I was fortunate to get a visit from this beautiful red-tailed hawk this afternoon. It spent a couple of hours in a tree out front. I always find hawks to be auspicious omen.

Root canal with a view.

Grosse Pointe Lighthouse

Sidewalk art.

After this flight, I might change my rap name from Big Dirk to D-Ice.

In what city did you finally settle?

Miniature city: relatively big snow.

When the sun's out, you can't keep Ottawans off the canal, even in single digit temperatures.

Snow and single digit temperatures reduce the number of skaters on the Rideau Canal. But mostly this week the canal was packed.

Icy Ottawa.

Lost mitten, Ottawa.

Au revoir Vancouver.
It is hard to see in the photo, but the mountain peaks continue as far as the eyes can see.

Totem poles of Stanley Island.

Vancouver, under the Granville Bridge.

Chilliwack, BC

Point Roberts.

Blaine, Washington sunset.

Daring to Dream: A reflection on America In celebration of what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.'s 96th birthday, pianist Lara Downes examines how musicians have followed in his footsteps, and faced the cost of taking a stand.

What musicians taught me about Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream www.npr.org/2025/01/15/n...

Spider glove. No it isn't made by Spyder, and it isn't a tarantula.

Happy National Popcorn Day!

Happy National Bagel Day! Homemade bagels.

Highlights from the holiday break: Micheal Zerang and Hamid Drake's Winter Solstice Concert at Constellation/Links Hall.

Highlights from the holiday break: Shani conducts the CSO performing Shostakovich and Brahms.

Our holiday tradition: Winter Solstice concert by Michael Zerang and Hamid Drake at Links Hall.

Airport concert photo.

This one is magic.

Massive College Closings Is The Idea That Just Won’t Die The idea has been around at least a decade, since wild predictions were made that more than half of all colleges would fail.

In higher ed there is a panic about school closings. Written before the recent election, this article does an excellent job of debunking some of this myth. Colleges and universities are still struggling, but not at the scale everyone fears.
www.forbes.com/sites/derekn...

Kicking off on Bluesky wondering how much ELO would charge to allow using one of their songs to promote this platform.