Strategy

For months, I've applied a strategy to playing Wordle. Never did I ever think that this strategy would ever have me solve the puzzle on the first try.

I always start with the same five-letter word. Actually, I say 'always' but I only started using this word every day a few months ago. Prior to then, I'd occasionally use this word but I'd usually start with a new word each day.

The word is AUDIO, which just happened to be the word for yesterday, August 30, 2023.

The reason that I had started using this as my first word was because it uses four out of the five vowels in the English alphabet. If one or two of them appear, I can often solve the puzzle within four guesses. The same is true if none of these vowels appears.

Then, at least I know that there's at least one E in the puzzle, and possibly a Y.

One time, when I used AUDIO, I had actually discovered that I successfully found the A, D, and I in the word, though in the wrong order. My next guess was DAIRY, which happened to be the word.

Getting the word in two guesses, to me, was like getting a hole in one. Getting the word on the first guess is tantamount to a miracle. And I've always raised an eyebrow when I've seen someone getting more than one miracle.

I don't ever expect to get the Wordle puzzle on the first try again.

Like so many people, I often share my results on social media. When I shared yesterday's win, a few people suggested that I'd have to find a new first word, but I disagree.

AUDIO is a great strategy word for the reason that I've stated above. It finds or rejects up to 80 percent of the vowels. Before I had started using this word as my exclusive first guess, I would sometimes start with RADIO, which uses three vowels and a commonly used consonant, R. But I think focusing on finding or limiting vowels to be of more use.

DW doesn't like my strategy. She says it takes all of the fun out of the game, but for me, strategy is part of the fun.

Sadly, when I exclaimed to her that I got the puzzle on my first guess, I spoiled it for her.

She knows my starting word.

For Inspiration

Because I had watched a few random YouTube videos about photography, likely because of the algorithm that the site uses through Google, there are some photographers who have caught my attention and that I now follow by subscribing to their channel.

The hosts of these channels don't talk about specific equipment or go into details about camera settings, though occasionally one of these photographers will provide general tips that you can do with your camera to improve your shots. But I don't subscribe to them to get advice on how to use my cameras.

I watch them to become inspired.

Sometimes, seeing the work of a photographer or hearing background stories about how a photographer achieved a particular shot—through choice of lens, lighting, aperture, subject, composition, interest, or more. Two of these YouTubers often show examples of other peoples work to illustrate a style of photography, such as colour versus black and white, while the other YouTuber only shows photos that he's captured to illustrate his topic.

After watching videos from these channels, I get ideas for photography of my own. Not just to copy, but to get inspired to go out and photograph nature, or capture shapes and patterns, or commit to a project, such as photographing strangers (again) or limiting myself to a fixed lens, versus a zoom.

If you're into photography, these YouTube channels may be for you. If you're not a photographer but want to see the world through another set of eyes—maybe, to give you a new perspective of life—these channels may still be worth a watch.

Here are the three photography YouTube channels that inspire me to be a better photographer:

The Photographic Eye, with Alex Kilbee

I have to admit: I'm not really impressed by a lot of Alex's own photographs. As a photographer, I can sort of see what inspired him to take the shot but I don't really feel is execution to be particularly great^*. Fortunately, his channel isn't really about his work.

Alex talks about the art of photography, from the use of black and white, to capturing negative space, to street photography, and more. And he primarily uses examples of some of the world's most renowned photographers, such as Annie Liebovitz, Ansel Adams, Eve Arnold, Helmut Newton, and so many more to illustrate his topic.

Alex presents his videos in his living room with a fixed camera on himself, and lectures. B rolls come on screen to illustrate his points. He has a relaxing style and I enjoy listening about the subject. His videos generally run 10 to 20 minutes but a few of his videos can run up to an hour. I haven't been able to commit to any of the longer videos but I'm sure I'll make some time to do so.

Simon d'Entremont

Simon is a nature and wildlife photographer who lives in Nova Scotia. His videos focus on how to take the best shots of birds and animals, as well as landscapes. He uses his own photos as examples and they are breathtaking.

Topics also include how to improve your photography by adjusting various settings on your camera, such as increasing the ISO or using exposure compensation. He does review equipment but that is not his primary goal. (I did, however, buy a solid-state external hard drive that he recommended).

Simon's channel gives lots of great tips and I've followed his advice. I've always wanted to improve my nature photography and I find Simon truly inspiring.

Jamie Windsor

Not only does English YouTuber Jaime Windsor have great ideas for photographic projects, he's also a brilliant videographer and graphics designer. How he puts his videos together, alone, is inspiring. Not only do I watch his videos to be inspired to take better photographs, I watch his videos to be inspired to create better YouTube videos, myself.

His videos are also well thought out and well written.

Like Alex Kilbee, Jamie often uses examples of inspiring photography from famous photographers. But he also imparts inspirational quotes from all sorts of artists. And when he does use his own photos to illustrate a point, I find most of them inspiring and well-composed. (Sorry, Alex.)

Jamie has slowed down on his work due to some health issues but has vowed to continue once he is able. His last video talked about creativity and he even quoted David Bowie, which I found truly inspirational. If you want to know that quote, watch the video.

