Found a great source for leather notebook covers and folios by accident from an Instagram ad recently. I love this company now.

The first round of site updates are done. I didn't go with the infinite scroll, I got lazy and used the old tried-and-true Paginator I wrote well over a decade ago. It has been updated with baked-in bootstrap pagination classes. If you're interested, here's the code:

class Paginator
{

	public $current_page = 1;
	public $total_pages = 1;
	public $total_records = 0;
	public $display_total_only = 0;
	public $query_string = 0;
	public $singular_record_text = "";
	public $plural_record_text = "";
	private $inc = 1;			// inc = increment by N page - used in prev/next
	private $fp = 1;			// fp = first page
	public $threshold = 1;		// th = threshold (keep pages visible +/- from current)
	public $end_threshold = 1; // st = starter threshold - keep first page visible up to Nth page.

	public function __construct($thispage=1,$totalpages=1,$totalrecords=0,$singular_text="record",$plural_text="records",$query_string=0)
	{ 
		$this->current_page = $thispage;
		$this->total_pages = $totalpages;
		$this->total_records = $totalrecords;
		$this->singular_record_text = $singular_text;
		$this->plural_record_text = $plural_text;
		$this->query_string = $query_string;
	}

	public function getFirst()
	{
		return $this->fp;
	}

	public function getLast()
	{
		return $this->total_pages;
	}

	public function getPrev()
	{
		if (($this->current_page - $this->inc) >= $this->fp)
		{
			if ($this->current_page - $this->inc > $this->total_pages)
			{
				return $this->total_pages;
			} else {
				return $this->current_page - $this->inc;
			}
		} else {
			return $this->fp;
		}
	}

	public function getNext()
	{
		if (($this->current_page + $this->inc) > $this->total_pages)
		{
			return $this->total_pages;
		} else {
			return $this->current_page + $this->inc;
		}
	}

	public function getMin()
	{
		if ($this->current_page <= $this->end_threshold)
		{
			return $this->fp;
		} else {
			return $this->current_page - $this->threshold;
		}
	}

	public function getMax()
	{

		if ($this->total_pages <= $this->end_threshold) {
			$max = $this->total_pages;
		} else {
			// if ($this->current_page < $this->end_threshold) { // commented out mb 090616
			//	$max = $this->end_threshold;
			//} else {
				if ($this->current_page > ($this->total_pages - $this->threshold)) {
					$max = $this->total_pages;
				} else {
					if ($this->total_pages - $this->current_page == $this->threshold+1)
					{
						$max = $this->current_page + $this->threshold+1;
					} else {
						$max = $this->current_page + $this->threshold;
					}
				}
		//	}
		}

		return $max;
	}

	public function getNextBreak()
	{
		return ($this->getMax() < $this->total_pages)?1:0;
	}

	public function getPrevBreak()
	{
		return ($this->getMin() > 1)?1:0;
	}
	
	public function getPageLink($page)
	{
		return "/".$this->query_string . "/page/" . $page;
		// return ($this->query_string?$this->query_string."&":"?")."page=" . $page;
	}
	
	public function getHTML()
	{
		$previouspage = $this->getPrev();
		$currentpage = $this->current_page;
		$nextpage = $this->getNext();
		$firstpage = $this->getFirst();
		$min = $this->getMin();
		$max = $this->getMax();
		$shownextbreak = $this->getNextBreak();
		$showprevbreak = $this->getPrevBreak();
		
		$html = '';
		
		$html .= "<div class=\"text-center\">\n";
		if ($this->display_total_only != 1)
		{
			$html .= "<ul class=\"pagination justify-content-center\">\n";

			// first page link - mb 100723
			if ($this->current_page != $this->getFirst() && $min > $this->getFirst() && $this->threshold != 0)
				$html .= "<li class='page-item'><a class='page-link' href=\"" . $this->getPageLink($this->getFirst()) . "\">«</a></li>\n";

			if ($this->current_page != $this->getFirst())
				$html .= "<li class='page-item'><a class='page-link' href=\"" . $this->getPageLink($previouspage) . "\">‹</a></li>\n";

			for ($i=$min;$i<=$max;$i++)
			{
				if ($this->current_page == $i)
				{
					$html .= "<li class='page-item active'><a class='page-link' href=\"" . $this->getPageLink($currentpage) . "\">" . //"<span".($this->threshold==0?"":" class=\"This-page\"").">".
							($this->threshold==0?"Page ":"").$this->current_page.
							($this->threshold==0?" of ".$this->total_pages:"").
						 "</a></li>\n";
				} else {
					if ($this->threshold!=0) $html .= "<li class='page-item'><a class='page-link' href=\"" . $this->getPageLink($i) . "\">$i</a></li>\n";
				}
			}

			if ($this->current_page != $this->total_pages && $this->current_page < $this->total_pages)
				$html .= "<li class='page-item'><a class='page-link' href=\"" . $this->getPageLink($nextpage) . "\">›</a></li>\n";
		
			// last page link - mb 100723
			if ($this->current_page != $this->getLast() && $max < $this->getLast() && $this->threshold != 0)
				$html .= "<li class='page-item'><a class='page-link' href=\"" . $this->getPageLink($this->getLast()) . "\">»</a></li>\n";
	
			$html .= "</ul>\n";
		}

		if ($this->total_records)
		{
			$html .= "<div class='Results'>" . 
			number_format($this->total_records) . " " . 
			($this->total_records <> 1?$this->plural_record_text:$this->singular_record_text) . 
			"</div>\n";
		} 
		
		$html .= "</div>\n";
		
		return $html;
	}

} // end of class

Here's how it's used with a Smarty template:

	if ( $total_pages > 1) {
		$pagin = new Paginator($current_page,$total_pages);
		$smarty->assign("paginator",$pagin->getHTML());
	}

Last year was a whirlwind of a year. Lots of ups and downs and even a few lefts and rights. There were a lot of changes in my life and in the lives of people around me.

This year there will also be some exciting new changes made to this site. Here's what I'm thinking of doing:

Public changes

• Merging and archiving the photos, scribbles and writing sections of the site
• Changing the site to simply posts and about
• Posts will be a stream or feed (chronologically ordered, newest first)
• Posts will have infinite scroll instead of paging

Admin changes

• Making post titles optional (or just getting rid of them altogether, not sure yet)
• Better handling of image attachments

What will stay the same

• The home page and about page
• The design (for now)
• The site will continue to be ad-free

Starting immediately, the Contact area of the /about page will link to my Buy Me a Coffee profile.

A quick 10 minute sketch of one of my favourite places in the world.

Yesterday I ate a Big Mac No Meat. It was oddly satisfying. Would recommend if you want junk food but don't eat meat.

These daily scribbles are somewhat therapeutic.

A view from the dock at the island.

We went back for sunset last night.

My dad's iconic garage has to be rebuilt due to fire damage back in February. This week demolition was finally started.

I mean Dragons...

This caught my eye today.

We made it.

My brother took some drone shots of the island tonight. This one is my favourite.

Went paddle boating across the bay to see a beaver dam. John found a rock he then scaled which was a feat, in and out of the paddle boat, wearing slides. He was very proud of himself.

The light is amazing here.

Headed up to the island for a week.

Today we went bowling at Parkway Social with family friends.

Taken during my walk with Junior last night.