The Brown Knowser

Though he liked the horses, they didn't like him. It was written in their eyes, where those dark, hypnotic orbs would look into his own and strike terror into him. He wanted to like them, but they were against that idea, did not want to reciprocate. When the horses watched him, their ears also went straight back, melted into the backs of their heads, became one with their manes. There was evil in the appearance of those steeds. For the most part, they ignored him. He wasn't a rider, he never groomed them, never brought them apples. He was there because his sister rode them, and so it was her that they loved , not him . He didn't want to be there, but his mother would drop him off with his older sister, who loved the horses so and took the lessons. He was there to keep her company. Make sure that she was safe. With those horses, she was safe as could be. He would watch her ride around the corral during the hour that she had with the instructor. She was a good rid...

I love to travel. I love my friends. And when I get to travel to see my friends, I'm happier than a tour bus operator with a load of Koreans*. A couple of years ago, my best friend, Stuart, and I met up in Edinburgh. He was attending a history conference and carrying out some research; I was getting away for a few days and carrying out research for my book. While we had different agendas, we did have plenty of time to spend together and explore the East-Lothian region. In high school, Stu and I were inseparable. It was tough when he left Ottawa for university. Though I had a few friends that stuck around town, none were as close. Stu was like a brother, and his absence was profoundly felt. When we caught up in Scotland, we had a great time. Even when I dragged him over Arthur's Seat, in search of a small village with a Medieval pub. I didn't have my map with me, but I had my memory of its location from Google Earth. And though Stuart's patience ran thin, he did co...

I like Beau's, but not always. Beau's All Natural Brewing Company is what I consider a hit-and-miss company. Sometimes, this organic beer company produces some awe-inspiring beer, like its Bog Water , its Beaver River IP-Eh , and its Hogan's Goat Spiced Bock. I absolutely loved their Weiss O'Lantern Pumpkin Wheat Ale —it was my overall favourite pumpkin ale last fall. Sometimes, I feel the Vankleek Hill brewery misses. I'm sorry to say, I am not a fan of their flagship beer, Lug Tread Lagered Ale. And I found that their Mr. Hyde rye flavoured IPA was a little too much. You can't please everyone. But their third installment of their winter beer is a big-time pleaser. Winterbrewed Coffee Amber Ale Beau's All Natural Brewing Company Vankleek Hill ON LCBO: $7.85, 600 ml; 6% ABV My Beer O'Clock rating: 4/5 Created a couple of years ago, during Winterlude , the folks at Beau's teamed up with another local company that specializes in fair-...

I love it when my week flows like a stream of consciousness. One action flowing into the next, and then those actions mix and mingle as they flow through time. That's how it's been this week on The Brown Knowser . There seems to have been two themes running this week, both of them intertwining and weaving into a fabric that is this blog. The two themes this week were the freezing cold of winter and writing about my fictional Scottish character, Roland Axam. Here's how the week went: Beer O'Clock: When In Winter... —a review of a beer that is made for the winter, aptly named Solstice d'hiver (Winter Solstice) and brought to you as Ottawa plunged into a deep freeze. Walkin' In a Winterlude Wonderland —despite the cold, winter can be a great time of year to take photos. And so, I've organized an evening photo walk during Winterlude (and tickets are running out fast!). Wordless Wednesday: Time Machine 8 —because it's been too cold to actually go outs...

Instead of my usual Photo Friday, I thought I would start with a video. With the past couple of days seeing Ottawa in a deep freeze, I thought I would perform that old trick with hot water. Here's what I made (and pardon the shaky camera; I should have used a tripod). And on the next morning, I stopped on Bate Island during my morning commute to capture the frosty mist as it came up from the river and floated through the trees. At the time, it was –37°C with the wind chill. In the five minutes that I took to shoot photos, my uncovered hands seized up. Stay warm, my friends. Happy Friday!

Yes, that Peter Gabriel song was in my head as I began thinking of a blog post. Maybe that's what got me delving into my basement, opening boxes, whose contents haven't seen the light of day in more than a decade. Our basement is a dumping ground; unfinished, we first piled boxes filled with things we didn't need when we first moved here. In time, we stored goods for friends, and, later, we moved things from spare bedrooms and studies when the kids came along. Now, any time we buy something new, either the box that the purchase comes in goes down, or the item that has been replaced finds its way down, or both. The basement is also the cat's domain, where we occasionally find coughed-up hairballs or remains of caught mice. We have learned to wear footwear when heading down to the basement because of what our feet may find. There's also a layer of settled dust. When we go down to the basement in search of anything, we come up dirty. Hence my thoughts as I hea...