Now, Jamie also creates preset filters that mimic various camera film stock (if you want your digital shot to look like it was shot on Kodak or Ilford film, for example) and has videos where he shows the resulting effects. If you like them and use Lightroom for photo editing, you can purchase those presets from him (if he ever develops presets for my editing software, I'd be all over them).

He certainly makes me want to play with colour settings more often.

Those are the three YouTubers who have given me inspiration to take better photos. Do you follow any YouTube channels to improve your photography? Let me know in the Comments section.

^* To be fair, I do find Alex Kilbee to be a very good wedding photographer and many of his portraits are excellent. It's his abstract and street photography that doesn't capture my interest and I often wonder why he decided to use his own photo as that sort of example when there are other photographers to choose from.

Still Pierced

I haven't worn one in more than a decade. But I shouldn't have been surprised that one could still fit.

When DW and I were dating, we went on a spring vacation with a couple of friends to Daytona Beach, Florida. It was the typical university-student thing to do in the early 90s—I imagine it still is but there's no way I'd ever set foot in that state again.

While we were there, we were partying with a bunch of other young folks at a nightclub, and in one corner of the room, a woman had set up to give piercings. Egged on by DW, I agreed to get my left lobe pierced. I even got one of our friends to do the same.

In the early 90s, it was still relatively uncommon for a guy to get his ears pierced, and once home I received heckling from my father. My manager at the camera store, where I was the assistant manager, demanded that I remove it. I refused and had the regional manager's backing, though even he didn't think it was suitable attire.

Still, he respected my decision to keep it and told my manager that there was no company policy that restricted men from having any piercings.

I kept an earring in that lobe for about five or six years, finally deciding to remove it before DW and I packed up our life and moved to South Korea. Our destination had nothing to do with the decision to remove my earring: I just decided that it was time for a change.

About 10 years later, after DW and I had kids, we were members of the Ottawa Blues Society and would often volunteer to work a booth that the club held, in exchange for free admission to the Bluesfest grounds and access to shows. The OBS would sell t-shirts, CDs, and handmade trinkets that advertised for the club.

Our kids loved to hang out at the tent and even were great at promoting the merchandise. Seeing a cute kid with a guitar brooch that flashed with tiny coloured lights brought lots of sales.

Before Bluesfest began, we'd meet at one of the members' houses to make other trinkets. We'd make guitar pick earrings, with the OBS logo on them. The kids loved to help make them, and as we constructed the earrings, I had mentioned to the kids, who both had pierced ears, that I used to wear an earring. This revelation got the girls excited.

"Can you still wear one?" asked Kid 1.

"I don't know."

"Can we try to put one on you?" asked Kid 2.

"Sure. Either the earring will go through or it won't," I said. "Just be gentle and go slowly."

We had rubbing alcohol and Polysporin ointment handy, so I let Kid 1 guide the earring through the closed hole in my left lobe while Kid 2 supervised. The stem had no problem going into the front but the back of my lobe was a bit stubborn. Kid 1 was nervous as she could see the thin skin bulging by what looked like the exit hole, but the stem wasn't coming through.

"Is it hurting?" she asked.

"No, I'm good. Keep pushing, and if it starts to hurt, I'll ask you to stop."

I heard a slight 'pop' and then laughter as the kids successfully got the earring stem through my ear. We rubbed the antiseptic ointment around my lobe, just to make sure that no infection could take hold. When we had finished assembling earrings, I removed the dangling guitar pick from my lobe, disinfected it, and added it to the sale items.

It wasn't my style of earring.

Days later, on the Bluesfest grounds, DW took the girls for a walk while I held the OBS tent. During the shows, customers were scarce so it was easy to watch the merchandise on my own. When they returned, the girls were carrying a tiny paper bag and they had smiles on their faces.

"We got you something," they said in unison, failing to hold back their glee.

2008

Inside the bag was a small, silver loop earing, like a tiny wedding band. It was simple but beautiful. DW explained that the girls were looking for rings for themselves and they saw this earring. It was inexpensive because it had originally been a set of two, but the vendor had lost one of them.

I only needed one.

We had disinfectant in a first-aid kit in the OBC booth, so we cleaned the earring and I let Kid 1 put it on me. I wore it for years but eventually, I made the decision to stop wearing an earring again, sometime around 2010 or 2011.

It's been about a dozen years since I've worn an earring and honestly believed that I'd never wear one again. I had gone a decade between wearing one, before, and it was a bit of a challenge to get one through the hole. I was sure that after another 12 years, it would be even harder.

A friend of ours was celebrating her 55th birthday, the other weekend, and decided that she wanted a pirate-themed party. I'm not really into dressing up for parties but thought I would dress in black, wield a toy sword, and try to see if I could wear a big, looped earring.

2023

I was doubtful, as I can barely see the hole anymore, but I placed the stem where I thought the hole should be and pushed. To my surprise, I got the earring in, but it stopped as the stem reached the back of my ear. I couldn't feel anything by touching the back of my lobe, so I had DW help locate a small scar and push.

While my ear didn't hurt when my kid pushed an earring through, in the late 2000s, it hurt this time and there was a tiny amount of blood. I rubbed Polysporin around the lobe and deemed that I looked more piratey with the loop.

