The Brown Knowser

It's been a great three weeks but we're ready to go home. I hadn't found much time to blog over the time (most of the posts over the weeks were set to post before I left Canada) but I'll catch up in the coming weeks. In the meantime, here is a shot of one of my favourite stops on our trip. This photo of Mont-St-Michel, in the Bretagne region, was the last time I looked at the millennia-old town. We had spent the morning exploring the cathedral and ramparts and had taken the shuttle back to the mainland. I wanted a shot of the town from a distance, so I put my telephoto zoom on. I took the shot, then turned my back and never looked at the town again. I moved forward. Today, as my family and I head back home, I think I will never see France again. I loved it but I'm ready to move on, to see other places. Next year. Happy Friday!

Photo credit: Sebastian Ritter I loved matches: I loved the sulfurous smell that stings the nostrils. I love how the spark leads to a flare, and then to a small flame that burns on a tiny sliver of wood, or a compressed pile of paper. I used to make miniature rockets with matches, using only a small piece of tin foil, a paper clip, and a needle. I would wrap the head of a match with the foil, making sure that about the first half of the match was covered tightly. I would then insert the needle along the shaft of the match, under the foil and up to the head, creating a vent. The paper clip would then be spread apart gently, such that if you lay it down, the larger loop of the clip made a stable base and the smaller loop would rise up at about a 45-degree angle. The match would rest on this stand with the head at the top part of the paper-clip launch pad. I would then light a second match and hold it under the head of my rocket match, standing to the side of it. Blast off! ...

I don't have any enemies, do I? I hope not. I'm sure I've pissed off a few people in my life (I know I have), but I don't mean to. And I'm sorry. Maybe one or more of my posts has pissed off a person or two, but I have to try to be true to myself: if I try to live up to other people's standards, I won't be able to make everyone happy anyway; least of all, myself. Anyway, that has nothing to do with today's music, except for its title, Enemies , by BC singer-songwriter, Hannah Georgas . This song has a good beat and great vocals, and the video is well-shot. The main character, played by actor John Ennis, gives a convincing performance on a down-on-his-luck guy who enters his dog in a race and bets everything on it. Though I hate dogs (yes, I guess we're enemies), I like the story. And I love the song. Happy Monday!

I know: I play a lot of Matthew Good . But when I try to think of the best song by this incredibly talented Canadian artist, I can't pick just one song. I won't promise this will be the last time that I share his music with you. When Matt Good performed at Bluesfest last summer, I had to go at all cost. I had missed him so many times in the past because I couldn't get my wife to come (she isn't a fan) and none of my friends were available. So I went alone. Although Matt's solo career is just as strong as it was with his band, I always love to hear the old stuff (yet, I have an equal mix on my smartphone). At Bluesfest, Matt sang many songs from his years in the Matthew Good Band, and I blissfully sang along. But the high point came at the end of the show, when he sang one of my all-time favourite of his songs, Weapon . From 2003 (before I even got into the band), it's a powerful song with soft acoustic guitar mixed with ear-splitting guitar and heart-p...

I wanted an evening shot. One of those nights when the fountains are stilled and the pools become mirrors. I wanted the pyramid reflected in such a way that it becomes a cube. I wanted a golden glow, with the palace facade of the Louvre standing in the background. I planned the shot for after our second tour of the day, when we hoped the crowds had thinned, that we could see the Mona Lisa without obstruction. But as we approached the entrance to the museum, a different light caught my attention, and we delayed our entrance for about a half an hour. When we saw Da Vinci's masterpiece, it paled by comparison. When we left the Louvre, I had forgotten about my imagined photo, the one I wanted before we arrived. I got what I didn't know I wanted. Happy Friday!

What I have written here may get me into trouble with some of my family members and dear friends. It's a topic on which I've had an opinion for several years but one that I have spoken about with only a few in my closest circle. Picture this: a brand-new, state-of-the-art structure, steel and glass glimmering in a sun-soaked sky. A thing of beauty, from which one can hardly look away. And on its unveiling, it's opening day, the architect takes several cans of multi-coloured spray paint, and adds a heart to its unblemished side. Or a Celtic cross. Or an inspirational quote from a popular piece of literature. The vandalism seems out of place with the clean lines, the perfect curves of this structure, has nothing to do with the architecture. But there it is, in plain sight, for all to see. I don't like tattoos. I have never understood the thinking behind the desire to take ink and inject it under the skin, to have something so permanent take up such a ...

