when we don't.

#toronto #ontario #light #dark #monochrome #electric #just #look #up #abstract #abstractart #photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #google #shotbypixel #pixel2 #teampixel #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Someone forgot their breakfast in the subway

Half eaten
Toronto, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

#Toronto subway haiku:

Yummy meal was planned
Then forgotten underground
Stranger goes hungry

#yyz #ontario #canada #urban #haiku #poetry #yonge #street #subway #ttc #food #foodie #meal #lost #someone #is #hungry #travel #photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #google #pixel2 #teampixel #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Snowy parking lot in the pre-dawn cold

Traces of travels past
London, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It's 6:08 a.m., and it's the kind of deeply cold, crisp, still Canadian-winter morning that turns the sharpness dial up to 11 on everything the eye can see.

King Street in pre-dawn downtown #LdnONT is virtually deserted, the only sound the distant thrum of a freight train moving shadow-like through the still-sleeping city.

It's ironic, then, that I'm walking to the train station, on my way to another day of non-stop coolness in the big city to the east. Like most right-thinking humans, I'd rather still be tucked into my cozy bed, but purposeful life dictates otherwise. So out into the cold I've gone.

The parking lot to my left beckons me. My brain, still shaking off the cobwebs of not enough sleep, takes it in and decides this is the scene that'll best tell the story of this moment on this day. I stare at the dirty tracks in the snow, wondering who made them, where they were headed, and what their story was.

We're all on some kind of journey, after all. I hope we all have the luxury of taking the time to soak in some memory of the things we see - and feel - along the way.

#london #ontario #canada #winter #snow #weather #wx #downtown #urban #street #photography #city #king #walkabout #train #travel #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Staring into the downtown abyss

The face in the stone
London, ON
October 2017
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Wandering into an alleyway off of downtown's beleaguered Dundas Street in pitch black night in search of a photo or four would usually be inadvisable.

Who am I kidding? It always is. Even in daytime, these filthy corners of an already sketchy part of town are crawling with danger. Turn off the lights and it all slides from bad to worse. I wouldn't want my kids here alone, so how does that explain my presence?

It can't. And this isn't one of my best decisions. But the texture of the wall, lit by a single flickering light from above, attracts me like a moth to a flame. I tell myself I'm only standing at the entranceway, that there's no one else around, that I'll shoot fast and then be on my way.

The excuses of the photographer: I've made them all before.

I get away with it this time. I get the shot I want - can you see the hidden image? - then I move on. No one jumps out of the darkness. This time.

I smile to myself, not because I got away with something a little edgy, but because I saw something I would have otherwise missed and I learned a thing or two about shooting spontaneous street scenes in the dark.

My comfort zone may be safe spots in daytime, but roaming beyond the usual often opens our eyes to the things we can't see.

It'll never be perfectly safe to come here at night. But who ever said life was perfectly safe to begin with? I'd hate to think what we'd miss if we always self-selected the no option, simply because we were afraid to venture into the darkness.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #downtown #urban #city #dundas #street #photography #streetphotography #monochrone #night #alley Nikon #nikonphotography #dslr #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Charlotte's Web, redux?

Twisting in the beachside wind
Grand Bend, ON
July 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Let's throw it back to summer today, shall we?

Deep in the shadows of an overhang facing the beach in Grand Bend, a miraculous construction project evolves in virtual silence, ignored by the sun-seeking crowds far below.

It wouldn't take much for anyone to look up and take in the wonder of this simple-yet-not-simple scene. But there are sand castles to be built, volleyball games to be played, ice creams to be eaten, memories to be made.

Summer in these parts is short enough as it is, and most folks who come here look rushed from the moment they begin unloading the car. No time for frivolities like spiders and webs.

I'm not feeling much like most folks on this day, which, to be frank, describes me on virtually any other day, too. I've gone for a walk to find a hat for my wife, but as I often do, I linger along the way as my eyes seek out snippets I want to freeze and take home with me. My wife is a very patient woman.

As often happens, this scene stops me dead in my tracks. Countless generations of evolution have led this particular spider to this particular place, and as random as the web looks as it blows in the hot onshore wind, there are perfectly explainable reasons why it looks the way it does.

