iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

David @davidmordecai.com · 01/10/2026

Congratulations to my mother, @refracting.bsky.social, on the first review of her new book, Two Days In Mayaro, from Quill and Quire. "...an excellent and significant contribution to Jamaican and Canadian literature." quillandquire.com/review/two-d...

image that combines my mother's photograph on the left and the cover of her book on the right. she is an attractive woman with light gray hair wearing tortoise glasses and smiling at the camera. her hands are joined under her chin. she's wearing a sleepless block blouse and a colorful scarf. the book cover shows an abstract image that combines a red ball and a flying bird and colors meant to evoke a tropical beach. The title "Two Days in Mayaro" is in large hand drawn pale yellow letters, followed by a short blurb amd her name in smaller print text.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 29/09/2026

Rested for 45 minutes, which helped. Then hit up a friend for hugs. Then therapy. I’ve been seeing my therapist for 25 years now, and it’s incredibly soothing to be with him. Today I lay down on the carpeted floor for a deeper sense of grounding. Parking says mood stable. Plan to be in bed by 8:00.

Photo of a blue car closely parallel to the sidewalk. Shifting, and particularly rising, mood affects my proprioception. I can’t park like this if my mood is unstable.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 25/09/2026

The things you do when your barber is away...

selfie of me in a teal t shirt smiling at the camera. i have buzzed my hair off. i have a full grey beard, a moustache, and am wearing back glasses

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David @davidmordecai.com · 22/09/2026

Oops, the show was last weekend! These guys were almost a foot across

Five huge frilly white dahlias in a container on a table

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David @davidmordecai.com · 22/09/2026

🌱 From last week's Chrysanthemum and Dahlia society show at the Toronto Botanical Gardens

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David @davidmordecai.com · 13/09/2026

My mother, @refracting.bsky.social, has been reading her poems to me probably from before I was born, and six decades later my whole body will still quiver with joy and excitement to hear her. This is from The Book of Mary... [My mother standing at a podium reading from one of her books.]

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David @davidmordecai.com · 12/09/2026

With my mom, @refracting.bsky.social, and Olive Senior, for "Voices from the Jamaican Diaspora" at the Toronto Botanical Gardens. At these things, I get asked "so, are you also a writer," and especially with the hubbub about LLMs, the question reminds me that narrative is foundational to our lives.

Me crouching behind, and with my arms around, my mother and another woman who are sitting behind an author table with their books in front of them on the table

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David @davidmordecai.com · 12/09/2026

From puppy time this morning with Owen the Great Dane!

A selfie of me and a fawn great Dane. We are both looking at the camera and you can see the sun lightning our eyes I'm smiling and wearing a Tilley hat

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David @davidmordecai.com · 07/09/2026

Down at the Evergreen Brickworks in Toronto. It's an old brick factory that has been converted to an event venue, conservation area, and environmentally-focused community hub. It sits in the Don River Valley. Much of the venue was under water because last week's mammoth storm made the river flood.

photograph of an old building in the background, a path and the river with upturned picnic tables in the foreground in the river itself

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David @davidmordecai.com · 06/09/2026

And tonight’s Buddhist wisdom from The Ring of The Way — Testament of a Zen Master Taisen Deshimaru pg 53

Gensha's statement that the whole universe is a shining pearl means that the universe cannot be and is not limited by such concepts as great or small, wide or narrow, square or round, nor by the center, the macro- or micro; when all these forms are transcended, the universe itself emerges. There is neither life nor death, neither going nor remaining, but only the changes them-selves, which are the very life of the Buddhas, the materialization of truth. That is why the past is gone and the present actualizes itself. As to ultimate meaning—who can confine it to the unending movement of life and death on one side, and immobility on the other?
All differentiation ceases between cosmos as object and ego as subject, yet the cosmos is still the cosmos and the ego still the ego.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 04/09/2026

Just got my new health card. Me across 12 years: 47, 54, 59. I am roughly the same weight as I was at 47… 50 lbs lost, and a bit amazed (and suspicious, I wonder if I have something going on medically) to have done it without the new weight loss drugs, though I have been on metformin and Jardiance.