Edinburgh, 1988

February can be a magical time of year in Ottawa: the snow is still on the ground, the weather can be cool, but pleasant, and one of the city's biggest festivals is in full swing. I'm talking, of course, about Winterlude . I love grabbing my camera and hitting the canal, or Jacques Cartier Park, or Confederation Park, and capturing people enjoying the winter weather. There's so much to photograph: skaters, snow slides, and ice sculptures. This year, I am organizing a winter photo walk to coincide with Winterlude (although I won't be associated in any way with the festival). And so, I'm calling on all photogs to join me for an evening stroll on Friday, February 8. We will start in Confederation Park, where we can expect lots of brightly lit ice sculptures and vendor booths. I believe that there will be a special covered pathway that will offer more photo opportunities. We will then move onto the Rideau Canal, where we can capture skaters and other ice act...

Only in Ottawa can we go from above from above the freezing point, where we're wearing a sweater and a down-filled vest, to a deep freeze, where our parka just doesn't seem warm enough, in less than two days. Welcome to winter. Luckily, we Ottawans are a hearty bunch. When the snow has fallen and the wind chill makes the temperature feel like –20°C, we can head out and shovel our driveways, and break out in a sweat. The best reward for enduring the bitter cold is to come inside, eat a chicken pot pie, and wash it down with a fine beer. But in winter, not any beer will do. Enter this week's selection, from Québec, aptly named for this season. Solstice d'hiver (Winter Solstice) Brasserie Dieu du Ciel! St-Jérôme, QC Broue Ha Ha : $9.99 (plus tax, deposit), 4 x 341ml; 10.2% ABV Beer O'Clock rating: 3.5 out of 5 This beer, a barley wine, is brewed in July and then aged for five or six months. As its name implies, it is released on December 21 st —winter...

If last week's thaw and record-high temperatures made Ottawans believe that winter was almost over, this week's frigid temperatures and opening of the Rideau Canal to skaters has quickly dispelled that belief. Only in Ottawa can we go from an unnatural 11°C to –30°C in a relatively short period. Don't we live in an incredible, insane city? Still, I'm looking forward to Winterlude , which opens in two weeks. Who knows what weather we'll experience by then? So take a few minutes from the weather and catch up on this week of The Brown Knowser . Beer O'Clock: Studying Scottish History —for my first beer review of 2013, I catch up on a seasonal gift pack from Scotland. Open Letter to Sarah Slean —really, I'm not a stalker. My tongue was planted firmly in my cheek when I wrote this post. But you be the judge of whether I sound like a creepy fan or not. Wordless Wednesday: In A Fog —I got soaked to the bone taking these photos. You're welcome. Not A ...

For many months, I have wanted to play with some time-exposure photography, capturing motion of obstacles at night.  I was trying to think of some places where I could get above vehicles and shoot their lights as they passed in either direction. The obvious approach was an overpass. I have shot vehicles from above the Queensway, so I didn't want to do that again. Not yet. I thought of the transitway (the public transit corridor that weaves its way through Ottawa), but I needed a place to get above. Using Google Maps, I traced out the transitway and looked for unique vantage points. There are many places to get above the transitway, but I settled on the Lees Avenue Station. In this shot, you can see not only the bus-only route but also the Queensway and the Nicholas Avenue exit. You can also see Ottawa University buildings and the downtown cityscape. I took 10 shots: one didn't turn out. Each of the remaining nine shots looked good and had characteristics of their own, s...

Several months ago, I discovered that I am using LinkedIn less and less often, and that I had more connections than I knew what to do with. So I started culling . I started with people that I didn't recognize as anyone with which I've interacted, or with people whose interests and career paths weren't in line with my own. The whole purpose was to focus more on the connections that I really knew or have had come conversation with in a discussion group, or one-on-one. In the ensuing months, I culled about 140 connections. But then I looked at LinkedIn even less often than I had when I made the decision to cull connections, and I stopped looking to shrink my network. When a person contacts me and wants to connect, more times than not I decline. Sorry, but until I get my list paired down to a manageable number, I'm not going to take on more connections. Unless I really do know you, I'm not going to connect. And since I started culling connections, LinkedIn ...

