After spending the first two weeks of June exploring Montreal, we came to our cottage in Ontario. I’ve been here since mid-June. I’ve lived in many places during my life: give or take a few years, I’ve spent about a third of my life in Canada, a third in the United States, and a third in Europe. But having a place to come back to on this lake has been a constant the whole time, so it probably feels more like home than anywhere else.
Going to a cottage is a very Canadian thing. Many city-dwellers maintain a separate summer home on a lake somewhere north of Toronto, or in other parts of the country, that they visit primarily on weekends and on holidays. Cottages have been getting some attention abroad lately after being showcased in shows like Heated Rivalry and Sterling Point.
Our cottage is on Paudash Lake in the Haliburton Highlands region of Ontario. I grew up visiting our family cottage in a different bay of this same lake as a kid growing up in Toronto. We’d also come during the winters to go cross-country skiing at nearby Silent Lake Provincial Park. Snow-covered cottage country is a beautiful, peaceful place. And cold. It’s also a cold place.
Yvonne and I bought this cottage over 20 years ago on on the same lake as my parents’ cottage, with the goal of living in Toronto or Ottawa (it’s about halfway between those cities) and coming up on weekends and in the summers. We spent a memorable winter here when the kids were very young, often visiting my parents who lived full-time at their cottage at that point. These plans changed when, after grad school, I ended up finding work in Charleston, South Carolina instead of Toronto. As such, we never did end up coming up here as much as we had originally planned.
Which is why it’s been wonderful to be here this summer, and not only that, the whole summer. After Amelia graduated college in mid-May and joined us in Montreal she spent the summer in Yellowknife and never made it to the cottage this year, but Callum spent a month and a half here and it really suited him.
Since the first week of August I have been here alone, though I have had several friends visit, including some friends I haven’t seen since high school. I’ve visited numerous provincial parks, waterfalls, and nature trails in the area. And I’ve spent a lot of time in the kayak. Many, if not most, evenings I’ve been out in the kayak when the water is calm, there aren’t as many boaters on the lake, and the sun is setting. It’s been a highlight of being here, especially during late August and early-to-mid September when it is very quiet and cool, and there aren’t any biting flies or mosquitos to feast on you.
When you own a cottage, there’s always work to be done, and in our case there was a lot of work to be done as we hadn’t been here in years. This year the tasks included clearing out much of the brush that had grown up on the property and power washing the limestone stairs leading down to the lake. There are plenty of stairs, so this took some time, but it was actually kind of fun and probably therapeutic. We also removed a bunch of trash from the property, including a swing set Callum and Amelia played on when they were 3 and 1. We also had an old, dilapidated outhouse that I don’t think any of us has ever used removed. Next year I’m thinking kitchen remodel – that would be quite something.
And speaking of next year, I’m hoping I can do this all again next summer. In my opinion there is no better place in the world to spend the summer and early fall. And this doesn’t even take into account that during the late fall, the autumn leaves make northern Ontario truly stunning. I’m going to miss that this year, however – I’ll be back abroad.
Me as a kid on Paudash Lake. And my hand holding the photo, because this was before digital photography became mainstream.
This is the waterfront at the cottage before cleaning it up. As it had been several years since we’d been here, the brush along the lakefront had grown to the point where you could hardly see the lake. And the limestone stairs were covered with moss and buildup, which also made them quite slippery.
Here is the waterfront after cleaning up. The brush has been trimmed down, and the stone steps to the lake have been power washed. In fact, since it took a few days to wash all the steps, you can find the power washer and the hose running down the hill from the cottage in quite a few of the pictures I took.
You do have to leave some brush intact due to erosion during the springtime when the snow melts.
Here you can see some of the junk that we removed or had removed from the cottage. The swingset had definitely seen better days. You can also see how grimy the cottage and the stone path looked before I power washed it all.