My Ontario health card pictures side by side.

I have short hair and I’m clean shaven in the first, I have a full beard and moustache in the second, and a tamer beard and moustache in the last.

The cards are green and white, but the photographs are black-and-white. There is a large gray patch in my beard but only in the most recent picture do I have salt and pepper gray in the hair on my head.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 26/08/2026

Me joking with one of my Jewish clients today after she settled her four-figure gardening bill within minutes of receiving it. She truly has been an angel… even goading me a while back to raise my rates. I have several wealthy clients who have set a wonderful example of how to live well with money.

screen shot of a text I sent my client:

ummm, you are an angel.

thank you!

I just learned this term

( Tzadikim Nistarim )

because a Rabbi i follow on social media said Dolly Parton would be a candidate.

Wonderful concept.

[winking emoji]

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David @davidmordecai.com · 26/08/2026

I am not always drawn to Buddhist art or statues (though when I am the pull can be strong). This representation of Avalokiteśvara is very beautiful. Back to sleep now for me.

The photograph shows a human figure standing with arms clasped in front of them, in a gesture some associate with prayer but known as anjali.

The figure has many other arms radiating out around it. It also has a series of several heads, both aligned vertically above one another in diminishing size, and also on the side of where a head would regularly be. the figure is rendered in gold and there is a gold disc around it. Parts of the figure are clothed in gray and the background is a motif in a similar gray.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 18/08/2026

Late afternoon vibes. Despite the chaos and annoying blinds, my space can still give me joy. (ADHD me struggles mightily with tidying and organization. It's amazing what I can do for and with others, but find incredibly challenging solo. Don't look too closely!!)

photo of a wall in my space showing various pieces of art, lamps, vases, a book case and more art visible in a mirrored storage unit... all lit by the setting sun coming through vertical blinds

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David @davidmordecai.com · 17/08/2026

🌱 Wonderful garden to work in on a beautiful, late-summer afternoon.

Garden showing a thyme lawn in the centre of the frame surrounded by perennial flower beds, and a large Taxodium disticum — Bald Cypress ) tree in the background

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David @davidmordecai.com · 17/08/2026

Tree drama in Harbord Village, Toronto. (Years ago they built a retaining wall around the roots of this tree and my guess is that is why this happened.)

A yellow Humvee, crushed by a large tree

View of the street from farther back showing the crushed Humvee and the fallen tree blocking the entire street

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David @davidmordecai.com · 16/08/2026

Tonight's wisdom. I need to get back to a serious meditation practice. Though it's interesting that some intensive meditation programs are (rightly, I believe) cautious if someone has an SMI diagnosis. The Ring of The Way — Testament of a Zen Master pp 19 & 20 Taisen Deshimaru

No one can understand the religious joy within those who become truly intimate with themselves.

It's a form of concentration that not only doesn't create disorder in the mind but actually organizes it, that creates order within us.

Zazen means to become intimate with oneself. During zazen we follow the cosmic order naturally, automatically, unconsciously, by means of hishiryo-thinking without thoughts, beyond thoughts. The result of moving from thought to thought is nervous disorders; the result of moving from non-thought to non- thought is stupor. Running away, escaping from anything at all, is not good. The natural state is hishiryo, but moving from non- thought to non-thought sends one to sleep. Do not sleep.

If we concentrate on posture, we forget to think and the unconscious can show itself. The best way is to move from thought to non-thought, from non-thought to thought.

eyes, nose, tongue, ears, touch, or consciousness. Everything exists unconsciously, naturally, automatically, but there is no personal thought about that existence, nothing conscious. Everything naturally follows the cosmic order. Whatever relates to the conscious mind has nothing to do with satori. The true satori comes and cannot be felt. But a master can tell if it is there.

