Hit and Miss

Hit and Miss #430: In Santa’s workshop, I’m the elf

November 30, 2025

Have spent some nights and weekends happily making sawdust and shavings in recent weeks. Last year, T made knit gifts for many of our friends and family—this...

Hit and Miss #429: Bluster, bluster, let this not be lacklustre

November 23, 2025

Hello! Talk went well! The fine folks at BSides Ottawa put on a great event, and it was good fun to discuss the finer points of the legislative process with...

Hit and Miss #428: Lucas is writing a talk

November 16, 2025

Somehow, it’s Sunday again. Always caught off by short weeks, particularly when travel’s involved. Time, travelling! (That, I should note, was a declaratory...

Hit and Miss #427: Let the record show snow

November 9, 2025

Hello! I had a reflection on planning and flexibility in mind for today, but the day got away from me. In the spirit of flexibility, we’ll settle for some...

Hit and Miss #426: Whither the weird web?

November 2, 2025

Welcome November! This month brings shorter days, longer nights—and, for some, an impending sense of doom. For me, it also brings happy memories of the first...

Hit and Miss #425: This is now a music review newsletter

October 26, 2025

Uncharacteristically, I showed up to work on Friday in a graphic tee—a shirt with Springsteen and the E Street Band plastered across it, that is. Friday’s...

Hit and Miss #424: These links are cool / webby / reflective

October 19, 2025

Today’s meant to be a woodworking day, but I’ve spent the morning thinking, reading, and writing (the latter two, let’s be real, are just different versions...

Hit and Miss #423: Woodward and Bernstein could never

October 12, 2025

Thoroughly enjoyed Thursday’s REEL Politics screening of All the President’s Men at the beloved Bytowne. The film, if you haven’t seen it, portrays the...

Hit and Miss #422: Is this… October?

October 5, 2025

There’s a day each year, though you never know the day, when you shut the windows for the last time, letting the sash settle into the frame for its long...

Hit and Miss #421: See ya, September

September 28, 2025

Hey! The words are just not coming this week—it’s been a bit of a doozy. Some links, then: Glad to see the provincial government’s embrace of evidence-based...

Hit and Miss #420: Welcome fall

September 21, 2025

Hello! The change of season feels solidly here, but looking forward to formally welcoming the fall tomorrow. Full weekend of visiting still ahead, so just...

Hit and Miss #419: Eight years of bits and bobs

September 14, 2025

Hello! Spent thirty minutes picking tomatoes in the dense backyard jungle of plants, looking carefully for all the red ones. Then, having exhausted one spot,...

Hit and Miss #418: Whither the warmth

September 7, 2025

Today’s title is not about the rapid fading of the summer’s heat—though thank goodness for that—but instead about the unpredictable ways climate change will...

Hit and Miss #417: Cottage time

August 31, 2025

There’s a different pace at a cottage, time and energy moving in their own way. Stay up until 1, staring into the fire? Sure. Breakfast at noon, lunch at 5,...

Hit and Miss #416: August 2025, pt. 4

August 24, 2025

It’s been a wonderfully slow morning, naturally waking early, enjoying a sudden rainfall, and puttering in the morning as family moved about. We hosted for a...

Hit and Miss #415: August 2025, pt. 3

August 18, 2025

(Apologies for the delayed send on this one—Buttondown, the platform I use to send this newsletter, needed a day off! Honestly, relatable. Thanks to all who...

Hit and Miss #414: Material intelligence

August 10, 2025

The other day, I was cutting bread and cheese for sandwiches. I found myself imagining jigs I could make out of wood to ease the task (to ensure a consistent...

Hit and Miss #413: August 2025, pt. 1

August 3, 2025

Smack in the middle of an up-and-down long weekend. Mostly up, really, just some bleh feelings today that led to the usual mood spiral. But doing better now,...

Hit and Miss #412: Cake math

July 27, 2025

Say it’s Friday after a long week, a week that was more of a rollercoaster than you’d anticipated1, and a Friday that itself had some unexpected twists to...

Hit and Miss #411: Cicadas calling

July 20, 2025

We brought some sheets in from the line yesterday; on going to fold them this morning, T found a large cicada nestled in one of them. Now, I’ve been hearing...