Shoeless Joe's vantage point

Long way from home
London, ON
May 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Sometimes I wonder what Shoeless Joe was thinking as he hung out amid the corn stalks beyond left field.

Maybe it felt a little like this.

As I stood on the outside looking in, I thought about what a privilege it is to live near a ballyard steeped in such history. It’s called Labatt Memorial Park, but it’s easy to understand if Londoners see it as our own Field of Dreams.

I think more random wanderings beyond the outfield fence are called for. Shoeless Joe would doubtless approve.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #labatt #memorial #stadium #fieldofdreams #baseball #sports #sportsing #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

#IfYouReadOneThingToday - Who is in space?

#IfYouReadOneThingToday, please make it this website:

    https://whoisinspace.com/

Why this? Why today?

Because with the launch of China's Shenzhou 16 mission to the Tiangong space station, there are now 17 people in Earth orbit - the most ever.

We live in an amazing universe, no?

DeSantis melts down on Twitter

Think twice before laughing at Ron DeSantis after Twitter Spaces melted down during his presidential campaign launch. It could happen to anyone if we ignore the lessons of #scalability. My latest article for STEP Software Inc. explains why this matters:

DeSantis campaign launch livestream meltdown reaffirms Twitter’s tech decline

Po plays ball, sort of

Hanging around
London, ON
May 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It’s been a while since Po made an appearance here. She wasn’t kidnapped or anything. She’s just been quietly hanging off of my camera bag, waiting for her next grand adventure.

As it turns out, our beloved - and somewhat tattered - Teletubby is a bit of a sports fan, so she tagged along this past weekend when we went to the oldest baseball stadium in the world to take in a game.

The London Majors have been around in various forms since 1925. They’ve won the Intercounty Baseball League championship for the past two two years running, and we got to sit in the stands just behind their dugout.

It’s baseball in its most beautifully pure and local form, as if Field of Dreams came to life in our own backyard. As much as we love the Toronto Blue Jays, there’s something magical about a team that’s woven into the fabric of the community, where the players wander around the parking lot just behind the stands and chat amiably with fans as they chill out on well worn picnic tables and chow down on footlong hot dogs.

Po didn’t get a hot dog because in the real world stuffed Teletubbies don’t eat. But she was glad she went all the same. So were we.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #po #red #teletubby #labatt #memorial #stadium #baseball #sportsing #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Blue bottles high on a wall

Drinking problem
London, ON
May 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I’m not much of a drinker, but having grown up in a house where my also-not-much-of-a-drinker dad collected bottles and displayed them on shelves that encircled our basement, I appreciate the industry’s sense of design and artistry.

Here’s another view from last week’s spontaneous restaurant shoot. I’m still amazed they didn’t eject me from the place.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #moxies #restaurant #downtown #blue #glass #bottles #stilllife #photography #canon #canonphotography #canon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Surf's up!

The best wall art is real
Deerfield Beach, FL
February 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The golden age of wireless…surfboards.

#deerfield #beach #florida #vacation #throwback #travel #thomasdolby #random #lunchtime #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Spotted glasses in a crowded restaurant

Bottoms up, for some
London, ON
May 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I learned something new the other night: that you can hold your own still-life photography session pretty much anywhere.

Like in the middle of a downtown restaurant when you’re breaking bread with colleagues and the glasses on the shelves behind the bar manage to catch your attention.

Most rational folks would continue with the meal and leave the glasses be. But I’m far from rational, and I’m thankful to work with a group of kind, understanding, and brilliant folks who just smile when I get a glint in my eye and reach for a camera.

The bar was a busy place, and I was hoping to avoid being kicked out of the joint. So I stood beside our table in the middle of the room and zoomed in on the backlit glasses.

The result isn’t earth-shattering or of the ages. It isn’t even remotely ideal. Just some damp and spotted glasses arranged asymmetrically on a shelf.

But to me it checkpoints a quiet moment spent with some really inspiring people. I’m lucky to do what I do. And I’m equally lucky to have discovered that weird pictures make for powerful memories.

Not getting kicked out of the resto? I’m thankful for that, too.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #moxies #restaurant #downtown #glass #stilllife #sepia #photography #canon #canonphotography #canin_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

#IfYouReadOneThingToday - scrambled brain

#IfYouReadOneThingToday, please make it this stunningly written piece about coming back from a TBI. Anyone who’s ever had their brain scrambled, and who lives with the fallout, knows profoundly how this feels.