Then no obstacle can disturb you. Hishiryo, samadhi. Mouth closed, body not moving, posture strong and full of energy, breathing deep, thumbs horizontal. Push the sky with the top of the head, push the earth with the knees

The original hishiryo consciousness is what is being thought by the cosmos when it is in harmony with the cosmic order. Hishiryo is not a special condition of the mind, not a special

state, on the contrary, it is the natural state, original thought: it rejects nothing and includes all things.

When the brain is calm, in a state of profound serenity, then the human microcosm is a perfect and harmonious image of the macrocosm. The moment our consciousness creates the slightest

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concept, produces the least discriminatory notion, the harmony disappears.

During zazen, by bringing our consciousness to focus on, to move inside our posture and the calm rhythm of our breathing, we allow the right harmony to occur, producing the state of hishirvo consciousness.

5. KYO GYO SHO ITTO

Kyo = teaching.

Gyo = practice.

Sho = satori, wisdom, understanding.

Itto = unity.

Teaching, practice, and satori do not exist separately.

6. BUTSU KOJO NO HOMON

Buddha is the ideal of the effort of our everyday lives, but we should not be too attached to it. We must be beyond Buddha. If we are too attached, we separate Buddha from ourselves and make him into some transcendent external object.

We must become the Buddha that exists in our bodies and our minds. In most religions, God is an object of faith to which people are overly attached. This is a mistake; it sets up a duality in the mind between the self and the object of faith. The unity is broken.

That does not mean that we should not respect Buddha; only we must not be dependent.

To act with a mind that is mushotoku, without any goal, not seeking to get anything: that is the best course.

7. SHIN JIN ICHI NYO

Body and mind are not two. This is the secret of Soto Zen.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 14/08/2026

Mr barber is going away for three months and I will miss him! #SimplePleasures

Selfie showing a portion of my face and all of the back of my head in a mirror. My hair is cut in an asymmetrical peak that ends in a point on my neck to one side.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 14/08/2026

The Ring of The Way — Testament of a Zen Master Taisen Deshimaru pg 83

thought is mountain, water, earth. The next thought is a new mountain, new water, new earth. Each thought is independent, newly created, vital and instantaneous.
The undivided mind is not concerned with small and large, near and far, being or nonbeing, gain or loss, recognition or nonrecognition, satori or illusion, life or death. The undivided mind is beyond opposites. So the study of the mind is the way to achieve stable and undivided action, beyond all the worlds of relativity.
Our whole body-mind is ku, originally, and neither grows nor
diminishes, neither is born nor dies.
Sometimes in our life and death, our desires for nirvana or other circumstances cause the Buddha-mind, the resolve to wake up, to develop in us. We should not wait for any particular time or place to realize that mind and resolve. It is never conditioned by time or space, any more than by intellectual capacity. Because the resolve to wake up is the origin of all true activity, it appears, naturally and automatically, of itself. It cannot be defined in terms of existence or nonexistence, good or evil, or circumstance, place, or past karma.
This life and this death are our true life, the life of every day with its suffering, sorrow, misfortune, difficulties, and also joy and good fortune. But the resolve to wake up arises more often in suffering and misfortune than in joy and luck. Happiness is like a bubble.
Beyond time and space there is neither existence nor nonex-istence, nor good or bad persons or things. There is eternity. But in time, everything is mujo, ever-changing. To live eternally, we must understand the root, the source.
If you want to clean the river's mouth, you must go upstream first. To purify downstream, you must first purify the source.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 14/08/2026