Before we got here, a neighbor informed us that the top part of a tree had fallen onto our dock, which would have to be taken care of. I wasn’t here for it of course, but I am pretty sure that a bolt of lightning hit the top of a healthy tree and cracked it in two. Now, when you look at pictures from the lake or from the deck, you will see a distinctive “half-pine” tree; a tree missing its top. Look for it in the other pictures posted here. It’s distinctive, and a feature that Canada’s famed Group of Seven landscape painters might have painted back in the day.
A picture of the Canada Day boat parade taken on July 1st. There were quite a few boats in the boat parade this year, though the weather was rather gloomy.
When the family was here I often had morning coffee on the deck. That’s not a cat on my lap – that’s a Pomeranian. And yes I’m in my pajamas, wouldn’t you be?
This photo isn’t from our cottage; I took this when visiting our neighbors at their cottage on the island across the lake from ours. But I just want to point out that I’m pretty sure that every cottage in Canada has that same vintage Cornflower Corning Ware casserole dish on a shelf somewhere.
I have mentioned before that as the sun sets in the west behind the cottage, the clouds to the east over the lake turn lovely shades of purple and violet.
One evening in late July I took a kayak out on the lake at sunset, as I often do. I’d parked the paddle across the cockpit and was gliding quietly along the lake watching the sky when, quite suddenly, I was surrounded by a group of loons. For several minutes they called to each other while I sat still. Then, just as suddenly, they took off en masse and flew to another bay, some of them flying so close I swear I could feel the spray from their wings.
As they left, I looked up, and there in the clouds before me was the unmistakable shape of a loon drifting atop the sunset.
It is quite a mood when steam fog forms over the lake in the early morning, especially when you’re standing on the dock in the cold holding a steaming mug of coffee. Steam fog, also known as frost smoke (which I think is a much cooler term actually), forms when cold, dry air moves over the warmer water of a lake.
Taking pictures or even video of steam fog rolling over a lake doesn’t seem to capture the essence of it – it’s one of those things you kinda have to be there for.
The steam fog over Paudash Lake is a little clearer in this picture from the dock.
Here is the steam fog over Paudash Lake as viewed from the deck of the cottage.
And there’s that power washer again.
Here’s what the cottage looks like coming up the steps from the lake. Look at those sparkly stairs.
Okay, admittedly I need to do a bit more work to get rid of some of the growth between the cracks, but you need to keep some of that to keep the steps from coming loose.
This is a picture I took while walking the Lakeshore Trail at Silent Lake Provincial Park with Peter, whom I’ve been close friends with since the fourth grade. I think this shot is a good example of the topography of the Canadian Shield. There are plenty of interesting rock formations to be found in the area.
Me while kayaking on the lake one evening.
Paudash Lake is a great place for freshwater fishing, and while I’ve been here I’ve done a little catch-and-release fishing off the dock now and then. Primary game fish in the lake include largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, lake trout, and walleye. There are frequent bass tournaments here, and I often saw boats of people fishing float by the dock like the one in this picture.
These are the falls at Egan Chutes Provincial Park, on the other side of the town of Bancroft from our place heading toward Ottawa. A waterfall is another example of something that you can’t really capture with a picture.
This chipmunk came to check me out as I was walking along the trail back to the car from the Egan Chutes nature reserve.
This is me with my friend Andrew, who is another friend I’ve had since elementary school, on the tin boat at Benoir Lake, where Andrew and his family have a cottage. The cool thing about this picture is that it could have been taken when we were teenagers. It was great to hang out with Andrew and his wife Erin when they were up at their place, which is about a half-hour drive away from ours. Andrew is one of those super handy guys who was very helpful with some of the work we had to do at our place.
As September arrived, early signs of autumn started to emerge in the landscape.
A beaver lives somewhere near our dock. He (or she) would often pass by our dock, usually coming quite close to me – it didn’t seem to bother him too much that I was there. It was fascinating to watch him; he would often pull a branch from the brush, take it into the water near our neighbor’s dock, and chew at it to get at the soft inner bark.