My wardrobe hasn't changed much in the last 15 years. In fact, I'm still wearing clothes that I bought in 1999. Or from even earlier. I'm an old fuddy-duddy that way. This is me before I read at the Writers Festival, but it could be me on any given day in 2000. I like to wear clothes that make me comfortable. Which means that I'm generally dressed in a buttoned shirt, with a t-shirt underneath, jeans, and comfortable walking shoes. My shirt is never tucked in these days, but about 10 years ago, it was. I keep up with trends in fashion, if not fashion itself. My favourite shirt, a tan, faux-suede fabric, has been worn since the fall of 1999. I've worn it to job interviews, to work, to casual outings, to Toastmaster meetings. I tend to wear it less frequently in the summer, because it's just too darned hot, but I'll still put it on to make sure it doesn't feel neglected. When it finally wears out—and I don't think it's showing any si...

There is a song I have, that I downloaded for my iPhone when I was still collecting the iTunes cards at Starbucks, that I had to keep and store on my new phone when I upgraded (in so many ways) to an Android phone. Neko Case is one of those singer-songwriters that gets a lot of attention on the CBC, and so I have heard of her for some time, listened to her songs when she got the air time, but I never owned any of her albums. Though she is American, she has been active in the Canadian indie-music scene, namely, The Sadies and The New Pornographers . I like the power of Neko's vocals in her song, Night Still Comes . And in wanting to share this song with you, I found a video of her singing the song, live, on CBC Radio's show, Q . Happy Monday!

One of my favourite filters, when I was shooting with my old Minolta X-700 SLR, was my polarizing filter, which would apply a highlighted contrasting effect between light and dark. Circa 1990: shot with my Minolta X-700 The next-best thing is natural lighting. If the sunset shines on bright objects when the background sky is naturally darkened, say, from storm clouds, a natural contrast would be accentuated. This was the situation I was given the other night, when I picked up my daughter from the Britannia Yacht Club. I caught it with my D-SLR. While I did pump up the colours, I did not play with the contrast. I let Mother Nature take care of that effect. Happy Friday!

I still blame the chipmunk . Ever since that speedy little rodent ran out onto the bike path and failed to evade the rear tire of my bike, since his soft little neck got crushed and his nut-gathering days came to an abrupt end, my bike has never been the same. As the last of the synapses fired from his tiny brain, I feel that a dying curse was conveyed upon my bike because, since that fateful day, I have had the worst luck with my bike. I have already written about that day where I ran over that chipmunk on my ride to work. But the bad luck on my bike hasn't ended with the eventual, safe return to my home. Since that day, when I blew two inner tubes, I have lost an additional five tubes. That's seven blown tires in less than two weeks! My last blow-out was on August 1, as I was cycling along the Rideau River, following the path under the Queensway (which, incidentally, was less than a kilometre from where I blew a tube before, on the same path). Having been taught the...

I hung out here a lot when I was a kid. In my teens, I was involved in a bad collision on a bicycle as I neared this park, totalling my bike and losing a fair about of flesh and blood. I still cycle through it on a regular basis (see my bike in the photo?). And this month, it is the 39th location of Where In Ottawa . While this pavilion is relatively new, it has become as much a familiar symbol of the park as the old bandstand and the train underpass across from Carleton University. Congratulations to John Richardson, who correctly identified the pavilion in Vincent Massey Park. John, please contact me at Roland_Axam@yahoo.ca and we'll talk about getting you your copy of my book (unless you've already received a copy: at 39 iterations of this contest, I'm beginning to lose track). Where In Ottawa returns Monday, September 1.

For many of you who live in Ottawa, today is a holiday. Many of you have left town to visit friends and family, maybe relax at a cottage. Good for you: enjoy! While you're relaxing, maybe you can take in a leisurely game of Where In Ottawa . All you have to do is correctly identify the location of the photo, below, and leave your response in the Comments section to this post. The winner of this challenge may be eligible to receive an autographed paperback copy of my novel, Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary . However, the following conditions apply: If you were with me when I shot the photo, you are ineligible to play. If you have won the Where In Ottawa challenge before, you can still play, but no giveaway will be awarded. Only correct answers that are posted in the Comments section are considered valid. No other form of communicating your answer will be accepted (if you tweet me with the answer, for example, I won't respond). If you win the challenge and are eligible...

There's a small patch of sunflowers in the Greenbelt, along Greenbank Road. It's on your right-hand side, if you're travelling south, toward Barrhaven, between Hunt Club Road and Fallowfield. The patch is surrounded on three sides by corn stalks and is set back a ways from the road. You don't see it until you are almost upon it. And then, seconds later, you're past it, returned to the monotony that is experimental farmland. You have to be careful if you pull over and stop: there are lots of accidents that occur on this stretch of roadway. To see over the chain-linked fence, you must stand on the shoulder of the road, but that too is hazardous. If you walk to the pedestrian/bicycle path that follows Greenbank Road, in the recessed ditch, the field is obstructed. But if you climb onto the raised sewer cover, which lifts you by about three feet—just under a metre—you're okay. A 300mm lens should do it. I've wanted to stop for about a week to take this...