Oct 10 2021 - Thanksgiving Only in Canada

 

Is there a reason we must call today Canadian Thanksgiving? Yes, it is a simple reason - American Thanksgiving is bigger, bolder, and more cherished.  It seems to be next to sacred with its mythical beginning with the Pilgrims.  Search for Thanksgiving and all manner of U.S. perspectives will be retrieved.   What about the Canadian perspective? I found this quote, without attribution, to describe it: It's very dear to me, the issue of Canadian Thanksgiving.  Or, as I like to call it:  "Thanksgiving"... I had lunch this afternoon, not Canadian lunch.  I parked my car.  I didn't Canadian park it.   The proximity to Christmas is portrayed in this visual joke:   Americans too complain about its placement in the calendar: “Even though we’re a week and a half away from Thanksgiving, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” —Richard Roeper “My fondest memories are generally the day after Thanksgiving. I get the total decorating Christmas itch.” –  Katharine McPhee Given Thanksgiving's place in the calendar, we might find this joke especially funny:     I drive "down" Cherry Ave every week on my way from Elaine's Pear Blossom Orchard to pick up my vegetables.  It is a great hill with a spectacular view of Toronto across the lake.  That is where today's picture was taken.  It was at the bottom of Cherry Ave and Highway 8 way back in October 2009. This corner is now a vineyard, but then it was a field of wildflowers.  Lucky me that day that a person in a red jacket was riding their bicycle.

Sep 12 2020 - Four Corners of the Earth

 

None of us are travelling for a while.  But our love of place means anywhere we think about is somewhere someone has gone.  Is that the case?  Can I go travelling on the internet and experience the four corners of the world?   The four corners of the earth has been referenced for thousands of years - here's one reference from the Bible in Revelation 7:1: "After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree." From such mighty images, the four corners of the earth has come into our general expressions over time - the far ends of the world; all parts of the world.  So even though we've left behind the idea that the earth with actual corners, we can still enjoy this image that for me references a vast blanket. But don't think we've evolved that much.  There are those who are compelled to keep the four corners physically with us.  According to the Flat Earth Society, Brimstone Head on Fogo Island is one of the Four Corners.  This is quite the tourist destination - many people have checked it out for their travel blogs.  The Flat Earth Society's Warning Notice stands at the outlook.  One can visit the Flat Earth Society Museum on Fogo Island, too.  One of the tourist activities is to admire the vast night sky in such a remote place.  This seems humorous to me.     The four corners are outlined at the Fogo Island outlook:  Papa New Guinea, the Bermuda Triangle, Fogo, and Hydra (Greece).  It is odd that the picture shows a triangle.  I wanted to see four corners that stretched across the entire world - like my big blanket metaphor.     That seems to me to be the real evolution here - the four corners of the world are now tourist destinations rather than Book of Revelations destruction points. I drive along Highway 8 and past Cherry Street all the time.  The pictures below are from 2009 when there was an uncultivated field at the north-west corner and it was full of wild flowers.   Now it is a vineyard, all neat and productive.  We get a nice view of all the wildflowers of Ontario - purple Asters, yellow Hawkweed, and of course Goldenrod.  This year's Goldenrod is abundant, with large drifts just coming into colour now.  Wouldn't it be wonderful to have that surprise moment of the red-jacket bicyclist come into view again.

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