Way-Back Throwback

It's a part of my family that I only just learned about, recently.

My mom was going through some old photos she found and she sent my brother, sisters, and me this one:

It was taken around 1923 or 1924. In it, my great-grandmother, Florence Fairey, sits on the left; a young girl, Lena, is two or three years old, and would later become my grandmother. Sitting on the right, in a military uniform, is my great-grandfather, William Whimp, who has another young girl seated on his lap.

She's my Aunt Mae, who passed away in 2005.

But I didn't know who the young man, standing in the background, was, so I asked my mom. And, apparently, he's my great-uncle of whom I knew nothing before.

It seems that my great-grandmother had been married to a man with the last name of Wren (my mom doesn't remember his first name), and they had two children. One had died in infancy and the other, Arthur, the man in the photo, was adopted by William Whimp when he married Florence.

Sadly, Florence died a few months after this photo was taken. And, according to my mom, Arthur died a few years after that.

William remarried and my mom said that everyone in the family referred to her simply as 'Ma Whimp.' I remember meeting her once or twice but don't remember her very clearly.

Of course, I'm hoping that Ancestry will help me learn more about my distant family members. I especially hope that my mom, now in her 80s, is around to help me learn more.

Happy Thursday!

Winter in Ottawa

For the past few weekends, DW and I have tried to get out and enjoy the winter. On the very morning that the Rideau Canal Skateway opened to the public, DW and I were out there, first thing.

We've also taken in some Winterlude activities, and even got in some snowshoeing (for me) and cross-country skiing (for her). And every time we've been out, I've had some video equipment.

Over the weekend, in between heading out to the driveway, to clear away the 60-some centimetres, I would work on putting my footage together in a short video that I would later upload to my YouTube channel. Have a look.

For 2025, I've started experimenting with new fonts and titles, and I won't be using most of my choices again, in future videos. Some of the labels got lost in the white background, especially when the video is viewed on a TV screen. I also trusted the editing software to automatically apply an HDR effect to the video.

I won't be doing that again, either.

This video also marks the first time that I've used my new drone to capture some footage. I hope to make it a regular thing, going forward.

In the months before DW, our Paddlefolk, and I can get back into our kayaks, I've been thinking of making videos around Ottawa area. We'll see.

If you like my videos, please hit the Thumbs Up button. Also, do me a favour and subscribe. I'd like to see my numbers climb this year.

Happy Wednesday!

The Return of an Evening Ritual

I've finally started reading again.

I've always been an avid reader. From as early as when I learned to read, I loved finding good stories. I regularly hung out in the library at my elementary school, and even as early as the sixth grade, I decided that I wanted to be a writer.

There was a period, in high school, where I didn't want to read the books that were thrust upon us by teachers. I liked picking my own books to read and would rely on Coles Notes when it came to tests and assignments in English class.

My marks would often reflect that minimal effort. And ironically, I eventually read all of the books that I dissed and discovered that I had done myself a great disservice by not reading them when they were first introduced to me.

For most of my adult life, I've devoured books, sometimes reading around 25 a year. Even in the early days of The Brown Knowser blog, I'd make a list of books to read for the coming year and often exceed that list.

And then my reading pretty much came to a halt.

I got into other things. I'd spend more time working on this blog, or on my fiction. Or worse, I'd become a couch potato, with DW, and watch TV until it was time to go to bed. Or, even worse, I'd be on my phone, scrolling through various social-media feeds or playing silly games.

When I got into listening to podcasts, I'd do that in bed before going to sleep. It was better than watching TV or doing unimportant stuff on my phone, but it wasn't reading.

Over the past few years, I'd be lucky to read a single novel. My bookshelves held lots of unread books, but I let the dust gather on them.

Last December, when DW and I were in Mexico, I brought a book with me to read while lounging on the beach or near the pool. It was a silly book about a British comedian who travelled the world to pursue various conspiracy theories. I figured that a light, mindless read was perfect for a lazy week.

I started it on our flight to Cancun and finished the last page shortly before we landed back in Ottawa.

I enjoyed the book a lot (The Conspiracy Tourist, by Dom Joly) and it reignited my desire to return to reading.

My friend and fellow author, Peggy Blair, had recently written another crime novel, Double Vision, and I decided that I'd start my year off by reading her follow-up to her novel, Shadow Play. The sequel is Peggy's best work to date.