How to Survive a Car Crash in 10 Easy Steps

A journalist navigates a world forever changed by her traumatic brain injury.

By Anne Lagamayo

Longreads

May 2023

Related:

Other #IfYouReadOneThingToday recommendations

Spiderman would be jealous

Don't look down
London, ON
May 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Superheroes don’t always wear capes. Sometimes they hang from buildings on ropes so the rest of us can have uninterrupted views.

They’d probably just shrug it off if we brought it up - just doing their job, they’d likely say.

But here’s the thing; every job has some kind of meaning, some kind of impact on others. We all leave our mark.

Some more spectacularly than others.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #building #window #washers #architecture #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #urban #city #downtown #wellington #street #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Sharing a rare selfie

So serious
London, ON
April 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Disclosure: I hate looking at myself.

I rarely watch videos of interviews I’ve done on TV. Even listening to my voice after the fact is difficult. I don’t take many selfies, and when I do, they remain unedited and ignored within my archives.

In fact, as I was first learning the craft of photography, one of my favourite benefits of being the photographer was that I got to hide behind the camera. I often called it my preferred side of the lens.

I still feel that way. My camera is my protector.

As public as my work has become, I’ve come to appreciate just how much of an introvert I really am. I love being on camera, on-air, out there; just don’t make me sit through it afterward.

But every once in a very long while, I’ll take a picture of myself that I kinda like. This is one of them.

I was out running errands, and as I often do when I have a few minutes to kill before my next deadline, I’ll wander around with my camera-camera in search of inspiration.

I’ll often shoot a random photo or two with my smartphone. The time stamp and geolocation information come in handy when I offload the pics from the so-called real camera, and it often gives me a quick image to share with the folks back home.

The evening sunlight was really harsh, so I shot a barely composed backlit image. It wasn’t supposed to be anything more than a throwaway image.

I still hate looking at myself, but I’m strangely glad I held onto this one.

#ldnont #london #ontario #hydepark #canada #random #walkabout #selfie #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Surprise color at our feet

Bursting
London, ON
April 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

On a relentlessly grey Sunday afternoon when the cold drizzle seems to drain everything in this valley of its color, a tiny sprout fights its way out of the damp earth and begs to differ.

That something this stunningly green can emerge from something so monochromatic will never not be a wonder to me.

Or to you.

I hope you take the time to look down. I hope you like what you see.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medway #valley #heritage #forest #tree #trees #green #leaf #leaves #nature #naturephotography #landscape #stilllife #landscapephotography #waterphptography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Montana bans TikTok

A new #Montana law that bans #TikTok within the state’s borders sets a dangerous precedent for governments and opens the door to further restrictions on freedom of expression.

App bans = book bans, full stop.

I break it all down in my latest blog article for STEP Software:

Montana’s TikTok ban is an appalling line in the sand for freedom of speech

The grasses that anchor us

Hold fast against the wind
Port Stanley, ON
May 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

In a forgotten corner of a beach just coming back to life after a long winter’s sleep, wild grasses grow from a dune, protecting it from whatever the lake can throw at it.

Someone built a fence here, so long ago now that nature has almost consumed the original structure.

Still, it stands its ground.

Still, there’s beauty in the desolation, a whisper, even, of small gestures designed to make the planet a better place for those who come next.

#port #stanley #portstanley #beach #ldnont #ontario #canada #great #lake #erie #sunset #sky #grassea #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Related:

Long grasses blowing in the wind, December 2022

Oil tanks in our midst, November 2022

Listening to the grasses in the wind, March 2022

Bokeh Beach, far away in time... December 2021

Returning to the sun-drenched grasses, August 2021

Lake Huron peeks through the grass, September 2017

Someone didn't read the sign, September 2016

The shifting sands of time, September 2008

Return to a shrouded beach

Forces of nature
Port Stanley, ON
May 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The Sun struggles to be seen through choking particulates from the Alberta wildfires.

The land is burning thousands of kilometres away from here, yet the strange combination of physics and meteorology means we can smell the faraway forest being consumed.

Indeed, nothing is far away anymore. Videos and headlines of disasters in places we’ve never been will soon enough give way to tangible evidence of them much closer to home. At the tip of our tongue, even.