A beautiful September evening on the water.
A September sunset in the kayak on Paudash Lake.
I visited Petroglyphs Provincial Park near Peterborough. This picture is from a short hike along the Nanabush Trail.
Petroglyphs Provincial Park features the largest collection of First Nations petroglyphs in Ontario. These are rock carvings of people, animals, reptiles, spirits, and other figures believed to have been carved by the Algonquian or Iroquoian people between 900 and 1100 AD, if not earlier.
You are not allowed to take photographs inside the building that houses and protects the petroglyphs, so I respected that and didn’t take any, but you can find them online, or better yet, go visit the park when you are in the area, because once again it’s one of those things that is better experienced live.
There was a small shrine erected by the petroglyphs when I visited, as some tribes still consider and the petroglyphs a sacred place.
I went to see Spider-Man: Brand New Day at the Highlands Cinemas in Kinmount, a town in the Kawartha Lakes region of Ontario. I went primarily because my friend Andrew was insistent that I go, and even though it’s not so far from our place I had never been before.
It is quite an experience to visit this cinema. It is the pet project of a fellow named Keith Stata who formed it as a labor of love over several decades (there’s a 2024 documentary called The Movie Man that you can watch to learn more about Keith and the cinema). Inside you’ll find vintage movie posters, old movie projectors (some of them very old), lobby cards, salvaged theater architecture, mannequins, movie props, and lots of old photographs. It’s definitely worth a visit.
And it’s also a cat sanctuary. Dozens of rescued cats roam the property outside the movie theater.
This is my final sunset picture from the kayak on Paudash Lake. It is one of my favorites; it’s not the most striking, but to me it captures the mood of what it’s like to be on the water for a September sunset. And it was so quiet that evening, the only sounds being the calls of a few distant birds and the occasional plop of water from a fish breaking the surface to eat one of the insects floating atop the water.
This final sunset picture was from two days ago, and thus concludes my travelog from this summer’s adventures at Paudash Lake. Here’s to more adventures in the years to come!
I’d probably like kayaking at sunrise too, if it didn’t involve getting up so early.
The first half of this year has involved a lot of moving around. After spending a few months in The Villages, the world’s largest retirement community (for ages 55 and up, so I didn’t technically qualify), I sold the house I was living in and then spent a few months in Tampa, where my sister lives. It was great spending time with her and her family, baking sourdough bread, and going for walks in her community, FishHawk Ranch.
Then, in May, I took a trip north on the Amtrak Auto Train from Sanford, Florida to Lorton, Virginia, before staying for a few days at my friend’s place in Pennington, New Jersey, which is located in a very pretty part of the state near Princeton. Then I drove north to Montreal, Quebec, which is where I am right now. It’s been fun and interesting to tour the city where I was born, as I haven’t been back here in quite some time.
While staying in Tampa, my sister and I learned how to bake sourdough bread. She has all the tools needed, plus a Dutch oven. These six loaves were mine; perhaps you can see by the progression of pictures that I did get better over time.
It was really fun trying to create my own recipes by modifying sourdough recipes found online. I figured if I came up with something good, I could share it online myself. The final loaf, which was a pepper bacon and jalapeño loaf, was probably the best I came up with.
The only real fail was the fourth loaf, which was a Space Dust IPA and sharp cheddar sourdough. I figured the “beer cheese” flavor would be nice, so I substituted the Space Dust for water. But the loaf turned out to be rather dense, and the beer just made it taste sour, so it wasn’t the best.
Next time I’m in Tampa we’ll definitely be baking more.
I made sure to visit the Magic Kingdom on the last day of my annual pass. Cinderella’s Castle has been repainted in its original gray and blue color palette, replacing the pink and rose hues that were used for Disney’s 50th anniversary.
I think Anna and Elsa were into me.