Being a lover of crime novels, I sought out my stack of unread books that have been gathering dust for more than a year. Normally, I would read an Ian Rankin novel as soon as it hit the book stores, but I was two novels behind (actually, I was three novels behind, with his latest, Midnight and Blue, still unpurchased).

I've finished A Song For The Dark Times and am currently into A Heart Full of Headstones. Rankin is still as brilliant as ever.

I have returned to my evening ritual, making sure the TV is done by 10. DW and I sleep in separate rooms, these days (our mutual snoring prevented both of us from having a good sleep so we've put some space between us, and it seems to work), so I can head up without waiting for her and curl up with a book as soon as I've readied myself for bed. I'll typically read until midnight.

I tend to get my blogging done during lunch breaks or on weekends, and my video editing is reserved for free weekend afternoons (not that I do it every weekend).

I find that I'm able to fall asleep faster when I read a book, rather than looking at my phone screen, so I'm hoping that this routine is back for good.

Now, I'll need some good recommendations. Leave yours in the Comments section.

Million Milestone

It happened while I was sleeping.

At the beginning of this year, when I was checking the metrics of my blog, I realized that I was very close to achieving one million views on The Brown Knowser. I was about 43,000 views away from reaching that number and guessed that I'd hit that milestone within the next couple of months.

I thought it would be nice to hit the million views in time for my birthday, which is next week, so I wrote a blog post about that wish. And, boy, my readers didn't disappoint.

Over the past year, I've had around 15,000 viewers to my blog each month. Sometimes, more; sometimes, fewer. Getting 43,000 in two months was a challenge but not impossible.

But, boy, have you come through for me.

In January, my blog was visited 34,247 times. You rock! And as February moved along, I was seeing high viewership again, and calculated that I would hit the million mark by the middle of the month.

It happened in the wee hours of Valentine's Day, while I slept. I awoke on Friday and checked my blog stats, to see that the million-viewer milestone had been exceeded.

A few hours later, I looked at the numbers again, and I was at 1,001,010 viewers. If I suffered from apophenia, I would see that the binary 1001010 represents 74, which is the age that my grandmother was when she died, some 30 years ago.

Her birthday? Valentine's Day. Coincidence?

(I really have to stop watching conspiracy theory videos on YouTube.)

Thank you for supporting my channel. While The Brown Knowser makes no money, I feel rich nevertheless. You keep me writing. You keep me looking at the world around me, keep me thinking, keep me creating.

I hope that the coming blog posts continue to entertain you. You are awesome.

Happy Monday!

Same Age

One wears it better.

Last weekend, DW and I headed out to the Rideau Canal to check out the Winterlude festivities. It wasn't our first time, this season, on the canal, as we had hit the ice on the first morning that the NCC opened it to the public, but it was the first time since our city's annual celebration had opened.

We parked in Centretown's Golden Triangle neighbourhood, not far from the Corktown Bridge. DW's plan was to skate from this pedestrian bridge to the 0-kilometre marker, near the Canadian Senate, and back, past her starting point, to Fifth Avenue, and then back again.

Because of my reconstructive foot surgery, back in 2018, my left foot no longer fits into my skate. And even if it did, there's a spot on the top of my foot, just above where a metal plate and eight screws take the spot where I once had joints, where, if any pressure is applied, causes intense pain.

Sadly, my skating days are over.

But that didn't keep me off the ice. Armed with one of my D-SLRs, I walked from the Corktown Bridge to the 0K marker and back, snapping some photos and shooting video along the way.

I'm planning to make a video of the skateway, including some Winterlude festivities, in the next week or so. Stay tuned.

By the time I returned to Corktown Bridge, I could see DW climbing the stairs toward Queen Elizabeth Drive and our car. She phoned me, wondering where I was, and I told her I was about 50 metres behind her. By the time I had ascended the stairs, she was just getting to our car, so I used the key fob to unlock the doors for her.

I told her, on the phone, that I just wanted to capture some video from atop the pedestrian bridge and would join her ASAP.

In the car, DW suggested that we drive to Ottawa City Hall, where we could park in the underground garage, and that we wander Sparks Street, where there are ice sculptures and other goings-on. It was a great idea, so off we went.

One of the sculptures celebrates the 60th anniversary of our Canadian flag. The ice is carved as a fireplace and hearth, with the number 60 carved on the mantle and our flag proudly placed like a priceless painting.

DW suggested that I stand in front of the sculpture, since I'm also turning 60 this year (in less than three weeks, as a matter of fact).

The flag is holding up much better than I am. It'll also last much longer that I will, no matter what some dipshit says.

Happy Friday!