A sign of the times at the downtown arts festival.

Too far for a decent photo (AI “enhanced”), but plenty of time to do off-ramp math: 5 minutes per red light, one scruffy cuteness, 3 handouts. I figure $60 to $120 an hour easy. The unseen dude holding the leash has cracked the code on supplication.

The Gleaners Branta

#Art

A couple of Bambis and their moms came through the back today, had to shoo them away from the dogwood I planted last year. Like cute locusts on four legs, deer have denuded a newly planted bush in the front yard and devoured most of the flowers. Still adorable, though.

#deer

Monkey grass, lilyturf, whatever, it’s endemic in yards in the South. Those at the top I dug out of the front yard and tossed on the hill where a previous owner dumped poison to kill some evergreen groundcover. They are unkillable. These ugly plants have one job: stop erosion.

Not an insta filter, but the view from inside out front every morning in the humid subtropical edging towards tropical rainforest climate around Raliegh, North Carolina. While the area is not really prepared for a future of flooding, on the plus side no fear of a Zero Day water crisis.

Butterfly bush has been busy lately, one of six swallowtails probing with its proboscis for that sweet, sweet nectar.

#Butterfly

Arriving for my 30,000 mile service, I forced myself not to drive another two miles and then back. But it was hard.

My embarrassed wife had to literally drag me away from the Montreal antique store selling The Rocking-Horse Winner yelling, “It’s Malabar! It’s Malabar, mother!”

Having traveled with only a (large) carry-on each, I thought my wife would be restrained by space shopping in Montreal. Wrong. An umbrella and travel pillow were left behind for two pairs of John Fluevog shoes, though thankfully not the Star Trek: Strange New World boots at $499 USD.

The most memorable meals in Montreal, poutine—fries, curds, and gravy—and a pancake, the former was a little heavy, the latter a light and fluffy desert—served by a robot!

Some of my favorite pieces at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art were done in the building by visitors.

Part of an earthenware exhibit at the MMFA, a 12th century Persian lustware bowl in a turquoise glaze, floral and arabesque design around a central figure likely of some import. This piece is notable for being one the earliest examples of side-eye memes in the world.

Dog Monkey something bronze from inside the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and beyond the Erskine and American Church, Romanesque Revival architecture more interesting than the MMFA post-modern deconstructionist structure that looks like it was built by a giant child with geometric building blocks.

A century ago a priest of the Notre-Dame Basilica would slowly climb the twisty, windy stairs to the stand under an ornate canopy, high above the nave, his voice ringing out to pews filled with parishioners, but now it’s tourists taking pictures and dust on those steps.

On the way to visit the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal, we passed another religious institution, Leonard Cohen memorialized on a giant mural.

Ten days was nine days too many for Liquid Glass on macOS, though credit where credit is due. If Apple wanted to distract from AI woes, that “invisible” Menu Bar in macOS did it for me, could not stop looking at the wrongness. Rightness has now been restored.

#Apple #macOS

Double tap the top of the screen in the iPadOS 26 beta and app windows switch between full screen and the last size set, very helpful in adapting to the new windowing model.

#iPadOS

Since the iPadOS beta seems solid, the macOS beta must be too. Unsarcastically, it is so far, though, weirdly, Liquid Glass seems more jarring on the Mac right from the Desktop. An invisible Menu Bar upends 40 years of UI expectations big time.

#macOS

As iconic and polarizing as McDonalds, the Apple Store in Montreal is on brand with severe minimalism and questionable material choices. Porous limestone facade looks like ass wet. The employees were really nice.

To an American tourist like me, Montreal is best described in the negative: not violent, not loud, not filthy… not American. In Montreal they shut down streets to vehicle traffic for months, that’s about as not American as a large city can be.

I installed the iPadOS 26 public beta, no issues so far, except trying to decide between glass and tinted home screen, better wallpaper visibility or widget text legibility, real Sophie’s Choice.

#iPadOS

Starting a course of SNRIs to reset my vagus nerve 9/11, so I asked ChatGPT to help me create a new iPad wallpaper that captures the mood.

#ChatGPT

Fantasizing about a Vision Pro for my birthday–don’t judge–I noticed the order of products on the Store page (and App) being different from the Apple webpage menu. I get the consolidation of products on Apple.com, but why are iPad and iPhone reversed? This is very disturbing.

#Apple

Running outside under an umbrella in a thunderstorm, rainbow seekers that we are, my wife and I, we scored a technical double. Not getting struck by lightning was a bonus, I guess, though that’s getting to be a tougher case to make every day since November, but still—rainbow!

#rainbow