I took the Amtrak Auto Train from Sanford, Florida to Lorton, Virginia, then drove a few hours to my friend Andrew’s place in Pennington, New Jersey. Pennington is near the town of Princeton and Princeton University, which is as impressive a campus as you might expect.
I really liked Princeton and the surrounding area; I had never visited that part of New Jersey before, and I was really impressed by how beautiful an area it is.
And of course, while getting gas in the state I was surprised by the fact that you can’t pump your own gas and have to have an attendant do it for you. I’d totally forgotten about that.
My friend Andrew, whom I’ve known since we were kids growing up in Toronto, is a pilot and owns a Beechcraft Bonanza plane from the 1960s. Andrew is a very handy person and refurbished the interior and keeps the plane in great shape.
What I didn’t realize is that if you’re a pilot, you can simply get on a plane and fly up and down the Hudson River alongside Manhattan. I would have thought you’d need permission of some sort, but no – you just have to stay in the right zones. Landing in Manhattan is a different story, though there are some people who live in Andrew’s area of New Jersey who take their helicopters to work every morning. That must be quite something.
As alluded to in my previous note, Andrew, his wife Erin, and I flew from the airport near his place where he keeps his plane and up and down the Hudson River alongside Manhattan and Jersey City. I took some photos and some videos, but honestly it doesn’t capture how truly amazing it was to be up there flying by Manhattan.
This photo is from the approach to the New York City in Andrew’s Beechcraft Bonanza.
Here is a picture from the plane flying over Manhattan, but as I said it doesn’t really give a good indication of how amazing an experience it was to be up there.
I took a picture of Columbia University, Amelia’s alma mater, from the air. Amelia has since graduated and starts graduate school in the fall.
After spending a few days in New Jersey with my friends I headed north to Montreal to meet up with my family. It was great to be here again after so many years.
We are staying in the Pointe-Saint-Charles area of the city, which is a bustling neighborhood bordering the historic Lachine Canal. It was amazed by how many people have been spending their time outdoors running, biking, picnicking, or simply sitting by the water in the wonderful weather. I’ve spent a few winters in Montreal myself, so I know what it’s like to appreciate warmer weather when it finally arrives up north.
This is a picture from the Old Port of Montreal. I also took some good videos yesterday on an excursion to the Parc du Mont-Royal with its lovely nature and great lookout over the city, but I did not take any pictures while I was up there. It was a great place to visit on a really nice day.
One of the great aspects of Montreal is that it is a thriving multicultural city with a European flair. We ate at some great spots in the city. Of course we made sure to have poutine, a Quebec specialty, at a bustling industrial microbrewery called Messorem.
This photo is from La Soupière Malatang on Sainte-Catherine Street, one of the main commercial streets in the city.
A few days ago Amelia and I went on a tour of the Bell Centre, the home of the Montreal Canadiens hockey team. It was interesting to tour the arena and learn a bit about what happens behind the scenes. The guide (and some of the visitors) certainly knew a lot about the Montreal Canadiens, the players, the managers, the former players and former managers, and pretty much whatever else there is to know.
The dressing room of the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre. Stepping on the logo in the center of the room is considered very bad luck; any player who does so is fined heavily. The goalie’s bench was behind us, and we got to sit in Jakub Dobeš’s spot.
The text along the top of the ceiling is a quote from the Canadian World War I poem “In Flanders Fields” by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae.
I spent a few months in Prague over the winter holidays with the family, then spent a few days in Berlin, a city I had not visited before.
We visited several Christmas markets during the weeks leading up to Christmas, as is the custom in most European cities. This is the Christmas market at the Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí). The Old Town Square itself dates back to the 12th century. The Christmas market there was always quite packed.
The Christmas tree in the Old Town Square Christmas market with the Church of Our Lady Before Týn in the background. One interesting aspect of this church, built in the 14th century, is that its two towers are of different sizes.
We visited several interesting bars and cafés in Prague. This was the AnonymouS Shrink’s Office, where servers in masks served drinks according to ink blot tests.
