The Brown Knowser

It's clear that the pandemic has not only messed with people's lives and messed with how we now do business, but it's also messed with time. It's bad enough that COVID killed so many people, and those it didn't kill has left many, including myself, with long-term affects, some which may never go away. My lungs, I am certain and my specialist suspects, are a result of my exposure to the virus in 2022. I have a niece, who came down with COVID at the start of the pandemic, and who has permanent damage to her young heart. Countless businesses suffered during the pandemic or outright collapsed. So many bricks-and-mortar shops couldn't compete with online retailers, and perished. And many people to this day, myself and DW included, continue to work from home. I imagine I'll retire without having to clear out my office desk: I'll just have to return my laptop. Time seems to have been affected by the pandemic, too. At least, from my perspective. Things that...

I'm getting too old for this. It wasn't that long ago when a round trip to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) was no problem. When Kid 1 was attending Sheridan College, in Oakville, I would often drive down to pick her up and bring her home for holidays. On those days, I would leave home after breakfast and drive the four-and-a-half hours to her campus, pick her up, and drive home. I'd only stop for gas and a quick bite. Almost always, I'd call her just when I was about five minutes away, telling Kid 1 to head outside of her residence. I'd pull up, she'd hop in, and I would head back to Ottawa. Essentially, it was a 10-hour day of driving. In her final year, we gave her our Honda CR-V to take for the semester, so that she could drive herself. It was less stain on me and gave her more experience behind the wheel. And like me, she likes to drive. With Kid 2 at University of Toronto, I'd make similar trips but she was more determined to stay in the city. And when s...

Every once and a while, I like to look at old photos that I've taken and wonder if I can make a so-so photo look better with more post processing. And lately, I've been into giving photos a darker look by increasing shadows, upping the amount of black, and providing higher contrast. In other words, introducing a dark mood. As part of my random photo of the day that I've been doing in my Mastodon and Threads feeds, I come across photos that I have all but forgotten. For example, I came across a photo that I shot inside the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen, in France. It wasn't a bad shot but I wanted to add a touch more drama. What do you think? The photo on the left is the original, post-processed image. On the right, I've added more black, increased the detail, and made it a touch grainier. There's not a whole lot of change to this image but I think the one on the right just pops a bit more. I also came across a shot I had taken of Candlemaker Row, in Edinb...

I have never had an Innis & Gunn ale that I didn't like. And when it comes to Scottish whisky, there's no hesitation when I'm asked my favourite: Laphroaig. So when these two top-tier brewers and distillers collaborated in a limited-edition brew, you just know that I'm going to seek it out. I searched the LCBO Web site to find the nearest shop that stocked this wee heavy that was aged in 10-year-old Quarter Cask Laphroaig oak, hoping that my friendly neighbourhood shop would have some. But the closest location was 20 minutes away, in the Fairlawn Centre on Carling Avenue. Not wanting to take any chances, I cleared the shelf. Let's take a look, shall we? Islay Whisky Cask (7.4% ABV) Innis & Gunn Edinburgh, Scotland Appearance: pours a brownish-red that reminded me of a dark maple syrup. The taupe head started thin and was quickly reduced to a loose lace. Nose: I'd know the smell of Laphroaig anywhere. There were distinct notes of oak, smoke, and peat, ...

I grow old ... I grow old ... I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Gone are the days when I looked a decade younger than I really was. The other day, while running errands, DW wanted to pick up a prescription from the pharmacy, so we pulled up in front of the big glass windows of our neighbourhood drug store. DW hopped out while I waited in the car. You can't see me. I'm holding my phone in front of my face to get the shot. The car was reflected brightly in the window and I could clearly see myself. Only, who I saw wasn't the me I was expecting to see. I saw a round face. Round glasses took up most of that face and the rims cast shadows, making the face seem heavily wrinkled. I was wearing a black baseball cap and could only make out the hair around my side burns, and they were clearly grey. It was an old man looking back at me. I was horrified. Is this the face that others see when they look at me? But it wa...