And on the edge of a Great Lake, the sky is painted a fuzzy shade of tightly tinted off-yellow, the Sun becomes a muted orange smudge, and countless visitors to this place ask each other why. That none of them looks it up on the supercomputers in their pockets is the tragic irony of how Planet Earth looks like this in the first place.

Climate change touches us in all sorts of ways. The surreal beauty of this particular moment is apparently lost on the majority of those walking the sand beneath the beautiful, eerie, tragic spectacle. It shouldn’t be.

#port #stanley #portstanley #beach #ldnont #ontario #canada #great #lake #erie #sunset #sky #water #waves #fire #climatechange #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Neptune's final orbit

Strictly temporary
London, ON
March 2023
Originally shared on Instagram

A couple of months ago, I shared a photo and a story from the Neptune Diner, a lovely local restaurant.

Today it closes forever.

The lesson, then, is simple: don’t let me write about your businesses, as I am apparently the kiss of death for them.

Kidding aside, The Neptune will be missed. The owners decided it was time to move on, to sell the still-popular place and clear the decks for new entrepreneurs to follow their dream at a downtown corner that’s been feeding souls for 70-plus years. And soon enough, an innovative Mexican resto will open its doors in this storied location.

Why hello, Green Power Ranger
London, ON
March 2023

Doubtless the new spot will find fans of its own as it spawns new flavours, stories, and memories.

Doubtless the winds of change will continue to sweep over all the spots that endear themselves to us.

Doubtless we’ll want to experience them before they become memories, reminders that nothing lasts forever, even if we wished they would.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #richmond #food #foodporn #diner #burger #random #restaurant #stilllife #street #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Related:

A memorable evening at the Neptune Diner, March 2023

The friendly yellow diner, March 2021

Scene from a diner, March 2018

Scene from outside a diner, October 2017

Scene from a diner, March 2013

Restaurant tabletop memory, December 2007

Scenes from a diner, February 2007

Green Coke, January 2007

Diner memories, August 2006

Escape from a dying wave

Splash squared
Deerfield Beach, FL
February 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Waves spend most of their lives alone and ignored - barely visible as they cross immense stretches of open ocean.

Only in their dying moments do they attract our attention as they roll into view and rise spectacularly above the surface before crashing out into nothingness.

All that time and energy and effort turned into a blink-in-time moment that, even then, may or may not be noticed. All that investment, gone in less time than it takes to read this sentence.

I’m pretty sure there’s some kind of analogy here, a lesson we can take with us as we leave the waves behind and walk off the beach, the sand clinging stubbornly between our toes. But it isn’t immediately clear to me.

We’ll just have to return another day, perhaps, so we can greet another set of waves as they complete their journey and turn into memories.

#deerfield #beach #florida #vacation #throwback #travel #atlantic #ocean #green #blue #gameoftones #waves #landscape #landscapephotography #nature #naturephotography #photography #canon #canonphotography #canon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Memories of icy mornings

Before the melt
London, ON
March 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The nights here have been unseasonably cold all week, to the point that we’ve been digging out our hoodies and woollies to stay warm. It’s a Canadian thing.

Also a Canadian thing: complaining about the weather. So understandably Socialmediastan has been filled with all manner of commentary about how unfair it all is.

Forgive me for being contrarian, but there’s nothing unfair about a little frosty weather. Unfair is kids going to school and never coming home. Or not having a school at all.

I’m sorry, but having to pull on a pair of gloves to ward off the chill doesn’t strike me as remotely unfair or worthy of a public-facing entitled screed. Privilege, health, fairness, whatever are never guaranteed to any of us.

Besides, chilly weather makes for seriously pretty scenes. Frost warnings notwithstanding, it didn’t get cold enough to freeze the gutters this week. But it did motivate me to revisit the photo series I shot a couple of months ago when the temps were even chillier and the woollies weren’t yet tucked away.

Perspective is an amazing thing. I wonder if this planet would be a better place if we practiced it a little more often.

Cold or warm, we owe it to ourselves to try.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #trowback #water #ice #frozen #winter #walkabout #weather #wx #nature #naturephotography #abstract #xray #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Painting patterns in the pool

Stitched
Boca Raton, FL
February 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Nature isn’t always as random as we might have thought.

