Marilyn's Photos - July 11 2026 - A bridge too far

 

The date is now July 27th.  That's when the Gordie Howe International Bridge is set to open, according to a news release last night sent out by the Department of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities.  That comes from the CBC.  From MSN comes the news that Donald Trump is quietly backing off an aggressive trade posture against Canada, which some were suspicious was an under-the-table handout to major GOP donors.  Then it goes on to say that the Canadian government announced the bridge opening date.  In comparison the Yahoo!Finance news says that Canada and Michigan have agreed to open the Gordie How International Bridge...with the support of the United States Government.  Should one be encouraged and have some optimism that the bridge will open?  I know nothing about betting sites, so off I went to find out what the odds are that the bridge will open on that date.  Perhaps you already know this: "The July 27th opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge is not available as a betting market on any regulated sportsbooks. Because both the Canadian government and U.S. officials officially announced this specific opening date, betting sites do not offer odds on this event as it is a settled certainty rather than an unpredictable contest." This is an historic moment:  Should you make the drive to Detroit and participate in the first day celebration? Is there the ability for Canadians to go halfway, turn around and come back, so we don't have to go through U.S. customs?  Well we could walk or bike across the bridge  It is 2.5 kilometers long. Would that be a bad sort of behaviour?  It says you will still have to go through Canadian customs just as if you had traveled all the way to Detroit.  It is designed specifically to cross the international border, so once you are on the bridge, you are in international zone requiring valid travel documents.  And you can walk the bridge for free. Sounds like a plan, though: walk onto the bridge for a bit, and then come back.  There's a FB post wanting to organize a Gordie Howe International bridge walk.  I guess when they opened the Ambassador bridge in 1929, there was a massive crowd walk. I guess it can happen again, so there'd be no easy getting back, would there? Today's picture is tree bark. This is a Sycamore or Plane Tree. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

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Mairlyn's Photos - Jjly 10 2026 - Summer Time Retreat

 

Summer time attracts the idea of getting away from it all.  Maybe in the woods or on a lake.  We have a lot of woods and lakes in Northern Ontario.  There are all sorts of summer retreats these days - yoga, religious, nature, wellness, kayaking, sports, and even axe throwing, if you go to Long Point Eco-Adventures.  The idea of a retreat has been with us since we lived in cities.  Doesn't Lake Como, Italy pop up - the world's best hotel, an 18th century villa. The alternatives today, though, range to some strange options.  Maybe it is Mexico's Secrets Akumal Riviera Maya, supposedly the #1 all-inclusive resort in the world.  Or one could explore strange and unusual destinations such as these: sleep encased in salt at Palacio del Sal in Bolivia, inside an old Boeing fuselage in Costa Rica, or float underwater at the Manta Resort.  Bizarre is what we've come to expect when it comes to retreat sleeping. I was thinking more of the northern Ontario landscape of trees and lakes. Surprise!  Bizarre exists there too - near Parry Sound you can sleep in a transparent geodesic dome in old growth trees, or in Gravenhurst you can sleep in a fully converted 1979 Ontario Northland Railway caboose, or go glammping at the Sunnd Eco Resort near Sault Ste. Marie. The choices are many. Here's one that is close by and is strange indeed. We can go to the Screaming Heads sculptures in the Almaguin Highlands at Midlothian Castle at Burk's Falls.  There are more than 100 very huge sculptures on the landscape all screaming in some way.  It certainly is something to see, but I wonder if it would be a retreat to go to or a retreat to run from. It makes me think of the Burning Man Festival, Canadian style, as it has a harvest festival each year. On the simple side of things,  we could stay in Grimsby and head over to this residence's cute bench on the edge of the woods.  There's a retreat everywhere if we think about it. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - July 8 2026 - Fact Check Time

 

Do you remember when fact-checking was all of a sudden significant?  Yes, when Donald Trump became president the first time.  We were shocked.  Fact-checking is supposed to be something behind the scenes that keeps information accurate.   The all-time high was in 2024 - today there are 437 fact-checkers globally.  Today's headline says that Trump has fallen asleep 22 times in his second term. is this factual or sensational reporting?  There is more sensation these days.  There are many internet articles that appear to be reporting  news with  sensational headlines.   I went to factually.co to find a fact-checked answer.  It is very thorough in its answer.  There are differences in the definition of what "falls asleep" is.  There are video clips that can and cannot be authenticated.  Original footage and context are required for verification.  They also look for on-the-record denials - that seems interesting.  Factually.co says that the bottom line is this:  there are at least four widely reporting episodes from 2024-25.   And after all that, doesn't the number 22 stick in your mind now?  How easy it is to create the "sense" of something. Remember this amazing sidewalk drawing in Toronto?   Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - July 7 2026 - Fashion for Fall

 

I saw a picture from the fall fashion shows and was intriguing.  The model was wearing a mask that formed part of the outfit - in simplel terms it matched the dress.   Of note, the model actually had a female shape with "hips" - compared to the other models.  This was the collection of Iris van Herpen.  Everything looks like costumes from a Space Fantasy movie.  Previous collections look like underseas fantasies, and so on.  Here's her website with the amazing strange creations HERE.  Take a look through them.  I don't think I would know this is clothing except that it isi shown on people.  In comparison, I reference my childhood era in the 1950s. Fashion designers were in the business of designing clothes that we would wear - with new colours and combinations each year.  Think of it as "new and improved" rather than "radically different." I reference the designers themselves and their own relationship to wearing clothes. When fashion designers today are men, the pictures of the designers show them wearing ordinary clothes - simple top and pants, with some wearing suits.  Even pictures of contemporary female fashion designers show them wearing regular clothes.  So over the last 50 plus years, the art of clothes became separate and disconnected from wearing clothes. I wonder if this is this an opinion or is it a commentary on the transformation of fashion.  I asked AI to find out if there is validity to my theory.  AI tells me that wearing clothes is functional and passive, whereas the art of clothes is intentional and creative.   So here we are with the picture of the model in the mask.  This mangled metal from the car wreckers seems to resemble a mask to me.  Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - July 6 2026 - Fall from the sky

 

As we look for fireflies at night, it is also time to gaze at the sky and ask this question:  what bizarre and extreme things have fallen from the sky? The largest snowflake: in 1887 in Montana.  It measured 15 inches wide and 8 inches thick.  That might have given rise to Snowflake Pie. The largest piece of ice:  in August 1849, a 20 foot long piece of ice fell in Scotland.   The heaviest hailstones on record weighed more than 2 pounds and reportedly killed 92 people in Bangladesh in 1986. The things like fish and frogs come from the sky due to weather formations such as waterspouts.  They suck marine life from the water and rain it down below somewhere else.  In Punta Gorda, Florida there was a hail storm of golf balls in 1969.  The reason was never confirmed but the theory that "stuck" is that a waterspout scooped up all the golf balls languishing in the golf ponds.    This could only happen in the 20th century - in 1969 a South Carolina factory producing non-dairy creamer had malfunctioning air vents. The clogged vents allowed the powder mixture to leak into the air where it mixed with falling rain and fell in glops in Chester, South Carolina.  Of course - money - in 2015 United Arab Emirates dirham currency showered over Kuwait City.  In Servia, a plane carrying gold and diamonds spilled cargo over the runway in 2018.  And then there's space junk. But the claim is that the machinery won't survive re-entry intact and will splinter into sufficiently small pieces.  When there's enough rain on the windshield, the distortions are excellent.  You need lots of gloppy rain.  Here are the kinds of images that happen. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com