As I tuck the camera away and continue on my journey, I wonder what this planet would be like if we could be as singularly accomplished in our lives as this spider is in its own. Not possible, of course, but nothing says we can't strive to be a little more focused and determined along the way.

#grand #bend #grandbend #ontario #canada #beach #great #lake #huron #monochrome #spider #web #summer #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #dslr #instagood #photooftheday #nofilter #nofilterneeded #photography #life #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

The silence of snow

Follow me home
London, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Freshly fallen snow always seems to put the world on mute.

I could probably explain the physics of it, but this isn't a science thing. Think heart, not head.

It hit me the first moment I stepped outside with the wonderdog last night. She, of course, sprinted to the nearest drift and buried her snout as deep as it would go.

I stood back and listened. Because outside of her jingling collar, there was nothing. The pristine landscape of white seemed to have swallowed up every sound. The usual cacaphony of urban life had seemingly vanished, replaced by the gentle thrum of singular thoughts in my head.

It was glorious, the kind of thing I wish would last indefinitely, but knew would probably be over and done by the time we circled the block.

And sure enough, it was. Traffic slowly returned, and the muffled beauty of a stunningly painted neighborhood soon gave way to the returning soundtrack of modern, rushed life. Tires on wet pavement. Revving engines. Horns. Relentless white noise. All of it rushed back in to fill the void, as if someone turned the volume clockwise once again.

Whoever's playing with the volume, and why, you only seem to notice it when it's taken away for a bit. If only that moment of blanketed silence could last longer. If only we paid closer attention to the sounds that shape our days. Or, in this case, nights.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #winter #snow #weather #wx #schnauzerpuppy #schnauzersofinstagram #schnauzergram #schnauzers #dogsofinstagram #instapuppy #actofdog #pets #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Kiss my asphalt

Patterned decay
London, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It's only obsolete if you believe it is.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #paved #paradise #parking #lot #cracked #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Snow dog, take 3

Rediscovering her happy place
London, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

We woke up to the first significant snowfall of the season today, and all I wanted to do was to see it through the eyes of this little one.

Coincidentally, all she wanted to do was bury her nose in the white stuff, so we apparently made the perfect pair this morning.

I should probably be less enthused about the snow. I can't find my boots, the car needs winter tires, and my bike has commuter-friendly/snow-hostile slicks on them.

But none of that mattered to her as she bounced out the door and ran circles on the snow-covered grass. She was happy, simply content to suck in the joy of the moment to the exclusion of anything and everything else. So I thought I'd follow her lead.

I'll find my boots eventually. The car will get its tires, and I'll probably be able to squeeze in a few more rides before the snow settles in for good.

But in the meantime, there's a dog who thinks this is the most wonderful way to start her day. And I'm not one to disagree with her.

I don't think it needs to be any more complex than that.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #winter #snow #weather #wx #schnauzerpuppy #schnauzersofinstagram #schnauzergram #schnauzers #dogsofinstagram #instapuppy #actofdog #pets #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Party sandwiches for the road

Barely linear, definitely yummy
Ingleside, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Behold the humble party sandwich. Rather, a bunch of party sandwiches, artfully arranged in columns and rows, before they became lunch and disappeared forever.

We decided to pack a lunch for the long drive home. While we could have just as easily picked something up at a service stop along the way, there was something genteel, comforting even, about pulling out sandwiches instead. Probably a little healthier for us, too.

So we sat in the middle of an OnRoute in Ingleside, Ontario, nibbling on these impossibly soft sandwiches as we reflected on the miles of road that lay ahead. We do that, my wife and I, because road trips have become something of a regular thing for us over the past year and a bit.

I suppose at some point I’ll do the math and arrive at some kind of frightening number that puts into stark relief just how far we had to go these past few months. But for now, it was enough to nibble and chat.

And remember the moment with a photo. Because road trips wouldn’t be road trips without a motley collection of weird-looking snaps taken haphazardly along the way. And memorable moments with my partner in crime, without whom none of this would be remotely tolerable.