#bocaraton #florida #vacation #throwback #travel #swim #swimming #hotel #pool #water #waves #pattern #geometry #abstract #blue #water #photography #canon #canonphotography #canon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

#IfYouReadOneThingToday - Collaboration grows up

We’re way beyond Zoom Bombing. Collaboration tools like #zoom and #MicrosoftTeams are much more mature now than they were when COVID first hit. But are we using them properly?

In my latest STEP Software Inc. #STEPthoughts blog article, I take a closer look:

Collaboration tools hit their stride in the post-COVID age

Branched life

Stand strong
London, ON
April 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Life is a tenuous, precious thing, isn’t it?

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medway #valley #heritage #forest #tree #trees #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Empty jam jar on a kitchen table

Sugary, transparent geometry
London, ON
April 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

We continue to play with our food, even after we’ve scraped the very last bits of overpriced kosher for Passover jam from the bottom of the jar.

Lousy jam. Cool-looking piece of glass. A quiet round of shutter therapy at the kitchen table.

Not a bad combo, after all.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #cherry #jam #jelly #food #foodporn #random #kitchen #stilllife #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Theatre in concrete and grass

Low-angled, edge-on
London, ON
May 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The scene: It’s 9:21 at night, and I’m following Calli the Wonderschnauzer around the neighborhood. As often happens, she’s taking her sweet time because her snack time is still 39 minutes away and there’s probably still a bunny or two to bark at.

We come across an interesting scene on a sidewalk not far from home, where a Jeep with no one inside is idling in a driveway across the road.

[tangent] London has had a no-idling bylaw for years that’s supposed to prevent this kind of planet-unfriendly stupidity. Alas, no one has ever received a ticket for violating the bylaw, and Londoners will often sit for hours in their still-running cars. Silly, selfish Londoners. [/tangent]

The truck is casting brilliant while light clear across the street. The overgrown grass in the boulevard catches some of it and throws wonderful shadows across the pockmarked concrete.

I may be saddened by the needless addition of carbon emissions into our atmosphere, but I’m not too annoyed to ignore the photo opp playing out at my feet. So while the dog grazes nearby, I compose and shoot the surreal scene just before the owner returns and kills the lights.

As the dog and I make our way back home, I have some quiet time to ponder the meaning of this moment.

I conclude that despite the fact that we live in a highly imperfect world, filled with highly imperfect people, all that imperfection can still have its own surreal beauty.

We just have to be willing to root around in the overgrown grass and crumbling concrete to find it.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #walkabout #nature #naturephotography #shadow #grass #concrete #texture #sidewalk #abstract #stilllife #monochrome #street #streetphotography #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Bricks crumble in the sun

Forgotten history
London, ON
April 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Battered and bruised, it stands despite whatever the world has thrown at it.

Someday it will crumble into a memory.

But not today.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #hydepark #building #architecture #architecturephotography #buildingporn #architectureporn #urban #city #brick #texture #perspective #street #streetphotography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Roadside flush

Crappiness
London, ON
April 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Some days feel like this.

That’s ok, though, because if we’re lucky we’ll get to try again tomorrow.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #519ldn #519london #random #urban #roadside #stilllife #traffic #streetphotography #night #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Water droplets on green leaves

The things we find on a walk in the woods
London, ON
April 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

This life thing always begins with water.

Probably not a bad reminder to ourselves on occasion.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medway #valley #heritage #forest #tree #trees #green #leaf #leaves #water #droplet #nature #naturephotography #landscape #stilllife #landscapephotography #waterphptography #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Icy paintings return to the neighborhood

Cold brushstrokes
London, ON
March 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It’s a perfectly sunny spring day here in Pitkinville (okay, #LdnONT), so of course I have to be the contrarian who reaches back a couple of months and shares a frozen wasteland pic.

It was the morning of March 3rd, and Mother Nature had been busy overnight crafting some icy perfection in the road beside our house.

The dog consented to a quick photo sesh as we headed out for our walk. And good thing she did, because it was all gone when we returned home barely 20 minutes later.

This life thing again. It flies by in a blink, leaving memories and pixels and stories in its wake.

As long as we take the time to collect them.

#london #ontario #canada #throwback #water #ice #frozen #winter #walkabout #nature #naturephotography #abstract #map #stilllife #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

#IfYouReadOneThingToday - AI's godfather sounds the alarm

The Godfather of AI, Geoffrey Hinton, abruptly quits his job at Google amid fears for the future of humanity.

Hyperbole? Or the reasoned perspective of a revered scientist?

