The Brown Knowser

I couldn't see the moon setting over George Lake, when I woke up, but I knew it was there. I'd only have to move my head a bit, to see through the trees, but I didn't want to move. Two days of paddling kayaks and hiking had taken its toll on me. My age was beginning to show itself. DW also felt sore as she woke up. "I don't think I want to do The Crack trail," she said as she climbed out of her sleeping bag. "How about we take our kayaks back out onto Georgian Bay? We don't have to go far: we can just putter around the north shore." There was that word again: putter. Yesterday, we said we'd only 'putter' around Lake George, but we ended up circumnavigating it, portaging over to the next lake, and paddling its full length before hiking a short way to a waterfall. After our return trip, we wandered Killarney and hiked to its eastern lighthouse. Monday had not been particularly restful, though what we had seen was beautiful. I agreed tha...

"Let's just putter around George Lake," I said as we awoke, moments before sunrise. Again, I had opened my eyes and looked out the front of the tent, to see the full moon setting over George Lake, its pinkish reflection captured in the still water. Again, I chose not to grab my camera and walk down to the beach to capture it. Sometime through the night, I had unzipped and slipped out of my sleeping bag, and the night had been cooler than the previous one. I awoke in the early hours, before dawn, shivering. I had attempted to crawl back into my sleeping bag but it was twisted and had become partially under DW, and so I pulled what little I could over me and tried to go back to sleep. With the coming of dawn, DW and I stirred, and I finally managed to get back into my sleeping bag. With the moon setting, I was only just warming up and was loth to emerge from my cocoon. We were both feeling stiff and sore from yesterday's 15-kilometer paddle around Georgian Bay, followed...

I awoke to the sound of birds chirping overhead. Opening my eyes, I looked past the back of DW's head, through the screened opening of our tent, to see the moon, almost full and with a pinkish hue, hovering just above the tree line on the far shore of George Lake, its still, glasslike surface casting a perfect reflection. The temptation to grab my D-SLR and capture this beautiful sight was powerful, but not so much to pull me from my warm sleeping bag. My camera was locked in the car, and I would make too much noise in getting from the tent to the car. Plus, I would have to walk about 100 metres to where I could get a clear shot of the lake and moon: from our tent, I was looking through our neighbour's site and several trees. While no tree obstructed my view, what I saw wasn't the best view for a photograph. I decided to simply enjoy the view from where I was. Our first full day in Killarney Provincial Park was potentially going to be a challenging one, with DW and I settin...

I'm still catching my breath from the mini-vacation that DW and I took. And yes, there was camping involved. As I stated on Tuesday , we set out on Saturday morning and headed northwest, past North Bay, on several highways in several states of wear and tear, south of Sudbury and to the north shore of Killarney Provincial Park . The drive is more than six hours through some beautiful Ontario countryside and unique towns. By the time we arrived at George Lake and set up camp, it was nearing dinner time. We had made a lengthy stop, in North Bay, for lunch and to pick up milk and beer (essentials, all), and sometimes we were caught behind some slow-moving traffic with nowhere to safely pass. We cooked some homemade burgers with homemade Greek and potato salads, washed down with cider and the aforementioned beer. With dinner out of the way and our dishes washed and stowed away, we were ready to relax and officially start our vacation. As I said at the beginning of this post, I'm sti...

Google DW and I have been away since first light, Saturday, and so this post was written a week ago. We are currently on our last day of this mini-vacation: by the end of today, we will be back home, hopefully with lots of memories and photos. Undoubtedly, we'll be exhausted. This was our most-ambitious camp-kayak trip, with three nights of camping in Killarney Provincial Park , on the northern shores of Georgian Bay. Because of the sheer size of this body of water and its famous (infamous?) winds, this may also be our most challenging kayaking, as we explore the various islands. We've purchased aprons for our kayaks, anticipating swells that will likely throw water on top of us. Hopefully, no water will get in our cockpits. I don't want to speculate on what might be (now, on what has happened but it untold). I've set up a usual Wordless Wednesday post and should be able to share our trip on Thursday. Stay tuned. It's the last camping trip of 2021 and I've told...