The earring felt heavy on my lobe and I was always conscious of it, so halfway through the party, I took it off. Days later, the entrance hole scabbed up and even at the time of writing this post, there's a dry spot on my lobe.

I'd say that I'm done with earrings, but who knows? Maybe in another decade or so, I'll be pushing another post through my lobe.

Buzz

A few months ago (three or four... I can't remember), Google gave me a free subscription to the New York Times games site. As a regular contributor to reviews and adding photos for Google Maps, they decided to reward me, no doubt because they likely track me and know that I like to play Wordle and would periodically play the free version of another game, Spelling Bee.

Spelling Bee is a game where you have seven letters arranged like a honey comb: six hexagons surround a central hexagon, which is coloured yellow. You can rearrange all six letters around the central letter but not that central letter. And you must be able to make a four-letter word, or longer, by using any of the outer letters plus the central letter.

For example, one of the puzzles a couple of weeks ago had the letters A, O, U, K, W, and L on the outside, and T in the middle. The first word that popped out for me was OUTLAW. I also found LOOKOUT, OUTLOOK, TATTOO, TOTAL, and more.

The longer the word, the more points you gain and you reach various levels, such as Beginner, Good Start, Moving Up, Good, Solid, Nice, Great, Amazing, and finally, Genius. And if you are able to find a word that uses all of the letters (a pangram), you get a lot of points. In this puzzle, I found WALKOUT.

It can be a challenge as you find more words yet don't seem to be climbing levels, and I could spend a long time getting to a high score. Often, I'd start the game after waking up, before getting out of bed. I'd continue the game on a break or during lunch, I'd play for a bit at the end of my work day, and finally take one last crack before going to bed. Of course, I usually stopped as soon as I reached Genius level.

My longest streak for reaching Genius level was eight days, from a Sunday to the next Sunday. Usually, I wouldn't stop until I at least hit Amazing but would sometimes have to settle for Great.

The free version would usually end around Solid, and would never let you continue to the end.

My free subscription ended last week and I was loathe to pay to continue the subscription. I didn't play any of the other NYT games, other than Wordle, which is always free, so I can't really justify the subscription.

And I only occasionally read an article or two from the New York Times.

What about you? Do you play Spelling Bee? Do you have a subscription or do you play the shortened, free version? Leave me a comment.

Happy Monday!

Creating Sunsets

One of the biggest things about an outdoor photo meetup is that you can never count on the weather.

Unless an event has a backup rain date, you pretty much have to take whatever outdoor conditions that present themselves. If the weather isn't perfect on the date of the event, you can either choose not to go or you can go and make the best of the situation.

On Monday, I joined a gathering of people from my photography meetup group at Sultan Farm, near Ashton, east of Ottawa. There were both photographers and models for this meetup, though in truth, I was only interested in photographing the farm field, which was full of sunflowers in bloom.

If you've seen Wednesday's post, you've seen some of my photos from that day. DW also tagged along, which was nice, because she's never joined a photo meetup with my group and I wanted to show her that it wasn't about a bunch of men ogling models.

I brought three cameras with me for the shoot: my Nikon D750, with a 50mm f/1.8 lens, my D7200, with an 18-105mm, f/3.5-5.6 lens, and my smartphone. I'm planning to write a comparison post, which I'll share next week. Stay tuned.

I was hoping to capture close-up and wide-angle shots of the field, hoping for a great sunset to set the sky off. Indeed, Monday started off great with lots of sunshine and a few clouds: I was hoping for a few clouds at sunset because I find the sky is more dramatic at that time when clouds are about.

A cloudless sky at sunset, for me, is kind of boring.

As DW and I headed out for the shoot, we noticed that there were more clouds in the sky than earlier in the day but I was excited. With this sort of cloud coverage, which still kept the sun visible, I knew that we were in for a dramatic sunset.

But as we got closer to our venue, I was beginning to have my doubts. The sun disappeared behind a thick blanket of clouds and blue sky was becoming a rare commodity. By the time we pulled up to Sultan Farm, the sky was overcast.

"At least we won't have harsh shadows to worry about," I said to DW, trying to stay optimistic. I had a flash with me, as well as a tripod, but if the sky was going to stay overcast as we headed into sunset, these tools wouldn't be necessary.

In fact, we decided that with an overcast sky, we weren't even going to stay until sunset.

For most of the photos, I didn't worry about capturing sky. I focused on the flowers in the fields, typically going for closeups. The bees were busy, fluttering from flower to flower, and I'd try to capture one or two at work.

When the sky did appear in the background, it was either a light grey or white. In fact, one of the photos in my Wordless Wednesday post shows a closeup of a sunflower with a white background, almost as though it was captured in a studio. By overexposing for the flower, the sky seemed white.

I captured a white-sky background for a few photos, getting low and shooting upward so that there was nothing in the background but a blank canvas. I told myself that I could always create the background in post production.

I've already written about my AI photo software and how I could change a sky if I didn't like the one that came for an event. Sometimes, the added sky greatly improves the overall photo.

Other times, it can be a distraction.

For this one shot, I find it's a bit of both.

Creating this final photo also took much longer than I had planned and I don't know if all of the effort was worth it.

First, I edited the raw photo in Corel AfterShot, which came with my recently uploaded 2023 version of Corel PaintShop Pro. It's the first version of this software that I've actually bought, now that DW no longer works for the company and was able to download it for free.

I still love the product and the $30 for the upgrade was worth it.

I use AfterShot to do initial edits, like straighten the image, perform a white balance, bring out blacks, and sharpen the image. When I'm happy with the initial changes, I export the file to PSP, where I perform my usual edits, such as fill light, contrast, colour saturation, removing unwanted objects, and whatever I have to do to bring the photo to life.

It sounds like a lot but for the most part, my edits are minor.

I had taken a photo of four sunflowers that were standing taller than other flowers in the field. I crouched low and shot upward, knowing that the flowers were going to be the only objects in the frame. I also knew that by overexposing by one stop, I'd have a bare background.

Perfect for what I wanted to do next.

I saved the file as a JPEG and then opened it in Luminar AI. I went to the Sky feature and picked a sunset sky that I wished had been there when I snapped the photo. I was happy with the sky but in placing it in the background, the sunflowers were darker than I wanted, so I saved the file and opened it again in PSP.

Here's where the time-consuming work came in.

Using the selection tool, I isolated every bit of the background sky. Because there were so many colours and so many shades, I had to hold down the Shift key and click hundreds of points in the background. It must have taken me at least a half hour just to select everything in the sky.

I then inverted the selections, so that the background wouldn't change while I worked on bringing the sunflowers out from virtual shadows. I increased the fill light as much as I dared without the flowers appearing washed out and also still appearing as though they were backlit.

Here's the final result.

What do you think? A lot of colour, right?

I think that from the moment I opened the raw file until I saved this version of the photo, it had taken me nearly an hour to get this result.

I don't think I'd do this again. It took about as much time to edit this one file as it took me to edit most of the remaining files for this meetup.

I won't tell you what camera captured this image until I share my camera comparison post, next week.

Happy Friday!

Beer O'Clock: Perroquet

I'm doing something that I told myself that I shouldn't do.

When I go shopping for beer at my friendly neighbourhood LCBO, I strive to pick up a varied collection of brews from different breweries and I try to also vary the styles of beer in my basket. I don't want to seem to favour one brewery over another nor do I want to focus strictly on IPAs or stouts.

Yet, on my last shopping trip to the LCBO, I pulled a couple of cans from the same brewery because I hadn't had any of their stuff in a while and I saw two different brews that interested me, even though both were modeled after an IPA. I also visited a Toronto brewery and came away with several selections of beer, which I feel that need sharing with you.

My fridge is almost empty so I'll try to return to my better-varied selection of beer soon. I plan to also shop for brews that are produced outside of Canada, as I really have neglected the international market.

I found a real winner of a brew in Le Trou du Diable's Les Quatre Serfeurs de l'Apocoalypso White IPA. I wrote a review a couple of weeks ago, if you missed it.

At the same time, right next to the white IPA on the LCBO shelves, was another style of IPA that caught my attention. With several parakeets (or macaws) painted on the label, I expected this ale to be full of tropical notes. I love this style of beer so into my shopping basket went two cans (not toucans: there were no toucans on the label).

Was I right about this style? Let's find out.

Perroquet IPA—Session North East IPA (3.5 % ABV; 60 IBUs)
Le Trou du Diable
Shawinigan QC

Appearance: pours a murky apricot, similar to grapefruit juice, with a foamy white head that settles to a thin cap.

Nose: tangerines and a hint of lychee.

Palate: there's a soft pine resin and grapefruit rind, with just a slight hint of orange citrus. Though this session NEIPA registers with a bitterness of 60 IBUs, they aren't bold. There's a medium body to the overall mouthfeel that reminds you that there isn't much alcohol in this ale, which lends credence to the session side of this NEIPA. The finish is short but as you drink more, the flavours leave a longer-lasting impression.

Overall impression: this is an easy-drinking summer thirst-quencher. It delivers the tropical fruitiness of a NEIPA but the gentleness of a session ale. And with the low alcohol level, you can enjoy more of them (though still, responsibly) in one sitting.

Beer O'Clock rating: 🍺🍺

While I still prefer Les Quatre Serfeurs de l'Apocoalypso over Perroquet, I would happily take either one on a hot summer day. I'm glad that I put both styles of IPA in my shopping cart. You should, too.

Cheers!

Sunflowers

Second Time's a Charm

I'm an idiot.

One of the lessons that I took away in journalism school, some 35 years ago, is to confirm a source. Don't just get one person's word for anything. Get more than one source. And always go for the authority on a subject.

I failed that lesson on Tuesday.

I knew that the fireworks festival in Gatineau was underway. I had seen lots of photos from various people on social media, and I had gone to the Grands Feux du Casino Lac-Leamy Web site to look at the calendar of events after the first night.

I had already learned that a display from Ukraine would be featured on the second-last night of the event but as the days went by, I had forgotten the actual date. So at the start of this week, I quickly Googled "Lac Leamy fireworks" and received a date–not from the official site–that said August 15.

I had no plans for that evening so at about 40 minutes before sunset, I packed my camera gear into my car and headed downtown. I crossed my fingers that I would find a place that wasn't already crowded with spectators, and hoped that by arriving more than an hour before the usual start of the fireworks, I'd find a good spot.