I've been talking about this extensively in media, and my latest piece on the STEP Software Inc. blog puts this critical issue in greater perspective:

Geoffrey Hinton’s resignation from Google is AI’s canary in a coal mine

#ai #future

Saying goodbye to The Main

Still-life, frozen in time
Delray Beach, FL
February 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Montreal lost an institution this week after The Main Deli Steak House (or just The Main) abruptly closed its doors.

I haven’t lived there in decades, but the loss of anchors like this one reaffirms the stark truth that living history doesn’t live forever. The Main’s disappearance is only the latest blow to a place that was once the epicentre of the community where my parents grew up. Increasingly, it’s just a street.

St. Laurent - or more properly St. Lawrence - divides this island city into east and west. Decades ago, it was ground zero for Montreal’s Jewish community, the place where Holocaust survivors set down their first roots in a new land and despite it all built lives out of the ashes of Eastern Europe.

Even as St. Laurent has been a similarly pivotal backdrop for so many other cultural communities, its Jewish community institutions - grocery stores, restaurants, even gravestone makers - persisted. But that’s changed in recent years, as a growing drumbeat of endings - Warshaw, Moishes, Bersons - altered the landscape. The connection between our generation and that of our parents and grandparents is slowly fading to black.

I took this still-life in another deli far away from The Main. Ruven’s was the epicentre of my in-laws’ stomping ground after they retired, the place where they clucked over their grandchildren and made indelible memories of time spent doing the simple things that mattered.

If we’re being truthful with ourselves, deli food is hardly the stuff of nutritional legend. But that’s not the point. More than any other, places like The Main and Schwartz’s and Ruven’s serve as uniquely nuanced oases of familiarity in a world that’s slowly losing them. We remember being here, together, in ways that no modern franchised chain eatery can match. We look back at moments, and we smile because we were lucky enough to have had them in the first place.

As my wife and I sat quietly here a couple of months ago, we could feel the echoes of family and moments and milestones. Long after my in-laws left us, we hold onto these intangibles as reminders of how lucky we were. We never know how much time we’ll have until even these now-quieter places leave us, too.

#delray #beach #florida #throwback #vacation #travel #deli #diner #restaurant #food #foodporn #eat #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Calli at 6

I'll share my ball if you ask nicely
London, ON
April 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Why hello there. Would you know that dogs have birthdays, too? And that today is my sixth one?

No cake for me, though. Sugar and Schnauzers are a bad mix. And let’s not talk about me and lit candles. Bad, bad idea.

This is my favourite ball. I have a number of them, in different sizes and colours. They are, to be blunt, the only toys on Planet Earth that I do not destroy within seconds.

I have been called feisty, sassy, bonkers, insane, and rude. I am uncontrollably loud. I do not sleep well. I can’t walk a straight line to save my life. I bark madly at other dogs, and I fiercely guard my home against squirrels, bunnies, birds, and even the occasional chipmunk. I am not allowed into the local Tim Hortons. Or any Tim Hortons, for that matter.

Yet my people love me. And I love them back even more. I tap the back of their legs with my nose as we walk through the house, and I blur my tail when they come back from an adventure. I like to stare at them a lot. My dad says I look into his soul. I don’t know what a soul is, but he smiles when he says it, so it must be good.

I know how lucky I am, because my humans tell me this all the time. I’m not so good with the word thing, but they tell me I often communicate better than other humans do. It’s not that hard when you lead with your heart.

I’d best get back to playing with the big blue ball, because soon it’ll be time for my snack and our walk. This life thing is quite the trip, and I’m glad mine has been such a charmed one so far.

Woof!

Love,

Calli the Wonderschnauzer

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #calli #callitheschnauzer #dog #dogs #actofdog #schnauzerpuppy #schnauzersofinstagram #schnauzergram #schnauzers #dogsofinstagram #instapuppy #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #ınstagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Related:

Calli at 5, May 2022

Schnu to the power of 4, May 2021

Calli at 3, May 2020

Calli turns 1, May 2018

The family grows by one, again, June 2017

Day-after gratitude

Morning breaks over Boca
Boca Raton, FL
February 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Thank you all for the overwhelming swarm of kind wishes yesterday. You made it a really special birthday, and I’m humbled and grateful.

I’m reminded of how passive I was/am to the entire process: I just went about my business on this giant spinning hunk of rock. Eventually we got to a certain point in space, so my wife made a cake.

