The Brown Knowser

I have to admit that I didn't pick up my camera very often this year. Every once and awhile, on my commutes to and from work, I would make a few detours, stopping not too far from my regular route, between Barrhaven and Gatineau. But it was seldom that I strayed far to capture images. I took a couple of trips over the year, the biggest ones took me to the Mayan Riviera and back to South Korea . I took plenty of photos then, but other trips, to Toronto, to the Eastern Townships of Québec, and to Prince Edward County, had me using my camera sparingly or not at all. So when I went through the photos of 2019, there weren't a lot to choose from. Thankfully, that made preparing this post rather easy, compared with my end-of-year posts of years gone by. I was also quite brutal in paring down the number of photos to share, so that I didn't have something like the 28 photos that I shared last year. Then again, I tried to limit it to my top 10, but that was nearly impossible...

I first posted this story in 2011 and have now made it my holiday tradition. If you haven't read it before, I hope you enjoy it. If you have read it before, I'm hoping that you make it your holiday tradition in reading it again. Merry Christmas, and all the best over the holiday season! At first, we did it out of excitement, unable to wait. Later, it became a game about how far we could go, how much risk we were willing to take. In time, it became a ritual. The first time we crept downstairs, anxious to see what Santa left us, my younger sister, Jen, and I faced an obstacle: each other. "Go to bed," I whispered, not wanting her to make any noise, thereby arousing the attention of our parents, who had only a half hour or less gone to bed after placing our wrapped gifts under the tree. Our older sister, Holly, was sound asleep, able to contain her excitement and curiosity. The first time that Jen and I met on the stairs, we got our parents' attention: "In...

First told in December, 2014, this Christmas tale is now a Brown Knowser holiday repeat. If you're new to my blog, I hope you enjoy it; if you've read it before, I hope that it puts you in the holiday spirit. He  never cared for Secret Santas in the office, or anywhere, for that matter.  He  d id n't feel the need to pick a random name from a hat and then try to figure out something about  that practical stranger  ( he  just kn e w  that, as luck  would have it, he would  pick  the name of someone  that worked in a distant part of the office, someone that he  d id n't know well), and he would then spend money and time choosing a gift that  would  not enrich the life of that individual , would not be something  t hat  would  give th at individual  anything that  he or she would  truly want. He  used to participate in Secret Santa at work, feeling compelled by peer pressure.  ...

This blog post was originally posted on December 20, 2011, and has become a traditional  Brown Knowser  holiday tale. If you have read it before, I hope you enjoy it again. If this is your first read, I hope it won't be your last. * On some level, I'm not a fan of Christmas. Not of the decorating, nor of the card giving (actually, the Brownfoots have pretty much given up on that front), nor, especially, of the shopping. I hate going near the malls and department stores at this time of year: fighting crowds, standing in lines, searching for that ever-elusive parking space. Not being religious, the spiritual side of Christmas is lost on a cynic like me. Our family doesn't go to church, participates in no rituals that have long ago been stolen from the Pagans. We have no manger on display, no angel on high. My participation in these year-end, winter festivities usually includes some shopping, taking the family to a farm to search for and cut down our tree, and then drivin...

As we head toward winter and the impending Arctic blasts, I can't help but think of this year's trip to sunny Mexico, when DW and I had an early celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary. This one-week vacation to the Mayan Riviera will no doubt go down as one of our best vacations of all time and was our first vacation away from the kids in 15 years, especially since DW was able to fulfill one of her bucket-list dreams: swimming with sea turtles. This is also the first time we were able to truly take advantage of our 360-degree video camera. I've shared the first video that I shot, before this trip, in early March , and I later took this camera with me and made a movie in Korea , but with Mexico we were able to take the camera under water to see the sea life and snorkel in the cenotes. DW and I created a 30-minute video to remember this trip, but I felt that this is too long for other people to watch. And because I know that some people like to see travel videos to...