Dear Sarah, I'm really sorry for leading you astray yesterday, but I'm sure that because you don't know me, you didn't follow the advice that I gave you on Twitter . Glaswegians, typically, don't like being called "Weegies." I was messing with you. I feel that I owe you an apology, especially because when you replied to my suggestion by writing, "that sounds slightly risky... ," I said, "Trust me... would I steer you wrong?" I'm really sorry. I steered you wrong. If you did refer to your wonderful fans in Glasgow as "Weegies," I'm sure they forgave you. After all, they came to see you because they love you and your music makes the world a place in which it is worth living. Who cares what you call them? Plus, you're Canadian: what do you know about the Scotts? And where did I get the term? From a book, written by Ian Rankin, a resident of Edinburgh. His character, Inspector John Rebus, was a gruff characte...

I love history. In university, one of my favourite courses of study was an elective for my minor: Medieval history. Ever since I was a kid, I've loved castles, knights, kings, and battles with swords (not guns). When I was creating my fictional character, Roland Axam, I travelled to his home town of North Berwick and went over the moon when I found out that a Medieval castle with a colourful history was only three kilometres away. In my first story with Roland, the climax was set at Tantallon Castle. Over the holidays, I went to my local LCBO to see what seasonals were available, and I was pleased to see a box with historic Scottish ales. I had seen this set last Christmas, but I was in search of local craft seasonals, so I let the gift set go. Not this year. Sadly, I fell ill over the holidays and for a record nine days, I drank no beer. No reviews, no tastings. I suffered on top of suffering. Now that I'm better, I wanted to start my reviews for 2013 with this ...

This week has blown by for me, mostly because I was in bed with a flu bug until Thursday. The only advantage to being in bed for a week was that I was able to write and assemble almost all of this week's blog posts in one day. It's only fitting that now, in less than one day, you can review this week on The Brown Knowser . Where In Ottawa: January 2013 —the first photo challenge for the new year came with a dedication to a friend who was celebrating her birthday. The location of the photo was solved within a couple of hours. Not For Prime-Time Viewing —a recent photo session left me thinking about my personal branding and what I am willing to show on The Brown Knowser . Wordless Wednesday: Moorside —the location of the Where In Ottawa challenge also happens to be where my wife and I were married. There was a lot less snow on that lovely day. What I'll Be Reading in 2013 —my reading list has finally come together. Photo Friday: Just One —I decided to post one of the...

Okay, I've thought about it. When I talked about the latest photo shoot that I attended, I said that I didn't think I wanted to post any photos on The Brown Knowser that I didn't think went with my "brand." Whatever that word means in terms of me. But The Brown Knowser has been about me and my take on the world around me. I'm a writer and amateur photographer who has lots of thoughts, ideas, and opinions that I like to share. From my growing readership, I assume that those of you who follow me have enjoyed the journey that we've set out on. My photography interests are growing, so why wouldn't I want to share my experiences? I'm going to start with just one, today. I want to only show the photos that I feel are the most artistic and, at the same time, would offend the least number of followers, if any at all. Only you can tell me if I'm wrong. With the following photo, I used low light and no flash. I had the model rotate slowly,...

It's long overdue, but I've finally assembled my reading list for 2013. And I have to admit, I've been pretty lazy in putting this list together. I only received a couple of recommendations this year, and in a way, that was a relief. In the past two years, I had so many recommendations that I felt bad cutting some out. Despite the few suggestions, I managed to misplace some of the recommendations that I did get. I think that is because some people sent me recommendations through Twitter, and I forgot to make a note right away. This meant that that tweet got buried, and then I forgot who sent me what. Sorry about that. I also remembered that through 2012, I purchased e-books and stored them on my iPad. Many of these books are written by people that I follow on LinkedIn, on Twitter, or through their blogs, and out of loyalty I picked up a copy of their novel. And so I'm going to do those folks the courtesy of reading their hard work. Perhaps they'll do the sam...