It seems right to mark the first day of the next year with a photo that screams beginnings. When I look at this one, I’m reminded that sometimes we need to wake up early to greet the day. Otherwise we might miss the show.

Thanks again, everyone.

#bocaraton #florida #vacation #throwback #travel #sunrise #gameoftones #landscape #landscapephotography #nature #naturephotography #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #LiveLaughLevy #family #everything #lifeinthemargins

Another orbit completed

Fly safely, friends
Deerfield Beach, FL
February 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It’s my birthday today, largely because humans measure time by celestial events, and I haven’t gotten around to inventing an alternative method.

Yet.

So I thought I’d share a photo of myself to mark the day. My lovely wife took this one, a fleeting moment as a C-17 snuck across the sky on a training mission.

According to the calendar, it wasn’t a particularly notable day. If we’re keeping track, it was February 16th. Just another day.

But we didn’t need a calendar to tell us it mattered.

Nor yesterday, when I walked the dog through some light rain.

Or the day I got to wander the woods with our daughter as we took photos of whatever moved us.

Or that February day at the beach when I stood quietly and watched some unseen people on an airplane nicknamed Moose learn how to save the lives of strangers.

Every day brings experiences, some that we remember and some that slip into obscurity.

And somehow each day adds to the story that is us.

Somehow each day offers up new opportunities to put a ding in the universe. Or accomplish something that makes us smile. Or find a way to make a difference in the life of another.

Or maybe all three.

That we get these days at all? That’s the blessing.

Whatever the calendar may or may not say.

#LiveLaughLevy #family #everything #lifeinthemargins

Schnauzer turtle rescue

Don't be afraid, little one
London, ON
May 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Someone made a new friend on yesterday's morning walk.

Calli the Wonderschnauzer spotted this lovely red eared slider first, and insisted on gently sniffing her while the somewhat fearful reptile waited out the relatively giant dog from the security of her shell. We quickly named her Theodora.

After a few motionless moments, Theodora came out of her shell and warmed up to her Schnu protector.

Soon enough, it was time to turn for home, and Theodora decided, as turtles do, to wander into the adjacent grass. The problem was what lay a meter or so beyond that grass: four lanes of high-speed traffic.

My gut told me I couldn’t just leave her there. Calli apparently agreed, standing between Theo and the road, whimpering as she looked straight at me.

So after a minute of agonizing to myself and our empathetic pup beside the whizzing cars, I carefully picked Theodora up and talked soothingly to her as we walked back to the forest pathway a couple of hundred meters away.

We wandered well down into the valley and found a quiet spot beside the creek. I put her down in the grass, and Calli stood watch over her as she came out of her shell and slowly made her way into the water.

Last we saw, she was happily swimming under the grasses that line this idyllic stretch of the forest.

I second-guessed myself all the way home, wondering if it was the right thing to do to move a turtle away from where we had found her. In the end, I just couldn’t imagine her being so close to danger.

I was touched by how gentle this usually bonkers dog had been. She seemed to hover over her new shelled friend, not entirely certain what to make of her, but also making sure she was safe and secure.

Someone earned a few extra treats as we turned for home. Whether she dreams of blue turtles during her next nap remains to be seen.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #calli #callitheschnauzer #dog #dogs #actofdog #schnauzerpuppy #schnauzersofinstagram #schnauzergram #schnauzers #dogsofinstagram #instapuppy #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #ınstagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Life on Garmin Time

Beach chair still-life
Deerfield Beach, FL
February 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

In the end, all we have is time.

So we use it wisely.

#deerfield #beach #florida #vacation #throwback #travel #garmin #texture #sand #stilllife #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Fog returns to the valley, so...

Blanketed
London, ON
May 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

When morning fog comes to the awakening valley, we owe it to ourselves to wander on over and drink it in.

Soon enough the sun will burn it off.

Soon enough the softness will fade and life here will return to whatever counts as normal.

So we sling the camera bag over our shoulder, leash up the wonderpuppy and head out for a fast photo shoot before the day begins in earnest.

They say we should seize the moment. This is what it looked like today.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #medway #valley #heritage #forest #tree #trees #nature #naturephotography #landscape #landscapephotography #monochrome #photography #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

ICYMI - CTV Your Morning - Airbnb peeping toms

Imagine renting a vacation spot via Airbnb or Vrbo, only to realize there’s a hidden camera watching your every move. What should you do when you first arrive to ensure you don’t become a victim?