My personal rule is that I don't go to a place where I've previously photographed fireworks. I like to find a new vantage each time so that not all of my photos look the same. For this evening, I decided that I would check out Richmond Landing, a point along the Ottawa River, just downstream from Mill Street Brew Pub, where the Royal Canadian Navy Monument stands. This spot doesn't offer a great view of the parliament buildings (you do, however, get a clear shot of the parliamentary library) but for the fireworks, they are just supporting members of the event.

I couldn't believe my luck when I arrived at the point. There were a couple of people around, admiring the monument and taking in the light from the sun, which was just setting as I arrived. But for the most part, there was no one to obstruct my view downstream and I had my choice of anywhere along the shoreline.

I set up my camera and tripod and took a shot of the sky and area where I expected the fireworks to appear.

I decided to share this photo on social media, so I posted to Mastodon and Threads. I then sat on one of the rocks and waited for more people to show up.

The fact that there weren't many people around, and no other photographer with a tripod, didn't really cause me any concern. There are plenty of places that I've chosen where either nobody came with the same idea or very few were there.

But as it grew dark and people were starting to leave the point, I wondered what was going on. Was there a better vantage and was I set up in a spot that didn't offer a great view? Surely, not.

One of my Mastodon followers pinged me and said that he thought the fireworks were only on Wednesdays. That post made me stop and think: I did seem to think that Wednesdays and Saturdays were the standard days of the fireworks shows in the past. I decided to Google the actual site to get a confirmation.

I'm an idiot.

The casino's site provided Wednesday, August 16 as the date for the Ukraine show. I was 24 hours early.

I took a few more shots (the light was nice) and then packed up and walked back to my car.

Fast-forward to 24 hours later.

I decided to head out just a bit earlier than the previous night. I wanted to ensure that I could get the same spot where I sat on the previous night. But when I arrived, the site was full of photographers.

I definitely had the right night.

I couldn't get to the water's edge but I found a spot where I'd have no problem shooting over the dozen or so tripods and photogs. I just didn't have an easy spot to sit next to my tripod. But once set up, all I had to do was wait, so I found a rock a few metres back from my camera.

I recognized a couple of the photographers. Some were from my photo meetup group; others, I remembered seeing when I went out to Ottawa's west end to capture the NEOWISE comet. But dozens of spectators, armed only with smartphones, crowded in around the point as the light fell and the showtime approached.

The good news is that I was able to scout out this area before it had filled with other photos. While I didn't have my same setup spot, being at the water's edge didn't really give you any other advantage than having no one stand in front of you. But where I was, somebody really, really tall would have had to stand in front of me, below the rock I was on. My view was never at risk of being obscured.

I'm glad that I made it to Richmond Landing on both nights. While the show was spectacular and it was great to come out to support Ukraine, the sunset was much more dramatic on Tuesday.

Maybe, I'm not an utter idiot. Maybe it was serendipity that let me photograph two very different skies.

Happy Friday!

Beer O'Clock: Over the Tap

DW has a lush vegetable garden that's growing in our backyard. Every summer, she plants various squash, tomatoes, peppers, and more, but this year, she seems to have gone overboard and the garden is thriving, thanks to the ample rain we've received.

She's added cucumbers, watermellon, and various other green, leafy items, but so far the biggest harvest so far has been zucchini.

In my late teens and early twenties, I'd go to pubs with friends and we'd pig out on deep-fried zucchini sticks, so much so that after one night of heavy drinking and a bad batch of zucchini, I had vowed that my days of eating this veg were done. I couldn't help but associate the zed-veg with the mushy, slimy pulp that ended up coming out of me later that evening.

I had gone overboard with zucchini—some may say 'over the top,' and it took a few decades before I would venture to try it again, though the memory of that night is still a sore spot with me.

Well, DW decided to take her zucchini and turn it into a rich, moist chocolate cake that isn't too sweet. And do you know what goes really well with that chocolate zucchini cake?

A rich, dry stout.

A short while ago, I visited a Toronto brewery and came away with a brew that has been made in collaboration with one of my favourite Ottawa breweries, and I couldn't wait to try it, because they made my long-time favourite style of beer.

A sticker that covered the top of the short can advised me to shake the can, open it quickly, pour the contents out "hard," and serve cold. I really appreciated the instructions on the sticker, as too many times I've opened a beer can the normal way (without shaking it) and pouring the beer out gently, tilting the glass and slowly letting the liquid roll down the inside of the glass, to avoid creating a huge, foamy head, only to later discover that for a particular stout, this is the wrong way to do it.

I shook the can over the sink, cracked it open and then immediately turned the can upside down over a level glass.

What did I get? Let's take a look:

The Craic Was 90 Dry Stout (4% ABV)
Blood Brothers Brewing, Toronto ON
Dominion City Brewing Company, Ottawa ON

Appearance: as the beer flooded out of the can and into the glass, a milky-brown foam was all that was visible until the can was empty. The base of the glass turned a deep walnut as the foam cascaded downward. A perfectly creamy, taupe head lay the thickness of a pinky finger when all was settled.

Shaking and dumping delivers the perfect pour.

