Oct 14 2023 - Edgar Cayce

 

As we lead up to Halloween, the paranormal seems to be a topic of interest.   What about Edgar Evans Cayce and his prophecies and predictions along with his readings on the ancient past.   He's been gone a long time but his influence is certainly still present - his holistic health work is practiced today.  One can go to the Edgar Cayce Holistic Health Database.  He is considered the initiator of the holistic movement.  And then there are all the "readings".  The predictions that are considered to have come true include the stock market crash of 1929, World War II, the pole shift (north and south), the sect called the Essenes which were proven through the Dead Sea Scrolls found after his death.  Isn't it so tantalizing.  The chamber of records below the Sphinx, near Giza remains a mystery - even after many activities in recent decades to uncover it.  These are what makes the paranormal not normal.  Some things true and other things off the mark.  A puzzle to investigate. There are likely paranormal spirit hunt "experiences" to enjoy for Halloween.  We missed the 2023 Halifax Paranormal Symposium - that was October 7th.  Too bad we missed it: "This year, the theme for the symposium is: real paranormal case files, studies, and personal experiences. Previous attendees have said that our events are “eye opening”. Will we get some intense fall colour here in Niagara?  It doesn't look like it yet.

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Oct 15 2021 - Cozy and Warm Food

 

This is the time of year when we shift suddenly from outside grilling to inside stewing and roasting.  We need soups, stews and roasted potatoes and squash.   Fall food recipes contain a lot of pumpkin, followed by apple. Not that we really want to bake all that pumpkin - it just seems so comforting.   Huffington Post got my attention with its 22 foods you must cook this fall - and it too comments on this contrast between summer cookouts and fall baking.  My guess is that mac and cheese will be on its list.  This seems to me to be the 'back to school' dish of university students.  I was rewarded.  Theirs is a no-boil mac and cheese with crispy bread crumbs on top.   The pictures are absolutely wonderful.  There are so many photographs of everything.  Are there iconic food pictures that we all recognize?   What a surprise! I didn't find any famous pictures.  Instead I found a most notable one. Here is Julia Child, on the set of the French Chef in the 1960s, with her studio "helpers".  When I looked up this image, the actual title is "Julia's Posse".  I like that they are all so formally dressed - like they work in an office.   I was very interested in photographing food when I took courses at Ryerson.  Here are two of the images from then - on Instagram this is a recent image from one of the downtown Toronto food halls.

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Oct 28 2020 Halloween Colours - A Retail Decision?

 

What makes for Halloween's black and orange theme colours?  It seems obvious:  pumpkins and fall colours, along with the darkest night of the dead and ghosts arising ancient ritual.  There's a website to answer this question:  Isle of Halloween.  I took a look and it doesn't say much more.  I guess the commercialization of Halloween cemented the colour combination.  The Irish are credited with bringing Halloween traditions to the US in 1840. Postcards and die-cut paper decorations started in the 1900s and costumes appeared in stores in the 1930s and my generation remembers candies available in the stores in the 1950s.   What the Daily Mail calls a 'department store invention' seems to be the standard development of all of our purchasing holidays.   The marker for Halloween is Anoka, Minnesota, known as the Halloween Capital of the  World since 1920. It is the first city in America to officially hold a Halloween celebration, in an effort to divert kids from pulling pranks like tipping outhouses and letting cows loose to run around on Main Street. The town organized a parade and spent the weeks prior planning and making costumes. Treats of popcorn, peanuts and candy to any children who participated in the parade, followed by a huge bonfire in the town square. The event grew over time and has been held every year since 1920.  So here we are in the COVID year, finding out that Halloween turns out to be the most popular celebrated holiday of the year. More of the leaves images today.  The scanner is immense fun and very restrictive in space.  It demands simplicity in design.

Fall Stuff

When I think of the expression "Fall is just around the corner", Halloween does not immediately come to my mind.  But the Dollarama has cleared out the garden stuff for Halloween stuff, and Shoppers Drug Mart has Halloween stuff on the shelves too. So what might be the "stuff of Fall"?  It seems to be apple picking, leaf raking, corn mazing, football, etc. There's an article that offers 10 things to do this Fall in Toronto and the first is to go to a cat cafe: "A warm cup of coffee can only be enhanced by a furry friend sitting atop your lap. But for those without cats, or those who can’t get enough cats, the first cat café in the city finally gives you this little slice of tranquility. The cats of TOT the Cat Café, supplied by the Toronto Humane Society, are not only charming companions with your beverage, but if you’re especially taken with one, you can adopt it and take it home with you." There are some things one couldn't have thought of at all.  I saw something for August that the train lovers might enjoy.  We can go to Roundhouse Park in Toronto and take the train ride.  See more about it here.