June 17 2023 - Sunnylea Fox(es)

 

Millie "got wind" of something in the night when Baxter came in.  She was upset with the situation and jumped off the bed, scurried about to make sure no one entered with him. She checked every window to see what was going on.   Our last adventure of this sort was when Baxter came in smelling of skunk.   Who are the uninvited intruders this time? We know that Baxter has encountered foxes as our neighbour saw him chasing a fox pup down the street.  If there are 6 foxes as the Grimsby Nexdoor post as per the picture below, then Baxter has a lot of new friends and a lot of chasing to do.  That's likely the scenario last night. She's not settled down at all - the foxes keep showing up running along the street and between the houses this morning.   Are Fun Fox Facts that go along with Dogs Barking in the Middle of the Night?  Here they are from wildthingsfood.co.uk: 1. Foxes are great night-time predators Their eyes are specially adapted to be able to see in the dark. Behind the light sensitive cells lies another layer called the tapetum lucidum which reflects light back through the eye. This doubles the intensity of what the fox can see, making them excellent at catching prey. 2. Foxes are considered to be solitary animals Unlike other members of the canine family, foxes are not considered to be pack animals. Foxes tend to live by themselves or in small family groups called a “skulk”, which typically includes the mother fox and around 6 cubs.   3. Foxes can make over 40 different sounds If you’ve ever heard those scream-like howls you will probably know the type of sounds we are talking about. Foxes can make a variation of screams, barks, and howls that can range from high pitched tones to lower tones to communicate different things. 4. Foxes make use of the earth’s magnetic field to hunt Researchers have found that foxes are the first animals in the world to use the earth’s magnetic fields to judge the distance and direction of their prey. They can use this to their advantage when hunting for small animals located in high grass. 5. People used to fear foxes but they are actually considered friendly animals Most fox species are known to be friendly, curious and playful whilst amongst other foxes and animals. There is also a long history of foxes playing with humans and bonding with them too. Foxes have been known to play with balls and will often take them from golf courses and gardens. 6. Foxes only reproduce once a year Foxes breed only once a year and mating usually occurs in January or early February. The vixen (female fox) then remains pregnant for around 60 days and will birth a typical litter of 4 – 6 cubs around March or April.  7. Baby foxes are unable to see, walk or thermoregulate when they are born Mothers will typically nurse their cubs for the first two months of their lives until they develop these functions. Meanwhile, the male fox will go out and hunt for the family. The mother stays with the cubs in the den for around three weeks before the cubs venture out with their mother for the first time.  8. Foxes don’t just live in rural areas, they also live in cities This is due to the wide availability of food and shelter in towns or cities. Urban foxes tend to dig their dens in the earth underneath bushes or garden sheds. Some also dig underneath tree roots and railway embankments.  9. Foxes have a very varied diet Foxes are expert hunters, catching rabbits, rodents, birds, frogs and earthworms. But they aren’t carnivores – they are actually omnivores as they dine on berries and fruit too.  10. Foxes have impeccable hearing Researchers found that foxes have excellent low-frequency hearing. They can hear a watch ticking from 36 meters away and even hear rodents digging underground! Here's the picture someone has taken on Lynwood Ave - looking towards Main Street.  That wall of trees in the background is the escarpment.   And below that my own abstract of an urban fox from a few years ago. I hadn't imagined sox of them on the road.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Oct 29 2022 - Step up anti-federalists

 

Quebec has developed the reputation of being superior in cuisine and culture, and more associated with European traditions than the rest of Canada.  With the tradition of descendants of the 17th century French settlers, they have resisted pressure to assimilate into Anglo society.  They have enacted laws to strengthen their cultural and language dominance.   They want to be independent and "separate."  The sovereignty movement has been active for a long time.  The 1995 referendum was won by the no side on the narrow margin of 50.6% to 49.4%.   Now in 2022 there is another sovereignist province:  Alberta.  This is the province that has always had the most prosperity with rich oil and gas reserves. It has the highest incomes in Canada, lowest taxes.  The new premier Danielle Smith wants to challenge the relationship with the federal government with a 'sovereignty act'.  She doesn't want to separate - she wants to dominate - officially.  Probably Alberta has been dominate for decades.   The question is being asked:  Is Canadian federalism unravelling?  This is from the Montreal Gazette HERE.  In 1996 Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan published a seminal study on the conditions under which democracies become consolidated, or safe from reversal back to some form of autocratic or authoritarian rule. In their succinct formulation, democracy is consolidated when it is “the only game in town.” Ultimately, they argue, a broad psychological commitment to the rules of the democratic game is required, such that powerful political actors no longer see any benefit in seeking to overturn the regime. They instead commit to trying to achieve their goals within the existing political framework of democracy. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt write in their book How Democracies Die about the importance of elite political actors maintaining certain key democratic norms as models of “good behaviour” from which the citizenry can take their cues. In particular, they discuss the importance of those in political office maintaining forbearance, i.e. resisting the urge to utilize certain powers that are technically at their disposal but would be corrosive to the wider political culture. Is this a foretelling of how Canada's democracy might die.     Here's Autumn on my street. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