The Ring of The Way — Testament of a Zen Master Taisen Deshimaru pg 82

win or lose. But not to win and not to be defeated, that is harder.
When our mind becomes egoless illumination, samadhi, then all desire and ambition disappear. There is nothing left. This is the last station in life, zero. We must come back to that point, that inner spirit; otherwise, our lives are full of trouble. Trying to obtain social status, or money, or a family, is not really necessary.
Just be alone, face to face with yourself; you do not have to explain and show everything to others.
This is an inner, personal decision. Afterwards, life becomes as light as a passing cloud. If you follow Buddha with Buddha's energy and activity, there is no need to use your own energy or your own personal strength, or to disperse your consciousness, your mind. In the end we can become Buddha without separating ourselves from life and death. But we must not cling to or stagnate in any particular state of mind, or attach ourselves to anything that happens in the mind
Samadhi is a delicate state, in which the body feels nothing
except perfect peace in profound joy.
The spirit of samadhi is like the flame of a candle in a closed room; it breaks up the dark and throws light on all the objects around it.
The relationship between body and mind, physical and spiritual, self and society, self and all other existences, nature, cosmos, everything, is the same as that between the front and back of a single sheet of paper. Between the surfaces, there is nothing impure. Impurity is a demon. Originally, there is no demon between God or Buddha and the self; the two are con-pletely intimate and united. But when an impure demon material-izes, they become relative and dualistic. The demon of impurity creates disharmony between Buddha and the self.
We usually think of the things in nature carth, streams, sun, moon, stars-as being outside our minds, but in reality they are the mind itself. Do not imagine, however, that this means that things exist only in our minds. Let go of the notions of out…

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David @davidmordecai.com · 13/08/2026

The Ring of The Way — Testament of a Zen Master Taisen Deshimaru pg 81 My book find of the weekend.

The whole page:

When the mind's activity fills the cosmos, and we grasp opportunity as it arises, then we can arrange and cope with the ever-shifting flow of events, avoid accidents, tackle the ten thousand things in one. Original nature cannot be apprehended by our personal faculties and perceptions. What we grasp with our senses is not real, is not true substance, is imagination.
Difficult problems are different for each person, and we all need different means to solve them. We all have to create our own methods. We have to create by ourselves.
All great works of art go beyond technical mastery. Even in the fields of technology and science, the great discoveries come from somewhere beyond principles and techniques.
We must not be attached to just one idea, category, concept.
From idea to act there must be freedom.

Not think:
Was, will be;
Behind, before;
Only freedom
At the middle point.

What is bodai shin? The way. Not cogitate. Not seek. Not
desire. Not keep. Not get. Not abandon.
As in the martial arts, ordinarily, technique must be acquired and used for the first ten or twenty years, but in the end what matters more is the state of mind. The link between mind and body, spirit and posture, attitude and technique, is breathing. In the end, posture and breathing become one.
The secret of the sword is never to draw the sword. Do not draw your sword, because if you try to kill someone else, then you wil have to die yourself. What you need to kill is yourself, kill your own mind, If you have done that, other people will be afraid and run away. You will be the strongest and the others will keep their distance, and so it will not be necessary to fight or deteat them.
We must not think of winning, but we must not think of being defeated, either. That is contradictory; so what should we do? It is difficult; to lean left or right is easy, just as it is easy to

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David @davidmordecai.com · 13/08/2026

“Mind and body, outside and inside, substance and phenomena: these pairs are not dualities or opposed; they form a single, seamless whole. When the mind's activity fills the cosmos, and we grasp opportunity as it arises, then we can arrange and cope with the ever-shifting flow of events…” #Zen

Photograph of me holding the book from which the quote in the post is taken. It’s title is The Ring of The Way, it is by Taisen Deshimaru. It’s subtitle is testament of Zen Master

The majority of the book cover is a yellow wash with black Asian calligraphy

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David @davidmordecai.com · 12/08/2026

Dude, when you are living in the wild, off of berries and roots, with no modern accutrements, maybe then I will be more tolerant of your message. Instead, it's a block. The gecko isn't even my pet. Righteousness is so unhelpful. And why can't people MYOB. (Hope that this is a bot, not human.)