#ingleside #ontario #canada #road #trip #highway #travel #car #auto #automotive #sandwiches #food #foodporn #stilllife #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Scene from a cemetery...

Many someones were here
Duvernay, QC
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

These are the stones on top of my father's gravestone. They were placed there by visitors - exactly who, we'll never know - and my wife and I added to the pile during our visit there earlier this week.

We also placed stones on my mother-in-law's and father-in-law's graves, ironically located toward the top of the frame, just behind my dad's. Small world. Sad world.

No one can quite agree why Jewish tradition dictates that we leave stones behind when we visit the cemetery. Like so many things within Jewish tradition, it's been subject to debate over the centuries, and we still don't have a singular answer that everyone can accept.

I like to think it's because we're trying to solidify the memory of those we've lost. That a stone somehow speaks to a certain permanence of a person's soul that even death can't erase.

Truth be told, we'll likely never really know, but it's comforting to wonder about it as I stand over the stone, carefully place my own rock on the edge of the pile, and let my fingers linger on the cool granite.

We all need more time to reflect - on what we had, what we lost, and what we continue to hold onto as our journeys continue without them - and a bucolic cemetery in the middle of largely untouched agricultural land is as good a place as any to pause and think.

I have no answers today. But returning to this place for the first time since Debbie buried her dad, it was enough for me to just be there with her. Not everything needs an answer, after all.

#duvernay #laval #montreal #cemetery #parents #parenthood #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

One last view from the 12th floor

Dark clouds on the horizon
Laval, QC
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

You probably won't be seeing many more photos like this one.

I've stood on this 12th floor balcony countless times, my lens pointed west toward similarly countless sunsets. Behind me, just inside the sliding glass patio door, my in-laws waited patiently, alongside my wife, kids, and whoever else happened to be in town.

I'd often step outside during mealtime, or playtime, or anytime the sun was putting on a show in the sky. My in-laws knew the drill, and would review my photos carefully on the camera when I was done.

Then we'd get back to the business of eating dinner or playing, or whatever else went on in a home that was always full, always open and welcoming to whoever happened to be in town.

Today, the apartment is almost empty, and my wife works, alone in the fading light, sorting through the very last of my late father-in-law's files.

There's no furniture. The walls are bare. Virtually all signs of the vibrant family that once called this place home have been either sold, moved, or tossed. It was just stuff, I tell myself, but it still feels wrong to see this place in this way.

I stand in the breezy chill on the balcony under a sky that refuses to cooperate. The for sale sign is already up, and this will likely be my last-ever time here. We leave in the morning. I will the clouds to part, the sun to peek out one last time so I'll have a final sunset to hold onto.

Mother Nature obviously has other plans. But nothing erases the memories of what happened here, and the people who made a concrete box in the sky a home.

So I shoot the grey scene before stepping back inside and locking the glass doors behind me.

I tell myself it's been a good house, and I've been blessed to have been a part of the stories we told here. We all have.

#laval #chomedey #montreal #quebec #canada #sunset #weather #wx #clouds #monochrome #photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #google #pixel2 #teampixel #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Why time deserves to be treasured

Tick...
London, ON
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I'm not going to complain about the time change this morning. For what it's worth, we didn't gain an hour of sleep, and the days didn't just get shorter. We adjusted some clocks and now the number is a bit different. No biggie. Time to move on.

See, yesterday I was idly wiggling the fingers on my right hand, and enjoying what it felt like to have motion, feeling, and control. Most of us do this subconsciously. I don't. I was amazed at how a conscious thought deep in my brain could translate into precise movement and feeling way down at my fingertips.

Stupid, I know. But I'll never be able to shake that feeling of wanting to move my fingers, but being unable to. Or the entire right half of my body feeling like dead weight. Of my mind commanding body parts to move, and getting nothing in return.

So when my brain decided to snap back into gear and reconnect to the right side of my body, I realized how lucky I was to have been given more time.

And I decided I wouldn't waste the time I had been given - bonus time, really - bleating about the time change. Or the weather. Or traffic. Or people who aren't kind. Or anything else that feels like a waste of it.

The universe gave me more time. I'm thankful for it, and want to honor that gift by using it with greater care than I did before my brain was felled by a few tiny clots of blood.