I was privileged to speak with Lindsey Deluce on CTV Your Morning about ways to hunt down and disable hidden cameras.

Watch here.

Forget the game. Check the roof.

Structurally sound
London, ON
April 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Some folks go to hockey games to, you know, watch the game.

Others prefer to engage in deep studies of the geometry of the roof structure.

Because without a roof there is no game.

And it brings me spontaneous joy to see the looks I get from total strangers when I start taking pictures of the ceiling in the middle of the game.

Following the crowd was never really my thing, anyway.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #hockey #budweisergardens #knights #londonknights #goknightsgo #playoffs #sarnia #sting #architecture #buildongporn #geometry #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

One egg = limitless fun

If you do one thing today, please play with your food.

This came first. I think.
Boca Raton, FL
February 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

If it fascinates you, stop what you’re doing and appreciate it for what it is.

Stare at it.

Pick it up.

Think about where it came from.

About whose hands got it from there to here.

And prepared it.

Ignore the message drilled into our heads since childhood that mealtime isn’t a place or a time for frivolity.

Frivolity is exactly the point.

And I’d hate to waste even one opportunity to ponder the wonder of the infinitely diverse foods that power our lives.

I’d hate to have missed one of the fundamental experiences of childhood.

All because we were told to behave.

All because we grew up and were expected to fall in line.

In the end, winning the best-behaved trophy isn’t the goal.

Squeezing the most out of the journey, however, is.

Even if it involves playing with an egg from the hotel breakfast buffet.

#bocaraton #florida #throwback #vacation #travel #hotel #breakfast #buffet #egg #stilllife #monochrome #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Always play with the dog

I'm really happier than I look
London, ON
May 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

On the morning of a crazy day amid a crazy week, I come across this little one in between meetings and calls and writing jags and deadlines.

And the sight justifiably stops me dead in my tracks.

I think about the weight of the world reaching into our home and settling on my shoulders as I fight to keep the lights on. And I stare into those giant brown eyes and realize that none of what matters to me in this moment matters to her.

All she wants is a pat. Or a cuddle. Or a catch. Or a treat. Or time with me.

So we take a moment to do all of that. It’s the least I can do for a being who always knows when we need her most.

The deadlines will still be there when we’re done playing catch on the comfy carpet. The lights will still be on.

And we’ll both have a memory of a fleeting moment we wished had lasted a little longer.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #calli #callitheschnauzer #dog #dogs #actofdog #schnauzerpuppy #schnauzersofinstagram #schnauzergram #schnauzers #dogsofinstagram #instapuppy #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #ınstagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded

Thank you, Gordon Lightfoot

Just listen
London, ON
September 2016
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Canada’s storyteller died yesterday. Gordon Lightfoot was 84 and had faced a number of health challenges over his lifetime, and while we’re all mortal, some folks find ways to imprint themselves on entire generations.

Mr. Lightfoot was just such an imprinter, a gifted musician whose songs played in our minds and hearts at all major and minor moments in our lives.

As news of his passing spreads like a dark cloud over the country, what strikes me most are the stories being told by everyday Canadians about his kindness. He was a musical icon, but he was humble and kind, never missing an opportunity to stop and chat with folks he had met along the way.

Whenever I think about what makes Canada Canada, and Canadians Canadians, I often think of not just his music, but of the way he was.

We were lucky to have had him at all.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #throwback #guitar #stilllife #music #life #memory

Sorry, not a hockey fan

House of green, after the win
London, ON
March 2023
This photo originally shared on Instagram

We went to our city’s large-scale sportsing venue and watched our preferred local sports team compete against the hated group from a nearby town.

Thankfully the good guys won, which as you can imagine has assured all citizens of our burg a more prosperous future. And, apparently, some kind of bragging rights where people say, “We won,” despite that fact that “we” were not actually present on the field of play.

I believe this has transformed us into something know as “fans”, but I’m not entirely certain how this adulation fetish works.

We’ll just have to attend additional events such as this so that we may learn more. Perhaps we’ll wear “merch” next time.

Go sports!

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #hockey #budweisergardens #knights #londonknights #goknightsgo #playoffs #sarnia #sting #photography #apple #iphone #shotoniphone #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded