The Brown Knowser

We've experienced some nasty days with the Québec wildfires and the smoke that has spread into Ontario and further south (and now, it seems, the smoke has made its way across the Atlantic). Because I work from home and don't usually stray far, I haven't witnessed the smoke very often. There was one morning, a couple of weeks ago, when I was taking trash to the curb and noticed that I seemed foggy outside, until I breathed in and smelled the burning odour. We've had to keep our windows closed and our cat, Camille, who usually rules in our backyard during the summer months, has had to stay inside. The most dramatic experience of the wildfires came to us on Sunday, when we awoke from the trailer that we had rented to visit Algonquin Provincial Park. Our plan was to have an early morning paddle before we prepared breakfast and packed up for our return home. But as soon as we stepped out of the trailer and looked at Rock Lake, we knew that kayaking wasn't a good idea. T...

There seems to be no end to the hazy pale ales that are flooding the market but every once and a while, there are those that stand out. I've written about this style of beer so often that I have to go through my list of beer reviews to actually remember which have been my favourite. There are a lot. I even think that this style of beer is now my favourite, surpassing even a good stout, a style that I've loved since my early 20s. That's a long time ago. Despite my ongoing beef with this style being associated with IPAs, I've come to love that tropical fruitiness. But, again, how does one make a brew like this that stands out. Here's one that does for me: Rings of Saturn Hazy IPA (6.5% ABV; 35 IBUs) High Park Brewery Toronto ON Appearance: pours an unfiltered, goldish apricot that is followed up by sediment that makes for a cloudy, deep orange, similar to grapefruit juice. A creamy white head pours thick and leaves a solid cap that clings to the sides of the glass....

Let me be clear: I like being out in nature. I love the lush forests, the clean lakes, the rocky lookouts. I love to hike and I seem to be my happiest when I'm paddling in my kayak—when I'm not faced with a long trek, directly into the wind, with white caps and swells on the water. I love listening to the songs of birds and seeing woodland creatures in their natural habitat. Except bears: I'm afraid of bears. So our full day at Rock Lake, in Algonquin Provincial Park, was almost perfect. After a pancake breakfast with a fresh-berry maple syrup, we took our kayaks to the beach and set out. We had already done a paddle trip, the previous afternoon, where we went along a winding stream that connects Rock Lake to Whitefish Lake. We paddled more than halfway up one side of the lake before we crossed to the other shore and paddled back to Rock Lake. That was an eight kilometer trek, round trip. This time, we headed south on Rock Lake to Petro Bay, where sheer rock cliffs tow...

"It's not a tent. There's a proper bed with four solid walls, just as you've requested." I balked. "We're still cooking and cleaning dishes outdoors." "This has a kitchen with running water." It's my fault. I had told DW that I didn't like sleeping on the ground, in a tent. I didn't like having to wash up dishes in a bin, at a picnic table. I didn't like having to worry that my food would attract creatures—particularly, bears—even though we devised a great pully system on our last camping trip. That was supposed to be my last camping trip . DW is determined. She knows that, several years ago, I enjoyed camping when we rented a medium-sized camper van and took it to Sandbanks Provincial Park and to Boucherville Islands National Park, just outside of Montreal. We had double-sized bunkbeds, a kitchen and dining area, and best of all, a fully-working bathroom with a shower. Many of the home comforts, out in nature. My mis...

Last weekend, DW and I drove down to Toronto to visit Kid 2. It had been a while since we've been to the GTA, and even though she comes to Ottawa each month for a 24-hour stay, while she has braces that need attention, it was good to see her in her own environment. I told myself that I'd also take some time, on our 24-hour visit to Toronto, to take my D-SLR and capture some street photography. I packed my Nikon D750 with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens, and challenged myself to capture interesting images with this one, prime lens. Things didn't go as planned. Kid 2 had a huge amount of laundry that had piled up and she was stressed because she felt overwhelmed by the accumulation and she needed to get it done before she ran out of clothes. So when DW and I arrived, we gathered up her laundry and headed to a nearby laundromat. We filled six washing machines. When the wash cycle on the machines was finished, I encouraged DW and Kid 2 to take her wash-and-hang loads back to her apart...