Nose: mild espresso and cocoa.

Palate: the body immediately comes off as light. There's nothing cloying about this stout. There's a watery coffee tone that is backed up with what I would call cocoa powder. This stout is that dry. On subsequent sips, the coffee comes out more boldly and there's a slight burn at the back of the throat from an acidity, but it's not unpleasant.

This is a dry, perfectly balanced stout. The flavours in the mouth are fulfilling but are cut short in the dry, cocoa-powdery finish. You can't help but want to take another sip.

And with the chocolate-zucchini cake? It was heaven. I would take a mouthful of the stout, swish it around my mouth, swallow it, suck in some air as if I was reverse-whistling, and then take a bite of the cake. Because the cake isn't overly sweet but moist, it almost reset my taste buds for more stout. You've got to try this decadent combination.

Overall impression: The Craic Was 90 is a perfect stout. As simple as it appears, it is complex in its serving instructions, flavours, and palate-cleansing dryness. At only four-percent alcohol, it's an easy-drinking, crushable brew. I wish I had picked up more while I was at the brewery.

Much more.

Beer O'Clock rating: 🍺🍺🍺

Because of the simple label that seems to highlight the Over the Tap Fest, which happened at the end of January in Toronto, I have a feeling that this stout is a one-off from these two breweries. Neither of their Web sites provides any information on this beauty of a brew. I hope that this isn't the end of it. I hope that they make more and offer it as a seasonal. It would be a shame to let this stout fade like its finish.

But we'll always have cake.

Cheers!

Back to Ruins

ALT Text

One of the things I love about Mastodon^* (I mean, besides the wonderful people and interactions, and the ability to edit a post) is that you have the option of providing descriptive text to any image that you include with a post.

This is known as alternative text, or alt text. Alt text is used by search engines and by users to understand images they cannot see.

Ever since I learned about alt text, I've strived to include it any time that I post an image on Mastodon. And, being a writer, I try to be as descriptive as I can be to help anyone who might be curious to what I've posted.

For example, take the following photo:

Adding alt text, I would write: A closeup of an orange tabby cat who is asleep on a footrest (not shown). Only his head and part of his upper body are framed in the photo. An off-white fleece blanket is folded under him and his chin hangs off the edge of the blanket. His head is on the left half of the photo and his body stretches to the right.

What do you think?

You can also add alt text to videos and GIFs.

There are lots of people on Mastodon who use alt text to describe beautiful photographs or comic strips, memes, and screenshots. If I like their post, I'll repost (boost) it.

However, I still see lots of images in my feed where alt text isn't used at all. Of course, it's not wrong to omit descriptive text with an image but I feel that as a federated community, we're cutting some people out of some worthy content. If I see a post that I like, I'll tap the star to show that I like it but I won't repost it.

The original poster might exclude visually impaired members but I won't.

There are those who do add text to the alt-text area but they provide almost no meaningful information. In the photo of my cat, they might just type cat and leave it at that. I've also seen posts where the alt text is merely a copy-and-paste of the message in the body of the post, but it does not describe the image in any way at all, which I feel isn't helpful. Visually impaired people will use whatever means they have to read the post: they don't need that text repeated with the image.

If I read a post that I like and see that the alt text is scant or provides no indication of what the image is, not only will I not boost it, I won't hit the Like star.

Am I too extreme or picky?

I wanted to learn more about alt text and how I can make my descriptions as meaningful as possible, so I did some Googling. And I found lots of information but landed on a site that I think is succinct in explaining what alt text is and how you can be most effective when providing it.

Here's the link to it.

Essentially, you should be brief and succinct, and not add words that are redundant or don't add to what the image is. Sometimes, I can be too descriptive: for example, saying that Finn's head is on the left half of the photo. I don't know if it's unnecessary but I always think I should give more than less, as long as I'm not repeating myself.

I try.

How about you? Do you use alt text when it's an available option? If you don't use it, why not? Leave your comments below.

^* I know that Twitter/X also has this feature but I'm not going to talk about that platform anymore.

Lost and Found... and Lost Again

I took it out of my back pocket because I didn't want to break it.

DW and I were hiking in Gatineau Park with a couple of our friends, Nina and Brian, and were making our way to the Carbide Willson ruins, a place we've visited too many times to count. You would think that, by now, I would be tired of bringing a camera, that I've captured enough angles of the remains of the mill and the waterfall.

But no, I could never get tired of photographing this site. Every season brings a new look. The light can vary, depending on whether the sky is sunny or overcast. There's always a new angle that I haven't shot.

Sometimes, I dropped behind my companions to capture a moment but I would always catch up. I had a quick pace and I knew the trail well. By the time we reached the ruins, we were together, though once at the site, we would split up and explore the structures and the falls on our own.

I'll share some of my photos on Wednesday.

Just before we were ready to head back to our cars, about one-and-a-half kilometres away, we all gathered by the rocks on the other side of the waterfall from the shell of the mill, to sit, rest, drink some water, and snack.

I took my smartphone out of my pocket and set it on the rock, next to my D-SLR. Sitting on such a hard and uneven surface, I didn't want to risk cracking the screen or bending the metal. Being next to my camera, I wouldn't forget it when I stood again.