I know I always post pictures from atop Vyšehrad whenever I visit Prague, but it’s just such a great place to take a walk.
Here’s a map of what you can see from atop Vyšehrad.
We went to several HC Sparta Praha hockey games. At one game we sat in the front row, which was a lot of fun and a lot cheaper than it would have been for similar seats at an NHL game.
We went to several cafés in Prague where they served rich drinkable cocoa, which I really like.
Atop the hill of Petřin across the Vltava River in Prague is another great spot to take pictures, though the pictures are never quite able to capture what the view is really like from there.
This has been the logo of the Kostelec Sausage Company of the Czech Republic (Kostelecké uzeniny a.s.) since 1917. I am not sure if the logo has aged well but the sausages still seem to be quite popular.
While walking to the Globe Bookstore and Café, a popular spot for expats near our place in Prague 2, I passed this car with this written on the window in the snow. I guess Europe is not immune.
The Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola near our place at Karlovo Náměsti.
The tram stop at Stěpanska. There is nothing significant about this picture other than I thought it caught the mood of a Prague winter evening quite well.
A story I posted while walking in Náplavka along the Vltava River near our place in Prague. I just thought it was neat. And yes, it was cold!
Just like I can’t visit Prague without taking a picture from atop Vyšehrad, I also have to take a picture of the Astronomical Clock from this exact same angle. Every darn time.
Callum and I took several train trips together to visit different cities in the area around Prague. This is a picture of a street in Karlstějn, the site of a really neat castle from 1348 that I’ve posted about before. However, the castle wasn’t open when we visited, so I wasn’t able to take any good pictures of it. Did we know the castle wasn’t open when we took the trip there? No. But it was still neat to walk around Karlstějn when it was so empty during the wintertime; definitely not something I had experienced before.
I caught up with some old friends I hadn’t seen in several months or years while in Prague. This was at the WAID Bar & Café near Naměsti Miru (Peace Square), which had a great atmosphere and inexpensive drinks. I’m on a no alcohol kick so mine was non-alcoholic (as was Quentin’s beside me), and it was better than most of the non-alcoholic beers I’ve tried. I’m looking forward to going back there the next time I’m in Prague.
Callum and I took a train trip to Kutna Hora to visit St. Barbara’s Church, one of the most famous Gothic churches in central Europe, and the Sedlec Ossuary, the famous “Bone Church”. You are not allowed to take pictures inside the church, so I didn’t take any, but inside you will find statues, ornaments, and bell-shaped mounds constructed of the bones of 40,000 to 70,000 (!!) people, most of whom were victims of the Black Death and the Hussite Wars during the 14th century. It is a fascinating place.
When I arrived in Berlin I was surprised to find ads promoting doing business with the province of Ontario (where I grew up) on the streets. I knew these ads were being shown in the United States, but I did not realize similar ads were being shown in parts of Europe as well. This was near Adenauerplatz.
I visited the Brandenburg Gate in the evening, and it was quite empty – probably because it was very cold! I left my winter coat and tuque in Prague so I had to layer light jackets to stay warm, but I survived.
I walked along the East Side Gallery in the eastern part of Berlin, where artists painted murals on the former Berlin Wall. It was interesting to learn more about the history of the Berlin Wall and the Occupation.
I’m at my parents’ place in western North Carolina. It’s been wonderful exploring the area and watching the leaves change color day by day.
The view of the Linville Land Harbor golf course from the balcony.
Many houses were flooded in The Meadows section of Linville Land Harbor after Hurricane Helene. Some have been renovated, others have been abandoned, while many that were lower to the ground have been raised on stilts.
A from from the Yonahlossee Overlook along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Price Lake along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Blowing Rock, North Carolina.
An overlook along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Linville, North Carolina.
Me by the Mile High Swinging Bridge at Grandfather Mountain in the morning, among the clouds.
My parents standing in front of the Mile High Swinging Bridge at Grandfather Mountain.