Imagine someone from the UK visiting Canada, marveling at all of the wonders our country has to offer, but who feels a pang for home. They love their vacation but are just a touch homesick. They see a pub or restaurant and decide to stop for a meal and a pint. On the menu, they find an IPA listed in the beer section and they feel that they'll be able to have a small taste from home. With their food, they order a pint of the listed IPA. Now, imagine the look on their face when the server delivers a glass with a cloudy, orange ale that smells like mangoes, or pineapple, or guava. Imagine that Brit taking a sip and detecting more of these tropical fruits and not much of a bitter finish. They'd probably miss their home even more, wouldn't they? Before I left Twitter, I used to follow the brilliant Scottish detective novelist, Ian Rankin , and noticed a tweet he had sent out when he was in Ottawa to talk about his latest Rebus novel. He was sitting on a patio in the Byward Marke...

In a panic, last week, I reached out to the organizer of next month's Photo Synthesis exhibit. I had submitted the photos that I wanted to include but I had second thoughts on four of them. By saying that I had submitted the photos, I meant that I had given them 13 low-resolution copies of the image files, of which the promoter of the exhibit would use in advertising for the event, which runs from July 6 to the end of the month. My panic came from the thought that promotional material may have already been printed. I didn't like four of my submissions. They were a series of similar shots, produced as 4" x 6" prints in matted, 5" x 7" frames. Two vertical images and two horizontal images that would be arranged to occupy a square space. I thought the photos were okay when I considered submitting them. I had them printed and mounted years ago and they had actually been hanging on a wall at work, along with more of my photos and those from other photographers i...

It's only taken 12 years. They say that there's a point when the number of visitors to your blog explodes. I thought that had happened years ago, when I went from about 12 readers per day to 150. I was so excited and a bit humbled that so many people would want to read my material. Honestly, writing posts for my blog is more of a mental-therapy exercise for myself than anything else, though I'm honoured to have loyal followers. Thank you so much. I hope I can be an entertaining distraction for part of your hectic day. There have been times through the course of The Brown Knowser when I've had spikes in readership, but those spikes usually center on a particular post that has caught attention over one or two days. It seems as though, possibly, that I've caught a lot more attention. Since the end of May, my daily number of visitors has gone from an average of 150 people (or bots, perhaps?) to an average of more than 1,200 views. Some days, my blog has seen more ...

I have a great respect for folks who are able to capture a razor-sharp image of a small bird. I don't seem to have any trouble photographing some birds. The birds at my backyard feeder are fairly easy: I just set up my exposure for the light around the feeder and match a fast-enough shutter speed, and I focus on the feeder itself, ensuring that the focal length is deep enough to keep birds in focus. Most times, I set up the camera on a tripod and just click away as birds arrive at the feeder. In a forest setting, I can usually catch larger birds—herons, geese, and ducks—if they aren't taking flight; or, if they are, they're high enough that focus isn't as big a deal. But I have a really hard time capturing small birds that flitter from branch to branch or tree to tree. By the time I spot the bird and bring my camera to where the bird is perched, it's moved on. I find myself doing nothing more than chasing the bird through my lens and am always one step behind. Often...

As some of you might know, I was a wine aficionado long before I got into beer. I was bringing bottles of wine to house parties, in late high school, when my friends would bring a case of beer and end up sitting on it, to prevent others from swiping any, while I could crack open a bottle of red wine, pour myself a glass, leave the bottle on the kitchen table, and schmooze throughout the house. Nobody was interested in wine. In my late 20s, I bought several books on the wine regions of the world and the myriad grape varieties. DW and I enrolled in the sommelier program at the local college, and took all the classes on learning about different styles of wine, the terroir of various wine regions and what soil produced what characteristics in a wine. We could be served a wine, blind (without seeing the bottle or label), and there was a very good chance that we could tell you the grape variety and the origin of the wine. Once, I was able to discern the vintner and the vintage of the wine. F...