Screenshot of blocked skeet

emtøøt/

Replied to you

AV@r00tme.bsky.social · 1h

If he was born in captivity, then there is a relationship of domination at its
very foundation. That's what you all tell yourselves to ease your
conscience and convince yourselves of it. If I placed you in a glass
prison from birth, I'm not sure you'd say the same thing.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 12/08/2026

He was captive born and bred so is highly socialized to be around people. He probably would not survive very long in the wild because he is not scared enough. He would be food very quickly. He has a luxurious and very safe home.

giant 6x8 ft terrarium with Martin the gecko featuring center stage

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David @davidmordecai.com · 11/08/2026

I didn’t think that me and Martin the gecko would end up getting so friendly. I am not generally a fan of lizards, but he was actually VERY cute.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 11/08/2026

Special guest at our celebration!

Photo of a Madagascar Giant Day Gecko standing at the edge of a glass table and being fed a small piece of watermelon. The gecko is bright green with red spots

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David @davidmordecai.com · 11/08/2026

Me explaining birthday plans to my cousin. Disability is a hell of a thing. Anderson is aiming for a full recovery… I will share more about that eventually. In the meantime if anyone wants to chip in $10, it would be appreciated. In Jamaica we say “every mickle mek a muckle.” Thanks to all who have!

Screenshot of WhatsApp msg

Today

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY CUS!! HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY! And don't have to work too much!
10:51 a.m.

What's your plan for today to celebrate?
10:51 a.m.

hi, working now one of my staff has a birthday yesterday so we're doing a barbecue this afternoon then need to be in bed because bipolar mood is acting up 10:56 a.m.

thank you for birthday wishes!!

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David @davidmordecai.com · 08/08/2026

Today’s writing… (All posted with permission.)

Writing in blue marker, page headed up August 8th 2026 Right hand. There are two hands in the photo, one holding a blue marker.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 08/08/2026

We are doing writing. Incredible progress in just a few weeks. If someone you know has a stroke, don’t give up!!

A page with the date Sunday July 5th, lots of scribbles, some shapes that are like letters in red marker.

Another page with black marker. Headed up July 23rd left hand mostly recognizable

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David @davidmordecai.com · 06/08/2026

🌱 Video of a weeping mulberry that I passed today, which shows the kind of form that makes these plants quite beautiful if they are properly pruned. My guess is that the city gardeners has given this some minimal but key pruning over the years.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 05/08/2026

Friends for 45 years across four countries — Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad, and Canada.

A photograph of me flanked by two women we are all smiling and looking straight at the camera

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David @davidmordecai.com · 05/08/2026

We had a mini high school reunion tonight. I have not seen the men in this photo in decades!

Six people standing side-by-side with the background of the skyline of Toronto. We are all in our late 50s, wearing casual clothes we are arm in arm and smiling at the camera

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David @davidmordecai.com · 02/08/2026

My first great experience of grief and loss was the death of my grand uncle Alan. (Spelling, @refracting.bsky.social?) His and his wife’s care and their ancient house shaped me in many ways. At 14, I took to wearing his shirts, and thus cut a rather unusual figure at school. These were my dad’s …

Photograph of a pair of beige socks, lying on top of a pair of grey shoes. There is a label on the socks that says Martin Mordecai and the room number, 3101, of his nursing home.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 01/08/2026

Yesterday and Thursday were brutal, and will have to work for chunks of this weekend, but enjoying a home spa hour… (Our toes are not pretty but we are working on that!)

Picture of the lower half of my body. At the bottom of the frame, you can see my short shorts, navy blue with white trim. I am sitting on a red plastic deck chair, a small v-shaped portion of which is showing between my legs. The top half of the photo shoes my calves and my feet soaking in a tub. Lilac crocs are on either side of the bin.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 29/07/2026

I have been nagging this friend to get professional help for at least ten years. This makes me so happy!

Screenshot of a text msg conversation

How is therapy going?