A view from atop Grandfather Mountain, obscured by fog.
I went to the Linville Falls Winery with my mom.
There was a hill with a little lookout structure near the Linville Falls Winery, so I went up to check it out.
I went to the Oktoberfest celebration at Sugar Mountain, and walked up the mountain (though not all the way).
They had a Bavarian band at the Sugar Mountain Oktoberfest celebration, which was neat.
The fairway of the Linville Land Harbor golf course outside my parents’ place on a sunny day.
An overlook driving up Roan Mountain in eastern Tennessee.
The Carvers Gap mountain pass, a scenic spot at the border of North Carolina and Tennessee that is an access point to the Appalachian Trail. I find the tilts of the trees interesting in this one.
Climbing the hill at Carvers Gap.
The trail leading up the Beacon Heights Overlook along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Sunset at the Beacon Heights Overlook along the Blue Ridge Parkway. There were quite a few people up there to see it.
Sundown at the Beacon Heights Overlook.
While stopping at an overlook along the Blue Ridge Parkway, we happened upon a marriage proposal.
A view of Grandfather Mountain from the Blue Ridge Parkway; this is where we saw the proposal in action.
A view from another lookout along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
That tree spoke to me, so I took another picture of it. Well, actually I took a bunch, but this is the one that counts.
A warning sign approaching the Elk River Falls near the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. Thank goodness they warned me, jumping off the waterfall sounded like such a great idea at first.
The Elk River approaching the Elk River Falls.
I didn’t get a great picture of the Elk River Falls from the bottom of the falls, as the sun was in the background. So here is a picture from the top of the falls.
Well, okay, there is a picture from the bottom of the Elk River Falls in this collage I made for social media. So that kinda counts!
Driving back to Florida early on Sunday morning I passed by this view at the Brown Mountain Overlook. I think I arrived at just the right time.
It has been a great trip visiting my parents here in North Carolina. I’m looking forward to possibly coming back up this way next summer!
Spent August in Spain, in Barcelona. The kids have been here on summer break from their respective schools, which has been great. Heading home in a few days.
We stayed in El Born, a neighborhood in Barcelona quite close to the Gothic Quarter and the Cathedral of Barcelona. It seemed like there was always something going on there.
I tried a granadilla, a South American fruit in the passionflower family, for the first time. The good news is, though it looks like frog eggs inside, it didn’t actually taste like frog eggs. The bad news is I don’t actually know what frog eggs taste like so maybe it did taste like frog eggs, who knows?
Sometimes we ate at places popular on TikTok and Instagram, like Brunch & Cake. It was actually kind of fun. One cheesecake shop near our place, Jon Cake, was always swarming with influencers.
We visited the Museu de la Xocolata containing information about the history of chocolate and a collection of statues made entirely of chocolate. Even the entry ticket was a chocolate bar. This is Tintin from Explorers on the Moon.
We went to the CosmoCaixa Museum of Science, which had some pretty cool exhibits. I was impressed. Science is awesome.
On a walk through the Parc de la Ciutadella which was quite near our place. I opted not to go swimming in there but I’m sure it would have been refreshing.
There were plenty of wild parakeets all over Barcelona, these ones were at the Parc de la Ciutadella. They’re actually an invasive species from South America but are nonetheless popular with the tourists.
More parakeets eating a green apple at the Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona.
Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria, the largest market in Barcelona and quite well known. We also went to the Mercat del Encants, which is the city’s largest flea market. It was kind of a crazy place.
We checked out the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum, which was actually pretty interesting. Don’t worry, they did not give out free samples.
Me at the Park Güell, just so you know that I was actually in Barcelona and am not just posting pictures I found on the internet.
We toured the Picasso Museum, which had a lot of paintings, sculptures, and information about Picasso. Seriously a lot, like maybe all of it. This one is called The Wait (Margot) from 1901.
Antoni Gaudí’s presence can be felt all over Barcelona. This is the Casa Batlló, which was commissioned by the Batlló family for Gaudí to design. I wish they made more buildings like this.