We were only going to take one kitten. We took two. We were only going to take a male kitten. We took a male and female. Our friend, Alex, had bought a farm out near Plantagenet that came with a few cats, all female and all pregnant, presumably by a black male who occasionally showed his face on the property. One of the cats, who he aptly named Mama, seemed to be the oldest of the farm cats and was perhaps the mother to the other two, who he named Shadows and Tabatha. Throughout the summer of 2020, these cats had several litters. Alex was very good about finding a comfortable and safe area for the cats to deliver and look after their babies, but when they became old enough, he would take them to an animal shelter to receive proper care and find good homes. As the mother cats recovered from childbirth, he would take them to the vets, to be spayed. Mama's final litter was delivered a year ago, today. Four babies who looked nothing like one another. Two boys; two girls. Mama took grea...

It's a debate that I've had with myself since 2013, when I attended my first model shoot with my Ottawa Photography Meetup group: whether I should share some of my nude photos on The Brown Knowser . Warning: this post contains nudity and isn't safe for viewing at work. Earlier this week, I asked you if you thought it was appropriate to share such photos on this blog, hoping that some comments would help me make the decision to share fine-art nudes. As with most of my posts, the Comments section remains empty as of yesterday. That's okay. While I waited to hear from you, I looked at the first Photo Friday where I shared a nude photo . I still like that black-and-white, high-contrast photo of a woman's partial profile, where the only light source lit the contours of her body, giving it a wispy appearance that looked like smoke. In that post, a single comment told me that the photo was tasteful and appropriate for the blog. The message also told me that this blog i...

My wife (DW) and I occasionally cycle from our home, in Barrhaven, to Stittsville. It's a relatively short ride, for the two of us, at about 38 kilometers, round-trip, but it's worth it for a very good reason. Quitters . This coffee shop, owned by singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards, is a gem of a spot. A haven for cyclists, you'll often find a few bikes around back. They have great coffee, great treats, and the best breakfast sandwich in the city. DW and I stick to roads, for the most part, obeying the rules all the way. As we approach Stittsville, we spend a bit of time on the Trans-Canada Trail, the old railway line that passes very close to Quitters. As we approach Village Square Park, we dismount and walk our bikes around the corner, onto Main Street, and park our bikes behind the coffee shop. On the last couple of trips out to Stittsville, DW and I have noticed a few sandwich boards along the path and in the park. These signs remind cyclists to stay below 20 kph while ...

As many of my readers may know, I belong to a photography club that meets to take all kinds of photos: sunset and evening photos in the ByWard Market; sunflowers in farm fields; evening exposures of the Milky Way. We also photograph models: some with clothes on; others, without. I've shared some of these photos on The Brown Knowser , keeping the full nudity to a minimum or, at the very least, showing only the implied nudity photos, where the 'naughty bits,' to take a line from Monty Python , are covered. Also, there was that photo that I shared, a few weeks ago, where I exposed my bare ass . The location for our photo shoot. On my last photography meetup, a few weeks ago, we hired a model to pose in a field of sunflowers , at sunset. And while the field had lots of sunflowers, the majority of them hadn't fully opened. But that didn't stop us from capturing images of our model, who stood in the field, around various crops, in various states of dress and undress. S...

This weekend seemed to come and go so quickly that by Sunday evening, I had to think if I got anything accomplished. Of course, I had, but at the same time, it seems like a lot of time was wasted. On Friday evening, I convinced DW to join me, downtown, to watch the Sound of Light show that takes place, each year at the Museum of Civilization * , across the Ottawa River from Parliament Hill. I've taken photos of these fireworks displays many times over the years, and because I stayed away, last year, due to COVID-19, I felt I needed to see them again, now that most people in Ottawa have received at least one vaccine. The setup. As with any fireworks display, I never stand in the same place for a show, and though I took some photos near the National Gallery one year, I've never set up my camera so that I had Maman in the frame. I set my tripod up low so that I could look up at my favourite statue, see the Great Hall of the Gallery, and have the fireworks all in the frame. It w...