I am good. Therapy is good I saw the guy this morning

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David @davidmordecai.com · 29/07/2026

Shoppers Drug Mart not much better than #Roblaws Got to the register and this clocked in at full price. The guy in the store wanted to convince me that it was just a stacking mistake, and it might be. But it’s a mistake that happens all too often.

Shelf of hair products, advertise for sale. But the products are mixed up, although their packaging is the same size and very similar, and some of them are full price.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 27/07/2026

🌱 Video showing the results of a Chelsea chop. #ChelseaChop #Perennials #GardeningTechniques

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David @davidmordecai.com · 24/07/2026

The photo editor of The Star shows Carney favor here.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 23/07/2026

This is what it looked like before Linda Boorman and I re-designed it and we planted it out... (Linda is an designer who mostly does interiors but sometimes also outdoor spaces, who was responsible for the hardscape adjustments.)

view of the same backyard from above, showing the pool and very little vegetation around it

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David @davidmordecai.com · 23/07/2026

Here is the garden that is underneath that huge Japanese maple. [Video pans across a front garden consisting of a mixture of shrubs, perennials, and ornamental grasses underneath a very large Japanese maple tree.]

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David @davidmordecai.com · 22/07/2026

🌱 Silver-leaved Fothergilla cultivars are among my favourite plants, and rare in Toronto. I think this is Mount Airy, but there are others. Rare, beautiful, plants. (And yes, I know that this one doesn't look like much, but I love it dearly.)

Picture of a garden bed showing several different plants, one of which is a shrub with powdery silver blue leaves

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David @davidmordecai.com · 22/07/2026

10 years working at this property and today was the first time anybody fell into the pool. More accurately, partially fell in. And thankfully, it was was me. I only soaked half my leg. Was trying to show one of my team how much to trim off of an overhanging tree.

photograph of a lush backyard with a swimming pool surrounded by trees

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David @davidmordecai.com · 22/07/2026

🌱 This is the largest Japanese maple I have ever seen. I’m guessing it’s at least 40 feet tall! And possibly more. It is almost as large as the house it sits in front of.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 22/07/2026

My phone just served me this picture. One of the loveliest human beings I know, and I am fortunate to know quite a few lovely humans. Odd coincidence that he gets back from a two week vacation in Japan today. (Okay meds and bed for me!)

photograph of a white dude in his mid thirties in a black tee shirt with mid brown hair, a moustache and beard looking straight at the camera, his head is tilted slightly to one side. He is wearing large round gold glasses, and smiling contentedly with his mouth closed. His arms are folded across his lap. He has a watch on one wrist and a full sleeve tattoo on the other arm.

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David @davidmordecai.com · 22/07/2026

Continuing the theme, my friend's Marxist bumper sticker. Not a fan of bumper stickers on my vehicle but I do want to find a good home for this... and I think I just thought of one.

a photograph of a pink bumper sticker sitting in my lap next to a bunch of keys while I'm sitting in front of a car steering wheel. the black text on the bumper sticker says "the cause of labor is the hope of the world"

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David @davidmordecai.com · 16/07/2026

One of my staff is comfortable wearing a respirator so we did get some work done. I don't believe in insisting people work in circumstances that they are uncomfortable in. [video pans across a curbside native plant and pollinator garden and briefly shows me in a mask.]

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David @davidmordecai.com · 11/07/2026

🌱 Another cool plant #FloweringNow at the Toronto Botanical Gardens Onopordon acanthium,the Cotton or Scotch Thistle

a large plant with silver gray foliage spiky leaves and purple, thistle-shaped flowers

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David @davidmordecai.com · 10/07/2026

🌱 Calycanthus floridus: the eastern sweetshrub, Carolina allspice, or spicebush, #FloweringNow at Toronto Botanical Gardens, one of my favourites!

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David @davidmordecai.com · 10/07/2026

Jobsite for the first half of today. Thank goodness it wasn't too hot. [video of a penthouse terrace with multiple pines in large square containers with a portion of the downtown Toronto skyline in the background.

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