Inside the Casa Batlló, climbing the stairs to the top.
The Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya. I was walking by it so I took a picture of it. If I’d taken pictures of every building I walked by you’d be here all day, so be thankful I was at least somewhat selective.
The Pont del Bisbe. Some interesting facts – it’s not actually a bridge, it’s technically a walkway. And though it looks quite old, it was actually constructed in 1928 by a friend of Gaudi’s.
At the base of the Pont del Bisbe is a skull with a dagger through it, which is said to be a real human skull. It is also said that if you walk backwards away from the bridge while looking at the skull, you will get what you desire, so of course I did that. It was pretty crowded around the bridge so I was lucky not to run into anybody.
This is a cool terrace bar with a pool overlooking Barcelona that we visited while on a walk up to the top of Montjuïc.
We visited La Basílica de la Sagrada Família. It’s difficult to get a good picture of it due to its being constantly under construction. But if you look closely at the details, it really is quite spectacular.
Inside La Basílica de la Sagrada Família.
The stained glass windows inside La Sagrada Família were of different color palettes; it really is a fascinating place to experience.
The altar area of La Sagrada Familia. The audio guide had a whole big exposé about the hole in the roof but I must admit I zoned out.
Callum and I went up the Nativity Towers, and this is what you could see while you were up there.
We climbed Montjuïc – so many stairs – and visited Montjuïc Castle. Here you can see La Sagrada Familia from the very top of the castle.
The walls of Montjuïc Castle. I walked arount the castle along a path, which was a nice walk with views overlooking the Port of Barcelona.
This was a statue I passed on the way down from Montjuïc. I have no idea what this represents, but I’m here for it.
We took numerous walks along the beach in the evenings which was quite nice. I thought the effects the iPhone camera put on this one were pretty neat. Of course it didn’t really look like this when looking at it with your eyes. The iPhone even captured that plane in the sky that I didn’t realize was there.
I’m back from visiting my parents in Linville Land Harbor, a private community nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. We went on some hikes, toured the area, celebrated the 4th of July, and even got a few games of pickleball in (okay, maybe more than a few). It was lovely!
I didn’t get such great pictures, as it was very crowded and there weren’t any really good spots to take photos of the town, but I took what photos I could.
We spent the past week in the southeast of France in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, by far one of my favorite part of France. We started the week in Antibes, exploring some of the cities there, continued our visit in the walled city of Avignon, then spent the last day in Marseille before flying back to Prague.
I don’t usually post a ton of pictures here, but there were so many picturesque places to see! So here they are.
We started off in Antibes, which is one of my favorite places. It’s also close to Cannes, Nice, and Saint-Tropez, so there are lots of places in the area to explore.
Antibes is a short train ride to Cannes, so we spent a day there.
For the next part of the trip, we stayed in Avignon, which is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region but is not located on the coast. My goal was to stay in one place that was picturesque, and one place that had history to explore. Avignon is home of the Palais des Papes, one of the largest and most important medieval Gothic buildings in Europe, constructed primarily during the 13th and 14th centuries. And Avignon also has a famous bridge.
It was very windy when we arrived in Avignon, and the temperatures dipped quite a bit from the temperatures during the past several weeks, so it was quite an experience. I have several pictures where my thumb can be seen holding onto my phone, as there was a definite risk that my phone would fly out of my hands and into the Rhône river.
Our flight back to Prague left at 11:20 in the evening, so we left Avignon in the morning and spent the day in Marseille. We also managed to get in our obligatory visit to FNAC.
We had a wonderful time touring the various places we did, and I for one am looking forward to returning one day.
]]>I took a few pictures while out and about in Prague and the surrounding area, so I figured I would post a few of them here.
It’s a lot of fun to play around with various prompts to see what you can come up with. There is definitely an art to crafting a prompt to get images looking the way you want them to. I’ve become relatively adept at tweaking the prompt to place various elements where I want to within an image. It’s not always apparent when looking at an AI generated image what’s going on behind the scenes.