Though I knew where to look, I couldn't see it. Not right away. The weather didn't cooperate for the first few nights. And on one night that I had a shot at capturing Comet Tsuchenshan-ATLAS, DW and I were hosting a Thanksgiving dinner. So, I didn't actually get out to try my second attempt at photographing this once-in-80,000-year celestial event until Wednesday evening. After dinner, I stored my camera and tripod in the back of the car and headed south, along First Line Road, toward Kars. I stopped the car on a wide gravel shoulder, that looked newly groomed, near Phelan Road. Because there's a slight double-bend in the road, and because vehicles like to exceed the posted 80 km/h limit (I've ridden my bike along this stretch many times and seen a lot of stupid drivers), I kept my taillights and daytime running lights on, and I stood partway in the ditch. And looked westward. There was the faintest bit of light fading on the horizon when I got out of the car, but b...

Last Saturday, as DW and I were standing on Britannia Beach, waiting for a chance to capture Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas (we didn't see it, by the way, though the sunset was worth venturing out), there was something in the sky that was behind us, ever-faithful, almost calling to us. "Look at me... look at me..." I still had a bit of time before the comet was supposed to come into view, should the clouds decide not to obscure our sight of it. So I swung my camera around and tilted upward. It was one quick shot. With my new lens , I noticed that the moon was much larger in the frame than my older telephoto lens. To show a close-up shot, I wouldn't have to crop nearly as much in post production. The RAW file was uploaded to my smartphone and edited in Snapseed. I noticed that I had overexposed a bit too much and blew out some highlights, and I was only able to recover so much. But the craters are sharper than I'm used to with my older lens. I wish I had this new lens ear...

A couple of weeks ago, we got together with our good friend, Russ, who we've known since 1998, when he and I worked together, teaching English at Jeonju University, in South Korea. We learned, from day one, that we both lived in the Ottawa area, though he was about 45 minutes west of the city. Close enough. Russ is an avid outdoorsman who loves to hop in a canoe and solo-paddle all over Eastern Ontario and up into Algonquin Provincial Park. He has paddled The Meanest Link , a 420-kilometre paddle that connects all four Algonquin Outfitters depots with lakes and rivers in the park. It is a challenging journey that Russ has done, solo, twice. To say that DW and I are a bit intimidated when Russ first offered to paddle with us was an understatement. But we did a leisurely paddle at Morris Island Conservation Area and crossed over to the Québec side, where we explored the small islands that lined the northern shores of the Ottawa River, to the west of Baie Black . A couple of weeks...

So I did it. I bought a new lens. And the first thing that DW said to me when I brought it home was, "How do you expect to carry that in your kayak?" It's a big lens. "I don't," was my answer. "At least not often. And I'll need a new dry bag." A couple of weeks ago, I said that I needed a better telephoto lens , that, while my 70–300mm is fine for many photos, it lacks the sharpness at maximum magnification and I would really like to zoom in closer to some subjects. I wanted a fixed focal length, at least 500mm. But I'm not rich and would rather spend that kind of money travelling. I settled for a zoom telephoto lens and saw a few on Kijiji that covered 200–500mm. When I was able to negotiate with someone from out of town to get a price within my budget, we arranged to meet. We met in the parking lot of a Tim Horton's that isn't far from the airport. I brought both my Nikon D7200 and D750 to try out the lens. After playing with the ...

(By the way, this is the 3,000th post for The Brown Knowser . Thought you might like to know.) A week ago, I did something that I haven't done in a very long time: I woke up, before sunrise, for the sole purpose of taking photographs. I'm not a morning person but I'll get up early if I'm motivated. Like, when I used to work at the office and wanted to arrive between 6:30 and 7, before most of my colleagues arrived. I'd get a lot of work done before any distractions got my attention, and I'd be able to leave work earlier in the afternoon, giving myself the rest of the day to enjoy. I'll get up early to go kayaking, if our destination is far. It's good to beat the rush and I find the lighting better. I'll get up early to catch a flight. Not that I sleep well leading up to that flight. I get anxious toward departure time and I don't calm down until I'm at the gate, ready to board. I'd like to think that I can get up early just to take a phot...

