Marilyn's Photos - Oct 15 2026 - Weighing in on Pumpkins

 

There are a few "biggest vegetable" contests around the world.  They mostly go on weight - the heaviest.  Is it a surprise that it is England that is considered the champ of the champs in producing the biggest in the world.  A beetroot weighing 26.02 kg, a sunflower head weighing 7.808 kg, a cucumber measuring more than 7.5 metres.  The longest dandelion/weed root was 1.127 metres.  The BBC article on all the winners is HERE.  We're partial to pumpkins and it was awarded this year for a 3,156 (1,432.5 kg pumpkin from Rhode Island.  It is the first to cross the 3,000 pound weight.  What I most enjoy about the pumpkin contest is that it is at Half Moon Bay, California.  We've driven along Highway 1 in the autumn and see the pumpkin field next to the ocean.  It is a magical combination.   Take a look at how much has changed in a century of pumpkin records. The first giant pumpkin on record was grown by William Warnock from Ontario and it was 365 pounds at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. He was the expert for decades. The most recent cultivar that is used is Dill's Atlantic Giant selected by Howard Dill and likely descended from "Mammoth".  Besides genetics, agricultural techniques maximize the growth.  I expect those are the secret moments.  Here's the stunning progress through the decades. 1900: William Warnock (Canada) – 400 lb (181 kg) 1980: Howard Dill (Canada) – 459 lb (208 kg) 2006: Ron Wallace (USA) – 1,502 lb (681 kg) (First to break 1,500 lbs) 2009: Christy Harp (USA) – 1,725 lb (782 kg) 2012: Ron Wallace (USA) – 2,009 lb (911 kg) (First to break 2,000 lbs) 2021: Stefano Cutrupi (Italy) – 2,702.9 lb (1,226 kg) Early October 2026: Ian Paton (United Kingdom) – 2,856.8 lb (1,295.8 kg) (Nicknamed "Bagheera") Mid October 2026: Ron Wallace (USA) – 3,156 lb (1,431.5 kg) (First over 3,000 lbs) Don't you think this is an amazing accomplishment!  What about a Pumpkin salt watercolour moon and koi fish in the Half Moon Bay? Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Oct 14 2026 - Joni Mitchell now an American

 

The New York Times News Summary this morning noted that Joni Mitchell has become an American citizen.  Given their overwhelming covering of mid-term elections, and their underwhelming coverage of other news events, this got my attention, wondering why the New York Times has laid claim to Joni Mitchell.  Just recently they excluded her from the greatest living American Songwriters, so maybe they are making up for this now. Will the rankings get amended? On her Instagram account she says it was a journey that began 62 years ago.  She can now vote - and the article says this is something she publicly lamented not being able to do in the past.   Are you surprised?  Who would have predicted Wayne Gretzky would be a Trump buddy?  And there's Neil Young who got his U.S. citizenship six years ago - his  process was delayed because of a lack of good moral character over drug use.  Jim Carrey became a U.S. citizen in 2004. Michael Fox, Alanis Morissette and Dan Aykroyd are all U.S. citizens.  There's a lot of them.  Wikipedia has an entry on Canadian Americans.  Doesn't that sound like some hybridizer has been busy in the flowers or with the dogs? The listing is HERE.  It is a listing of Americans of Canadian descent.  Did you know Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Warren Beatty are in that list.  There's the list of those born in/lived in Canada, with American citizenship.  It's a long list too.   I expect taxes, work permits and visas have a role in this, rather than a desire to carry a gun wherever you go.  What do you think? Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Oct 13 2026 - The Most Expensive Thing in the World

 