So if I don't engage in ritual complaining on social media, or engage with folks who just don't get it, now you know why.

Funny how the smallest things can have the most significant impact. I'm not going to complain about that, either. I'd rather celebrate it.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #photooftheday #monochrome #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #photography #lifeinthemargins #stroke #awareness #family #everything

Oops, I forgot the clothes

The look...
Laval, QC
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

This may come as a shock to some of you, but I did an incredibly stupid thing yesterday.

As I was loading the car hours before sunrise in preparation for our road trip, I mistakenly hung up a garment bag in the front hall cupboard. I didn't have enough hands to get everything outside, so I temporarily stuck it there while I opened doors, wrestled luggage, and took silly photos of freshly fallen snow.

You know where this is headed: I forgot to go back for the garment bag, which we only discovered when we arrived in Montreal late last night and, magically, there was no garment bag in sight.

Thankfully our hotel was next to a mall. Thankfully said mall opened at 9 this morning. Thankfully the Internet was invented, which allowed us to exhaustively research and quickly build our we-need-clothes-right-now game plan. Thankfully we had enough time to panic-shop, change like Superman, then jet off to where we needed to be.

Thankfully we have another doofus-Carmi story to add to our family's ever-growing collection of them. Thankfully my wife has the patience of Job. Thankfully her path crossed mine, and stays crossed despite my relentless tendency to throw wrenches into the moving machinery of life.

I'm just thankful that after everything I put her through, she still looks at me like this.

#laval #montreal #quebec #canada #road #trip #highway #travel #car #auto #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Looking straight into the centre of power

Engineered symmetry
Toronto, ON
November 2019
This photo originally share on Instagram

Have you ever wanted to stand directly under an electric transmission tower and stare straight up?

I'm just weird enough that this has been bouncing around my head for most of my life.

So yesterday afternoon, in a windswept parking lot beside a Toronto subway station, I did.

There's no rhyme or reason for any of it, and the commuters who brushed past me likely thought I was slightly off my rocker.

I'm strangely okay with that.

Because curiosity doesn't always fit in a conventional-looking box. And lifelong curiosities deserve to be eventually explored, even if it means looking a little funny to strangers in the process.

#toronto #ontario #canada #road #trip #travel #power #electric #engineering #monochrome #weather #wx #geometry #lines #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

An early morning with our dog

Conflicting seasons
London, ON
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The scene: Our driveway in suburban (other) London. It’s 4:46 a.m., and I’m out with the wonderdog because today’s a road trip day, and dogs don’t much care that adult-like stuff has to get done far away from home.

So I walk our little furry girl before my wife and I can finish loading the car, tuck the pup back in her bed with our homebound kids, and set off into the cold, windy darkness.

There’s a wrinkle in our plans, though: The season’s first blast of snow. It isn’t enough to book a ski day, but the car is covered with it, and I need to fetch the snow brush from the garage. But first, a photo.

Calli waits patiently at the other end of the leash as I quickly compose this seasonally transitional scene. I could complain about the chill and the misery, but I won’t, because it doesn’t change anything.

Whine or no whine, the temperature will still be below zero and the car will still be blanketed with the white stuff. Besides, that’s what seat and steering wheel heaters are for.

Within seconds, I’ve got what I want, a simple little vignette in the dim light of our driveway. I kiss the dog on her head for being such a good girl, then bring her in one last time.

Soon enough, my wife and I pull away into the blustery pre-dawn, the friendly light from our front porch slowly winking out in the rearview mirror.

The weather gets worse as we merge into the highway and accelerate into the featureless murk, the driving snow furiously painting the landscape ahead of us. I blink away the fatigue and focus on staying between the lines.

Silently, I count my blessings.

Because while this may not be a momentous moment by any stretch of the imagination, it is, to me, another step among many, another sliver of time to be remembered and tucked away.

When they read the story of us, it’ll be built out of moments like this. Something tells me the next few days will offer up a few more of them.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #road #trip #highway #travel #car #auto #automotive #carporn #stella #winter #snow #weather #wx #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photography #lifeinthemargins #family #everything