I only recently learned about my Scandinavian roots, with almost 10 percent of my genetic makeup representing Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. I learned this fact after a genetic test . There's Viking blood in me. Which makes it kind of funny that I came across a photo of me from 1989. It looks like I took it at a party (other photos corroborate my guess) and it was probably shot with my old Nikon One Touch point-and-shoot camera. It's not a great photo, being somewhat out of focus. DW and I were recently dating at the time but I can't remember which party we were at. We went to a lot of house parties back then. I don't recognize the ceiling or wall but it appears to be in someone's basement. I don't remember where the helmet came from. Also, at the time, I wouldn't have known that true Viking helmets didn't have horns. It's funny, looking at the photo now, knowing my genealogical roots. And, ugh, that hair! Happy Thursday!

Yes, this is another post about kayaking. Sorry to those who aren't into paddling, but this activity seems to be a big part of our life, these days. A couple of weeks ago, when DW and I were on Clayton Lake, in Lanark County, with our good friend, Russ, we discussed doing a paddle trip to Barron Canyon, in Algonquin Provincial Park. DW and I had paddled this route in October 2020 , and Russ used to make an annual trip with his mother, on the Mother's Day weekend. He hasn't been back to Barron Canyon for a couple of years, since his mother passed away, and he noted on our recent paddle that he'd like to go back. This time, with us, and this month, if the weather held out. DW and I said that we'd love to go, and if it was okay, we'd invite our Paddlefolk , too. Getting three couples (Russ would bring his girlfriend) to coordinate on a particular weekend was a challenge. We settled on the last weekend of October, but we're not holding our breath that the weathe...

I often wonder if people who aren't into kayaking grow tired of my blog posts about DW's and my paddling adventures. I've called my YouTube channel a moving-pictures version of my blog, yet I always share a post about a latest video on the blog, so I wonder if people who have subscribed to The Brown Knowser channel see the video and then come here, only to see a post about that video. It's a vicious circle. But seriously, I am paying attention to the number of views that I get on posts like these, and if they dip well below the average for other blog posts, I'll stop sharing them here. Or you can leave a comment and let me know if you want me to keep up the posts about my YouTube videos, or if you'd rather I didn't. And if you do like my YouTube videos, please subscribe. As the weather gets cooler, DW and I will be hanging our kayaks up for the season, and also for the last time. We bought new kayaks a month ago and expect to receive them in the sprin...

Last month, when we experienced a partial lunar eclipse, I ran outside with my camera, on a tripod, and mounted my most powerful telephoto lens on it to get the shot. It wasn't a great shot. Even at maximum magnification, on a cropped-sensor body (which essentially made it an equivalent of 450mm), the moon only filled a fraction of the frame. Cropping the photo, it was obvious that it wasn't a clear image. I posted the photos on Mastodon and Theads but wasn't happy with the result, so largely forgot about them. When DW and I started thinking about our next vacation for 2025, two places came to mind but I was hesitant. "I'm not going to either of these places until I have a better telephoto lens." For years, I've wanted a better lens than what I have in my 70-300mm zoom. Sure, it takes some decent photos but if I want to crop a photo to magnify the subject more, the photo starts losing sharpness. I've wanted a prime telephoto lens, either a 600mm or 800...

It's hard to believe that I only have five months left in my 50s. In March, I'll officially be a senior citizen in the eyes of the Canadian government. DW will sometimes tell me that I can still act like I'm five, but that's usually when I tell her that she's not the boss of me. As I approach my 60s, I've started thinking about how I'm not far away from the age that my dad was when he died. Thinking like that weighs heavy on a person and I've started thinking about all the things I've wanted to do, and how I should do them as soon as possible because I don't know how much time I have left. Over the weekend, my mom gave me a couple more years. As I've been filling out missing gaps in my Ancestry family tree, I've always thought that my dad was born in 1939, making him 62 when he suffered his fatal heart attack. But my mother corrected me: he was born in 1937. She knows this because a) she's smart and hasn't lost her marbles yet, an...