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

Marilyn's Photos - Oct 10 2026 - Copium comes of age

 

Copium - how do you serve it?  In a cup?  Here, have a cup of copium.  In a pill?  Take your copium, and you will feel better.   Copium is being described as a metaphorical drug to deal with loss, failure, or disappointment.  Irrational excuses, false hope or denial are the mechanisms.   That takes us to the Maple Leafs who have not won the Stanley Cup for 59 years.  So are we the champion country of copium?  We might be the champion country, but there are sports teams who have not won a championship for longer than the Maple Leafs.  Arizona Cardinals NFL - 78 years Cleveland Guardians - MLB - 77 years Sacramento Kings - NBA - 75 years Detroit Lions - NFL - 68 years Atlanta Haws - NBA - 68 years My case for the Maple Leafs is stronger because hockey is our beloved and national sport.  This goes straight to the heart.  It would likely have to be baseball as similar in the U.S. although it is not designated a national sport.  The Cleveland Guardians have gone 77 seasons without a title.   The most active application of the word copium is in gaming and esports.  "Viewers and players spam "copium" in Twitch Chat or Discord when a streamer, pro player, or fanbase makes excuses for losing a match, bad patch notes or a blown tournament run?" We can go down the parallel path here - "hopium" - predictably,  it is used as a blend of hope and opium in the face of contrary proof or failure.  Its application is highest in finance and crypto. Not knowing this field, I did enjoy the terminology: "It is a staple of crypto Twitter/X, Reddit, and trading forums to describe investors who hold onto failing tokens, dead coins, or crashing stocks with irrational, blind optimism ("I just know this unknown altcoin will be the next Bitcoin") despite all market evidence." I see tokens, coins, and stocks falling from the sky in this scenario as though transported by hurricane and tropical storm winds from Florida.   A pumpkin display from 2025 at the Royal Botanical Gardens.  Time to go see this year's extravaganza. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Ot 9 2026 - Cinnamon Season

 

Cinnamon season is here.  It is a universally beloved spice. Cooking-wise there are two types - the true cinnamon  is Ceylon Cinnamon.  It is light brown colour, thin and papery, with a mild, sweet flavour.  The other one is Cassia cinnamon, darker and thick and stronger, with a bitter taste.   Our Clubhouse sorts of spices from the grocery store don't tell us where they are from.  They barely tell us anything about them.  But we can look up Clubhouse Spices from McCormick, and it says they use the cassia.   Let's get the good cinnamon this year.  If one wants the Ceylon cinnamon, the Real Canadian Superstore has it.  We can also count on the Peanut Mill, the organic food store in St. Catharines as it sells Ceylon cinnamon.   And even the Bulk Barn - which is now full of candies and sweets in bulk - sells Ceylon cinnamon.  Bulk Barn used to be things like flour, sugar, oatmeal, nuts.  What a lot of "stuff" now.  All manner of cake, muffin, pancake, and other mixes.  Mixes for things I don't even know what they are.   But no matter about having to wade through the Bulk Barn aisles, it is a relief to know it will be contributing to a delicious pumpkin pie!   Here's a novel use for cinnamon sticks - as an art easel.  We know what kind these would be.  Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Oct 8 2026 - Hoarding my useless skills

 