But when I stood up and grabbed my camera, I wasn't really looking next to me. The camera was resting against my leg and I instinctively scooped it up as I stood. I also had a water bottle in my other hand, and something in my brain told me that I had only been carrying two objects.

My companions and I stood up and started heading toward the trailhead without looking back.

Back at our vehicles, DW and I were invited to lunch at our friends' house, and we gratefully accepted. We agreed to follow their vehicle back to their house.

I placed my D-SLR in the back seat area but under the driver's seat, where it can be relatively secure. I placed my water bottle in one of the cup holders between the front seats, and I reached into my back pocket to retrieve my phone, to place it on the cordless charger below the car's console.

My phone wasn't there but when I looked at the charger area, there was a phone already in that place. For a second, I had thought that I had already placed my phone there, but a closer inspection told me that the phone belonged to DW.

I felt all of my pockets. I looked in the back seat, wondering if I had placed my phone, absent-mindedly, with my camera. It wasn't there.

I closed my eyes and remembered that the last time I had seen my smartphone was when I set it next to my camera, on the rocks near the mill. I remembered that I had set the phone on the far side of the camera, such that it was slightly out of sight, and I had made a mental note that perhaps that wasn't the best place to set it because I might not see it when I stood up again.

I never forget my phone, I told myself. Famous last words.

Our friends said that they would go ahead to their home and that we could meet them there, after I retrieved my phone. I high-tailed it back to the ruins.

I've never walked that fast on a hiking trail. At times, I sped to a trot, letting my momentum carry me down some of the steep sections of that path. DW was following me and she later said that she was challenged in trying to keep up.

Eventually, she stopped trying. She'd catch up with me at the ruins.

As I passed people, heading toward the parking lot, I asked almost every one of them: "Were you at the ruins, and did you see a smartphone?" I asked it in both English and French. To my surprise, some people had, indeed, seen the phone, and described where they saw it. It was exactly where I had been sitting.

I continued to ask the question, even after I had received the first confirmation, just in case someone had decided to pick it up to take to the park's visitor centre. The first person had told me that she had considered taking it with her, but she had left it in place in case someone returned to look for it.

Several people had seen it there.

The last person who confirmed seeing the phone was less than 10 minutes away from the mill. I was fairly confident that I would get to the rock and find my phone waiting for me, wondering why I had abandoned it.

From another time but close
to where I left my phone.

It wasn't there.

Several thoughts went through my mind: someone had found it and was on their way to the visitor centre, but had taken one of the side trails; someone had found it and decided to keep it, and had lied to me when they had said that they hadn't seen it; someone had found it and thrown it into the falls, just to see what would happen.

I swore a mean streak. I walked all around the site, looking in spots that might have seemed a more obvious location to discover a forgotten object. I remembered that I had seen several people who appeared to be part of a running group, and I didn't stop them to ask if they had seen a phone. They were concentrating on the path and I figured that they wouldn't have stopped to pick up a phone. Where I had sat wasn't particularly along a trail, though it wasn't far from one.

DW and I headed back to the car but my anger, at myself, kept me moving fast. I could hear the blood rushing in my head, past my ears. A strong, solid pulse that sounded like a war drum. My breathing was loud, taxed. As I climbed one of the inclines, I turned around to see how far DW was from me.

I was light-headed, and if I was going to pass out, I wanted her close by. She was only about 40 to 50 metres behind me.

I continued at my brisk pace.

When we reached the parking lot, I approached the attendant and asked him if anyone had turned in a smartphone. No one had. DW and I got in the car and drove to the visitor centre. The ladies behind the desk had told me that someone had also called to enquire about my phone.

Nina.

I gave details about the phone, DW's phone number, and my name. I was assured that if someone from a running group had come upon it, there was a very good chance that it would be turned in. I was also told that sometimes, running groups met up at Les Saisons, a café in Chelsea. DW and I knew the place, as it was where we usually stopped to treat ourselves when we cycled in the Gatineau Hills.

We grabbed ourselves a drink and a treat, and sat outside Les Saisons, but there were no runners or cyclists to be found. Nina was keeping in touch with DW and said that she was sending regular text messages to my phone, which gave DW's number and said 'lost phone.' If someone had my phone, they would see this message appear.

DW said, "Well, if we don't find your phone, maybe I can entice you to moving back to an iPhone."

"Never," I said, "I'm an Android person."

I wasn't looking forward to replacing my smartphone. It was my 'pandemic' phone. I had purchased it at the beginning of the COVID lockdown, in April of 2020. It was a Samsung Galaxy S10 and still worked perfectly. I had fully intended to use it until it was no longer supported or until it came to a natural end of life.

There wasn't a scratch on it. It looked like new.

Sitting on the patio, I started thinking: if I had my phone on me, I'd likely be on social media, posting about how I had foolishly left my phone on a rock and had to walk an extra three kilometres, at speed, to retrieve it.

But it was lost. I had lost my phone. Others had found it but left it in place, and now it was lost again. Why couldn't they have taken it to the trailhead with the intention of leaving it with the parking attendant?

I sat at the café, worrying that I'd never see that phone again. DW and I would have to cancel our lunch plans with our friends, and I'd have to get myself a new phone.

