The Brown Knowser

This year was one where my number one hobby seemed to be placed on the backburner. My D-SLRs almost gathered dust for the first two months of 2022. But there's that adage that says the best camera is the one you have with you, and I always had my smartphone on me, so I never really missed a shot. For 2022, I've decided to limit my annual collection of favourite shots to only 12 photos—one for each month. To that end, I've kept track of all the photos that I have taken throughout each month and have only picked one from that group. By looking at each month, this post is also my year in review. One of the first photos that I shot in 2022 happened when I was sitting on my butt, in my favourite chair, watching "The Circle" with DW and Kid 2. It was January 2, and our orchids—for which we had been caring for a couple of years, with success —were resting on the window ledge beside me, just in my peripheral line of view. We have two pots of blooming orchids: one, pink...

I'm often pleasantly surprised to see, in my blogger stats, that people visit some of my older posts, some that I, myself, have totally forgotten about. With more than 2,400 posts over 11 years, I'm bound to forget a few of them. I get that people delve into past posts. When I check out someone's blog, I don't just read the most-current entry: I'll often look at previous post to see how the writer has evolved. Folks, a lot of you dug into my past over the year. So much so that at one point, I was inspired to re-create similar posts. Thank you to all of my readers. You're what keeps me going. As with last year, I kept an eye on the posts that were the most popular over the year and in 2022, I got quite the shock. Some of the most popular posts weren't even written in 2022. If you've read these posts before, I hope you enjoyed them. If you haven't, maybe take a look now. Here are the 10 most-visited posts of this year. 10. Low-Key Olivia : Yup, people ...

I don't expect this to go far but I thought I'd give it a shot. And my timing is awful, being right around the holidays, when there are charities that really need your support. But I had thought of trying this for a couple of years, and every time I thought about it, I told myself to give it a try but would always forget, when I had a free moment, to implement it. Something else would occupy my head. And, I also thought, it kind of sounds like begging. I've opened a Ko-fi account . For those of you who haven't heard of this, Ko-fi is a free platform upon which you can monetize yourself through donations (tips, as it were). The premise is that you are figuratively buying someone a coffee in exchange for a service that you receive. This service can be an actual product or it can simply be appreciation for something that a person shares, such as art, written work, photography, and more. Over the years, I've supported fellow bloggers, photographers, and even comedians...

I first posted this story in 2011 and have made it my holiday tradition ever since. For its tenth anniversary, I've made some minor edits. 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 best wishes for a safe and happy holiday season! At first, we did it out of excitement for the season and impatience, unable to wait until morning. Later, it became a game about how far we could go, about how much risk we were willing to take. It was a test in organizational skills and stealth. In time, it would become a ritual. The first time we crept from our bedrooms and down the stairs, anxious to see what Santa had left us, my younger sister, Jen, and I faced our biggest 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 ago, or earlier, had gone to be...

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. Over the years, I've cleaned it up here and there and have brought it up to date, now that my kids have grown. 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. © 1966 Warner Home Video. All rights reserved. On some level, I'm not a fan of Christmas. I'm not interested in decorating the house nor in sending out greeting cards (actually, the entire Brown Knowser family has pretty much given up on that activity). Nor am I, especially, in heading out to the stores to shop. I hate going near shopping malls and department stores at any time of year, but I particularly loathe going out at this time of year: fighting crowds, standing in lines, searching for that ever-elusive parking space. No, thank you very much. Not being a religious person, the spiritual side of Christmas is lost on a cynic like ...

I have noticed, since I joined Mastodon, and especially since I joined the mstdn.ca instance, that the number of visitors to my blog has increased significantly. Welcome, new readers, and thanks for stopping by! A lot of viewers have been checking out many of my older posts—some that I had forgotten about completely. I hope you've enjoyed my rants and ramblings of years gone by. Toward the end of the month, I'll look back on the posts that received the most views of 2022, and I was surprised to learn that some of these popular posts weren't even written or published this year. To all of my followers, thank you for your support and I hope to continue creating content that will entertain you. Happy Tuesday!

I had no skin in the game. The Canadian soccer team was eliminated early on. I was happy that they made it to the World Cup Soccer tournament at all and was excited when they scored their first goal. Even though they were sent home early, they still did their country proud. After that, I didn't know who to root for and to be honest, I kind of stopped watching the games. I'd pay attention to the matches by listening to sports reports and following the excitement of others on social media. It wasn't until the final match, yesterday, between France and Argentina, that I thought I'd return to the Cup. But I didn't know who to cheer on. Sure, it had been more than 30 years since the South American country had won the World Cup. And France had won the last time, was defending their title as the best team in the tournament. But I'm neither French nor Argentinian, so as far as I was concerned, either team could win. DW was different. She was fully behind Argentina. She ...

We didn't always get to eat the cherry tomatoes that we grew in our backyard. I would sometimes see a berry, nearly ripened, and tell myself that I would pick it the next day, when it would be at its peak for taking. But when I went to the vines the very next day, some critter would have already gotten to it, either taking a few nibbles or plucking the entire tomato and making off with it. When DW and I returned from Portugal, almost all of the fruit was gone from the plant by some animal or other. Only a few small, green tomatoes were left. But in the fall, we often forget about the vines for the season, figuring that we had harvested all that we were going to get. DW would rip out the old vines, in the spring, when it was time to plant new ones. I didn't see them until I was looking out in our yard, last weekend, as the snow was coming down. I wanted to venture out—perhaps to a forest or along a river bank—and photograph the freshly fallen snow, but my stomach was giving ...

I'm going to get a bit dark here. But in a good way. (For the most part.) This is my last Beer O'Clock review of 2022. I've had a lot of good beer this year—no... scratch that. I've had some fabulous beer this past year. From a mind-blowing black currant cream ale to a tasty, peach-flavoured, non-alcoholic gose ; from a selection of vintage ales with dear friends to a juicy, hazy pale ale ; and from an ice-cream-inspired stout to a stout that was infused with roasted cocoa nibs, I've drunk well. I even got drunk, once, while reviewing some beer. My taste in ale styles has grown, as well, and I hope for the better. But when asked what my favourite style of beer is, I think I still have to say, deep down, it's still a good stout. I really love a good hefeweisen or saison, and I can never seem to get enough of the tropical pale ales, but my first true love continues to be the dark ales. See? I said I'd go dark. With the Christmas season breathing down ...