It’s also great how you can generate a quick image to meet a unique need; for example, to accompany a blog post, create a meme, respond to a comment on social media, or illustrate an example of something. I’ve already whipped up images for a variety of purposes. That said, for the most part, creating a proper image takes many, many generations. For one good generation there might be five or six generations that miss the mark in one way or another.
If nothing else, it will be interesting to see where this technology goes in the future. Many of these pictures are amazing, especially when viewed from a distance. But often, when you make the image larger, or zoom into specific areas within the image, the reality breaks down in a serious way. Human faces and especially eyes seem to be one of the major issues (for example, in the below images of Alice and Shaggy). Words and text are also an issue; when you prompt the generator to include a sign (for example, “S-Mart” in the below example of Ash from Evil Dead), many times more text will also be included that contains words taken from the prompt, but misspelled or misrepresented.
As this technology improves it will be incredible to see what we’ll be able to do with it. I’m looking forward to it!
I started by creating some fun depictions of some of the monorails that frequent Walt Disney World:
And I continued by creating whatever visions came to mind:
I ended by creating a few Pomeranian images:
I’m looking forward to creating more of these, especially as time goes on and the generation engines continue to improve. It is certainly entertaining!
]]>Here are a few of the images I’ve created over the past few days. I like how, with the right prompt, an image can tell a story.
For the past year and a half or so I have used Duolingo (almost) daily for fifteen minutes each morning and fifteen minutes each evening. This has to do with the way experience is awarded; if you consistently use Duolingo mornings and evenings you will earn double experience. This is important if you wish to advance in leagues. A significant aspect of Duolingo is its gamification of language learning; taking part in competitive leagues and occasional tournaments is part of the game.
As a language learning tool, I find Duolingo is a fun way to practice language on a daily basis. The program uses spaced repetition, meaning words pop up in your lessons right around the time you might start to forget them. There are also numerous stories and podcasts available to listen to in order to practice listening comprehension.
On the other hand, I’m not as fond of the competitive nature of the program. In order to remain in the highest (Diamond) league, succeed in weekly friends quests, and achieve monthly challenges, it is necessary to complete a certain number of lessons per week. The more lessons you complete, the more challenging those weekly quests and monthly quests become over time, which means you can’t “roll back” to easier quests and challenges unless you start failing them. As I am a competitive person, I feel I can’t *not* work hard to stay in the Diamond league or win the tournaments that occur every few weeks.
This is why, as of this week, I’ve set my account to “private”, which you can do using the web interface. It means that I will no longer take part in any leagues or tournaments. This is great, as I won’t have to worry about gaining experience anymore, and can spend much of the half hour of language learning I complete every day reading books, watching movies, or practicing writing instead of making sure I don’t drop out of the Diamond league.
If you’ve been using Duolingo, I hope that your language learning has been going well. Daily practice has been the most effective way I have found to continue progressing with my language studies. However or whatever you’ve been learning, best of luck!
I’ve included a bonus picture of the New Town Hall on a snowy day here in Prague. It’s pretty. Pretty cold, that is! 
I am thinking I might continue writing at this pace on an ongoing basis without taking into account how many words I can complete daily or by the end of the month. Getting a certain amount of writing done every day is a good habit to have.
This painting was interesting because of whatever that is the lady is holding. The description for this painting was missing.
The interesting part of this painting is the shield the man is holding. Supposedly it is a shield of Medusa’s head.
The design of the building was neat – they did a pretty good job of sticking you into the world of Tron, and giving everything a “Tron-like” vibe, though it’s been a while since I’ve seen the movie (and I have not yet seen Tron: Legacy (as it failed to match my minimum Critical Reviews score). We rode it a few times, and in all I felt it was quite fun and engaging.
A short clip of the ride itself, as seen from a spot walking toward the exit.