DW's phone pinged. A woman had found my phone. She was with a running group but had taken it home, trying to figure out what to do with it when she saw a text message that said the phone was lost and to contact DW.

The woman gave her address, in Aylmer, about 20 minutes away. We quickly finished our drinks and snacks, and jumped in the car.

When I had the phone in hand and got back in the car, after thanking the runner profusely, DW, who had waited in the car said, "You should have asked the runners. Perhaps she passed by us and had the phone then."

"She didn't pass us," I replied.

"How do you know?"

"Because she's a very good looking woman. If she had run past us, my eyes would have noticed her."

For that, I received a major eyeroll.

It was good to know that as worried as I was without my phone, the panic wasn't as strong, the urgency wasn't as great as when DW and I had lost Kid 1, years ago, in Québec City. Not by a long shot.

But the feeling of the possible loss was real.

Angry Sky

At first, yesterday's thunderstorms in Ottawa looked as though they were going to miss Barrhaven. Just a bit of rain, at most.

The bulk of the storm system looked to be tracking further north, closer to the Ottawa River and into Gatineau, on the other side. Indeed, when I was in video meetings with counterparts in Québec, I was being told that some of my colleagues where receiving lots of rain, hail, thunder, and lightning.

As I spoke to them, I looked out my home-office window, which faces north, and the sky looked black. When our meeting wrapped up, I stepped outside and took the following snapshot.

There was plenty of cloud movement and I could see flashes of lightning, followed several seconds later by distant thunder. But there was no rain in Barrhaven.

Until recently, we've talked about a "Barrhaven Bubble," in which we'd experience clear skies while in the downtown core, torrential rains fell. My neighbourhood seemingly escaped severe weather.

This year, however, that seems to have changed. Last month, two tornadoes touched down in Barrhaven. We've had lots of rain and hail. Our weather patterns have changed from the norm, as though the "Barrhaven Bubble" had finally burst.

Yesterday, as the skies darkened further overhead, I went indoors and took another photo of the sky: this time, from Kid 1's bedroom window.

The sky, indeed, was angry.

I checked my Weather Network app and the radar showed that a band of the storm was north of us, moving from the southwest, toward the northeast, and seemed to be going to miss my area, though a strong system was going to pass over us. It was only a matter of time.

Within about 15 minutes, rain began to fall, growing more intense with each minute. Thunder crashed overhead. Hail fell. Water backed up in sewer drains and crept up our driveway, to the highest levels I've ever seen.

The lights flickered a couple of times, causing our Internet router to restart twice. The storm was intense and lasted for hours.

Though there was extensive flooding throughout Ottawa, Barrhaven was largely spared. Still, the bubble seems to be no more.

I hope you were safe through this and other storms that we've experienced this summer.

Have a happy Friday.

Beer O'Clock: Electric Unicorn

I had seen this beer in my friendly neighbourhood LCBO many times over the past couple of years but never picked it up until just recently. There was something about the label that screamed "over the top," and I didn't want to be disappointed if the contents didn't match the ostentatious artwork.

The can features a unicorn that is backed by a starry sky. Somewhat fantastical. Would the beer be equally fantastical?

This time, as I was perusing the shelves of myriad craft ales, my eyes also fell to the bottom of the can and I read White IPA in purple, on a goldish-yellow band.

I had just picked up another white IPA from Le Trou du Diable and I thought I would do a comparison of the two. Last week, I tried and loved Les Quatre Serfeurs de l'Apocoalypso; would an electric unicorn trample the four surfers?

Let's find out.

Electric Unicorn White IPA (6.5% ABV)
Phillips Brewing & Malting Company
Victoria BC

Appearance: pours a slightly hazy deep gold with a foamy, beige head that starts thick and settles to a solid, creamy cap.

Nose: if you've ever had Gerber pear baby food, there are hints of that aroma, but with hops and a touch of acetone.

Palate: the pear continues in the mouth, mixed with a bit of pineapple juice, followed by what is a mix of pine resin and more acetone. Almost like a mild ear wax (c'mon, you all know what I'm talking about). This flavour combination carries all the way to the finish, which is medium in length, though the pine resin seems to linger when everything else is said and done.

Overall impression: despite my description, this white IPA is easy-drinking, and both quenched my thirst. There's enough fruit in the mouth to temper the bitterness of the pine and the acetone (the acetone may signal a flaw in the canning process). Overall, I did like the ale and I would gladly drink it again.

Which is good, because I have another can (if the flavour profile lacks the acetone, I'll update this review).

Beer O'Clock rating: 🍺🍺

How did the Electric Unicorn stand against The Four Surfers of the Apocalypse? I have to admit that the Québec white IPA did impress me more, and if I had to choose one over the other, the unicorn would be put in a stable, though I'd want to take it out for a gallop every once and a while.

Cheers!

Update: apparently, I've had Electric Unicorn on three other occasions, dating back to 2015. The last time, before this week, was on August 13, 2020 (almost exactly three years ago). My rating was pretty much the same but I never made a mention of acetone in my Untapp'd tasting notes. That doesn't mean it wasn't there: it only means I didn't make a note of it.

Apparently, though, my experience wasn't memorable (other than I recognized the label when I last picked it up).

Vankleek Hill