We really enjoyed having so many friends and family join us for our fifth, and final, year renting the Torch Lake cottage. Such a special place!

As our vacation gets near the end, I’ll miss this view

A serene lake reflecting the early evening sky with scattered clouds, bordered by a dark tree line and featuring a small floating dock.

🎵 Song of the week for my daughter — Feather, Fur & Fin by Danny Michel from Feather, Fur & Fin. A conservation biologist’s theme song with a fun horn section

🏃‍♂️ At 335m, my watch tells me this is the largest elevation gain of the year

A gravel road surrounded by dense green trees is shown along with running statistics including distance, time, average pace, location, date, and temperature.

Finished reading: Aubrey McKee by Alex Pugsley is a delight. Great writing and quirky characters, along with nostalgia for my own childhood. Recommended via Paul Wells 📚

Thanks to my sister for bringing these whiskeys from the Elora Distilling Company. I’m starting with the Royal Amber

Three different bottles of whiskey liqueur from Elora Distilling Company, labeled as Limited Edition Release Maple Brulee, Royal Amber, and Sugar Maple, are displayed on a kitchen counter.

Vacation continues to go well

A serene lake reflects the cloudy sky at sunset, with a floating dock in the middle and a small pier on the right side.

🔗 Don’t Become a Productivity Tourist - by JA Westenberg

Because the only metric by which you can actually judge a productivity system is this: did it allow you to produce something or not?

A good reminder for those of us that spend too much time adjusting our systems

🏊‍♂️ The lake was like glass for this afternoon’s swim

A calm lake reflecting trees under a clear sky accompanies a health app recording an afternoon swim of 1,742 meters completed in 32 minutes at an average pace of 1 minute 50 seconds per 100 meters.

My daughter captured me in full cottage vacation mode: a beer in one hand and book in the other

A man is relaxing shirtless on a beach chair by a lake, wearing sunglasses and holding a cup and a tablet, surrounded by trees and outdoor gear.

🎶 After hearing my son and nephew rehearsing Is What It Is by Chance Peña, I’ve been a bit obsessed with it. They were practicing for an upcoming campfire concert at their summer camp, where there was recently a tragedy. Watching the campers comfort each other through the tragedy seemed resonant with the song’s lyrics

Finished reading: The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan is a compelling story about justice and the law. A great start to the series 📚

Finished reading: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis is a fun and zany time-travel mystery. Although I enjoyed the story, it does get a bit frenetic 📚

🏃‍♂️ Misty morning run

Foggy marsh run in Minden: 19.68 km, 2 hr, 6'07''/km pace with route outline.

Another good day at the cottage

A glass with a golden liquid is placed on a wooden surface with sunlight reflecting off a body of water in the background.

Pizza on the BBQ

A homemade pizza topped with cheese and fresh basil leaves is baking on a pizza stone inside an oven.

Lined that up surprisingly well, if accidentally

A scatter plot shows data points with blue circles representing heart, lungs, temperature, and oxygen levels from high to typical, and a pink circle representing sleep quality in the low range.

🏊‍♂️ Swimming in a Haliburton lake is so much nicer than a Toronto pool

A serene lake surrounded by forest under a partly cloudy sky is shown with details of an afternoon swim including distance, time, and average pace.

Finished reading: Surprising no one, Alias Grace A Novel by Margaret Atwood is very well written📚

Getting dinner ready with my sous chef