Top o' the Morning

"Top o' the Morning" is considered Irish in origin but is not an expression used there.  It turns out that it is shunned by the Irish.  It is considered a stereotyping phrase  - known as Irishism.  While it occurred in literature in the late 1800's, it was already considered an affection by then.  The expression receded from Irish English and entered the American consciousness.  It is popularly used in the U.S. when imitating Irish people.  Wikipedia has an entry for Hollywood Irish - Irish people and culture as stereotypically portrayed by the movie industry, particularly from the USA. Many people can remember the Lucky Charms ads - full of Irishisms.  The expression's intent is to wish the best part of the morning to the person being greeted.  The traditional response is "And the rest of the day to you". Another idea put forth in forums is that it is a symbolic offering of morning cream that has risen to the top of the milk jug.  Both such quaint ideas and reminding us of simple times. This picture of the Minneapolis Arboretum's Herb Garden was taken from a viewing platform - makes me think of what it would be like to be Gulliver.

A White Christmas - What is It?

sn't Christmas the only moment in the winter when we want snow?  Yes! What makes snow such an essential part of the Christmas landscape?  What makes a White Christmas so desirable?  In fact, in the U.S. there is WCA - White Christmas Anticipation. The website bigthink shows the map of the U.S., Canada and Europe for the percent chance of a White Christmas. Did you know there's an official definition  of White Christmas? From Wikipedia:  "In most countries, it simply means that the ground is covered by snow at Christmas, but some countries have more strict definitions. In the United States, the official definition of a white Christmas is that there has to be a snow depth of at least 1 in or 2.5 cm at 7:00 a.m. local time on Christmas morning, and in Canada the official definition is that there has to be more than 2 cm (0.79 in) on the ground on Christmas Day at 7 am".   Our Environment Canada site has this chart - Amount of snowfall recorded in centimetres for major cities across Canada from 1955 - 2015.  Here are the Definitions of the columns: % Chance:  probability of a white Christmas (snow on the ground of 2 cm or more on Christmas morning at 7 a.m. EST) for full period of 61 years % Chance now:  for children today based on period 1996-2015 % Chance before:  for parents today when they were children based on period 1965-1984 Perfect Christmas:  snow on the ground of 2 cm or more on Christmas morning and snow in the air sometime Christmas day, i.e., a measurable snowfall on Christmas based on period 1955-2007 Snow depth now:  average depth of snow on the ground (cm) on Christmas morning from 1994 to 2015 At the bigthink site, it shows the maps of Canada, U.S. and Europe so you can see the distribution of White Christmases.  I hadn't realized how much of the U.S. has such a low probability of snow, and how much of Canada has a high probability of snow.  Our White Christmas distribution looks like a mirror reflection.  And the forecast for this Christmas? Grimsby has a freezing rain changing to snow warning today - and a white Christmas is forecast. Our pictures show last year's visit to the Guelph Arboretum on a very snowy day before Christmas.

How Many Christmas Greetings?

How many "Christmas Greetings" are there?  A lot of Christmases have occurred for us to create many ways of expressing the "Season."  I found an extensive list at scrappyhug.com. We're looking at the sayings from A to C: A Season with a Precious Reason A Special Gift  A Visit with Santa  A-Caroling We Go  All Hearts Come Home for Christmas  All I want for Christmas  All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth  All Through the House  Be Naughty, Save Santa a Trip  Believe in the magic of Christmas  Berry Kissmas (with holly)  Candy Cane Kid(s) or Kandy Kane  Candy Cane Kid(s) or Kandy Kane Kids  Celebrate  Christmas Blessings  Christmas cookies and Holiday hearts?That's the way the holiday starts  Christmas Glows with Love  Christmas is a Clause for Celebration  Christmas is family near, words of good cheer, memories dear. Christmas is in the Air  Christmas is Sharing and Caring  Christmas Joy  Christmas Makes Memories  Christmas Memories  Christmas Shimmer  Christmas Time  Christmas Time is Family Time  Come & see the Christmas Tree!  Country Christmas  We have two greeting cards today - the second one is more of a weather wish.   There are freezing rain warnings for Grimsby today and the satellite storm tracking is red then green then red then green - snow then rain then snow then rain.

Guelph Arboretum

Yesterday's snowstorm over the lake didn't land in Grimsby.  It did land in Guelph.  I was there yesterday for Baxter's dental experience - he broke the canine tooth that had been repaired in 2014 at the same clinic.  This time it had to be removed. Guelph is a centre of veterinary specialists associated with the University veterinary programs. My interest was the Arboretum and the range of yesterday's landscapes was remarkable in the snow.  New-fallen snow outlined the trees and defined the curves of the landscape.  There was perfect light - the sun was shining through a misty haze in the sky - just the faintest of shadows.  Guelph is home to the University of Guelph.  It has an exceptional program in veterinary medicine which is ranked fourth in the world. I drove through that section of the campus - with barns, horse crossings, and horses outside in the paddock. I stopped at the beat-up recycle bins for some abstracts.  One bin was for manure.   Guelph has large agricultural, horticultural and environmental programs. The pretty Victorian conservatory is the icon that testifies to the beginnings of the programs in the late 1800's. The Arboretum, started in 1971,  is surprisingly large.  With the amount of snow -  two feet - it kept filling my boots when I walked through it.  So I toured it mostly in the car.  You can tour it on youtube here and see how remarkable it is.

Morris Arboretum Fernery

The Morris Arboretum Fernery

The Fernery at Morris Arboretum We have two pictures of the Fernery.  The first is a scale version on an outdoor railway at the Morris Arboretum.  The second is the actual fernery at the Morris Arboretum.  It is located in Philadelphia.  Stepping into the fernery, one sees the appeal of a year-round grotto garden.  This fernery seems to illustrate how much the Victorians loved gardens. It was the Victorians who started the advances in hybridization and gave us the garden as environment. The Victorian metaphor of the landscape is a series of distinct outdoor rooms with the hardscaping forming the walls, floors and doorways.  The furniture is trees and shrubs, the carpets are lawns.  Victorian gardening books described the proper ways to 'ornament the lawn' with trees and shrubs.  Trees, shrubs and flowers weren't chosen to 'block a view' like we would do.  They were chosen as objects of art to be admired.  This was the time when advances in hybridization were large, and where expeditions brought exotic introductions to the landscape. Gardens soon were filled with as many exotic and novel specimens as possible. When I visited Winterthur, the Dupont Museum of American Decorative Arts, I took a guided tour of the gardens on the bus.  The travel guide was tremendously knowledgeable, and she stopped in front of two huge cherry trees.  She said that they are the oldest Sargent Cherry trees in North America, brought back as whips by Charles Sargent from his expedition to China.  Like Morris, he was a great Victorian garden adventurer.