I saw an article on hoarding where some poor guy had to clean up his parents' house after they died.  The house was in significant disrepair and was full of stuff the parents had hoarded over the years.  From some kind of extreme nostalgia, he was repairing and cleaning up the house, and reporting it all on social media.  This was in Texas - I am never surprised about the depths that occur in Texas.  But then I got to thinking - what about all the skills that I hoard, but are no longer of any use at all?  What are they?  Shorthand/stenography - I am off the hook there as I didn't learn it. Human computation - I am a bit guilty as I like to count change, but I don't calculate anything complex by hand - excel to the rescue, mostly - where is that percent calculation function these days? Typewriter speed and error correction - I am in the bull's eye there - I've turned off error correction as it makes odd words that shouldn't be in any composition anywhere, and I like to whiz away with my fingers on the keyboard. Switchboard patching - I am younger than that so consider this a red herring. Card Catalog and Alphabetical indexing - Should I file my music titled Irving Berlin's White Christmas under Irving Berlin or White Christmas.  It should be under Irving Berlin - guilty of skill hoarding. Paper map and compass navigation - thank goodness for GPS now - that skill wasn't in good shape to start with. Have we even discussed memorization, resume writing - OK, just being able to write well, reading an analog clock, how to tie things like shoelaces.  Have we even walked into the kitchen where we sifted flour, manually defrosted the refrigerator, estimated oven temperatures, and hand-cranked the egg beater?   What do we hoard in our memories?   It is grape time - you can see the grapes hanging on the vines from the road.  Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Oct 7 2026 - Frost Ahead but when

 

So far, we've had pleasant Fall weather.  No frost expected in the next week or two.  This time of year I bring the tropical plants into the greenhouse. That makes me attentive to the evening temperatures.  Here's what the advice is for predicting whether frost will happen tonight. How warm was it during the day? If the temperature reached 75ºF (in the East or North) or 80ºF (in the desert Southwest), the chance of the mercury falling below 32ºF at nighttime is slim. Is it windy? A still night allows cold air to pool near the ground; a light breeze stirs things up; a heavy, cold wind sweeps away warm air near the ground. Is it cloudy? If the Sun sets through a layer of thickening clouds, the clouds will slow radiational cooling and help stave off a frost. What is the dew point? As a rule of thumb, don’t worry about a frost if the dew point (the temperature at which water vapor condenses) is above 45 degrees on the evening weather report. How is your garden sited? Gardens on slopes or high ground often survive when the coldest air puddles down in the valleys and hollows. How far are your plants from the ground? Those plants that are close to the ground have a better chance of being protected by the warmth of the earth. Here's a sagging building.   Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com

Marilyn's Photos - Oct 6 2026 - What to think about

 

Is there a "question" of the day? I guess so - one can hop over to BrainyQuote or WisdomQuotes and find a question or reflection of the day.   Today's "best thought" is:  The secret of getting ahead is getting started - that comes from Mark Twain. That's one of those proverbial quotes. Not really a question, either.  Try to find a "question" of the day and they seem trite - if today had a soundtrack, what song would open it?  What small thing always makes your day better?  That's more like an icebreaker in a conversation.  Nothing thought-provoking there.  And entirely personal - no investigation and curiosity required there.  The New York Times asked 100 scientists to give them the big unanswered questions in their fields.  Things like:  What preceded the Big Ban?  Why do we sleep? Why are humans the only species with a chin?  And the all-encompassing question one asked:  What is curiosity? That last one is intriguing. A question of the morning in pursuit of building the curiosity muscle - that would be interesting.  I wonder if schools do this -  build curiosity skills.  There are standardized curiosity quizzes and scales. They seem to be directed to personal growth mostly and how people approach new information, biases, and differing opinions.  Getting to know oneself sorts of questions.  I expect that curiosity has to be at the core of research.  Here's an expression that makes sense "cognitive appetite" - it is the internal drive that surfaces questions about how the world works.   Asking the question of how to develop cognitive appetite gets a good answer - structured courses that stimulate neuroplasticity, focus and critical thinking.  Harvard has on online course titled Cognitive Fitness - eat, sleep, exercise...that quickly moves to lifestyle training. I was wanting brain skills - focus/attention, working memory, long-term memory, logic and reasoning, auditory processing, visual processing, processing speed and so on.  That seems to be offered a udemy.com and it says it is a free course.  Introductory offer, I am sure.  One of the gardens on the garden tour has a beautiful statue - I decided it would be pretty in a walled garden setting, so here it is.  Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com