Day 7: Panorama

Panoramic photo of a lake from the dock

Almost BBQ’d a mouse! Spotted it just as I was turning on the burner.

A mouse hiding under the BBQ burner with a face peeking out one side and tail the other

Day 6: Well

Kids getting soaked by a fountain

Day 5: Forest

Gravel path through tall trees

Day 4: Orange

Vegetables in a frying pan, including orange peppers

Day 3: Precious

Close up of my hand with a wedding ring

Day 2: Buildup

Looking up a rock cliff, buikt uo with moss and plants

Not a great start to Season 2 of Invasion. The ease with which Mitsuki easily dispatches a half dozen invaders doesn’t suggest much jeapordy.

I really liked the initial mystery and slow build of the first half of Season 1. So, will stick with Season 2 for now 📺

Day 1: Abstract

Close up of an abstract floral painting with lots of colours

Finished reading: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison is a great story about an outsider being thrust into power and the decisions they need to make without compromising their ideals 📚

Photos of a dog at a cottage

Lucy enjoyed her time at the cottage

  • Black lab guarding the BBQ
  • Black lab lounging on a chair that they barely fit into
  • Black lab sitting on the beach
  • Black lab sitting on a dock with a sunset behind
  • Black lab lying on the beach, lifeguarding kids swimming
  • Black lab sitting on a dock gazing towards the water

The only perk of returning home from a cottage vacation is that I got to watch the season finale of Strange New Worlds. Great show! 🖖

Last night of vacation

Moon in clouds shining over a lake

I’ve been making an effort to listen to the Moments in Waking Up when the randomly timed notifications come in. This one resonated with me today: “We too have problems that cannot be solved by more thinking”

Finished reading: I really enjoyed Hands of Time by Rebecca Struthers. Although notionally about mechanical watches, there’s also interesting ideas about time, building things by hand, and focusing on what really matters.

The book also resurrected an internal debate about the Apple Watch vs mechanical watches. For now, I’m going to take this as inspiration to reconsider my watch faces 📚

Finished reading: Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson finishes the remarkable trilogy. Robinson’s meticulous detail (though occasionally overwhelming) really brings Mars to life, along with compelling characters and ideas. Although I sympathize with the “reds”, I think the series ended appropriately 📚

I’m disappointed that Amazon cancelled The Peripheral. Season 1 was really good 📺

The owner of the cottage we’re renting just switched to StarLink. We’ve gone from 1 Mbps to 10. Nothing like the 1,000 we’re used to at home, though more than enough for lounging around the cottage. The only trouble we had before was that music streaming was unreliable.

Exploring the lake 🛶

A view of the lake over the edge of the kayak

Every night!

Sunset over a lake with many small clouds