I thought it would be worth reading what is the most expensive substance on Earth that sells for $140 million per gram.  First of all we have to figure out what a gram actually looks like.  I measure food ingredients in teaspoons and tablespoons and then in fluid ounces or litres - the measuring cup shows both.  I know that we should be using weight for measurement, but volume seems to be the household standard. So here's what a gram looks like.  Our most expensive thing is a powder named Nitrogen Atom-Based Endohedral Fullerenes.  It is used to build accurate and tiny atomic clocks.   Atomic clocks are a key component of GPS systems and the ability to make tiny ones will revolutionize many things, including the potential for driverless cars to make them extremely accurate.  And all kinds of things would be transformed. Current atomic clocks are room-sized, so that explains the impact. Other articles don't agree on the most expensive things.  What about antimatter - estimated value $62.5 trillion per gram.  The Internationalal Space Station has an estimated value of $150 billion. The British crown jewels are estimated to be $10 billion (some say $4-6 billion), as is the James Webb Space Telescope, and the Yacht History Supreme is estimated to be worth $4.8 billion.  Hubble Space Telescope is worth $2.1 billion.  There's a residence in Mumbai worth $2 billion (it has an artificial snow room).  It is a bit of a relief to find out that we prize science above most other things. A yacht or a house is an embarrassing "thing" to be worth billions of dollars.  But our love of knowledge through exploration is admirable.  I saw a joke headline about what money can't buy: Money can't buy love.  Of course it can, I bought a puppy. Here's a fabulous view - the Toronto skyline from Charles Daley Park in St. Catharines on an October day. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Oct 12 2026 - Feels Like

 

This is the week of everything going into the greenhouse.  Next weekend the temperature forecast has the "feels like" temperature below 0.  That's an ouch for the tropical plants.   Isn't it interesting how "feels like" has become the dominant expression of the temperatures. It started out as the "wind chill index" way back in the 1930s and then published in the 1940s.  It was in the late 1960s that chill values began to be incorporated into public winter forecasts.  And then in 1965 "feels like" started to include the heat index so that there could be a summer discomfort number.  So here we are now, relying more on "feels like" to tell us what to expect of the weather experience.   I am relieved that wind chill is not as widely used.  It sounds mean and cruel and has a sense of the Antarctic.  Which is where it was developed by explorers Paul Siple and Charles Passel who formulated the measurement.  To get to the accurate numbers in 2001, they had volunteers walk on a treadmill in a cold wind tunnel with sensors attached to the outsides of their faces and the insides of their cheeks.  Wind chill is now based on the wind speed at five feet in the air because of this measurement technique. Here's another interpretation of wind chill: The inventor of the wind chill factor died this week. He was 86 but felt more like he was 64. Some colours are starting here - Sumacs are their pretty reds. Tree colour is just starting.  Here's a motion blur image from a few years ago - up on the escarpment along the Bruce Trail where there are Maple forests to create this gorgeous yellow. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Mairlyn's Photos - Oct 11 2026 - Is there Thankful Thinking?

 

Once a year - that's it.  That's right.  It is once a year that we all pause for thanks.  How curious. Is thanks a thought or an emotion?  Do we "pause" because it is both - the thought of recognizing, the emotion of gratitude, and then the action is to say thanks.  Expressing thanks affects our mental reward system.   Here's an article that gives some advice on how to go from a complaining life to one which cultivates, and is grounded in, a spirit of Thanksgiving.  First, become aware of how much we complain and how complaining creates suffering for ourselves and those around us.  We become aware of this by doing an exercise called "not complaining" - for an entire day.  Included is not complaining about not being able to complain!   To refrain from complaining is one thing, and to be grateful takes a lot more.  Somehow Thanksgiving focuses on this "meal" - the turkey, its stuffing, the pumpkin pie.  I guess the original colonists were thankful that they had enough to eat in this new continent, and so the tradition.  The advice above is in this article HERE - it has seven stages of gratitude.   That's quite a few to my mind.  And quite the challenge to accomplish.  Maybe that's why we remain with Thanksgiving as a big food event.  So much simpler and not much work, really. Yesterday I drove by this year's version of the display below - it is on Victoria Avenue in Vineland.  I was on my way to pick up my Thanksgiving turkey. What an experience!  It was the annual festival of arts, and there were hundreds, maybe even a thousand people all up and down Victoria Ave.  There can be up to 7,000 people at the festival on a single day of the Thanksgiving weekend.  Cars were parked in fields as far as one could see. They were all smiling and having fun - quite unusual and definitely pleasant to see so many happy people.   Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com