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April 15 2021 - Pieces of Your Mind

 

Can there be a 'piece' of information in today's world.  It seems disturbing.  "This piece of information is extremely revealing" seems to leave things unorganized, without context, and leads one to concern.  It is as though information is just like pieces of pie. That's more of how I think of piece - as a a piece of cake, ham, cheese, pie, etc.  All more or less the same thing that has been broken or cut off.  That makes sense for cheese, pie and cake.  But "taking the car to pieces" doesn't make sense to me.  The car isn't made of pieces, but of parts.  If we take the car to pieces, it seems we've missed the step of dismantling the components which are formed of parts and then we can refer to things as pieces.  But then I am getting detailed.  The car is strewn all over the driveway like some sort of car crash. Whoever 'took the car to pieces' is going to get a 'piece of someone's mind'.  That's the thing - piece has a number of curious and interesting expressions: go to pieces nasty piece of work a piece of the action pick up the pieces say one's piece give someone a piece of your mind That last one is wonderful - as though you can break off a chunk, like cheese.  And knowing the expression, this will be an unpleasantly smelly cheese.  Even in its first reference, we get the sense of this:   "A piece of my mind" was first referenced by Sir Henry Ellis, 1824 quoting its use in an English letter in 1572:  "Thus am I bolde to unfolde a peece of my mynde." So off I go to find out what jokes there are for this moment of nasty behaviour: Before giving a piece of your mind make sure you got enough to spare If you keep giving people a piece of your mind, eventually you will run out of pieces to give What did the patient say when the neurosurgeon said she needed to remove a mass from his brain? Well, let me give you a piece of my mind! And of course, the ugly baby joke: Miriam gets on a bus with her baby. As she goes to pay her fare, the bus driver says to her, "I've seen a lot of babies in my time but that's the ugliest one I've ever seen in my life." Miriam is shocked and very angry at this insensitive remark. She sits down and starts to cry. The man next to her asks her what's the matter. Miriam replies, "The bus driver just insulted me." The man replies, "I wouldn't let him get away with it. You go and give him a piece of your mind. Go on--I'll hold your monkey for you."   Today's picture is the garden around the corner on Sunnylea.  A beautiful Magnolia tree is underplanted in spring flowers. This is a multi-exposure image to create a dreamy effect. Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Dec 27 2020 - Betwixt Brexit

 

It is just a few days from now,  Britain on its own. Boris Johnson's remarks got my attention!  “All that’s really saying is the UK won’t immediately send children up chimneys or pour raw sewage all over its beaches,” he said. “We’re not going to regress, and you’d expect that.” What is he referring to? "This practice of sending small boys up and down chimneys in order to ensure that they were free of harmful creosote deposits was the norm in England for approximately 200 years. The use of child chimney sweeps became widespread after the Great Fire of London, which occurred in September of 1666." I am not going to detail it at Christmas - it was considered  a terrible chapter of child slavery with certain death by middle-age.   And sewage on the beaches?  This is less clear - there are articles about raw sewage on the beaches last year.  It may be that he is referring to maintaining environmental standards.   These are strange references, aren't they?  Is this a remarkable statement on his part?  No - not at all.  Here's a marie claire.co.uk article HERE  - he is famous for saying dreadful, racist, sexist things.  This is the summary of his best/worst: "'But did you know that Bo-Jo also once said Hilary Clinton was ‘like a sadistic nurse in a mental hopsital’? Or that he claimed he was more likely to be ‘reincarnated as an olive’ than become the PM? Or that he said women went to university because they ‘have got to find men to marry’?" And here is his prediction for 2020:  "This is going to be a fantastic year for Britain." We are very pleased to come to the close of 2020, and hoping that some of our politicians will fade into the rear view mirror, along with this difficult year.   We do get snowy Christmases - the first picture is 2018 and the second is 2020 -  you can see our greenhouse is again its traditional white trim, and a streaking puppy is now on the scene. Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

May 30 2020 - Stop at Nothing

How did the expression "Stop at nothing" come about?  It means: be utterly ruthless or determined in one's attempt to achieve something. "he would stop at nothing to retain his position of power" The only information that I found was that the expression was first recorded in John Dryden's Aurengzebe (1676): "The World is made for the bold impious man; Who stops at nothing, seizes all he can." When I looked at the expression, it doesn't seem to  make sense:  Nothing isn't anything, so one would not act and never start.  But its meaning is very clear -it is about all-consuming purpose where immoral and dangerous behaviours are within its scope. Compare that to pull out all the stops - to use every means available, to express, do, or carry out something without reservation.  The origin of this expression is derived from the pipe organ and camel into use around 1860. This all comes to mind because I saw full page ad in the Globe this morning by one of the Toronto hospitals (Maybe the University Health Network) claiming it would stop at nothing.  Perhaps it wanted to pull out all the stops instead.   Today's wisteria is around the corner from me - one of those Niagara bush wisterias on front lawns.

Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://www.blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Mar 10 2020 - Lonely Olympic Flame

The Olympic Flame lighting and handover are scheduled to start this week.  The events will be without spectators.  The reason is that the number of infections are 'surging' in Greece.  Local officials wanted to postpone the ceremony to May, but were refused by the Olympic committee.   The 'sacred flame' gets lit in Olympia, and the handover takes place in Athens, and then it makes its journey to Japan. What will happen with the journey?  It starts in Olympia and ends with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Olympic games.  Do you know how many people are involved in the torch relay?  Hundreds in Greece and around 10,000 people in Japan. One article claims that the torch is not handed between runners, but rather the flame of one lights the next, meaning limited human contact. "The Olympic torch was designed by Tokujin Yoshioka and unveiled 19 March 2019; the design is inspired by cherry blossoms, with 5 petal-shaped columns around the tip of the torch, and a rose-gold "sakura gold" color finish. Their construction will incorporate aluminium recycled from unused shelters deployed in the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami." The Olympics opening ceremony is July 24th.  It seems close now, doesn't it?  What is your guess on the spread of the coronavirus - will it have slowed by then?  I wonder what will tip the Olympics being cancelled.  Late May is the deadline that has been given by Dick Pound, not the president of the organization.  He says it will not be cancelled.  There's something so add to our watch list. I was out in the garden yesterday doing work in the warm weather.  Here is the garden in early July a few years ago. This presentation is produced from my portfolio at Fine Art America.   And here's the link to the new shop display at Redbubble: marilyncornwell.redbubble.com I've also copied the full link in case the one above doesn't work:   https://www.redbubble.com/people/marilyncornwell/shop?asc=u

Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://www.blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Are you aging?

There were birthdays this week at exercise class. Janet turned 79 and says she doesn't feel that old, so I asked her how old she feels.  Her answer:  Feels like 35.  I responded that I feel older than Janet - that was thirty years ago for me - a different time in society, in my activities and work, and in my interests. So I wondered:  make a chart that has rows and columns.  Put the decades along the top row (Age 10,20,30,40,50,60, etc), and the major life areas and interests along the left column, then fill in the cells. What would be the same and what would be different over the decades? Or could we take an age test that showed similarities and differences between age groups and find our place? You can take 'age tests' - here's one: Age Test - a caution that the tests don't explain the results. Here's a Guardian article asking people what age they feel they are in How old do you feel? And there is research being done in the area at the website Changing Age. For today's picture's we are looking at my conservatory in the garden. I took some video pictures of my gardens yesterday so that when I redo things in the fall and spring, I know what's where for moving, etc. I realized that I had forgotten to photograph the garden on tour days this summer - it was so busy and so many tours - so many times I've forgotten.  I realized this when I went to show the hydrangeas at the greenhouse in July compared to yesterday. All the blooms are finished except for two pink ones. They still look lovely with their lime green floppy heads.

Gnome Story Now Known

The Gnome Garden across the street made the front page of the Grimsby NewsNow newspaper yesterday, with Laurie-Ann pictured next to her gnome, named JR.  The headline is "A home 'gnome' more". This is complemented by an Editorial on the last page.  Laurie-Ann's story book-ended the newspaper.  The editor, Mike Williscroft wrote a great editorial with a message delivered with fun and humour.  He titled the editorial  'Say "no" to gnome profiling".  It starts with:  "OK, let's get right into this gnome thing..."   Here's the online edition for you to look at. Our picture today shows another whimsical garden story, from last year's Hamilton Spectator Open Garden Week.   I hope this homeless gnome story continues - it has whistle-blowing and entertaining  - a great combination in news.

Spring Awakenings!

I see flowers everywhere I go and thought I'd give you 2 great examples.

On Saturday I was on Bloor Street West shopping.  I caught this Ranunculus out behind a fruit and vegetable store before they took the rack to the front for sales.

Then on Sunday I was in Plantworld.  It is a wonderful garden centre and nursery in my neighbourhood.  It's grown over the 25 years I've lived here in the Kingsway/Sunnylea area.  I  got this beautiful little Grape Hyacinth (Muscari) in the lovely afternoon light.