Marilyn's Photos - May 2 2026 - Skills I don't need

 

"In this guide I'll walk you through the seven skills that are rapidly becoming obsolete and what's replacing them..." These are panic articles about basic data entry, customer service representatives, copy writing, language translation and so on - jobs going, going, gone, maybe even long gone now.  What about things like dictaphone transcription, using carbon paper for copies, hand mending socks, treadle sewing machine operation, putting a record player stylus (I had to look it up as I didn't remember the name) on the record correctly,  using a manual can opener and a rotary egg beater? Things we did, like "roll down the car windows" for some fresh air. And we used a paper map to guide us to where we were going. And what about the trivial social skill of being quiet in a movie theatre?  OK, no longer needed as no one goes to movie theatres.  And that other skill - waiting - mostly obsolete now.  These are quaint skills now - vintage skills - thousands of them. We can go to Wikipedia to see the list of obsolete occupations.  That's the fear that is circulating everywhere now - like the seven skills guide above.  And what are some of those obsolete occupations?  Alchemist tops the list, and it is one that was "debunked" due to the rise of modern science. It started in the 3rd century and concluded in the 20th century - that hung around a long time.  The extensive and interesting list is HERE.  AI has snuck into my photos as this photo was retrieved with the keyword "vintage" - a keyword I can't ever remember using.  This tulip field is blooming now - located at Seventh Street and Fourth Street in St. Catharines - very close to the 13th Street Winery.    In comparison, here are some sewing machines that would be considered vintage - these were in Port Credit.  I keyworded these as "antique."

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Marilyn's Photos - May 1st 2026 - Silk Today

 

I bet I haven't seen anyone wearing silk for more than a year and possibly even more.  I would notice, Somewhere in the internet retrievals, I saw a picture of a pile of material and each one was labelled a type ofo silk.  I assumed the one at the top is the most luxurious and expensive.  Is that the case?  It turns out not so as Habotai silk is not considered as expensive as Muga silk sitting below it in the pile. And the pile should contain Mulberry Silk - named after the diet of mulberry leaves of the Bombyx mori silkworms.  That's the most famous producer of silk fibres.  The Bombyx mori have been domesticated for approximately 5,000 to 7,500 years. It is quite ironic that this moth is considered "entirely dependent on humans for survival" when in fact humans boil the pupae before they become moths to kill them so that they don't emerge and spoil the silk threads.  There are silk moths in Ontario: the Cecropia, Luna, Polyphemus, Promethea, Pine Imperial.  That does not mean there is Ontario silk - these moths will not be producing silk for clothing production - we don't have 5,000 years of domestication to figure things out. So if we were to sort a pile of silk fabric from most expensive to least expensive: 1. Muga 2. Mulberry 3. Eri 4. Tussah 5. Silk Blends/waste Compare that to the pile in the picture - it has all kinds of things - types of weaves, textures and weights. It still is fun to consider. Who knew this?  There is a fabric made of lotus called lotus silk.  Lotus stems are harvested to pull out thin, sticky filaments which are twisted into thread by hand.  The fabric is used for sacred monastic robes. This silk is considered to be 10 times more expensive than traditional moth silk.  It requires over 30,000 lotus stems to make a scarf and would cost upwards from $300 to $1,000.  Moth silk requires 5,000 cocoons to produce 1 kilogram of raw, high-quality Muga silk.  A Muga silk sari is likely to cost $6,500.  Interesting that you can tell my age by this topic.  Today's fabric for clothing is primarily polyester and accounts for almost 60% of global fibre production. Cotton is considered important as 75% of the world's clothing products contain some amount of cotton.  But polyester reigns supreme. Here is a Cecropia moth on the window about to be released outside. Here's a lotus at the famous LotusLand Garden in Santa Barbara.

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Marilyn's Photos - Apr 30 2026 - Month of May

 

Tomorrow is the beginning of everyone's favourite month.  We have celebrations galore.  May Day tomorrow, then May The Forth, Mother's Day, Victoria Day, and before we know it -  it is June, another favourite month. May is a month of flowers filling the air with perfume.   Except in Masachusettes where there is a Corpse Flower (Titan arum) blooming in Talcott Greenhouse. With a name of Corpse Flower, you can easily guess it either looks weird or smells weird.  It is the latter.  We have one in the Niagara Falls Greenhouse - it blooms every few years.  It is a huge flower around 4 or 5 feet tall, and then one tall plant stalk comes after flowering - more than 20 feet high, like a tree. This is a plant that grows from a tuber which can weigh in the range of up to 200 pounds. There might be some growing in its native Sumatra, but it is rare and endangered.  It has found favour as a celebrity plant and has been spread all over the world in botanic conservatories as a novelty plant - it's that massive size and big smell of rotting flesh.   Stinking flesh plants are not rare - there are over 200 species of this plant. I have a small variety in the garden -  and it will bloom in May - with its deep red spathe and its very big smell of dead flesh.  The flies are everywhere. The dog looks at it confused.  Visitors ask me why I would have a weird and stinky plant in the garden.  I thought it is self-evident that that's why I would have it. One of the many garden highlights of the Month of May. Here it was blooming in the Niagara Falls greenhouse.

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Marilyn's Photos - Apr 29 2026 - DM Me

 

A Globe and Mail first-person article today had the abbreviation/acronym DM and I couldn't remember what it means.  Direct Message, of course.  Something that Facebook users are always offering - DM me for prices or times ... or something.   Why do many people prefer text messages over email?  The reason that got my attention is that text messages have a high open rate.  The second one was that they are considered safer. And they are considered less vulnerable to phishing attacks.  I don't know about that last one - I get phishing texts regularly. They are supposedly used for "urgent" communications and for immediacy.  All those verification codes come via text now.  And what about the urgent message - "I'm home now."   My own theory on the preference for text messaging is because it doesn't require good grammar or correct spelling.  It is hard to look illiterate when there are only a few words.  They can usually be understood given there isn't much real content. I expected to be able to find examples of silly texts but that's no longer the case.  I guess the market for silly texts is worn out or used up, Instead there are lots of pictures of silly signs and notices.  This one with its massive size seems excellent. Maybe its scenario goes like this:  Only texting people need apply to the Department of Road Signs.   Wisteria buds are starting to show.  Soon we'll have that short but spectacular show.

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Marilyn's Photos - Apr 18 2026 - War on Dandelions

 

It seems that Dandelions have been hated for a long time.  They were brought to North America by settlers in the 17th century for food and medicine.  I don't see dandelions in the woods - they need a fair amount of sun.  But I would expect meadows got overrun quite quickly.  Now, we are a rural and urban landscape with few meadows, and we gave dandelions the perfect environment to flourish Starting slowing in the 1870s and accelerating in the 1950s lawns became part of the urban and rural landscape.  In the 20th century, horses were replaced by cars, giving more room to having a lawn.   I would guess the gas-powered lawnmower helped lawns proliferate.  And once we had lawns, we had room for dandelions to spread.   I can remember that most of the neighbourhood children had lawn duty - removing dandelions with the long-handled tool that would be able to get out the tap root.  That was before all the herbicides.   What made dandelions so hated?  This quote from an article by the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects likely says it all: "Colonial control over nature, demonization of the 'wild', and the 'othering' of those different from ourselves are all ideologies wrapped up in the history of the suburban lawn. Here's a lawn of dandelions on Grimsby Town property a few years ago.

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