May 30 2-23 - Alberta's Election...

 

Alberta's election results are in and Danielle Smith has won the majority leadership. This is disheartening news, given the findings that she violated ethic rules by attempted interference with the judiciary, made Nazi and Hitler comparisons in her anti-vaccine rhetoric and then has made the  promise to fight the federal government at all possible turns.   The victory is an endorsement of her plan to move the province further to the right.  The rest of us see Alberta as already firmly at the right.  To find the lighter side of things, it turns out that It is hard to find Alberta jokes that are presentable.  Here are the few that worked: Why is Alberta known as the Texas of Canada? Because Canadians don't know about Arkansas. If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in Alberta. If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction, you live in Alberta.   It is the start of strawberry season here. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

No 13 2020 - It's Friday the ...

 

My guess is that such a time as this has gone by: In the late-19th century, a New Yorker named Captain William Fowler (1827-1897) sought to remove the enduring stigma surrounding the number 13—and particularly the unwritten rule about not having 13 guests at a dinner table—by founding an exclusive society called the Thirteen Club. The group dined regularly on the 13th day of the month in room 13 of the Knickerbocker Cottage, a popular watering hole Fowler owned from 1863 to 1883. Before sitting down for a 13-course dinner, members would pass beneath a ladder and a banner reading “Morituri te Salutamus,” Latin for “Those of us who are about to die salute you.” Four former U.S. presidents would join the Thirteen Club’s ranks at one time or another. We should celebrate the 12th day of every month as we western cultures consider this number to represent completeness. Wouldn't it be great to know what's next in American politics at the cross road of democracy - and for it to be a peaceful solution? Looks messy outside this window.

Read past POTDs at my Blog: https://marilyncornwell.blogspot.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Nov 6 2020 - And the Countdown Continues

 

How different Christmas would be if we had to reach a specific number of prayers, monetary donations and gifts to the presenting organization. That would typically be a religious organization in the past.  In the present, it might be retail organizations.   Probably Amazon - it would be able to keep track of this.  And it makes me think of this Scrooge crossed with performance target scenario:  No Christmas for the poor - you haven't made your quotas. On our Christmas march, we are slowing inching our way towards the U.S. election results.  That's how I think of this:  we're waiting for political Christmas Day.  If we don't get to Christmas Day, we will be experiencing purgatory for another 4 years. Because there is only one scenario that results in Christmas Day.  I know this from the news this morning. This morning's New York Times inbox news tells me that "Trump lies in the White House briefing room, and the networks pull the plug"  “We have to cut away here because the president has made a number of false allegations,” Lester Holt said on “NBC Nightly News.” On ABC, the anchor David Muir broke in and told viewers, “There’s a lot to unpack here and fact-check.” MSNBC declined to air his remarks live at all. On Fox News, the White House correspondent John Roberts told viewers that “we haven’t seen any evidence” to back up Mr. Trump’s claims of electoral fraud. This is the angel in our cemetery.  She's praying with us on this one.

Read past POTDs at my Blog: https://marilyncornwell.blogspot.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Nov 4 2020 - National Stress Day

 

It is a good thing that holidays are on a fixed day and we don't have to wait for some event to complete them.  Although this is International Stress Awareness Day.  We are definitely aware of this day as the election results slowly move along. We could be experiencing this awareness day for a few more days, a week, a month, or more. This awareness day was first observed in 1998 and is the first Wednesday in November.  There are instructions on how to observe it.  In particular, the instructions are about doing something to alleviate stress.  What stress-relieving foods might you eat?  That's the first item on the list.  I will definitely considerate last one on the list - consider a therapist - if the U.S. election returns the current President to the White House.  That's more than 4 years of stress in the making. We might look to the awareness calendar to celebrate with whatever awareness day coincides with then election completion.   Which day will we find that out? If it is tomorrow, we can go with National Doughnut Appreciation Day or National Gunpowder Day - depending on the winner.  If it Friday the 6th, then what about Marooned without a compass day.   That seems on target too.   I guess I'll be adding a new activity to my daily schedule - check on awareness day to sum up the state of politics - it will be like astrology.  I wonder how many things are on file for the year's worth of 'Days'.  Maybe 10 to 30 things to appreciate each day.  That could be interesting. We have two more Wisteria images today - there is no 'Appreciate Wisteria' day listed on the checkiday.com website.

Read past POTDs at my Blog: https://marilyncornwell.blogspot.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Nov 3 2020 - Finally Here

 

"Finally here" - I wonder what percentage of North Americans  are relieved that the American election is "finally here".  We in Canada likely mistake this for some milestone that the frenetic over-coverage of American politics will lessen somehow. Last week, I mentioned the Quebec Referendum as a cliff-hanger for Canadians, but this event weighs in as much more serious.  I wonder what Brexit was like and continues to be like for those living in Great Britain.   My New York Times email this morning has advice on HOW to watch tonight. And who to believe about claims of victory - when during the day, and via what medium. It warned of types of misleading and false information to look out for.  I wondered about what is being said around the world - like the New York Times, news organizations are advising on how to watch the election coverage, with similar cautions. From an analytical point of view -the one that underlies "finally here" - here's what the Conversation, Canadian edition says: "While political leaders and policy experts will watch the election through the prism of their strategic interests, most of the world will watch with a more nebulous sense that the fate of the world is somehow at stake. For better or worse, around the globe people tend to view the US through the figure of its president. This is certainly the case with Donald Trump, whose global celebrity has amplified feelings about the US. The 2020 election symbolically aligns with a paradigm shift in the world order, a disassembling of western and more particularly American dominance. What is at stake here is the idea of the US as the world’s leading nation, an idea that forcefully shaped “the American Century” and is now fast dissolving." Christmas is an event where you wake up the next morning and there are presents under the tree, a big Christmas dinner, and lots of celebration.  I wonder what tomorrow morning will bring us. Today our picture is the Wisteria Overlook at Rosewood Winery from May 2020.

Read past POTDs at my Blog: https://marilyncornwell.blogspot.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

What Next America - Am-Next!

I wonder what the expression will be for America during the Trump-era.  Will it be something like Brexit?  It could be Am-Ex - the American Exit.  There's the mystery of what next, so it could be Am-Next.   Our pictures today were taken last November at the University of Toronto campus, with the stone portals and doorways looking through to the Autumn colours in the distance.